Upstairs, in a mirrored practice room, the sudden, heavy bang from below made Xinlong yelp and nearly drop his water bottle.

You, meanwhile, had reached the top of the stairs and were peering down a long, dark corridor toward the faint glow of an exit sign. You took a hesitant step forward.

At that exact moment, the group rounded the corner from the opposite direction.

All nine of you froze. Your eyes widened. For a split second, there was only the shocked silence of mutual, breathless panic.

Then, chaos. Junseo stumbled back into Arno. Sanghyeon let out a short, sharp gasp. Xinlong instinctively dropped into a low, wobbly martial arts stance. Geonwoo and Sangwon mirrored him with their own improvised defensive poses. Anxin just stared, frozen. Arno clutched at Junseo's sleeve.