The entire topmost row of windows lining the room had exploded.
The screens went white, dust, glass and debris blurring the images, and Namjoon was out of his seat before he even realised that it was all happening in a room somewhere else and that he could do nothing about it.
Silence blanketed the viewing room. Everyone froze.
The next few seconds were tense - terrible.
And then, finally, the dust settled.
Jin stood there proud on his hoverboard, arms lined with cuts but eyes determined.
His competitor was alive too.
All the tension bled out from the room.
Hoseok sank into his seat with an audible sigh while the maknae line hugged each other, and Namjoon - he let loose a shaky exhale, squeezing Yoongi's hand tight.
For a second there, he had thought -
No.
No such thoughts allowed.
The explosion had triggered activity on screen, with both Jin as well as his competitor picking up their card packs and opening them.
Because there was nothing else to do.
Jin stared at the extremely ordinary looking cards, turning them over and over. But there was nothing. No clue, no - whatever.
Namjoon could see the frustration lining Jin's face.
His competitor wasn't faring any better.
"Do they want us to win at Hwatu?" She asked, gliding towards Jin, and the other shrugged, forehead pinched.
"There's got to be a reason," he muttered, his gaze flickering from the ledge to the cards as the girl flew in lazy circles around the room.
"Reason for what?"
"For the cards. For the word 'tower'."
"They're crackheads," the girl supplied helpfully, and Jin shot her a wry grin from under the mask.
"This is going to be stupid," he mumbled, scrunching his eyes, "but here goes nothing."
Grabbing six cards, he placed one in each indent on the ledge. They fit perfectly, the cards lighting up red, and Namjoon perked up in his seat.
Was Jin onto something?
The older man quickly picked up two cards and balanced them in a triangle over the first, and then -
Oh.
A card tower.
That was ingen -
Ddaeng.
The second row of windows exploded.
Namjoon's heart nearly stopped.
The viewing room was in utter chaos - children wailing, mothers crying and fathers pacing up and down worriedly.
