Beomgyu could feel warm tears fill his eyelids. His heart was pounding as he saw nothing but darkness, heard nothing but the panicked murmurs and screams that he —all his heart— hoped that it wasn't Taehyun's.
He could hear the beating of his heart from his ears, horrid memories of his past came into tidbits as he stood frozen in place. Everyone was on the floor, soaked in their own blood baths, leaving Beomgyu the last one standing.
Then an image of his dorm mate flashed directly through his brain. His gorgouse eyes were dilated, his lips were pale as he was soaked in his own bloodbath.
He shivered at the image, as he hurriedly ran to where he last spotted Taehyun.
No.
No, No, NO!
"Taehyun-ah! Where are you?!" Beomgyu shouted, pushing bodies of panicked individuals out of his way.
He couldn't care less if people were thinking of him as a lunatic with all his shouting.
'Please answer me Taehyun-ah! Please, answer hyung!'
Each time Beomgyu ran and pushed, the dread inside him was slowly eating his body. The cold and numb feeling made it harder to breath as his heart pounded harder in seconds.
He felt sick.
Then the lights were back.
A sign that the killer had did his kill.
'No, no please. Don't let him die...'
Beomgyu craned his head around the sea of people, their figures moved slow yet fast. His tears were slowly rolling down his cheeks, his breathing shallows as he was slowly slipping into a breakdown.
His morals were clouded, his brain couldn't think. His knees felt weak and his heart felt heavy as he let a tear roll down his cheeks.
'Taehyun.'
"Beomgyu-hyung!"
That voice,
That sweet, soft voice Beomgyu would always hear everyday.
Beomgyu quickly got into his feet, his heart still pounding with anxiousness.
'Taehyun?'
"BEOMGYU-HYUNG!"
A few meters away Beomgyu saw a blob of blonde hair dodging people towards his direction.
The same shade of blonde that Taehyun had.
But the brunette wasn't going to let out a sigh of relief, not until he sees him in his very own eyes that it is, Taehyun.
The older male quickly shoved and dodged through the sea of people. Eyes glued to the blonde blob of hair that he was running towards to, stumbling at the last step. Beomgyu could feel his eyelids water as he saw a confused yet frightened Taehyun looking around.
×
To say that Taehyun was cursing himself was totally an understatement. He was despising every fiber of his brain and his un-dying curiousity for leaving his Beomgyu-hyung's side. Especially when the color wheel stopped at his color.
Looking around, Taehyun could see nothing than black suits and colorful dresses smooched all together. He was really lucky that he was still alive (guess luck was really on his side today). Gulping a lump down his throat, Taehyun averted his eyes to a specific direction.
And then he met them.
Those brown, ethereal eyes that were staring at him with so much worry and relief.
Beomgyu.
The blonde male's eyes lit up as he saw his hyung walking towards him.
"Hyung I'm so sorry—"
Taehyun was cut off in his mid-sentence when Beomgyu wrapped his arms around the blonde's shoulders.
Embracing him in a tight yet warm hug.
"Paboya," Beomgyu whispered, voice raspy and strained as he rested his head on Taehyun's collarbone. His knees unbuckled as his kneecaps touched the tiled floor and Taehyun was dragged along.
Taehyun's eyes widen as he felt his blazer damp with, pressumably,
Tears.
"H-Hyung I—"
"Are you stupid?!" Beomgyu snapped, as he pulled Taehyun harshly away from the hug. Making the poor lad flinch.
"I thought you were smarter than this! I asked you one thing Kang Taehyun. ONE THING and that was to stay close to me yet you wandered. You wandered knowing so fucking well that there's a serial killer on the loose yet you left my side! Do you know how worried I was?! Huh?!" Beomgyu ranted, shaking Taehyun harshly, tears fogging his vision.
"B-But I'm fine—"
"Yes you are but what if the killer decided to target you!?" Beomgyu countered. "You left my side, and what if the killer found you and wants you to be his next victim and you didn't even bother looking at the color wheel! What if you got stabbed?! What if you died, huh?! I promised your brother that I'd protect you! And I'm not breaking that promise anytime yet still you decided to leave my side even if it was dangerous!" then a tear slid down the brunette's cheek, his eyes still held rage and worry as he panted due to his explanation.
"How can you be so insensitive?!"
Taehyun's lips quivered, he hated how he saw his hyung shed a tear for him. He hated how he left his side because of something he saw. The guilt was slowly eating him, he wanted to say sorry. But his tongue was tied, all he could do was take as much of Beomgyu rage.
He knew he deserved it, after all. He made him worry.
"What did you even see that got you lured out of my side?!" Beomgyu asked— no, demanded for an answer.
"I-I... I saw something in the pillars, o-over there," Taehyun says shakily, pointing to his left at the two porcelain pillars that were covered in darkness.
Glancing at the two marbled pillars, Beomgyu let out a sigh and quickly grabbed Taehyun by the wrist, firm yet gentle before dragging him back to where Soobin and the others were.
"Hyung where are we—"
"Don't talk," Beomgyu hissed, he was still angry at the blonde for nearly putting himself in death's game.
But he couldn't hide the sickening feeling about how he released his rage at Taehyun.
The younger male bit his lower lip, he never saw his hyung get angry. Well maybe he did, but never at him, never at Taehyun.
As they reached the spot where they left the others. The two boys were greeted by a worried Yeonjun.
"Gyu! Tae! Thank goodness you guys are all right. I saw– wait, Gyu why're your eyes all puffy? Did you cry?" Yeonjun asked, scurrying closer to the two boys.
Beomgyu shook his head, bangs covering his eyes as he gently pushed Taehyun to Yeonjun's arms. Fixing eye-contact with the oldest male, Beomgyu says in a low, deep voice. "Keep an eye on him," before walking away.
Yeonjun's eyes trailed on to the young brunette before averting his gaze to Taehyun. "What happened?"
The blonde male bit his lips and whispers, "I-I...."
"I made him worry."
×
Walking back to where the two pillars Taehyun got curious of. Beomgyu let out a sigh, swallowing a lump on his throat. Slowly regretting his outburst and harsh words to his dorm mate.
But the latter shook his head vigorously.
'There's no use of thinking about it now Beomgyu. Damage has been done, it's better to just apologize to the latter.' he thought to himself.
But he found himself thinking again. Why should he apologize? Wasn't it the other why around? Since it was Taehyun who left him for something and risked his safety.
But then Beomgyu felt his heart grew heavy on those thoughts. How could he think of that? Sure it was Taehyun's fault, but it was natural for humans to be curious. And besides, he was also at fault too, he was too focused that time, too drawned to the corpse and he didn't even notice Taehyin slip away. And... and maybe he was a bit too harsh on him too.
Beomgyu clicked his tongue in annoyance.
'Now what did I tell you about not to think about it, huh?'
Once he had reached where, he and Taehyun stood a while ago. Beomgyu averted his gaze to where his dorm mate pointed, still two pillars that were slowly swallowed in darkness. Without any hesitation, Beomgyu took long strides towards the said direction.
As he passed by the two pillars, he was greeted with nothing but a creme-colored wall. Beomgyu frowned and took a step forward. Why would Taehyun be curious about–
Huh?
Beomgyu squinted his eyes at the so-called wall then ran his hand through it. It was incredibly smooth, usually when you touch a cemented wall it would still create a little bit of friction in your fingertips. But this one, this one doesn't at all. Like it was made out of–
"Paper."
Beomgyu snapped his head to see hus brother behind him.
"Why're you here?" the brunette asked in a not-so nice voice.
"Your squirrel friend told me to. He said you might get into trouble if you go alone, especially with your temper." Soobin says in a calm voice.
"Hilarious, how is my temper affecting things?" Beomgyu asks spitefully, but lets out a stressful sigh. "Forget it, anyway, paper you say?"
Soobin nodded, now standing beside him. "The structure can be tricky to see in the dark, quite intriguing how Taehyun saw through it. But nevertheless, it is paper however—"
"The other sides were definitely concerete." Beomgyu interjected, his fingers caressing his bottom lip. "So that would mean..."
Soobin nodded again, "That only this area here– is only a replica of a fake wall."
The two boys gave each other a glance before nodding, slowly and carefully. They got rid of the thick paper that what the two believes, is paper mache.
After getting rid of the thick layers of paper. The two were greeted by, not a riddle, not codes, ciphers or anything. But a cassette tape along with old-fashioned earbuds.
Frowing, Beomgyu stretched out his arm and grabbed the said objects and showed ut ti his older brother.
"What's this?" Soobin's brow furrowed, eyeing the items.
"Old stuff," the younger lad says briefly.
"But why would the game master hide a cassette tape in there?" Soobun asks again.
"Well, there's only one why to find out." Beomgyu plugged the headbuds' wire to the cassette tape and placed one of the buds into his ear and pressed play.
"We listen."
Rolling his eyes at the dramatic pause. Soobin took the other bud and placed it on his ear. But the content wasn't really music, it was just a series of dits and dats. Making Soobin frown even more.
dit – dit – dat – dit / dit – dit / dat – dit / dat – dit – dit / dit / dit – dat – dit / dit – dit / dit – dit – dit /
"What in the world is this?" Soobin muttered, a frown etched his face.
"Morse code," Beomgyu muttered, yanking the earbud from his ears.
"But–"
"The dits and dats represents the dots and dashes. The dit represents a dot while the dat represents a dash." Beomgyu briefly explained but continues speaking. "And so it's deciphered as..."
"Find Eris."
"Find Eris?" Soobin repeated. "Are they pertaining it to a person?"
"Or something that can be similar to the name," Beomgyu says. "If you still remember the ancient Greek gods hyung, Eris is the goddess of chaos and destruction. The exact opposite of Harmonia, who was the goddess of harmony and concord."
"Does that have any connection then?" Soobin asked.
"Well, if it were a person then that would be so unlikely. Knowing no one in their right mind would name their child after the goddess of chaos. So, in my theory. It's an object, or something that brings chaos." Beomgyu says.
"It could mean the roulette," the older brother suggested. "Since it brought chaos and destruction to everyone."
The brunette hummed as he nodded. "Yes and no, I think the killer wouldn't make it that obvious hyung."
Soobin scoffed. "Well what do you suggest then?"
"The fire alarm," Beomgyu utters.
The raven haired male gave him a weird look. "What?"
"What? Fire alarms bring chaos hyung. Every time it blares it means destruction of fire or an earthquake starting. It makes people run for their lives, so in short..." Beomgyu breathes out.
"Eris."
Soobin rose a brow, "And how are you sure?"
The brunette let out a chuckle. "I'm not, as I said. It's just a theory, but it's worth the risk, yeah?"
Soobin lets out a sigh. "You are so..." the brunette bit his lip, trying to surpress his anger. "Be thankful that your dorm mate told me to follow you or I'll leave you here."
Beomgyu didn't respond. But somehow his brother knew what was going on inside his mind.
Giving him a quick glance, Soobin spoke. "Don't worry, Taehyun's in good hands. Yeonjun won't take his eyes off him."
"Well... that's a relief then," Beomgyu says softly.
"C'mon, let's find that fire alarm," he patted Soobin's shoulder before walking pass him.
But the older didn't miss the sigh of relief escaping Beomgyu's lips.
The two boys searched through every corner of the art museum but they saw nothing.
"Impossible!" Beomgyu spoke. "Why the heck is there not a single fire alarm in the art museum?!"
"Maybe we missed something," Soobin muttered calmly.
"And what is exactly?" Beomgyu asked.
"Well, we know that Eris is the goddess of chaos. And maybe, just maybe, the location of the fire alarm is related to her aswell?" the ravenette suggested.
Beomgyu pursed his lips. "Hmm, I think you have a point... Mt. Erebus."
Soobin gave him a look. "Mt. Erebus?"
"According to greek mythology Eris lives in Erebus. A stratovolcano which is located on Ross Island, Antarctica, and is also the southernmost active volcano in the world." the brunette explains.
"Wait, I passed a painting of it earlier down this way." Soobin says, pointing at the direction that he took and gestured his brother to follow him.
Beomgyu nodded and following his brother closely.
They were closing in to where Soobin saw the painting when the two boys caught a glimpse on the roulette. Its hand was still on the word Yellow, they were certain that it hadn't even moved yet a few minutes ago. However...
It was doing its countdown on 10.
Beomgyu's eyes widen, quickly halting his steps. He was about to take a detour when Soobin grabbed his arm, preventing him from doing so.
"What're you doing?!" Soobin shouted.
"The arrow hyung, it hasn't moved from Taehyun's armband color at all and it's starting a countdown! I have to be there for him–"
"Yeonjun is there for him along with Kai. They won't let anything happe–"
"And how can you be so sure that he will?!" Beomgyu snapped, staring straight into Soobin's eyes.
"Because I know that he would," Soobin said in a baritone voice. "And we can't afford anymore detours, lives are taken away every minute and we can't afford to lose another one, Gyu. So clear out your morals. Use your mind brother..."
"Not your heart."
Gulping, Beomgyu yanked his arms from his brother's grip before nodding.
"Fine."
Countdown on its eight.
And Soobin and Beomgyu were now at the hallway where the older raven head saw the painting.
"Its this way, hurry Gyu!" Soobin shouted, running towards a corner and Beomgyu close behind him.
The brunette was about to fasten his pace when he saw something shiny on the edge of his peripherals.
It was a blade, coming for Soobin.
Beomgyu quickly ran towards his hyung before shouting. "Hyung get down!"
But the raven haired male didn't hear him. Luckily Beomgyu was already near him, he quickly grabbed his hyung's arm before pulling him to the ground with him. Earning an 'oof' from the older male.
"Gyu what the—"
The boy was cut off from his sentence when he saw a sharp blade two inches beside him. Giving Soobin his reflection, the latter swallowed.
He could've died there.
"C'mon hyung, get up." Beomgyu says, harshly yanking his brother up, glancing to where the blade came from.
An automatic throwing device.
"Hyung get a hold of yourself!" the brunette shouted, but Soobin was way too shocked to move.
Deciding to leave him there, Beomgyu quickly rushed to where the raven haired male told him where he saw the painting. It was an enormous oil painting of the mountain, very detailed and was just beautiful. But there was no time for that.
Hurriedly Beomgyu searched for a fire alarm behind the painting. At last, he found it.
And just in time, the countdown was on its five.
But there was one problem.
The fire alarm was in a glass like case that could be only broke by a hammer provided by its case.
But there wasn't a hammer, at all.
Beomgyu lifted balled his hand into a fist before punching the glass case. It took only two attempts and the glass shattered into the floor.
Four seconds left.
Ignoring the stinging pain from the splinters he got from punching. Beomgyu grabbed the lever of the fire alarm and heaved it down.
The countdown stopped at three, sprinklers and blares of the emergency bells echoed throughout the art museum.
And the brunette swore he saw a body fall along with the chandelier.
×
"Are you sure you two are okay?" Inspector Sehun asked the two brothers who nodded.
"Well, except for Beomgyu injuring his hand. We're completely fine sir," Soobin says, gesturing at his brother's right hand that was wrapped in bandages.
"But still I'm surprised you came just in time," Beomgyu says, slicking his wet hair back.
The inspector snorted. "Well if it weren't for Moh-wa calling me then I wouldn't be here."
Beomgyu nodded, removing the warm body towel from his wet clothes. "Perhaps we'll thank her then."
"Well, I better get going. Me and the team need to get the body that fell to the autopsy lab. Adios!" said the inspector before walking away.
Turns out, as soon as Beomgyu pulled the lever the doors automatically opened. Revealing police cars and an ambulance, just after they got out Beomgyu saw a body that fell along with the chandelier. A rainbow colored knife was pressed deep into his chest.
Unfortunately the body was carried away as soons as Beomgyu could get a better glimpse of its face.
But he was sure it was the game master.
"Hyung," a nervous voice surged behind him.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Taehyun wrapped around a sky blue towel provided by the ambulance. His hair was damp, making his bangs cover his eyes.
Beomgyu made eye-contact with his brother. Soobin nodded his head, standing up and left to where Yeonjun and Kai were.
And it was just the two of them.
Like always.
"Oh, Taehyun-ah. What is it?" Beomgyu begins awkwardly, he still couldn't speak properly to the younger. Pretty much because of his outburst towards him.
"I-I..." Taehyun inhaled sharply, eyes at his hyung's injured hand, feeling more guilty than ever. "I-I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."
"Tae, I—"
"No, I... you were right hyung. I should've stayed beside you. I'm so sorry, I just wasn't thinking a-and, I-I was curious and I'm sorry I made you worry. Y-You were right I was being insensitive, I-I... w-was..." Taehyun hiccuped as tears streamed down his cheeks.
Beomgyu immediately softened as he saw his dorm mate cry. Taehyun was never the one to do that, even if it was only the two of them in their dorm watching Lion King Mufasa's death scene.
Wordlessly, the brunette pulled the Taehyun into a hug. His chin resting on the younger's head as he closed his eyes, "You don't have to be sorry Tae. I was at fault too you know, I was too focused on the corpse and I didn't even notice you slip away. And I'm also sorry for snapping at you—"
"No! Hyung please stop blaming yourself. It was my fault okay?! And now look, you even got injured."
"Hey, my hand injury has nothing to do with you," Beomgyu says, now facing the younger male. "Plus you're safe."
"But still," Taehyun protests, looking at the older with his glossy eyes. "It's all my fault. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry hyung."
'Aigoo, such a softie.'
Beomgyu chuckled fondly as he connected their foreheads. Watery hazel brown eyes meets warm chocolate brown ones. "Like I said Taehyun-ah..."
"You're safe, that's what matters."
___________________________________________
I hope you liked the chapter:)
-Ria