I FORGOT TO UPDATE AGAIN LAST WEEK AAAAAAA👹👹
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"How can your facility let them in?!"

"Sir..-"

"I had made it so fucking clear that this specific duo were supposed to stay the hell away from my sister!"

"We've posted their names and facial features to the security so as to not let this occurrence repeat. I'm terribly sorry that we couldn't'v done this sooner to avoid the inconvenience."

"Sorry my ass. They deliberately intruded the room to cause harm! As if that wasn't obvious enough, your reception and security at the entrance didn't bother to get ahold of them after they did what they intended to do!"

"Sir..."

"Her leg is in worsened condition! You think I'll just forgive this and let it slide?"

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It's been 3 days exactly since that incident and I've done a spectacular job at showing my upset towards the boys.

I even deliberately rubbed it in their frowning faces how I was only approaching Hoseok for whatever I needed, be it a request about helping me get ahold of the puzzle from Namjoon's cabin, to even asking if I could room in his cabin to eat.

Either he was just as upset about them as I was, or he'd long let go of the incident by talking it out with the others but still stuck with me, I'm incredibly grateful for his help.

I'll be frank: there was a moment where one of the boys approached me, but I'd flinched away unconsciously. I didn't purposely do it, my mind basically gave me a brief flashback of what they had collectively tried to do that made me jerk away.

It was obvious how much it pained them with how I was behaving with them. Call me petty, or whatever but there was no way I was going to simply let go of what they pulled-off on me so easily.

On the 3rd day of staying the heck away from 6/7 boys has been going smoothly fortunately, and the boys finally let me be, having already accepted my upset at them since the day before. Even that had made me salty to think as if they've given up on making amends but that was just the grudge in me talking. I never gave them the chance, so it's safe to assume they're just waiting for me to fix this ongoing conflict. Now, I suppose it's just upto me when I deem it okay to end this quarrel between us.

I was lounging by myself in Hobi's room, scanning through all the clues we've gathered that could lead us out of here for good, and I've gotten an inkling that the second note has a reason why it specified the players in this world to be attentive as 'eight'.

——🏳——
See the first no7e.
6e 4ttentive a5 eight.
The second l3ad is for the start.
——🏳——

"This second lead is for the start." I read under my breath.

The start of this note mentions that we see the first note.

That means our first lead.

I turned towards the notebook holding all the words the puzzle revealed to us through all eight of us.

With all the words that we've gathered, this second lead is supposed to help us piece them together to obtain the right structure of the sentence.

It seemed like Namjoon had some idea with the numbers he's written down.

"So 'First' is..., one? Then seven..." I paused, "Hold on-" I gasped quietly and scribbled down the numbers in the order they were already given through the note.

'17645823'

I hummed under my breath, brows creasing together in thought. 8 numbers in total and 8 people in this world.

This is related to all of us. But what order does this follow?

"Sunflower? Mind if I come in and join you?"

I looked away from my book and smiled at Hobi poking his head in, "Of course. You don't have to ask for permission to enter your own cabin, silly." I chuckled, patting at the vacant space beside me as I scooted to the other side of the bed.

"Let's check your foot, hm?" He suggested and I pursed my lips, nodding mutely. I pulled down the covers and revealed the slight bruising peeking through my wrap, making me grimace subtly at the sight. He propped my leg onto his lap from the pillow it was laying on before unwrapping the bandage wrapped around my ankle. "Ah, the swelling has reduced! That's good, that's good." He nodded approvingly, making me chuckle.

"I keep forgetting to ask you, but how do you know about all of this?" I inquired, wondering how he knows to take care of a sprain.

He hummed at that, "During the starting point of my dancing career, I got injured a lot when trying out new tricks and moves. At one point my foot took a wrong step and bam, I sprained it." He laughed softly, "I didn't think it was that bad, just a little bruised and very light swelling. I thought 'hm, this'll be fine overnight! No biggie.' So I brushed it off and continued to dance till I perfected that certain move." He shook his head, recounting that moment, "Next thing I know, my continuous ignorance towards it just made it worse and it had swollen so much, Jiminie smacked my head and forced me to the hospital." He continued.

"That bad?" I frowned and he nodded, "You, love, have a third grade strain on your leg, unfortunately. I had that and it hurts like a bitch." He cringed, shuddering at the memory, "The doctor strictly stated that I stay off that foot and I had to for two months, almost three." He pointed out the numbers with his fingers and I gasped, "That's so long!" I exclaimed.

Noooo I can't walk for that long, then???

Hoseok nodded, sighing exasperatedly, "I wouldn't have had to deal with it if I'd just taken more consideration of my initially, mild sprain. I don't know why your worsened this much, though." He frowned in wonder.

"Something probably happened in the real world, I don't know." I shrugged and he hummed, "Thank goodness it's not a fracture, though. That's the upside of this whole ordeal." He smiled at me and I puckered my lips unconvinced, "Not really... You've basically said that my leg has to be immobilised. That's kind of impossible with our situation, here. It's still not any good." I mentioned and he scrunched his nose.

"Well, it's what I had to go through with my sprain. Jin hyung confirmed that you've torn your ligament. That's what the 'pop' sound was that time, and it's also why it was so swollen and hurt so much. If we had any painkillers, this injury would've been dealt much better since the pain would've subsided but..." he trailed solemnly.

I shook my head dismissively, "I'm just glad you came when you did." I mumbled before clearing my throat and gesturing towards the leads I was studying and figuring out, "Wanna help me solve this?" I smiled a little and he chuckled breathily, nodding.

"Let me just secure your ankle with the bandage and I'll join you with that." He said and I nodded.

-

"We have to figure out this code, now?" Hoseok whined and I couldn't help but snicker at his pout, "Yes." I answered, giving his back a light pat as he grumbled under his breath. I'd just finished briefing him about all the things we've sorted out, including the words from the very first lead we got. Then towards the numbers I'd picked up from the note in the same order they were placed.

'17645823'

"Okay... so this order has to do with us, right?" He scratched at his head, reading the order of the numbers under his breath whilst I nodded. "What about age? Our age??" He suggested and I pursed my lips thoughtfully.

"Let's try it. Youngest to oldest, or..?" I questioned and he hummed, "Just try both ways." He shrugged and I did as well, "Sure."

I first noted down which word came from who, organising it by age for the heck of it.

1. Diana - The
2. Jungkook - within
3. Taehyung - inside
4. Jimin - reality
5. Namjoon - the
6. Hoseok - light
7. Yoongi - lies
8. Jin - hidden

"Uhhhhh.." I stifled a laugh.

"The within inside reality the light lies hidden." Hoseok read out loud and giggled, "If my dad read this..," he huffed out a laugh, "Honestly, this had me at your part, but then..." he trailed and I shoved at his shoulder, laughing some more.

"It can't even be formed by oldest to youngest." He pointed and I finally caught my breath, agreeing with a small chuckle.

"Hidden lies light the reality inside within.. the. Wow!!" He applauded.

I laughed again, "Stop, this isn't where we were heading with this thing on our age order." I giggled and he grinned.

'17645823'

Diana, Yoongi, Hoseok, jimin, Namjoon, Jin, Jungkook, Taehyung.

"So... 'The lies light reality the hidden within inside', yeah okay, nope." I shook my head, crossing that sentence out just as I finished writing it.

"Aish, it doesn't even work backwards. You can't end a sentence with 'the'." Hobi scoffed.

"Then let's try oldest to youngest order with the code." I shrugged.

"I don't think that'll work, either but shoot, I guess." Hoseok deadpanned but gave in either way, peering over my shoulder as I rewrote the order.

Jin, Jungkook, Taehyung, Namjoon, Jimin, Diana, Yoongi, Hoseok.

"This one is.. 'Hidden within inside the reality the lies light' ...Oh, for the love of God!" I groaned, crossing multiple lines over that sentence out of annoyance.

"Okay, okay, calm thy self, hun." Hoseok stopped my hands from scribbling the life out of that sentence by pulling the tiny pencil out of my hand. I huffed irritably.

"There's still more things to try," he chuckled, patting my head assuringly, "This was just age." He shrugged nonchalantly.

I leaned backwards and laid down on the bed with a blank expression, repeating what Hobi said, 'just age...' I thought.

I frowned at that. Age..? I don't think that really relates to this game. There's a 5 years' age gap from the youngest and oldest player in this world. So I guess it wasn't really a relative option to check out.

What a waste of graphite, smh (ㄱ ㅡㄱ)

"Don't trouble your mind so much, sunflower." Hoseok soothingly chimed, rubbing at the area between my furrowed brows where a crease formed. I blinked rapidly before easing the tension building in between by eyebrows and smiled softly at Hobi.

He propped his elbow against the mattress and peered at me with his own smile before it faltered slightly, making my own automatically go as well, "What's up?" I asked.

"Everyone is drowning in guilt, Diana... Do you really not want to talk with them?" He asked softly and carefully whilst I frowned. "It's been three days, you know." He reminded. I looked away from his sad eyes and fixed my gaze on the ceiling sheltering this cabin from sunlight.

"I-I don't..care," I mumbled, intently avoiding his gaze as he leaned forward to catch my eye. "Liar." He scoffed softly.

"I'm not." I denied.

"Say that to my face, then." He challenged and I gulped a lump in my throat, hesitantly meeting his eyes that held confidence, something I was sure my own eyes lacked at the moment. "I... I don't... I don't-" I looked away for a split moment, "-care." Turning away completely after that as my back faced him instead.

"I don't care. I don't have to look at you to say that." I muttered. I took a deep breath when I felt Hobi rub my back in consolation, "I know you don't really mean that." He softly let out.

I frowned to myself, "I wouldn't have this severe of a strain if they didn't flat-out pin me to the ground on their own account. My ankle did start to hurt, yes... but my 'ligament' or whatever wouldn't have torn if they didn't force me to the ground." I scoffed.

That 'pop' only came after they had held me down, so I didn't gain that grade III from the real world. No, I gained it right here, in this world. Because they decided that going against me was the right thing to do.

Yoongi doesn't even have medical experience like Jin or a little bit like Hobi, for goodness sake! How could he have known what he was doing?

"You know..." Hoseok chimed in with a soft tone, hand urging me to turn his way by pulling at my shoulder. I complied silently and looked at him timidly as he looked back with knowing eyes, "Yoongi hyung explained to me on that same day that he's gotten multiple sprains in the past. He was a basketball player." He brought up. I raised a brow inquisitively at that.

He smiled at my sudden interest, "Hyung told me that he's gotten it so many times that... he eventually learnt to treat it himself if it ever happened again. He was only checking if your foot had possible cramps. It would've indicated that it was fine, many sprains can sometimes cause muscle spasms, too... whatever that is," he chuckled at my expression before shaking his head, "I'm not an expert, remember?" He reminded and I shrugged.

"Anyway, he never meant to worsen it. When you tried to fight them away from holding you, he unconsciously moved your ankle more than it could from your sudden movement." He explained. "Restraining me to the ground to do all that was still uncalled for." I pointed out defensively and he nodded immediately, "Of course, it was." He replied, rolling his eyes as if it's clearly obvious, "That was very stupid." He mumbled.

I huffed, "Stupid is an understatement." I grumbled indignantly. "Sure." Hoseok chuckled.

"Tell me, Diana," He started, "How do you plan to make up if you don't confront any one of them about it?" He asked and I frowned, eyes locking with Hoseok's as he peered at me expectantly, awaiting my answer.

I scoffed, "Who says I want to make up? What if I don't want to make up?" I shot back and he huffed, snickering at my reply, "Aish, we both know that's a lie." He pointed and I chuffed, "No, you don't. I mean it! I don't want to talk to them anytime soon." I stood my ground and he tilted his head, gazing at me with a soft smile. My strong upfront faltered at his soft gaze, making me look away to avoid feeling these gooey, ticklish feelings.

"Alright, fine. Then for how long do you plan to keep this up? Don't get me wrong, I'm actually relishing in the fact that I'm the only one on your good side but for real, love, we all need to make up soon enough so that we can begin working as a team, again." He pointed out, a smug smirk on his face when he noticed me splutter at his sudden confession.

"What? Was it what I admitted?" He chuckled lowly and I pursed my lips.

"I think it is!~" he crooned teasingly. I scoffed out a laugh, shoving at his shoulder as he wiggled his brows, "Stop, I know it's tiring how I only ask you to help me out and make you work like some sort of messenger with the others. I'm sure you're getting tired of having to be the bridge between two sides of the fight." I mumbled.

Hobi rolled his eyes in good nature, "Sunflower, I have absolutely no problem playing as a "messenger" or a neutral role between the quarrel you and the others had." He denied, "Heck, I'm actually very glad that I can be there for you amidst this... argument." He smiled, "It doesn't bother me because at the end, all will be good again." He shrugged.

I sighed, gazing at him with envy, "I wish I was that optimistic in any given situation." I smiled at him while he straightened up, grinning cheekily at me. "You didn't deny that you'd make up soon enough!~" he pointed and I rolled my eyes.

"Well, you do have a point about us needing to work as a whole team, again." I dragged my words, before stopping him before he could begin cheering, "But!" I cut through with narrowed eyes, watching as he watched me hopefully, eyes wide with anticipation, "but..?" He urged.

I sighed in my spot in defeat, pinching the bridge of my nose as I say, "I'll only forgive them when they own up to their wrong doings. I will own up, too..." I grumbled in the end.

Hoseok beamed brightly, squealing loudly before pulling my upper body into his arms and showering my face with pecks and kisses.

"Hobi!" I shrieked in great fluster. He just doesn't understand what his affection does to me, does he?

"I'll go tell them!" He pulled away with a wide grin, "They'll have a lot to say, Sunflower, so be ready!" He crooned before skipping out of his cabin, making me blink once, twice, maybe thrice.

"Wait what?!" I shrieked out as I registered what he told me. Now he's just left me all anxious and fidgety.

I didn't expect him to bring them right this moment!!

Oh jeez...

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Wooohoooo... I really forgot to update last week! Give the Author of this book a round of applause everyone! She's suffering short term memory loss frr 💀☝️✨

Let's hope I don't repeat that again, I left my readers parched, starved, hungry, undernourished, famished, ravenous 🥲🤌

Take this meal my dearest children, i will (seriously hoping to) see you next week with an update! 😘😘❤️💕

Byeeeee!~ 🥰💕💕

~ Ada