Mind Games - Night has come

17

00:01

A minute passed since the clock had struck midnight, and an announcement was noticeably absent. In the dire circumstances the students confronted, a minute stretched into a protracted, endless eternity.

"It worked," Yeon-woo suddenly exclaimed, clasping his phone tightly between his hands as he stared at his screen in astonishment. "It worked. It actually worked!" He added, the relief apparent in his tone and expression was unmistakable.

"Every time someone says that, it doesn't end up working." Min-ji muttered, her reaction a stark contrast to Yeon-woo's, harboring skepticism about the success, her head suspiciously raised towards the speakers, awaiting the announcement.

"Did it really work?" Mi-na inquired, seeking confirmation from her classmates, as all of them were observing their phones, anticipating an announcement on either their screens or through the speakers.

"It worked." Yeon-woo reiterated persistently, struggling to believe that they had indeed succeeded.

As another minute transpired, everyone gradually reached the agreement that it had, in fact, worked, punctuated by a few joyous cheers from among the students.

Yet, as before, just as they began celebrating their success, the siren resonated and sliced through their brief happiness.

Everyone's heads instantly snapped upwards, tracing the sound of the siren, the colors draining from their faces.

"As Lee Yoon-seo and Kim Jun-hee received the same number of votes, hold the 2nd round of voting for the 2 for 5 minutes."

The oh-so-familiar voice echoed through the unsettling silence.

"Only those who didn't vote for either of them in the first round will vote again."

Everyone appeared too stunned to react to the words; the sound of the siren had inflicted a kind of trauma on them, their eyes wide in horror.

"If they're tied again, everyone will be executed."

"Fuck. I knew it," Min-ji muttered, her respiration now deep and intense. Anticipating it didn't lessen the jolt of hearing it.

"They're going to kill us all?" Eun-chan exclaimed in sheer panic.

Suddenly, all the lights within the vast pool area turned off, replaced by a pulsating red and blue glow that heightened the collective sense of fear. An alarm blared through the speakers in a repetitive pattern, intensifying the urgency. The entire scene seemed to trigger memories of the harrowing gym hall incident.

"Fucking hurry up and vote for that scumbag!" Kyung-jun bellowed, urgently pushing Na-hee, Min-ji, and Da-beom to make their choices, sensing their hesitation and perplexity.

The gravity of the revelation—that failure to vote would result in execution—left the students in a state of panic, their frantic voices contributing to the chaos with a deafening buzz.

"What do we do? Who should we vote for?" Na-hee implored desperately, overcome by panic.

"One minute has passed!" Yeon-woo anxiously declared, alerting them to the passing time.

The mounting pressure, the charged atmosphere, the palpable tension—everything pushed Min-ji to the brink. The blaring alarm seemed to grow louder, and the flickering red and blue lights induced dizziness. She directed her gaze down to her phone, her trembling finger pressing the voting button.

"Yoon Min-ji voted for Lee Yoon-seo."

Releasing a heavy exhale, Min-ji glanced up from her screen, locking eyes with Jung-won's irritated gaze. "Hey, Yoon Min-ji," she warned, her voice carrying a sense of threat, before addressing her classmates. "Don't vote for Yoon-seo," she advised, clearly not wanting her friend to receive the remaining two votes.