haunted, the forest // nct [3]

{6}

"A cult?" Kun exclaimed, widening his nervous eyes. "And now these vengeful spirits are roaming around the forest?"

Johnny gave a short nod.

"Chunja, Chanmi, and Jungwoo could possibly be there?"

"Correct," Ten confirmed. "But let's not think about the worst possibility. They could just be somewhere around campus and Vernon just thought they were going into the forest."

"Vernon?" Kun questioned.

"Some kid in the same year as us," Haechan motioned to himself and Mark. "We went to the same high school, too. He sprained his ankle at prom doing that shoot dance."

Mark scrunched his nose as he chuckled. "I remember that."

"Interesting," Kun slowly replied while still showing a confused expression. "Alright, let's just split up and start searching. They shouldn't have traveled into unfamiliar areas, especially a forest at this late of night."

"Yeah yeah, mom." Jisoo rolled her eyes. "Let's split up into groups already."

People pulled each other into groups to start searching. The first to split from the library was Johnny, Ten, Jaehyun, and Gina. Ten suggested that they should start looking around the courtyard. Lucas, Jihwan, Jisoo, and Mark were next to head out and make their way to the main building just in case they were getting something from the vending machines or the college store. As the last two groups were forming, Taeil welcomed WinWin into his group of Taeyang and Daerin.

Yuta gently grabbed WinWin's arm and tugged him to their group. "You guys can take Kun, he's closer to you." Yuta then started to walk off behind Doyoung and Haechan with WinWin close behind.

"Uh." Then Taeil took hold of WinWin's arm. "Just because you're new here doesn't mean you can just start taking our friends at your own will. I already asked WinWin if he wanted to be in our group."

Yuta gave Taeil a long and expressionless stare. "I'm sorry, but it would be unfair for you to have five people, and we have three."

"You take Kun." Despite Taeil's height, he still showed an assertive side when talking to Yuta. WinWin bit his lip, scared of being the center of this argument.

"Yeah, what's so bad about having me?" Kun asked, forcing an awkward laugh. "Just choose me. 'It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.'" Kun glanced between the two boys as they continued to stare each other down. Kun's smile dropped as he sighed, "Albus Dumbledore, The Chamber of Secrets."

"Guys, we have to go," Taeyong told them, tapping his foot in impatience. "Kun with us. WinWin with Yuta, Doyoung, and Haechan. Let's go." Taeyong clapped his hands and started to shove everyone out of the library.

Chunja's P.O.V

My eyes lingered on the horizon, noticing the setting sun shining through the closely packed trees. "Hey, guys... We should start heading back. It'll get dark pretty soon."

I turned around just as Chanmi and Jungwoo were looking up to the sky.

Jungwoo let out a short chuckle as he put his camera away in its case. "I guess time flies when you're having fun."

I lowered my eyebrows, trying to remember the path we took to get this far into the forest. "Do you recall us entering the forest with the sun going down behind us, or in front of us?"

Jungwoo and Chanmi shrugged in unison.

"Do any of us remember which way we came from?" My voice began to rise a bit.

"I thought..." Chanmi turned in a hesitant circle, pushing up her glasses when he faced me again. "I thought I was keeping track of our path, but it's like I completely forgot all of our footsteps."

"Me too." Jungwoo nodded. His eyes were now on the forest floor, looking like he was running through his thoughts.

I didn't want us to freak out. Watching their faces turn to worry because of our loss of direction made my stomach fall. "You know what," I spoke up. My head turned from side to side as I waited for my gut to tell me which way was right. Though, it only said that every direction was the wrong one to walk down. I pushed away that feeling and decided on a random direction. "I'm pretty sure we came from this way."

Jungwoo and Chanmi glanced at each other and hesitantly started to follow me.