"-3"
"-2"
"6"
"-7"
June continued to blurt the answers like he was merely reciting the alphabet.
"How do you even know how to solve this?" Xion asked, looking at June with wide eyes.
"It's high school arithmetics," June deadpanned. "And I like numbers."
"We can tell," Zeth said. "I can only solve this one," he pointed to an addition equation on the corner of the left wall.
"June already solved all 14 equations on the wall," Haruki said. "The only problem is—what do these answers have to do with this room?"
"My 2,000-dollar shoes are getting soaked," Akira pouted, causing Jaeyong to slap the back of his head.
"That's what you're worried about?" Jaeyong deadpanned.
Akira pursed his lips. "I'm just concerned for my shoes," he muttered.
Ren shook his head. "You should be more concerned about your foot odor instead. I'm afraid you would stink up the whole place after all of this is over."
Akira didn't speak any further.
"Are you guys usually this savage?" Nashon asked, scratching the back of his head.
"You have no idea," Sehun sighed.
As the water continued to rise, the tension in the room reached a fever pitch. The water was already up to their ankles, and despite their efforts, they found themselves no closer to escaping the watery prison.
With each passing moment, the relentless flood threatened to engulf them completely, urging them to find a solution before it was too late.
June was worried since he wore light-colored trousers for this particular shoot. If the water would rise even higher, he was sure his pants would become see-through, revealing his bulge yet again.
He didn't want his bulge to trend online again.
"There has to be something," June muttered, glancing around the room.
Just then, Akira exclaimed when the water from some of the ports stopped flowing.
"Look!" he exclaimed. "Half of the ports on these walls had stopped spurting water."
Akira moved to inspect what was happening with the ports. However, as soon as he moved, the water started flowing once again.
"Aww!" he exclaimed in disappointment. "I thought I had it."
June kept his gaze on the spot where Akira was once standing, his mind racing with a thousand possibilities.
Then, he continued to scrutinize the equations on the walls, searching for any clue that might offer a glimmer of hope in their dire situation.
June then shifted his gaze to the grid lines on the floor, a thought sparking in his mind.
The lines had to be here for a reason. They would have placed them in a simple, white room if that wasn't the case instead.
As he traced the lines with his eyes, he noticed a pair of intersecting lines that stood out from the rest—a subtle yet significant detail that had gone unnoticed until now.
"A graph," he muttered to himself, his eyes widening slightly with realization.
"We're standing on a graph," June exclaimed, making the others turn to him.
They also turned their gazes on the ground, the realization dawning on them.
June's eyes darted back and forth from the right wall to the left wall. There were seven equations on each wall, and each equation was in line with another equation from the adjacent wall, almost mirroring each other.
"Then, this must be the coordinates. The numbers on the left wall correspond to the x-axis while those on the right are for the y-axis," June said, finally realizing what the production team was trying to get them to do.
He had to give it to them.
They were almost stumped…
…and his bulge was nearly shown again.
"-6,7," June combined the answers on the left and right wall. "That's where Akira was first standing. Now, go back and stand in the same spot again," he instructed.
Akira, still a bit confused, followed June's instructions.
Much to June's satisfaction, some of the ports stopped spurting water once again.
"Bingo," June smirked. "Now, someone step on -1 and 2."
Haruki, being the closest one to that particular coordinate, walked to where it was.
Again, some of the ports stopped spurting water, only strengthening the thought that June's conclusion was right.
"Omo," Gideon whispered to Nashon. "He must really be a genius."
Just then, they felt someone creep closer to them. "We told you he was," Jisung whispered with a wide smile, feeling proud of his favorite teammate.
"-3 and 2, Zeth, take care of it," June instructed.
"Got it!" Zeth smiled, standing on the coordinates.
He continued to take the lead, instructing those closest to the coordinates to take care of it.
Then came the last equation.
"0, 0," June muttered, finding himself closest to the coordinates.
"This is the last one," he smiled, finally stepping where the most prominent lines intersected.
Finally, water finally stopped flowing from all of the ports. The water was already near their thighs, so June was very thankful that they managed to survive the mission before it went near his crotch.
The door finally opened, making the water escape.
"Sweet!" Akira exclaimed. "We did it!"
The others also celebrated, all while praising June for solving the most important aspect of the game.
Haruki looked away, wondering how he didn't come to the conclusion himself.
However, even while the others celebrated, June couldn't shake off the weird feeling inside his chest.
In this particular game, all of the elements inside the room were used in order to solve the puzzle.
Except for one thing.
The number '7' continued to glare at them, not disappearing despite the equations already being gone.
Then, without any warning, a gunshot sound was heard inside the room. The others were startled, jumping in their spots.
They turned in the direction of the sound, only to find Sehun with his shirt stained red.
Their eyes widened in shock as they stepped back. June, on the other hand, ran to where Sehun was, inspecting the red stain on his shirt. It strangely resembled blood, so, for a moment, he was afraid that Sehun was actually shot.
However, looking at it closer, the stain was merely red paint.
Before June could process everything that was happening, another gunshot sound resonated in the room, now targeting Nashon.
It didn't stop there.
The gunshots continued raining until the six of them were stained with red paint.
That was when the number '7' finally made sense.
The goal of the mission was to survive.
However, for this round, only seven of them did.
