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Iroha's breaths come in short gasps as she dashes through the corridors. The pink walls and dim lights did little to soothe her pounding heart. She felt like she was getting nowhere, but the sound of objects following her, a mirror turning, a plier creaking, it kept her going. There was no hope of her friends saving her now - here, she is only accompanied by the blood rushing through her veins and her beloved love tooth.
Iroha was a dedicated member of the Sarangnee Club. She took in new members, always made her observation reports, and most importantly, cared for her love tooth. She cared for it well. It was the most important rule, Moka had always told her. Moka was always cleaned her love tooth the most diligently. Iroha admired it.
In her caring for her love tooth, perhaps she had forgotten the third rule: Love tooths must be taken out on the 21st. It was a date that had seemed so far away. I'll be ready when the time comes, she had thought. But while the others talked excitedly of the day, Iroha hadn't really ever shared their enthusiasm. Even Wonhee, who joined later than the others, who Iroha had invited herself, was taken by Yunah to bury their teeth together in preparation. They had asked Iroha if she wanted to come, but she had refused. I'll be ready when the time comes, she kept repeating to herself.
Yet whenever the topic came up, Iroha avoided it. Her heart ached at the thought of losing the thing she had cared for, cherished with her whole heart for so long. It took far too long for Iroha to finally realize that no, she wasn't ready. She wouldn't be ready for a while, and she definitely wouldn't be ready by the 21st. So, with guilt on her mind and fear in her veins, she made the decision to run away. She knew it wouldn't be easy. She didn't know the club had an entity especially for cases like her.
Iroha, desperately hugging her love tooth to her chest, ran through twisting hallways. She swore there used to be an exit. She just had to keep looking. Every time she turned a corner, the same sight greeted her. A light, a mirror, three sinks, over, and over, and over again. The sound of her shoes tapping on the tiled floor was surely alerting the monster to her location. Tap, tap. It was getting closer. Iroha turned another corner, but it was just the same mirror and sinks. Was she running in circles? Did she even travel from the entrance? How long had she been running? Maybe it had been years. Maybe she had been running through the same repeating passages for decades and everyone would have forgotten her by now.
Iroha shook her head, trying to think of something other than these strange hypotheticals. She turned left, then right, then right, then left again, and then -
She tripped.
As her face hit the floor, her love tooth fell out of her arms. Iroha gasped, crawling to her cherished tooth, hoping that the monster wasn't right behind her. She hurriedly grabbed her tooth and regained her bearings. Giving in to her exhaustion, she decided to rest for a bit as a she stood up. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, imagining the reactions of the others. I can't believe Iroha would be the one to back out, Wonhee would say. She would be distraught, Iroha knew. I thought she would know better, Minju would say. She would be disappointed. Iroha wasn't sure what was worse. Yunah would be in between the extremes. Moka... maybe she would understand. She had cherished her tooth more than all of them.
When Iroha heard a clatter, she knew she had risked too much by stopping. Her eyes snapped open. On the floor was a small glowing mouth mirror. Above her was the monster's face.
Screaming, Iroha sprinted across the bathroom. The sinks and fluorescent lights became a blur as her only focus became outrunning the entity. Unfortunately, her adrenaline wouldn't last forever. Before she had even put a semi-acceptable distance between her and the monster, her legs started slowing. The entity was gaining on her. Her aching limbs screamed at her to stop but panic forced her to keep running. All she could think was, there used to be an exit. There used to be an exit. There used to be-
Suddenly, there was a different sight. Iroha had already been so disorientated that she nearly missed it. There was the same light, the same three sinks, but on the mirror was a wad of gum. Iroha had never been so excited to see chewed up gum. The disruption in the monotony of the never-ending bathroom sinks certainly signaled that she was near the end. It felt off, but didn't everything?
Iroha ran with renewed hope, and as if the universe had heard her prayers and spontaneously granted her luck, she saw it. She saw the exit. Every second brought her closer, closer to freedom, closer to a beautiful forest where she could wait out the days with her tooth.
She should've known it was too good to be true.
Her foot hit grass. Grass, not white bathroom tile. Iroha could cry of relief. The entity couldn't follow her for long. The trees- they were all different. Each was unique. When she ran in a direction, it didn't bring her back to where she was before. The world made sense. Her mind made sense.
Then, a dead end. The trees stopped giving way. There was no path forward. That was when Iroha realized that she had been trapped.
Eyes widening in terror, she turned around to meet the entity's eyes. Tears filled her eyes. She didn't want to go. Her love tooth was the last thing she had. But as she faced the threatening skeletal figure, she knew she had no choice. There was no escape this time. The monster loomed over her, composed entirely of pliers and probes and lights and mirrors. It was the worst thing she'd ever seen, and it had come to hurt her.
Now, as she made her final stand, she wondered if it was all worth it. Being chased by a monster, getting lost in the backrooms, and betraying her fellow club members, all for her love tooth? Her love tooth, that now she couldn't even keep? It didn't even amount to anything except emotional turmoil.
A feeling of resignation settled over Iroha. She had cherished her love tooth for a long time. She did this because she wasn't ready to let it go. She knew she had done everything she could for her love. She was ready now. She wasn't sure if the entity would take her along with the tooth. Maybe if she survived, her friends might even forgive her. But it was time. She was scared, but she was ready.
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Yunah dried her hands in a dimly lit bathroom. She tried to focus on the sound of the dryer and not the distant screams. Her love tooth was getting removed later. She had met up with the others, as they were getting theirs removed, too. Well, most of them.
If Yunah tried hard enough, she could almost drown out the screams.
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Four girls sat in the waiting room of a dental clinic. Some seemed nervous, others seemed excited.
"Yunah?" Moka asked. "Where's Iroha?"
"I don't know," she lied.
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"Iroha! Where have you been? I haven't seen you since this morning, and you didn't show up to the dentists today!" Minju asked.
"Oh! I just got mines removed at a different office. Sorry for not telling you guys," Iroha replied.
There's something off about her, Moka thought.
Wonhee grinned. "We were worried, Roha!"
Moka smiled and added, "Yeah, if you didn't show up now, we would've thought that you ran away. But you would never."
"Of course not," Iroha agreed.
Almost like... She's not herself.
Moka looked at Yunah. She hadn't spoked at all in the past few minutes. "Yunah? Are you okay?" she asked, carefully watching for her reaction.
"Yeah. Everything's normal."