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Water ran from the bathroom tap as Jiwoo stared at her reflection, zoning out as she listened to the sound of the water dripping into the sink. She frowned as she brought her hand towards her face, tracing the dried blood that stained her cheek. It was almost humerous how she had completely forgotten where or how she had crimson clinging to her skin.

Putting her hands under the water, she used them as a makeshift cup to pour the water over her face. She rubbed the water onto her skin, attempting to get rid of the stain. The harder she rubbed, the more it stayed and she let out a groan of frustration. Pinching her eyes shut, she attempted to keep herself calm, feeling her heartbeat quicken.

Reopening her eyes, her frown deepened as she saw the stain had completely gone, a red mark blossoming instead.

Having enough of seeing her reflection, she swallowed harshly and turned off the tap, taking a step backwards. Running her hand through her hair, she spun on her heel and left the bathroom, unable to erase the feeling of dread that clung to her stomach. It was such a familiar feeling that she was growing accustomed to.

Leaving the bathrooms, she followed the hallways until she found Yoonseo and Junhee. Before she could even speak, Yoonseo cut her off and announced they were gathering the others in the gymnasium to discuss another plan. She nodded and followed the two down the hallway, listening as he briefly explained their new idea.

They had almost made it to the gymnasium when a hand pulled Jiwoo to a stop. Yoonseo had frowned as she gently pulled the girl to the side. "Are you okay, Jiwoo?" She asked softly, referencing the look that was on her friend's face.

Chuckling as she attempted to wave it off as nothing, Jiwoo nodded. "Yeah, I was just splashing some water on my face to wake me up." She lied, giving the girl a small smile before going through the open door.

Taking a seat on one of the benches in the corner, Jiwoo watched the students enter the gymnasium, all taking their own seats. She groaned as Kyungjun took the seat beside her, grinning innocently as she glared at him. Just to be petty, she moved herself to the end, hoping to be as far away from him as possible.

In response, he just moved himself closer.

Jiwoo restrained the urge to turn sideways and lodge her fist in his face.

Instead, she faced her brother and listened as he begun his announcement. He shared that he had asked them all to be there so they could not vote, because in his eyes if they all vote, that person will die, so if nobody votes, they all survive. It was logical, Jiwoo would give him that, but it seemed to easy.

However, that was all they had, there were no other options.

Following his announcement, the disapproving comments were voiced. As they did not trust one another not to vote, they had to come up with a new solution. Surprisingly, it was Kyungjun who agreed, rising from his seat to grab the yellow container from his side. He told them that all they had to do was put their phones in there, warning them that they had to comply.

Reluctantly, the others relented and dropped their phones into the bucket. Finally, he came to Jiwoo's side, his eyes directed to hers as she sighed, grabbing her phone from her pocket. With an over exaggerated motion, she dropped her phone alongside the others, sending him a sarcastic grin as she did so.

Chuckling, he moved towards the middle where he dropped the yellow bucket for the others to watch, not trusting a specific person to watch over them.

From there, they waited.

As the hours ticked away, they felt their anxiety increase, hoping and praying that this would finally work out for them. During that time, Jiwoo had moved from the bench and was sat on the floor near the basketball court, seated on one of the white lines. To her annoyance, Kyungjun had also moved, sitting on the bench next to her.

It was like the more she tried to distance herself from him, the more he was around. All it did was confuse her and make her feel even more guilty than she already did. She knew he was not someone likeable, but whenever he conversed with her, he was anything but cruel. Whatever weird emotions he stirred inside of her, she would never act on them. The way he spoke to her brother made her want to punch him, why was he so complicated?

Attempting to avoid him and his way of making her question reality, she followed the other student's actions and stared at the yellow bucket. Time ticked away and Jiwoo yawned, hoping that this had not been for nothing.

A siren sounding made her flinch, snapping her eyes away from counting the panes on the walls, something that had been a poor attempt to conceal her boredom. It had not worked, she just grew irritated when she kept losing count.

"A minute left to vote." The voice called out cheerfully, followed by the ticking of a clock.

Every second felt like eternity as they waited, it was enough apprehension to drive the sanest mind insane.

"Hey, Class President. Are you sure we're okay?" Seungbin called out, glancing over at Junhee cautiously.

Junhee glanced at the clock and then at the boy. "Let's just wait." He reminded him calmly, it was something Jiwoo always admired, his ability to always remain calm. "It's not midnight yet."

So they waited, watching the seconds tick down until the hand finally dropped into place at twelve. Everyone paused and Jiwoo was certain that for a second she had stopped breathing in suspense.

But nothing happened.

They waited and waited for a couple seconds but nothing happened, no annoucements, no siren, nothing.

Eagerly, a student stood up and pointed towards the clock. "Hey, it's past midnight, but there was no announcement. Did it work?"

Other students mimicked his actions, rising from the floor. "Are we okay now?" Somi questioned quickly, not wanting to celebrate too soon.

The others were quick to cheer, hugging one another happily as they allowed themselves to believe that they had done it. Jiwoo hesitantly pulled herself off the ground and crossed her arms over her chest, unable to allow herself to react the same way. That nauseous feeling had not gone away, there was something wrong with this.

It had been too easy.

Just as she thought, that siren sounded and Jiwoo grimaced as she watched the smiles of her peers drop. "Participants must vote and identify the Mafia." That was then followed by what Jiwoo thought was a fire alarm, taunting them and reminding them that they could not outsmart the game.

Glancing at the yellow bucket, Jiwoo watched as one of the girls cracked and rushed in its direction. As an argument broke out between the students she grimaced, pausing as they tried to rationalise that they needed to vote. Like always, everyone directed their blame towards Junhee and Jiwoo scoffed loudly, rolling her eyes.

Thankfully, she did not need to say anything as Somi beat her to it, yelling that they needed to stop blaming him.

Before another argument could break out, a thud silenced the students. Spinning around, Jiwoo gasped in horror at the body on the floor, the sickening crack of her spine almost making her stumble to the floor.

While the alarm sounded, the girl's finger twitched, shortly followed by the rest of her body as she pulled herself off the ground.

"For breaking the rules, Lee Soobin and Park Jihoon will be executed."

Blood ran down the girl's face as the others gaped at her, paralysed in fear as they anticipated her next move. They did not expect Jihoon's body to fall from the balcony, dropping directly atop of hers and sending them both colliding to the ground.

Laid before them were two bloodied and dead bodies of their classmates, their blood pooling around their bodies.

"Lee Soobin and Park Jihoon were citizens."

As the alarm sounded once again, Kyungjun dug through his pocket, revealing two phones that he had hidden when he collected the others. One was his and the other had a phone case adorned in stickers of various kpop groups, ranging from BlackPink and Itzy to Tomorrow x Together and Stray Kids. He locked his eyes on the frozen form of the owner of the phone.

"Participants must vote and identify the Mafia."

Taking a slow step towards the girl, uncaring of the chaos irrupting around them, he gently pulled her arm. He used that to spin her to face him, their bodies hiding from the view of the others. He slipped her phone into her hand and nodded at her in encouragement as he motioned to the voting screen in front of her.

Jiwoo's mouth dried as she heard the announcer speak once again. "For breaking the rules, Oh Jinseok will be executed."

"Who do we vote for?" Jiwoo called out over the screams and sirens that boomed throughout the room.

Voting made her anxiety peak, whoever she voted for she was essentially sentencing to death and she was unsure if she could handle that.

Kyungjun looked down at all the names. "Anyone, just vote quickly." He told her, momentarily distracted by the red lights flickering over them.

"Oh Jinseok was a Citizen."

Frowning, she raked her eyes over the names and felt herself grow dizzy. "Vote for me, and I'll vote for you." She told him and immediately he shook his head, ready to protest. "Everyone will be voting randomly, they'll vote for people they dislike so the votes will be scattered."

"Jiwoo, half of the people here dislike me." Kyungjun reminded her and she huffed, biting her lip anxiously.

"Do you have a better idea?" Jiwoo exclaimed, motioning to the chaos around them as people scrambled for their phones.

Following her eyeline, Kyungjun paused and clenched his jaw. "Fine, if I get executed I'll haunt your every waking moment." He warned her and with a brief nod they clicked on each other's names before pressing accept.

"For breaking the rules, Oh Hyeseung will be executed. Oh Hyeseung was a Citizen. Kang Yewon will be executed. Kang Yewon was a Mafia."

Flinching at the reminder another person was dying, Jiwoo scanned her eyes over the room and found her brother. "Noted, I'm going to check Junhee voted, help the others get their phones." She told him as she hurried away, knowing that the last thing Kyungjun would be doing is helping the others.

As she raced towards her brother's side, she noticed he was frowning as he looked down at the phone in his hand, unsure who to vote for. She wanted to scream at him, it did not matter who he voted, time was ticking. Yet, she knew that he would overthink every decision, he did not want to send an innocent classmate to their death.

Motioning to his phone, she attempted to ignore the calls of their fallen classmates. "Junhee, you need to vote, quickly."

Shaking his head, he held his shaky phone. "Not until Yoonseo finds her phone." He refused and Jiwoo wanted to vomit from how anxious she felt.

"Lee Hyunjun and Park Jungeun will be executed. Lee Hyunjun and Park Jungeun were citizens."

Jiwoo turned to look where Yoonseo was but exclaimed in horror as one of her classmates grabbed a wooden plank and lodged it into their throat. Their blood splattered onto her face and she frozen in horror at the feeling. Blinking slowly, she took a shaky breath as she watched their body collapse to the ground beneath her.

Junhee grabbed her arm quickly and forced her to where Yoonseo and Jungwon stood, their phones in their hands. As they scattered the votes, she could only stare ahead as she tried to restrain the vomit in her mouth. The blood felt uncomfortable against her skin and she was too aware of it, it made her want to cry.

"Jang Hyunho was a Citizen."

The red lights suddenly were cut off, plunging the students into momentary darkness before the sidelight turned on. Jiwoo slowly raised her eyes, finding herself met with the sight of Hyunho dangling from the side, a rope around his neck. Crying hit her ears and she felt her brother drop to the floor beside her but she was unable to move, unable to breathe.

"Voting is over, with ten votes, Baek Eunha got the most and she will be executed. Baek Eunha was a Citizen."

Rising from the floor, the girl raced towards the direction of the people who had voted for her. "I said I was a Citizen," Eunha sobbed as she stood before them, "I said it wasn't me! Why vote for me? Why?"

Jiwoo watched the girl hysterically sob as she walked away, running through the doors and out of sight. They did not know what had happened to the girl but they would find out when morning comes.

That same childish tune played over the speakers and Jiwoo grimaced.The remaining students collapsed to the ground beneath them and found themselves once again in an uncontrollable slumber.

"Night has come."

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