|The Expected Betrayal|

--Kim Young's Point of View--

'I wonder how we're getting out of this hole...'

It is nighttime now with no sign of any other teams discovering us in this deep hole that was barehandedly dug up by those girls.

"This wouldn't have happened if one of us were watching." Jay-Hyung lay on the ground as if there was a comfortable mattress under him.

"Don't you hate the dirt though? And aren't you wearing all-white clothes?"

I sat across him, holding both of my hands together in order to fight the coldness of the air in the forest.

"We are wasting time here, let's just dig our way out just like how they dug us in here." Sungyeon-Hyung disregarded his opinion since it wasn't helping at all.

"Grab anything you can find useful than your mouths, got it?"

His voice made us both flinch.

--Honey Lou's Point of View--

Everything felt so dull around me despite the fact that we were playing a game...

'For some reason, it is starting to hurt.' even when nothing much is happening right now.

"Are you both hungry?" I checked on the other two girls, seemingly having a peaceful time at the moment compared to me.

"Do you have anything to feed us? If not, then don't ask!"

My sister answered in return with a hint of bitterness in her voice upon finding out that I wasn't having the best time with them around...

'Is it even my fault that I'm not in the mood?'

I feel as if I just don't have the energy for this...

"It is just a feeling though, it wouldn't matter to anyone else."

I weakly spoke to myself, pulling out a small mirror to see my reflection, and it still looked the same as the last time when I looked at it.

Specifically, the time I woke up.

"This is supposed to be fun!" yelled my older sister from the other side of a tree.

I tried to come up with an excuse to make sure that it didn't show, to ensure that no one would find out no matter how obvious it got.

And no matter how much I tried to let them know...

'I don't want them to find out but...' I want to feel better.

So, in this case... "Where would I end up with this mindset?" I whispered to myself, keeping the thoughts from leaking out.

"It is making me feel competitive to the point that I want to finish them now!" I desperately attempted to deceive my mind and heart into believing that I was truly fine.

At this point, I may sound like I don't plan on fixing myself...

Well, I gave up when no one got the message years ago.

'If anything happens, it is all on them.'

--Yua's Point of View--

We made it through the last obstacle of this game which is reaching the final round where only a few of us are left in the game.

'Still, struggling to even capture any other teams.'

Now, whether or not we win this game... "We are still in the last place!" I shouted at Song for abandoning us for as much as I abandoned my friends too, I guess this makes it even.

"This is a consequence for ditching us all the time." Song flicked my forehead with his soft yet hurtful left hand.

"Stop it. As long as we get the last other teams, we'll win."

"By the way, when will I get to meet this new girl of yours?" the cyan-haired male nudged Hyunjoo as they both stood by the huge tree ahead of me as I climbed every tree branch to gain some view since I ain't that tall enough like them.

I heard a sigh when suddenly the red-haired friend of mine responded to him in the most secretive way a person could.

I never really thought that one of my closest friends would keep such a secret from me.

How traitorous!

"Refer to her as my significant other, will you?" he deliberately said, whispering back but eventually failing to do so.

"I bet this girl is great and has a lot to offer to you, is that why you've never revealed her to me?" why do they have to do this kind of spilling tea when we're in the middle of a serious game?

"This can wait, I think we've found them."

--Kim Sihyeon's Point of View--

I thought it was over... The game is still ongoing, I suppose?

"Hey, are you feeling okay? You look pale."

Jihyun held out her palm, placing it on my forehead.

'I feel like this has already happened before.'

Deja vu is the right term for this situation of mine.

"Yes, I feel totally normal." I dismissed the thought that something was wrong.

"Are you sure about that? Because the last time that you got sick was when you started dreaming..." she replied with pure worry in her voice, and she wasn't wrong.

But then again, I am certain that my dream days are over.

"I'm going out." I bid her farewell while heading out the door, straightly passing by Yeonju.

And yet, we didn't give a glance at each other as if we were strangers and had no kind of relationship... 'This is normal.' everything going on at this very second is normal.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." I tried to relax a bit.

"Scratch that, I am out of this place!"

I rushed out to find Yun Oh because there was something wrong that I could not figure out without his knowledge about whatever might be occurring.

"Have you seen Song Ji Eun?" I asked a brown-haired male, and he seemed to know where she was, making me wonder...

The flares often show me the obvious reasons when a problem occurs in their plan.

'He had something to do with all of this.' though he may not be aware of what he has done.

"Shin Haru, was it?"

I called out the name, however, instead of responding to me the way I wished he would, he smiled and just told me that he confronted my friend about her affair with Kim Young...

"If I were you, I would fix things before they get out of hand." I walked inside the cabin before knocking on the door to our bedroom, opening it to see no one.

"Song Ji Eun, you witch!" I unconsciously called my friend, panicking when it finally hit me.

"You're the one who is slipping through the cracks."

--Yun Oh's Point of View--

Dan and Miles fell asleep on top of a tree while I gathered some thick twigs to start a fire, noticing a rather shocking silhouette in the distance.

I flashed my light to confirm my hunch.

'What is she doing here..?' Sihyeon approached me, asking where the others were.

"Yun, you started a fire. Did it flicker somehow? Even for a moment??" she looked at it.

"Why? Did something happen because I don't know where the other teams are..." she ruined her hair from frustration.

Telling me that Ji Eun has been bothering her and the Flares for a while now.

"Who are the Flares?" I cluelessly asked.

"And I thought that my role as a seer is over, they really like playing us!" she answered.

I don't understand what's going on here now, Sihyeon is making things complicated with her lips still sealed like a safe.

"If you're done with your dreams, why aren't you spilling everything?" I rebuked my friend.

"I haven't been dreaming lately so technically, it means that I am no longer supposed to..." do anything, she doesn't have any part to take in this other than being in our circle.

"We just have to find them!" I took her hand and we ran to find whoever it was that she wanted to look for. "So, tell me everything if you aren't dreaming anymore."

--Kim Sihyeon's Point of View--

His question made me stop, letting his hand go as he continued running off on his own...

"Why can't I tell them a thing about what I know when my work is done?" or is it truly..?

'This can't be happening, right?' this is just a dream! Wake up!

'This is only a dream... Wake up! Wake up!'

I started to try and blink my eyes to awaken myself.

"Sihyeon, wake up!!" I sat up from my side of the bed with Ji Eun shaking me aggressively, I blinked my eyes repeatedly so that I could understand what was going on.

"Dreaming again? I thought you were done with that?"

Cho Jihyun had her arms crossed over her chest at the end of the bed, and everyone else was watching me sweat like crazy.

"What was the dream about this time?"

Yua leaned on the doorframe with the door completely open, exposing me even to those who weren't using this room, and I could barely catch my breath after that horrid dream.

"I am not sure if I can say anything about it since when I dream, my lips are sealed... Remember?"

I reminded them but it was something that I really had no choice but to verify.

"Okay, so... As far as I know, so far..." played with my words to see if I could spill the dream, and by spilling the dream...

'I mean, every bit of it.' they listened.

"My dream was about us playing the game of tag in the dark with only three teams left! And clearly, those teams were..."

As I was getting to the details of my dream, Sora cut me off, and I was not expecting what she was going to tell me!

"I think you fell asleep last night while the dream was happening live... Haesu-eonni and Young-Oppa broke up in the middle of the woods at night, and the others were there to hear this and watch it happen." she pointed to Haesu's bed.

It was empty and the pillow was soaking with what seemed to be her tears.

"Ouch!" Yua commented.

"Is that so?" I took a sip of my glass of iced milk before pouring it on a bowl of cereal, listening to Yun Oh as he gave me every detail of what happened last night.

"I had this thought of seeing you in the dark though."

"I think it was a Flare who showed me the way to them so that I could watch the breakup happen alongside Catherine." he whispered to me.

'Right, they do that sometimes...' but what about my ability to dream?

Am I done with all of this or is it just me worrying about our circle of friends??

"Well, whatever happened... We can't change it, and this is going to affect us." he added.