junghwa

dohyun:

[ how many rooms are there in this fucking place? ]

while dohyun kept talking to himself, junghwa timidly followed, keeping a close distance with his best friend. known as the scaredy-cat of the group, he had wanted taeyoon to come, to have one person in front and behind him, but after the older went on his own, junghwa couldn't help but feel horrified that something would come out and leap at him.

the place was haunted, after all.

junghwa:

[ hyun-ah, where are we heading exactly? ]

dohyun:

[ just know that we'll be stuck here for a while. ]

junghwa shuddered at his tone, feeling a sense of dread wash over him as he took a step back from dohyun.

He didn't understand how chunghee didn't seem to be scared when he went on the search with youngsoo. both of them were the exact opposite of brave. especially junghwa himself. he would jump at any unexpected movement or sound, wherever and whenever he was in. But maybe chunghee felt the comfort with the presence of his dongsaeng next to him, which was exactly how he should feel with dohyun just beside.

dohyun:

[ does this room look different to you? comparing to the others, i mean. ]

the other 94 liner was feeling his hand along the smooth wooden door, the dim flashlight he always kept in his pocket shining on the walls next to it.

at least he was smart enough to keep a flashlight, not that the tiny thing was of much use.

junghwa turned his attention back to the door. the whole structure itself seemed larger, stretching from the ground to the ceiling. he heard a sneeze from dohyun, confirming his expectation that the whole place itself was filled with dust.

junghwa:

[ you gonna go in? ]

dohyun {confusedly} :

[ why would hwan and wonshik be in there? ]

junghwa:

[ you said yourself this door was different. maybe those two were curious about that too. ]

to his surprise, dohyun kicked the door. junghwa turned away as the dust started flying around the constricted space.

the room inside was as dark as the outside, no windows, doors, nothing.

dohyun {to himself}:

[ makes me wonder who built this place. ]

the room felt empty, with dead leaves and dust scattering around the place. the walls were devoid of anything, the whole room just giving an creepy vibe to junghwa.

dohyun, on the other hand, was quickly running his hand along the wall, the sounds of his fingernails scraping against the wallpaper sending chills down junghwa's back.

junghwa:

[ dohyun, aren't you even one bit scared? ]

dohyun:

[ scared of what? it's just an empty house with no light. ]

oh, how junghwa wished he had half the courage dohyun had. not daring to take another step, junghwa just stared into the room.

junghwa:

[ Okay hyun, it's clear hwan and wonshik aren't here, can we leave now? ]

dohyun:

[ wait, let me finish looking around. ]

what's there to look around when it's completely dark and you only have a dim light.

junghwa glanced back at the corridors. the others were completely nowhere to be found. the hallway was completely silent, a volume that he wasn't used to.

junghwa:

[ where do you think the others are? hwan and wonshik, those two fuckers started this, chunghee and youngsoo aren't much braver than us, and taeyoon's by himself. ]

junghwa:

[ typical of taeyoon to head out by himself though. do you think he'll get lost too? ]

dohyun didn't seem to hear him; he made no response.

junghwa:

[ dohyun? ]

silence.

so he had to go in. heart pounding in his ears, junghwa held onto the doorframe with a shaking hand as he stepped into the room.

calling his best friend's name over and over again, junghwa found himself going further into the room, his feet scraping on the creaky floorboard.

he found dohyun hovered over something in the far side of the room, the flashlight shakily shining on something on the floor.

junghwa:

[ dohyun? what's there? ]

dohyun didn't say anything, pointing to the ground, setting the flashlight on it.

junghwa took in a breath as he saw what dohyun was focused on.

a thick piece of rope, tied in a noose, set on the floor.

dohyun:

[ ...what does that remind you of? ]

junghwa {trembling}:

[ ...i don't have to answer that right? i'm thinking exactly what you think it is. ]

dohyun:

[ why would such a killer weapon be here? nothing like this was found in the other rooms.]

junghwa:

[ h-has someone died here before? ]

dohyun:

[ i repeat again, this place's called haunted for a reason. ]

junghwa:

[ but suicide...where's the body? ]

dohyun:

[ why must it be a suicide? what if it was a murder? ]

junghwa stared at dohyun, his mind unable to come up with a response. He didn't understand how dohyun could suddenly come up with such a synopsis.

just the house himself made him uncomfortable. now there's a possibility that someone attempted suicide here. or was murdered, whatever.

that day wasn't going well for junghwa.

junghwa:

[ how long have we been here? ]

junghwa:

[ i'm not staying in this fucking horror house for more than 4 hours. ]

dohyun had gone silent again, making junghwa peer down to check what he was doing.

junghwa

[ i'm not used to you being silent, hyun. ]

dohyun suddenly whipped around and stared at junghwa, his eyes reflecting glassily from the light of his flashlight, panic and terror set in his eyes as he looked desperately at the open door behind junghwa.

dohyun:

[ junghwa, we shouldn't have come here. ]

junghwa {laughing uncertainly} :

[ you finally realized. now what made you say that? ]

junghwa watched, his hands sweating uncontrollably as dohyun picked up the heavy noose from the ground. it seemed to be stuck to something, until dohyun gave it another hard tug and flung it a bit further than where it was.

squinting at the dark in front of him, junghwa took a long time to figure out what dohyun had wanted to show him.

upon setting his eyes on the blood red letters, junghwa screamed.

it's the first time he's done that since arriving here, and apparently he'd been holding the scream of fear in for a long time.

something began to sting the back of his eyes as he stepped back, as he turned away, facing the dark once again.

why did he want to cry? it's not as if he was about to die.

dohyun:

[ junghwa, calm down! ]

junghwa:

[ calm down? i should be the one asking why are you so calm! ]

dohyun:

[ we can solve this, no one would get hurt, or die, or anything, okay? ]

junghwa: {pointing to the floor} :

[ that just proved you wrong. do you not realize how serious this is? one of us will die! ]

junghwa pushed dohyun back a little bit, making him stumble and drop the flashlight. and coincidentally, the flashlight landed on the floor, it's light shining directly on the message which got junghwa so traumatized.

next to the noose, written in big red letters,

hell is empty and all the devils are here.

you're first, jung youngsoo.

~C. H.