BETRAYAL <NCT OT23>

F O U R T E E N

Renjun entered the house when he noticed something, Haechan didn't came back with Jisung. That thought made him worry about them, so without a word, he ran into the house and began searching for the two. Fear then started to crawl all over his body as he walked around the dark corners of the house, his scary thoughts made him want to go back outside and let the two mind their own business, but on the other side of his brain, he can't just let them get hurt by the unseen killer. Without a flashlight, he entered their rooms one by one.

"Damn, where is he?" Renjun sighed, but immediately cut it to hold his breath and movements when he heard a faint footsteps just outside the room he was standing. It stopped for a few seconds, then continued to walk all around the house, making Renjun sigh in relief. "I need to find Haechan before that bastard kills me..." When he felt that he was sure that the killer is no longer outside, he quickly ran to look for Haechan in the last room, which was Jisung's.

Just before he could reach the few meters to Jisung's room, he heard someone speaking from behind him, making him freeze. "Are you looking for someone? Renjun?" Renjun didn't dare to look behind him, instead he remained frozen on his spot, taking short breaths. "Is it Haechan?" He still remained silent. "You'll find them there. Just go forward." Renjun, being afraid to die slowly walked forward, following the man's orders. "Careful, you might fall."

"W-What did we do to be treated like this?" The man behind him didn't answer, so he continued walking slowly without looking at the person. "Leave us alone! Please!"

Renjun's entire body went frozen when he suddenly stepped on the strange part of the hallway, it was softer than how the floor supposed to feel. "And you just stepped on him." Renjun was confused and terrified at the same time. He looked down to see what it was, and the view just below him made him gag and tear up.

It was Haechan being covered with blood.

"No no no no! Haechan is a prankster, he wouldn't leave us like this!" Renjun immediately wrapped his arms around Haechan, ignoring the blood sticking into his body.

"RENJUN!! ARE YOU THERE?!" It was Jaemin's voice behind them, that voice made Renjun feel safe. Without hesitation, he turned around to find a panting Jaemin meters away from him,

And Winwin.

"Winwin hyung?! What the fuck are you doing here?! Scaring Renjun like that!" Jaemin's voice became more terrifying, making Renjun's grip tighten into Haechan's body. "Sicheng-ge? Are you the one who killed... Him?" Renjun's voice was trembling in fear, yet his hands never left Haechan. Winwin stayed silent, he continued to stare at Renjun with cold, horrifying eyes. "You piece of--"

"Wait! Jaemin! We have to get Jisung and Haechan out of here first. Calm down! Geez!" Renjun rolled his eyes as he turned around to check on Haechan's body, but to his surprise, when he turned back to where Jaemin was standing, Winwin was no longer there. "Jaemin? Where's Sicheng-ge?" Jaemin cluelessly tilted his head when he heard Renjun's question. "You didn't saw him leave?!"

"No? I was looking for any signs of Jisung everywhere! You should've just let me attack him when I got a chance!"

"Why do you want to kill him so bad?!" Renjun loosened his grip, trying his best to maintain the eye contact. "Can't you see?! He is our main suspect! There could be a huge possibility that the killings will stop and we can finally go home if he dies!" Renjun accepted his defeat, he rolled his eyes and tightened his grip to make sure Haechan wouldn't fall. "Okay okay! Just shut up and help me carry Haechan here!"

•

Jaemin and Sungchan sat silently on the counter as they tried to process Haechan's death, the silence is already suffocating them but no one dared to cut it off. Sungchan stared at Jaemin with confusion when he suddenly offered a glass of juice, Jaemin stared at him as well, but his reaction is different. "Um-Why are you giving me this, hyung?"

"Why not? I'm going to get myself one later too, don't worry." Jaemin coldly replied, his eyes avoided Sungchan. "It has a weird color, what flavor is this?" Sungchan stared at the glass of juice with an unusual color. "What do you mean weird? This could be four seasons or something." Sungchan was still not convinced at Jaemin's answer, he hesitated to even place his lips on the glass. "I-I am not thirsty, I'll just drink this later..."

"You can drink it. I don't have a reason to poison you, right?" Jaemin stared at Sungchan, waiting for his response. "N-No..." Then Sungchan drank the whole glass of juice to avoid the terrifying stares of Jaemin. He was right, he didn't feel anything at all, just a normal juice indeed...

Or is it?

"See? You're just imagining things a little bit too much." Jaemin then turned away from Sungchan, doing his own business again. A minute after Sungchan drank the weirdly colored liquid Jaemin gave him, he suddenly felt his stomach ache so bad. "J-Jaemin hyung, I have to go to the bathroom first." He didn't wait for Jaemin's response, he just ran quickly to the bathroom, also not caring about the others.

Sungchan immediately locked the bathroom door before he ran to the mirror to stare at himself. "Shit! I knew there's something weird about that juice." Sungchan's chest began to felt an unexplainable pain, like something was burning inside of him. He couldn't do anything about it but to just throw up, a huge load of water and eaten foods landed on the sink. It didn't stop for a few minutes. "Fuck, I think I threw up too much..." Not even a second later, he bowed down to let out his vomit, which made his eyes widen in panic.

It was a huge load of blood.

He continued to let it all out since he couldn't stop it. He watched himself getting extremely pale, until he's too weak to even hold the sink.

"H-Help... Please..." As he kneeled down, he let out a final huge load of red liquid before passing out. His face was kissing his own blood on the floor, he stared at the door helplessly, knowing that his life will end up without everyone knowing about his situation.

Not so sure about Jaemin though...