EIGHT HOURS ━ STRAY KIDS

HOUR SEVEN.

Minho's jaw dropped. "You're joking." He took a step forward.

Chan shook his head, backing up. "Don't get close to me."

"We were together this entire time!" Minho exclaimed. "If I wanted to kill you, wouldn't I have done so?"

"Changbin doesn't know how to fucking work radios! You wanted me to think it was Changbin." Chan shook his head bitterly. "Or maybe it is Changbin. Maybe it's both of you."

"Both of us?" Minho laughed. "You have to be joking. You're not accusing me of murdering my best friends, are you?"

Chan scoffed. "Don't act so offended. Isn't that what we just did to Changbin? We tore apart every single little mannerism of his that could have possibly determined him a murderer."

"Why don't you fucking trust me?" Minho exclaimed. "Why didn't anyone trust me? I would never kill my friends. I would never do what Changbin did to us-"

But the lights flickered off.

——

All Chan could hear was a door slamming open and then closed. No screams, no chains rattling or rope dragging.

When the lights came back on, Minho was outside of the doorway, closer to Chan than he'd been before.

The body clattered to the ground with a sickening thump, blood pooling out of the closet he'd been hiding in.

Changbin's eyes were wide with shock, arms were thrown out to each side. Blood was streaming out of his slit throat, forming a thick pool around his head. A six was cut into his forehead.

Chan crept away.

"I was wrong. It wasn't both of you." He swallowed. "It was you. Only you."

He broke off into a run, scrambling down the hallway in a sprint. He careened around the corner, past all of the bodies, splashing through puddles of blood. Puddles of his friends' blood. Blood Minho spilled.

Chan's gaze was so focused on his blood-stained shoes that he hadn't even noticed the hallway he had entered. He slammed into a wall, falling backward and landing on his backside. A dead end.

He whipped around and saw Minho following him. He was done for.

Chan clambered backward, pressing against the wall. He swallowed in fear.

Minho stopped about a meter away. "It's not me, Chan. I swear it isn't. It must not be any of us, because it isn't me."

Chan swallowed. "But you..."

"I'm an engineering major. I know. But do you know how many engineering majors there were at this stupid party?"

Chan shook his head, pulling his knees flush against his chest. "I don't believe you. If you're going to kill me, just go ahead and do it already."

"Why are you so convinced it's me?"

"Because you've made it so obvious! And the passcodes..."

"The passcodes...?" His voice got quieter. "What about the passcodes, Chan?"

Chan swallowed. "What did they spell out?"

Minho frowned. "He is one of..." He trailed off before smiling. "Chan..."

A dinging sound filled the hallway, surrounding them.

They made eye contact before Minho laughed loudly. He started to clap. "You're quite the actor, Bang Chan. Maybe pursue that instead. What a sight that'd be."

Minho's voice rang through the hallway. "But unfortunately, it's been eight hours. It's too late."