Let's Play a Game // Monsta X FF

Ending + Epilogue

The temptation to swing a punch at that ugly mask was as strong as ever.

Shownu's body was ready, but his mind wasn't. Even though he was standing less than a few meters away, something other than Kihyun's warning eyes stopped him from raising that fist.

"Thanks for playing, you can leave now. I hope you learnt a valuable lesson." Maybe he didn't want to sound like it, but those words were dripping with sarcasm.

Till this moment, Shownu still couldn't believe that the game ended that easily, that they were released just like that. But he placed that thought aside for now. What Smiley said was weird and still slightly annoying (anything coming out of his mouth was annoying), but it also made Shownu think of something that he still didn't quite understand.

Maybe he did learn a lesson.

Maybe that was why he was still standing in his place; instead of beating up the person he hated most. Like Jooheon said, maybe the people culpable right here should be themselves and not him.

"Really? We can leave now?" Minhyuk asked, a little doubtful. It was the question everyone had in their heads.

"Yea, why would I lie?" Smiley said, pointing towards the exit. It was a different door from where they first entered. "One more thing to add, you are the first group to win so far. And you are also the only group that managed to impress me. Thanks for you time. I really appreciate it."

Shownu ignored the fact that there were more victims before them, and probably even more to come after they leave. He was more interested in the weird behaviour of the man that forced them to play games in the cruellest way possible. He wanted to believe that Smiley actually meant no harm from the very beginning till the end, but heck, it was hard to comprehend even the concept of that.

How can one change so quickly? Or rather, how can one act so well?

"Ok, let's go." Minhyuk said, leading the way in the front of the group. Changkyun quickened his steps to catch up, as if they were magnets that couldn't be pulled apart.

Jooheon hesitated for a while before bowing. "Um... I did learn a lesson, so...thank you." Changkyun turned around and smiled when he heard it, but hurried to catch up to his friend again.

"Well, I guess I still hate myself for agreeing with a stranger in the first place. Why did I even listen...?" Hyungwon trailed off when he remembered Smiley was within earshot distance. He immediately swallowed the rude words he planned to say and wondered how Smiley reacted. But of course, he had no way of knowing with that comical mask in the way.

"All of us share a part of the blame." Wonho said, looking at Hyungwon. "I didn't have a choice about being scared of heights, but I did make the choice of listening to a..." He lowered his voice so only Hyungwon could hear him. "...handsome stranger like you."

Hyungwon flushed at Wonho's boldness and turned around hastily to leave. He didn't need everyone seeing his flustered expression, his face looked bad enough from the lack of sleep.

Wonho smiled cheekily, said a final "goodbye", and then followed Hyungwon.

Suddenly Kihyun felt slightly awkward being left alone with Shownu. He didn't manage to get over the previous event yet, and it was annoying him greatly, even though he had to say he was grateful for a permanent end to his intermittent headache.

He could fit another person in between himself and Shownu, but he like it was still too close. Taking a quick look at the direction of the exit, he waved nonchalantly to both Smiley and Shownu, muttering something about getting sunlight after two days of darkness, and then walked away.