Disclaimer: I do not own YOI nor do I own Running Man: China, just this fanfic.

Sorry for the wait in between the last chapter and this one! I had a ton of schoolwork to do and stuff to worry about. (I had to go through a lot...but I'm sorted out now!) Thanks, all so much for motivating me to continue this fic!

This fic is almost done! I'm so happy (not because this fic is done, but because I could start on another one related to this!). I hope you guys continue to show support through the last remaining chapters to go! You're all the best! :D

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Final Game: Where is the Code? Evade the Hunter (Part One)

Eaton Centre.

The sky darkened as the evening became later. The buildings and streetlamps lit every inch of the large city. This was the final game of this episode. This was it. Everything they've been doing from this morning to now...time to make things count!

The signs were held up by a few scattered people on the way down to the final destination: Toronto's Eaton Centre. The first car to arrive was the blue team's car. Yuri. K, Martz, and Yuri. P all stepped out of the car and into the large empty shopping mall.

The mall was now closed for this episode's purpose, so the skaters and the tv crew gets this entire place to themselves. Nervously walking inside the giant spacious entrance area, Martz saw a large cloth-covered table with a box-like object hidden underneath.

She runs up to the table and unveils the object, it was a large golden treasure chest with a combination lock on it. Yuri. K leans in to examine it, reading the message printed on a label beneath the lock.

"'Here lies the ISU's top-notch gold medal. Congratulations, you found the safe. Now, you just have to unlock it with your combination code...'"

Yuri. P turned to a nearby cameraman. "What 'code?' We only have the first three digits!"

"What's going on here?" A voice asked.

The red and yellow teams all entered through the large entryway and walked up to the blue team standing next to the golden chest. Chris joins Yuri. K in reading the rest of the label.

"Alright, let's see…'By now, you should have the first three digits. The last digit is hidden somewhere in the Eaton Centre. As soon as you have the complete code, get back here as fast as you can to unlock the chest. First team to do so, wins this episode. If you get ripped by the HUNTER, you are OUT of the game. Good luck!' Hunter? Who's the hunter!?" Chris demands.

Sala placed her hands over her chest, looking a little flustered. "Hehe, I don't like the sound of this 'hunter…,' can I quit?"

Otabek gives her a pat on the back. "It's ok, we came this far, we can't give up yet."

Victor silently gulps while maintaining a neutral face and the rest of the players were either shaking their heads or fiddling with their fingers. The game was starting very soon. Director Leaves smirked as she picked up her megaphone.

Unbeknownst the three teams, another person was secretly watching them from the level above them. This person also smirked as he gazed at each and every one of the players with a predatory look.

Time to start hunting…

Director Leaves commanded members of the crew team to each takes the arm of every individual player. "Put them in their allocated areas in this mall. When we start this game, everyone must be by themselves!"

Despite the skaters' protests, they eventually gave in to their escorts. Martz rubbed her arms as the crew man took her down one area. She constantly looked over her shoulder, seeing if she could still see her teammates.

"Uhhh...I'm getting a little scared. This huge empty mall at night...it's kind of sketchy." She stuttered.

In another area, Yuri. K tried to break the ice between him and his escort. But the crew man was naturally quiet. That only made Yuri. K feel more nervous than before.

"Is there a map? Never mind, of course, there'd be a map! It's a mall! Wait! Is it ok for you to stay by my side the entire evening?" He begged.

The crew man stoically shook his head.

Yuri. K's smile dampened. "No? But I'm gonna cry…"

Otabek however, wasn't as scared or nervous as the other players. In fact, he felt pretty confident. His escort took up the escalator to the second level.

Otabek had a look of determination on his face. "I know we can do this. My team and I had won the first and second rounds, just not the third one. We have the three digits, we just the last one. The LAST ONE."

By now, all the skaters were separated and scattered throughout this giant shopping center. Other than the cameramen and producers, they were the only ones in this entire building. This game isn't like the previous ones.

This game is a true competition. They not only have to fight against each other, but they have to fight against an unknown third party: the hunter.

All while searching for clues that would give them the last digit of the combination code. The question is: who will find it? Who will get to the treasure chest first? And who will get attacked by the hunter?

Start of the Final Game.

Victor wanders around his area. Sweat soaking the back of his shirt as if his glands were an endless faucet! He talks to him nonstop as he walked down the hall, desperately trying to calm himself down.

"Whoa, why are there so many stores? I've been walking down this side for only a few seconds!

"There are too many lights! I'm going to be blinded, it's way too quiet.

"It's waaaayyyy too quiet. I'm going to end up giving myself a heart attack if I keep up this wild imagination—AAAHHH!"

Victor turns around a corner and nearly falls to the floor upon seeing a man standing before him. But after taking a second look, it was only a cameraman. Breathing heavily, Victor pulls himself together.

"Phew...omigosh, I thought I was going to die tonight. Haha...wait. Where did I come from?"

Looking around, Victor realized that he has absolutely no idea where he is, and which direction he originally came from. "Don't fucking tell me. I'm already LOST!?"

At the first floor of the mall, Chris walks around with a flashlight he found laying on a customer service desk. It made him slightly safer in this large quiet building. Walking down the hall, Chris suddenly spots something shiny between a gap between two stores.

"What? What's that?" He squeezes himself between the gap and shines the flashlight down before him.

There on the ground before him was a beautiful suitcase that looks exactly the same as all his team's previous silver suitcases. It was the suitcase that held a clue regarding the final digit!

Chris' face was in absolute shock as he picked up the suitcase as if it was the cure for every disease there is. He could not believe it.

"It's a clue...It's a CLUE! I actually I found a clue...hee hee hee…" Chris kneels down to the ground and leans close to the wall, making sure that nobody would be able to see him if they came down this way.

Hands jittering with excitement, Chris opens the suitcase. Inside was a large mission card that looked just like all the previous mission cards. He reaches in to grab it and flips it over to read the clue.

But what he saw written on the back, crushed his hopes and dreams.

There written on the back of the card, was the word in large bolded red font, "EMPTY."

Chris was ready to cry. "W—why!? 'Empty?' B—but...aww…"

Putting the suitcase back down, Chris left this area of the mall and continued looking around. He would not give up so easily!

After several minutes of wandering around, Chris enters a small art supplies store. The lights were on, but nobody was around, other than the cameraman following him. Chris looks on the shelves, behind the merchandises, and inside the janitorial closet. Nothing.

Right when he was about to leave, Chris decides to look behind a toy whiteboard that was being advertised. His eyes lit up when he saw the silver suitcase carefully hidden behind it.

He quickly pulls it out and looks around his surroundings. Good, nobody was around to witness this. He kneels to the ground again to keep hidden from any other person's view.

Opening the suitcase again, Chris immediately flips the card around to see what was written on the back.

'EMPTY.'

"NOT AGAIN! NNOOO!" He was about to put the suitcase back behind the whiteboard where he suddenly sees another silver suitcase sticking out underneath a chalkboard right next to the whiteboard.

Getting excited once again, Chris grabs the newfound suitcase. He rubs his hands eagerly and gives his thanks to fate for being so generous with him.

"Omigosh...oh yes…"

Taking a second before opening the suitcase, Chris squeezes his eyes shut and whispers. "Mamma mia."

This time, he flips the card even faster than he did before. The word focused in his eyes as his brain slowly interpreted what he was seeing before him.

'EMPTY,' once again.

"NOOOO!" Chris takes a second to refill his lungs again. "NNNOOOOO!"

At another area, Yuri. P also managed to find some suitcases. He leans against the wall as he opened the suitcase and flips over the card inside.

His face became distorted as he read what was on the back. "'EMPTY?' Why would there be 'empty' clue cards? Ahhh! Do you know how frustrating this is, director?"

Yuri. P made a face at the camera, not ashamed of it being on tv for all to see. He was being honest. And right now, he truly felt like he was ready to hurl something off the open to below from the second floor down to the first floor.

But of course...that would put him in serious trouble.

Back at Victor's place, Victor ignores the fact that he has no idea where he's going and also manages to find a suitcase.

He got the suitcase out of a darker hall of the mall, so the second he took the card from inside the suitcase, he ran away to a much brighter area.

"Huff...puff...I don't like dark places...alright, what clue does this card have for me?" Victor turns the card around.

'EMPTY.'

Victor made no sound. He made no facial expression. But internally. He was screaming the living hell out of his mind. 'EMPTY…' 'EMPTY…' 'EMPTY…' Those words echoed through his brain.

Telling him that he went into a dark and scary spot in the mall for nothing. It was all for nothing. What the hell? Not wanting to go back to that place to return the card, Victor decides to keep it.

Folding it into a tinier rectangle, Victor puts the empty card inside the pocket of his pants. "I'll return it at the end of this game."

Martz had calmed her nerves down and is beginning to get her head back into the game. She walks around the mall calmly, thinking about how to tackle this game.

"Finding the last digit, eh? So it's kind of like a scavenger hunt...good. I'm good at finding things. Heehee!"

Walking down a stairway to the first floor, Martz knowingly turns around to look at the steps of the stairs. There hidden underneath the very first step, was a silver suitcase!

Grinning, Martz goes onto her belly to retrieve the suitcase and accidentally pushes the suitcase further beneath the step. Frowning, she tries to stretch her right arm deeper in, but her arm wasn't long enough.

She tried again, but her fingers were barely able to touch the handle of the suitcase. There's no way she was able to get that out.

Thinking of a solution, Martz lit up as she turns around to face her cameraman. Smiling sweetly, she asked. "Is it alright if you get the suitcase out for me?"

The cameraman nodded as he signaled to another cameraman behind him to continue filming before giving his camera to Martz to hold, then laying on his belly and reached the step to grab the suitcase.

"Thank you," Martz said as she accepted the suitcase from the cameraman and opened it without a second's waste.

Flipping the card around, Martz's face fell as she saw the message. 'EMPTY.'

She sighed and shook her head. "Well, that was for nothing. Sorry, for asking you to retrieve that, mister." She apologizes to the cameraman before putting the suitcase back underneath the step.

On the second floor of the mall, Chris and Phichit happened to bump into each other. Chris' eyes became saucepans the moment he saw the pile of clue cards held in Phichit's hand.

Phichit saw Chris' gaze and tightened his grip on the clue cards. But Chris was ready to negotiate.

"Phichit, Phichit, bro. Listen, we're good friends, right?" Chris asked.

Phichit nodded. "Yeah, and because we're good friends, I know you have ulterior motives."

Chris stopped dead in his tracks. "Uhh...heh heh, yeah. But hey, come on. Two brains are better than one. What do you say? Let's look at what your cards say…" He attempts to reach out for Phichit's cards.

Phichit backed up quickly, protecting his cards with all his might. "Uh, uh, uh! No! I can't let you have them! This is for my team!" With that, he turned around and ran down the hall.

Chris immediately chases after the Thai skater, assuming that the cards in his hands must contain some kind of beneficial clue. Otherwise, Phichit wouldn't be protecting them so harshly.

Chris catches up to Phichit who tried to hide inside a boutique store. The back of his red t-shirt was grabbed by the Swiss skater and Phichit stumbles, dropping some of his cards onto the ground. The backs of the cards were displayed.

Chris couldn't believe it. Phichit broke out in a violent fit of laughter.

"Hahahahahaha...don't look, Chris...don't look…" Phichit squirmed on the floor, holding his stomach.

All of those cards he was holding, that Chris was trying to get a hold of, were all labeled, 'EMPTY.'

Taking in the irony of the situation, Chris also began laughing. To think that a few seconds ago, he was trying to steal a bunch of cards that he now knows is completely worthless. All because Phichit was pretending that those cards were actually useful.

"Omigosh, Phichit...hahaha...eight...you found eight suitcases and they were all EMPTY!?"

Neither one of them managed to find a single beneficial clue as to what the last digit of the code is. What's with all those 'EMPTY' cards!?

Chris pulls himself together. "But hey, hey! Phichit! We're still bros, ok?"

"O—ok...hahaha…" Phichit still couldn't get a handle of himself. "Chris, bro. I have more cards inside this suitcase, I'll leave this you."

Phichit hands the silver suitcase he was holding to Chris' hands, Chris was in awe. "To me?"

"To you. Because you know, you're a brainiac and everything...I think...but hey, you might have a better chance at deciphering the clue than I will." Phichit said in a serious tone.

Chris nodded. "I'll try my best."

"Good." Phichit smiled. "I'll go look for more clues."

Chris watches as Phichit ran around a corner and out of sight. He sighs gratefully, happy that he had a friend as trustworthy and honest as Phichit…

Never mind.

As soon as Chris opens the suitcase, he was met with nothing. No card. No paper. Nothing. Not even a piece of candy. NOTHING. This suitcase was literally empty.

Chris had no words. "Phichit…" But it was too late, Phichit was already gone.

With no leads and no motivation, Chris goes to a nearby washroom, splashing some water onto his face. He sighs in frustration as he stares at the lens of the cameraman's camera.

"I give up. I. Give. Up. There's no way to finish this final game. I've been looking everything since this game started and so far, all those cards I found were all EMPTY! EMPTY!" Chris shook his head. "I'm losing my mind."

Chris leaves the washroom and continues down his path, in the opposite direction of Phichit. He feels slightly better from that little betrayal by his so-called 'bro,' and became motivated again to look for more suitcases.

He runs down the hall, scanning all the stores and potential locations where suitcases may be hidden. A few minutes later, Chris suddenly remembers something that was mentioned at the beginning of the game.

In this final game, there will be a mysterious third party entering. A 'hunter,' or at least that's what the label said back at the entrance of the Eaton Centre.

But it's been quite some time since this game started! Where's this hunter? Chris continued running down the halls.

"It's been like over 40 minutes or something, where's the hunter? Why haven't any of us met with him yet?" He asked rhetorically.

"I kind of want to meet this hunter, seems interesting. OHHH!" Something shiny catches Chris' eye.

He runs over to a smaller area of the mall, the lights were slightly dimmed here as well, so he turns on his flashlight to see properly. To his disappointment, that shiny thing that caught his eye wasn't a suitcase but was a piece of aluminum foil.

"Aw man…" Chris sighed. "Now if only there's—"

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

The sound of metal bells ringing echoed throughout the quiet mall. In an area as large and empty as this building in this state, a sound like this easily generates terror and fear in the air.

Chris' heart nearly skipped a beat as soon as he heard those bells. His eyes opened wide as he immediately left his current area and booked down the hall, in the opposite—or at least he thinks is the opposite—direction of the source of those bells.

He became extremely careful of his surroundings, not running as fast as he was before, but more cautious. His breathing was ragged and heavy.

"He's coming, he's coming, he's coming...is it the hunter?"

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

A few stores down, Georgi was calmly walking about until he also heard the sound of bells jingling. He stops in his tracks and backs up, his eyes darting up, down, and all around for anybody that he didn't see today.

Nobody was around. So Georgi ran down the area he came from, not wanting to know the source of those bells. But like it or not, all of the players here will eventually meet the source of the jingling sound.

In an empty hall on the first floor of the mall, was a man wearing a pair of black of running shoes. On those shoes, were two sleigh bells tied onto the shoes' laces in a tight knot, to ensure they won't fall off. Those bells rang with each step the mysterious man took.

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

Yuri. P hears the sound of the bells and takes cover inside of a beer store, hiding behind the cashier's counter. His heart beating like crazy and sweat dripping down his back and neck.

"Whew...who is it…?" Yuri. P clenched his teeth as he debated whether or not to peek around the corner.

In another area, Sala cups her ear upon the sound of the bells, trying to get a good idea as to where it was coming from. Martz also hears it, and her jaw drops in fear, already knowing what those bells mean.

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

In a furniture store, Victor hears the sound of the bells. But he was a little late on picking it up, so without much choice, Victor hid behind a velvet curtain being on display, crouching down low so that it won't be too noticeable if the source of the bells does pass by here.

Despite how still he tried to hold his body, Victor was still shaking as if the entire room was negative 25 degrees Celsius! Even his teeth began chattering!

The bell man confidently struts down the now empty halls of the Eaton Centre. Victor's eyes were popping like a fish as he froze every muscle in his body. The jingling was getting closer and closer…

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

On the second floor, Phichit's ears picked up on the sound of the bells and sighed in relief when he heard that it was coming from the first floor. Carefully and quietly running down the halls, Phichit looked down onto the lower level, seeing if he could maybe spot the mysterious man.

Possibly the hunter…

On the stairway leading from the first floor to the second, Otabek was panicking. "Hurry, hurry, hurry! I'm gonna get OUT!" He half-screamed half-whispered as he leaped every two steps up to the second floor.

With each leap, his legs felt more and more like jelly. This was not how he wanted to end his role in this final game! "If I don't get out of here right now, I'll get caught!"

Running down the halls on the second floor, Otabek spots a large wooden walking cane meant for seniors. He picks it up while running, examining it.

"Heh...nice cane, huff, can I use it to fight back the hunter?" He thought to himself.

In Martz's location, she also found a similar weapon of sorts. A fallen bamboo stick from a plant shop. Her hands tightly gripping it as she backs away from the sound of the jingling bells.

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

Inside a bookstore, Chris crawls on the floor, using the shelves and counters to cover his body. The bells were getting louder, he knew that the hunter was probably coming this way. His eyes peeked around the shelf he was hiding behind, preparing for the arrival of the hunter.

The sound of the bells was indeed coming in his direction. The mysterious male hunter continues strutting down the halls with the utmost confidence. The sound of footsteps was soon heard too, at the same time as the jingling of the bells.

Freaking out, Chris pulls a smaller bookshelf closer towards the shelf he was hiding behind, making it harder for the hunter to spot him. Adrenaline rushed through his vessels as he did the action, causing him to nearly slip and fall onto his butt.

By now, Chris had to cover his mouth to prevent the sound of his breathing from being heard. He was ready to cry. Never had he felt more nervous in a situation that was not a skating competition.

His nerves were never this struck at any of his past Nationals, Grand Prix Finals, or World Championships! Why is this? What's there to be afraid of!?

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

Jingle! Jingle! JINGLE! STOMP!

Taking a deep breath in, Chris decides that he won't let his nerves get the best of him and bravely peeks around the corner once again. Just as the footsteps and bells were at its loudest.

The hunter was here.

It almost seemed like everything was being played in slow motion. The sight of the familiar man walking past the bookstore. Yes, attire looked very different, it was more casual than the attire Chris usually sees him wearing.

A black t-shirt and matching black track pants with black running shoes and bells tied to either side of them. That's where the sound of bells was coming from.

Despite the attire and situation, it was the face and the hair that gave it away. That dark tousled hair, and that confident grinning face...no doubt about it.

Chris' eyes opened wide as he recognizes the mysterious third party that was mentioned at the beginning of this final game. The hunter that has the ability to get players of any team, out.

The man stretches his arms out and cracks his fingers, rotating his shoulders as he looked around the area. That same grin still on his face.

Canadian skater, Jean-Jacques Leroy, has arrived! He tossed his head back and laughed.

"Thanks, Director Leaves. It will be an honor to rip off the name tags of your eternally-scarred players. On the ice, I may not always emerge on top. But here, well, we'll just wait and see."

Watch out, players! Be prepared to face the strength and speed of the hunter, JJ Leroy! Yeah, that's right! I liked the idea of giving an overconfident character a reason as to why he's so overconfident. Not just because he's good on the ice, but off the ice too!

And that's part one of the final game!

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