✔️The funhouse of murder • Stray Kids X reader✔️

129 ☠️

I didn't even dare to look. The sound of loud cheering from the audience didn't even properly come through, overshadowed by the ringing from the gunshot in my ear. Still, I could hear the thud of his body falling to the ground, his heavy breathing, the whimpering and panting. "You know, my dear Y/N," he choked. "I don't blame you... for any of it. You were just trying to survive, like all of us were..." I could hear a chuckle, followed by a lot of coughing. "You're free now, Y/N. Go live the life you've always wanted."

I didn't know what was worse. The kind words he spoke, or the silence after, as I walked away towards the finish gate. The silent tears turned into heavy sobs as I dropped the gun to the ground, using my hands to cover my face. I won. I finally won, so why did it feel like I had lost everything? I tried my hardest to control my breathing, to get out of there as fast as I could, but I felt nailed to the ground as I cried. I couldn't believe what had happened just now. Or anything that had happened this past month, for all that mattered. All of those memories that had just flashed by were still stuck in my mind, haunting me as the ringing sound in my ears plagued me.

"Oh my, what a true spectacle!" Sir applauded, actually giving me a standing ovation. "It appears as if you had figured out my little secret, huh?" he chuckled. "Though it is true that all the prize money would go to the final remaining winner, I must say, I thought I had it hidden quite well. I guess my dear actor had spilled it a bit too much, had he not?" He took a breath, sitting down again. "Aside from my dear Ellie being the sole survivor of the group yet still so well faring, there wasn't much to go off on. You truly gained my respect by thinking outside the box to get more information."

As the audience was slowly drooping off to who knew where, I spotted Jut in the crowd, giving me a small yet proud thumbs up. What would become of him now? I had practically just outed him, had I not? I tried to brush it off. I'd just won anyways, why would I care about anything else, was what I was trying to convince myself of. "Well then, my dear Y/N, why don't you head through the final gate? Once there, you will receive your final message, and your well deserved gift. It was a pleasure to have you in my game, and I'll see you there."

I had to move. Even if my legs didn't want to, I had to get out of here as fast as I possibly could. I don't think I could stay in this place for any longer than I had to, or else I'd probably actually throw up. Whatever it was that was making me feel like this, I needed it gone, as soon as possible. Though slowly at first, I finally made my way to the gate, as much as running up to it when I started moving again. Whereas the gate first lead to darkness, yet another dark tunnel coming my way, the end of it was like light at the end of the tunnel, ironically enough. I entered an all white room, very small and minimalistic, but I wasn't planning on staying long anyways.

All that dressed it were a simple white chair and the white screen in front of it, the beamer right behind me. I could only assume the bright lights would go out as soon as it started playing, right? I took a deep breath. Let's just get this over with, I thought to myself. I had a feeling I wasn't getting out anyways. I looked down, seeing a white set of VR glasses. I put them on as I set down, soon feeling the world around me fade as a video message started.

"Welcome, my dear winner," sir's voice stood out, showing up on the screen mere seconds later. "I always knew you could do it Y/N. From the moment you entered the gates to this place, I just had a feeling it would be you to make it out alive. Maybe even before that, when I saw your application. Hell, probably even earlier than that, I knew it had to be you to win this one day," he laughed. How he had that feeling I wondered, but at this point I just wanted this stupid winner's speech to be over with, and quick. "Still, I wanted to give you a little tribute to those that made it possible for you to win, your precious little teammates." He had this smile on his face that I couldn't just quite place, but my breath stocked as soon as it showed Seungmin on the screen, all beat up.

"That was your little crush, wasn't it? The two of you truly were sweet together, I had to admit, but I couldn't have you get attached to a boy so easily. Maybe it wasn't exactly fair of me to have switched the fighters at the last minute, but if your Seungmin was going to stay by your side, I wanted to make sure he had the means to protect you, you know? Still, with him having MS there already was little hope for him anyways. I merely relieved him from his suffering. The suffering you contributed too, might I add, making him carry you over a mere painful ankle. The poor dude didn't stand a chance after using up all his energy on you." I could see it all. The way sir switched the actors as soon as Changbin and Seungmin chose rooms. The way Changbin was banging on the walls, to Seungmin already giving up. I could feel the glasses starting to fog up slightly, barely able to make myself watch as Seungmin laid on the ground.

"Y/N... she's someone who can hold the world, but is too scared to do so. So when I'm not there, you have to be there for her okay? Please remind her of how great of a person she is, that she is loved, and that in the end she's the one that was able to make me happy again."  I could hear Seungmin say through the distorted audio of the video. "Seungmin..." I felt myself reaching out, only to be disappointed as I saw him disappear underground. "Truly a shame of that one," Sir continued, cutting off the video.

"Still, your journey here was far from done, so let's move on to the next one, shall we?"