The Ace (Stray Kids Kim Seungmin)

42

"So you mean to tell me that the Hearts escaped and then decided to help the creators? Why?" Minho questioned. "Why didn't they just leave?"

"They are hearts," Hyunjin shrugged. "They care too much about other people to run away and leave us all to die. Besides, they wouldn't just leave Harri on her own after she helped them all out. Their entire plan was never to just get the Hearts to escape, it was to get everyone to escape. Even Aira and I. But in order to guarantee an escape, they needed to hack the system. To this day, five years later, the plan is still in action. It isn't complete yet."

"It's not?" Kayleigh furrowed her eyebrows. "That means the plan's directly linked to Mel then."

"Exactly. And that's why I followed Harri all the way back to all of you. And the only reason I'm telling you all this was because the Heart that has been communicating with me, Leigh, said that if I tell Melody all of this, they will make sure I escape-" Hyunjin stopped halfway through the sentence, sighing as he pinched his nose bridge. "I just got completely sidetracked and forgot to conclude the story."

"There's still more? Even after all the Hearts died?" Jeongin raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. As I was saying, they got Harri to kill them and managed to fool us Jokers into thinking our plan succeeded. But that was only stage one of a four stage plan. Stage one was killing them all off. Stage two was convincing the creators that they are interns as well as make Aira trust that Harri was on her side and not Mel's. Stage one bled into stage two in the sense that Aira trusted Harri after seeing what she had done to Mel and the Hearts. But the Hearts wanted to be certain Harri wouldn't slip out of character so they erased her memory and encouraged Aira to manipulate her into hating Melody which was a huge success on their part, by the way."

Brea chuckled, nudging Harri, "remember how I used to always complain about how you hated her for no reason?"

"I did sometimes think I was being a bit unreasonable..." Harri muttered.

"They also erased Seungmin's memory because, well, since he and Melody had a little crush on each other back then, Mel told him the plan and he agreed to help but not kill anyone. So he stood at the Pen's fallen wall and guarded it ensure Kayleigh, Aira and I didn't enter. He didn't do a great job at it and I managed to force my way past him to watch Harri kill Mel but I digress. According to Leigh, my memory was erased because the Hearts collectively agreed they didn't like me and wanted to see me suffer which I believe is completely understandable. But anyway, they erased our memories and built a new Pen for the new Hearts to live in. Aira decided to pick up the title of the Jack card and tricked Harri into thinking she's the Joker. Stage three was placing Mel back in the Pen and making sure she remembered nothing about her past life. And finally stage four was getting the Hearts out of the Pen so Mel can remember the reason she's here."

"That's one intricate plan..." Brea mumbled.

"Yep. And while doing all of this, they had to fool everyone into thinking they were clueless. Truly admirable. And to think, all along Aira was under the impression that she was using Harri when in reality, Harri was using  her."

"I've had enough of this," Aira rolled her eyes. "I don't know which creator lied to you but the Hearts died in Pen 5A96, you saw it too, Hyunjin! They aren't controlling us! They aren't-"

Suddenly, the land beneath them quaked, forcing them all to the wet, muddy ground. Glancing around at the shocked expressions on everyone's face, Aira considered it the perfect moment to attack. Immediately regaining her balance, she grabbed Seungmin's machete and placed the blade against Jeongin's neck.

"No one move or I'll kill him," she stated, pushing the blade into his skin, not enough to pierce through the flesh but enough for Jeongin to wince. "I'm playing around. I will kill him."

"You wouldn't," Brea glared at her.

"Was no one listening to what I just said?" Hyunjin shouted. "I spent over ten minutes explaining how Aira is a manipulative  piece of trash. How did that completely go over your head? She's a Joker, she doesn't actually care about any of you. She would kill that kid even if she had nothing to gain from it... Not saying she currently has something to gain from it but-"

"Oh shut up!" Aira glared at him. "You are a fellow Joker, Hyunjin, you should be helping me not siding with the Aces."

Hyunjin raised his hands up in mock surrender as he slowly approached Melody, eyes still focused on the female Joker.

"What can I say? I'm a Joker. Every man for themselves, right?" He shrugged at Aira before leaning closer to Mel to whisper in her ear, "now would be the perfect time for you to run."

"Run?" She questioned, tilting her head at him and ignoring Aira's protests.

"Leigh actually told me your whole plan. I know how you wish to escape the game," he glanced at the other Joker for a moment before turning Mel's body around so she wasn't facing her. But Melody still heard and grimaced at the sound of Aira's machete puncturing Jeongin's throat and whines he released when he felt his warm blood cascade down his chest. She saw as Seungmin's face distorted in anger, eyes narrowing and eyebrows furrowing as he darted towards the action taking place behind her. She watched Brea's jaw drop as her left hand covered her mouth and tears trickled down her cheeks. She felt Hyunjin's body tense up as shivers ran down his spine but despite it all, he managed to pull himself together to say one last thing, "Only one will make it. And I promised Leigh that it will be you."

And with that, he pushed her aside, forcing her sprint off and never once did she look back. Not even when she heard heavy footsteps following close behind. She understood what Hyunjin was trying to imply. She finally understood that her urge to go back to the Pen wasn't just because she wanted to find out what happened in there. Five years ago, before Harri killed her, she left the last piece of the puzzle in there. And in order to escape, she needed to find it.