Their descent downwards was quiet, only the sounds of labored breathing were heard with each step. They had just entered through the secret passage they had found in the employee's lounge and they weren't sure if it was completely safe to be down there. But, they had to take risks if they wanted to continue forward with their mission. 

It was completely dark inside the tunnel except for the small beam of light that came from Seulgi's flashlight. The bear-like human led the small group of three downwards with Seohyun tailing the girls, carefully walking down the steep steps. One wrong move and it would be a painful way to get down to the bottom. 

After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the bottom. Seulgi flashed the light straight ahead and they gaped at what was in front of them. The three were greeted with three different entrances, all leading towards a different direction in this underground area. The girls felt like they were mice being tested to find the piece of cheese at the center of the maze or better yet, like a horror game that had gone wrong. 

"So, do we split up unnie?" Joy asked after a few silent moments of trying to comprehend the current situation that laid in front of them. 

"It seems like a good decision, we would be able to cut our time searching," Seohyun paused for a second, swallowing to appease her dry throat. She knew that spliting up would be inevitable, yet she can't help but rethink about that idea. The eldest had a bad feeling about the place, more so than any other locations she had visited for missions. Everything about the place made her feel uneasy. "But, we would also be heading into the unknown and I honestly don't know if we should. We know nothing about this place and it doesn't help that we are in complete darkness as well." 

The girls were stuck, they wanted to quickly finish this 'game' of Gyuri's and finish their mission as well. But on the other hand, going alone would mean suicide. They didn't know what lurks down here nor if there really is an 'exit' or a clue at the end of the maze, hell, this could all be a ploy just to waste their time and make them fail. 

After considering all the positives and negatives, they ended up going together. The last thing they want is for someone to die during this whole ordeal. 

"Which way?" Seulgi asked, pointing her flashlight in each of the three entrances. 

"I heard that if you place your right hand to the wall, it will eventually lead you to the end of the maze," came an answer from Joy as she looked at her unnies, wanting to know they thought. 

"It wouldn't hurt to try." Seohyun responded with a shrug, "We don't have anything to lose really." 

With a nod from Seulgi, the three headed towards the right entrance, into the dark and unknown. They trudged slowly through the long and rugged path, always turning right when faced with an intersection. 

Seohyun, who had been lightly grazing her fingertips along the bumpy walls of concrete, suddenly felt a smooth surface beneath her fingers causing her to stop momentarily. Since she couldn't really see what it was due to being at the back of the group where the light couldn't reach, she called out to the two girls who continued forward, unknowing of what she had discovered, "Hold on for a second."

They haulted their steps and turned around to face the eldest.

"What's wrong unnie?" Seulgi asked as she turned around, her flashlight now shining brightly at Seohyun.  "Everything alright, unnie?" Joy echoed. 

Not responding to the younger girls, she now had the light that she needed. She faced the wall on her right, and found a single piece of folded paper taped to the wall. She furrowed her eyebrows upon the realization. "Why is this here?" She thought as she slowly removed the paper from the wall, making sure to not rip it. 

"I found this," Seohyun finally replied to the younger girls who had been silently watching her the whole time. She fiddled around with the paper until she finally saw that it had something written on it in black ink, almost like a letter to someone. If Seohyun could describe what she had read in two words, it would have been: eerie and disturbing. 

To whoever finds this (if ever), 

We don't have much time left, the girls and I have been wandering around this area for God knows how long and we still haven't found that damned red envelope and key that we've been assigned to find for that evil woman, Gyuri. 

I don't understand why we had to take on this mission, we just aren't experienced enough to deal with these kinds of situations, we're still rookies, we're not used to this and this is something that should be reserved for the sunbaes. 

Everything looks the same after awhile and I can't even tell whether or not we've been circling around the same places, and it's weird, because I know for a fact that we left trails so we could always find our way back to the entrance and all of a sudden, it just dissapears as if it was never there in the first place. I think--no, I know--everything around us is slowly changing with each second we're down here, like they want us trapped for some unknown reason. It seems as if I'm the only who had really noticed our predicament. 

I don't know whether or not I'm going crazy because of being down here for so long, but I am absolutely certain that along with the dissapearance of our trails, I hear weird whispers as if they were right behind me. I turn around clutching my flashlight tightly as I quickly flash the bright light around, but there's nothing there and that scares me more than anything. All I could see is the darkness that the light can not reach at the end of the long never ending path. 

I try to tell the girls,but they don't understand...They don't hear it... They don't hear the whispers... I know it's there lurking behind us, waiting for the right moment to strike and kill us... 

If you find this, it's over for us.

I know for a fact that all six of us are going to die down here in the darkness, with no chance of our families knowing what had happened to us.

IF YOU STILL CAN, LEAVE THIS PLACE AT ONCE!!!!!

TURN BACK AND RUN!!!!!

Seohyun could feel cold sweats forming as she tightly clutched the letter in her hand, slightly crumpling the paper. She couldn't believe that someone else had to suffer through Gyuri's 'games' as she like to call it and it wasn't just a single person, there were multiple people! The person in the letter was in a group! 

This was insane.

This was the last thing she had wanted to see while being down here. 

"Unnie?" Joy called out in a worried tone as she saw the frightened look in her eyes. Although, Seohyun was good at hidden her emotions through a poker face, her eyes always betrayed her. Her dongsaengs (plus Irene) always saw right through her facade.  

"Seo unnie?" Joy called out once more seeing as how her unnie stood motionless in front of her like a statue. 

Seulgi moved forward and carefully pried the letter out of the older girl's hand wanting to read what was written. But, before she could even read a single word, Seohyun grabbed the paper back. 

"Unnie!" Seulgi whined, her curiously taking over. She wanted to know what had made her dear unnie freeze with fright and she was going to do whatever it took to read that damned piece of paper. 

"I don't think you want to read this paper..." Seohyun finally spoke in a whisper which led Joy and Seulgi to look at each other with concern for their member. It wasn't like her to act this way, not even after seeing nasty injuries, suicide notes and such. She was always the strong one.  

"Unnie, please." Seulgi, along with Joy begged the older girl who hesitated on whether or not she should hand them the letter. They wanted to know what was in the letter that had made their unnie feel frightened. 

Seohyun didn't know how'd they react after reading it, and the last thing she wants it to have one or both of them have a mental breakdown while trapped in an underground maze. 

While thinking over what she should do, Seulgi managed to snatch the paper away from her. Now, she watched silenty as her two dongsaengs read the letter from the unknown person. She watched as they slowly turned pale with each word. 

"Is it too late?" Joy quietly asked after finishing the letter, her eyes trained on her unnie. 

"Can we still go back?" Seulgi added quietly as well, staring at their leader/unnie who was their light inside the darkness that would lead them towards the right path. 

"I believe we still have the time." Seohyun answered firmly, although she wasn't so sure herself if they could still get out of this hell. 

The three turned back around to head back to the entrance that will lead them back to the surface. They all felt the hairs on their bodies stand when they heard a slight whisper right behind them, breaking the silence of the area and soon they were engulfed with countless whispers that started out softly before it started getting louder and louder. 

And that's when they started to run. 

They ran like their lives depended on it (which in this case is true), spirinting as fast as they could trying to escape the whispers. Their lungs were on fire, but that didn't stop them even for a second. In fact, that made them run even quicker, knowing if they were to stop now, they'd never see the light of day again. Like the people who left the note. 

To Seohyun, Seulgi, and Joy's relief, they were able to find their way back to the beginning of the hell hole. Not even wasting a second, they quickly ascended the stairs that had led them down and soon enough they were greeted by the messy room they had left not so long ago. 

And boy were they glad to see this room again.

---------------

Irene and Wendy soon found their maknae in the hallway, staring up at the ceiling with her tongue slightly out and her eyebrows furrowed as if she was trying to solve a very difficult calculus problem. Her arms were at her sides, one of her hands gripping the edge of her shirt. Yeri was so concentrated that she didn't even hear her unnies calling her. 

"Yah, Yeri-ah." Wendy called out, trying to get the attention of the younger in which she failed. The two walked closer towards Yeri, a playful glint in their eyes. Despite being one of the eldest, Irene was quite childish at times and it showed when she played pranks on her members. 

When they were within range of the unsuspecting girl, Irene on the right side of Yeri and Wendy on the opposite, Irene leaned in close to the younger girl's ear and whispered, "Boo." 

Yeri flinched.

Hard.  

One of her hands gripped her weapon that was attached to her belt, ready to kill someone or something. But when she turned around, she found the faces of her two unnies who were smirking at her or more specifically at her reaction. 

"Unnie..." Yeri whined, a pout forming on her face. "I was trying to figure something out." 

Irene raised a brow, "Figuring out what?" 

"The puzzle on the ceiling." Yeri responded, her head tilting upwards to show her point with Wendy and Irene following suit and to their surprise, they found symbols (mostly from math) and numbers carved onto ceiling.

"I thought it was weird how there was this longish hallway here, so I tried looking for a secret entrance of some sort and when I looked up, I found these." The maknae continued, her attention now on her two unnies. 

"Good job, Yeri-ah!" Wendy said with her signature motherly smile, she felt like she had watched her child win the olympics. 

"Great, now let's figure out these symbols and numbers." Irene added with a small but proud smile on her face. 

With the eight year age difference, Irene had always felt that she should be the one to take care of their youngest, watching and protecting. After all, they had spent at least five years training together and she felt as if she had gained a little sister. 

The three girls stared at the ceiling, trying to decipher the writtings. The symbols on the wall ranged from addition and subtraction signs to weird swirls and different shapes, all different sizes.

It wasn't until a few minutes after they had a staring competition with the ceiling that Wendy had found something rather interesting. She saw a rectangle shape slightly isolated from the others with the numbers written on each corner on the inside. It didn't really look that suspicious until she closely examined it a little more. 

6-7-3-4

"Now why would that be written out away from the others?" The Canadian wondered, her eyebrows furrowed. She moved her gaze away from the shape, deciding to face the wall in front of her. "Could the rectangle represent the wall?" She looked at the shape once more, committing it to memory before she moved away from Yeri and Irene, walking left, towards the room they had exited a while back. 

Irene, who had heard the second youngest walk away turned in her direction and called out, "What's wrong Wendy-ah?" 

"I'm going to check something real quick." Was all she said before returning to the wall in front of her. Now that she was at the end of the hallway, she started counting the bricks in the highest position in a straight line to the number six. When she stopped counting, she placed her hand on the sixth brick, and pushed. To her surprise, the brick actually moved forward, creating an indent. 

"Hey, I think I got something." Wendy called out to the other two who were still pondering over the riddle. 

"Really, unnie?" Yeri asked, clapping her hands excitedly while Irene turned to give her full atention, wanting to move forward and away from the strange riddle above their heads. 

"Yes. Do you guys see that isolated rectangle near the oval shape?" They nodded and she continued explaining, "As you guys can see, there are numbers inside the four corners which are 6-7-3-4.  I'm guessing the numbers represent the brick number we are supposed to push down." Wendy tilted her head towards the brick wall to get the other two to look at it. "I managed to get one of them correct...I think." 

"Well, let's get to it." Irene said with a small clap as she and Yeri walked towards the Canadian. 

The youngest of the three counted seven more blocks from the indented brick before taking a chance and pressing it down, and to her surprise it receded back and left another dent on the brick wall. Yeri stepped back and allowed Irene to step forward. The older girl counted three blocks down from the brick that was just currently pushed in. The brick also receded as well, but before it quickly shot back to its original position followed by a loud beep that caused the other indented bricks to return back to their original position. 

"I guess that was wrong." 

Wendy let out a slight chuckle, "We can always try again unnie, but I'm not too sure what that beep meant." 

Irene nodded and they started again, counting the blocks and pushing the two bricks that they knew for sure was correct. 

"If it didn't work when I counted from the one that Yeri pushed, then should I count from the one that you pushed?" Irene asked Wendy with her eyebrows furrowed. 

"Unnie, I think you should count diagonal from where I pushed the brick." The youngest suddenly spoke, making Irene and Wendy turn their heads to face her. 

"Why's that?" Wendy questioned. 

"Just a hunch I have." 

Irene nodded before counting three blocks diagonal from the indented place where the block laid. She pushed against the brick and just like before, it receded back into the wall without returning back and hearing a loud beep. 

"Nice job there Yeri-ah." Irene praised, giving her a thumbs up.

"Awesome! We just need one more now." The Canadian chirped happily. "The last number is four, so..." She trailed off, silently counting the bricks to four after the one Irene had just pushed. She placed her palm against the fated brick and pushed, hoping that this would be the right one. 

The block receded into the wall and within seconds, the ground trembled slightly causing Yeri to almost fall on her .

The brick wall slowly seperated revealing a long and dark tunnel that would hopefully lead them to where the next clue was. 

The three looked at each other and nodded, knowing exactly what they had to do. 

Irene lifted her hand to press against her earpiece, letting the others know what they had just discovered, "Seo, we found something on the top floor..." 

A/N: And here's the update on the last day of January. 

So, I was actually planning to update sooner but this month became way too busy for me. I had to study for finals, do projects that my teachers had decided would be best to do so after finals when I'm all out of energy, and what's worst is that I had a test just 5 days after finals ended. 

Anyway enough with my rant, sorry for the long wait, hopefully next month won't be as busy!

To all my subcribers, silent readers, and anyone else supporting this story, thank you so much!!!!! Wolfey signing out *peace*