They had to accept that it would happen soon enough. After all, they were the reason for being where they were now.
With the situation they had dug themselves into, as much as any of them denied and begged it not to be, the outcome was inevitable.

All of this would end with someone dead.
It was just a matter of when.

...

Time: 16:07, October 23

"Here. Try this, it'll help you regain your strength."
Sunghoon placed a plate with food in front of him, wiping his hands clean on his apron.

Sunoo looked up at him, but didn't want to hesitate any longer because of hunger, and wearily raised a hand to spoon the food, whatever it looked like (though was most likely eggs mixed with some kind of herb), into his mouth.

He gave a small, tired nod.
"It's good... You must be good at cooking."

Sunghoon chuckled at his remark, and placed a cup of water in front of him.
"That's nice. I'll tell that to Kazuha, once she comes back, that you like her cooking, I mean."

At that exact timely moment, Kazuha emerged from the kitchen, throwing off her apron, and taking a seat at the table opposite to Sunoo, and next to Sunghoon, who was standing.

Sunoo paused for a moment, food still suspended upon his fork in the air.
"You didn't make it? The food?"

"I didn't, no." Sunghoon told him, almost laughing to himself.

"It would've been a disaster if he had tried... Yunjin told me her experience with him in the kitchen that one time, and it seemed... eventful." Kazuha added, emphasising the last word.

"If it weren't for Yunjin, I would've burnt down the entire kitchen..." Sunghoon mumbled quietly to himself.

Kazuha stared at him.
"What?"

"Nothing. It's nothing." He quickly replied, covering it up.

Sunoo ate quietly, too tired to keep up a conversation with them. Even just trying to keep himself moving was a tiring task, and it felt like every glance in a different direction he did, the more he felt a dizzying sensation in his head.
He took a moment to close his eyes, letting out a small discomforted breath.
The pain felt like there was a drill embedding deep into his skull. Sunoo set down his fork, balling up his fist.

"Hey, Sunoo, are you okay? You're going pale..." Kazuha said, noticing his alarming state.

He gave a little nod.
"I'm just waiting for... for the pain to pass..."

Kazuha felt the temperature of his arm. It was slightly cold. His skin was turning very pale by the second as well.
Sunghoon walked around to the other side of the table, supporting Sunoo by his shoulders, afraid that he could pass out again at any moment.

"Do you need to lie down?" He asked.

Sunoo shook his finger.
"I don't need it. I think I'll be fine for now..."

Sunghoon took a glance at Sunoo's hand.
It was no longer bandaged up properly, just layered with tissues in a messy knot.
He saw the actual wound itself.

And his heart dropped.
It was a dark red. A very dark red, almost a dark brown, even.
The wound was infected.

Sunghoon bit his lip, cursing silently under his breath.
He didn't want to tell the either of the two yet. It definitely was not the right time to do it; it would've made things worse for Sunoo to cope than it already was.

All he could do for now, was to sit and wait it out.
Whether or not it would be a bearable task for Sunoo or not, he didn't know.

...

Had it been seconds, minutes or hours?
He couldn't tell.

After a long time of waiting silently, none of the three of them in the room moving, Kazuha and himself just looking at Sunoo worriedly as he kept his eyes shut, still as a rock, the trapdoor to the base opened, spilling a dim ray of sunlight inside.

Kazuha turned around, standing up from her seat.
"They're here..." she said, breathing a puff of relief.

She took a few strides up to the group, and gave a small wave at Jay and Jake.
But they didn't even bat an eye at her, and kept their eyes down, ignoring Kazuha and passing by her.

Sunghoon eyed them as they walked away, confused.
"What...?"
They shut the dorm room door closed behind them, almost slamming it, even.

The sound made Sunoo open his eyes, and rub his head; his ears had started ringing, and it was giving him a headache that was getting harder to bear by the second.

Sunghoon stared at the others in the room, perplexed.
"What's going on? You all look so... dead..."

Heesung brushed past him, uttering a curse under his breath.
"You don't know how damn much I want you to be..." he snarled, just enough so that only Sunghoon could hear.

He shot him an irritable glance, ignoring both Kazuha and Sunoo before storming into the dorm room without another word.

"What's wrong with him, does he have a death wish-"
Sunghoon turned to storm after Heesung, but Sunoo grabbed his wrist weakly, dismissing the idea with a slight shake of his head.

He didn't want to argue with Sunoo, with the state that the poor guy was in.
So he obeyed. Very reluctantly, he obeyed.

Kazuha paced over to Yunjin, who had her face covered by her hair, and was being closely followed by Jungwon, who was eyeing her with a hint of worry.
She looked troubled and depressed.

Sunghoon stared at Yunjin.
"And you? What's with you? What's happening with all of you guys?!? Why aren't they talking to us, Yunjin-"

Kazuha turned back to Sunghoon, trying to calm him down.
"Sunghoon, go easy on her-"

But he pushed on, a tone of anger building in his voice.
"What happened out there?!? Just damn tell us already! Instead of ignoring us, you should just-"

"Sunghoon, please-"
Niki, who was standing behind Jungwon, tried to reason with him, but he carried on.

"What have you gotten yourself into?!? Do you know how-"

Sunoo grabbed his arm with such force he heard one of his fingers click.
Sunghoon abruptly stopped mid sentence, looking down at Sunoo, who was looking with weary eyes at Yunjin, an almost pitiful look on his face.

"Stop shouting at her... You're making everything worse... She's crying..." he murmured, pointing at Yunjin.

Yunjin brushed her hair out of her face, muffling a sniffle.
"No- I'm fine... I'll just go away..."

She turned to walk away from them, but Kazuha grabbed her hand, pulling her back.

"Oh no-" Jungwon blurted, grabbing Yunjin's wrist, prying it free from Kazuha's hand.

Yunjin let out a pained exclamation, cupping her hand. She stared at Kazuha in the eyes, but only briefly, and attempted to walk away again, but Kazuha stopped her, blocking her path.

"Hey, hey, Yunjin, are you hurt?!?" Kazuha stammered, her voice filled with concern.

Kazuha turned to face Yunjin properly, and let out a loud gasp.
She saw a large red mark, something which looked between a burn and a bruise, across her neck.
"Yunjin, what the hell is this?!?" Kazuha shouted.

Yunjin tried to conceal it with her hand, but Kazuha shunted it away, looking worriedly at Yunjin.
"It's nothing." Yunjin told her.

"What do you mean, 'nothing'?!?"

"Kazuha, I'm fine..."

Kazuha shook her head, furious.
"You're not! What happened?!?"

"Kazuha, stop-"

"YUNJIN, YOU STOP IT! WHY?!? WHY, YUNJIN?!? PLEASE, JUST STOP IT, ALREADY!"
Kazuha shook Yunjin by the shoulders, heartbroken, but the other girl tried to push her away.

"Kazuha, let go of me-"
She tried to push Kazuha away again, but she did something Yunjin didn't expect.

Kazuha pulled Yunjin into an embrace.
The other girl let out an involuntary gasp.

"Why..."
Tears were streaming down Kazuha's face, and she held onto Yunjin as if she were her lifeline.

Yunjin's eyes darted wildly, looking at the floor, then at Kazuha, then back again.
But then, slowly, one of her hands came up, and returned a genuine but weary embrace.

Yunjin didn't move her other hand. It hurt too much to move.

Kazuha spoke to her through sobs: "Yunjin, please... let us help you... tell us what happened..."

At that moment, Sunoo placed down his utensils, and struggled up to stand. Sunghoon eyed him as he did so, concerned.

"Yunjin... your hand..." he said, pointing to her red and inflamed palm and fingers.
He paced over to them, and gently lifted up her arm. She let out a small discomforted exhale, pursing up her lips.

"It's not in a good condition... evidently... and it's causing you pain, I'm sure...?" He murmured.

She gave him a nod.

He looked at her hand, then at the bruised burn across her neck. Perhaps it was just him, but he felt like he had seen a familiar type of injury before; burnt and bruised in the same area.
It had been before with Kazuha. Now he saw the same type on Yunjin.
There was one cause he had in mind. And it sent a wave of immense worry down his spine.

"This injury... and the one on your neck... how did you get it...?" He asked her.

There was a moment of deathly silence in the room. Yunjin gulped, and then a tear ran down her face.
It seemed more like a tear of fear, rather than a tear of sorrow or pain.

Her face quickly succumbed to a sudden flush of worry. Her shoulders heaved as she tried to take in deep breaths to subdue her fit of panic.

She didn't say much, but with all the emotion coming from her heart to her voice, it came out with great difficulty.
And it was more than enough for everyone to grasp what had happened.

"Eun- Eunchae did this to me, but, Kazuha- Kazuha, Sunghoon- She knows where they are. Eunchae knows- Eunchae knows where Sakura and Chaewon are... and she's..."

Yunjin's voice broke from one large sob, and she covered her mouth with her hand, struggling to push through the last part.

"...she's going to kill them..."

...