wake up. | nct/wayv

EXPLANATION/BONUS

this is an optional part to explain some things further in the story, and what the sequel would have been if i'd decided to write it (obviously i haven't😩 so i will be posting the draft at the end):

as you've learned, all the players were connected to each other in some way. throughout the story, most of them were unaware that they knew each other in their waking lives until they started to notice their recurring visions and migraine episodes (which wasn't normal for the usual players). so basically, doyoung and the others were able to escape purely because of their circumstance. if yangyang wasn't in the picture, the game would've most likely commenced normally with one player surviving.

to clarify some parts that might've been confusing:

•each player was assigned a team (ex: yuta with 127 squad, hendery with the vision) and could not somehow "leave" that team, meaning even if doyoung teamed up with jungwoo, it didn't mean he was no longer a member of 127 squad. however, he was not required to be loyal to his assigned team.

•some chapters included flashbacks or memories (started with PLAYER: (NAME), followed by the date). they are not chronological. you can figure out how the events occurred in order if you'd like! some scenes would probably make more sense to you if you read this further.

•it was already said that a death announcement appeared only when a body fully deteriorated. you might have noticed that sometimes it would appear right after the player's death. it's not explained, but this is the game mechanics glitching because it catered to yangyang and not the proper rules of the game. in other words, this game was unique because of yangyang's presence.

ANYWAYS— here is how all 21 of them ended up in the game:

it's obvious that the core person is yangyang. his backstories made him out to be a suspicious person who had something to do with the games in real life, and he did. he was a game administrator from the beginning. it's unknown how he managed to get involved with the facility but he eventually climbed so high that he became a somewhat important figure.

you all know that chenle was his childhood enemy, so that's out of the way: "i hate chenle so i'm gonna put him in the game so i can kill him" okay NEXT-

PLAYER 1: TEN
roommates: sicheng, jungwoo, lucas, dejun, hendery

ten was a singer who worked with kun, so it was only natural for yangyang to snoop around and discover his existence when he lived with kun.

he was also the reason for most of his roommates joining the game: taeil was basically a colleague, so ten made all of them go to the debut party.

PLAYER 2: TAEIL
roommates: taeyong, yuta, jisung

taeil was an upcoming singer-songwriter who started working with kun. he was discovered the same way ten was. however, taeil had a debut party which all the characters attended, making it easier for yangyang to capture them all.

PLAYER 3: DEJUN and PLAYER 4: LUCAS
roommates: ten, sicheng, jungwoo, hendery

-not much is said about this, but dejun was an apprentice at the facility not long before the 2021 game began (this would've been in the sequel). this was kept a secret. in part 3.5, it's mentioned that he'd been in the facility for the past year and that he made a mistake interacting with yangyang. there was also a part that said, "when they thought he (dejun) was innocent." basically: being in the preparation cell was punishment for being a whistleblower. this was never mentioned in the story because there was no space for it.

he became acquainted to yangyang while he was at the facility and, knowing that he came from a politically exposed background, dejun decided to tell him all the disturbing details about the games and the facility's wrongdoings. he didn't know that yangyang was an administrator. he expected yangyang to expose the facility, but instead he was put into the games for opposing yangyang's views.