GAME RULES ━ ATEEZ

02.

When Wooyoung woke the next morning, he was tired, alone, and had approximately no memory of the night before.

The furthest he could recall was Yunho voicing the thoughts they all shared and expressing his nervousness about the house, and Mingi breaking into the alcohol cabinet to quell some of the tension. Everything else was a fever dream—maybe he had a few shots, played some beer pong against Yeosang—but one thing he remembered vividly was Yunho appearing out of nowhere and clutching him by the elbow, looking incredibly shaken. Then, darkness.

Wooyoung swore he was pulled into consciousness by a rustling on his left side—but when he opened his eyes, he was alone in what looked to be a study—floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, desks piled with clipboards and thick textbooks, type-written paper yellowed and curling in at the corners. Wooyoung stood and peered out the doorway—the hallway was too dark to see, but he didn't feel entirely alone.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

He was met with silence. 

He shrugged and walked to the desk, shuffling through papers and flipping through binders. Nothing seemed to stand out, it was all fancy legal pages Wooyoung knew nothing of—until he got to the bottom. 

Under the largest pile of papers was a leatherbound book. It was brown and worn, with a tie on the side to keep it shut. On the front cover, Wooyoung drew his finger over where two words were carved. 

"Game rules." 

——

"It's some kind of rulebook."

After Wooyoung had discovered the book, he decided to bring it downstairs to show his friends. They all crowded the kitchen table, taking turns flipping through the pages. 

"Obviously. That's why it says 'Game Rules'."

"Shut up, Yeosang."

"What are the rules for?" San thumbed through. 

"It doesn't say." Wooyoung took the book and passed it to Jongho. "A lot of them are weird."

"Let me see." Yeosang flipped through and chuckled. "Smell each room in the mornings. If you're watching television and the sound cuts out suddenly, pick your feet up off the floor. These are stupid."

"Look at this one. 'Do not go underwater in the jacuzzi. They will drag you down.'" San scoffed. "Whoever stayed here last certainly had some imagination."

"Look at how much room is left in the book." Yunho pointed out. "Only six pages are used. Whoever started this left their work unfinished."

——

The clouds were dark grey and sat high in the sky, blowing bone-rattling wind through open windows.

After emerging from the kitchen, Yunho felt tension creep into his bones, so thick it was palpable. In an attempt to calm himself, he tried to read his favorite book—Alice in Wonderland, an undeniable classic—but Yeosang and San dragged him around the house in about of exploration. When they uncovered the jacuzzi mentioned in the rulebook on the third floor, San and Yeosang couldn't help but strip to their boxers and pull themselves in.

"You're not going to join us, Yunho?" San asked, lowering himself into the water.

An uneasy feeling settled in Yunho's veins. He shook his head and curled into a motheaten green armchair in the corner of the room, cracking his book.

"Rule #14: Do not go underwater in the jacuzzi," San smirked and stared pointedly at Yeosang.

Yunho's eyes clouded. "San, don't. What if something happens?"