Let's Play a Game // Monsta X FF

Bonus Game

A/N: Buckle your seat belts because you're on a roller-coaster ride!

Behind them the rest of the contestants were starting to complain, discussing with raised voices, hoping that their anger would drown their worry.

There were a few attempts to break in the door, either with one of the 5 chairs in the centre of the room or, for the desperate ones, with their fists and shoulders. The loud bangs and thumps of material clashing against the wooden door faded within minutes, replaced by heavy panting and sharp inhaling noises.

"It's no use, I'm pretty sure the door's fake." Hyungwon pointed out sullenly, muttering "fucking asshole" and looking away from the scratches on the off-white surface, which marked their depressingly futile attempts.

"That just makes things more frustrating." Shownu replied, stating the obvious. He kicked the door one last time while cursing loudly, looking beside him at the chair he used as an attempt to break in. The intensity and fury in his eyes looked like he was about to murder the white furniture.

"Why isn't Smiley coming back? We need the instructions. It's supposed to be a game, right?" Kihyun said, wincing at the word 'game', having truly tasted the absurdity of the one-word description of the current situation. "I mean, he thinks it's a fucking game."

No one looked at the screens anymore, too scared and confused to try deciphering the messages on them. By doing that, they successfully tricked their brains into thinking there was nothing to worry about, as long as the truth wasn't shown to them. Took in their place were instead frustration and anger, which were emotions their limbs and mouth happily reacted to.

Changkyun was busy explaining everything to Minhyuk, stopping for a moment when he heard about the doors being fake. That might be the explanation as to why he couldn't hear anything. But the answer was far from certain. For the sakes of both Jooheon and Wonho, he needed to know the actual one.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Minhyuk asked, shaken by what Changkyun had previously shared to him but equally worried about the despair written all over his friend's face.

Changkyun nodded, feeling his dry lips crack when he forced a smile. Minhyuk returned it with one of his own, none less forced than Changkyun's. "You were talking about the virtual reality headsets on those two. But I still don't understand, why don't they just take it off?" He wasn't showing it, but Minhyuk was using up all his resources trying not to squirm at the images of Wonho and Jooheon stuck in a room helpless. The sole idea of it was enough to make him sweat and shake with overwhelming anxiety.

"I don't know, but there are two possible reasons I thought of." Changkyun's voice was reduced to barely a whisper, as if voicing whatever was in his head was hurting his throat. He figured it wasn't really far from the truth when he began explaining. "Either they are both too scared and traumatized to take it off, or..." The words were unable to form properly. Changkyun gulped and tried again. The possibility of his words becoming the truth was too scary.

"Or they can't take it off. The headsets are stuck onto their heads some way or another."

Minhyuk covered his mouth to stifle a gasp, not wanting to grab attention just yet. "Fuck...I wish I can at least see Jooheon. Even if it's just through a screen. It's too dark to see shit."

Changkyun placed a hand on Minhyuk's shoulder, feeling it tremble slightly just like his hands were. "I'm sure he's fine. He's a good person." Changkyun wasn't sure how being a good person would help, but that was the truth.

Minhyuk's lips curled up a fraction of a degree but the weak smile disappeared after a split second, eyes looking at Changkyun but drifting off to elsewhere.