The sound of the alarm woke Hesa up that morning.
He immediately got up and went to the bathroom.
After finishing, he headed to the kitchen and saw Jaehyuk cooking.
"Morning, servant," Hesa said jokingly.
Jaehyuk immediately looked at him with a flat expression. Calm down, it's still morning, he thought, though he suddenly felt like exercising—more precisely, punching his own friend.
"You feeling better?" Jaehyuk asked.
"As you can see," Hesa replied with a smile.
"It's only now I've seen you cheerful again," Jaehyuk said.
"I'm usually cheerful anyway," Hesa answered.
"No, you changed after that vacation with your friends at the villa," Jaehyuk replied.
"That's just your imagination," Hesa said.
"Stop dodging, man."
Jaehyuk handed him a plate of toast he had just made.
"I'm serious. What happened during that trip?"
"I'd rather be serious with my sweetheart, not you," Hesa said while biting his toast.
"Stop joking, Hesa. Your lives have gotten complicated, especially after your friend got kidnapped yesterday," Jaehyuk said.
"Nothing happened, Jae. My friend wasn't kidnapped—i-it was just a prank. Yeah, his cousin pranked him," Hesa replied.
"If you're going to lie, at least make it believable," Jaehyuk said, lightly smacking Hesa's head. "Who pulls a prank by beating someone up?"
"Well… how would I know? He told me himself," Hesa insisted.
"Whatever," Jaehyuk muttered, losing interest.
"You believe me, right?"
Jaehyuk let out a sigh and glanced at him briefly.
"Yeah. I just hope your problems end soon—if you really have any."
Hesa looked at Jaehyuk with a gloomy expression, a sense of guilt he couldn't bring himself to confess.
~~~~~
"I don't mind sitting here."
Heeseung glanced at his friend who was patting the stone bench beside him.
"This park's gotten really quiet since the renovation rumor," Sunoo said.
They sat together under a shady tree, enjoying the breeze.
"I actually don't really like Arkha being the detective. He's too predictable," Sunoo said.
"What can we do? It's already happened," Heeseung replied.
"Jake's expectations were too high. He thought his twin would turn out like Agantha, but Arkha's more like Zoa," Sunoo said.
"Maybe he forgot our previous players were Jihan's gang, not Sakala's," Heeseung added.
"Even though they all ended up dead with no one left, the Kaze gang had more struggle, and I liked their friendship," Sunoo said.
"Jihan's gang was all girls. Of course there'd be differences," Heeseung replied.
"True, but I also get why Jake really wanted Arkha to be like Agantha," Sunoo said.
"Why?" Heeseung asked.
"Agantha was someone you could truly rely on. He didn't just listen—he actually helped. Remember when you disguised yourself and trapped them in another world, and Sakala went to the rooftop?" Sunoo said.
"Hmm, wait, let me remember—"
Without wasting another second, Kala ran toward Lyo, and just like before, Lyo escaped by disappearing.
But this time Kala didn't move to search for him again. His gaze was fixed on the rooftop of the building across from him.
Through the window, Kala saw Hasta and Melvin there. He didn't know what happened, but suddenly Hasta pushed Melvin off the roof and then jumped after him.
"Agan, t-they—"
"Kala!"
Kala hurried toward the stairs to check on his two friends, but Gantha quickly grabbed his hand.
"Snap out of it! That's not them," Gantha said.
"We saw the same thing, right?" Kala asked.
"Yeah, I saw Asta and Melvin too. But this isn't our world, Kal. That couldn't have been them," Gantha replied.
Those words immediately brought Kala back to his senses. He had panicked and forgotten logic.
"You didn't realize you were being manipulated again?" Gantha said.
"What if they were trapped here too and that really was them?" Kala asked.
Gantha chuckled. "Alright then, let's check the rooftop."
They went up together, but once they arrived, they found nothing—no bodies, no signs of anyone.
"There's nothing. How is that possible?" Kala said.
"It's called an illusion," Gantha replied casually before turning to head back downstairs.
"Hey, wait up!" Kala followed him.
They walked together through the empty school corridor.
"How did you know?" Kala asked.
"It was obvious. You were just too panicked to notice," Gantha teased.
"What do you mean?"
"Their uniforms looked like the students we passed earlier, and their expressions were suspicious. Especially Asta—he's usually cheerful, but he looked angry. And Melvin was way too calm for someone facing death," Gantha explained.
Heeseung chuckled after recalling the memory.
"You're right. He really could've been a good partner."
"In my opinion, they were the best players we ever had—truly complementary. The real best partners," Sunoo said.
"No matter how great they were, they still couldn't beat us. They're dead, and they're not coming back," Heeseung said with a laugh.
~~~~~
Arkha went to the rooftop before heading to class. He took out his sketchbook and pencil and began drawing.
The sky wasn't too bright yet, which made him more comfortable there since it wasn't glaring.
He kept drawing even though his mind was elsewhere.
Setta was the first to recommend the camping trip—that was why Arkha had felt something bad might happen, especially with the story about Jihan losing all her friends during a camp.
But now Setta easily agreed to cancel it. Arkha had expected Setta to try to sabotage the change somehow—but how?
He just hoped the guy wouldn't take an extreme route.
Arkha sighed when he saw his drawing was finished.
"Agantha?"
"Since when did you get here?" Arkha asked the senior who was already standing behind him.
"Just now," Hesa said casually as he sat beside Arkha.
"You suddenly drew Agantha?" Hesa asked.
"I don't know. I just felt like drawing him," Arkha replied.
Hesa handed Arkha a lunch box. When Arkha opened it, there were several pieces of cake inside.
"Cake?"
The lavender-haired boy was sitting on the roof of a small storage shed on the rooftop, leaning back on his hands with his eyes closed, enjoying the breeze. While he was lost in his own world, something suddenly hit his face.
"Damn—!"
He opened his eyes and looked around. A wrapped loaf of bread lay near his hand. He stared at it strangely, then shifted his gaze to Gantha, who was looking at him with his usual flat expression.
The red-haired boy climbed up, and the lavender-haired one reached out to help him. After that, they sat side by side on the roof.
"Are you just going to stare at it?"
Hesa's voice made Arkha turn, snapping out of his thoughts. Smiling, Arkha put a piece of cake into his mouth.
"Feels like that ghost's sticking to me again. Maybe because I drew him," Arkha said.
"You saw something?" Hesa asked.
"Nothing important. Just a small moment between him and that lavender ghost," Arkha replied.
"Oh, I thought it was something serious," Hesa said.
"By the way, the cake's good," Arkha added, taking another piece.
"It's from Kala. Yesterday he kept me company playing PS at my boarding house almost all day," Hesa said.
"The new neighbor?" Arkha asked.
"Yeah."
"Doesn't he go to school?" Arkha asked.
"He said he's kind of free lately," Hesa replied.
"Oh," Arkha nodded.
"I'm actually a bit suspicious of him," Hesa said.
"Suspicious why?" Arkha asked.
"I'll investigate that later. For now, let's talk about something more important. Joan told you guys he heard something, right?" Hesa said.
"Yeah. He still remembers everything—from being pushed until Heeseung said you'd given up," Arkha replied.
"How did the others react?" Hesa asked.
"Obviously confused. But Joan also seemed like he wanted to brush it off by saying, 'Maybe I just wandered into another world for a bit.' Weird, right?" Arkha said.
"Did he say anything else after that?" Hesa asked.
"No," Arkha replied.
Hesa nodded in understanding.
"What were you talking about with Heeseung?" Arkha asked.
"He just told me not to investigate the terror or think about stopping this. He even looked proud after killing Jihan," Hesa said.
"That's messed up," Arkha muttered.
"But wait… Joan told that story after he also said he didn't want to go camping, right?" Hesa asked.
"Yeah. I thought he could be persuaded to cooperate, turns out I was wrong," Arkha said.
"Do you know why he suddenly didn't want to camp?" Hesa asked.
Arkha suddenly burst into laughter.
"You remember when I lied to him using that idol excuse? Turns out he actually looked the idol up."
"So?" Hesa asked.
"I think he really believed the theory," Arkha said.
Hesa let out a tired sigh. "That's freaky."
"My stomach hurts from laughing at this," Arkha said, still chuckling.
"Stop for a second, Khan. We still have problems here," Hesa said.
"Alright, alright," Arkha stopped.
"Yesterday the others didn't come to my place because they went to Setta's house after hearing he'd been found," Hesa said.
"Yeah. Setta claimed he was attacked by a stranger and lost some belongings—like a robbery. But…"
"But what?"
"When the others talked about going to the abandoned amusement park, he agreed immediately. I don't think it should've been that easy, right?"