That's a familiar voice. Taehyeon shuffles around and pushes Woobin off to see Lee Dongmin lurking behind an artificially exploded tower of lights and buttons.
"What are you doing here?" Taehyeon asks. "Is your glamorous and sophisticated university girlfriend here? If she is, make sure I don't see her or Minjeong will kill me."
Lee Dongmin wears his trademark smile for only a few seconds longer. "No, I don't have a clue what Kim Minjeong has to do with any of this."
Taehyeon glances at Woobin and decides he'd just say something stupid or embarrassing if he explained.
"I'll tell you later."
"Fine. Who is this? Is he your boyfriend?"
"What? No." Taehyeon again tries out a laugh but it sounds just as unconvincing as before.
As though he hadn't heard Dongmin's second question, Woobin introduces himself. Name only, no other information. Not that Dongmin really cares.
"It's lovely to meet you, Bae Woobin. So, Taehyeon. If you're not on a date right now does that mean Kim Bada is around here somewhere? The two of you are never too far from one another. Well, except for when I can help it."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means whatever you want it to mean. Is he here? Is Kim Bada at Blast 'Em Outer Space Laser Adventure Park?"
"If I say yes, will you leave me alone?"
"That's not a nice way to speak to a friend," Dongmin says with a very convincingly charming laugh. "I'll leave you alone if you're telling the truth. If I can't find Bada, I'll come back and take the rest of your lives from you."
Dongmin winks and jogs down another tunnel. Confused but relieved, Taehyeon turns to Woobin.
"Thank goodness it wasn't a whole gang of people, right?"
Woobin's face is serious. "Come on. We'll need to be proactive. Keep your eyes open. We don't know how well the other teams are doing so we can't afford to lose any more lives."
Again, Woobin makes some sort of hand sign that Taehyeon has no choice but to pretend to understand. They take off, through a different tunnel. This one isn't makeshift like the other one and at least has craggy walls made of something foamy and soft. It is a good job that these walls are sturdy but soft because Woobin shoves him aside several times to avoid the laser beams from other players. After practically annihilating at least ten other players, they reach a room that must be some underground tunnel of sorts. Woobin stops to check the counter on his gun. He grins.
"We're doing well. How many did you get?"
"Oh. Erm. Zero."
"Zero?" Woobin squawks. He rushes over and grabs Taehyeon's gun to see the count. He pulls at Taehyeon's harness vest and his eyes widen. "You got hit twice already? How?"
"I'm not sure."
"You should hide," Woobin tells him. "You can't afford to die without any kills."
Taehyeon thinks he actually can afford to die. At this point he's exhausted and definitely bruised in multiple places. Just when he is considering how best to convince Woobin to shoot him, he hears something strange echoing distantly.
"What is that sound?"
"What sound?"
It is Taehyeon's turn to give Woobin a pointed look. With his finger on his lips, Taehyeon listens harder. The sound isn't quite continuous but it rings out often enough that he doesn't need to wait in silence for long.
"Someone's calling your name. Do you think it's a trick?"
"I think it's Woojin," Woobin says, practically skipping over to the nearest arch of a tunnel.
"Who's that?"
He appears. The hot boy with greasy hair from earlier. He and Woobin exchange pleasantries before it is polite for Taehyeon to ask an obvious question.
"Where is Siwoo?" Taehyeon doesn't want to sound too hopeful but for all this time it hasn't really been possible to engineer any alone time for Bada with Siwoo. He hadn't imagined Woobin would be so serious about laser tag.
"He got killed. Pilgyu was chasing us around and wouldn't stop until he'd killed Siwoo. They started arguing so I ran away just in case. I'm glad I found you."
"I'm glad too," Woobin replies. He starts guiding Woojin back over to the place where Taehyeon is awkwardly hanging around. "How many lives do you have left?"
"Two. Pilgyu only got me once."
"Nice. I'm at two as well. Do you want to swap?"
Woojin looks taken aback for a moment, eyes fixed on Woobin like he's seeing this face for the first time.
Feeling particularly vulnerable at one life, Taehyeon asks, "What happened to Bada? He was paired up with Pilgyu. Did he get killed too?"
"I don't think so. Pilgyu said that friendly fire would make him lose a life too."
"It sounds like the birthday boy is the man to beat," Woobin says decisively. He has a certain look in his eye: determination or something like that. It almost makes Taehyeon wish he was good enough to be considered a worthy adversary.
Of course, Taehyeon is in no way anything close to worthy.
Woojin isn't quite as good at laser tag as Woobin, but he is a far sight better than Taehyeon is. Taehyeon is sweating up a storm just trying to keep up with the two of them. It wouldn't be so bad if anybody was gaining any points but Taehyeon is struggling to trot behind Woobin whilst he grumbles about not finding any other players.
"Can we stop for a rest," Taehyeon pants. "There's nobody around anyway."
Whilst gesturing at the empty space around them, Taehyeon drops his hollow, plastic gun. Woojin is kind enough to pick up Taehyeon's gun but he doesn't hold it for long enough for Taehyeon to actually grab it. Taehyeon can only wince away from the stitch in his side whilst Woojin returns to Woobin's side.
The very serious murmuring probably isn't anything interesting anyway. It's cool that Taehyeon is being left out because he's too unfit for stupid laser tag. He's just tired. He was awake for hours already, being stunningly sociable at another birthday party.
It is strange though. Looking around, Taehyeon is certain he has reluctantly scurried through this very area whilst longing to collapse against this very wall. How many times has he been dragged through here without seeing anybody else. Are all the other players hiding away in the tunnels which definitely wouldn't appear on the blueprints for this building? That doesn't sound structurally sound. If Bada is still in play, there's no way he'd venture somewhere as risky as that.
Siwoo is apparently out of the game but it doesn't sound as though Pilgyu would be out of play so easily. Woobin even decisively said that the birthday boy would be the one to beat, so—
"Any last words?"
After all is said and done, Woojin will try to convince everyone that Taehyeon's last words were just one ear-splitting shriek. That's totally not true. Taehyeon does not scream. He is totally cool and unphased by Pilgyu pointing a gun at him.
If Taehyeon had screamed so embarrassingly, surely it would have served as a good warning for Woobin and Woojin. Clearly Taehyeon didn't scream at all because Pilgyu gets both of them too. The disappointment on their faces as their counters tick through the cooldown period is satisfying in an odd way.
Leaving the play zone through multiple curtains of dummy wires, Taehyeon feels like he is travelling to a different dimension entirely. That must be the case because he comes across Lee Dongmin loudly and clumsily flirting with Pilgyu's mother and Bada at the same time. Siwoo is sitting at the same primary-bright picnic bench as them too but he has managed to escape this particular torture.
Sneaking over as quietly as he can through the loose clumps of dissatisfied laser taggers, Taehyeon approaches Siwoo's side of the bench. He's staring hard at his phone so Taehyeon doesn't quite feel comfortable trying to just talk to him. In the immediate future, he'll have to find a way so that he and Bada can talk anyway. On the other side of the bench across the table, Bada and Pilgyu's mom are both sitting facing away from the pile of messily dumped equipment. Lee Dongmin seems to think he is telling a joke but judging from the back of Bada's head, it isn't going down well.
Taehyeon strips off his harness and adds his gun to the pile before he steels himself for something painful.
"Dongmin, I've run out of money. Come and buy a drink for me."
Dongmin stills, his perfectly winning smile freezing only for a second before he raises his gaze to look at Taehyeon.
"You're asking me that? When my glamorous and sophisticated university girlfriend could be around?"
Taehyeon thinks very hard about just how good a friend Bada is. They're practically soul mates. The two of them were born to meet each other and be best friends. If that isn't a beautiful result of fate, Taehyeon doesn't know what is.
If Bada isn't happy, Taehyeon can't be happy. Taehyeon is doing this for both of them.
"I could buy you a drink if you wanted, honey, I already got one for Siwoo and Bada," Pilgyu's mom offers.
"No, Taehyeon is right," Dongmin says breezily. "I owe him. Come on, Taehyeon, let me buy you whatever you want."
This isn't the worst sacrifice anybody has ever made. It might not be so bad. This is all for Bada anyway. Being led away by Dongmin, Taehyeon turns back to flash a thumbs up at Bada. He gets a wobbly smile in response. It would have been nice to give Bada a pep-talk before leaving him almost alone. There's nothing to be done now. This is the chance which needs to be grabbed with both hands.
Taehyeon gets grabbed by two hands too. Inexplicably, in front of far more strangers than is comfortable, he's pushed against the wall beside the grotty vending machines and caged within Dongmin's arms.
"What are you doing right now? Are you trying to fart or something?"
"What?" Dongmin asks, still making the very strange expression which seems to be cause for concern. "No, I'm being suave and dashing. Not that I need to bother being all of that for you."
Nobody has pulled any sort of kabedon-adjacent actions with him before. It's uncomfortable, that's for sure. It also might not have the desired effect seeing as the two of them are practically the same height (if Taehyeon stretches a tiny bit into tiptoe). Taehyeon bends his knees to sink out of the span of Dongmin's arms and tries to stand the way someone totally cool and not flustered might stand.
"What are you accusing me of right now?"
"You're in love with me, remember?" Dongmin prompts. "Bada told me. Wow, I must say this isn't quite the first time this has happened to me but this might be the most exciting time it has happened. Being the focus of a love triangle is a conflicting and painful position to be in, but I will do it if I must. I need to make an informed decision. I already know that Bada is a good kisser. Are you any good?"
That is a question Taehyeon couldn't answer even if he wanted to.
"You're blushing. Lee Taehyeon, am I about to be your first kiss? You're very lucky, you know. I'm very handsome and so many people at school wish they could be in your position right now."
Taehyeon knows he is blushing, but he doesn't want to be! The more he tries to think thoughts about cooling down his face, the more warmth he feels rising upwards. This is terrible. Lee Dongmin is handsome but he has a terrible personality. This awful, awful hot boy is going to keep on thinking that Taehyeon fancies him.
"Stop it. Don't kiss me. Don't you dare."
Dongmin smiles, a stupid, handsome smile that makes Taehyeon too angry to be able to do anything about it.
"Dongmin, there you are! Come on. It's time to go home."
Taehyeon really hopes that the woman who just approached to tap Dongmin on the shoulder has hearing problems. Or at least that the techno-rock music was loud enough to drown him out. She smiles with almost bland innocence. She's pretty, her hair dyed a light brown and cut into a smooth bob. She seems to be average height for a girl, the top of her head just about reaching Dongmin's chin.
Information about Dongmin is widespread across the school due to his various fanclubs. He doesn't have a sister as far as Taehyeon has heard and this girl with light eyes and a curved nose doesn't resemble him much anyway. If this potentially university-aged young woman isn't Dongmin's sister, her identity may be something entirely innocent. The problem with hope like that is the fact that this woman does look very glamorous and sophisticated, even at a glance.
"Are you Dongmin's glamorous and sophisticated—"
The woman laughs. Taehyeon gives up on his trembling voice.
"Why does everyone keep calling me glamorous and sophisticated? Dongmin, your friends are all such charmers. It is nice to meet you anyway."
Dongmin doesn't look too concerned as he follows his potentially glamorous and sophisticated university girlfriend through the throngs of people in the stuffy laser tag waiting area.
If there is one thing Taehyeon is certain of, it is the fact that he absolutely cannot let Kim Minjeong know that he might have seen Dongmin's girlfriend. Gyeongwon is still in Minjeong's bad books and judging by how weepy she is these days, it isn't a nice status to have.
If anything comes of this, Taehyeon can only hope things work out well for Bada.