The Ace (Stray Kids Kim Seungmin)

40

"Excuse me?" Aira furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm not a Joker. And I wasn't lying."

Hyunjin chuckled, "Oh really? If you aren't the Joker, prove it."

"Prove it? How?"

"I don't know. Perhaps by leading us all back to Pen 5A96. You only planned the trap, right, you only planned the murders so you don't have anything else to hide... Unless you hid a crucial piece of evidence in there and got Kayleigh to distract anyone who got close." He turned to Mel with a smirk. "That's right, you were correct and Seungmin," He glanced at him. "You were correct in saying the Pen reeked of Joker. I bet you assumed it was because I was there but no, I can't stand the thought of that Pen. Kayleigh and Aira were the ones in there when you said that."

"So one of them is the Joker..." Seungmin momentarily glared at them before glimpsing back at Hyunjin. "Why are you telling us all this? What do you want?"

"Nothing. Look around. Just take a moment to thoroughly examine each and every one of us. We're all here. The creators gathered everyone in the world together, Jokers and Aces and normals alike. Do you really think we are all going to leave here alive? No, no, no, only one of us will make it. I'm just trying to help you figure out who to protect."

"Protect?" Kayleigh raised an eyebrow. "Why would we need to protect anyone? It's a game of survival. It's every person for themselves."

"That's exactly what a Joker would say, Kayleigh. In fact, that's the exact same thing Aira said five years ago that we all overlooked." He glanced at Melody, a soft smile in his face. "Do you want to know the real reason you died in that shed? Do all of you want to know what actually happened in that Pen? Because I remember it all."

"What do you mean by the real reason I died in that shed? Harri murdered me. I remember that. I," touched the side of her head, wincing. "I can still feel it."

"In order to answer that question, I'll have to first explain the original plan and how it was all derailed. This will be long and confusing so you might want to sit down for it."

"I'm not going to sit down," Mel shook her head, much to his amusement.

"Not letting your guard down, I see? I like that. That's smart. No wonder the creators hate you. You outsmarted them all."

"Hate me? The creators hate me?"

"You didn't realise? They've been trying to kill you since you arrived! Don't you remember how tempted you were to leave the Pen through the East wall? Or when that jaguar first tried to kill you? Or the three jaguars after that? Then you were led to Pen 5A96 where you met Kayleigh who was meant to kill you but you instead befriended? They've been trying to kill you all along. That's why they haven't been communicating with you whatsoever. They usually communicate with Aces and Jokers but not you."

"Why do they hate her?" Seungmin furrowed his eyebrow.

Hyunjin smirked, "it all started six years ago when all the Hearts lives happily in their own, original Pen. They had a two card, a five, six, seven, nine, ten, a queen card and a king card. And an Ace. Or at least, that was until Melody arrived."

"How could they have an Ace before Melody arrived? Mel is our Ace," Brea tilted her head at him.

"Exactly. Aces and Jokers are very similar, too similar even. Some say it's hard to distinguish between the two but I disagree. It's only hard when you are the Joker because you spent most of your time in denial. No one wants to be the bad guy so we delude ourselves into thinking we aren't. In the famous words of Miss Aira Thompson, 'it’s very easy for a Joker to think they are the Ace.'"

"I already told you, I'm not the Joker."

"Save those excuses for someone who actually cares. I'm sick and tired of being the only one around here that tells the truth. Now, where was I? Ah yes, Aira had deluded herself into thinking she was the Ace that when Melody arrived and claimed to be the Ace too, her own teammates began to turn on her. It was very clear to the Hearts at that point that either Aira was the Joker or Mel was and so they trusted neither. After three agonising months, Harri arrived and Aira took this as her chance at a new start. She grabbed Harri and darted, escaping  the Pen."

"How?" Mel asked. "How did she escape the Pen?"

"Each Pen has a side with a broken wall. Aira had tricked you all into believing you can't leave and if you try going over the wall, you'll die. That wasn't true at all. She just didn't want you to escape so she could continue to manipulate you all."

"I saw some of the Hearts jump out and return dead, though. I'm certain I did."

"Do you remember who they were? Bethany? Heidi? Winter?"

"Yeah... I remember seeing those three jump out. How did you know?"

"Those were the three that jumped out of the Pen when Aira darted with you. Do you actually remember ever speaking to or interacting with them?"

"... No."

"That's that then. They were all just your imagination. It's easy for creators to provide you a false memory when something similar has already happened. And creators only do so when an Ace or Joker asks them to do so but, for the most part, only Jokers use the skill. Now, back to the story. Aira forced Harri to escape with her as soon as she arrived by tricking her into believing she was the Ace. As soon as Aira left, the other Hearts immediately realised that she was in fact the Joker and Mel was their real Ace."

"So, what does any of this have to do with how Mel died?" Minho asked.

"I'm getting there. Be patient, all of you be patient. You keep cutting me off. How will I ever get to the end if every five seconds someone's asking a question. Let me finish, ok?" He paused, running a hand through his hand as he sighed in frustration. "Now I lost my train of thought. What was I talking about?"

"You were talking about how Aira escaped the Pen with Harri," Mel reminded him.

"Wait, really? I'm still back there? This is going to be a lot longer than I initially imagined. So after Harri and Aira escaped, they travelled around the jungle together and while they were doing this, Aira came up with an idea she practiced everyday of her life for six years after that. She decided she was going to mimick an Ace while forcing Harri to do all her 'Joker work'  to avoid anyone else figuring out she's the Joker. And that's when she met the Kayleigh for the first time. Luckily for Aira, this was immediately after I had ambushed the diamonds and killed a bunch of them so Kayleigh was desperate to find someone to help her."

"That's not what happened," the Ace of Diamonds argued.

"Stop cutting me off! I got this all from the creators so if it's flawed, blame them! Details don't matter in this, I'm just trying to give a general explanation and timeline to the kids here that haven't a clue what's going on, okay?"

"I trusted Aira because she said she was an Ace, not because I was desperate, though," Kayleigh argued.

"I don't care, no one does! The fact of the matter is that you and Aira teamed up because she fooled you into trusting her. And so back then, Aira told you she found the Joker, implying that Mel was the Joker, and you believed her and together, you began to plan how you were going to kill Melody. You quickly realised it wasn't going to be possible with only three people and you needed to find more people. That's how Seungmin, Aaron and I got dragged into that mess."

"Aaron?" Brea asked before instantly apologising. "Sorry, sorry, I forgot you said no interruptions. I'm sorry."

Rolling his eyes, he answered, "Aaron was the Ace of Clubs. He took his own life a month before we invaded Pen 5A96 after figuring out Aira's plan. Anyway, Aira, Harri and Kayleigh found the rest of us separately and recruited us. By the time I was recruited, Kayleigh had already realised something was off. She knew I was a Joker but didn't say anything because she suspected Harri was the other Joker even though Aira insisted it was Melody. Now that you know how everyone got involved, let's move on to how and why Mel actually died."