BETRAYAL <NCT OT23>

S E V E N T E E N

Winwin screamed in terror as he felt the blade slowly carving long lines on his skin. The man gently wiped the tears his eyes produced due to the extreme pain and betrayal he felt. "I-I did as what you have told me! Why are you doing this to me?!" The man stayed silent as if he heard nothing aside from Winwin's cries and screams, dragging the blade all over his arm. He smiled as he listened to his agonizing scream. "You know, I find your agony quite pleasant to hear." He spoke as he stopped the movement of his blade. "We made a deal! You fucking promised me!"

"You do know what I am, right? And you believed me? You're funny. " He laughed before digging his skin using his bloody blade once again. Winwin's agonizing scream echoed all over the room when he felt the blade cutting underneath his skin. "Please! Please! I'll do everything! I'll stay silent about this! I'll throw myself into jail! Just please let me live!" His tears are already flowing as mercilessly as the man with him. Winwin then realized that the man was skinning him alive when he felt his skin being torn apart by him, slowly. He then released an extremely painful cry as he felt his skin slowly being peeled off from his flesh. "Have mercy on me! Please!"

"Mercy?" The man let out a sarcastic laugh. "I've never heard of that word, Dong Sicheng." He added before licking Winwin's freshly peeled arm, adding more pain to it. "I do admit that I lack something, and mercy is one of them." He poured a generous amount of ethyl alcohol all over his body, especially the severed parts.

•

The two sat silently, waiting for Jaemin to finish making their lunch. The atmosphere is so heavy and uncomfortable that Mark couldn't even utter a word to start a short conversation. "I'm done. Breakfast's here Mark, Jisung." Jaemin coldly said, handing them their bowls of warm soup. The two silently ate the food Jaemin had prepared for the three of them, no one even dared to take a glance on each other.

As Jisung tried to enjoy his food, he noticed something unusual inside his mouth. For him, it's like a small, solid metal getting mixed with the soup Jaemin made. "Weird..." Jisung spat out the suspicious thing inside his mouth, and when he found out, his eyes slowly widened. "W-What the hell is this?!" Jisung raised his voice, making Mark and Jaemin's attention turn to him. "Do you have a problem with my cooking, Jisung?" Jaemin coldly asked. "Of course I have a problem with your cooking! There's a human finger floating around your soup!" Mark, out of curiosity observed his bowl too, and to his surprise, the meat looked weird, making him lose his appetite. "Is this Doyoung hyung's body parts?!"

"Quit being so picky, it's clean." Jisung couldn't take the disgusting feeling around his stomach anymore, he then ran to the sink and tried to let out as much swallowed foods as he can. "You can vomit and shit all of the food that I made and Doyoung hyung will still be dead! Now quit overreacting and finish your goddamn food!" Jaemin's sudden change of tone made the two freeze out of fear. They had no choice but to sit back down and force themselves to finish the bowl.

•

Jaemin's heavy panting can be clearly heard all over the room. "L-Let me go!" He shouted as he struggled to free his already chained arms and legs. "Behave, you'll trigger their tiny brains." Jaemin's eyes widened as he realized that the man has put something on the top of his stomach. His heavy panting turned into a scream as he saw a bunch of rats in a cage sitting right on the top of his stomach. "I just told you to behave! Geez!" Jaemin instantly went quiet when he felt the man's palm harshly landing on his face, he had no choice but to freeze, and not breathe if he has to. "I heard it from somewhere that if rats in a small cage feel heat, they will dig anything just to escape. They're actually pretty smart eh? Unlike you."

"Leave us alone! We didn't do anything!" Jaemin cried. But those words made the man laugh in an evil, sarcastic manner. "Yeah, right. You didn't do anything but steal the spotlight that's supposed to be MINE!"  He then listened to Jaemin's agonizing scream as he began heating the metal cage on the top of his stomach, making the creepily huge rats behave unusually. "No! No! Please!" The killer is stubborn, he won't listen to Jaemin's noises that are telling him to let him go.

Like the hell he would listen.

"I'm sorry! Please let me go! I wanna go home!" Jaemin cried as he felt the rats' tiny feet eerily crawling onto his stomach, obviously finding ways to escape. "And so were the others, Na Jaemin." He gave Jaemin a smile when he finally heard the pleasant sound of his flesh getting teared by those tiny yet dangerous mouths. "NO! NO! I'M SORRY!" Jaemin screamed in pure terror, which sounds like a beautiful ballad song to the man. His smile grew wider when he saw some bulges travelling through Jaemin's stomach and his chest, silencing him. "Now this is what I'm talking about." He giggled, observing the rats running around inside Jaemin's body. "Where's your voice now? Speak up you bastard!" The man said, using his mocking tone. He then let out a menacing laugh as Jaemin coughed up blood while he tried to speak.

"What's wrong? Did the rats stop you from talking? Oh, how rude of them. Shoo them away if they are interrupting your speech." He leaned a few inches closer to Jaemin, teasing and insulting him in the worst ways possible. He laughed with his wide creepy eyes as he saw the first rat finally made his escape on Jaemin's mouth, then the others followed one by one. "Hello? Are you alive?" He got no response from Jaemin, yet his eyes are still wide open. He stared at the hole the rats made. "They really did a great job escaping the bloody maze. You guys are free to go now." A gentle smile was drawn in his lips as he stared at the rats running in their own ways.

"I feel lazy to clean up, no one will see you anyway. Goodnight, Jaemin." He chuckled as he slowly opened the basement door. Before he could close it shut, he stopped as he gave the air his devilish smile again. "God, I feel like a villain."

"Now, it's just you and me."