Chapter 12

Daniel pulled the dark hood over his head as he walked, shoving his hands into the pocket of the black pullover Zoe had given him. He sighed as he felt his phone vibrate against his fingers. Daniel gripped the sides of the device tightly as he pulled it out of his pocket.

Go to Mokpo Passenger Terminal; the Watchers will tell you what to do.

Daniel looked around at the street signs and nodded to himself. It would take twenty minutes total to get to the terminal.

A few minutes later, he arrived at the terminal and looked around. His phone hadn’t gone off yet, maybe, just maybe, he was early. He had spoken too soon.

He pulled his phone from his pocket.

Look up.

Daniel directed his vision to the digital sign that displayed the terminal's name to see it completely changed.

Get on the ferry to Jeju island. From there, you’ll know what to do.

Daniel would not know what to do once there, but, he boarded nonetheless. The departure wasn’t until 7 AM. He had two hours to spare. 

He walked down the hallways of the ferry and looked at the amalgamation of seats, desks, tables, and balconies—no Watchers in sight.

Daniel walked down two more hallways and was met by a relatively open area. There were multiple empty seats with some people here and there.

“Psst.”

Daniel looked toward the source of the sound and found a Watcher standing before him. Strange, Daniel didn’t notice him before. The Warcher wore a familiar black ski mask with the eyes and mouth cut out. Despite the lack of designs like the others he had seen earlier that night, it still gave him chills while he stared at the Watcher. 

The Watcher quickly tilted his head in another direction while looking at Daniel and started walking away. Daniel barely caught that he wanted Daniel to follow him before the Watcher was one yard away. He quickly rounded the corner and saw nobody, only a brown crinkled paper bag with a black mask over it. Daniel was about to step forward before he saw a Seoul police jacket walk out where the Watcher had placed the suspicious items, a brown reception desk with a small wall that concealed the items from the opposing view. Daniel waited and watched to see what the officer would do. To his demise, the officer sat down and pulled out his phone before looking around. He twisted his body around so his right arm hung over the small wall. Daniel cringed as the officers’ fingers grazed the mask gently. He cocked his eyebrow and looked over the wall. He sighed as he picked up the mask and pulled his body in the opposite direction.

Daniel quickly and quietly slipped past the desk, took the bag, and walked out of sight to the other side of the hallway.

Daniel sighed as he took a seat far from the area he had left. His phone buzzed.

You are in the final.

Daniel smiled to himself, now for the hard part.

DG found himself on a busy street in front of a skyscraper building. He had a bad feeling building up in his gut as the time on his LCD screen ticked. He flipped the camera from himself to the building he stood in front of, and his time stopped momentarily.

Go to the roof.

DG let out a shaky breath as he stared at the building from behind his screen and walked up to the building door. He swallowed hard as he saw a Watcher wearing a cover that concealed her mouth and nose. Her amber eyes dug into DGs’ grey ones as he walked past her to the elevators.

“Wait,” She spoke. They didn’t acknowledge each other as she spoke. “Use this once you get off the elevator. You’ll have to use the stairwell the rest of the way.” She stuck out her hand to reveal a keycard.

DG took it and quickly finished walking towards the metal enclosement. Once inside, he pressed the highest floor the elevator could take you: 35.

He would have to walk the rest of the way to the roof, floor 40.

As the floor numbers started to climb, so did DGs’ anxiety. Memories of this exact scenario played in his head as the elevator dinged and opened its doors. He walked to the end of the hallway and looked down the corridor, going left to right. He inhaled as the neon green exit sign glowed brightly down the left. He looked down at the keycard in his hand and started for the door. He swiped the card through and heard a menacing click from the detached lock. He pulled the door open and stepped into the stairwell, letting the door latch behind him.

The higher DG climbed, the more he thought about Daniel. How they kissed in the alley, how they played together, how he liked him, and how he told DG not to worry about him right now. How could Daniel ask that of him? Of course he was going to worry, but he had to trust him. That’s the least he could do for everything he put Daniel through.

DG pushed the door to the roof open and was drowned in the cold wind and the noise of traffic. He looked around for the Watcher and saw him standing by the ledge of the building. He walked over to him and waited.

The Watcher chuckled as he shone his phone torch on DGs’ face. He was recording for DG’s stream.

“Climb the crane,” He said as he moved the torch from DG to the crane that hung off the side of the building. DG said nothing as he placed his phone in his suit breast pocket and walked towards the crane. Images and flashes of his deceased friend played over and over as he put his hands on the thick red painted poles. 

Screams and cries danced around his cranium as the paint chipped off beneath his grip. He reached the top of the crane and stood in the triangular-shaped entry. He steadied himself on the poll beneath him and looked down at the fall that awaited him. Now he remembers, this is why he was so adamant about working out, how could he forget? 

DG relaxed from the now muffled sounds of traffic but regretted it quickly as a drone popped up out of no where. It had a phone attached to it with DGs’ stream playing. DG could see his face take on a rosy hue from the wind in the front-facing camera before it switched to a black screen with contrasting yellow letters. 

Hang for 5 seconds.

DG steadily walked further out and sat on the bar. He needs to do this; for Daniel. He let out a shaky breath before lowering his body off the crane. His forearms flexed as his grip tightened tremendously. Above him, he heard an automated voice from the phone.

“Hang for five seconds… Hang for five seconds one-handed.”

DG growled in fear and aggravation as he slipped off his non-dominant hand. He felt his whole body sway as the wind picked up a bit. 

“One..” He felt his muscles tense as his palms began to sweat.

“Two,” He let his head hang on his chest. The cars were blurry lights and their sounds were barely audible as DG’s blood rushed in his ears.

“Three.” DG held three fingers on his unoccupied hand, making sure the recording phone in his pocket could see them. He snapped his head up as he felt his hand beginning to slip.

“Four.” A fourth finger went up as DG mentally begged he wouldn’t fall.

“Five!” He flipped off his Watchers before he shot his hand up, struggling to pull himself up.

He pulled his upper body over the red pole and swung one of his legs over for balance while the other dangled in the wind. He breathed a shaky breath of relief as sweat coated his face.

“You are in the final.”

“Okay, he did it.” Somewhere in Central Seoul a bubbly raven-haired girl was connecting her phone to a flat-screen TV. “Now it’s your turn Kouji.”

“You got it, girly,” said Kouji, a purpled-haired hacking genius, as he sat on a chair with computer monitors surrounding him.

“Zoe, Games offline.” Another raven-haired girl commented. Zoe turned to look at the TV screen.

“You’re right, Crystal.”

On the black screen was the contrasting yellow font.

Daniel vs DG in the finals.

Hello readers, Soul here! I'm back from my much too long haitus. I apologize for my absence as I no longer feel like my personal life is an acceptable accuse. But, thank you for being patient with me and these slow updates, it means the world to me that you guys are still here.

Anyway, enjoy this filler chapter about how Daniel and DG got into the final. The next chapter will, sadly, be the last chapter.

After I finish this story, I will take a two-month break (maybe shorter) and come back with a book of Lookism one-shots or perhaps even some other PTJ verse stories like Viral Hit or My Life As a Loser. I'm not entirely sure.

Over my subsequent absence, I will work hard on my other books, like One More Time and Just a Role, and publish the already written chapters on a schedule once I return.

Thank you for reading.

-Soul <3