After all that, the classes started again, and all the students returned to their desks.
A few moments later, Miss Chen entered the classroom.
“Good afternoon, miss,” the students greeted together.
“Good afternoon,” Miss Chen replied with a smile before signaling everyone to sit down.
As the class settled, she spoke again,
“Since your juniors have a holiday today, all the teachers discussed something together.”
The students looked curious instantly.
“So today, instead of regular classes, you’ll have an extra games period.”
For a second, the classroom stayed silent—
Then suddenly everyone cheered excitedly.
“Really?!”
“Yes!”
“Thank you, miss!”
Miss Chen laughed softly.
“You can spend the time however you want, but don’t cause trouble.”
The students quickly stood up excitedly and started rushing toward the school ground.
When all the students reached the ground, Aria quietly signaled Jennifer with her eyes.
Jennifer understood immediately.
“Leave everything to me,” she whispered before suddenly speaking loudly,
“Why don’t we all play Hide and Seek together?”
The students instantly agreed excitedly.
Just then, the sports teacher stepped forward.
“Alright then, I’ll divide you into teams.”
He started pairing everyone one by one.
“Jennifer and Yuji.”
“Laulilla and Orella.”
“Enid and Shin.”
“Usagi and Caleb.”
“Suzumi and Roy.”
“Betty and Reyan.”
“Yule and Yor.”
“And finally… Aria and Shuyong.”
After all the teams were decided, the teacher asked,
“So, who’ll do the counting?”
Aria immediately raised her hand.
“We’ll do it.”
The teacher nodded.
“Alright.
You two will count till twenty, and everyone else will hide.”
The moment Aria and Shuyong started counting, all the students quickly scattered in different directions.
After the counting finished, the two started searching for everyone together.
While walking around the school corridors, Aria suddenly asked,
“Why was your mom so worried that day?”
Shuyong looked confused.
“When?”
Aria walked backward while talking.
“When your mom came to meet me.
I told her that Lucy cheated on Roy too, remember?”
Shuyong stayed silent for a second before answering quietly,
“Actually… Roy is my cousin.”
Aria blinked in surprise.
“And his father is a very powerful mafia leader.”
Before he could continue properly—
“Team Jennifer out!” Aria suddenly shouted after spotting them hiding nearby.
Then she turned back toward Shuyong.
“So your mom was worried about Roy?”
Shuyong shook his head slowly.
“No.
She was worried about Ash.”
Aria frowned slightly.
“Huh?”
Shuyong sighed.
“She was afraid Roy’s father might hurt Ash after finding out everything.”
Aria slowly nodded in understanding.
After that, the two continued searching and eventually found everyone one by one.
Finally—
They found Usagi hiding behind the staircase.
The moment Usagi saw how close Aria and Shuyong had become, jealousy slowly filled her eyes.
Just then, Suzumi and Roy arrived together from the other side.
Aria looked at them suspiciously.
“Since when did you two become such good friends?”
Before either of them could answer, Shin suddenly interrupted dramatically,
“Since the exact same time you and Shuyong became friends.”
Everyone immediately started laughing.
Soon, all the students returned to the ground and prepared to start another game.
But before they could begin—
The teacher walked toward them.
“Alright, children.
Today is your half-day.
You can all go home now.”
Instantly, the students cheered happily.
One by one, everyone started leaving for their homes.
A little later—
Suzumi was quietly walking home alone.
Suddenly—
She felt like someone was following her.
At that exact moment, her phone vibrated.
It was a message from Aria.
> I reached home.
Suzumi quickly typed back nervously,
> Someone is following me.
Aria replied instantly.
> Who is it?
> I don’t know… it looks like a woman.
Aria’s expression instantly changed.
> What does she look like?
Suzumi looked back carefully while walking faster.
> She’s wearing strange black clothes.
For a moment, Aria stopped typing.
Then suddenly—
> No… no, that’s impossible.
Suzumi’s heartbeat started getting faster.
> I’m near the front gate of Block No.
25 right now.
Aria immediately replied,
> Get out of there as fast as possible.
And send your live location in the group chat right now.
Aria immediately headed toward Suzumi’s live location.
A few moments later, Roy, Shin, and Shuyong also noticed the location in the group chat.
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
“Something’s definitely wrong,” Roy muttered seriously.
Without wasting another second, all three of them rushed toward the same location.
When they finally arrived—
They found Suzumi unconscious on the ground.
“Suzumi!” Shin shouted worriedly.
Everyone quickly helped her sit up.
After a few moments, Suzumi slowly opened her eyes.
“What happened?” Roy asked nervously.
Suzumi held her head weakly.
“I was going home… then someone started following me.”
Everyone listened carefully.
“And then… something strange came near me.
I think it was black…”
She paused while trying to remember.
“After that… I don’t remember anything.”
Suddenly, Suzumi’s eyes widened.
“A-Aria… where’s Aria?!”
Shin looked confused.
“What do you mean?
She wasn’t with us.”
Suzumi immediately shook her head.
“No!
She came to me before you guys arrived!”
At that exact moment—
Shin’s phone vibrated.
A new unknown location appeared on the screen along with a sigma emoji.
Shin’s eyes widened instantly.
“This is from Aria.”
Shuyong immediately unlocked his car.
“Move quickly.”
Roy looked toward Suzumi.
“Can you walk?”
Suzumi nodded weakly.
“Yes.”
Everyone quickly got into the same car and followed the location.
After driving for a long time, they finally reached a silent forest.
The location ended there.
The atmosphere felt creepy and unnaturally quiet.
Suddenly, Suzumi pointed deeper into the forest.
“Look… there’s a house over there.”
Everyone carefully walked toward it.
The house looked old, strange, and abandoned.
Shin looked around in confusion.
“Where’s the main door?”
Suzumi blinked.
“At this point, forget the main door… this house doesn’t even seem to have a door.”
Shuyong sighed.
“Let’s spread out and search.”
After looking around for some time—
Roy suddenly shouted,
“I found the door!”
Shin stared at the hidden entrance in disbelief.
“So the door was here the whole time… and we were wandering around like idiots.”
Shuyong immediately stepped forward.
“Let’s go inside.”
Everyone slowly entered the dark house together.
The moment they stepped inside—
They froze.
Aria was sitting on a chair, tightly tied with ropes.
“Aria!” Shin shouted in relief.
“Thank God we found you!
We thought you seriously disappeared!”
Aria immediately whispered,
“Lower your voice.”
At that exact moment—
Heavy footsteps echoed through the darkness.
Step… Step… Step…
A huge man slowly walked out from the shadows.
His name was Bang.
Bang smirked darkly.
“I knew all of you would come here eventually.”
Roy stepped forward protectively.
“Who are you?”
Suzumi glared at him angrily.
“Hey, giant monster-looking man!
Do you even realize you kidnapped a school girl?
Do you know what kind of punishment you get for that?!”
Bang suddenly laughed deeply.
“Those punishments are for humans…”
Then his cold eyes shifted toward Aria.
“Not for us.”
Aria slowly smirked.
“You’re right.”
At that moment, another figure walked out from the darkness.
It was a woman named Grill.
She smiled strangely.
“Yes, my child.
You’re absolutely correct.”
Shuyong looked completely disturbed.
“Who are these two rotten okra-looking people?”
Even in that situation, Shin nearly laughed.
Then he turned toward Aria seriously.
“Aria… do you know them?”
Suzumi looked confused and scared.
“Aria… what is all this?”
Before Aria could answer—
Another voice echoed through the room.
“She won’t tell you anything.”
Everyone instantly turned around in shock.
Suzumi’s eyes widened.
“Usagi…?”
Usagi slowly stepped out of the shadows with a smile on her face.
“Yes.
It’s me.”
Then she looked directly at Aria.
“And Aria… did you miss me, baby?”
Aria smiled casually despite still being tied up.
“Yeah, yeah.
I missed you a lot, honey.”
Usagi laughed softly.
“Oh?
That’s my pleasure.”
Suzumi stared at both of them in complete horror.
“Oh no…”