𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃 ━━ exo

5

'Why are you asking? Let's just hope we even make it out of there alive.'

'Not really something to keep us positive on going in there.'

'Well, sorry then. Can't help myself.'

We went in, making sure we were all together. It didn't help that the walls of the labyrinth were almost taller than the outside walls itself.

And indeed was it almost impossible to make it out of this.

We continued hearing screams, but there was no sign of the exit anywhere. I started getting hungry and kind of scared. I mean like, the chances of us getting out of here was lesser than the possibilities of us finding HyunJae.

'I see no sign indicating an exit. What do you reckon we do now?' questioned the now scared Minseok.

'Hold on, I think I saw a slight bit of movement,' I stated.

I walked towards the corner which I thought I saw a movement.

We were getting closer now, and what I saw next was totally surprising.

There, in a corner of three walls, lay the brutally injured and bruised HyunJae.

At first, I could not recognise her, as I thought it was only an old rag.

But wrong I was indeed, for lying right at my feet, was the HyunJae I knew.

'Hyunjae! What are you doing here? What happened?' I asked, sounding louder than I had expected.

She was curled by a fire which was slowly dying out. She looked horrible.

It looked as if she was starved for days, which was partly true.

'Just how, could you have possibly survived two full days with no food neither water? That's just inexplicable,' said Baekhyun.

'There is a source of water nearby with some living fish inside. I survived eating fish and drinking water for two days. I was starting to wonder when you all would be coming. I thought there was no way you could possibly make it here, so I decided to just give up hoping you all would even make it here,' said HyunJae weakly.

'Why give up hope? We're your friends, so how could we possibly have forgotten you?' I protested.

'That's true, why give up hope?' asked Minseok.

Then all of a sudden I felt movement from below us. 'Did you feel that?' 'Feel what?'

I looked at him with an expression of disbelief. 'Don't joke around now, Kim Minseok. I'm being serious. So answer me, did you, or did you not feel the movement below us?'

'Do I look like I'm joking right now? I really did not feel anything from below us,' he replied.

'How about you, Baekhyun?' I asked.

'I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What did you ask?'

'I asked whether you felt something below us move?'

'No. And I hope not. I don't need some snake-like creature bursting out from the ground,' replied Baekhyun.

'So you're all telling me, all of you, none of you felt anything at all?'
They shook their heads.

Then I felt it again. The movement from somewhere below us. Just that this time, it felt a lot closer.

I looked at them, but none of them seemed to have noticed anything I did.

I had a churning feeling in my stomach. What if that movement leads to the mystery of this place? What if it was the very creature that tried to kill HyunJae? I just had to investigate.

I admit, I never feared anything. But when I'm too overconfident, it tends to get me in trouble.

But I just could not help this burning desire of mine to investigate further.
And so, I began wondering around. But no sooner had I left my friends did I hear a voice.

'Follow me, please. I'm in desperate need of help, please,' said a voice.

I turned around to see someone just as badly injured as HyunJae.

'Who are you?'

'I'm Kim Jongdae. But please, follow me, I have a friend who's injured further down this path.'

I couldn't fight back my curiosity any longer and so I did as Jongdae said.

After a while of walking I found myself in the heart of the labyrinth. There was a water fountain with some trees there. I saw, with great difficulty, a figure lying beside the water fountain there holding their stomach.

I approached the figure and realised it was a boy and he was bleeding very badly. 'What happened here?' He looked up with pain in his eyes.

'I-i am h-hurt,' He said with a voice hardly audible. 'By what? Show me your injury,' I demanded. With a painfully slow speed, he moved his hand to his side and showed me his injury. It was bad. Very bad.

'What's your name?' 'Oh Sehun.' 'Ok, Sehun, if you would, just stay here, I'll get my friends, all right?' 'S-sure.' He was now shedding a bit of tears.

Still, I went on ahead and left him there to find Baekhyun, Minseok and HyunJae.

I found then about a few miles away, approximately two. I ordered that they follow me, which they did, to where Sehun was.

'Where're we going?' questioned HyunJae.

'Let's get there first, then I'll tell you. Quick, it's just a few more steps,' I told them.

We arrived and Sehun was luckily still there. He was bleeding very badly, so I grabbed a piece of cloth which I brought earlier on just for emergencies and wrapped it around his stomach, which eased the flow just a bit. Then I grabbed my handkerchief and wiped the remaining blood on his hand and stomach off.

'Thank you all for helping me, I really appreciate your help. I owe you a life...?' 'Ji YoungJin,' I finished his sentence.

'Ji YoungJin.' I helped him get up and we sat on a bench. 'Hey Sehun?' 'Yeah?' 'Where's your friend, Jongdae?' 'What? I have no friend. I wondered in here alone.' 'But, the person who had led me to you was him.' 'I'm being totally honest, I have no idea who you're talking about.'

Baekhyun and I exchanged horrified looks.

'Didn't you say he had a friend?' whispered Baekhyun.

'Yes, I thought he did. But somehow, he doesn't,' I answered.

I looked at Sehun to his stomach and back to Baekhyun.

'I should be hallucinating,' I announced.

I looked at Minseok and HyunJae, which were both unfazed by this messed up situation. In fact, they seemed happier than before. Their happy demeanour really triggered my suspicion.