BETRAYAL <NCT OT23>

E I G H T E E N

Jisung woke up only to find out that the whole house is dead silent, especially the kitchen. He started to get nervous, fearing that something must have happened to any one of the members left. His attention then went to the floor as he saw something small moving just below him. It was a rat with blood stains, an unusual way to see a rat. "Hmm? That's odd..." Jisung shrugged as he stared at the rat running away from him. "Maybe I should check the rooms one by one..." He whispered, heading back upstairs to check on Mark and Jaemin.

One by one, he knocked at the doors and called their names. He became worried when he heard no response from any one of them. "Guys? Hello?" Still got silence as a response. "God, this is bad..." He had no choice but to open the doors, with or without permission from the two, hoping that he would see the two sleeping peacefully. "Guys? Are you there?" Jisung worriedly opened the first door he stepped on to, eyes began to water when he saw the bed empty. "T-There's still other rooms to check on..." He then proceeded to open the other bedroom doors, not even bothering to close them back. He opened the doors one by one, only to find out that the beds are empty, except for the last room.

"Oh, thank God." Jisung sighed in relief. Mark was sleeping peacefully, yet Jaemin is still nowhere to be found. He then ran to check outside the house, hoping that he was there, but the answer is still the same: Jaemin's not there. "I really should wake up Mark hyung at this point." He turned around, heading back towards the room where he saw Mark. "Hyung? Please wake up." Jisung whispered loud enough to reach the sleeping Mark, yet obviously, he didn't move a muscle from Jisung's call. "Mark hyung!"

"Oh shit! What now Jisung?!" Mark frustratedly stood up, making the (now) scared Jisung to take a step backwards. "Jaemin hyung's nowhere to be found! Please help me find him!" Jisung closed his eyes as he turned his head away from where Mark was sitting. "Jesus Christ! It's still too early! Maybe he just went on a short walk or something."

"Hyung, I checked everywhere. For God's sake, we're the only people that are left here, we can't let that killer get any one of us." Mark had no choice but to stand up just to make Jisung stop from his whining. "Okay, fine! Now, quit whining about him!" Mark rolled his eyes before leaving Jisung staring blankly in the air as he stood still at his bedroom door. "Do you want to look for him or not?! It looks like you're waking me up for nothing!" That tone of Mark startled Jisung. He immediately ran towards Mark as he responded with a little stutter.

"You go check the attic, I'll go look for him outside." Mark said, not even letting Jisung pass his response. "Do you have a problem with me? Hyung?" The question made Mark stop, he seemed serious about his words. "W-What do you mean?" Jisung looked down, fearing that maintaining the eye contact with his older brother will make him even more mad. "You never raised your voice at me..." Jisung lowered his voice as he responded with such risky words, and unexpectedly, he received nothing in response. "We really should look for Jaemin hyung." He then added.

He walked around the small attic in silence as he scanned every corner of the room for any signs of Jaemin. His worry then slowly covered his entire brain again. What if his thoughts were right? The memories of Yuta and Taeyong's deaths are coming back as he stared at the tiny window, he was sure that the two fell off there, and that was a very traumatizing event for someone who is called the youngest of the group.

Mark, on the other hand was already done checking on every parts outside of the house. He sighed before turning his back to walk his way back inside, deciding to tell Jisung about his nonsense search. As he entered the house, he saw Jisung walking down the stairs. He then figured out that Jaemin wasn't there in the attic either. "Mark hyung, is Jaemin hyung there outside?" Mark shook his head. "No, I haven't seen any signs of him. How about you?" Jisung slowly shook his head in response. "I see..."

"Hyung, could it be... He got killed?" Jisung asked with his shaky voice, making Mark use his silence again as his response. "Mark... Hyung?" Jisung tilted his head in confusion, his older brother's sudden weird behavior is making him uncomfortable. "Hyung, where are you going?" Jisung asked as he saw Mark walking away to who knows where. He had no choice but to follow him out of fear. "Mark hyung! Don't leave me here!" Jisung ran towards him, afraid of Mark leaving him as he enters the basement. "Why are you like this?!" Mark didn't say a single word and continued his way to where he's going, not caring about Jisung's desperate calls. "Mark hyung!"

Luckily, Jisung was fast and strong enough to push the door and enter the room with Mark. He leaned against the door as it closes shut, also closing his eyes because of how dark the basement is. "Mark hyung, why are you acting so strange right now?" Jisung asked between his deep breaths. "Jisung, we're the only ones who are left here, and you still have this trust on me?" Mark responded. "W-What do you mean by that? Hyung?"

"What if... All this time, I was the culprit?" Jisung stayed silent, still leaning his head against the cold door. "What if I am the killer, Jisung? You can't run your way out here." Jisung sighed as he heard those words. "No, I-I know you wouldn't do that. I know that you're a kind person, Mark hyung." Mark then gave him a soft chuckle. "Good people can do bad things anytime and anywhere, Jisung." Mark replied, making Jisung silent again. "You really shouldn't trust anyone especially if you're put in these kind of situations, you don't know if the people beside you is the one that you're actually looking for."

"No, I don't believe that you're the person we're looking for." Jisung replied not even a second after Mark spilled those words. "But what if I am?" Mark insisted. "I don't believe you, I know you wouldn't do that." Jisung sighed once again. "And why is that?" Mark asked, making Jisung turn to face him.

*Click*

The sound of the light switch made Mark flinch, but that's not even the worst part. As he turned around, his stomach instantly turned when he saw Jaemin's dead body on a table with some chunks of his flesh and organs scattered on his clothes and a bit on the floor. He turned to where Jisung was, only to get terrified even more. Jisung gave him a cold, horrifying stare while holding a hand drill on his right hand. "Surprise, Mark Lee." The now panicked Mark moved his steps backwards, trying to get away from him, but an unfortunate event came to him, he tripped on a jar that was carelessly placed on the floor. "Now now, don't run away from me after all that stupid acting you gave me."

He picked up the jar as it rolled towards him. "How did Hendery's eyes end up here?" Jisung carefully placed the jar containing Hendery's eyes back to his shelf. "You too have such pretty eyes, but I don't have any jars left with me." Mark kept crawling away from Jisung as he also take his slow steps forward, the fear in his eyes motivated him to scare him even more. "Please, I wanna go home."

"They all wanted to go home Mark, you're not special. They all begged me to let them go, buy did I listen to them?" He stared at Mark for a few seconds while he was trying his best not to make eye contact with the younger. "I'm expecting you to answer that. Did I listen to them?"

"N-No..." Mark hesitantly looked at Jisung's eyes as he responded with the fear in his eyes. "There. I never had the plan to cut your tongue and here you are, can't even speak in front of me. You're funny." Jisung gave him a laugh before turning the hand drill on right in from of Mark, making him even more terrified. "Too bad I have to get rid of you too. It was fun playing with you guys." Jisung then singlehandedly pushed the spinning sharp steel right to Mark's forehead, causing the blood to splatter in the air. His menacing laugh grew louder as the screams of his older brother became more faint. The playtime's over, his last victim is finally dead.

"Well, that was fun." Jisung sighed I'm relief as he placed the bloody hand drill on the floor, and picked up the pistol as he emptied his hand. "Fools." Was the last word that came out of his mouth before he pulled the trigger.

*Bang!*

He shot himself. He let the bullet travel all the way from his mouth, to his brain.

All this time, Jisung was the traitor.