The skies were already dark when the group finally emerged from the woods, their faces downcast and their hearts heavy. As they approached the building’s entrance, the familiar sight offered no solace—only a stark reminder of the void left by their late classmate’s absence.

They entered the lobby that night, their somber procession halting momentarily as they were met with the anxious faces of their other classmates. Eyes widened as they scanned the group, seeking the presence of one member. However, their expressions grew rigid as they realized this member’s absence.

No one spoke as the scouting team filed in, their faces showing frustration and sadness. It wasn’t until Eun-Chan, seeing the expressions of Yoon-Ji and Eun-Ha, stepped forward to address the class president.

“What happened out there? What happened to Dong-Hyun?” He asked, triggering a rush of memories for the witnesses.

“The game must take place within the boundaries.” The warning had come, almost like a cruel joke.

Dong-Hyun had picked himself up from the fall and crouched on the ground. He looked up at the white line with an expression of knowing terror, his face paling to a deathly white. He slowly turned his gaze toward So-Mi, who also seemed to have fallen during the commotion.

“W-What…?” Eun-Ha's voice, filled with disbelief, broke the silence as she took in the scene. She nearly collapsed if not for a pair of hands holding her up.

Beside Eun-Ha, Yoon-Ji cursed under her breath. Everything had happened so fast; the next thing she knew, the athlete had been doomed by the game. How did it happen? Had it been an accident? She glanced at So-Mi, noting the fear and tension on the girl’s face.

"For breaking the rules, Kim Dong-Hyun will be executed." The announcement rang out, and the other volunteers finally realized what had happened. They ran to find the girls, but they arrived too late. They could only watch as the athlete ceased to move, as if he had been taken over by a commanding power, much like what happened to Heo-Yool.

Yoon-Ji pulled at her hair, her head throbbing as she saw flashes of her best friend's face overlaid with Dong-Hyun's. Her breathing became shallow, but as she gazed down at the earthy soil beneath her feet, she was able to ground herself.

Jun-Hee and Woo-Ram rushed to Dong-Hyun's help, racing past So-Mi, who was still on the ground, barely dragging herself away from the scene. They tried to persuade the male, encouraging him to return to the throng and even extending their hands to grab, but it was futile; Dong-Hyun was long since gone in his mind.

Jang Hyun-Ho was the last to arrive, yelling and screaming in agony, all rationality thrown out the window at the sight of his best friend.

Yoon-Ji felt the hairs on her arms rise as she peered at the display. Her thoughts continued to flash back to the previous night, reminding her of what had taken her beloved friend away. She couldn't gather the confidence to help Dong-Hyun in since she was having trouble with her own miserable thoughts. Only when her gaze rested on the shaking form on the ground did she come out of her stupor.

She approached the figure and extended her hand for the girl to take. The vice president, So-Mi, studied it closely for a moment before gripping it and boosting herself up. Once finished, they and every other volunteer took a step back, helplessly watching as their classmate proceeded to go through terrific convulsions.

Dong-Hyun continued to thrash about, grasping the ends of his hair and writhing in place. Then he came to a halt, revealing his empty white eyes and stiffening his stance. After that, he cautiously reached up and forced his hands into his eyesockets, painfully burrowing into the holes and quickly yanking the orbs out as crimson blood spurted endlessly from them.

When the male's eyes were entirely detached from his head, he carelessly flung them away and began to emulate Sang-Hwan and Hyun-Seok by grabbing the first large rock he could find on the ground. He then repeatedly banged it against his head until the flesh beneath his skin was exposed.

Nobody could do anything besides shriek; however, this was not the end. After pulling out his eyes and brutally opening a hole in his own skull, his balance failed, causing him to slip backward and roll down the edge until he was fatally struck in the stomach by an imposingly sharp and sturdy wooden branch.

"Dong-Hyun!"

"We couldn't save him," rasped Jun-Hee, clenching his palm into a tight fist. "We couldn't even retrieve his body. I'm sorry, everyone.”

Breaths seized in their throats, almost refusing to accept that the guy they had just seen profess his resolve to help had truly passed away.

One of the students, Mi-Na, mustered the courage to speak up. "Wait, what happened to Dong-Hyun exactly? How did he get..." Her voice trailed off, leaving the question hanging.

Everyone looked after the scouting group, expecting an answer. "Dong-Hyun, he-" So-Mi began, fear evident on her face as she spoke, "He wasn't sure if the line stopped there, so he started checking for the edge.”

“I told him not to b-because the ground was unstable,” They watched the very girl who'd witnessed the athlete’s final moments as she started running short in breath, her chest falling erratically as she tried to recall the scene, “B-But he continued and then he slipped, f-fell past the line.”

The girl wept under her breath, and the knowledge of this truth brought distress to everyone's faces. Yoon-Ji turned away and looked at her companions, her gaze halting on Eun-Ha, who, while seeming just as gloomy, was fixated on staring the vice president down.

She scrunched her face in puzzlement before storing the sight for later questioning.

"Then, how far into the village were you able to travel?" Kyung-Jun's stern eyes met Jun-Hee's. His question was met with deathly stillness, so he ground his teeth and screamed, "You said you'd contact people and get help! Did you do it?!"

"Stop it," a palm firmly pushed against his chest, directing him away from the class president, who continued to evade everyone's attention. Kyung-Jun gazed furiously at the perpetrator, Yoon-Ji, who blatantly ignored him and made it her goal to stand between them.

She glanced at So-Mi, who seemed reluctant to speak, and Jun-Hee, who appeared defeated, before finally turning to address everyone. "We couldn't reach the village or make contact with anyone because there was zero way for us to reach them."

"What?" They began to murmur amongst themselves, unsure what she meant by this.

"What do you mean?" Kyung-Jun demanded, peering squarely at Yoon-Ji, who returned his gaze with a skeptical face. "You guys said there's supposed to be a village there, and now you're claiming there isn't one?"

"That's…not what I meant." Yoon-Ji clarified that there was a settlement there indeed, before explaining, "I meant that whoever's responsible for this disgusting game made sure to close off all possible paths leading to the village."

“How can you be so sure?” Kyung-Jun asked.

To which Yoon-Ji answered, “Because we didn't stop searching for a way out even after the incident.”

"What do we do?" Eun-Ha, sobbing, questioned the class president as they were forced to leave Dong-Hyun's disfigured corpse. Yoon-Ji went in for a side embrace, lending body heat to help the girl recuperate from the shock.

They all stood around in frustration, their faces engraved with apologies and anguish for their former friend. Jun-Hee folded the map in his hands before stating, "We should keep going while we can."

"But—" "We can't waste time like this," Woo-Ram was interrupted by the class leader, who stood up and left in search of the path to the village.

Everyone looked at him before attentively glancing at Hyun-Ho. To their surprise, the athlete rose to his feet and followed the class president.

"He's right," Hyun-Ho said. "We can mourn Dong-Hyun and everyone once we've found help and gotten out of this hellhole."

He and Jun-Hee exchanged brief nods before setting off. The others exchanged uneasy looks before closely following the two.

"After what happened, we continued walking and searching for a way to get to the village, but everything was closed off," Yoon-Ji recounted, squeezing her hands tightly. She remembered every turn they took and how the lines marked every road they took, bringing them to numerous dead ends.

"We've been completely trapped," she declared, her expression darkening as she recognized the gravity of the situation.

Everyone responded viscerally, including the slick-haired delinquent next to her, who turned away and threw the object he was grabbing while cursing obscenities under his breath.

"Then," Yoon-Seo began, eyes glinting with tears yet to have spilled. She queried aloud, echoing Yoon-Ji's earlier fears. "Is it true that we can't leave until the game is over?"

The frail girl's remarks made everyone fearful, waiting for the answer. Deep down, they hoped to hear a resolute no, a maybe, or anything that signified they still had a chance of fleeing the situation alive.

But these goals were dashed when the class president gave a brief and clear answer, "Yes."

The quiet descended in a single swoop, and students were overcome with a sense of defeat, their eyes strained red from all the crying they'd endured since the start of this wicked game.

Yoon-Ji sighed as she stared at Jun-Hee, who was still behaving atypically. She couldn't say she knew how the male felt, but she can only imagine how much guilt the leader carried as the one who suggested the plan and even promised safety to the volunteers, knowing all he had to show for it was yet another death.

She opened her lips to speak, to encourage, like she always did, but slowly closed them when she realized she had nothing to say, nothing that could help them cope with the anguish of their uncertain fate.

Instead, Yoon-Ji chose to pat the class leader on the top of his shoulder three times, offering him unspoken encouragement. She then joined up with Eun-Chan, Yeon-Woo, and Eun-Ha and left the lobby.

With that, class 2-3 began disassembling, fleeing into their quarters, unaware of the challenges that would await them later that night.

—

“Is there really nothing out there?” Yeon-Woo asked his female friends, still in disbelief. A wave of silence washed over the room as he received no reply. He stammered, “I-It can't be that we're going to be stuck here forever, right? Surely, our families would become suspicious and search for us?”

His friends offered no words to answer his queries; they were as lost as he was. Besides their own predicament, there was the matter of their missing teacher and the absence of the youth center staff. It seemed like only the students remained. Who knows what the mastermind could have done to their families?

“I-I'm starting to think we might just be experiencing a collective hallucination,” Yeon-Woo gestured vaguely, struggling to find the right words. “L-Like that town where everyone kept dancing? Because there's no way this is happening, right? I mean-”

As Yeon-Woo spoke, Yoon-Ji's thoughts wandered. She had her own reservations about the nature of the 'game,' but there was something else that had been plaguing her since they returned from outside: it concerned their friend, Eun-Ha.

Yoon-Ji only noticed something was amiss with Eun-Ha during their return. The Eun-Ha she knew was not reserved, but was still generally guarded about her deepest thoughts and feelings. Which was why seeing Eun-Ha's blatantly apprehensive behavior towards the class vice president confused her.

She moved over to Eun-Ha, trying to catch her eye. And, during a lull in the conversation, Yoon-Ji gently placed a hand on her friend's arm, shattering the silence that enveloped them.

"Eun-Ha, can I talk to you for a moment?" She noticed Eun-Ha tense slightly at her words but nodded in agreement. Yeon-Woo and Eun-Chan exchanged puzzled looks before deciding not to meddle.

The girls went to a spot where they could talk discreetly. Yoon-Ji took a deep breath and searched for the proper words. "I couldn't help but notice earlier... after what happened with Dong-Hyun... you seemed off. Is everything okay?"

Hearing this, Eun-Ha paused, her eyes darting aside, before meeting Yoon-Ji's stare. "I'm not sure," she replied hesitantly. "It's just... something didn't feel right.”

Yoon-Ji nodded slowly, encouraging Eun-Ha to continue. "Was it something specific?" she asked gently.

Eun-Ha hesitated, visibly torn. Yoon-Ji waited patiently, sensing Eun-Ha needed to gather her thoughts.

Finally, Eun-Ha spoke in a hushed tone, as if afraid of being overheard. "I think... I think I saw So-Mi... push Dong-Hyun," Eun-Ha confessed, voice barely above a whisper. She glanced around nervously, as if expecting repercussions for her words.

At this, Yoon-Ji's stomach sank. She hadn't expected that. Dong-Hyun's fall had seemed sudden and chaotic. But if Eun-Ha had seen something... "Are you sure?" Yoon-Ji asked gently, seeking clarification.

Eun-Ha nodded, her expression fearful. "I... I didn't want to believe it at first. But I think I saw them arguing just before it happened. And then Dong-Hyun was pushed. It was quick but y-you must've seen a bit too right?"

"I only saw him fall, unfortunately," Yoon-Ji shook her head, recalling the incident. As she did so, she remembered the victim's and vice president's faces.

This had her pausing, taking a minute to digest the memories that resurfaced in her head. A betrayed expression, partially obscured by a head of hair. "Though, something about Dong-Hyun's expression was…"

If they were to draw anything from this realization and what Eun-Ha witnessed, it would be that an altercation most likely happened between So-Mi and Dong-Hyun, which resulted in the latter's fall.

And if this was true, then it also meant that the vice president had probably lied to everyone about what happened before Dong-Hyun's final moments. "So she must be a mafia, huh?"

Eun-Ha nodded.

"Would you have said anything, or told anyone if I hadn't asked?" Yoon-Ji inquired softly, knowing full well what the other would say.

Eun-Ha shook her head and looked down, anxiously twisting her fists. "No, I was terrified," she acknowledged in a faint voice, "of what might happen if I spoke up. I was scared of making a wrongful judgment.”

Yoon-Ji reached out, squeezing Eun-Ha's hand reassuringly. "Thank you for telling me," she said sincerely. "I'll figure out a way to open it up to everyone else, alright? For now just calm down for a bit."

Eun-Ha managed a weak smile, clearly relieved to have shared her burden. "Okay, I trust you,” she murmured.

As they rejoined the boys, Yoon-Ji's mind raced. Confronting the suspect, So-Mi, herself was risky, especially when their evidence was only based on another's account, particularly one from whom So-Mi didn't get along with the best. But one thing was clear: she couldn't ignore Eun-Ha's revelation.

“Don’t you guys think we should regroup with the others?” Yeon-Woo said all of a sudden. The three looked at him in confusion before allowing him to explain, “Well, I just thought that maybe the others are already banding up and thinking of who to vote next. If we keep sticking together as a group of four, someone out there might mistake us all for the mafia and try to convince others to vote us out.”

“That's a really stupid line of thinking–” Yoon-Ji remarked, cutting Yeon-Woo off. “But given how some of our classmates act, it's not entirely impossible to happen.”

Yeon-Woo's suggestion hung in the air, prompting a moment of contemplative silence. Eun-Ha furrowed her brow in thought, while Eun-Chan chewed his lip, considering the implications.

"I understand Yeon-Woo’s point," Eun-Ha finally spoke up, her voice measured. "Staying together might make us an easy target if others start suspecting us. But... we don't know anything about the others out there. What if they're already allied with someone we can't trust? And they use that against us?"

Yoon-Ji knew who her friend was thinking of. But it was for this exact reason they had to weigh in on both options. “It's true. Trusting others in this situation will be risky. But isolating ourselves wouldn't be a great move either. Big alliances dominate discussions often and just like Yeon-Woo said, if we get suspected, those big groups can easily sway everyone into voting for us."

Eun-Chan also cut into the tension with a pragmatic tone. "The only reasonable thing to do for now would be to agree to join the others, but on our terms. We establish our ground rules, like always having each other's backs, no matter what."

Yeon-Woo slowly nodded, feeling a surge of confidence. "Right. Since we've practically cleared each other, we just need to be wary of the others, especially guys like Kyung-Jun."

Hearing the delinquent’s name, Yoon-Ji opened her mouth to speak, before falling silent as she considered the weight of her words. Although she and the male had the chance to speak about their roles through her flawed method, on the off chance that the male’s seemingly genuine reactions had actually been all an act, then it could only spell trouble for them. She decided then It was better if she kept her findings to herself.

Yeon-Woo shifted in his seat. "So then, what do we do now? Are we going to join Joo-Young's and So-Mi's group? I think Woo-Ram is already out there looking for people to join them."

Everyone glanced at Yoon-Ji for confirmation. She took a moment to consider, then nodded decisively. "Yes, we'll join them. But remember, we follow our own rules. We come first."

After their discussion, the group left their room and encountered Woo-Ram, who was wandering about trying to get more people to join them. Yoon-Ji’s group expressed their desire to join and were guided to the room where the rest had gathered.

Yoon-Ji felt an immediate sense of mistrust when the door opened and numerous sets of eyes met theirs.

"You guys decided to join us?" Joo-Young asked, her tone neutral.

Yoon-Ji nodded, speaking up for her group. "Yes, we thought it would be safer to stick together with everyone else."

Before the other could respond, Yoon-Ji continued. "Though, just to be clear, the four of us are still a team within the team. We look out for each other first and foremost."

“That’s…how do we know you’re not all mafia within that team?” Park Ji-Soo asked. Her tone was accusatory, but more composed than it had been in their exchange following Sang-Hwan and Hyun-Seok’s execution.

“If we were,” Yoon-Ji replied, a bit amused by the notion, “we'd be the stupidest mafia ever to announce our alliance to you guys.”

“Besides, We all know this entire group has a lot of smaller alliances,” The girl went on to say,  “So suspecting us will be hypocritical and warrants you guys being suspected too.”

Hearing this, the others turned to So-Mi, who observed the group cautiously, her expression unreadable. "Fair enough, come on in and close the door behind you," she said after a moment, her voice steady.

The four sat by the door and listened as Ji-Soo began the conversation by asking who each person suspected to be the mafia. So it was true then, they had already accepted playing by the game’s rules and had abandoned any hope of an alternative escape.

“Given how it's Ju-Won who died,” Joo-Young began, fiddling with her fingers as she shared her thoughts, “it could be someone from Kyung-Jun's gang.”

Murmurs of agreement arose from the others. Even Yeon-Woo put forward a theory relative to the fact that Kyung-Jun’s group owed Ju-Won money, which could have been their motive for the killing. Yoon-Ji understood their reasoning, given their relentless bullying towards their now-deceased classmate. However,

“I think we should also consider the possibility that Ju-Won’s death wasn’t motivated,” Yoon-Ji continued. “It’s important to think about motives, but if we’re going to vote someone off, we have to think not just about who might have had a reason to act, but also about the circumstances of the death.”

The room went quiet as they listened to her. She was right; just focusing on motives wasn't enough. They needed to consider the physical details of the death to make sure they could pinpoint the actual perpetrators.

“Wait, I have something. Isn’t it strange, Ju-Won’s case I mean?” Mi-Na said, fiddling with a curler on her forehead. “Did you guys forget? He was a mafia. The mafia only targets citizens, right? So why was he killed?”

The matter of Ju-Won’s role had been a reason for discussion since it was announced, as it raised questions on whether it was possible that the mafia didn't know who their other fellow mafia were. But this was easily debunked by the fact that in the rules, it was clearly stated that all mafia were to remain awake after midnight.

The only other plausible, though unsettling, explanation for Ju-Won's death was the possibility of a deranged killer among the mafia members.

Mi-Na took this idea and ran away with it, turning to Baek Eun-Ha who was sitting next to her. “I think we might be able to identify a suspect based on yesterday's vote.”

Majority of the group turned their attention to Eun-Ha, making. her eyes widened as she quickly understood that her suggesting voting off Heo-Yool was now grounds for suspicion.

“You wanted everyone to vote for Heo-Yool,” Mi-Na said. “I and others only voted for him because you asked us to.”

“Hey, Choi Mi-Na,” Eun-Ha said with a betrayed look, “You think I’m mafia?”

“Mi-Na’s right, it's pretty weird…” Woo-Ram spoke up, before lowering his gaze once he felt Eun-Chan and Yeon-Woo’s glares on him.

“Eun-Ha,” So-Mi interjected, her face contorted in confusion, “Why did you tell us Heo-Yool was mafia? Why try to get him voted off by claiming he's a mafia? unless… you’re mafia yourself?”

The room was overtaken with silence as the accusations were put in place. Eun-Ha looked on in disbelief and frustration. She scrunched her brows, trying to find the right words to defend herself, but was cut off as her friend finally intervened.

“Wait,” Yoon-Ji quickly interjected, cutting off the rising accusations. “You guys aren’t being reasonable. Did you forget that at the beginning, we all thought this was just a normal mafia game?”

Without giving anyone a chance to respond, Yoon-Ji pressed on, “Eun-Ha, knowing this, would have played the game as we always have. That’s why, when Heo-Yool started teasing her in the chat, she teased him back about getting voted off. How could you overlook that, if not deliberately?”

“Right,” Yeon-Woo jumped in to defend the girl. “Besides, you all went along with it too, didn’t you? None of us knew things would turn out like this.”

So-Mi glanced around at the members of her group, only to find them eagerly awaiting her response. She swallowed once before countering, “But just because they were teasing each other then doesn’t mean Eun-Ha isn’t a mafia.”

“You know we can’t risk letting a mafia member stay, even if they're someone we were close to. This is a matter of life or death!”

“You’re right; the reason Yool was voted out doesn’t automatically clear Eun-Ha of suspicion,” Yoon-Ji agreed. “But, I’m pointing this out now because you all jumped on her so quickly, as if you were already certain she had killed my best friend, without even trying to hear her side of the story!”

The room fell silent, a tense atmosphere settling over them as they finally heard Yoon-Ji’s voice teeter into a more aggravated tone.

A teary Eun-Ha finally spoke up, “Yool and I have always been close, and we’ve played this game together so many times throughout the years. I would never harm him! Or even think about killing him! How could you even imply anything like that?!”

Her words hung heavy in the air, and the group fell silent, their faces reflecting a mix of guilt and shame for having doubted her. The realization of their hasty accusations weighed on them

Meanwhile, Yoon-Ji kept a watchful eye on one person, Kim So-Mi. Despite the expression of fear in the vice president’s face, there was a subtle slip in her demeanor—an underlying mask of nonchalance as she observed the scene unfolding before her.

‘How can you be so indifferent while pushing others into the fire?’ Yoon-Ji seethed inwardly, seeing through the entire facade. She shifted her gaze back to Eun-Ha, who was still visibly distressed, before finally deciding to do something to change the tides.

“Actually,” she began, pushing herself up with renewed determination, “I have a question that’s specifically for you to answer, Vice President.”

“M-Me?” So-Mi stammered, caught off guard as she found herself suddenly in the spotlight.

“If Dong-Hyun had really fallen accidentally while we were hiking,” Yoon-Ji continued, her voice accusatory, “then why did Eun-Ha and I see your hands push him away just before the fall?”

Yoon-Ji’s gaze was intense and unwavering, while So-Mi’s eyes widened in shock and mounting anxiety with each word that fell out her mouth.

–

( note )
I just saw my 2nd year 1st sem sched and decided to get this out of my system before I off myself  /hj

so like, this ep was the start of the many headaches I had in the entire show istg
like the canon thought processes of the characters were so ☠️📉  also while watching I was rlly angry for Eun-Ha, cs her friends were just looking at her while girlie was being accused to all hell 😾

anyways um this is unedited!