Let me In | Enhypen

Tag | 40

When Jake had decided it might've been a good idea they started searching for an exit once again Riki had hesitantly agreed when he had seen how Jungwon struggled to get Jiyeon up on her feet.

"Hyung, are you sure it's a good idea?" Riki murmured to Jake, as both watched Jiyeon insist that she could walk on her own.

"I think we have to go now," Jungwon assured the two others, noticing how they looked at Jiyeon with doubt.

"I'll walk a bit ahead," Riki murmured before setting off a few steps in fron of the others while Jake waited up for Jungwon, who followed the pace of Jiyeon.

For a moment Jiyeon had stumbled over her feet before pushing herself away from the wall and managed to walk in a straight line, a bit slower than she usually would - as far as Jungwon recalled. It almost seemed like she walked normal, the only thing off was the way she kept her eyes fixated on the back of Riki's head, as if that was her balance point.

Having all his attention on Jiyeon, Jungwon hadn't noticed how Riki hurriedly had shoved Jake into the wall before stopping Jiyeon in her tracks and just sending Jungwon a stern glance.

With confusion Jungwon moved over to lean against the wall, behind Jake. Keeping his eyes fixated on how Jiyeon's breathing was getting quicker.

"Tag."

Riki had returned around a corner, from which he had come from before shoving Jake against the wall. With widened eyes Jungwon moved over between Jiyeon and Jake. He quickly pulled Jiyeon into his embrace before turning his back to the corner, shielding her perfectly if a tagger was to turn the corner.

Meanwhile, Riki let the single dice roll over the floor, patiently waiting for the result. It showed exactly one eyes.

"Perfect pitch game."

At that mention all three boys had winced in their spot. They knew Riki's Korean was good, but not good enough for him to do the perfect pitch game with words longer than three syllables.

Jake quietly held his breath while waiting to hear what punishment and prize Riki had gotten. 

"Full meal for all players or water boarding..." the tagger announced and Jake's heart sank meanwhile one of their stomachs rumbled.

"Sorry," Jiyeon murmured quietly, only having Jungwon placed his hand on the back of her neck, rubbing his thumb across her hairline on her neck, "I'm just so hungry."

"It's alright..." Jungwon murmured quietly.

"Your word is 'Password'."

At the mention of Riki's worse, Jake quickly counted on his fingers how many syllables it would be.

"Four syllables," Jake murmured with widened eyes before looking over at Jungwon, "and it's a hard word... 비밀번호."

Jake listened closely as Riki sucked in a deep breath and attempted to do the perfect pitch he had to. Quietly Jake sneaked out around the corner, getting a side eye from the tagger as he walked up beside Riki, to at least be by his side.

"비밀번호," Riki started making Jake quietly nod, "비밀번호."

Just around the corner from where Jake and Riki stood, Jungwon noticed that holding up Jiyeon slowly became a heavier and heavier job to him. But he seemed to find the source difficult. It's not like she suddenly weighed more than usual. 

Slowly it dawned upon him that she was leaning more and more against him as her head fell down onto his shoulder.

"Hey, stay awake... alright?" Jungwon whispered quietly to Jiyeon, "we can keep moving in just a moment."

"비밀번호..." Riki continued, looking to Jake for confirmation, immediately getting it confirmed by Jake, "비밀번오."

A victorious smile grew on Riki's face as he proudly turned to Jake, whose eyes had only widened in horror.

"I did it, right?" Riki questioned, slowly growing uncertain by the look Jake was giving him, "I didn't?"

"It ends on 호 not 오," Jake slowly trailed off as Riki's smile faded and his eyes widened.

"But Emiko-" he started, but didn't get further before the tagger had grabbed onto both his hands and tied them tightly together.

Immediately a painful screamed ripped from Riki's throat while he sunk to his knees. For a second Jake was about to intervein before the tagger had stopped him abruptly.

"Any interference with punishments will result in death for both the punished and interveiner," the tagger stated making Jake widen his eyes and take a few step backwards to step out on the other hallway, sending a horried glance at Jungwon, who was slowly sliding down onto the ground with the difficulty of holding Jiyeon up with the way he had placed his arms - unable to move them until he wanted to drop her completely.

Riki's hands were secured to a showcase, assuring he couldn't fight back. The tagger was quick to sit down on top of Riki's chest and pressing his shoulders down into the ground with their knees.

"Please let me go," Riki pleaded as he shut his eyes tightly, "please... I have to get home to Emiko," he whispered lowly in Japanese - impossible for the tagger to understand, "please, I need to see her again."

Instead of getting an answer a cloth was placed over Riki's head while the tagger managed to find multiple bottles of water in their bag. Each bottle was emptied over Riki's head. Letting the only sound in the hallway be the sound of splashing water and gurgles from Riki who tried to fight back and breathe.

All at once Jake noticed the gurgling sounds getting drowned out by the splashes of water, until he couldn't hear it anymore.

"We agree that this punishment wasn't meant to murder... right?" Jake slowly murmured to Jungwon.

"If they get the chance they will kill," Jiyeon corrected quietly.

"He's not gurgling anymore..." Jake whispered in return and Jungwon had to close his eyes tightly to keep himself calm.

"Don't tell me you suppose he is..." Jungwon trailed off, not getting a definite answer from Jake.

The three other teenagers quietly waited in silence until the tagger had decided to walk off, leaving Riki tied to the showcase and quiet. Jake was the first one to approach him.

He carefully removed the cloth from Riki's face, seeing small puddles of water resting in the small dents of his eyesockets, nose and line between his upper and bottom lip. Hesitantly he pressed two fingers to the side of Riki's neck, supposedly feeling no beating against his fingers.

"I uhm... I feel no pulse..." Jake murmured, "ugh, if we had access to proper medical help we could've done something, but I barely know how to do CPR. Let alone when it's a drowning incident."

"Hyung..." Jungwon trailed off as he stumbled over towards Jake and Riki, having placed Jiyeon on the floor a bit behind him, "what do we do?"

"We need to keep moving," Jake sighed as he fell back and Jungwon crouched down beside Riki, his eyes fixated on the frozen face of his friend.

"No..." Jungwon gulped as his eyes burned, "I meant... Emiko... his family... Jay hyung was the only one who spoke Japanese."

"We can't do anything before we get out Jungwon," Jake sighed and pressed his fingers into the corners of his eyes, hindering himself from crying, "we need to keep going... right now. I can carry Jiyeon for a bit."

"No, I'll do it," Jungwon murmured as his eyes kept looking at Riki, not moving one bit as he stayed focuzed.