BETRAYAL <NCT OT23>

E L E V E N

Jungwoo ruffled his wet hair with a towel as he slowly walked downstairs to look for some food and also to look for his members since he was the last one to finish the bath, he can see everyone doing their normal, usual tasks except for Taeil, he did nothing but just standing in front of the freezer, not moving a muscle. "He must be thinking what to eat later..." Jungwoo then walked his way to Taeil, wanting him to at least move a muscle. "Taeil hyung~ what are you going to cook for dinner?"

"Meat." Taeil blankly answered. "Ooh~ beef? Chicken? Por--"

"Human meat, Jungwoo." Jungwoo's smile immediately turned upside down, he has no time for dark jokes since he already lost so many brothers. "Taeil hyung, that joke isn't funny! You know we already lost so many people right? Please limit your jokes like that--" Jungwoo stopped when Taeil moved a distance away from the freezer, he gave him a space to look at what he was staring at. "So all this time... You're staring at Shotaro? Shotaro's... Frozen body?" Jungwoo went frozen as well as he stared at the frozen dead body in front of them.

Shotaro's body is as pale as the snow, mouth was wide open due to hours of letting out an endless yet voiceless scream, eyes are also wide open, you can tell that tears have fallen endlessly like a stream.

Jungwoo hesitantly called Doyoung's name, making all the members turn to where Taeil and Jungwoo is. "What is it?" Doyoung immediately stopped what he's doing, curiously tilted his head to see Jungwoo. "Please come here for a sec, all of you please." Everyone followed Jungwoo's gentle yet scary order.

"Why? Did something happened to the freezer? Did it stopped functioni--" Doyoung's curiosity instantly turned into regret, shock and anger when he took a peek on the opened freezer Jungwoo and Taeil were recently facing. "S-Sho?" Sungchan slowly took a few steps forward, he couldn't believe what just happened. "No way, I just saw him alive and happy earlier..." The pain and disbelief can be heard and seen in Sungchan's words and eyes, they all have that feeling. "M-Maybe we can revive him! He's not even that entirely frozen--"

"Are you fucking dumb?! It is obvious that he's dead!" Jisung quickly shut his mouth when Renjun raised his voice at him, it is rare for him to be like that, especially towards Jisung. "Sorry..." He gently whispered before taking a few steps away from the angry, upset Renjun. "You should understand him, our brothers' deaths must've affected his emotions. I mean, who wouldn't?" Jaehyun's reassuring smile and words made Jisung smile in comfort as well. "Thank you, hyung."

Jaehyun just ruffled Jisung's hair as a response before walking forward to help the others lift Shotaro's body out of the huge freezer.

They all grieved and mourned before, during, and after burying Shotaro's body. The house became uncomfortably silent again, they are sure that Doyoung will gather them all downstairs and scold everyone, or worse, he might physically harm some of them if he had to.

"Please! For the love of God, who did that to Shotaro?!" Doyoung began to raise his voice again, and as usual, the other members just stayed quiet. While Doyoung was ranting and scolding everyone, Jaehyun stole a glance at the main suspect, Winwin.

He was wearing his weird, but now usual expression while staring at Doyoung. A huge wave of fear and panic hit Jaehyun when Winwin's head suddenly turned to where he was, looks like he noticed him staring. Out of fear, he hesitantly gave Winwin a smile, and luckily, he responded with a smile as well.

After the short investigating, they all went to their recent activities. Jaehyun, who was still scared at Winwin hurriedly headed to his room, not telling anyone about it, not even Doyoung. Just as he was about to reach the door knob, he felt a hand touching his shoulder. "Is there a problem? Jaehyun?" That was Winwin's voice. He slowly turned around, and behind him was Winwin wearing a sweet yet creepy smile like he gave to Jaehyun earlier. "W-What do you mean? Of course not! I'm just..."

"You find me suspicious, don't you?" Winwin asked in a cold tone, making Jaehyun's whole body shiver. "N-No, of course not. I've known you for how many years, you would never do such things like that... Right?" Winwin remained silent, but his intimidating looks are still there, haunting Jaehyun. "L-Listen, I--"

"Jaehyun! Please help us lift this! We need to clean this up!" Jungwoo's voice echoed, making Jaehyun sigh in relief. As he was about to walk away, he heard Winwin speak again, making him stop. "Your own stupidity might lead you to something dangerous, Jaehyun. It's not bad to trust your guts though, but sometimes it can lead you to nothing, but plain stupidity and regret." Was the last words Jaehyun heard from Winwin before he walked away. He had to admit it, he was confused and creeped out, what does he mean by that? He then just shrugged it off and hurriedly ran downstairs to help his members, Winwin was nowhere to be found.

Again.

•

"You guys sure that you don't want to eat dinner? It's getting really late and we're going to sleep in a few minutes." Mark spoke up while putting the plates back to their places, they all shook their heads because who on earth would want to eat after seeing Xiaojun and Shotaro's situations?

"Okay, goodnight guys. Please be safe." Mark then headed to his room after that. Jaemin followed.

Jaehyun was the last one to enter his room. Before he twisted his door knob, the words Winwin had told him appeared in his mind again. "Damn, that man..." He sighed as he finally entered his room.

The house is dark and silent, the only things that can be heard are the chirps of the crickets and the howling sound of the wind, so Yangyang was guessing that it's already 12 in the midnight. He was leaning against the wall outside the house, planning something when suddenly he heard someone speaking from behind.

"What are you doing here this late?" He turned around to find out who it was. It was Jeno. "Jesus Jeno! How long have you been here?!" Yangyang held his chest, rolling his eyes as he stared at the expressionless Jeno in front of him. "I just got here. I saw you by my window so I followed you just in case..."

"Just in case what?!"

"By that action of yours, it looks like you're hiding something. Are you hiding something, Yangyang?" Jeno tilted his head. "Are you planning on escaping on your own? Or... Are you planning a murder?" Jeno's curiosity triggered Yangyang. His left foot stepped back as if he's planning to run in a second. "What the hell are you taking about?! Look, I'm doing this for us okay?"

"Then you could've called us, there's a killer inside the house and you have the strength to go outside in the middle of the night?!" Jeno replied. "Or maybe you're that person and you know the exit?! I'm going to tell the others--" Before Jeno could even run, a punch landed on his face, making him fall off the ground. "Stop talking nonsense Jeno!" Yangyang raised his voice. Jeno didn't gave up, he tried to get up, only to meet Yangyang's punch for the second time. "W-Why are you so defensive?" Jeno asked, wiping the blood off his own mouth.

"I'm not! You're just... You're just triggering my nerves!" For the second time, Jeno got up, which was still unsuccessful. "Y-You're the killer! Just admit it goddamnit!"

Out of anger, Yangyang grabbed a huge rock beside him and landed it on Jeno's head. He did it three times, causing his skull to crack. He just killed his member. A wave of realization and guilt then hit him like a tsunami, he just murdered his brother, and now he can't turn back the time and fix everything. "Oh dear lord... Oh god I killed him..." Yangyang kneeled, his hands were on his head. He couldn't believe what he just did, he committed a crime and a sin. "Oh god what am I going to do about this?" Yangyang then saw a shovel just a meter away from him. Now he's going to do what he needs to do, bury Jeno at the back of the house so that it would be hard for them to find his body.

"I'm so sorry Jeno, I'm so sorry." Yangyang cried as he dragged the body to the back of the house.