"Why do you want to win so badly anyways?"

Jooheon felt the weight of someone staring down at him. Shownu heard him. Not that he didn't want Shownu to hear him – he would've kept quiet if that was the case – it was just that there was a strong desire and determination to do something, help, and play his part to contribute.

Minhyuk's sudden soft expression didn't go unnoticed. "Are you feeling better now?" Jooheon asked, trying to phrase it so it sounds as nice as possible.

Shownu and Jooheon both stared at Minhyuk, waiting for an answer. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, only to close it wearily shortly after, the same time he stole a glance at Shownu. Jooheon swore he saw a flash of anger the one moment Minhyuk averted his gaze, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, making it hard to be certain.

Still, Jooheon read the situation well. The following conversation was really only meant for two people. "Shownu-hyung, do you mind if we talk alone?" Jooheon said, looking up at the taller man. Almost reading the others mind, he stood on his toes and whispered to Shownu, "Don't worry, I will scream if Minhyuk... gets too angry."

Jooheon leaned back and looked at Shownu's expression for an answer. Shownu nodded hesitantly, his facial expression having barely changed.

As soon as Jooheon and Minhyuk left, Wonho approached Shownu, probably to apologize for all the shouting back then. Jooheon knew what that meant – Hyungwon, Kihyun and Changkyun would be waiting to move on in the game. He had no intentions of delaying this any further, but there was something he had to make sure. He'd have to make this quick.

They arrived at a back corner of the room, far enough from everyone else to get enough privacy, that's it, considering there would be no shouting or screaming.

Minhyuk leaned against a wall and looked at Jooheon. "Ok, let's start again. You asked me why I wanted to win, right?" Minhyuk asked, a bit too cheerily.

Jooheon was standing opposite of him, making sure to keep enough distance between them. He raised his eyebrows in response to Minhyuk's sudden mood change, but decided there were more important matters to attend to, rather than questioning about another man's weird behaviour.

"Yes." Jooheon answered. "To be completely honest, you're quite a bit of trouble to us, and I figured you're only acting like this because you want to win. So I want to know, why?" The self-formed script in his brain was a huge confidence boost for Jooheon, and he saw it as a good beginning to a conversation that would reach its purpose without big issues.

Minhyuk was hurt by those words, and Jooheon saw it, but he tried to ignore it and focus the task on hands. Breaking his resolutions of being nice was acceptable once in a while, especially if it was necessary.

Eventually, Minhyuk got himself to answer. "Because I want to get what I want. You get what you want when you win." Minhyuk said it as if Jooheon didn't already know.

"Yes, I know that." Actually, he didn't. How and why would Smiley give them whatever they wanted? "But what all of us really want now is to leave this place, and we get automatically no matter who wins, because the game would've ended."

Jooheon tried to explain while reading Minhyuk's expression, deciding whether it was too much for the other to understand. He gave exactly 5 seconds for Minhyuk to digest it before he continued. "And that's why we want to rush through this as fast as possible. If you want to win that badly, it means you have something you really, really, want, other than leaving this place. So what is it?"

Minhyuk arched his head and looked up to the ceiling, thinking. To Jooheon it looked like he was annoyed. When Minhyuk looked back, his bangs fell over his eyes and covered them slightly, a slight smirk on his face and hands slipped silently in the pockets.

Jooheon shuddered at Minhyuk's sinister look, and for a second thought of the possibility of the other man being bipolar. He looked away to compose himself, and while doing so he saw Shownu, standing tall and strong, only a few metres away. The thought of help being only milliseconds away helped him calm down. He looked back to the waiting Minhyuk, trying not to flinch when he saw the other's intimidating stance.

"What were you looking at?" Minhyuk asked, voice surprising soft and calm, as if he actually cared, which Jooheon knew he probably didn't.

Minhyuk continued. "But that doesn't matter. What I want to say is, why would I tell you what I want? Besides, you can just let me win and still rush through the game, since you don't mind if you lose, right?" Minhyuk didn't move a muscle, but his voice was challenging enough to let Jooheon understand that Minhyuk wasn't joking around.

Jooheon surprised himself from forming a rebuttal almost immediately. "Yes I don't mind if I lose, we all don't. But we do mind if you keep fussing about not able to win, when we deliberately gave you more points so you can win. I mean, can you just leave us alone and stop fussing like a baby?"

Minhyuk stepped forward as if he was about to growl and pounce like a wild animal. Jooheon was starting to think this was getting slightly, if not, straight up ridiculous. But he knew that he could be the hunter, someone that could control this animal and make sense of this situation.

Minhyuk also looked like he ran out of arguments, so Jooheon continued, in an attempt to solve the problem and reach the purpose of this conversation.

"And if you tell me what you want, I might be able to help you get it, without winning the game." Jooheon skipped out the fact that they couldn't possibly be granted anything after winning a game, especially when the host was a psychopath. "That way, it's a win-win situation."

Everything Jooheon said so far reminded him of the dreadful days of writing persuasive speeches at school. At least now he realized how important those days were.

Minhyuk started shifting uncomfortably, a sign that he was defeated. He brushed away his bangs to reveal a sweaty forehead, and pretended to fix his hair, probably to buy time. Jooheon waited patiently, confident that the truth was going to reveal itself sooner or later. And he was right. Minhyuk eventually sighed and let his head and arms fall limply down his sides.

"Why does it have to be you?" Minhyuk said, so quietly that Jooheon almost missed it.

This was the first question that Jooheon had no answer for. "What?" Was the only thing he could manage. He edged closer to listen better.

"I mean," Minhyuk looked up so quickly it startled Jooheon. "Why does it have to be you, out of all the people? It would be so much easier to shout and scare them away and get my way if it was someone else. Why do you have to be the person that wanted to talk to me?"

Jooheon was so confused to see the dread on Minhyuk's face. He was starting to worry how true his hypothesis was, about Minhyuk being bipolar. There was a debate between staying and looking for help, but he was quite certain that Minhyuk couldn't do anything harmful in the state he was currently in.

However, the confusion from the context of Minhyuk's question still went unsolved. Jooheon still had no idea what the other was talking about, or what he was hearing in that matter.

"Come on Minhyuk, you're not making sense." Jooheon said softly, placing a hand on Minhyuk's shoulder. "I wanted to talk to you to make things better for us, not just me, but everyone else, including you. And why would other people be easier to scare away? If anything, I should be the one that is easiest to scare. Trust me, I'm the biggest coward you've ever met in your whole life." Jooheon said, hoping to lighten the mood.

Unfortunately it had the exact opposite effect on Minhyuk, his hands covering his face as if he was about to cry, and nearly stumbling to the floor if it wasn't for Jooheon's quick reaction and strong grip on his shoulders. Before Jooheon allowed himself to panic, he switched positions so he had the wall as a support to hold Minhyuk up in place.

He only allowed all of his emotions flood into his brain like a river and a broken dam when he was somewhat certain that he wouldn't be dealing with an injured person on the ground within the next few minutes. It was quite disappointing how the river carried all the rubbish and debris with it, making everything greyish and hard to separate into clear groups. The inability to deal with one emotion at a time annoyed Jooheon to a great extent, because it often meant he couldn't rely on the emotions to reflect on what he had done, which in turn meant he had no idea what he did in the past few minutes.

Beneath his hands, Jooheon could almost feel how weak and jelly-like Minhyuk was turning. It didn't make any sense what was happening to Minhyuk, and why. Jooheon tried shaking him, but it barely did anything to evoke the other's response, as if something robbed Minhyuk of his senses and the only thing left in him was tears. Jooheon was never good at dealing with a sobbing person, especially when that person could barely pull off as an acquaintance.

It was a good time to call for help.

But of course, it also happened to be the worse time for help to come.

When Jooheon looked up to find his more trustable companion, his heart dropped to see yet another argument. Though it didn't seem as heated as the ones Minhyuk was included in, it no doubt involved a lot of people. In fact, everyone had their voice raised and was gesticulating agitatedly, all except for Kihyun, who just observed quietly.

What Jooheon saw was more depressing than 3 course works due the same day. The bonds painfully built between them had been cut off, replaced by invisible walls and separated each individual away from everyone else. It was a horrible sight, that everyone could no longer speak in a language that everyone understood, despite having English as all of their mother tongue.

They were all broken apart, and it scared Jooheon so much that he was alone again; just like how he was the moment he stepped through the doors of this building. Even Shownu seemed so far away now, like it didn't matter he was Jooheon's best friend among the seven, like it didn't mean anything that Jooheon treated him more like a brother or a father. And of course he couldn't forget Changkyun, the only person that was able to make his heart flutter in a way no one could've done in his whole 20 years of life. He was ignoring the infatuation for the boy, half-expecting it to go away as soon as everything ended, or if it didn't, ignore it for the time being and develop it further when they were out and starting over like normal people. Now he found it impossible to ignore the strong admiration for the person just metres away. But instead of realizing his feelings towards Changkyun, he was more aware of the absence of it.

Changkyun had a frown on his face, which would have looked cute if it wasn't for the reason behind it. His dark blue hair, had looked soft and silky when he first arrived now looked sticky and greasy, a result of not showering last night. Minhyuk's hair probably had the same fate; Jooheon just didn't notice it. In fact, everyone probably had dirty hair. Jooheon caught Changkyun averting his gaze once in a while, switching between them and Hyungwon's quarrel with Wonho and Shownu. He was worried, Jooheon could tell from the unsettling gazes.

Changkyun was in a state of lost and devastation, just like everyone was, and yet Jooheon still found him attractive, which reminded him terribly of how his emotions were playing around with his logical thinking. Jooheon knew he was definitely overthinking, but he couldn't help but think that Changkyun would've come help him instead of staying around Hyungwon and Wonho if he'd man up and talk instead of hiding ever since his confession.

Jooheon sighed and snapped out of his messy thoughts and forced himself to deal with one thing at a time. He led Minhyuk to the couch and sat him down, sitting next to him and allowed him to rest until he felt comfortable enough to talk himself. Not knowing what he was doing, Jooheon reached up and fixed the silver hair that was tangled up when Minhyuk brushed it uncaringly. He was silly enough to think silver strands would feel any different from normal hair, and indeed it felt just like normal hair under his fingers. Minhyuk looked up at Jooheon at the sudden contact, staring at him intently, not pushing his hand away. Jooheon felt awkward under Minhyuk's intense stare, but he continued fixing the hair until it was done.

Jooheon placed his hand down and looked away, still waiting for the other to speak first.

"You." Minhyuk said suddenly. Not expecting a response that quickly, Jooheon looked back at Minhyuk quizzically.

"What?"

A slight blush crept up Minhyuk's cheek, pupils darting around, embarrassed. Jooheon was left confused again, but he tried not to show it on his face. Minhyuk raised his hand but stopped midway up his face, letting it fall back down on his lap. He looked even more flustered now.

"I shouldn't mess up my hair again, right after you helped fix it." Minhyuk smiled nervously, his hands tensed up as if he seriously couldn't control the want to touch his hair.

Jooheon didn't like the sudden change of topic, but he replied, "No, it's fine, it's your hair, you can do whatever you want with it. I should be apologizing for touching it without your permission."

"I wouldn't mind if it's you who's touching it."

Jooheon felt the awkwardness seeping in. "Ok...thanks? I guess?"

Minhyuk laughed. He looked fine enough in Jooheon's opinion, so he returned to serious mode and repeated his question. "What do you mean 'you', just now?"

Minhyuk's eyes twitched, and he became visibly uncomfortable. He averted his gaze and held his hands into fists, mind racing. Unable to handle Jooheon's stare on him further, he sighed and exhaled deeply.

Jooheon waited anxiously, background noises getting louder. Someone must've gotten angry and raised his voice.

Minhyuk closed his eyes and block those noises out. "I mean, I want you. You asked want is it that I want after I win the game. It's you."

Jooheon blinked twice, afraid he misheard something amidst all the loud noises. But he saw from Minhyuk's blush that he didn't. "So, do you mean you," Jooheon started, unsure what he was saying himself, "like me?"

Minhyuk didn't know how to respond anymore, committing the mistake of letting his body take over his brain, and reached out to hug Jooheon.

To Minhyuk's surprise, Jooheon hugged back. He felt a hand running up and down his back rhythmically, making him feel less awkward and more comfortable at the situation.

"I guess I should be honest to you since you told me the truth." Jooheon said, still holding Minhyuk. Maybe it was because Jooheon didn't need to see the other's face, but he didn't feel nervous at all to speak his heart. "I developed feelings for someone else, but you still have a chance. And I guess we're close enough for me to call you Minhyuk-hyung, right?"

And even though they couldn't see each other, Jooheon knew Minhyuk grinned.

-

"Sorry for shouting at you just now. I was too impetuous and I spoke before thinking." Wonho bowed 90 degrees, Shownu in front of him.

"It's ok, I understand what situation we're in. Everyone is sensitive." Shownu said, touching Wonho's shoulder as a signal for him to stop bowing.

"Wonho-hyung, come back!" Hyungwon shouted from behind.

Wonho sighed before turning around to walk back, gesturing with his hand for Shownu to come along. Shownu stole a glance at Jooheon and Minhyuk, and when he made sure their hushed voices weren't likely to turn into shouts, he followed Wonho.

"Ow!" Wonho said, rubbing his forehead where Hyungwon flicked the moment he arrived.

Shownu smiled at the faked angry expression on Hyungwon's face, hoping it meant everything was getting better. He still had Kihyun to deal with, but he could deal with it later. It seemed to be getting better, but at the same time it was like a problem that could never be solved completely.

"I already apologized, what do you want?" Wonho asked Hyungwon.

"To get out of here." Hyungwon replied, looking at Changkyun and Shownu for their agreement.

"That's what everyone wants." Changkyun said, joining in the conversation.

"Yea, and in case you didn't know, I can't give you that." Wonho stuck his tongue out like a five year old, directing it to Hyungwon.

Hyungwon pushed Wonho's forehead with one finger. "You asked me what I wanted, so I replied."

Shownu and Changkyun shared glances, unsure how to fit in.

"I can, however, help with that. Let's just force everyone to choose a side right now and rush through all the games." Wonho said, shrugging his shoulders, looking towards Jooheon and Minhyuk.

Hyungwon and Changkyun followed Wonho's gaze, but Shownu's gaze remained at Wonho. "That was what we're doing the whole time though."

Wonho looked back and Shownu. "Yea, but we've never actually done anything except for talking about it."

Shownu shrugged. "There's nothing we can do."

"Yes there is." Wonho replied immediately, "I can go drag them over right now. Actually, you can get one and I get the other."

Shownu couldn't tell whether Wonho was just joking. "It's fine, they can talk it out. There's no need to be so forceful."

Wonho shrugged again. "But why can't we just let Minhyuk win? Save all the talking and actually do something?"

Instead of Shownu, Changkyun spoke up instead. "No, because Minhyuk wouldn't listen." There was a silent as Changkyun eyed everyone nervously. "He would want to actually win, and not play against a bunch of people who doesn't care about winning." He paused again. "Unless Jooheon managed to talk it out of him, which would be the first in history."

"Well that's awfully inconvenient for us." Hyungwon said, throwing his arms in the air. "Why the hell is he so hard to please? Why can't he just play the game and get his satisfaction of winning somewhere else? How old is he?" Hyungwon stopped complaining after that, but his lips were still moving, mouthing more curses silently, not wanting to hurt Changkyun, who was still, undeniably, Minhyuk's friend.

Wonho touched Hyungwon's arms and gently pushed them back down. "You told me to say calm, and yet you're the one getting irritated that easily." Wonho said. "Look, you're scaring Changkyun."

Changkyun shook his head and gave Wonho a tiny smile to tell him he's fine. Anything bigger than that would be a lie of his emotions. "It's ok, I get that we're all just looking for someone to blame all this for. Just remember this is no one's fault."

Wonho was surprised at how mature the kid in front of him was; smiling at the new side Changkyun was showing him. "He's right."

Shownu frowned, remembering. "Not totally right."

Changkyun looked at the older man quizzically, but Wonho was the one to speak out, "What do you mean?"

"Someone's gotta be responsible. Nothing just happens without a reason." Shownu replied, looking at Hyungwon.

Hyungwon shifted uncomfortably under Shownu's intense gaze. "I know what you're about to say, and I apologized for that already."

"Nothing would've happened if you didn't-"

"Yes, we know that." Wonho cut him off, not knowing why Shownu was acting like this and