Jae Suk:

Jae Suk woke to slight pain on the back of his head, his eyes focusing to the darkness around him. He sat up, amazed that he was still in the same hidden room. He checked the monitors again, but all screens were empty. There was no one in sight, except for the lower monitors which showed the other staff members lying in a pool of dark liquid. Fear kept him in that room. He was too afraid to move, and too afraid to call for help. He checked his cell phone, but there was still no reception. He has to find a way out. His heart hammered, fighting the internal debate of leaving the safety of the room to find a way out. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Sujeong appear on one of the monitors, and it seemed like she was heading in his direction. He held onto the blue R sticker hint tightly and tried to control his breathing. He’ll wait there until Sujeong comes, and then they both can find a way out. Jae Suk had this gut feeling that this was no longer in the Chief’s hands, and that something indeed went wrong. He hopes the other members are okay…

Sujeong:

Sujeong lead the way with Choi following some distance behind her. He told her to head to the HQ where he last saw Jae Suk. Even knowing that Choi was following her, she still crept carefully through the hallway, anxious about running into that black creature again. She reached the HQ room in one piece, but Jae Suk was nowhere to be seen. She picked up the crumpled blue R sticker hint that was left in front of the doorway.

“(2x2)+(167-164)-(190-187)=?”

“The answer is 4,” she whispered and turned around, but saw that Choi was not there. “Choi?”

The intercom buzzed loudly, making her jump. She stumbled further into the room.

“All Running man members have been eliminated, except for one. Sujeong remains. Yoo Jae Suk remains. Find him and use the hints to find your way out to complete. Ignore us at your peril…” the voice hissed before ending the intercom with feedback.

Sujeong gulped loudly. Should I go to the lock first, or find Jae Suk? It sounds like he’s in trouble…

She huddled in the same corner that Jae Suk was at before, and leaned against the wall. It slid aside, and she gasped as she saw all the monitors still active. Almost all the screens were empty, nearly pitch black. On the lower monitors, she only saw pools of dark liquid and dark drag marks from those pools of liquid. One monitor was focused on the locked main door where the lock beckons her. Another camera was focused on a figure lying crumpled in an empty room. She assumed it was Jae Suk from the look of his outfit. He was somewhere upstairs. Maybe that’s where the secret jail room is too. I need to see if everyone is okay…

Gathering her courage, she carefully left the HQ room and reached the stairs. Using the light of her cell phone she climbed the stairs one step at a time, straining to hear any sound other than her own. Finally reaching the door to the second floor hallway, she paused. Something was wrong. It was too quiet… Slowly peeking through the crack of the door she peered into the hallway, but it was too dark to see anything. She carefully crouched and was nearly crawling as she passed each room, peeking in to see if she could see Jae Suk. He wasn’t in any of the rooms so far.

Turning the corner, she held her breath. She could hear noises from the room 2 doors down to her left. She approached the door, only to see Jae Suk gagged and tied to the chair with Choi standing behind him. Jae Suk stopped struggling as he saw Sujeong enter the room. He tried to warn her, but his mouth couldn’t make coherent sounds with the gag cutting him off.

“So, we finally come to the end,” Choi grinned, and Sujeong felt chills along her arms.

Laughter filled the intercom. It was the same maniacal laughter from before!

“What’s going on, Choi?” Sujeong asked while biting her lip.

“From what I see, you have two choices. Your first choice is to sacrifice Yoo Jae Suk and find the exit with your clues to win the game, but that also means you challenge me. Your second choice is to sacrifice yourself and save Yoo Jae Suk to avoid me, but I win the game after finishing off Jae Suk. The choice is yours,” Choi explained. “But you better hurry. Time is almost up.”

“I wasn’t aware there was a time limit,” Sujeong breathed.

She glanced over at Jae Suk from staring at Choi too long, wondering what she should do.

“Where is everyone else? Are they okay?” Sujeong bravely asked.

“See for yourself,” Choi pulled on a long string and it pulled down the black curtains from behind him.

As the curtains fell she saw all of the members tied and gagged. Their blindfolds were gone, and their eyes widened at the situation before them.

“What should I do?” Sujeong whispered, very relieved that everyone was okay, but now stuck with the decision to abandon them or sacrifice herself.

“Run!” Jae Suk managed to shout.

Sujeong took that as her que and bounded out the door, not looking back.

“Time to run, my pet,” Choi grinned and ripped off Jae Suk’s tag before casually walking out the room. “Ready or not, here I come.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and dashed around the corner back down the stairs.

“All Running Man members have been eliminated,” the cackling of the voice over the intercom announced. “Sujeong versus Choi Min Soo, start!”

Sujeong flew through the darkness of the first floor, groping around as she dashed straight towards the padlocked doors.

“I have the numbers 3, 8, 8, and 4 from the clues. The answer may not be in the order I found them, but I should try that combination first,” she spoke to herself and her camera.

She came to a screeching halt at the doors and grabbed for the big lock. She tried the first combination of numbers as 3, 8, 8, and 4. Holding her breath she pulled at the lock, but it did not unlatch. That combination didn’t work.

“Think, Sujeong, think!” She mentally berated herself as she thought of other combinations in her head as quickly as she could.

3 8 4 8…. Didn’t work.

3 4 8 8… Not the correct one.

4 3 8 8… Wrong.

4 8 8 3… Wrong again!

She gasped and turned around to see Choi approaching at the end of the hallway towards her. It almost seemed as if his body was taller…that somehow he got bigger. Panic set in, and she focused back on the lock, trying to block out his heavy breathing and deep mocking laughter.

8 8 3 4… Incorrect!

8 8 4 3… Try again!

8 4 8 3…Nope!

Sujeong cried out in frustration, tears swelling in her eyes as her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. Choi was fast approaching her, nearing reaching distance now behind her. She gulped and tried the next combination.

8…3…8…4…

A/N: Ooooh, the suspense is killing you, isn't it? What's going to happen to Sujeong? Find out in the next chapter! Update coming soon!