"Finished."
Arkha immediately walked to the front and handed his assignment to the teacher.
"Excellent work, Arkha. Now wait outside for a moment until the break bell rings. Don't go to the cafeteria yet."
"Yes, sir."
Arkha stepped out of the classroom. Before leaving, he glanced back at his friends who were still working on their tasks and briefly raised a hand to cheer them on.
"What should I do now?"
He looked around the corridor, which was unusually quiet. All the students must still be focused on their lessons inside their respective classrooms.
"I'm not allowed to go to the cafeteria, right?"
Since he couldn't go there, he decided to walk past the class next door instead. But before long, his attention shifted to someone who was also coming out.
"Jae?"
The person being called turned around, looking puzzled.
"Did you get punished or something?" he asked.
"No, I just finished my assignment, so I was told to step out early," Arkha replied.
"Oh, same here then. I finished mine too," Jaehyuk said.
"Where are you going now?" Arkha asked.
"Not allowed to go to the cafeteria, so I guess I'll just wait in the student council room," Jaehyuk answered.
Arkha nodded in understanding. "I didn't see Hesa. Did he finish the earliest?"
"Hesa didn't tell you?" Jaehyuk asked.
"Tell me what?"
"He's sick. Said he wasn't feeling well, so I even made him some warm tea earlier," Jaehyuk explained.
"So he's in the infirmary?" Arkha asked.
"Of course. Where else, the principal's office?" Jaehyuk joked.
"Hehe, okay, thanks for the info."
Arkha immediately hurried toward the infirmary.
~~~~~~~~~
Arkha gently slid the infirmary door open. He entered and approached the only occupied bed.
Hesa was sitting there, playing with his phone. His face looked pale and his eyes were red.
"Who told you I was here?" Hesa asked.
"Jae. He said you weren't feeling well." Arkha lifted a white plastic bag and took something out. "I bought some bread too."
He opened the wrapper and handed it to Hesa, who accepted it right away.
"Thanks." Hesa smiled and took a bite.
"Your eyes look really swollen. Crying sickness, huh?" Arkha said.
Hesa paused mid-bite and stared at him flatly. "You noticed, huh."
"Why? Did Winter dump you?" Arkha teased.
"Watch your mouth. No way," Hesa muttered, turning toward the window that showed the corridor. "Jihan met me. She apologized."
"Apologized?" Arkha repeated.
"She really was being terrorized too, but she couldn't tell the reason and ended up lying about it," Hesa explained.
"Forget it. I'm not in the mood to talk about her. It's sad enough already, and now the kids are turning it into gossip," Arkha said.
"About her death, right?" Hesa asked.
"Hm." Arkha nodded shortly.
"She honestly told me she was killed by Heeseung," Hesa said.
"I already suspected that," Arkha replied.
Silence fell for a moment until music from the school radio echoed through the room, signaling that break time would start soon. Arkha smiled to himself, remembering how he had just messed with Joan earlier.
"You're crazy," Hesa said, staring at him as he smiled and chuckled.
"I just find Joan funny," Arkha said.
"What do you mean?" Hesa asked.
"I pranked him. You know how he's been suspicious of us? I told him we were following some idol MV theory or something," Arkha explained.
"Do idol MVs even have theories?" Hesa asked.
"Some of them do. I said the theory starts with them playing hide-and-seek, then getting terrorized at school, and then one of them disappears. I didn't even finish talking because he got annoyed and left," Arkha grinned.
"Hey, that sounds way too similar to our story. What if someone really disappears later? Don't say things carelessly like that," Hesa warned.
"Yeah, sorry. His reaction was just too funny," Arkha said.
Hesa looked at the table and saw the bread wrapper Arkha had left earlier. There was no trash can in the infirmary—probably taken away by the staff—so he picked it up, planning to throw it out later.
But when he was about to put it into his blazer pocket, he felt something blocking it. It turned out to be the sticky note he had found that morning. He immediately handed it to Arkha.
"I almost forgot."
Arkha read it as soon as he received it. "From Kyungmin?"
"Yeah," Hesa replied.
"What roles are there anyway?" Arkha asked.
"I don't know. That's all he wrote," Hesa said.
"Let's talk about it later. I'm hungry anyway—the bell just rang," Arkha said, slipping the note into his pocket.
~~~~~~~~~~
"So, where are we going for our next vlog, by the way?" Jio opened the conversation.
"I feel like going somewhere with fresh air," Joan said.
"Like outdoors?" Satya asked.
"Yeah, something like that," Joan replied.
"How about camping?" Setta suggested.
The suggestion made Hesa, who hadn't finished eating yet, choke, while Arkha stared at Setta in horror.
It wasn't without reason—they both clearly remembered that Jihan had gotten into an accident while camping before, the one that killed all her friends.
"Careful," Niki reminded him while handing him a drink.
"Sorry," Hesa said, drinking the water.
"Khan, why are you staring at Setta like that?" Joan asked.
"N-nothing," Arkha replied quickly.
"Why? Are you… scared of camping?" Setta asked.
"Of course not. Why would we be scared of camping?" Hesa denied.
"I've just never gone camping before, so I'm a bit hesitant," Arkha added.
"We'll go together. Relax," Jio said.
"But we still have to be smart about choosing the forest. Forests are home to wild animals," Hesa reminded them.
That was true. None of them had ever gone camping before, so they would need to research safe locations first.
~~~~~~~~~
"Here's your meatball soup, sir."
"Thanks," Jaehyuk replied to the vendor.
He immediately dug into his bowl, unlike Hesa who stayed quiet for a moment and ate absent-mindedly.
"Are you possessed or something?" Jaehyuk asked.
"Even if I were possessed it'd be fine. You're a demon too—you'd know how to communicate with your own kind," Hesa replied before continuing to eat.
"Damn," Jaehyuk snorted, staring at him flatly.
Not long after, Hesa noticed Setta walking alone across the street. Should he greet him? Of course not—Hesa was reluctant to face the fake.
He continued his activity, but gradually felt uneasy seeing a figure dressed entirely in black walking behind Setta.
"What's that person doing?"
He kept watching until Jaehyuk spoke.
"Bro, isn't that your gang?" Jaehyuk said.
"N-no," Hesa replied.
"That's Setta. How could you forget your own friend—wait, but it looks like he's being followed," Jaehyuk added.
"Y-yeah, Jae. I'll call him and tell him to run," Hesa said.
"That's a good move, but an even better one is if we go to your friend right now," Jaehyuk said, his voice sounding both annoyed and worried.
Hesa fell silent, nervous at seeing Jaehyuk's concern. He couldn't possibly tell him that the Setta they were seeing right now wasn't the real one.
Suddenly, a sound shattered the air.
"Akh!"
Hesa and Jaehyuk turned at once. Setta collapsed onto the asphalt after someone struck the back of his neck hard. The black-clad figure stood over him, face hidden in shadow.
Hesa froze. Memories of Setta being restrained at the villa days ago flashed through his mind. Fear and anxiety merged, sending adrenaline rushing through his body.
Without thinking, Hesa sprinted toward Setta.
"SETTA!!!" he screamed desperately, his voice echoing along the empty street.
But his steps halted when a car suddenly stopped beside Setta. The black-clad figure, assisted by another person, lifted Setta's limp body and roughly threw him into the car. The door slammed shut, the engine roared, and the car sped away, leaving dust behind.
"SETTA!!!" Hesa shrieked hysterically, his legs still running, trying to chase the vehicle that was getting farther and farther away. He stumbled hard onto the asphalt, but the car only grew smaller in the distance.
Finally, Hesa collapsed, his knees hitting the cold road. His breath was ragged, fresh blood trickling from his nose. His vacant eyes stared at the now-empty street, as if nothing had ever happened.
Jaehyuk rushed over, panic written all over his face. "Let's go to the hospital right now!" his voice trembled.
Hesa tried to stand, but his body felt heavy. "I-I have to chase the ca—"
His words stopped as his vision blurred. Dizziness overwhelmed his, and in an instant, his world went dark.