Chapter 4 - Caught

Jieun's eyes felt irritated by the penetrating light, its brightness shone through the thin eyelids of hers. She slowly opened her eyes and let it adjust to the morning light. Scanning her surroundings with narrow eyes, she realized that she's still in bed, in the room he let her stay in yesterday.

I'm still here... she sighed defeatedly.

She wished this was just another nightmare but then wouldn't this be accepting that she was slowly going insane? Who's nightmare would last this long unless she was trapped in her own dreams.

Jieun tried brushing the sleepiness away and headed out of her room. The house was silent. She stood in the corridor able to see the living room to her left and kitchen at her right. To her relief, no one was there.

She kind of expected to see someone, but at the same time hoping not to. Last night's incident made it hard to face him. She felt lucky that he hadn't kicked her out because of that, others were killed just for seeing a face they shouldn't and I... she shook away the picture that surfaced in her mind.

There was a person she knew with the same face as him, at the place she came from. That person was the most feared prince of all the royal princes. He always wears a mask, and as the rumors said, anyone who had seen him without it would die. Just the mere thought made a shiver ran down her spine. How could imagine that she would end up meeting one with the same face as the masked prince, and on top of that live in his house.

A sudden weird melody of three beats followed by fast footsteps interrupted her brain of thoughts. Jieun turned in the direction of the door, but then the face of the guy meeting hers didn't belong to the one she was thinking of. It was a stranger she had never seen before.

"Hyung..."  His cheerful voice was fading, eyes shrinking in size as he meets hers. With a dumbfounded expression, he looked Jieun, with growing round eyes.

"WHO ARE YOU?!!" He yelled at her.

Jieun bit her underlips, she backed off with every step he took. There was no reason to explain herself when he was already done with the calculation and stamped her for a thief.  Even though she didn't have any reason to, she somehow felt as one, nervously her palms became clammy.

The stranger was at the same size as her. His hair short only reaching his nape, but still considerably shorter than what she was used to. His hair was in a weird color. It looked like he had red stripes? The short guy looked at Jieun as if she was sheep lost on dangerous territory and somehow she could relate to that. Jieun turned away trying to escape but the guy fastly reached out for shoulder, unintentionally pulled in her hair.

"AGR!!!" She groaned in pain, hands grabbing her head making him immediately let go.

Uhhhh..that must hurt... he grimaced.

The pain got the best out of her, without knowing Jieun glared back at the short guy. Her action made him flinch a little. The guy that was just at her size strangely felt timid by her intense glare, though he had no reason to either. She was the blind passenger, he was on the side of justice, he didn't have to feel any of this, what does she think she is to look at me like that?

"Hyung!-...." Another guy entered, with just a shocked expression as the first one she saw.  He was maybe three heads taller than the other guy, his hair slightly longer and in natural black. The full plastic bags in his hand dropped to the floor with a loud dump. The two guys looked at each other with unsettled feelings then turned their stare at her.

.

.

Jieun was sandwiched between the two strangers on the couch as if they were preventing any attempt to escape. They even locked the main door just in case. The taller guy was holding his phone to his ear, the other was having a staring contest with her.

"You're a stalker ain't you?" The short guy sneered with narrowed eyes. She didn't respond. He was just another one speaking nonsense with words she didn't know the meaning of.

"Hyung!" The tall guy exclaimed as the phone was answered, relief and anxious visible in his tone.

"You're. So.  Dead. " the short declared in an annoying manner. Jieun didn't felt threatened by his remark though, in fact, she was pretty confident in winning a fight with this shorty. The tall guy seemed a bit harder to overcome, but at the same time, he looked slim and weak and... too soft to be honest.

They both appeared too kind, judging by the way they treated her even though they saw her as a thief. In her place, a thief would be immediately punished when caught, like getting their hands cut off. But she was just sitting at the couch between the two of them.

"What?" The voice on the phone answered.

"Hyung there is an intruder in your house!!!" The short yelled across her. Though the phone wasn't on speaker, he could tell it was answered judging from the tall guy's exclaim.

"You're at my house!?"

The tall guy moved the phone a few centimeters away from his ear with a wincing grimace, then placed it back to his ear before answering.

"...sorry we wanted to surprise you but then we met this strange girl" Jieun heard the tall guy say, though she had no idea of who he was talking to.

You're talking to a black mirror, but I'm strange?!?

"We didn't report her for trespassing..." he paused, carefully choosing his words, as he didn't want to expose too much for her. "What should we do?? She might be one of those crazy fans."

Coming from one who bought a black mirror, She rolled her eyes.

Even though his hand was covering his mouth as he said the last sentence, she still heard him. She was sitting right next to him, what did he think she was? Deaf?

"She might be strange but definitely not a crazy fan... it's complicated to explain... let me talk to her" The tall guy handed her the phone as instructed.

What should I with a black mirror? She turned away ignoring him.

Who does she think she is to act all mighty?  The short one glared at her.

The tall guy put the phone to his ear and answered. "I don't think she wants to talk."

"Put me on speaker" the tall guy did as told and placed the phone on the table. Jieun didn't understand his action, but soon enough she would know his intentions for doing what he was doing. Suddenly there came a strange voice from the phone.

"Hey," The familiar voice grabbed her attention and she turned around searching but he wasn't there. It was undoubtedly the voice of her savor, but strangely she couldn't see him anywhere.

"I-" she heard him talking but she wasn't listening, just staring at the phone with big eyes. She had finally discovered the source of his voice.

Why is his voice coming from the black mirror?!? Is he trapped in there?! Jieun's eyes wandered back to the short guy.

"You're so dead" she remembered the words.

Will I also be chained in there?!? Her eyes became watery, tears leaked down her cheeks and she burst out sobbing.

"Hyung what did you do!?!" The tall guy looked at the short guy with accusing eyes.

"It's not me I didn't do anything!" the short one shouted putting up his hands trying to prove his innocence.

"What's happening?!?!"

"I don't know!!" the taller guy raised his voice, though he claimed he had no idea his eyes were sure not telling so. His accusing eyes never left his fellow friend, who went from despairing sighs to disbelief scoffing.

Jieun's sobbing became louder, her crying harder as a kid losing its mother. "Do...n't..Eh...mhm...mhm" her words were unclear mixed with crying and sobbing.

"Stop crying! I can't understand what you're saying" She heard her savor, but she couldn't stop the uncontrollable sobbing and hiccupping.

Don't trap me in there she cried like there was no tomorrow.

"Moon!" He snapped frustrated, an instant she froze on the spot upon his call.

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