Them and Us | Ateez

In a dark room

He blinks at the gloomy brown wood that almost touches the tip of his nose. Exhaling softly, the male turns to face the Storage room.
To his surprise, it looks exactly like one should.

Towers made of boxes lie around the corners, the only table has scattered sheets of paper with various handwritings on them and an empty chalkboard. To his left stands a closet with many more maps and a calendar, that's attached to the side of the brown furniture.

Mingi takes a step further, the chilly air coming from somewhere but not the window in front. It's closed and has no handle.
The male looks around again.
He thought that a teacher or at least a sheet of exam paper would greet him. Perhaps he should ask Hongjoong while the male is close by.

The red head goes to the doors and places his palm on the door handle, pushing it down. The wood doesn't budge. Pressing his shoulder against the door, the male tries to open the door.
Mingi huffs, letting go of the golden handle that hasn't given even a slight opening.

He's trapped in the room.

The male wonders if this is some escape room type of situation. He has never understood the thrill of wanting to be locked inside somewhere and play a smartass detective. Glancing at the walls, there are no obvious cameras in sight so no one will even know if he manages to finish all the missions.
What even is Mingi's task here?

"Oh, for fucks sake. So much for not wanting to think." he says and soon after hears how weird his own voice sounds in the quietness.
He lets the bag slip down his shoulder, landing on the floor as he goes to the table. His fingers grab the paper on top and his brown eyes run over the words.

The fire warms my chest so to speak. I have a slight headache from all their jumping and running around. I keep wondering how they do not get tired of it. The soil is wet, and I keep my eyes open, not able to wait when all of them will go to sleep so I can finally come out. Today is the shortest night of the year. They just keep dancing; it gets louder, and it annoys me. The sound almost pierces me whole. When will they stop dancing?

Mingi puts the paper down with a frown on his face. He is not sure what he has just read and what the writer is talking about.
"Now I'm the one with the headache." he announces to the room like it listens in on every word.
It feels a bit better to hear a voice even if it is his own.

The male steps away from the table and looks at the chalkboard.
It has six identical boxes drawn with white chalk.
He almost screams, jumping back and clenching a fist over his heart.
That wasn't there before, no it was not.
The board was empty when he first laid eyes on it.

"I want a normal exam!" his voice sounds high pitched even to him.
Calming the beating organ in his chest, Mingi steps closer.
Nothing other than six same sized boxes with empty middles. He counts them again, not believing his sight that well but in the end confirms that they are six.
"So...six numbers or letters." he tells himself now much more aware how grounding it is.

And weird.

"Six numbers for what though?"
He didn't stumble upon any locked box or lock except from the locked Storage room's door, yet it doesn't need a code.
"Alright..." he sighs, rubbing his nape with his fingers.
The male tries to turn the chalkboard and see maybe it just flipped somehow, hiding the clean side. That thought turns out to be false as the green board doesn't budge.

"I should work out more." Mingi grumbles, at first staring at the chalkboard and then at the wooden door.
He returns to the messy table, picking up another sheet of paper.

I already had one on Monday, he brought more in an even number until it piled up and we didn't have to worry for a week. He took from the pile every day until I told him to stop on Friday as now, we had less than a half. He listened; I knew he would.