"Is it already morning?"
Arkha looked toward his bedroom window. A bit of light seeped in through the curtains covering it.
A moment later, he got up and realized he was lying on the floor of his own room.
"Why am I here? Wasn't last night I got drugged—wait—"
Suddenly, Arkha remembered. Just as he was about to fall asleep, a cloth had been pressed over his nose and mouth. He struggled in panic, ignoring the strange scent from the cloth that slowly made his head ache. He felt his body being lifted and dragged. He could even still hear Hesa calling out to him in panic, but not long after, he couldn't feel anything anymore.
"Hesa,"
Arkha saw Hesa lying near the door and immediately rushed over.
"Hesa, wake up," he said while shaking the older boy's body. There was a strange bruise on the back of Hesa's neck that Arkha noticed by accident.
"Damn it,"
Arkha quickly stood up to open the door, but it was locked—from the inside, with the key still in place.
"Locked from the inside…"
Whoever did this, it was obvious—it had to be Heeseung's group.
Arkha walked to the guest room and found the door open, but none of his friends were there. The same thing happened in his brother's room.
Where did everyone go?
"They've already left…"
Arkha rushed to the front of his house, but none of the vehicles his friends had used were there anymore.
"Damn it!" Arkha ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
"Khan,"
"Hesa,"
Arkha turned and saw Hesa not far from him.
"You feeling better? Looks like you got hit from behind last night," Arkha said.
"I heard your voice, but it felt… blocked somehow," Hesa replied.
"Someone covered my mouth and dragged me into the room," Arkha said.
"So it's true… they still went after the others," Hesa muttered.
"We failed again," Arkha said.
"We can still save the others," Hesa said, showing a message on his phone.
"Joan probably sent you a message too. He said he couldn't stop the others from going to Setta's house. He thought we were all sleeping together in your room—but it was locked," he continued.
"That bastard… now he's pretending to be a stabbing victim," Arkha scoffed.
"No time left, Khan. Let's go to his house now," Hesa said.
~~~~
As expected, Setta's house was dark, all the lights turned off. Even the bright daylight couldn't hide the heavy, ominous aura surrounding it.
"I don't think they're being held here," Hesa said.
"Probably in their world, like before," Arkha replied, then stepped forward and kicked the front door open.
Sunoo, who had been casually sitting near the door while playing on his phone, immediately looked up.
"So you finally showed up," he said.
"Where did you hide the others?!" Hesa demanded sharply.
"Oh, you came here to play the late heroes, huh? I almost forgot," Setta said, standing up and gesturing for them to follow.
Sunoo stopped in front of a dark storage room and turned to look at Hesa and Arkha behind him.
"They're in here," he said, pushing both of them toward a portal behind.
Everything instantly turned dark.
"Hesa… hey, wake up…"
Hesa slowly opened his eyes, seeing Arkha staring at him worriedly.
"K-Khan…" He tried to adjust his vision.
"Still dizzy?" Arkha asked.
"Yeah… a bit,"
Arkha helped Hesa sit up. Maybe it would ease the dizziness, especially since their bodies felt stiff—who knew how long they had been lying on the ground.
Hesa looked at the building in front of them—it was the same circular structure the Copycat used to trap them.
"I hear the others from inside," Arkha said.
"You didn't go look for them?" Hesa asked.
"I'm not heartless enough to leave you here when you're still out of it," Arkha replied.
"I'm fine now," Hesa said, standing up. Arkha followed, and they walked into the building.
Inside, it was eerily quiet. The dim lighting made the place feel even darker.
"Should we split up?" Arkha asked.
"No!" Hesa said firmly.
They kept walking through the hollow, dark structure.
"Where are they?" Hesa muttered.
"I think they're all locked in one room," Arkha said.
Tap, tap, tap.
Their footsteps were heard by their friends, who immediately shouted. Hesa and Arkha ran toward the sound.
When they arrived, they saw their friends locked inside a room that looked like a prison cell.
"Guys!"
Arkha quickly opened the barred door—it wasn't even locked. While Arkha helped free the others, Hesa looked around and noticed something strange.
"What is it?" Arkha approached him.
"Too late…" Hesa said, trembling.
A sliding sound echoed, and the door suddenly shut and locked automatically.
"We've been trapped."
"Trapped?" Joan asked.
Hesa pointed at something on the wall—a time bomb.
"Damn it!" Jio punched the wall in frustration.
"Now's not the time to get mad," Satya snapped.
Arkha carefully examined the bomb. "I think we can still defuse this if we find the right access code."
"Then let's look for it," Joan suggested.
Arkha glanced at Hesa worriedly, and Hesa noticed, giving him a reassuring smile.
"Yeah… we'll have to split up. We're running out of time," Hesa said.
Joan noticed Niki looking around nervously.
"What are you looking for, Nik?" Joan asked.
"There's only six of us… Setta's missing," Niki said.
"Don't think about others. Think about yourself first," Arkha said coldly.
Joan understood what Arkha meant.
"Let's search for the code—and our missing friend too. Hopefully we'll find both," he said, trying to keep everyone calm.
They split up.
~~~~~
Hesa searched for the code with Arkha.
"There," Arkha said, grabbing a paper stuck to the wall.
When he turned around, he saw a girl standing behind Hesa.
"Jihan…"
Hesa immediately turned at Arkha's whisper and saw the junior who had helped him before.
"You came again…"
Jihan smiled, glad he remembered her. "I came to keep my promise—to help you," she said, reaching out her hand.
Hesa hesitated, staring at it.
"Go. Let me and the others handle things here," Arkha said, gently patting his shoulder.
"Thanks," Hesa said.
He stepped forward and took Jihan's hand.
Elsewhere, the copycats had already realized Hesa was leaving—but they were too late. He vanished instantly.
~~~~~
Hesa and Jihan arrived in front of a villa.
"We have to hurry. They've realized and are on their way here," Jihan said.
Hesa rushed inside, searching every room until he found what he was looking for.
He approached a coffin-like box and saw Setta lying inside, sleeping peacefully.
"Setta… it's time for you to come back," he said softly, gently stroking Setta's hair.
"Hey!" Jihan rushed toward him in panic.
"They're here—"
Footsteps approached rapidly.
"What should we do?" Hesa asked.
"We can't leave until Setta wakes up," Jihan said.
Right then, Heeseung appeared at the doorway, glaring at them.
"So you're already here…"
"Maybe you should hide. I'll deal with your twin," Jihan said.
Hesa stared at her in disbelief. "You're going to sacrifice yourself again?!"
Grab.
Hesa was startled—without realizing it, Setta had woken up and tightly grabbed his hand.
At that exact moment, Heeseung screamed in pain and vanished.
Hesa froze, processing what just happened.
"H-Hesa…"
Setta's weak voice snapped him out of it.
"W-What's wrong with me? I'm scared."
"It's okay. You're with me now," Hesa said gently, trying to calm him.
Jihan looked around. "It's safe now. We need to go back before they catch up."
Hesa nodded and helped Setta out of the coffin.
~~~~~
Meanwhile, Arkha and the others were still searching for the code when suddenly a massive tremor shook the building, causing it to collapse and bury them in rubble.
Crash!
After a while, Arkha slowly opened his eyes—he felt no pain at all. Somehow, they were all back in front of Setta's house.
"Why are we here?" Joan asked, confused.
"At least we're alive," Jio said.
Hesa and Setta appeared and immediately approached them.
"Are you guys okay?" Setta asked.
"Yeah… but we still don't understand what just happened," Niki said.
Hesa and Arkha exchanged glances.
Would it be better to finally reveal everything—
So that from now on, they could all work together?
Even if it meant breaking the rules?