wake up. | nct/wayv

12

LEVEL TWELVE : BOSS

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THE MUSEUM

HENDERY AND CHENLE

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> "how disappointing," chenle sighed.

hendery read the words on the screen, "OBSTACLE: FLOOD" and could've sworn his heart stopped beating—in a good way.

"that means we can't go to the highway," he said. "because there's no high ground there. so i doubt anyone else will go."

"that's not good. that either means yangyang will persist alone and succeed in getting the second life, or he'll be smart and wait it out like us, but we'll encounter him... we'd probably have to fight him."

hendery crossed his arms, scrutinizing the dream member. "i thought you wanted to fight him."

"i said that we're strong enough, not that we're itching to," chenle corrected him. "it's just an inconvenience, that's all."

in the silence, hendery could hear a faint tapping. it dawned on him what the sound really was when it got louder—moving closer to them at a steady rate. he looked to chenle, who paid no mind at all. he wondered for a moment if he didn't care or genuinely didn't notice, but figured chenle wouldn't have survived this long if he allowed himself to be approached by a potential threat.

"hey. hide."

chenle blinked at him. "what?"

"go hide!" hendery whisper-shouted. he grew more anxious as the steps continued. "hurry!"

to hendery's relief, chenle did as he said and ran off to who-knows-where while he tried to pose naturally.

yangyang emerged from the room's entrance with his permanently casual attitude, spinning a new and shiny kunai around his finger. his other hand rested at the band of his jeans, which, tattered at the knees and ankles, hendery had come to believe were definitely stained.

"i have another request for you~" yangyang sang. at this, hendery's stomach dropped. once again, he was pulled into his endless cycle of killing.

"another one?"

the younger nodded. "mm... i want you to target jisung and chenle. do you think you can do that?"

"j...jisung..." hendery trailed off, his voice barely audible. no, there was no way he could do that. managing his willpower to kill off sicheng was more than enough for him. he realized then that he would never be able to handle being a hitman for yangyang, so why did he continue to obey him? why had he agreed to this in the first place? to stay alive?

what did that matter now?

"might as well eliminate dream run while we still can, right? no words, just kill them all," yangyang said. he propped himself up on the edge of a display, the contents of it long gone after the fight from the earlier level.

"yangyang..." hendery struggled to keep eye contact. "i... i can't do this."

"oh? what do you mean?"