wake up. | nct/wayv

09

LEVEL NINE : 119

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THE CITY

DOYOUNG, JUNGWOO, MARK, YUTA, JOHNNY

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> doyoung couldn't breathe.

although they were on a rooftop, it felt like he was underwater. his lungs gasped for cold air but he couldn't feel it. a pain swarmed from his chest to his head, and when he shut his eyes he could see stars.

"doyoung?" it was johnny's voice. "doyoung, are you okay?"

"he... doesn't look okay," mark pointed out the obvious.

besides the stars, there was the burning image of a white cake and a warm, comforting scent. doyoung's eyes blinked open and he stared at the ground beneath him, completely absorbed in his rampant thoughts.

the scene reminded yuta of his own episode on level two, where that throbbing headache had come out of nowhere. he noticed some other players having the same experience, so he decided to speak about it.

"it seems that everybody gets these," said yuta as he watched doyoung recover. "has anyone else seen, like... a vision?"

johnny raised his brows. "i've seen a member of "the vision" when i went through this. it was kun."

"kun?" yuta seemed to recognize the name way beyond the game, but didn't follow up on it.

mark chimed in, "some levels ago i had this terrible migraine. no vision though, but it felt like my heart was hurting as well."

to the side, jungwoo shifted his weight from one foot to another, bit his lip, swallowed despite the dryness of his mouth. he pressed the back of his hand to his warm cheeks and let out a sigh.

in the previous level, he took some time to wander alone. it was after the realization that he couldn't remember most of the events of the first few levels—who died, or if he had killed anyone. he felt a dull ache in his chest and in his head that he could do nothing to stop, or at least alleviate. in the end, he ended up passing out.

at first, he saw a blank void. he walked for what felt like hours until the scene turned into what looked like a laboratory. he saw multiple people around him, all of whom were unfamiliar. they flickered and disappeared, switched to another group of strangers while jungwoo stayed put. they walked around him and through him like he was nothing but a ghost. there was one final switch—he saw doyoung's face, then yuta's, then jaehyun's, and everyone else who was with him in the current game.

before he regained consciousness, he saw a bakery.

"doyoung! can you hear me?" yuta's voice brought him back to reality. he saw doyoung standing now, breathing deeply with a hand on his chest.

doyoung nodded. "i'm fine."

"we should keep moving," said johnny, looking around carefully. "i saw a billboard earlier that showed a picture of a wasp. not sure what it means, but i'm taking it as a warning."