"That's the end"
As Ito spoke, the room became silent.
The air felt cold and each person felt a chill of discomfort after reading the chapter.
"What did the author want to say with that message?"
Haewon asked almost in a panic.
"You said that the last chapter had a warning right? This one.. I don't think I heard a warning though."
"No, there was one."
Keith responded to Haewon with a calm tone despite his pale complexion.
"Ito, what do you think? You saw it too, right?"
Ito nodded.
"Null, they're telling us that we need to escape after school ends."
To this, Jaehyuk clicked his tongue and sighed.
"What I don't understand is what we're supposed to be doing with that information. It's not like any of us are…"
His sentence trailed off as he came to an understanding mid-sentence.
To his surprise everyone seemed to have also come to the same understanding as their expressions had hardened.
They were going to become students. Transfers to be exact.
"This makes sense for Ito, but none of us are students and we don't exactly meet the age requirements to attend a highschool…"
Everyone agreed and could only sigh until Ito spoke up again.
"Regardless, I doubt Null would have given us this clue if it wasn't important.
Since that's the case, we should rest and decide on the next most important thing."
"Hm? What are you talking about?
Do you seriously think that now's the time to be thinking about resting?
How do you think that we'll be able to rest when weird things are going on in the world now, and no one else even seems to have noticed!"
"Ah- S..sorry."
Haewon, who had previously lost his cool, immediately went pale again and covered his mouth apologetically, shrinking back immediately under the shocked gazes of the 3 men around him.
"Pfft-"
"BAHAHAHAHAH–"
Keith broke the silence with his laughter as he held his arms close to his stomach and bent over laughing.
Jaehyuk also let out a light chuckle to himself and Ito stared at the timid man with an amused expression half shocked and half impressed.
"Haaah- You're a riot Haewon, it's been a while since I've seen you let loose like that hahaha"
"Hyung… it's not that funny.. It's actually not funny at all."
Jaehyuk sighed lightly and closed his eyes after seeing the sight of Keith giggling like a mischievous schoolboy and Haewon's ears turned a bright pink as he tried to calm Keith down.
"I'm sorry, but haewon wasn't wrong, Ito.
We have quite a lot of concerns and I don't think resting would be the most appropriate choice now until we get answers."
Ito nodded and sighed.
"I understand your concerns, but resting is the most important. I can assure you that nothing will happen. Not yet at least."
He stood up and stretched his legs as he began walking towards the door.
"What makes you so sure that it's safe? You don't seem to be worried."
Jaehyuk asked Ito with a strange expression. Not one of wariness or doubt, not one of fear or anger either.
His tone when he spoke was also calm and measured.
'Hm.. it seems he's quicker to catch on than I thought.'
"Because, I have a feeling that things only happen at night unless Null says otherwise."
Ito thought back to how he had read TWA earlier in the day and then when he got out of school in the late evening there was another chapter.
'Null, they only upload during the day. And that Monster appeared and attacked once it became dark. That has to be a clue.'
Ito nodded to himself slightly and a warm smile appeared to spread thinly across his lips as he thought to himself.
This caught the attention of the other men as they watched him from the hospital bed and table.
They decided to trust Ito's words since he seemed sure of himself and prepared to leave for their rooms as well.
"Hey, before you go.. we should create a group chat. It's weird that we still have an Internet connection but considering that things seemed to have gone back to normal for the time being at least.. we should be able to communicate quickly this way."
After hearing Haewon's suggestion, everyone agreed and exchanged numbers.
[Survivours🤳]
Group chat has been created
The Group's Profile Picture has been changed
The Group's name has been changed
User Jaehyuk has been added to the group
User GoldenFox has been added to the group
User PurinHaewon has been added to the group
User Matchikawa has been added to the group
"..."
Everyone stared at their phone screens in silence.
"Pfft–"
"Don't–"
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHA–"
Sighing, Jaehyuk massaged the bridge of his nose as Keith literally rolled on his back laughing and kicking his feet.
He looked as though he wanted to personally send him to fend for himself against whoever or whatever the next monster would be.
Haewon also sighed deeply and turned away with an embarrassed expression, one mixed half with shame.
"W-what's with that name? Gosh it's so lame!"
Ito shook his head, while he agreed that the group's name was lacking, he doesn't think he would have named it any better. Especially because they definitely were survivours.
On another hand, that username, it's true that it's quite.. strange.
"I didn't know that you enjoyed Purin so much… I'll keep that in mind, hyung."
Ito said as he began to type something into his phone only to get stopped by Haewon who's face seemed to glow a deep red hue.
"P-please don't! I'm changing my name!"
This only caused Keith to laugh more after seeing Haewon become more flustered after seeing and hearing the deadpan response from Ito.
He seemed completely serious when hinting at buying Purin for Haewon and that only embarrassed Haewon more.
"Keith you're not in any position to be laughing, your name is strange too."
Jaehyuk spoke with a serious expression as he looked down at the hyung who was sitting on the ground wiping tears from his eyes.
"Fine, fine~ but at least mine isn't just my name like the two of yours. You two are so stiff and serious, it's hilarious in its own way too."
Ito and Jaehyuk sighed at Keith.
"It's going to get late soon. We need to rest now while we can. Let's meet back here at 6"
Ito looked at the time from the clock on the wall and spoke. Everyone nodded and decided to do just that.
After everything, they were all physically and mentally exhausted, and having this brief chat was nice and much needed but they all knew the peace couldn't last long.
Everyone left the room and Jaehyuk stayed behind and went back to laying down in bed. He looked at the ceiling, deep in thought.
'What was that creature? Who is that kid.. how come he's the only one able to see the screen?'
He had a lot of worries and concerns. He wanted to ask them all to Ito but he knew that doing so would only lead to more questions than answers.
He hated relying on a kid barely out of college to understand what was happening but Everytime he wanted to reject it, he couldn't.
'He's got a good head on his shoulders. He's calm and smart too.'
His thoughts went back to what happened before he lost consciousness and ended up in the hospital.
'but he's reckless and crazy too.'
"Tsk.
I'll think about it when I wake up."
Ryu Jaehyuk, Park Keith, and Choi Haewon all went to sleep that night after much thought. It had become clear to them that their lives were going to become a hell of a lot more interesting and dangerous than ever before.
Something they all felt a rollercoaster of emotions for, they would be in danger unlike anything they've ever faced or prepared to face.
They would experience things that make no sense and couldn't be explained using normal methods. They would likely die or lose their friends, but in the end they knew that it would be easier to survive with one another than if they did it alone.
Ito stayed awake for the majority of the day until later that afternoon. He had been preparing something alone for a while in his room until he received a message.
After reading the message he finally fell asleep with a few hours left to rest before the set meeting time would arrive.