“Which way?” I looked at the long hallway with doors all along one side of it.

“Only one way to find out.” Jun walked up to one of the doors and opened it. As the door opened, arrows shot at Jun. Luckily, Jun was slightly prepared for something bad to happen and did some quick slicing action before he could sustain any real harm. The worst of the damage was an arrow through his shoulder; it could have been worse. “Alright, let’s not open random doors.” He broke the shaft of the arrow and started healing himself.

“How are we going to know which door to enter if all of them are booty trapped?” Vernon misspoke.

“Did you just say ‘booty trapped’?” Meli giggled.

“What? Is that not what it’s called?” Vernon looked around in confusion.

“It’s called ‘y Trapped’ not ‘Booty Trapped’.” Yoolhee corrected. “Any suggestions on how to approach this?”

 An idea came to mind, but it wasn’t a very good idea. I started explaining my idea to them. Back at the zombie apocalypse, I had to face off an entire army of armored zombies, alone. The only way I beat them was with the help of trees I sprung life into. Maybe I could do something similar to that time and have them open the doors for us, taking whatever punishment that comes with opening the door. The group seemed to have no better ideas so nobody objected.

Jun volunteered to pass me some strength so I wouldn’t pass out from my restrictions. The rest of the group went back into the flooding room and waited for us to finish. Odds are, they were safer in there than they would be out here. Who knows what will come out of these doors?

“One door at a time or should I just open them all at the same time?” I asked Jun as he placed his hands on my back.

“Go big or go home.” Jun prepared for the worst.

At the base of each door, a small sprout began growing up to the handle of the door. This action took about half of my energy but I couldn’t stop there. Jun was breathing heavily. I looked back at his direction and saw his arrow wound re-open.

“Are you alright?” My breathing was becoming harsher as the sprouts got thicker.

“Doing great,” he smirked. “Make it quick, alright?” Jun closed his eyes and embraced himself for the worst.

My attention went back onto the growing sprouts as they wrapped around the handles of each door. Slowly, each door handle began turning right and eventually all of the doors opened. As the doors opened, each door had a different punishment for opening. Some doors were armed with little bombs while others were infested with swarms of wasps. All around, chaos struck. Different species of animals began fighting each other; wolves ganged up on lions, wasps swarmed giant cobras.

Smoke filled the halls and fires raged on both sides. I felt Jun collapse onto the floor behind me and instantly, my energy deprived itself. I collapsed to my knees as the door in front of me opened. Just before I passed out, I saw a flash of light escape the room. This is it, this is where I die.

“Wonwoo, drink some water.” My eyes opened to see Yoolhee sit me up and pass me a cup of water. Where did she get a cup from?

I didn’t object; my throat was raging with dryness. Quickly, I chugged the water down and tossed the cup onto the floor.

“OwW!” The cup squealed. What little attention I had left transferred over to the cup. It grew in size and took form of a girl. Did I just drink from Melissa? “Next time, be careful! I’m very delicate.” She brushed her shoulders off.

My energy began restoring itself and I remembered where I was. The hallway was a complete and utter disaster. At one end of the hall, the entire roof collapsed, leaving a load of rubble in its place. The other end of the hall, Vernon stood guard as wild beasts attempted proving their dominance. As they got closer, Vernon spit fire onto the floor, forcing them to keep a distance. By the looks of it, Jun was feeling better already. He was standing up and stretching his recovering body.

I glanced over to the open door in front of us. Inside, a light bulb hung from the ceiling and a staircase lead down. Was I really afraid of a light bulb?

“We probably should have started with the door directly in front of us.” Yoolhee said. “C’mon Vernon, we’re going to close the door.” The five of us entered the mysterious room and closed the door behind us before the animals could get in.

The way down seemed familiar, like I had been there before. Once we reaching the ground level, three separate hallways split into different directions.

“Great, just great! Which way is it this time?” Yoolhee threw a fit.

I looked over to the opening to the right. Something told me it was that way. I started making my way through it and the group followed. The scenery was all too familiar. This was definitely one of the visions Professor Suarez had allowed me to view. My instincts took over and I walked down the hallway and opened the door on the left, leading into the room where Mingyu was being held.

Inside, manikins were all facing Mingyu while he was being held by all fours in a ‘X’ position by an inactivated rock gorilla. Mingyu seemed to be out cold. Something seemed different about him; His arm was wrapped with gauze. My eyes turned over to the desk containing syringes and I opened the drawer. The drawer was completely empty; no syringe in sight.

“Wonwoo, help us get him down from here.” Yoolhee called me over.

The massive structure of a gorilla didn’t seem to want to let Mingyu go. As we tried prying its fingers open, the gorilla’s head cracked and its limbs started to move. We all stepped back as the massive rock gorilla moved Mingyu into his mouth, swallowing him whole.

“If you want to save him, you have to destroy this body.” The massive creature banged on its chest and roared. Immediately, the gorilla smacked Jun into the wall behind us, rendering him unconscious.

Right after, Meli turned into a massive T-Rex and slammed into the belly of the beast. Its chest began to crack and fragments of Mingyu began to show. The gorilla stumbled backwards but Meli kept striking it without hesitation.

“Don’t hurt Mingyu!” I hollered to the T-Rex and restricted it by the ankles with some thorn bushes, causing Meli to trip and fall. She morphed back into herself and was unable to move due to the thorns wrapped around her legs.

“What was that for?” Meli tried freeing herself from the entanglement.

“You almost hurt Mingyu!”

“I can’t get out of this. It’s just the three of you now. Hopefully you don’t sabotage your own team.” Meli’s body turned an extremely dark shade of purple and she crouched down. Her body reminded me of obsidian. Is she somehow related to Minghao?

“Vernon: Try melting its feet to the ground. Wonwoo: Constrict its arms.” Yoolhee stood back and gave orders.

Vernon’s mouth puffed up as he spit out pure lava onto the beast’s feat. As the air had time to settle in, the lava began solidifying around its feet. Before it did, the gorilla’s rock feet began melting into the lava, rendering it unable to move. To stop it from freeing itself, I summoned palm trees to entangle its arms from moving around. Really, palm trees? It seemed to work, though. The rock gorilla stood in place, unable to move.

“We did it, now we just have to free Mingyu.” I spoke too soon.

“Let go of me! Whose side are you on?” Yoolhee cried out for help. I turned to her and saw Meli holding Yoolhee with a blade, made from her own body, to her neck. Meli’s body was completely made of obsidian; there was no breaking free from her.

“Meli let her go. What are you doing?” I attempted walking towards her but her blade nudged closer to Yoolhee’s neck.

“Melissa isn’t here right now. I possess the earth; she made the mistake of transforming into it.” The voice of the rock ghost came from Meli’s obsidian mouth.

The sound of branches snapping behind me startled me. A giant rock hand wrapped around me and lifted me off of the ground. Vernon was stuck in its other hand. I glanced over to him as we tried wiggling our way to freedom but the gorilla’s grip was too tight.

In the background, Jun was beginning to reawaken. With my peripherals, I watched him assess the situation and go into stealth mode. I didn’t have to see him to know what he was planning. Something great about being a martial artist: when training, you start by breaking pieces of wood. Jun wasn’t in training; he might as well be a legendary martial artist. He could probably smash through cement. This gorilla wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Don’t fight it. I just want to talk.”

QUESTIONS:

Is this rescue mission a hopeless one? Will there be a death just to save someone?

What do you think the syringes were for?

What do you think the villain wants to talk about?