TXT 𖧵 MIDSUMMER MADNESS ✓

rope

-THE four remaining boys frantically looked around the classroom for hueningkai to no avail.

"guys! the back door is unlocked!" taehyun exclaimed as he spotted the slightly opened door.

with taehyun running in the front, the boys followed him out of the classroom. the sound of their heavy and disordered footsteps echoed through the corridors as they desperately looked for hueningkai. shouting his name was no use, no response was thrown back at them.

"now, now boys. can you hear me? i'm sure you can. now listen to me very carefully-" a voice boomed over the school speakers, halting the boys in their movements.

"you fucking psychopath, WHERE IS HUENINGKAI?" yeonjun bellowed, shocking the boys.

yeonjun's eyes doubled in size as the veins in his neck popped out. the boys knew how crazy yeonjun could get when he was upset; it wasn't pretty. the voice behind the microphone could only chuckle at how he shook up yeonjun.

"if you want to find your dear friend then you should listen. you don't want to end up running away from your mistakes again now, would you yeonjun?" the voice mocked.

the boys, except for soobin, looked at yeonjun in confusion. yeonjun could only clench his fists and look down guiltily.

"good, now i know you're listening. i'll leave you to explain to taehyun and beomgyu considering that-" the voice paused yet again and cackled at his thoughts.

"-considering that choi soobin ALREADY knows! now, back to our adorable baby chick! you have exactly 20 minutes to find hueningkai. he could be anywhere! assuming you boys are close to him, it shouldn't be a problem. happy hunting!- or else he dies," the mic was then disconnected from the speakers leaving the boys in empty silence again.

"somebody explain what the fuck is going on!" beomgyu wailed out as he stared accusingly at soobin and yeonjun.

"that's not important right now! we have to find ning. didn't you hear the psycho? he's going to KILL him," taehyun snapped as he grasped his hair, clearly stressed about hueningkai's whereabouts.

"where the fuck would hueningkai be? it's dark and we barely have time to look at every corner in the school!" soobin retorted as he leaned against the lockers.

the boys decided to split up to find their friend much to beomgyu's protests. it was difficult searching in the dark especially with their phone batteries dying, their flashlights getting dimmer and dimmer by the second.

"assuming you boys are close to him, it shouldn't be a problem," the words of the man's voice replayed in soobin's head.

"close to him? not a problem? seems to be a fucking problem with the fact that he's probably hidden far from where i'm at right now!" soobin ranted to himself as he brisk-walked along the endless hallway, noting the rows of lockers that just seemed to go on forever.

soobin took notice of how tall the lockers were, it could literally fit a human being inside. the tall boy shook his head at his random thoughts; that was until it hit him.

"the man's an idiot for shoving hueningkai in a locker. i can't believe we overlooked his words!" soobin muttered in annoyance as he ran back to the last place the boys were at when the announcement was made.

fortunately, yeonjun got the memo as he was already breaking the lock pads of the lockers where the boys previously gathered with a fire extinguisher.

"you have five minutes!" the man cheered sarcastically over the school speakers.

"fuck, we have to hurry!" soobin exasperated as he too, broke down the lock pads using an axe he smashed from the emergency glass casing.

the commotion caused by the two boys caught taehyun and beomgyu's attention as they came running back. likewise, they followed yeonjun's example and broke down the lockers with fire extinguishers obtained from open classrooms.

"60 seconds left!" a voice called out from the other end of the hallway. squinting his eyes, yeonjun saw a dark silhouette standing at least 20 feet before him.

a small groan was suddenly heard from one of the lockers. soobin's eyes lit up with hope as he realised the sound was near his area and scrambled towards where it was heard.

with one final swing, the door of the locker swung open; revealing an unconscious hueningkai tied up with rope.

soobin quickly pulled the boy out of the locker and untied the ropes that were secured tightly around him. sighs of relief escaped the four boys as they ran towards their friend. hueningkai groaned in pain as he slowly regained consciousness with his slightly bleeding.

"well done boys! however the fun has only begun. stick by for further announcements! no one is going to make out of this school alive!" the man yelled from the other end of the hallway and walked away, madly giggling to himself.

"things were only getting started," yeonjun thought anxiously to himself as he felt the burning stares from the boys digging into his skin.