First Delusion - Idol Hunt (5)
"Got her."
"Unnie!"
Sea's scream burst through the phone, and Seoyun and Yuna whirled around at the same instant.
"Sea!"
The two of them sprinted for the low passage they had only just crawled out of, but they had barely covered a few steps when a thunderous crash shook the corridor ahead—something was coming down.
"What the—!"
Yuna skidded to a stop. The passage entrance that had stood open moments ago was sealing itself shut, a thick wall descending from the ceiling until it swallowed the opening completely.
"No!"
Seoyun threw herself at it.
The wall slammed into the floor, and the passage was simply gone.
"Sea!"
Seoyun pounded on the wall.
"Answer me!"
Ragged breathing crackled through the phone.
"Unnie!"
It was Sea.
"I'm here!"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm behind that man!"
Yuna shoved against the wall as well. It didn't budge. There was no handle, not even a seam.
"How do we open this thing!"
She hammered her fist against it.
"Sea! Just hold on a little longer!"
"Hold on to what! I can't move!"
Sea's desperate voice rang through the phone, and only then did the two of them realize—Sea's waist was still locked in that device. She couldn't run. She couldn't even turn around.
Seoyun slammed her fist against the wall.
"Open it!"
No answer.
"I know you can hear me!"
This time, the words were meant for Ingong.
"Open this. Now!"
A moment later, Ingong's voice drifted through the phone.
"Why?"
"Get away from Sea!"
"I'd rather not."
"This stopped being a game a long time ago! What kind of person catches someone who can't even move!"
Ingong laughed.
"I never said it was a fair game."
Seoyun's expression hardened. It was the same thing he had said to Harin on the second floor.
"Open it!"
She struck the wall again.
"Open it right now!"
But the wall didn't so much as tremble.
"Unnie......"
Sea's voice drifted through the phone, smaller than before.
Seoyun clenched the phone in her fist.
"Sea. We're right here."
"......Yeah."
"Stay on the line with us. Don't hang up. Ever."
"Okay."
Yuna swept her eyes over every inch of the wall. A button. A mechanism. Another entrance. Anything at all. But there was nothing. The passage that had existed moments ago had become solid wall, as though it had never been there in the first place.
"Unnie."
Yuna shook her head.
There was no way through.
Seoyun had gone still. She just stood there, staring at the wall as if she could see through it to the other side.
Then—
Sea's voice cut out.
"......Sea?"
No answer.
"Sea."
Seoyun checked her screen. Sea's name was gone. Only two remained on the call: Seoyun, and Yuna.
Yuna stared down at her own phone without a word. Chaerin. Harin. Sea. There had been five of them at the start. Now there were two.
She kept looking at the call screen in silence. The two names floating side by side looked strangely, unnervingly empty. With every floor they crossed, another member at their side had vanished—and now even Sea's voice, which had been reaching them through the phone only moments ago, was gone.
Yuna spoke quietly.
"Unnie."
"Yeah."
"If one of us gets caught too......"
She let the sentence die.
Seoyun didn't answer. She knew exactly what came after those unfinished words. Alone. Alone in this vast theme park, dodging a man who could appear anywhere, forced to climb the last floor by herself.
Seoyun darkened her phone screen.
"Don't think like that."
"But still—"
"Then we make sure neither of us gets caught."
Yuna looked at her. It wasn't as if Seoyun wasn't afraid. If anything, she wanted to smash that wall down this instant and drag Sea out with them. But there was no way. Which left exactly one choice: climb to the very top, and find the exit.
"We're getting all three of them out."
"Yeah."
"No matter what."
Seoyun nodded.
"No matter what."
The two of them started moving again.
The third floor wasn't finished with them yet.
The pink kept appearing, and it had grown far craftier than before. A tiny sticker pressed into the corner of a wall. A thin line drawn across the floor. A small picture tucked into the side of a sign. There was even a mark so faint that from a distance it looked like nothing more than a smudge.
This time, neither of them rushed.
"Left."
Yuna said it quietly, and Seoyun stopped. There, in the corner of the floor, sat a small pink dot.
"I see it."
They doubled back the other way. A little farther on, the corridor split in two, and at the entrance to the right-hand passage a small pink ribbon had been tied in a neat bow.
"Not that one."
"Yeah."
They took the left. They hadn't gone more than a few steps when Seoyun suddenly seized Yuna's arm.
"Wait."
"What?"
Seoyun pointed at the ceiling. A single small pipe, identical to every other pipe around it—except that a thin strip of pink tape had been wound around its joint.
Yuna grimaced.
"Even stuff like that?"
"Looks like it."
"He's getting more underhanded by the minute."
"Which is exactly why we slow down."
The two of them pressed close to the wall and slipped past beneath the pipe. Nothing happened. Yuna let out a small breath.
"Good call."
By now they moved in sync almost without speaking. When one watched the path ahead, the other swept the floor and ceiling. Their pace had slowed to a crawl, but in exchange, the traps stopped catching them.
And at last—
"There."
Yuna pointed ahead. Stairs. This time there was no doubt about it; they led up to the next floor.
And yet neither of them moved right away. Before the relief of having found the stairs could take hold, a different thought arrived first: what would be waiting for them on the next floor?
Yuna tilted her head back to look up the staircase, then spoke softly.
"Unnie."
"Yeah."
"It's really just the two of us now."
Seoyun didn't answer right away. Instead, she took Yuna's hand.
"All the more reason to be careful, then."
Yuna's fingers tightened around hers.
"This time we really don't get separated."
"Yeah."
For a moment they just looked at each other. Then they moved toward the stairs together.
One step. Then another. It was an ordinary staircase, and yet their footsteps felt strangely heavy.
Yuna kept glancing back, again and again. No one was there. Even so, she couldn't make herself relax. On the second floor, Ingong had worn Seoyun's face. On the third, he had turned a trap they believed they'd already cleared into Sea's cage. There was no telling what they could trust anymore.
They reached the top of the stairs, and Seoyun pushed the door open first.
The door swung wide, and the instant it did, warm, humid air brushed across their faces.
Both of them froze.
"......What is this place?"
Yuna stepped slowly inside and stared at the scene unfolding before her.
Water. An impossible amount of water. A vast indoor pool stretched out before them, a lazy river winding away from it, water slides plunging down from somewhere high overhead, an artificial wave pool churning in the distance. Farther off, she could make out palm trees and facilities decked out like some tropical resort, all of it bathed in bright, sunlike light pouring down from the ceiling. It felt like a lie that they had been crawling through gloomy obstacle passages only minutes ago.
A disbelieving laugh escaped Yuna.
"A water park this time?"
Seoyun scanned the spot beside the entrance. There was an information sign.
Except—
Nothing was written on it.
"No rules."
Yuna checked for herself.
"So it is."
The third floor had at least offered them a single sentence. Avoid the pink. This time, they didn't even get that.
Seoyun surveyed the whole of the water park. There wasn't a soul in sight. Only the quiet murmur of flowing water reached them.
"I like this even less."
"Less than what?"
"The no-rules part."
Yuna agreed. When you didn't even know what to watch out for, every step was a gamble.
The two of them hovered at the entrance, unable to make themselves move. Then Yuna turned to Seoyun.
"Unnie."
"Yeah."
"Hold on."
Yuna took a step back, and Seoyun's expression turned strange.
"What?"
Yuna didn't answer. She looked Seoyun up and down instead.
"......Yuna?"
"Let's verify something."
"Verify what?"
Yuna looked her straight in the eye.
"Are you really my unnie?"
A beat of silence—and then Seoyun understood. The second floor. The fake Seoyun who had appeared in front of Harin. Ingong could wear anyone's face. Which meant the person standing beside you right now couldn't be trusted blindly, either.
Seoyun let out a hollow laugh.
"Now you're suspecting me too?"
"You should be suspicious of me as well."
At that, Seoyun's expression turned serious. She was right. There was no reason Yuna should be exempt.
The two of them regarded each other for a long moment. Seoyun spoke first.
"Back in our trainee days. That thing you hid in the dorm fridge that I caught you with."
Yuna's eyes narrowed.
"Why are you bringing that up out of nowhere?"
"Answer."
"You swore you'd never tell a soul."
"Which is exactly why you can answer."
Yuna exhaled a small sigh, and answered. Seoyun's expression eased a fraction.
"It's really you."
Now it was Yuna's turn.
"Then my turn. Ask away."
Yuna thought for a moment.
"The day our debut was confirmed. What did the five of us promise each other on the rooftop?"
Seoyun held her gaze for a moment. Then she smiled.
"That we'd be together. Always."
The tension drained out of Yuna's face too.
"That's right."
Only then did the two of them close the distance between them again. Seoyun held out her hand.
"This time, we don't let go. Not ever."
Yuna took it.
"Yeah."
Hand in hand, they stepped into the water park together.
Lunatic had begun as five. Now only two remained: Seoyun and Yuna.
And—
Neither of them had any way of knowing yet what was waiting on the final floor.