???? ???? ? ???????

GAME OVER !

Seorin's body moved before her mind could catch up. She tore herself away from Jay's grasp, her legs carrying her forward in a blind dash, heart pounding so violently in her chest she felt it might burst. The walls of the house blurred around her as she stumbled through the hallway, blood still on her hands, on her clothes, her bare feet slapping against the floor with frantic speed.

"Seorin!" Jay's voice echoed from behind her, warped and violent. "Don't run from me! I did this for us!"

But she didn't turn back.

She couldn't.

Tears streamed down her face, hot and uncontrollable. The air tasted like metal and smoke. Every memory, every kiss, every laugh with Jay turned into something rancid in her mind, twisted by the truth that he had murdered every one of their friends — for her.

Her knees buckled as she burst into the living room, slamming against the couch. Her chest heaved with exhaustion and terror, eyes darting around in desperation for anything — anything she could use. She needed to survive. She needed to end this.

And then —
The computer screen lit up.

Static first. Glitches and flickers, like the game itself was malfunctioning.

Lines of code scrolled rapidly, colors bleeding into each other like a dying machine gasping for air. Seorin watched, frozen, as a new message seared itself across the screen in bloody red letters:

"FINAL MISSION: FIND THE KILLER — AND KILL THEM."
"ONE BULLET. ONE DECISION."
"TIMER: 10:00."

The room fell into a heavy silence, a sharp contrast to the chaotic screams still ringing in her ears. Her breath caught in her throat. She stared at the screen like it had physically punched her.

On the table beside the screen — as if summoned from the underworld itself — lay a gun.

A real one.

Cold, black, and impossibly heavy with the weight of choice.

Seorin's trembling fingers hovered over it, hesitant.

Behind her, she heard the door crash open.

"NO. NO. NO." Jay's voice cracked like thunder through the quiet room. His footsteps were rapid, erratic, stomping toward her like a beast unchained. "Seorin — don't! What are you doing?!"

She turned around, slowly, her fingers finally closing around the gun's grip. It was cold in her hand, almost unreal. Her arms shook violently, and she could barely lift it, but her instincts screamed louder than her fear.

Jay stood in the doorway now, his chest heaving, his face pale — but this time, it wasn't calculated. It wasn't part of some twisted game.

He was genuinely shocked. Genuinely panicking.

"What... what the fuck is this?!" he shouted, his voice breaking. He looked between Seorin and the screen like a man watching the world collapse around him. "I didn't plan this. I didn't — no. NO."

His eyes darted toward the gun in her hand.

"Seorin... baby, don't." His voice dropped into that familiar tone — soft, pleading, desperate. "You don't have to do this. I love you. Everything I did... I did for you. Please. This—this isn't what I wanted. I didn't plan this mission, I swear to you. I didn't even know about the gun... the game changed, it—it turned on me!"

But Seorin didn't move. She didn't breathe. Her arms were still trembling, but the barrel of the gun was slowly lifting. Her eyes were bloodshot and wide, swimming in disbelief and grief. Her lower lip trembled as she stared into the face of the man she had once dreamed of marrying. The man who once held her like she was the world.

And now he was a stranger.

A murderer.

"You killed them..." she whispered, voice cracking with agony. "Sunoo. Heeseung. Ni-ki. Jake. You stabbed Sunghoon. You... You left me with corpses, Jay."

Jay stepped closer, cautiously, like she was a wounded animal that might snap.

"I did it because no one else would protect you like I can," he said, his voice shaking with manic conviction. "They would've turned on you, Seorin. I saw it. They never cared. They were weak. They would've let you die."

"We were a family!" she screamed back, the gun in her hand jerking as she lost control of her breath. "We loved each other. We laughed together. You were my family, Jay! I would've died for you!"

Tears spilled freely from her eyes now, blurring her vision as her knees nearly gave out again.

Jay dropped to his own knees, crawling toward her slowly. "Then do it. If you can't forgive me... if you really believe I'm the monster... then pull the trigger. End it. But I swear to you—I did this because I love you."

"You don't kill the people you love." Seorin's voice trembled, each word like a blade slicing her tongue.

The gun in her hand wavered. Her finger hovered over the trigger. Jay was right there, in front of her, broken and twisted and beyond saving. And still she loved him.

That was the worst part.

She loved him — and now she had to choose whether to kill him.

The screen behind her continued to flash.

"FIND THE KILLER. KILL THEM."
TIMER: 08:32

Jay's breath caught. He reached forward.

Seorin flinched.

"Don't make me do this," she whispered through her sobs, her hands soaked in tears, in blood, in betrayal. "Please, Jay. Just tell me why. Tell me the truth. All of it. Then maybe... maybe I can live after this."

Jay stared at her, and for a moment, the madness faded. He looked like her Jay again.

But only for a second.

Because then, a shadow passed across his face again. That hunger. That obsession. That terrifying love.

"Because if I couldn't have you," he said, "no one else deserved to."