|

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝙼𝚊𝚗 | 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎

| 𝘈, (𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵) 𝘍 | 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳, 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘚𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘎𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘔𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴

| 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 |  

↳   𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 - 𝘑𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘬𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘹 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

↳ 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 - 𝘠/𝘕 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘠/𝘕 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘥𝘥 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵.  

𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦.  

𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘠/𝘕 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.

(𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯" 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴)

𝘛𝘢𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 - 𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘯 (𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘬)  

𝘞𝘒 - 11k  

𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷 | 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵

𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 | 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

Everything was worthless

He heaved a great big sigh

And he went and found a rope

And tied it to the sky

Y/N opened her eyes slowly at the sound of a phone ringing. Was that my phone? She looked to her right to see her phone in the passenger seat. Her hand reached to the other side, not looking with her head lying back. The phone was in front of her face, wincing slightly at the brightness hitting her eyes. It was Jeongguk. . .he called me again. . .What could he want this late? she looked at the top of the screen to see the time—almost midnight. I really fell asleep for a long time. 

It took her a day to get to this hospital, and she decided to take a quick nap before heading in. But it looked like the nap turned into a five-hour sleep. She let out a sigh, turning off her phone. Y/N didn't want to use her phone much, never using it in the first place, but she didn't want it to die. Despite having a charger, it was useless if all these places she was going didn't have electricity. "Maybe he'll call again tomorrow," she spoke out loud, putting her phone in her jean pocket. "I need to get going." she reached the back of the car for her backpack and crossbody bag. 

She exits her vehicle, puts on her two bags, and looks up at the building. "A hospital," she hummed, walking to the door. "Must be abandoned, or else it's got terrible upkeep." Y/N was able to get in with ease through the front door. "What's with him and these creepy places. . ."

The place was very rundown, so hopefully, it was abandoned. It looked like it was. Lights were out, and nobody was there. Very abandoned to her. Y/N looked to the right and saw a reception desk. She walked up to it and saw a pile of maps, grabbing one for future keep. There was an elevator to her right, in the corner, but she couldn't get it to work, and the arrow above it pointed to four. It must be stuck on that floor. 

Going around the desk, Y/N entered the staff room for anything, but she didn't see much. She could open all the lockers, besides the fourth being locked, something to be easily unlocked, and she saw a box lying against the wall. Opening it up, a wooden square piece lies on top. Normally she wouldn't normally stare at this thing for so long, but she felt like it was something she needed to grab. And she did. But there is something she can do besides staring at a wooden piece. A key box is locked with a passcode. Not any passcode, a puzzle. Something she liked to do in her past time, even if it condemned her to be a slight nerd. Y/N pressed the middle button for the buttons around it, a plus sign, and pushed in. And pressing each corner till they were all pushed for a click to tell her it unlocked. 

Inside were an elevator trunk key and a cafeteria key. 

Y/N guessed she was going to the cafeteria on the second floor and the elevator on the fourth floor. But she wanted to explore first instead of going straight to the fourth floor after the cafeteria. She didn't want to think about having to do this key thing again. It was too much pain back at school, but she wasn't surprised at this point. Still a pain, though. 

She left the staff room and tried to open the two doors, but it was locked with a number lock. With not much left, Y/N walked up the staircase to the second floor, starting her way to attempt to open the doors. The first two doors were painted over, but Y/N noticed a nameplate of the cafeteria across the doors. So it wasn't weird looking at the map. The walls in the middle were the cafeteria and not just there for a pathway. She unlocked the cafeteria and entered. 

Two long brown tables against the wall on each side of her. A stack of dirty plates and so many dirty glass cups around. Y/N noticed a dirty teacup with the same wooden square piece with a letter she found in the box. "What?" Y/N mumbled, picking it up and dropping it in her bag. "Could be a puzzle." 

The sound of something falling made her turn around quickly in defense, but she only noticed one blue can standing and red now lying with a slight rolling from the reaction of falling. Or was the standing can green. . .Y/N looked around for any clue, but nothing. She slowly stalked up to the can and crouched down to pick it up. Tilting it, a wire fell out. Thinking back, there was a locked locker in the staff room. A very simple lock she could unlock if she picked it easily with the wire. 

Y/N walked out of the cafeteria and tried to open more doors. All the doors were painted until she stumbled to the two connected doors next to the elevator. Blood was in front of the doors, and a light streak was in the direction of the room. She didn't try to think much of it and went through the doors to see moveable curtains. Separating the ones closest to her, it was a normal bed. The other one hid another normal bed, but the last one hid a bed with writing in blood. 

-

"Do not mourn them. Do not avert your eyes. It is happier for them. . . I have saved them."

-

"Them? Who's them?" Y/N questioned, looking away. She didn't want to look at the blood anymore. 

Walking out, the remaining doors were painted over. Y/N most likely didn't need to stop by this room if needed. Walking to the third floor, the first three doors were also painted over. And, according to the map, the room across was the day room. 

Inside the dayroom, fortunately, unlocked, there was nothing strange but an opened book at the far corner table. Y/N blew a raspberry, not wanting to read. But from past experiences, she most likely needs to read as well in this place. 

-

"If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life, the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain

                     - Emily Elizabeth Dickinson"

-

"That's. . .an interesting quote," Y/N left the book alone, not wanting to think much of it, and looked around the room some more. Magazines seemed normal; the only other thing was the tables and non-working beverage stations. 

Opening the door, one footstep out, there was a really loud yowl from a cat. Y/N walked out more and looked to her right at the door in the corner. The three doors across from her were painted over, so it had to be from that door. She quickly went through, but her skin went slightly green at the sight of a dead cat with two stillborn kittens around it. The mama cat had its stomach cut open, and Y/N slowly walked up to it. "Poor kitty," she mumbled, not being able to look away. "Were these her. . .no doubt. Were they cut out of her stomach? Who could—" she couldn't finish, going down to one knee and letting out a low vibration from her throat. "Poor thing. . .why would you do this?" Y/N wanted to look away, but she really couldn't. But she noticed something in her cut stomach. Was there? Something in the cat's stomach? "Sorry." she reached forward to grab the shape, finally looking away when she felt vomit coming up. 

She had to leave the room quickly, the smell of blood too much. In her shaking, bloody hand laid a blood key. Was this even worth it? Y/N smeared the blood on her jeans, rubbing the key after. She tried to see if there was a label, but it was smeared off. 

Keep going. she told herself. 

Y/N gave herself a few breathers before she continued. And the remaining doors were painted over. That only gave her the fourth floor. Her first notice was dried fluid next to the first door, looking like vomit. Not much thought was given to it as she walked around it to move the handle. It was unlocked, so she walked through.

It was a room with a dirty bed, dresser, and a seat. For a split second, Y/N swore to herself that she saw a shadow sitting on that chair. But there was nothing, and a scrap of notebook paper lay in the corner. She looked at the seat a little more before going to the paper, getting back up to her feet. 

-

"I sat in the chair and watched the bed like always. Only there was no one in the bed anymore.

What have I accomplished? I could only watch my family scream. . . I still can't answer that question."

-

"It's. . .his notebook," Y/N confirmed to herself, looking at the rule that was the same as the others. "No doubt, he was here. But is he still here now?" she looked at the bed and then the chair. "Was this the room someone close to him died?"

It's possible. She still believed she saw a shadow, even if it was for a split second. 

Y/N left the room while placing the paper in her bag, looking for more doors. The door across the three was the counseling room, but it was locked. And the next three doors were painted over. But it was the fourth floor, so she could finally enter the elevator. Using the elevator trunk key, Y/N found an AED.

And the remaining doors were painted over. How surprising. Y/N jogged down the staircase to the third floor. She was about to go to the second floor but heard a kid singing. "What—" Y/N made her fast walk into the dayroom, and there really was a kid. He was dancing around to his little song. She didn't want to alarm him, so she slowly walked up to him. But he noticed her already and jumped back away from her. Y/N went down to one knee to try and meet his height. "What are you doing here?" her head tilted lightly. The kid stayed quiet. "Are your mom and dad not around? Did you. . .come here alone?" the kid stayed silent. Y/N looked at him a little more, seeing how he looked so much like Jeongguk when he was a kid. "Are you. . .mute, perhaps?"

"Mama said. . .not to talk to strangers," his gentle voice spoke out. 

Very adorable, but this isn't really the time to fond over this kid. "Well, then I'll introduce myself," Y/N placed her hand on her chest. "I'm Y/N. I'm twenty-six years old. I live kind of far from here. My hobby is. . .watching baseball, I guess."

The boy lightened up at the mention of the sport. "I like baseball too!" he gleamed. It would explain his baseball cap and "Cardinals" jersey with black pants and sneakers. "Mama gave me a glove, so I play every Saturday."

"Whoa! I'm jealous," Y/N smiled back, trying to match his emotions. "So, what's your name, little guy?"

"Bunny!" 

Y/N blinked, wondering if she heard him correctly. "Bunny? That's your name?"

"Yeah," Bunny nodded. "Mama says my smile remembers a bunny!" he gave her a wide smile. "See?!" 

Wow, this kid really does resemble Jeongguk. A secret love child of some sort? She wouldn't be shocked. "I see," she accepted the fact of this kid's name. "Where is your mama, Bunny?" the kid shrugged after a few seconds. "You don't know? Did you not come here with her?"

"Well," he extended the word out, rolling on his feet. "We were going back home, and I was walking right by mama, then she went to get something she forgot. I didn't want to wait outside, so I came in here to sing. But mama hasn't come back."

"So you got lost," Y/N declared, more for herself than for Bunny. "Is your house close to here?"

Bunny let out a sound in thinking. "My house is close to school, but you can't see school from here. . .so I guess it's probably far. . ."

"Right," Y/N blew out a little air. "You're really something to have waited here all alone." she looked at Bunny before at the ground. Great, a kid lost late at night. She thought. I think there's a sheriff's office nearby. . .maybe I should take him there. "Hey, Bunny. It's scary in the dark, isn't it? How about you go with me to Mr. Policeman?" the kid stayed quiet, and Y/N moved up to her feet. "Okay, let's go."

"No!" Bunny rejected the idea, taking a step back. 

Y/N gave him a look of confusion. What does he mean no? "What's wrong, Bunny?" she asked. "I'll have Mr. Policeman show you a patrol car! Don't you want to come along?"

"I'm not scared of the dark!" Bunny yelled, giving her a pouty face. "I'm a big boy! You're the scaredy-cat, aren't you?!"

And he ran out. "Bunny!" she reached out for him and sighed. "Better go chase him—then again, maybe his mom'll find him. I don't wanna be questioned by the sheriff anyway. . ."

She went out of the room and ran down to the first floor, and she walked to the staff room and messed with the lock with the wire she got from the can from earlier.  The only thing useful here was a note about a number lock. Well, wasn't that a coincidence? Y/N kept the note in her hand and walked out of the staff room and to the locked door. Looking over it, she noticed something when about to put in the passcode. "Is this lock battery operated? It's not working, so the batteries must be dead. Well, the place is abandoned." she dug for the AED in her bag. The battery shows it at about half a charge. She opened the lid and took out the battery, and replaced the old battery in the lock with it. 

After a few moments of its functioning, Y/N pressed in the code.

4489

Y/N walked through the day, trying to prepare herself to explore more space. It was too good to be true when she unlocked all the doors besides the counseling room. But she thought that room was just locked with a key thrown away. She went into the first room she saw, one of the three staff rooms, and noticed something right away on two of the desks. The table to the left had a very heavy-looking hammer, something heavier than what she had at the school. There's no way she'd carry it around. But it definitely would be useful. Y/N walked up to the other table, and it was the key to the counseling room. I really need to stop thinking. She scolded herself. The moment she thought there was no key or if the key was thrown away, she found it a minute later. 

Well, now she is walking up the stairs to the fourth floor and unlocking the counseling room. Through the curtains that she stumbled upon, she saw shadows of two people. She quickly walked around, but there was no one there—only a table with two chairs across each other. Looking through the room, only two diaries were in the far bookcase. 

-

12/3, 3:35 PM Tape 15 Subject: Visitor A (Guarantor for relative in room 409)

Contents: A visited after sudden change in patient's condition. Patient was hospitalized upon identified brain illness. Surgery deemed necessary due to declining health.

The patient still thinks herself healthy, which causes A a great deal of distress. Her memories of A are also vague. A sought counseling on how to cope.

The patient misunderstands it as A abandoning her. She cries and screams, her mind unstable. Counseling will likely continue for both.

-

12/10, 8:20 AM Tape 16 Subject: A (Guarantor for relative in room 409)

A visited after the patient's death. He lamented that, given she was going to die, he couldn't watch over her at home.

He stated that living in itself is not happy.  So if life is agony, then wanting death is unavoidable.

. . .Should I refuse him as a doctor, or tolerate it as a person of dignity? I wish he would come back here, but unfortunately, I can't force him."

-

"I wonder if this kind of thing happens a lot," Y/N spoke to herself, closing the diary after picking up the psychiatry key that lay on top of the page and putting it back in the case.

There was nothing left in this room, so she went back to the clinic side of the hospital and checked the other two doors she didn't check when unlocking the door. The door in the middle was the director's office, which looked very nice despite being messy. Dirty curtains slightly divide the room of the first half, with a table decorated with artificial flowers and sofas on each side and empty shovels on each side. Very pretty.

On the other side, there was a desk with a small table and a locked safe on the other side. on top of the desk were a wooden box with six empty square holes, a folded piece of paper, and an open diary next to it. 

-

"I received a puzzle box the other day. Rather interesting thing; to open it, you have to arrange letter pieces to form a word.

Of course, I made the keyword my favorite word. That irreplaceable thing which always makes me happy just to say. . . In fact, I should show the box to my daughter.

Unbelievable! When I showed my daughter the puzzle box, she hid all the pieces! But what's inside isn't something you use every day, so it's not a huge deal. . .

She actually gave me hints on where they are, but I can't find any. Maybe when I have time."

-

"Is that this paper?" Y/N picked up the paper and unfolded it. 

-

Flowers are nice Wash your hands! Where do you have lunch? Give me a call The nurses know Get close to the sky!

-

Thinking about it. The third hint had Y/N grabbing the piece she found in the dirty teacup. Putting it near the box, Y/N saw how the wood was the same. Placing it in a random spot, it matched the hole with ease. But the first hint, there were artificial flowers in this room. She quickly went around the curtains and moved the flowers around gently, seeing the same wooden piece.

An A piece. 

Y/N placed the piece in a random spot in the box and left the room, folding the paper and setting it in her bag. Between the doors of the director's room and the elevator was a green board with a map of the outpatient clinic hanging. Score. Y/N grabbed the map and folded it up, and stuffed it into the bag. 

The elevator, emergency escape, and bathrooms were locked with broken locks. It didn't give her much choice but to go upstairs. She saw the staircase to the basement but automatically avoided it from recent experiences. Y/N entered the first door to her left, the pediatrics room, and stopped to see Bunny dancing around. "There you are, Bunny," she breathed out in relief, walking up to him as he turned around to her voice. "Don't you know not to wander off alone?"

"I can handle the dark fine!" Bunny pouted, crossing his arms. "I told you, I'm a big boy! I'm not gonna cry like some baby!"

She started at him a little more, going down to her knees. "Wow, you sure do seem brave, Bunny," she praised lightly. "I have to admire that!" Bunny's face lightened with a giggle. "You're as brave as Iron Man! I'm kind of scared of walking in the dark, but here I am looking for someone." she put the back of her hand on her forehead with drama. "If only there were someone here I could depend on! Just my luck—"

"Okay! I'll go with you, miss Y/N!" Bunny cut her off. 

"Whoa! Really?!" she placed her hands on her chest. "Wow, what a relief! Thanks! I feel so much safer with you here, Bunny!"

Bunny jumped a little on his feet. "I'll protect you miss Y/N!" he promised with another giggle. Y/N gave him a smile. We'll stick together until his mother shows up. If she doesn't. . .sheriff's office it is. Y/N stood up and held her hand out to him. Bunny grabbed her hand, hands somehow like a puzzle piece with the two. "Miss Y/N! I measured myself the other day!" he pointed at the height measurer that lay against the wall. I'm up to three feet! What about you, miss Y/N?"

"I think I'm. . .around Y/H," Y/N answered, trying to think about her last visit to the doctor besides her mother's appointments. 

The two exit the room, hand in hand. The other two rooms were painted over, and the bathrooms were busted. There was a hallway with their rooms, but they were all normal, but she'll probably look at them again if they were all unlocked. Every unlocked room had something. Going up to the third floor, a public phone was right next to the staircase. "Miss Y/N! There's something in there!" Bunny pulled her to the public phone when she tried to get to the door. 

Y/N reached her finger into the change slot and felt something. Taking it out, it was an F piece. "Thank you, Bunny," Y/N ruffled Bunny's hair, being careful with the piece, and dropped it in a small pocket in the bag. 

She continued to look through her bag for the hints and read through them again. Maybe the bathrooms had something when she read, "Was your hands." The men's bathroom was unlocked, and Y/N looked at the sink. "I'm really thirsty," Bunny whined lightly, shaking Y/N's arm. "Can I have a drink?"

"Not this," Y/N shook her head, letting go of Bunny's hand to remove her backpack. "Here." she took out one of the many water bottles she stored and handed it to Bunny. She drank a little but didn't want to open another in case she needed it. Bunny grabbed the bottle and raised took a long sip. He almost dropped it, but Y/N caught it, keeping it leveled and removing it when noticing he was drinking too much. "Better?" 

"Waaaay, better," Bunny wipes his mouth with the collar of his jersey. The water bottle was placed back into her backpack and putting it on. Y/N grabbed Bunny's hand before leaving and going into the women's bathroom, and she looked straight into the sink. "Hey, there's somethin' over there!" 

He was right; there was an A piece. "You have such eyesight," Y/N lightly complimented, dropping the piece into the small pocket with the other. There were five in total and one more. But the one with the stars may take her a while if it's hidden outside. 

Bunny shook Y/N's arm again. "Miss Y/N, I have to go," he told her. 

She looked at him. "Did I give you too much water?" she asked him. "I'm sorry." she looked over at the stalls. "This is the girls' room, so you should technically go to the boys' one. Not sure if it'll flush, though." Y/N helped him out of the bathroom and opened the boy's bathroom door for him to enter. "Come out once you're done, okay?"

"Okay!" Bunny nodded, closing the door for Y/N. 

Y/N leaned against the wall, waiting for Bunny. But he was taking a little too long for a kid. "Hey, Bunny!" she called out. "You okay in there!" 

"Hang ooon!" Bunny yelled back. And after a little bit, there was a jiggle of the door. "Huh? I can't open the door!" 

"What?" Y/N was holding the handle of the door in a split second, trying to pull it. "I-It really won't open." she tried to open the door a few times. "Did that door just break or what?"

The sound of Bunny crying entered the atmosphere, Y/N's heart clenching a little bit. "Miss Y/N. . .I can't get out. Am I going to be stuck here forever?" he asked through his sobs. 

"It's okay, Bunny!" Y/N quickly ensured, not wanting him to have any more negative thoughts. "I'll get you out right away—" she cut herself off, putting her hands on the wall all around to see if anything was hollow and easy to break. None. Y/N ran into the girls' room and did the same thing before seeing a crack in the middle of the wall that divided the two bathrooms. "There." 

If she remembered correctly, there was a very heavy hammer in the first room she entered on this side of the hospital. She ran down, almost falling to the ground from how fast she was going, and burst through the doors to pick up the hammer she saw already. Damn, this really is heavy. She grunted, picked the hammer up more over her shoulder, and went as fast as she could up the stairs with a heavy hammer. A screech in the air made Y/N almost fall back down the stairs at the shock. "Bunny?!" she didn't hesitate to enter the girls' room. "Bunny! Get away from the wall. I'm going to break through!" she slammed the hammer so many times on the wall until it finally broke down. Going through, Bunny was nowhere. She looked to the left at the door of the only stall, opening it to see Bunny crying. "Bunny? Hey, what's wrong? What happened?"

"No, no, nooo!" Bunny huddled himself more in the corner, eyes still shut tight and arms hiding his face. "Don't come near me! I'm scared!"  

"Bunny!" Y/N called to him gently, going to her knees. "It's okay! It's me, Y/N!" 

At the name, Bunny removed his arms from his face and opened his eyes. "Miss. . .Y/N?" tears formed more, and he sobbed heavily, running into her arms. 

"Bunny, are you okay?" She slightly removed him from her to look over him. "Are you hurt?" Bunny didn't give her time to look as he clung himself onto her again. "Seriously, what happened?"

"I-I. . .I was waiting for you, miss Y/N," he began, still crying with heavy tears, stuttering through his sentences. "A. . .and then I-I turned around. . .and there was a guy there! And he. . .he tried to get me!" Y/N paused from rubbing his back but kept going to let him go on. "His neck was. . .all I'm. . .and he was grinning! He looked at me and said, 'found you!' I was so scared; I hid in here!"

It's him. Y/N bit her lip to keep herself from shaking in anger. So he followed me here, too? Dammit. . .why Bunny and not me? She can't think right now. She has to calm Bunny down, who keeps repeating how he was so scared. "It's okay now, Bunny," she hushed, patting his back comforting. "You did well for yourself. I'm proud of you." she kept patting his back, hushing him gently. If he's here, then I can't let Bunny stay here. I'll have to take him to the police. Y/N tried to remove Bunny from her, but he didn't let her. "Bunny, shouldn't we go to Mister Policeman? It's dark and dangerous around here. I'll take you there. It'll be okay. . ."

"No!" Bunny dug himself more into Y/N. "I'm staying with miss Y/N! I'm waiting for mama!" 

"Bunny," Y/N said with a slightly scolding tone. "Please, don't be selfish. I'm sure your mama went to the police too—"

"No!" he yelled again. "Mama said to wait here! So I know she's going to come to find me! And I'll wait for her 'cause I'm tough!" 

Y/N huffed out a breath. If I can't find him here soon. . .and if Bunny's mom doesn't show, then I'll have to take him to the sheriff. She thought. Bunny sure won't like that, though. . .boy, this is getting troublesome. I hope she just shows up soon. Her hands moved to rub his arms, comforting him. "Alright, Bunny," she surrendered. "We'll wait to get a little longer, okay? So hey, don't cry. You're a big boy, right?

Bunny sniffled and rubbed his eyes. "D-Don't tell mama. . .that I cried," he asked lowly. "Mama hates when I cry. . .she gets mad."

He finally separated from Y/N, who crossed her heart. "I won't tell a soul," she promised. "We should get going now—"

"Can you carry me?" Bunny's big E/C eyes widened with a plead. Y/N's breath hitched, trying not to coo at how cute he was. "Mama sometimes carries me to cheer me up. And. . .you look like mama." Y/N's heart clenched a little more. 

"Alright, come here," Y/N caved in easily, putting her hands under Bunny's armpits and picking him up while getting up to her feet. Bunny easily melted into her body, head on her shoulder and his small hand on her chest. Y/N kept in a grunt from picking Bunny up, his weight adding onto her backpack and bag. But she already did it—don't want to put him down already and have him complain. 

She adjusted him and went into the second door when the first one was painted over. Right as they entered, Bunny pointed at an embryo model. "A baby?" he guessed and then giggled. "It looks like a monkey!" 

"Well, babies are kinda like that," Y/N muttered, moving around the room for anything. 

There was nothing much but machines and books. On the other side of the bed, she looked over at the wooden small shelves and noticed something in the back of the top left shelf. It was a small key.

And every door was painted over beside the three rooms in the small hallway and a locked door that contained a three-number code. Y/N made her way upstairs, and right away, a scrap of notebook paper lay on the ground. She put down Bunny, quietly telling him that she'll pick him up in a second so that she could grab the paper and read. 

-

"My mother told me I was born here. She called it a place of happiness. . . But for me, it's a place of regret.

I wish I could kill my child self. Back when I was pure. . . When I still thought everyone loved me. . ."

-

"What does it say, miss Y/N?" Bunny asked, looking at the paper. 

Y/N quickly tilted the paper away from Bunny's eyes. "Something not needed for your cute eyes," she spoke fast, placing it in her bag with the other papers and picking Bunny back up. The first two doors were painted over, but the third was the psychiatry door she unlocked after fishing out the key. 

She went around the curtains, and the first thing she saw was an open diary. Most likely a psychiatrist's diary.

-

"John Smith is dead. It appears he hung himself.

I was no help at all, it seems. . .

All I got, in the end, was his suicide note."

-

The book was closed before Bunny could lean down and look at the book. Though there was a note on the page, having her grabbing it before the book closed fully.

-

"It's chasing me. No matter where I go. I can't ever escape. So I've decided to die.

But I realized. . .It's grinning. In fact, it's grinning behind me right now.

It's been waiting for me to do this. This is what it was chasing me for. But now, I'll be free from it.

Doctor, please take care. It might start to follow you next. There's no point in running. Because it's always at someone's back.

Goodbye. Thank you for everything, doctor. You were the only one who showed sympathy."

-

Y/N felt heavy, slowly putting the note over the book and flipping it upside down. Her breath was shaky, and she tried to keep the tears back from blinking them out. She had to take a few seconds to pick herself back up and go over to the board under the unmoving clock. A memo. 

Three rows, all three made into three boxes. 2, 3, 4. The one under the number two had the second box circled, labeled "bed." The middle one under the number three had the first box circled and labeled "trash." And the last row, under the number for the last box, was circled and labeled "board." And that's when Y/N snapped her finger the moment she looked over this a couple of times. The thin hallways on every floor looked normal. "Can you hold this for me?" Y/N asked, ripping the memo off the board and handing it to Bunny. 

"Of course, miss Y/N!"  Bunny was quick to grab the memo in his hands and kept it in Y/N's view. Y/N chuckled at the little boy's silliness and walked out of the room and into the hallway. 

Looking at the paper, the three boxes most likely meant the last door at the end. She still looked at all the rooms to see they were identical. No wonder this was a memo. Y/N noticed the board in the last room to be the most filled up. She looked through the paper one by one, tearing them down till there was nothing. And there was nothing but a big number six on the board. Y/N looked back at the memo Bunny was still trying to keep shoved into her face and saw the third floor next. 

Closest room, knocking over the trashcan, a number one was written on the bottom. 

In the middle room, under the bed, the number seven was written on the ground.  Bunny didn't like that Y/N put him down, but she grabbed his hand. A kid has wants despite the situation they're in. Kids are weird. Y/N commented in her head, embedding the numbers right after. But again, we were all like this before. Once or twice. 

But what was "716" for? 

She could only think of that locked door leading to the emergency. It was a three-digit code, but this is a bit fast to figure out the code. . .right? Well, nothing seems to make sense. And it was a good thing Y/N decided not to hold Bunny because they had to go back up the stairs. Of course, she was currently pulling him back up to his feet from tripping on the stairs up—she doesn't know how he did that—but it beat her tired arms. 

The door unlocked after taking a bit long to register the code to be correct, and it was only a staircase to the top. Y/N wasn't allowed to think about going downstairs with it being covered by heavy bags, and she wasn't able to unlock the doors from the inside into the floors above. So she was only able to get to this door that was tightly covered by thick wires. Not even pliers would be strong enough. Not that she has pliers. "What now, miss Y/N?" Bunny asked, tapping on Y/N's thigh. 

"I guess we find something strong enough for these wires," Y/N answered. She didn't see any rooms to have chemicals. Maybe that room with the hammer had some chemicals in those drawers. She still had a small key. It could be something to unlock those. And there was a basement she still had yet to see. After what she went through in the hotel and the school, Y/N really wanted to stay away from basements, but it looks like she has to do it for a third time. "Come on, Bunny." Y/N held her hand out for Bunny, and the little boy grabbed it without a thought. 

They went down the stairs and down to the first floor into the staff room. Y/N dug out the small key to try and unlock the top two. They did unlock, but nothing. After another two attempts, Y/N could only find a key to the chemical room. Which, without a doubt, was in the basement. "Another key!" 

"Yep," Y/N sulked, getting up to her feet and exiting the room. Bunny followed after her with his fast legs to grab her hand. He gave her a little glare. Y/N chuckled, giving him a sorry glace. She helped him down the stairs to the basement, and the first door showed the label of the chemical room. 

Did she mention that she didn't want to be down here? "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile!" Bunny randomly sang out, having Y/N turn to face him. Well. Now she doesn't want to be in here anymore. "He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile! He bought a crooked cat! Which caught a crooked mouse! And they all lived together! In a crooked little house!" 

"There Was a Crooked Man, huh?" Y/N spoke up when Bunny finished singing, which was the moment they stepped into the basement. 

Bunny nodded. "Mama taught it to me," he informed with a happy glint in his eyes when he mentioned his mother. "I like to sing, so I sing lots! And I like that song!" 

"I actually learned it as a kid, too," Y/N told him, seeing his excitement double. "But I didn't like it very much." And the excitement dropped, the boy asking her why. "It just. . .felt like a sad song to me. The guy's been crooked his whole life, and all he's got around him is crooked stuff. I was scared to think, what if I was a crooked man?" she had a hand brought up to her hand unconsciously and realized it when Bunny was giving her a confused look. She was ranting to a child. "Only when I was a kid, of course." she removed her hand to cover her mouth with a cough. 

"I don't get it, miss," Bunny admits softly. "But sorry for singing a sad song."

"N-No, it just reminded me of that," Y/N shook her hand toward him. "You're a good singer, Bunny. Do you sing with your mama?"

"Yeah!" And the happy, excited Bunny was back. "Mama likes to sing too! It's fun to sing with her! Do you sing too, Y/N?" 

She thought about the time she would sing with. . .No, not now. "No, I'm no good," she said. Y/N didn't know if that was a lie or not. Her friends would say she was good, and so did he, but she personally didn't know. Only went by what others thought. "You're better off not hearing me try." she looked over at the door with the label. "Let's continue."

Y/N unlocked the door and had to take a double step back from the strong smell of chemicals hitting her in the face. Bunny reacted a little more dramatically, yelling out loud how it smells and digging his face into Y/N's leg after making loud sounds of gagging. Drama queen. Y/N hid her face from Bunny's view to keep a laugh and finally entered the room to have Bunny ripped away from her leg. He grabbed her hand again when she walked up to an open book lying on the small desk tucked in the corner by the door. 

-

"That newbie Steve made a fine mess!  He spilled some hydrogen bromide made a hole in the wall! I TOLD him that stuff could eat through iron. . . He'd better pay me back for this!"

-

"Hydrogen bromide it is," Y/N muttered.

"Let's go find some hidey-gen!" Bunny said, tugging Y/N to look through the chemicals. 

There was no heart in her to tell him the correct pronunciation and let him drag her around till she took control and looked at the back left corner of chemicals when there was no luck on the other shelves. "Zin, ethanol, oxy dol, mercury," Y/N mumbled, reading through and her free hand pointing at every chemical she saw to not get lost. "Even I know these names. . ." and that's when she saw what she was pointing at. "Oh, here we go! Hydrogen bromide!" her hand grabbed the chemical, staring at it before closing the safety glass. "Have to be careful with this."

Looking over to the kid, she told herself to be extra careful. 

And she successfully brought the chemical to the door. Bunny stood back from her instructions as she opened the bottle and carefully poured it over the thick wires. The sizzling was showing her that it was working. This is kinda fun. She admits to herself, enjoying the reactions in front of her eyes. It reminds me of a science experiment. There was no way she would say this out loud in front of Bunny in case he wanted to come close and try to see it. 

Bunny did make the sound when the wire melted, and the remaining fell to the floor. 

The bottle was now empty, so she set it by the door, not needing it anymore. "It's safe to come out," Y/N told Bunny, opening the door wide for Bunny to run through. 

And he did. 

"Yay! We're outside!" Bunny cheered, running around the roof with his arms out and flapping them like wings. Y/N stared at him with a warm smile, feeling like she was watching herself when she was a kid. 

"Don't run too fast, Bunny," Y/N finally called after him, walking to him when he got near the edge with iron fences that are very low for a kid like Bunny to easily jump over. "You might trip."

But it was like Bunny didn't hear her. "I can't see mama from here," he had a hand above his eyes and looked around. "She must still be looking for that thing she lost. I hope she comes to find me soon. . ."

"She'll be here soon. I'm sure," Y/N was quick to ensure, walking beside him to place a hand on his cap. "You sure love your mama, huh, Bunny?"

"Yeah," and at the mention of his mother, Bunny looked up at Y/N with a happy look in his eyes and bunny teeth peeking through. "Mama's the best! Do you like your ma'am, miss Y/N?"

"Yeah, I've got to love my mama," Y/N said after a few seconds but quickly corrected herself. "I mean, my mother." this kid was really rubbing off on her. "Family is important."

"My mama's nice, but she's scary when she's mad. . ," he shivered dramatically. "Is your mama nice?"

"I'm home!" Y/N yelled out, entering the house. "Are you feeling better, mom?" she noticed her mother sitting in her favorite chair in the living. Watching whatever came on. "Did you go to the hospital?"

"Welcome home, Sunshine!" Her mother greeted her when looking over at the open door. "It's just a cold, don't blow it out of proportion." Y/N sighed, placing a hand on her mother's shoulder and calling her name in a scolding manner. "I feel a lot better after getting some rest. There's really no good side to being feeble. . .I'm sorry to always cause you trouble."

"Don't worry about it," Y/N shook her mother's words, kissing the top of her mother's head. "We're just a family of two. . .of course, we have to help each other."

Her mother let out a gentle laugh. "You're so kind," she complimented, not seeing Y/N's worried look. "Say, how is it going with Jeongguk? He hasn't come by here lately."

". . .We haven't met much because of work," Y/N answered, going simple with the question. "Though I'd like to talk with him more about the future and all that."

"He must be anxious," Her mother declared after a thought. "It's a big event in a man's life. Make sure to support him, will you?"

"What about the woman?" Y/N deadpanned, and the two let out a laugh together. But she stopped when hearing her mother wheeze after laughing. "Are you sure you're not in pain, mom? You don't look very well. . .get some sleep. I can make my own meals."

"I'm glad to have such a kind daughter," Her mother reached and cupped her daughter's cheek. "Thank you, Sunshine."

"Yes, she's very kind," Y/N spoke, realizing she was back in reality after reminiscing about her mother. "She always cared about me. . ."

"You better get home soon, miss Y/N!" Bunny giggled. "Your mama must be really worried!"

Y/N felt the tips of her lips go up in a tight smile. "I suppose you're right," she said. "Same reason why yours will show up soon. So just wait with me until then."

Bunny nodded at her and kept running around. He is enjoying his time out here before Y/N brings him back inside. Y/N shook her head at the kid and noticed an old newspaper slightly moving from the light breeze of the night sky. She picked it up and saw the main title. A psychiatrist had taken their own life. 

-

"Early this morning, a doctor employed at the general hospital was found dead by a nurse from the same hospital. He was hanged, so police are deeming it a suicide. . ."

-

"Dark," Y/N commented, dropping the newspaper and rubbing her thighs to keep the bad luck from the newspaper from her. 

She looked around the flat roof, remembering the hint for the last piece, and noticed a leader on the side of the wall. It was climbable. Y/N climbed to the small roof and saw the last piece. "Okay, Bunny! We can head back down." 

"Already?!" Bunny yelled back, waiting for Y/N to climb back down. He had stopped in his tracks of running around when she called out his name. 

"Already," Y/N repeated, opening the door for Bunny to go through. 

As much as he didn't want to go back in, he went through by the look Y/N gave him. 

Y/N pat his head before holding his hand, the two going to the third floor and leaving the hallway quietly. But it wasn't quiet when going through the door to the main hallway of the floor. "Miss—"

He was hushed, Y/N focusing on the sound of something being eaten. As if it was chewy and wet from the sound of the item getting torn apart by someone's teeth. Y/N knew the only unlocked door was the room with the embyro model. She pulled Bunny behind her, and the two slowly trailed to the door, slowly opening it to keep the attention off of them. 

Looking around the curtains to see the similar bloody back of the crooked neck figure. The head and shoulders were bouncing, but it was no doubt this thing was eating something. But what was—Y/N's face paled up. "It's. . .eating the embryo model," Y/N felt sick. 

But she didn't know she said that aloud. The monster stopped and turned around, tearing a piece of the embryo model and dropping it. The piece hung from his lip until it fell out after roaring at them. Y/N let go of Bunny to cover her ears from the loudness, but that only gave the monster an advantage. It ran up to her at lightning speed, grabbing her and throwing her against the wall between the dirty whiteboard and metal desk. 

He seriously threw me across the room! Y/N was shocked but only focused on the sight of the monster. "Miss Y/N!" Bunny yelled out, running around the corner to look at Y/N in her current state. The monster turned to look at the kid, now between him and Y/N. "N-No. . .no! S-Stay away!" 

Bunny ran off, but the monster chased after him. "Bunny!" Y/N moved to get to one knee but groaned. "N-Not now. . .I got to. . .chase that monster!" Y/N staggered up to her feet, almost falling. "My head. . ." she reached up but flinched at the slight touch to her head. "I'm bleeding. . .so. . .dizzy." she went as fast as she could with a possible concussion she had gotten seconds ago by the monster. Going against the wall for support, she opened the door and went through. 

Y/N kept using the wall for support as she slowly got to the staircase and went up to the fourth floor. Almost fell a few times, but she successfully got up again and saw the monster between her and— "Bunny!" she yelled, ignoring the sting of the head from how loud she spoke. 

It crept up to Bunny, who was sniffing with light sobs. "No. . ," he cried. "I don't want to. . .stay away—stay away!"

She had to do something quickly, turning around to find something quickly. Y/N saw a fire extinguisher by the staircase. This will have to do for now. The vision was hazing colors, but she kept going to grab the object. Y/N tried to be fast, getting close to the monster. The fire extinguisher was raised over her head. "Get away from Bunny!" Y/N yelled, slamming the fire extinguisher onto the monster. 

"Miss Y/N!" Bunny called out, the monster stumbling away from them. 

Y/N moved to Bunny, hiding him behind her. The monster growled at her and ran off. She kept her eyes on the monster until it was out of view. She knelt at Bunny's height, facing him. "Bunny," she called out. "You're not. . .hurt?"

"I'm not!" Bunny shook his head, trying to get rid of the tears. "I'm sorry, miss Y/N! It, it was my fault. . .that you. . .you got hurt, miss Y/N!"

"It's okay," Y/N gave him a painful smile. "Not your. . .fault. . .didn't do. . .anything wrong—"

And the vision blackened. 

".It's not your fault. Don't be distraught. Maybe I shouldn't say this, but. . .This kind of thing happens all the time. If we had noticed a little sooner. . ."

It wasn't known how long she was out, but she woke up to Bunny sobbing loudly. Y/N groaned, fluttering her eyes open and pushing herself between her calves. Her first instinct was to grasp her head, but she winced. "Head still hurts," she spoke, voice slightly breaking. "Stupid monster. . ."

"Miss Y/N!" Bunny yelled, running into Y/N. She groaned but didn't push him away. "Are you really okay?!"

"I'm fine, Bunny," Y/N said, rubbing Bunny's back. "You're not hurt?" he shook his head against her collarbone. "I'll be fine too. Sorry for worrying you. . .looks like that monster went away." she tried to push him away to look at his face, but he stayed against her. "Bunny?"

His sobs went loud again. "I. . .I want my mama," he sobbed. "I don't like the monsters. . .I don't like the dark. . ."

"Bunny," Y/N sighed, rubbing the boy's back again. "Should we go to the police? I'm sure your mother's there. . .so. . ."

Another shake against her collarbone. "I. . .I told mama I'd wait. Mama said she was proud of me. . .so I'll. . .I'll wait for her," he kept staying close to her, tightening his arms around her neck. "Mama wouldn't lie. . .she's going to come for me! So I have t wait here!"

He really should be with the police. Y/N thought to herself, keeping her hand moving to soothe the boy. But he just won't listen. . .and if I try to force him, he'll just run. . .I'll give it a little more time. Then I'll force him to go if I have to. I do wonder what his mom's doing, though. Leaving her son behind like this. . .I can't believe some people. . .and what's that monster up to? He was chasing me before, but now he's just after Bunny. I don't think I can possibly know. I just need to protect him from being attacked. Maybe I should find a weapon somewhere. 

"You're a good kid, Bunny," Y/N praised. "Putting up with all this. . .you're really great. I bet your mama's really glad. Hold out a little more, okay? I'll stay with you."

"N-No more monster?" Bunny asked, separating from Y/N a little to look up at her. 

"I. . .can't say," Y/N spoke to him in honesty. "But I'll protect you if there are. So don't wander away from me, okay?"

"Okay!" Bunny removed his arms from her neck and grabbed her hand. "I'll stay with you, miss!"

Y/N smiled at him and got up to her feet. Hands connected, they walked down to the first floor and into the director's office. She put the last piece with the others and looked between all six to figure out what word this all made. Something that was important. . .

Family.

That word felt a little foreign to her, but she put them in the order they had to be. Reminiscing right now isn't what she needs. And thinking hurts. The box unlocked, and Y/N opened it to see a key to the safe. Y/N walked over to the safe and unlocked it. Opening the safe, a loaded revolver with more ammo. Now she has something to protect Bunny. 

She got up to her feet and loaded it fully, only a few bullets inside while walking to the door. Y/N pushed the door open with the side of her arm, still looking at the gun. But that wasn't ideal, as she got pushed down to the ground. "Miss Y/N!" Bunny yelled, turning around at what pushed her. "M-Monster!" that was the reason?! "M-Miss Y/N, help!" 

Y/N growled, grabbing the gun that had skidded a few inches away from her. "This monster's persistent," she commented under her breath, pointing the weapon at the creature. "Bunny! Over here!" 

"Noo," Bunny shook in his shoes, not looking at Y/N. His eyes on fixated on the creature. "I'm scared of monsters! I don't want to. . .I don't want to. . ."

And he ran off. "Bunny!" she reached out but chased after. They had gotten out of her view a little bit, but she kept up to see them up on the roof. The monster walks close to Bunny. 

"No, no, no, no, no!" Bunny was walking backward, holding his arms out. "Stay away! Miss Y/N, help!" 

Y/N raised the gun at the monster. "Over here, Bunny!" she called out. "Don't let it get near!" Bunny tried to walk around the monster, but it kept staying between the two. Bunny cried out for Y/N for help. "Dammit. . .it really is after Bunny! Why?" she licked her lip, keeping the gun pointed at the monster. "Bunny! Listen! Don't let it catch you! Run away! I'll take care of it!"

"Okay!" 

Bunny began to run around, but the monster kept going for the chase. Y/N had to move around, too, shooting carefully at the monster. Even if it was shot and roaring out, it kept going after Bunny. It kept going as if it wasn't shot, only slowing down and chasing with blood pouring out of its body. Ten shots in, it still wouldn't slow down.

Until she was able to reach for Bunny and pull him behind her, the monster tried to go after it, but Y/N pointed the gun at its head. "This is the end," Y/N promised the monster, moving the gun around to keep it at bay. "Don't come near Bunny again, monster!" She shot at the monster before pushing him over the low iron fence. The adrenaline left her when the monster was no longer heard from its echo yells and the sound of something hitting the ground. "I don't know how many times I shot it. . .but not even it could survive that." she dropped the gun beside her, not wanting to push anything, and turned to Bunny. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. . .but it's all okay now." she saw tears falling heavily down his cheeks. "Bunny? What's wrong? Were you hurt?"

"Why?" Bunny asked, voice quiet. "I-It's so scary. But I. . .I keep hanging in there. . .and. . .I just want to go home. . .so why won't mama come?" he raised his hands in an attempt to get rid of the tears, but more replaced. "Does mama. . .hate me?" he choked out a sob. "Mama hates me. . .so she'll never come back for me. . .I'm just an unwanted kid." Y/N's eyes widened at his words. She took a step toward him, but he took a step back. "I'm going to Mister Policeman."

She stayed in her spot, not wanting to do anything wrong. "I see, okay," she finally responded. "I'll go with you—"

"I'm fine!" he yelled over her.  "I can go there myself!"

"Bunny, you shouldn't be alone late at night," Y/N tried to reason, but Bunny faced away. 

"I'm a tough kid," Bunny huffed. "I can make it on my own even if mama isn't here. Even if mama isn't there, I won't cry."

He walked off. Y/N tried to go after him, but she stopped when feeling the pain in her head, just like in the hotel and school. "It feels like it's gonna explode!" she brought her hands to her head for a soothing. When it went away, Y/N noticed that Bunny was gone. She looked around for him, but he was gone. "On his own?" she brought her hand up to her head, shaking it. "No, Bunny. . .you're mother didn't hate you. It was you. . .who lost faith in her." she dug her head into her hands. "What have I been doing here? Wandering these ruins. . .looking for a man I don't know. I should go home. There's. . .no point to this. Nothing. . .nothing will change."

Y/N walked into the hospital and quietly walked down to the first floor. 

It was quiet walking to the front doors, but a sound of a woman crying stopped her. Y/N turned in hope, thinking it could be Bunny's mother. "She did come for him," she breathed out in relief, walking back to the clinic side of the hospital. "I must have passed Bunny by." 

The sound of a woman was from the basement. 

She walked down the steps and saw the door at the far end slightly open. Y/N walked through, hoping to see a woman and Bunny, but only a shadowy figure stood at the end of this room of tubs filled with water to the brim. This isn't. . .Bunny's mother. "Who are you?!" she yelled to the figure. 

The figure turned around, and Y/N took a step back. "Sunshine, why do you abandon me?" Y/N's mother asked. It looked like her mother. . .but the face looked like a stranger. 

"Th-that's not," Y/N gulped. "Mom, how can you be here?"

"I hate hospitals," her mother continued. "You're my family. . .yet you abandon me?"

"No!" Y/N lightly reached out. "You were sick, mom!"

"So you left me?" her mother's voice slowly raised with a firm tone. "My own family couldn't stand me anymore?"

"No! No, you're wrong!" Y/N yelled, trying to get the lies out of her head. She ran up to the woman and wrapped her hands around her neck. Slowly tightening them. "Who are you?! My mom couldn't possibly be here! Why are you pretending to be her?!" 

"It hurts, Sunshine," the woman choked, holding onto Y/N's wrists. But it wasn't as if she was pulling Y/N's arms away. Her head was tilted up for more access. As if she wanted this to happen. To worsen Y/N mentally. "Just like it did then. . .are you going to try and kill me again?" Y/N automatically let go of the woman and took steps back slowly. "It hurts so much, Sunshine."

"Who are you?!" Y/N's mother asked, holding a glass vase in her hand. She stared at Y/N down hard, who was sitting at the dining table. "Why are you in my house?! What did you do with my husband?! Answer me!"

"Mom, please stop," Y/N pleaded, leaning on the table with her head in her hands. "You keep saying things like that. . .dad left a long time ago, okay? Did you forget?" 

Her head was already hurting all day. "Shut up!" Her mother yelled, attempting to throw the vase, but she missed Y/N from the wild throw. "Intruder! I don't know anyone like you! I'll call the police on you!" 

Y/N sighed, removed her hands, and faced the woman. "Stop it," she tried to plead again. "Don't tell me you're already going senile? Please. . .take a rest for today. I'm tired from work. Just tell me if I'm a bother—"

"Shut up!" Her mother yelled again. "Keep your mouth shut! Do you think I know you?! Get out of here!" 

"Stop!" Y/N yelled back, the pain in her head worsening. "What are you saying? Did I do something wrong? Please, just tell me if I did something wrong! Are you teasing me?! Because it's not funny! Please, mom!"

"Quiet! I'm not your mother! I don't know you! Get out!" 

"Enough. . ."

One second to another, Y/N was suddenly straddling her mother on the ground, chair abandoned and fallen to the ground, hands around the woman's neck.

"M-Murderer!" Y/N's mother yelled out for help. "S-Somebody! Murderer!"

As if her voice was heard, Jane opened the door to see what was going on. "Y/N? Hey! What are you doing?!" she ran to Y/N and used her strength to pull Y/N off. But even she was struggling. "Hey, stop! Let go! Are you trying to kill her?!"

"It appears to be a brain tumor," The doctor told Y/N hours after the event. "It's putting significant pressure on her brain. Sudden changes in behavior, violent action and memory loss can be signs of brain disease. In some cases, counseling to resolve friction in a family can uncover an illness. Maybe I shouldn't say this, but. . .This kind of thing happens all the time. If we had noticed a little sooner. . ." he cleared his throat. "Back to the topic of your mother. She appears to be very weak. We'll have to postpone the operation for now. We've hospitalized her for the time being, and her condition will influence our decision. Hopefully, it won't last long. Please, come by to see her often. Even if she doesn't seem to know you. . .she is family."

"No," Y/N whispered, seeing the figure gone when getting the memory away.

"We're not family anymore. Don't. . .don't say we are. If I hadn't been stopped. . .just like that, I would have—I would never have been forgiven for it. There really was hatred in me. . .and it's true I've abandoned her in the hospital.

She was my only family.

My precious mother who cared for me after my father left, and yet I. ..my wishes never come true. My dreams, love, and even family all go awry. . .I can't have anything that's not crooked​​​​​​. What have I been searching for? I don't have to anymore. . .it's obvious now.

There was only one way from the very beginning."

-

Scene 3

“Central Hospital - Bunny -”

End

Ｕｐｄａｔｅｓ  |  Ｗｏｒｋ  ｉｎ  ｐｒｏｇｒｅｓｓ

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝚊𝚗 [𝙹𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚗 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝙺𝚞𝚞 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]  (𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙒𝙄𝙋)

“𝘚𝘩𝘩…  𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵… 𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨… 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘵. 𝘏𝘦𝘩𝘦. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯… 𝘚𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘵, 𝘩𝘮? 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘯…”  

𝘠/𝘕 𝘓/𝘕, 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘯𝘪𝘢. 𝘜𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘠/𝘕 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱.  

𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦.  

𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯?

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚗 [𝚂𝚎𝚘𝚔𝚓𝚒𝚗 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]  (𝙎𝙤𝙤𝙣)

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘯! 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯?"  

𝘠/𝘕, 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘷𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘴𝘴.

𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘠/𝘕 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘚𝘦𝘰𝘬𝘫𝘪𝘯, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦, 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.  

𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘧, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳.  

𝘈𝘴 𝘠/𝘕 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘯’𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 “𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.”

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝙼𝚊𝚗 [𝚈𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚒]  (𝙎𝙤𝙤𝙣)

"𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘴."  

𝘠/𝘕 𝘓/𝘕, 𝘢 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘈𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘺, 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘱.

𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘗𝘰𝘱 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘠/𝘕 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦. 

𝘠/𝘕 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥.  

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯?

𝙴𝚞𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝙰𝚠𝚊𝚢 [𝙴𝚞𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]  (𝙎𝙤𝙤𝙣)

𝘓𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮. 

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳, 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘰. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘵𝘰𝘰.  

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 2000𝘴, 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘐𝘔 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩. 

𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘠/𝘕'𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩. 

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 2000𝘴, 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘐𝘔 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩. 

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘠/𝘕 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰, 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭. 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘠/𝘕'𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘠/𝘕 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦-𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺?

(𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛)

𝙴𝚞𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝙰𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚃𝚘𝚘 [𝙴𝚞𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝙹𝚒𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]  (𝙎𝙤𝙤𝙣)

𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 2006 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘴, 𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘪𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰, 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴. 

𝘖𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘠/𝘕 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰, 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘌𝘪, 𝘸𝘩𝘰’𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦. 𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘠/𝘕 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘑𝘪𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱. 

𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘠/𝘕 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵.  

𝘉𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘪𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘴. 

𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘠/𝘕 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰.

(𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛)

𝙴𝚞𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝙰𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚃𝚘𝚘 <3 [𝙴𝚞𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝙹𝚒𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]   (𝙎𝙤𝙤𝙣)

“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 2008 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘐𝘔 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥.”   

𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘐𝘔 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥-𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮, 𝘠/𝘕 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘺𝘢 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘶𝘱.  

𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘐𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱? 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴? 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴?   

𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥?  

𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦; 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹-𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘪𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰?

(𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛)

𝚈/𝙽 [𝙼𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚋𝚒𝚗 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]   (𝙎𝙤𝙤𝙣)

𝘈 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘠/𝘕 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘬, 𝘠/𝘕 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘺. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘠/𝘕 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳.  

𝘠/𝘕 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦.  

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴. 𝘈 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴.   

𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯, 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘠/𝘕 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘳-𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥.

𝚈/𝙽 𝙵𝚊𝚌𝚎 [𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚑𝚊 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]   (𝙎𝙤𝙤𝙣)

𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵.   

𝘠/𝘕 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘥𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦. 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘴. . .  

𝘜𝘯𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘠/𝘕'𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘴.

𝙼𝚊𝚍 𝙵𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 (𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚢 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛)    (𝙎𝙤𝙤𝙣)

Northern Germany, Y/N L/N lives with her parents, F/N and M/N L/N, and their maid, Ei. Aya's mother is incredibly ill, while her father, in secret, performs research on "eternal beauty" in his basement with the assistance of Maria. 

Neither Aya nor Monika are aware of the true extent of Alfred's research, but both accept it out of their love for him. Monika suddenly passes away from what Aya believes was her illness.

Taking place on the 1-year anniversary of Monika's death, Aya awakens at midnight to find that her home has been inflicted with a curse set out by Monika, and that the victims of Alfred's experiments have come to life. 

Aya sets out to rescue her father, who had been taken captive by Monika, with the assistance of a mysterious salesman, Ogre.

 She must explore the depths of Alfred's laboratory, a man of which who may not be exactly what he seems.

Ａｎｉｍｅ  Ｍａｓｔｅｒｌｉｓｔ

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘦𝘵. . .

𝙴𝚞𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 | 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙾𝚗𝚎

| 𝘈, (𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵) 𝘍 | 𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗍𝖿𝗂𝖼, 𝖧𝗂𝗀𝗁 𝗌𝖼𝗁𝗈𝗈𝗅 / 𝖢𝗈𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗀𝖾 𝖠𝖴, 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗂𝗌 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖺 𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗒 𝖿𝗎𝗅𝗅 𝗈𝖿 𝖺𝗇𝗀𝗌𝗍

| 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 |  

↳   𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 - 𝖤𝗎𝗇𝗐𝗈𝗈 𝗑 𝖱𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

↳ 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 - 𝘓𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳, 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘰. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘵𝘰𝘰.  

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 2000𝘴, 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘐𝘔 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩.

𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘠/𝘕'𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩.

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 2000𝘴, 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘐𝘔 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘠/𝘕 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩   𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰, 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭. 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘠/𝘕'𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘠/𝘕 𝘢𝘯𝘥  𝘌𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦-𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺?

(𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛)

𝘞𝘒 - 600

𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷 | 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵

𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 | 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

˗ˏˋ ꒰ 𝗟𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 ꒱ ˎˊ˗

███ 𝟮𝟬%

████ 𝟰𝟬%

█████ 𝟲𝟬%

██████ 𝟴𝟬%

███████ 𝟭𝟬𝟬%

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲!

𝙎𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 - 𝙔/𝙉𝘿𝙖𝙯𝙚

𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 - 𝙔/𝙉

-

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙀𝙪𝙣𝙬𝙤𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣

Y/NDaze:

Dongmin! Hey

ChaEunwoo:

Hi! And I told you to call me Eunwoo

Y/NDaze:

Trying to get used to it lol

ChaEunwoo:

That's okay

Though the most important thing is that we're seniors! 

So what's up?

Y/NDaze:

Nothing much

What are you up to?

ChaEunwoo:

Nothing, just listening to some music :)

Do you like Coldplay?

Y/NDaze:

Yeah, totally!

Their last album was really good

ChaEunwoo:

It really was!

I'm so glad you like them, they're my favorite

Their lyrics are in my info

Oh! By the way

Are you going to Rocky's party tonight?

Y/NDaze is typing. . .

Y/NDaze:

Maybe, I haven't decided

ChaEunwoo:

You should go! It'd be no fun without you

It's crazy that we're already having end of school parties

Y/NDaze:

Yeah, it really is crazy

The time flew by this year, and college is close by

ChaEunwoo:

I know!

I'm excited to be done with this school if being honest

between you and me

Remember Minhae from our math class?

Y/NDaze:

Yeah, why?

ChaEunwoo:

She won't stop messaging me right now

Y/NDaze:

What is she saying?

ChaEunwoo:

That she wants to talk or something?

I'm not really playing attention. . .

ChaEunwoo is typing. . .

ChaEunwoo is deleting. . .

ChaEunwoo is typing. . .

ChaEunwoo:

Just one more month to graduate

Why does it feel like we're so old?

Y/NDaze:

Haha, I guess it is kind of weird

Did you pick a school yet?

ChaEunwoo:

Eh, I didn't get accepted to my reach

school, so I'm just going to one of the others

But that's okay! Anything's better than high school

Where are you going?

Y/NDaze:

Oh, I got accepted to an art school!

Not sure what type of art, but I've been really 

interested in animation lately

I'm sure I'll figure it out when I get there

ChaEunwoo:

That's awesome! 

You've always been really talented

I'm sure whatever you end up, you'll be great

ChaEunwoo is typing. . .

ChaEunwoo is deleting. . .

ChaEunwoo is typing. . .

ChaEunwoo:

Hey. . .

Even though we're going to different schools,

do you promise you'll be there for me?

-

Y/N looked at the message with wide eyes. Her heartbeat was going faster than normal. She placed her hand on her chest to try and calm it down while thinking of what to say. Her bottom lip unconsciously tucked under her teeth and her hands went on top of the keyboard.

-

Y/NDaze:

Absolutely!

Nothing could ever keep me from talking to you

You're one of my best friends

ChaEunwoo:

And you're one of mine too!

You always will be Y/N :)

Oh wow, it's getting late!

I hope JinJin gets here soon so we can head

to the party

Y/NDaze:

Oh. . .leaving so soon?

ChaEunwoo:

Yeah, as soon as JinJin gets here

Then we're both heading to Rocky's party

If you're coming too, you should probably

leave soon

Will I see you there?

Y/NDaze is typing. . .

Y/NDaze:

Yeah, I will

ChaEunwoo:

Awesome!

I'm going to go get ready and wait

for JinJin

Hopefully Minhae stops messaging me once

I put up my away message :p

See you soon!

Y/NDaze:

See ya

ChaEunwoo is away

𝖠/𝖭: 𝖳𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝗆𝗒 𝗎𝗌𝖾𝗋𝗇𝖺𝗆𝖾 𝖻𝖾𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗌𝖾 𝖨'𝗆 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾

Reblog if you write fanfic and would be totally down with your followers coming into you askbox and talking to you about your fic

Bend my ear about my fics. It eases my fears and lets me know I’m not alone in my suffering. I appreciate readers so much.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝙼𝚊𝚗 | 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚠𝚘

| 𝘈, (𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵) 𝘍 | 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳, 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘚𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘎𝘰𝘳𝘦

| 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 |  

↳   𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 - 𝘑𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘬𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘹 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

↳ 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 - 𝘠/𝘕 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘠/𝘕 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘥𝘥 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵.  

𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦.  

𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘠/𝘕 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.

(𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯" 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴)

𝘛𝘢𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 - 𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘯 (𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘬)  

𝘞𝘒 - 11.3k  

𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷 | 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵

𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 | 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

But the Crooked Man was sad

And once he had a thought

Why should he be crooked

When others, they were not?

"Man, this place was far," Y/N lightly whined to herself, getting out of her car. "That took almost an entire day." she grabbed her backpack and bag, feeling the familiar weight. There were multiple stops, making sure she got more supplies for her first aid kit this time and drinking many energy drinks, and one stop at a fast food place. Y/N looked up at the building in awe. "So this is the place. . .looks like this school was abandoned." she looked around for any sign of life. "No one around. Though I guess they'd be inside anyway. Let's see if I can even enter." Y/N walked to the sign in front of the door.

-

"Julius Stone Law School Set for Demolition - No Entry"

-

"Hey, this is the school from the leaflet," Y/N commented, remembering what she had read from her apartment. "Then maybe he is here after all." Y/N entered the school easily. Well, I guess there's no reason to have the entrance locked. She shrugged to herself in thought, looking around in the darkness. It wasn't that dark—she could see everything, so it was doable. 

She tried to go through the door ahead of her, but it was locked. Her hope for this building to all be unlocked was crushed. Just like the hotel, she will need to find keys. Puzzles will most likely be a thing, too, if this is going to be the hotel all over again. Accepting that she'll need to find a key for this later, she went to her right down the hallway, passing by two restrooms and messing with the door of the Janitor's room. It was unlocked. Maybe the doors won't be locked in here. That was something to hope for, at least. Y/N looked around the room and noticed a scrap of paper on a counter next to one of the two closets in the corner. 

-

"Deep fissures in the wall behind the easter bookshelves in the basement storehouse. Repairs needed."

-

Well, that's good to know. Y/N looked to her right and saw a notebook under the window showing how dark it was. At the front, it was a book to show a list of the faculty. 

-

"Criminal Law: John Keith Civil Law: Andrew Robinson International Law: Cyndi Peterson Criminology: Franz Moore Philosophy of Law: Leftie Lewis Legal History: Ray Twain Comparative Jurisprudence: Euge McGuire Doctor: Stacie Lizzie"

-

Y/N felt her headache form from all the knowledge of the names. Maybe it'd be best if she took the book to remember the names. It wouldn't hurt, would it? Then again, maybe she didn't need the knowledge of these names. And if she did, it would be easy to come back and remind herself. Y/N walked out of the room and tried to go into the infirmary, which was the last door on this side of the wing. It was also locked. 

She walked down to the other wing of the building and went into the other wing. Y/N entered the first door and realized the whole wing was a classroom. The desk closest to her had a nameplate, Stacie Lizzie, with a key next to it. And it was for the infirmary. The doctor. Maybe it was a good thing she did read the faculty book. And she should probably grab it. And looking around, she noticed a piece of paper hanging on a whiteboard. 

-

"Notice About Keys. Room managers for the month. Don't lose the keys. Parlor: Stacie Lizzie - Reference Room: Ray Twain Lecture Halls: John Keith - Computer Room: Franz Moore Lecture Room: Cyndi Peterson - Storehouse: Euge McGuire

-

The other desks didn't look to have anything important, so she left the classroom to go back to the other wing. Unlocking the door, everything seemed normal. Y/N hummed, looking through the two beds and the desk. She looked at the bookshelf of medical references, but nothing seemed to yell out to her. She checked the top drawers, but there was nothing. But in the bottom right drawer, she found a parlor key. 

These were all the doors she could go through, and there was nothing else. . .so she needed to go upstairs. Y/N walked the set of stairs to reach the second floor and jumped at the sight of a shadow running off. She ran fully up the stairs and down the hallway where the shadow went. "Was there someone there?" she questioned out loud. "I couldn't really see them in the dark. . ." It wasn't dark for her to need her lighter, but she could probably mistake something like that for her head messing with her. 

She followed into the hallway, but there was no figure or shadow of a figure. It could've been her imagination. Y/N shrugged, telling herself it was, and messed with the first door closest to her—seeing the nameplate "Leftie Lewis" before entering. If she remembered, he was on the faculty list for philosophy. Y/N looked around, but there was nothing but a box of tools that caught her eye. In the box of tools, she grabbed all the tools she could fit in her backpack: a screwdriver, crowbar, and hammer. 

This side of the floor didn't have anything to help her out besides the tools. And all the doors were locked until she reached the end of the other hallway to unlock the parlor. And behold, nothing captured her eye. Well, there was some type of thing on this desk. "I guess it's wire art or something," she answered her own question. "Not sure what it's supposed to. . .be, though." she looked at the name on the desk. "Apparently, it was made by Ray Twain. Wasn't he the lecturer for Legal History?"

Y/N sighed that she didn't find anything. But that would probably be best to give her less time to explore and more to find an answer. 

On the next floor, she found Ray Twain's room first on the right. Y/N noticed some sort of diary on the table in this office. It was already opened when she went closer to it as if it was opened to a specific spot for her to read. 

-

". . .Indeed, law too, needs a numeric representation. After all, basic things such as on or off, zero or one can represent much more complex numbers.

Using the smallest elements to produce new things is a way of thinking I hold in high esteem. Though perhaps it's more the artistic notion that captivates me more than the mathematics. . ."

-

She scratched her head, being fortunate that she didn't go into law school. She probably would fail the first week. Y/N left the book and turned around to a glass bookshelf, opening it to look through the books. It was more things that might hurt her brain if she continued. "Why does this law school have math books? Boy, I'm terrible at math. . ." After skimming through five books, she noticed a page in the sixth book—something about binary numbers being made up of binary digits. 

Y/N gasped and realized she saw something that might be a clue to what was on his desk downstairs. It wasn't art. It was a clue. Yeah, she's definitely keeping this book straight in her backpack. Looking around some more, she saw a locked safety box with a passcode next to a desk with a turned-off computer. Was it possible that the code is something with the binary number in the other room? It was too much of a coincidence for it not to be. And it wouldn't hurt to try. 

It didn't take long for her to go down to the office and read through the binary numbers to find the passcode, so it really didn't hurt to try. 

2515

And there was a key to the reference room inside the box. 

The next room to the other room was Franz Moore's room. And behold, another diary was on the desk with a box needing a passcode. Y/N didn't want to find a code, but if it had a key, she would need it or a place to go next. She opened the diary and kept going through it until it was the last few pages of the diary. 

-

"I lost the note with my security box passcode... So I couldn't get into the computer room, and the headmaster got angry at me. This is the worst.

I thought I had it when I was  writing for a seminar in the reference room... Maybe I left it in a book somehow? I should go look.

If I used my ID as a password like Andrew does, then I wouldn't forget, but that's risky. Of course, if you just use a random number, then you have my problem..."

-

"Uh. . .so this helped me with nothing," Y/N sighed, closing the diary. "And I doubt a passcode for the box is in here." it was a lost cause in this room, looking through every bookshelf and drawer and desk for a key for something different, but nothing, having her leave the room and go to the other wing after one last search of the place. 

Going into the next room, Cyndi Peterson, it was way bigger than the other. Two sets of bookshelves in each corner far end. More bookshelves across the right wall and another in the corner on the left wall. Y/N went out of the room to check the nameplate next to the doors to see if this was her office or a mini library. When seeing the name for a double check, Y/N let out a whistle of shock. "Someone likes to read," she murmured, returning to the room. 

She went to the table in the middle to see an open book, another diary. And the last pages of the diary for the remaining pages being blank. 

-

"Michel's dissertation made it into an academic journal! I'm so happy for him! I knew when he joined my class he'd be a prodigy!

I also realized he and I have the same birthday! I used my birthday as a security code, so I feel like maybe I should change it...

-

Y/N went through the journal again to try and find a birthday, but she didn't find anything. That is kind of surprising—nothing of a complaint about teaching on her birthday or being given any birthday wishes. It was more of a work diary than a personal diary, with barely anything of praises or complaints as the last pages. 

Well, she tried. 

Going out into the other wing of this floor, Y/N saw the door for Andrew was locked with a passcode. This was the one who had his ID as a passcode. Would it be considered dumb of this lecturer to have his ID as a passcode? If he lost his passcode and a student found it, they could easily enter and get answers for anything. 

The next room was John Keith's. Very spacious with four bookshelves at the far end left corner. Two desks, one in the middle and another against the left wall. There really wasn't anything. Full storage boxes surrounding a lock box with a passcode. "Was he trying to pack?" Y/N asked herself. They weren't even taped down. It looked as if John attempted to pack before the school shut down and said, "Fuck it," when he missed the due time to get it out. 

However, if Y/N could get in easily without a key, they could've returned for their stuff. 

Ah, well, it's none of her business. And luckily, there was a key to this room on the desk against the wall. Unlike the other rooms with huge diaries, there was a small notebook on the middle table. 

-

"...Times are changing. Our existing laws cannot serve us anymore. We must surpass the 'father' of our law to find the true answer..."

-

"Should I be worried about this?" Y/N asked herself, going through the writing multiple for any hints of a clue for this passcode. "The father. . ." she tried to think of the "father" of the law, but nothing came to mind. She had never once studied anything similar to this, so she would have to look around for who the "father" was. 

Other than that, this was the last floor for her to look around so she could go back downstairs to look for clues of these passcodes she stumbled upon. And she has a key to the reference room from one of the storage boxes. If she remembered correctly, the reference room was on the second floor. One floor down. Y/N closed the door behind her and walked toward the staircase. 

Not even stepping down, a pair of hands were placed on her back and pushed down the flight of stairs. Y/N yelled and slid across the floor when landing, whimpering in pain. A light fit left her while bringing herself up to her forearms to look at the staircase to see a male with orange hair and brown eyes. He wore a light blue T-Shirt under a white jacket, dark jeans, and plain tennis shoes. What's with tonight and meeting good-looking people? Despite his good looks, he had a harsh glare across his face, looking very defensive. "Who'd you be?" he asked coldly. "What are you doing in this school, you shady punk?"

"Shady?" Y/N repeated in shock, getting up slowly to her feet—stumbling a bit but nothing bad. There was no feeling of a sprain or a twisted ankle. "I'm just looking for someone!" 

The male was still defensive. "Gimme a name, or I'm calling the police on you,"

"Y/N L/N!" Y/N spoke her name, raising her hands as a surrender. "I'm looking for a guy who I think was here. I'm not a robber or anything."

"You sure?" The male asked, looking her up and down. "As if a robber would say they were one? And you have blood on you. You could also be a killer." 

Y/N looked down at her clothes to notice the blood stains, wine stains, and slightly burnt parts of the fabrics. She couldn't really avoid the blood and flames if she could. It was a guaranteed thing from stabbing the monster multiple times and setting it on fire while covered in wine. "W-What do you want, a permit?" she fought back, looking up at the male. "Now, you tell me who you are if you're going to ask me!" 

He looked at her a little longer. "I'm H," he introduced himself. "I graduated from this school, so I came to bring back some memories."

"H?" Y/N repeated, giving "H" a look. "That's your name? Not actually the oddest one I've heard, but—"

"It's a nickname, dummy!" H cut her off, adding an insult. "You think I'd tell some shady girl my real name?" Y/N clinched her fists in annoyance. What a little brat! she growled in her mind. "But I guess you ain't stolen anything yet. I'm just wandering around, so don't mind me. Cya."

H walked all the way down the stairs and went down to the first floor, not giving Y/N a second glance. "What the hell's his problem," Y/N huffed out. "Didn't even apologize. . .he pisses me off." 

She sighed, telling herself to calm down. H wasn't worth it. They both had a bad first impression of each other, and she couldn't change that. Plus, she'll try not to bump into him much. If this is like the hotel, she won't see H much like she hasn't seen Taehyung much until the monster's attack.

Y/N walked in place a few times to shake off the pain and walked to the left wing of the building to unlock the reference room. And apparently, they call a library a reference room. Understandable, she thinks. In the first row on the left were bookcases on criminology, international law, legal history, and so on. Looking at the themes of the bookshelves, Y/N saw a book on the fair table in this corner of the reference room. 

So much reading on this trip. Y/N will probably not read for a while when she heads home. 

-

"They say that people despise those who think similarly to them or who are in similar circumstances.

But humans are curious in that they can hide any outward appearance of goodwill or hatred. Though they are two-faced deep down, they can make that idea seem unthinkable.

You may despise someone much like you,

but you may in your heart have affection for them.

The improbable is not impossible."

-

The book was closed, making Y/N think about what she had read. "I never understood this philosophy stuff," she admits to herself, even if she didn't need to. "Wouldn't you just dislike people you don't like?"

Y/N stayed there in deep thought but shook her head to get herself out of it. She went through the bookcases and to the desk. There was a checkout book, but there was no hidden key. Nothing on the board hanging besides announcements of new arrivals and top likes. She shuffled to the hanging picture of a man staring off with a description on the bottom.

-

"George Wythe (1726 - 1806) A signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He is sometimes called the father of American law for teaching the first classes in jurisprudence."

-

"Father of the American law, huh?" Y/N read, thinking of the notebook she read in John Keith's room. Was this the father mentioned in the notebook? Y/N knew this had to be a hint about the storage box in his room. Maybe the years could be a code. She pushed on the frame to try to see if it moved. It was securely attached to the wall, but there was a slight movement on the bottom left. Y/N grabbed the left side of the frame and pulled, but the screw kept it in place. 

She did have a screwdriver from the toolbox. Taking off her backpack, she dug out the screwdriver and loosened the screw a little more so she could pull the frame a little more to look behind it. 

1647

Y/N pushed the frame back against the wall to try and put it back and placed the screwdriver back in her backpack. It was slung back over her shoulders, leaving when there was nothing left for her to find. 

There were no crossing paths with H yet as she made her way to John Keith's room. Y/N tried to unlock the door, forgetting it was unlocked already. She shook her head tiredly and entered the room, the key now in her hoodie pocket. Unlocking the passcode with ease, there was a key to the lecture hallway. "Isn't that the locked door across the entrance?" she asked herself, trying to remember the doors. It would make sense as the rooms she's been entering or seeing were offices, computer rooms, or reference rooms. There was only one classroom that took the whole right wing on the first floor. 

Putting the lecture hallway key in her crossbody bag, Y/N made her way to the door. She grabbed the handle and pulled it toward her, but a force pushed the door into her making her trip backward. Fortunately, she caught herself when her back hit the desk to not fall. But, unfortunately, a same sneer of a growl entered the air. Her breath hitched, and she looked up to see the monster in the doorway, hand on the door to keep it open wide. "H-How. . ," she whispered to herself, slowly moving to the other side of the desk to keep space. "I. . .I set you on fire—I thought I killed you!" The cling against the desk made her hand go into her pocket to feel the key. 

Well, she knew what to do. 

Clicking the top of her mouth, she used her other hand to grab the notebook. Dammit. . .think about it later. She told herself. It was time to escape. The monster was closing in on her while she was in thought, and she raised the notebook to chuck it into the monster's crooked head. Blindsighting it, Y/N ran around the desk and monster and was outside the room. She closed it, leaning against it with her weight, and inserted the key in the lock. The monster was pounding on the door, making it hard for her to lock the door. 

But fiddling with the key to finally lock the door, Y/N took steps back, hitting the wall, as the monster kept pounding on the ground with loud yells. 

Her hand went up to her ear with a winced look at the loudness. It was way louder than in the hotel. "Surely that'll keep it in," she breathed out, calming her racing heart with deep breaths. One last deep breath calmed it, but she still breathed slightly heavily. "This is way too bizarre. I mean, I. . ." she dropped her arm to her side and leaned against the wall. "And the hotel's hours away, isn't it? Could it really be. . .following me?" her hands raised palm up before rising higher to clench her hair. "Why? How?" Y/N had memories of the hotel running through. "Then again, it did attack Taehyung. So it can't be my imagination. It exists. . .monster that it is." she let go of her and looked down the path that she'd be going down. "H. . .if that monster's here, I have to warn H. Tell him he's gotta get out of here."

Well, if she passes by him. Y/N probably won't bump into H unless he bumps into her. 

As much as she wanted to go looking for him, Y/N needed to do what she needed. And this place is huge so they could miss each other easily. So she could only hope they bump into each other. Y/N looked at the door one last time, still getting pounded on by the monster, and walked to the staircase. 

Down to the first floor, Y/N unlocked the lecture hallway and went through. Stepping one foot in, she heard applause. She paused at the sound but walked forward to see three doors, and the sound was coming from the far-right room. Y/N walked to the lecture room and went in to see H watching something on the wall with a turned-on projector hanging on the ceiling.

Speak of the devil. 

Friends, faculty, and staff. I thank you for coming today. Today is, for us, the best day of our lives. Because today, we leave the nest of our school and begin our climb to adulthood. 

People applauded, but the camera stayed. Y/N walked up quietly, not wanting to disturb H, and watched it with him.

Those who passed the bar exam, those who didn't, those becoming clerks or notaries or teachers. . .all of us will be graduating from this school. And we owe a big debt to it. Though even if they managed to graduate, some of us may need to put a little more time into their studies. . .

Laughter in the background.

But these graduates have one thing in common. They're filled with hope for their future. They're ready to challenge what lies ahead. A toast to our dreams! To our yet-unsure futures! And may we have God's grace!

More applauds. And before the person on camera went on to call students for their degrees, H turned off the projector without looking. Y/N slowly walked up to him and tried to find his face. "H," she called out. But he kept looking at the blank wall. "How did you get into this lecture room? Wasn't the hallway locked?"

H looked at her with a slight turn of the head, humming in confusion. "You forget I'm a graduate here?" he asked. "I know all the secret ways, dummy. 

Point taken. "Well. . .what were you listening to? A tape?" she asked, clearing her throat and not wanting to admit he was right.

"Yeah," H nodded, looking back at the wall. "From my graduation day. Man, has it really been three years?" a small smile lay across his face. "I was getting nostalgic for the place. . .and even abandoned; it really hasn't changed. It's just like it was when I was taking classes. Studying was wearing me out. . .so I came here for a breather. It's nice to have places full of memories like this."

"You graduated, but you're still studying?" Y/N furrowed her brows together. 

"Hey, lay off it," H glared at her, finally facing her fully. "Yeah, I couldn't pass the bar exam. . .so I'm cramming at home now. Next up's gonna be my sixth attempt. There were lots of great guys in my class. Most of 'em passed it in one shot." his eyes faltered to the ground. "Being a lawyer's been my dream since I was a kid. So I was so happy when I got accepted here. Felt I was one step closer to making it come true. The work was rough, and I just barely managed to graduate. . .I think it's my kind, helpful professors that did it." H paused, looking at the white wall with determination in his eyes. "I'll pass next time for sure. I mean, it's my sixth time. . .any more, and I'll be way behind my classmates." 

Y/N licked her lips, telling herself to warn him. "Well, it's good to be motivated, but it's dangerous here," the words went out after pushing herself. "You should get out of here soon." 

H turned to her, looking at her as if she was going crazy. "Dangerous?"

"It's sort of hard to explain," Y/N moved her hands around as if it'd explain better. "There's kind of a. . .monster here. It'll attack you if it finds you."

That didn't help her; H only looked at her a little longer. "I thought you were just some weird old woman wandering an abandoned school, but damn, you really are nuts," he remarked. "Seriosuly, a monster? Even little girls don't believe that stuff! You're being a total doofus." 

Her fingers rolled into a ball again with a clench. "Do you enjoy making fun of people?" she fumed, voice wavering slightly. "And I don't think I'm much older than—"

"Don't try and debate with me, alright?" He spoke over her, testing her. "I'm a talented soon-to-be lawyer! You'd be no match for me!"

It was hopeless. "Do what you want," she surrenders, straightening her hands out. Y/N had to take a breath to calm herself down. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

"Yeah, I will do that, thanks," he responded snarkily. "Like I need a shady punk like you telling me what to do around my alma mater." H bumped his shoulders against hers and left the room. 

"Hey Jane," Y/N called to her best friend. "I. . .I got in."

Jane's eyes widened in shock and happiness. "Wha?! Really?!" she smiled brightly, grabbing Y/N's arm. "You got in? To flight school?!" Y/N nodded with slight tears of happiness peeking through. "That's crazy, Y/N! I can't even do a handstand! You can really do it if you try, man!" 

"Thanks," Y/N chuckled, almost sobbing. "But it doesn't make me a pilot yet. Still have to pass the exam."

"Man, dude! You totally will be!" Jane assured with hope. "And make sure to gimme a ride! I'd love to fly above a city sometime."

"Jane," Y/N called her friend's name, grabbing her arm with both hands to try and get her back. "I'm not going to fly passenger planes! It's not that kind of school!"

Jane used her free hand to cover Y/N's mouth. "Don't sweat the details," she shushed. "I'm glad for you! You did good. Hey, I'll take you to lunch today!"

Y/N stared at the blank wall, getting back to now. "Back then, I wasn't really thinking," she remembered aloud. "I was just going wherever I wanted. Maybe H is like that, too."  she realized what she was doing and lightly slapped the temple of her head. "Stop thinking about the past—" 

Hyping herself up, she looked around the room for anything. It was a standard room, but something caught her eye on a small pinboard. A ripped piece of newspaper was pinned in front of everything. The topic of the week. . .and there was a picture of a male. Michel Statham. His birthday was June 19th, twenty-years-old, and he lived in Marvel Hill—birthday!

This was the student who shared the same birthday as Cyndi! 

After checking out the lecture hallway, she'll be going to Cyndi's room straight away. Y/N nodded to herself after repeating the birthday over and over till it was tattooed on and left the lecture room. The doors in the middle were painted over, and the doors on the far left were locked. Heading upstairs, Y/N stopped in motion when seeing a scrap of a notebook page lying in the middle of the hallway. She slowly walked up to it and knelt down. "The rule matches the other pages," she uttered. "So he was here. . ."

-

"Many hopes were fulfilled here. Many youths were blessed. But I didn't receive that blessing.

What's the problem with me?  Who refused to pick me and left me in the dust? I loathe those meaningless days."

-

Y/N stood up, reading the paper again. "He had a leaflet for this school," she remembered. "It was in the desk. . .felt like it was important. Was he trying to be a lawyer like H was?" she frowned, putting the paper in her crossbody bag. "I guess this would imply he didn't become one." zipping the bag close, she attempted to open the left doors. Painted over. But she was able to go through the right door. 

Nothing there. 

So she made her way to Cyndi's room and unlocked the safety box after having to think a few seconds about what the birthday was despite repeating it a million times in her head when reading it. 

A key to the lecture rooms.

Her lips blew a raspberry, and she walked out of the room. "What a waste of time," she grumbled, jogging down the steps. "Why couldn't this key be with the key to the lecture hallway?" She kept complaining about it, but she knew it wouldn't fix anything. She grumbled under her breath until it went away the second she unlocked the door to the left. It was the only locked door in the lecture hallway. It was the same as the other lecture room, but a piece of paper was on the blackboard. 

-

"Seminar at 9/21 in the Auditorium 'Crime Among the Impoverished and Its Prevention'

Ivan Abelitsev's 'Criminal Behavior: A Psychological Approach' will be referenced, so be sure to read it before coming!                    -Franz Moor, Professor of Criminology"

-

She shrugged, thinking it was nothing, before looking around some more. Y/N jumped slightly when hearing something fall to her right, turning to see a scrap of notebook paper under a board with a calendar and small announcements. Was it there before? That was strange. She slowly walked to the notebook paper and picked it up. "Same as the others," she said, furrowed eyebrows when looking back and forth at the board and paper. "Did it actually fall, or am I just crazy? Too much of a coincidence to fall the moment I stopped reading the announcement." 

-

"I knew there was something I lacked. But I didn't want to admit it. My ambitious youthfulness wouldn't let me.

I wanted someone to say it. I wanted to be woken up. . . To be told I'm a have-not."

-

"Something you lacked. . .a have-not," she reread the words that came to her the most. Her fingers lightly touched the page, moving it through. "It's true. . .there are haves and have-nots. People whose dreams can come true, and—" She was cut off by her head ringing, hands instinctually going up to her temples. A-Again?! she whimpered in pain, pushing into her head more to try and get it away. Fortunately, it only lasted a few seconds, making her slowly let go and sigh in relief. "Finally, it—" something didn't feel right, making a cold shiver go down her spine. But it wasn't feeling that caused the shiver. It was a breath. 

Y/N really didn't want to turn around. . .but she did. And the monster was standing inches away from her, sending an attack, a hand gripping around her neck and tightening more, causing her to bring her hands up and wrap around its wrist.

"D-Damn. . .monster!" she was trying to pull its hand away. "Why. . .are you. . .chasing. . .me?" Her vision was getting hazy, and she was trying to keep one eye open. But the monster was squeezing tightly. 

And she fell. Vision blackened when she fell forward—faceplanting the ground. Y/N groaned, coughing to get oxygen back. Her mouth was open, and saliva was dripping down. She coughed some more, feeling like she was going to hurl. Back moving like a cat in an attempt to puke out a hairball. 

But nothing was coming out. 

I'm. . .I'm alive? Y/N raised her head up and looked around the monster. The monster's gone. . .I thought it would kill me. . .but it left? She cursed in her mind, staggering up to her feet. "My neck," she moaned, attempting to touch her beck. But she recoiled her hand when a bare touch stung. "I feel so. . .sluggish." she shook her head to keep herself up. "I haven't really slept since yesterday. . .I should try and rest somewhere."

The steps were slow, but she kept herself going to the infirmary room. The doors had taken a lot of her energy, needing to pull with her whole body or push her side into the door of the infirmary. But she had gotten into the bed, molding against the mattress and pillow. "I'll take a little nap," she whispered, more for herself. "Pushing myself wouldn't be a good idea." the bed or pillow wasn't comfortable, but it was all she had. 

It wasn't hard going into dreamland. 

"Mom?! Are you. . .crying again? Sorry, I can't do a thing. . .I can't even console you."

Y/N opened her eyes, blinking a few times to get the blurriness away from her vision. Yeah. . .mom always cried in the living room. She responded to the dream in her mind. After I'd gone to bed at night. . .that was when I was a kid, though. She rolled to her back and pushed herself up into a sitting position, raking her fingers through her hair. Well. . .I'm feeling better now. Should get going again.

Thinking through what she had done before the attack of the monster, she remembered the paper on the blackboard. A book on Criminal Behavior was mentioned, so that might have to be where she needs to go next. Y/N stayed a few seconds on the bed before getting out and walking to the reference room. She already knew where the books on criminology were. She just needs to look through the books for the one reference book. Her finger went across the spines of the books a couple of times before seeing the title.

She took out the book and opened it from the beginning. It was hard to understand any of it, but she was flipping page by page till there was a flop of multiple pages at once, making her stop—going back to the pages to see a slip of paper, causing the pages to fall from under her thumb. 

9981

No doubt this was for the security box in Franz's room. 

Y/N put the book back into the bookcase, keeping the slip of paper in her hand, and walked out to the room on the top floor. Fortunately, her prediction was correct, and it opened without a problem. She raised the top and saw a key to the computer room. Great, she is almost done getting all the doors unlocked. 

The key stayed in her hand when she made her way down the stairs and to the doors of the computer room. Unlocking it, she noticed two rows of six computers with a walkway in the middle. None of them were turned on, even if she tried to. In the far left corner, there was a black laptop. Y/N tried to turn it on, but it had no power. Was there really nothing in here? The last thing she could check was the trashcan in the opposite corner. She fished through crumbled papers reading each carefully, and stopped at a familiar name. Andrew Robinson. The lecturer with the ID as a passcode. And luckily, the ID number was under his name. It should be the room next door, too.

This room wasn't useless after all. 

A hum of satisfaction left her lips, and she stood up. Y/N placed the key back in her bag with the paper, staring at the essay example while walking to the door. 

Ahem. . .Friends, faculty, and staff, I thank you for coming today.

The room had somehow gotten darker than it already was. Y/N turned around in fear, seeing the laptop turned on and changing different colors crazily. Why was it playing a familiar voice in her past?

We're glad to have a sunny graduation to start off the rest of our lives. The future may be uncertain for some, but the persistence we learned here will make us resolute!

A round of applause for my fellow graduates!

Y/N slowly took a step forward when hearing the applause, wondering what was going on. The laptop had no power—she couldn't turn it on!

However, as valedictorian, there's something I can't help but lament. . .

It's about Y/N L/N.

She was highly skilled, kind to us all, and admired by pupils and teachers alike.

We all expected she would be proudly stand with us this morning to graduate.

But our hopes were dashed. . .

By none other than the woman herself!

Hiding behind an innocent face, she's been fooling all her pupils and professors!

Let me ask you all this. Should she be forgiven?  Can she escape punishment for betraying her friends and mentors?

The crowd booed at the question. "No," she whispered, unconsciously moving her hand slowly to unzip her backpack with little space. "Stop."

I didn't think so.

She should forever be punished for what she has done to grant her selfish dreams!

Walls around here dripped red, inking down to the floor and rising up to the computers. Y/N spun around fast, trying to get away from the color, but now she was covered in red. Her free hand went up to her head, almost falling to her knees. Bones were shaking inside her, not wanting to hear this anymore. "Please. . .stop."

You're the lowest of low. . . Your dreams will never come true.

What are you even good for?

. . .Go off and die somewhere!

Coward!

The yells and applause were getting louder, not leaving her head, and the word "DIE!" surrounded the room. Even closing her eyes wouldn't get rid of it. 

"Stop. . ," Groaning in frustration, she ran to the computer, and the hammer in her hand swung into the screen of the laptop as a baseball bat. "I said stop!" her shoulders were rising and falling with her breaths. "No! I'm. . .I'm not a coward!" liquid welling up in her eyes and dripping down. "I. . .I just."

Her head came back to what was around her, and she realized the hammer in her hands. Y/N looked around her to see the room back to normal. Her hands shakily pulled the hammer off the laptop and dropped it into her backpack, zipping it up with slight trouble. Now she was only staring at the screen. "I heard a scream. . .that was you?" H's voice appeared, but she didn't flinch. "Geez, you made me freak." the door closed, and footsteps walked closer to her. "What's the big idea, huh? Did something happen?"

"Forget about it," Y/N shook her head, not thinking it was worth telling him what happened. He already thought she was crazy for the monster thing. "Sorry to startle you. . .it's nothing." 

"H-Hey, dude. . .you okay?" H stuttered for a split second, walking up to her. "You're super pale." 

"I'm just kind of tired," Y/N said honestly, raising her hands to her face to try and rub the tiredness away. "I came a long way. . .and I haven't slept. Leave me alone. I can't be bothered to talk." her voice was muffled through her hands. 

The silence made her feel a bit better. "Have this," H offered, but Y/N didn't remove her hands. "I already had a little, but it's an energy drink. Drink up."

Y/N removed her hands to see H holding out a drink. "Seriously?" she looked at the drink and up at H. "I don't need this. . .I told you, leave me be."

"Drink it!" H exclaimed, holding the drink closer to her. "Geez. You really look like you need food and drink! And I'm being nice, so at least accept it, will ya?"

She sighed, taking the drink after consideration. "Alright, thanks," She now looked at the drink in her hand. "But what's all this from the guy who was calling me a shady punk?"

"Mostly 'cause you look like crap," H answered with no hesitation, getting a look from Y/N. "Come on. It's not like I'm heartless. I mean, I am trying to be a lawyer. Besides, maybe it's fate! Tell you what, I won't call you shady anymore. Now cheer up. You could be my client once I'm a lawyer!"

A small chuckle left Y/N. "That's a quick turnaround," she commented. "I'm grateful, at any rate." Y/N opened the cap and took a sip, feeling better. A thought entered her head. "Say, have you seen anyone else around? Particularly a man about my age?"

H watched her take another drink before answering, "Nope, nobody. He's who you're looking for?"

"Yeah," Y/N nodded, removing the rim from her lips. "Though I don't really know how he looks. . .tell me if you see him, okay?"

"You got it," H promised. "Doubt anybody'd be around here, though." his eyes showed a reminder to himself. "Oh, but can I ask something too?" Y/N nodded again, taking another swig of the drink. "Professor Andrew, he always helped me out—his room's on the third floor. But it's got a number lock, so I can't get in. I was thinking the professor might still have some lecture notes for me around something. . .but, yeah, tell me if you get it open, okay?" 

That's doable. "Alright, got it," she agreed. She was going there next, anyway. 

"I'll wander around some more, then," H informed. "You look like hell, so don't push yourself."

"Yeah, well. . .you be careful too," Y/N pointed at him with the now empty bottle. "If you see any monsters, get away!"

H rolled his eyes. "Not this again," he waved her off. "Yeah, yeah, sure. I've got a knife to defend myself anyhow. Cya." 

And gone he was. Y/N looked at the door and down at the empty bottle in her hand. "Maybe he's not as bad as I thought," she smiled lightly, walking to the other corner and tossing the bottle in the trash can. 

Y/N went to the top floor and punched the ID into the passcode. Looking around, there was nothing but a diary on the desk against the wall next to the bookcase. Well, even if there was nothing, she still had this door open for H to come in when he needed to. 

-

"Finally done with the finals! I'm glad everyone got their appropriate grades. Of course, there's that lone H. . .

I teach him so much, but he doesn't even get the basics. He's lagging behind everyone else.  And yet he's so intent on being a lawyer. . . 

That nickname 'H' stands for 'Hope.' Apparently, it was given to him for having such an impossible dream. . . But if you ask me, it's for hopelessness.

I hate how he fawns over me, too. I practically have to act nice to him, and he always comes for lessons after school. . . I wish I'd never let him in my class."

-

Y/N stared at the diary. Especially at the word "Hopelessness." A frown stretched across her lips. "This is about H?" she asked the obvious. "It's awful that he'd say this about a student. Though maybe H really is that bad." her hand placed on the page. "If H saw this. . .it'd be a big shock for him. He said he respected his professor and always tried so hard. . ." and the page was ripped off. "There. . .wouldn't want H coming in and finding this."

She walked out of the room and placed the paper in her bag when walking down the hallway, stopping at the sound of another footstep with her. Looking up, she froze at the sight of the monster walking down the hallway. Its back was facing her. That monster's still wandering around. . .is it looking for me since it couldn't kill me? She thought, watching it enter a room. 

Her feet quickly ran down the stairs to the first floor to avoid the monster. Y/N leaned against the wall next to the staircase. She had unlocked every room she could. So the only place she hadn't checked was the basement. It wasn't as if she didn't notice it. She never had a reason to go down there. But now she has a reason. And going down the stairs, the air felt different than the rest of the building.

The door to the right was unlocked, but she couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this the moment her hand wrapped around the doorknob. She prepped herself up and opened the door for whatever she'd seen. 

And there laid H in the middle of the room, and there was heavy fog. "H!" she ran into the room and knelt next to him. "Hey, H! What's wrong?!" she tried to shake him. "Get up!" 

H tried to get up. "My. . .head," he groaned, falling back to the ground. "Feel like. . .crap."

"Now that you mention it," she brought her hand to her mouth, covering a forced cough, looking around the room. "It's a little hard to breathe—what's going on here?!"

"It's. . .gas," H hacked out. Y/N felt stupid asking this question the moment he answered. "The floor's. . .leaking gas.  ..you gotta. . .get out."

"As if I'm leaving without you," Y/N reached out to H, helping him up to his feet. "Get up; lean on my shoulder." H leaned his whole weight onto her, making her grunt. She dragged him to the door, trying to open it. But when it was cracked open, it got pushed shut. Y/N tried to open it, but it was locked. A chuckle on the other side made her grit her teeth. "It's here?! Not gonna let us go?!" she let out a heavy cough. "This gas is pouring in. . .I have to be quick." she set H down on the wall. 

She looked around, trying to find anything to get them out. The breaker was no use, and the security box wouldn't open. What was this room even? A storage room? Very spacious for a storage room. Another cough left her body when she tried to push boxes to the side. In the corner of the room were random items, only an iron pipe that seemed to be deemed the only thing useful right now. There really wasn't anything to get them out the door, even if she tried to hit the iron pipe into the door. Y/N was pulling everything off the wall to try and see if she could do anything. 

And she pulled the third closet away from the wall and saw a crack in the wall. Y/N raised the iron pipe and pounded it into the wall five times before it broke apart enough for both her and H. She dropped the iron pipe and ran to H. Y/N pulled her shirt over her nose before she grabbed him and helped him up to his feet. "Come on," she uttered, getting him through the hole. The gas had leaked into the other room, another reference room, maybe. Y/N thought about going through the door, but the monster was most likely roaming around. That's a death wish. 

So the answer is the elevator. It would go to the reference room on the second floor, the only elevator she noticed in the school. Y/N placed H against the wall and tried to open it with her hands. But it wouldn't budge. She took off her backpack and rummaged through, taking the crowbar and inserting it between the doors. Y/N began to pull hard until she opened the elevator enough for the two. A tough fit, but enough. The crowbar was left on the ground as Y/N picked up her backpack and grabbed H. 

Inside the elevator, it showed no power. But boxes were stacked up to guide her eyes to a door in the ceiling. An emergency escape. "H, you're going to have to help me," she coughed out, helping him up the stacks of boxes. Her hands went around his foot and pulled him up, staggering too much, and pushed up from her chest when he was having trouble getting himself up. Y/N shook her arms and jumped up, hanging for a few seconds, and pulled herself to the ceiling. 

And her next challenge was climbing the ladder with an almost passed-out H. She got herself up to her feet and pulled H up drowsily. "We're almost there," she spoke hopefully, trying to keep a cough down. "Can you climb up?" H let out a groan but nodded nonetheless. "Climb first, I'll be. . .underneath." she brought H to the ladder, seeing him miss the ladder a few times before grabbing it. Y/N waited a split second before getting on the ladder, hovering behind him. She ignored her body and head against his lower back, keeping him from falling back. Maybe a bit dangerous, but this is how it is. 

Fortunately, the elevator opened from the inside when Y/N reached over H's shoulder. Very dangerous to do, two people in the same spot on the ladder, but it was at the back of her mind. She had H get to the floor first, and she climbed out on her hands and knees. Her shirt was dragged off her face, panting and gasping for the somewhat fresh air; moving back to sit between her calves. "We. . .managed to e-escape," she declared to herself, sighing in relief between deep pants. Her attention went to H. "Hey, H! Are you okay?" she crawled to him and shook him, but he wasn't moving. Breathing but not moving. "I'll get you to the infirmary. . .hang in there." 

Y/N dragged a rolling chair from the desk next to H, who lay in the bed. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, looking over him again. "You don't want to go to a hospital? What if you got poisoned?"

"I'm fine," H let out a breathless laugh but groaned while placing a hand on his head. "Head hurts like hell, and I feel gross, but I'll get better." he let his arm fall on the bed and moved it under the blanket before looking over at Y/N. "Thanks, man. I'd be screwed without you around. . .I owe you my life!" H turned his head back flat on the pillow when grimacing in pain. "There's water storage in the basement, and I once heard about it leaking gas. . .only just remembered that now. It was after I graduated, so I dunno for sure, but I think there was a dispute over the property. So the school moved, and this got abandoned."

So that's why the school is abandoned. "I see," Y/N looked out the window to see the dark sky. "But you really shouldn't have come if you knew it was dangerous."

H looked at Y/N and away with a blush. "Sh-Shut up," he weakly said. "I just sort of forgot, okay?" His chest raised highly and lowered back down. "Man, to think all this'd happen when I just came here to relax. . .shoulda just stayed at home studying."

"It's good to get a breather, sure," Y/N nods to his idea of being here. "Just not in abandoned ruins, okay?" she paused a little before going on. "That's really something something, though. You're still studying three whole years after you graduated?"

"Well, I always wanted to be a lawyer. . .ever since I was a kid," H murmured his small story, turning to have his back facing Y/N. "No matter what, I will be a lawyer! So I kept studying, and I still do. . .and there's no changing my mind!" he moved slightly as if thinking to turn but stayed facing away. "You're awesome yourself. . .climbing the elevator with my weight on you? You're buffer than you look."

"I. . .never thought to be that strong," Y/N softly said. "But I did go to flight school."

"Serious?" H quickly turned to face her, pain covering his face, but he ignored it. "That's awesome! Really can't judge a book by its cover. . ."

Y/N shook her head, not wanting to talk about it anymore. "But anyway," she was on her way to change the subject quickly. "It's all kinds of dangerous here. . .and I'm not looking after you anymore."

H chuckled. "I know, I know," he said. "Well, it was nostalgic and refreshing while it lasted. I'll just rest here a little and go."

"You do that," Y/N nodded at him, getting up from her seat. "I'll be going."

She waved him goodbye and went to the door. "Hey! Wait a sec," H called out, making Y/N turn to see him getting out of bed. "You dropped something!" He walked to the paper and picked it up. "Here, you—" his eyes went to the paper and began to read. "Wait, what? This looks like Professor Andrew's writing. Why'd you have this?" Y/N tried to reach out to him and tell him not to read it. H turned around to keep her from grabbing the paper if she tried to. "Hope? It's for. . .hopelessness?" his body still faced away from Y/N. "Hey. . .what's this about? How. . .why did the professor. . .this is. . .how he really felt?" Y/N stayed in her spot, but she heard the crumble of paper. "But you. . .supported me. You said I'd be a lawyer someday. . .that's what you told me!" she slowly walked up to him, hands raised out. But H turned around, tears down his cheek, and ran out of the room. 

"That guy," Y/N breathed out through her nose. "He's in no condition—and that monster is bound to find him." 

That's when she knew she had to go after him. 

Y/N ran through the first floor in an attempt to find H, but he wasn't there. She ran through the lecture halls and tried to see him in the two lecture rooms on the first floor, but he wasn't there. On the second floor, he was in the auditorium. Relief dreaded through, and she jogged up to H, whose back was facing her. "H. . .thank goodness," she let out, about to reach and touch his shoulder. 

"I always knew," H spoke softly, making Y/N freeze in her movement and bring her arm down. "At least that I wasn't a genius or anything. . ." he turned to face Y/N, tears still going down from his eyes, but his facial features were blank. "But why didn't they just say it? I respected Professor Andrew. 'Cause he always supported me." his emotions were slowly flooding in. "Sure, I'm kind of dumb. I've been teased constantly for it. I failed the damn test five times! I'm a failure!" Y/N looked down at his hands, which were turning into fists. "But aren't I free to hope?! I've always dreamt of being a lawyer! That's why I still study so hard. . ." his head lowered, turning away from Y/N, but his nails still dug further into his palms. "Why did it have to be like this/ Was everything I did. . .for nothing? I don't know what to do anymore."

"But that's life, isn't it?" Y/N responded to him with a question, not stopping or thinking about what she was saying. 

"What?" H turned back around, looking at Y/N with a glare.

"Just looking at you kind of irritates me," Y/N admits, more to herself than to H. But she was already going down this road of her words. Might as well push it. "Maybe it reminds me too much of myself." her eyes sent a similar glare, but softer. "You need to wake up. Aren't there enough hopeless idealists in the world as it is?"

"You shut the hell up!" H cried out. "Yeah, I'm stupid, but I'll keep studying!" 

"Everyone's lacking in something or another," Y/N pushed more. "In your case, it was intelligence." she didn't think about it when reading the notebook, but she knew it reminded her too much of her past. 

"You. . .goddamn," he grits his teeth. "You want a piece of me?!"

"In my case," a hand raised to one of Y/N's E/C eyes. "It was my eyes." H stopped and looked at Y/N in confusion about her words. "Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a pilot. I studied hard and made it to flight school. But. . .I was colorblind." she removed her hand and stared at it. "Strange, isn't it? Just a few colors you can't see, and suddenly you have no right to fly. . ." her hand dropped, looking at H. "It seems obvious to me now. But. . .back then, I just couldn't accept it. So I. . .I faked my vision results to get into the school. I spent three years playing innocent. Even managed to be an honors student. But. . .I was found out. On the day of the pilot exam, no less. That day, I was reduced from an honors student to a filthy traitor. I dropped out, and. . .now I'm just a nobody clerk. I don't mind if you still want to be a lawyer. But I just want to say something. Don't trap yourself by narrowing the road."

"Ain't it rough?" H asked, voice going in and out. "Wasn't it. . .your childhood dream?"

"It certainly was hard," Y/N confirmed. "It still is. But looking at you. . .I realized it's not much, but I make my own money. I got a boyfriend—" she hopes, at least. "—I drink with my buddy on weekends. . .and I enjoy my life for what it is. I didn't want to recognize I'd been set back. But I can't deny where I am now. Nor all the work I put in back then."

"Are you happy with what you have now?" H asked more, looking more curious each second. 

Y/N thought about the question and ended up nodding. "Yes, though I didn't quite notice it," she said after thinking more about his question. "My life is how I choose it to be. So I shouldn't regret it. How about you?"

H kept staring at her and around the room as if he was in his head. However, he turned away from her to keep her from seeing his emotions. "I won't give up," he declared. "Becuase. . .because it's always been my dream. . .to be a lawyer."

"I see. . ," 

"I'll. . .I'll," H tried to find his words, letting out a sigh. "Just one more time. I'll try the bar exam." he still wouldn't look at her, as if he was more talking to himself. "But if I fail, that's it! I made up my mind! I'll give up for good then, but it won't mean those three years were a waste." he finally looked at Y/N. "Right, Y/N?"

"Is there any point in staying here?" she answered with a question instead. "Let's go. I'll take you home if you want."

"Yeah, thanks," H walked up to her, finally ready to go home. Y/N gave him a crooked smile, him smiling back at her with ease, and Y/N turned around to walk toward the door. But she stopped with one step, seeing the door open and a familiar figure. "Y/N? What's up?" he looked around her, and he as well froze. "W. . .what? H-Hey, Y/N!" 

"H, get out of the school," Y/N instructed, keeping her eyes on the monster. "I'll keep him away, got it?" she brought her arm behind her to unzip her backpack. "He's chased me. . .who knows how many miles. It's me this monster is after. I'll take care of it."

"A-Alright,"

Y/N finally gripped whatever it was in her backpack and pulled it to. The hammer. "You just won't die, will you," she spoke up for the monster to hear. "I'll finish you off this time!" the monster roared back at her and ran at them. Y/N raised the hammer like a bat and swung it into the monster's arm. "Go, H! Now!" 

H stared at Y/N a little longer and ran out. 

Outside the school, H walked back and forth for so many minutes, worried about who will come out. from the two. "Y/N," he uttered into his hand, stopping and looking at the door. "You're so damn slow. . .Are you sure you're alright?" he grumbled to himself, trying to make a decision in his head. "Dammit." he made up his mind. "Hang on, Y/N! I'll save you!" He started a jog to the door, but it swung open with Y/N coming out with blood staining her face lightly and staining more on her clothes. H stumbled back at the image. "S-Startled me, dude!" he gave her a glare and stepped back for space. "You okay? Did you finish that thing off?" 

"Yeah, I hope I did. . .I kept using the hammer till it stopped moving," Y/N briefly described what had happened. "Probably shouldn't have dropped it, though. I don't want to go back in there. I don't think it's done for yet. . .I feel like it'll come back."

"What do you mean again?"

"Didn't I tell you already?" Y/N raised a brow, using a bloody hand to push a piece of hair out of her eyes. "It followed me all the way from a distant hotel. . .I don't think this is over yet."

H blinked a few times. "I-I don't get it, dude," he admits. "But, er, you going somewhere now?"

"I'd like to, but I don't have a destination," Y/N shrugged. "The guy I'm looking for wasn't here, so I don't know where he could be. . ." her adventure just might be over. 

"Hey, hold on," H dug into the pocket of his white jacket. "I actually found this earlier!" he brought out a folded piece of paper, bringing it out to Y/N. "Any help?" Y/N grabbed it and unfolded it to see an address. "I found it in the basement." she looked back up at H after reading it three times. "The paper looks pretty new, so. . .thought you just dropped it."

"Place of regret," Y/N read for the fourth time, looking back down at the paper. "And an address?" And now at H again. "Do you know what kind of place this is?"

"No clue," H shook his head. "But I think it's pretty far from here. It'd take about a day to drive." this handwriting looks the same as the scraps in her bag and the other pieces of papers of addresses she's gotten before. "I think I'll check this out." she gave him a slight bow of her head. "So long." 

Y/N walked around him and to her car. "H-Hold on!" H called out, running to her before she got to her vehicle. "You said you're looking for. . .who, exactly? Ain't it dangerous driving around this late? Why you wanna meet him?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure myself," Y/N folded the paper and pushed it into her hoodie pocket. "Though. . .I have sort of an excuse. My point is it doesn't matter why I want to meet him. It's just. . .right now; it feels like I have to. I have to go." she turned her head to H. "Is your house far? I'll take you there."

"Don't worry about it," he waved her off. "I can handle myself fine."

"Okay," Y/N tried to wave him goodbye this time. "Be careful, then." 

And she walked around her car to grasp the handle. "Hoseok!" H called out, running to her again. Y/N looked at him in confusion. "My name. It's. . .Hoseok. I trust you now. . .so you know my name." 

"Well, thanks for trusting me," Y/N gave him another crooked smile. "Nice to meet you, Hoseok." 

Hoseok gave her a tight smile. "If. . .we meet again," he went on before Y/N could pull the handle. "You wanna. . .have a drink or something?" 

"Of course," she accepted the offer without a thought. "I look forward to it. "

-

Scene 2

"Julius Stone Law School - H -”

End