EIGHT HOURS ━ STRAY KIDS

HOUR FOUR.

"So, what do we do?" Chan asked. "We don't have many options."

"Call the police?" Hyunjin offered. "There's nothing we can do by ourselves, other than wait for the next person to die-"

"No!" Minho exclaimed. "We can't call the police."

Chan narrowed his eyes. "Why, Minho?"

Minho swallowed. "Because..." He trailed off. 

"The murderer already made it clear that he doesn't want us to call the police," Changbin interjected. "Remember? In the first room? Chan suggested it and then we were locked in there."

"So you want to sit around and wait for me to die?"

"Hyunjin-"

"We all know I'm going to be next. Are we just going to sit on our asses and wait for the murderer to kill me?"

"Hyunjin," Chan spoke. "No one wants you to die. You're our best friend. We just have no clue what to do."

Hyunjin burst into tears. "I'm so sick of this shit." He sobbed, burying his face into his hands. "I've lost everyone. I don't want to die." 

Chan sighed, wrapping an arm around him. "I know, Hyunjin. I know. But we have to get moving, we both know."

Changbin swallowed. "This whole thing seems like a setup."

Hyunjin nodded, sniffing and wiping his nose on his sleeve. "I agree. All of the deaths seem so...detailed? How did the murderer work that quickly?"

"And how are they always with us?" Minho interjected. "They're probably somewhere around us right now. We don't know."

Hyunjin opened his mouth to say something, but Chan spoke before he could. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. What have all the deaths had in common so far?"

"We're dying according to age, and each person has a number cut into their forehead," Hyunjin responded. "Before each death, the lights went out? That's all I've got."

"What about the passcodes? Seungmin's was "one", and Felix's was "of", but I didn't look at Jisung's. Did any of you?"

Minho perked up. "I did-"

The lights went out around them.