there was not a single sound coming from the seven boys who were staring at the lifeless body on the floor in horror. in fear of their lives, they one after one began sobbing quietly. they had no escape from whoever it was that had just killed a man...
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something was really off.
the boys could all tell when they woke up. something was definitely not right. they always had to wake up at around 9am, but when they all began waking up, it was 11:30am.
"why haven't they woken us up yet?" byungchan asked while he changed from his sleep wear. "maybe it's a prank?" hanse asked. he hadn't yet stepped out of bed since he was still half asleep.
"that would be a stupid prank" chan muttered, walking to the bathroom to get fixed up. "i know. but why else would they just let us sleep in? it's very unlike them" hanse finally got up to get changed. the other two didn't have a response to the question, so instead they just kept quiet.
a few minutes later, the three went downstairs. they heard seungsik and sejun leave just right before them, and they found the two in the kitchen. at first they didn't think much of it, but when they heard sejun's faint sobs, they understood something was wrong.
chan was the first one to step forward. he carefully tapped sejun's shoulder, making him flinch. the younger looked up at chan, his face filled with worry. chan mirrored that worried expression.
"what's wrong?" he asked. his voice made seungsik turn around as well. "they are all dead" the oldest in the room whispered, motioning to the floor. it wasn't until then the three that newly entered the room noticed the staff members on the floor.
"what do you mean dead?" byungchan's voice was shaky. "i mean that they are all dead. they are all no longer alive" seungsik repeated. his face was oddly emotionless. "and you are sure they aren't just...napping?" hanse asked, his voice quiet.
"they won't wake up" sejun cried. "have you tried checking their pulse?" the new voice made them all jump. it was seungwoo. subin was behind him, trying to rub the sleepiness away from his eyes.
"no..." was the response. seungwoo sighed, walking over to the staff member that was the closest to them. he first tapped her cheek, but when she gave no response he moved his hand over to her neck.
he let two of his fingers move around by the top of her neck, trying his best to find any sign that she was still alive. when he couldn't find the pulse, he simply moved his hand to check if her heart was even still beating. he might have just checked the wrong part of her neck?
but when he couldn't find a heartbeat either, it felt like his own heart sank. "so? is she alive?" byungchan asked. he had already moved closer to the stairs, ready to run and hide if it was necessary. "she's dead" seungwoo answered. it made everyone gasp, and sejun began crying again.
seungwoo continued to check everyone's pulse, but they all gave the same response - a stilled heart. they were all dead. "but... if this is all the staff, and our manager is already dead..." seungsik trailed off.
"...it's one of us" seungwoo continued the sentence. when those words were spoken, everyone began to slowly move away from eachother.
"b-but it can't be one of us, right? none of us would do such thing!" subin said. he had also moved over to the stairs. "i mean, maybe there is a staff member left? they might be hiding somewhere around here and are about to attack!" the youngest continued, managing to scare everyone further.
"shut up subin, you're not helping the situation" seungsik whined, looking around the kitchen to see if anyone was there. the youngest mumbled a small apology.
"ok guys let's just not assume things. we all know how it went last time" seungwoo began, motioning towards sejun. the others silently agreed. "now, i know this might sound stupid but i have watched a lot of crime shows and stuff so judging from that, they have all been poisoned" the oldest continued.
"poisoned?" hanse almost laughed. "i mean, you can't just base all your knowledge from a tv show" seungwoo rolled his eyes as the other continued to speak.
"i know, but it's better than nothing, right? now, how or when could they have gotten poisoned if that now is the case?" the oldest asked, glancing around at the others in the room.
"i mean, we don't know what they did when we were locked in the room, but we all had that dinner together last night?" sejun quietly spoke up. "but if that's the case, why aren't we dead?" seungsik questioned.
"can i just say what i think? i don't think it was the food, since the staff was the ones that cooked it. plus, we all ate it, and we are still alive. so, in my opinion it's either the drinks or something that happened while we weren't watching. however, if it was the drinks, it again wouldn't make sense since we all again drank the same drinks. i don't know where i'm going with this, i'm sorry. i'll be quiet now" subin got quieter the more he talked.
"no wait, you have a point. now that you mention it, there was something in some of the glasses that were placed out on the table. but it was only in those where the staff were seated. me and seungwoo of course thought it was strange, but we shrugged it off as some sort of decoration. what if that little fluid thing was the poison?" when seungsik finished speaking, everyone was in shock.
"but if it wasn't in the drink... subin fixed the table last night, didn't he? what if he was the one that put the poison in their drinks?" sejun suggested, slowly moving away from the youngest. byungchan copied that action.
subin stood in shock. he couldn't believe what he was hearing. the others were accusing him of killing all of these innocent people?
"no, guys, let's not assume things. again. i mean, do you honestly think little subin would do something like this?" chan said, wrapping an arm around subin's shoulder. subin gave the older a thankful smile, getting an equally big smile back.
"chan is right. let's just go around and find out if there is someone else alive in this house" seungwoo suggested. the response he was given were just shrugs, so they did what he said.
seungwoo and seungsik took the first floor, chan, subin and hanse took the second, and sejun and byungchan the third. while checking, byungchan and sejun talked about who they thought it was.
"you don't still think it's me, right?" sejun asked, taking byungchan by surprise. "what? no, of course not. i guess i was just overwhelmed last night. i don't want it to be any of us, so personally i think there is a staff member left somewhere, like subin said" sejun hummed in agreement at byungchan's statement.
a few minutes passed, and they all gathered by the stairs at the first floor again. "so? did anyone find anything? or, anyone?" seungwoo asked, desperation hearable in his voice. "no, the whole second floor is empty" chan replied with a sigh. "so is the third" sejun added.
"so... what you are all implying is that one of us really is the murderer" byungchan whispered. "while we waited for you guys, seungsik checked outside and found nothing. so, unless we checked terribly, then yes" seungwoo mumbled, fiddling with his fingers.
"i think i'm going to leave..." subin spoke up, before hurrying away from the group and hiding in his room. the others copied his action, moving away from eachother and hiding in different places.
and after a dreadful day of avoiding and being scared of eachother, they fell asleep in their so called hiding spots, painfully unaware if they were going to be the next victim.
