wake up. | nct/wayv

END

THE FACILITY

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it was like falling down an endless black void; he saw nothing, he felt weightless and his stomach held a hollow, fluttery feeling.

once his lungs filled with air, doyoung's eyes snapped open to a white room. there were pulses of red light on the walls every few seconds and a very faint alarm that was barely audible.

doyoung quickly sat up and did a once-over on himself. he was dressed in white with not a single scratch on his body—like it was all really just a dream. his eyes landed on the needle stuck in his arm, and in one motion he pulled it out. noticing the machine it was connected to, he saw a screen that read, "2:27:20." it was a paused countdown.

in the next few minutes, doyoung headed for the door and stepped out into an empty and quiet hallway. the splatters of blood throughout the hall were the first thing that stood out. other than that, the facility looked the same as it had in the game.

doyoung was ready to search for an exit when he remembered the neighboring doors that belonged to the other players—and the singular one at the very end.

he decided to peek into the room next to his. there was a small octopus engraved on the door, red with long, curling limbs. when doyoung remembered who the animal belonged to, he let out a gasp and opened the door. it was like color had entered his world—like he had just escaped his lucid nightmare and entered what seemed like a dream too good to be true. he was alarmed to see that the scene was identical to his own: jungwoo was unconscious in a chair with a needle lodged in his arm. he rushed over to the machine and saw the countdown was still running. jungwoo still had one hour.

he removed the needle in a hurry. "jungwoo," he said aloud. "jungwoo, wake up."

doyoung didn't expect him to react so quickly, but in less than ten seconds, jungwoo's eyes opened (albeit a bit slowly) and blinked at him groggily.

the first thing that came out of his mouth was, "what happened to everyone? where is everyone?"

whatever tears of relief gathered in doyoung's eyes had dried at the pace of the conversation. "t-the players?"

jungwoo shook his head. with a sudden burst of adrenaline, he sat up and accidentally startled doyoung. "no... the people in the facility. you wouldn't be here right now if researchers were around."

"you should see for yourself..."

when jungwoo entered the hallway, he was stunned. the sight of blood made him feel queasy, so he turned away to speak. "let's see if anyone else is alive."

"the people who work here?"

"no, idiot! the players..."

jungwoo didn't give him any time to be offended. he went straight for the door next to his and peeked through the window. doyoung watched as he tapped his finger on it hurriedly and stuttered out, "t-there's someone here! let's go!"

they managed to find people in order of death: hendery, chenle, jisung, mark, johnny, taeyong, donghyuck, yuta, kun, and taeil. unfortunately, they realized that everyone who died before level 10 was already injected. the countdowns in their rooms were replaced with their last levels.