The morning was already quite bright when Hesa walked down the corridor toward his classroom. Feeling a bit thirsty, he decided to stop by the vending machine to buy a drink.
"Looks like Joan hasn't arrived at school yet. I'll wait for a bit," Hesa muttered while glancing at the watch on his wrist before grabbing his drink.
A moment later, another student came to buy a drink too, so Hesa shifted slightly to the side to make room.
He then continued walking past groups of students chatting and killing time before class started. But something felt off—many of them were talking about how sorry they felt for a student who'd recently experienced some bad luck.
"Wait… did they just say Jihan?" Hesa thought to himself, puzzled, recalling that he had just seen that name on the nametag of the student he passed at the vending machine.
"What kind of bad luck did she have?—Ugh, why am I thinking about someone else's business? I'd better find Joan before he trips again."
Hesa headed toward the staircase. Just in time, he saw Joan about to climb up.
"Jo!" Hesa called from below.
Joan turned around reflexively.
"Watch your step—you almost stepped on that plastic bag," Hesa warned.
Joan looked down, and sure enough, his foot was just inches away from a slippery plastic bag. If Hesa hadn't warned his, he probably would've stepped on it and fallen.
"Thanks, bro," Joan said.
"No problem," Hesa replied casually as he walked up the stairs.
They went together until they reached the front of their classrooms.
"See you, Jo," Hesa waved briefly before heading into own class next door.
Joan kept watching until Hesa disappeared from sight.
"He's getting weirder… I still can't decide if what happened with the elevator yesterday was just a coincidence or not. But this makes—what? The fifth time he's saved one of the Thirteen members?" Joan muttered to self before entering his classroom, where his two friends had already arrived.
"You get possessed or what, Jo? You've been standing at the door forever," Niki teased.
"No, idiot," Joan replied flatly.
"What were you daydreaming about? I saw Hesa with you earlier," Setta asked—he knew Joan better than anyone.
"N-nothing, really. Oh right, I ran into Hesa on the stairs, so we just walked here together," Joan explained.
Other students began to arrive one by one, and before long, the bell rang to mark the start of class.
~~~~~~
During lunch break, all the members of the Thirteen gathered at one of the tables in the cafeteria. They were discussing their plan to visit a villa later that day to shoot a video for their channel.
"So, we're really going today, right?" Hesa asked.
"Of course," Jio replied.
"Everyone's coming?" Arkha asked.
"Yeah, we're all in," Setta said.
"So what exactly are we doing there? Just recording like usual?" Niki asked.
"Well…" Joan hesitated.
"We usually explore abandoned places," Setta explained, "but this time it's a nice villa—though people say the area around it is haunted."
"So the area is haunted? There's no chance the villa itself is, right?" Jio asked.
"Maybe we should do more research first," Joan suggested.
"Nah," Hesa interrupted. "How about we do something different this time?"
"Different?" Arkha asked.
"Normally we just explore, but this time… let's play Jelangkung at the villa," Hesa said with a mischievous grin.
"That's basically asking to die," Arkha muttered.
"Oh, come on," Niki said. "We've been visiting their places for months now—don't you think that's disturbing enough? Might as well step it up a notch."
"Hmm… you know what," Setta spoke up, "Jelangkung's kind of old-fashioned. I found a game that's trending in Japan right now." He showed them his phone.
Everyone leaned closer to look at the article on his screen.
"Hitori Kakurenbo? So it's like hide and seek, but you play it with a doll possessed by a spirit?" Satya read aloud.
"That actually sounds fun. I wanna try," Niki said eagerly.
"Alright then, let's play that instead," Hesa decided, and everyone nodded in agreement.
They finished their meals just as the bell rang again.
"Guys, I'm heading off first," Hesa said, slipping his phone back into the pocket of his school jacket.
"You haven't even finished your food," Satya pointed out.
"Can't help it—duty calls," Hesa replied with a grin before walking away.
As he made his way down the quiet corridor toward the student council room, he noticed how eerily silent everything was. Only his own footsteps echoed through the hall. When he was almost there, a student walked past him from the opposite direction.
At first, Hesa didn't think much of it—but a strange chill ran down his spine. He turned around. The student he had just passed was still standing there, staring at him with a gloomy expression.
"That's the kid everyone was talking about earlier… why is she looking at me like that?" Hesa wondered.
He started to approach, but the student suddenly turned and walked away.
"Hesa," a voice called from behind him.
He turned around. "Minju."
"Where are you going? The student council room's that way," she said.
"N-no, it's fine. I, uh, dropped my bracelet," Hesa lied smoothly.
"Oh, did you find it?" she asked, not suspecting anything.
"Y-yeah, I did," he said.
"Good. Then let's go," Minju smiled and gestured toward the room.
"Yeah… okay," Hesa replied, following her.
~~~~~
Time passed quickly. By the late afternoon, all seven members of the Thirteen were already standing in front of the villa, ready to begin filming. Jio, who was holding the keys, unlocked the door, and they started carrying their equipment inside.
Just as planned, they set up cameras, audio gear, and other tools for their content—which they would record at midnight, the best time to play Hitori Kakurenbo.
After everything was ready, they gathered in the living room to rest for a bit.
"Guys, let's cook something—I'm starving. It's only three o'clock, and midnight's still a long way off," Jio said.
"Let's play hide and seek while waiting," Niki suggested excitedly.
"Eat first, Ki. Aren't you tired?" Satya asked.
"Yeah, but I still wanna play," Niki pouted.
"How about after we eat? I kinda wanna play too," Joan said.
"Alright, fine—food first. But you all better play later," Niki said.
"Yeah, yeah," Setta replied.
Hesa, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly frowned.
"Guys… where's Arkha?" he asked.
"Oh yeah," Jio said, looking around. "He's gone."
"I think he's outside. I saw a silhouette earlier—I thought it was him," Joan said.
"I—I'll go look for him," Hesa said quickly, standing up and heading toward the door.