Chapter 16 - The Prize and The Beginning
 

---

 

“You love it, right?” Yongguk asks. It was around 2:30 in the afternoon. The group currently stood outside, having just arrived to the place that Yongguk decided on for the day. Keya looks at Yongguk. She then looks at the block Toys ‘R Us sculpture that was next to her. She then looks at the building in front of her. “Oh my…Holy hell, I’m at Lotte World.” she whispers. Keya looks at the others then back at Yongguk. “Really? No joke?” she asks.

 

“Yes, I brought you all the way out here to Lotto World just as a joke.” Yongguk says. Excitedly, Keya shakes her arms like a small child. The others laugh as Yongguk lead them into the building. “The school year starts next week, so it might be a bit crowded with everyone getting in last minute trips.” Himchan states as they make their way down the stairs to the ticket booth.

 

“This line isn’t as long as I thought it would be.” Keya states. There was three ticket booths opened and each line had about ten different groups in them. As they join a line, Zelo turns to her. “Well it could be because at 4 the ticket price is discounted. So a lot of people, especially students, are waiting until then.” he informs.

 

After about half an hour in line the group purchased their tickets before making their way inside. “So I thought we could start with the inside attractions first.” Yongguk says. Keya feels her jaw drop as they walk farther into the park. “Goodness, this is amazing.” she says. Yongguk looks up from the map that he was holding.

 

“Where do you want to go first?” Yongguk asks. Keya smiles. “You already know, I have to go to that Camelot Carousel. Can’t say I’ve been to Lotte World and not go there.” she states. Yongguk nods as he takes her hand. “Okay, then to the Carousel.” he says leading her through the park. The other six followed behind them at a distance. Staying close enough for Suyun to film the pair but far away enough for them to look around and explore themselves.

 

After riding the Carousel, Yongguk leads Keya to a staircase nearby. “I think you’ll like this one. But because of all the detail, it’ll take longer to look at, so I thought it’ll be better to do this attraction earlier on.” Yongguk explains as they make their way up to the third floor.

 

“Ohh, the folk museum!” Keya says excited. “I love museums like this.” she states. Yongguk lets out a laugh as he follows her in. “You have a weird fascination with different eras of history. I figured this was one of them.” he states. Keya looks at him and smiles. “You are correct sir. I love this!” she says excited as she turns to look at the first display.

 

~~

 

After exploring the different floors of the indoors, they make their way back to the second floor to enter the outdoors park. “Oh, this castle is beautiful.” Keya says as they walk across the passageway.  “Wanna take a picture in front of it?” Yongguk asks. Nodding, Keya takes her phone out her pocket.

 

Taking the phone from her, Yongguk steps back a bit. You want the whole castle?” he asks. Keya nods. “Yeah, but what are you doing? You have to be in the picture too.” she says. Yongguk shrugs and a second later Keya hears a stutter sound. “Did you just take a picture of me?” she asks.

 

Yongguk smiles. “And just posted it onto Instagram.” he says. Gasping at him, Keya takes her phone from him. Looking at the screen, she sees that he wasn’t lying and a picture of her talking was posting. “Yongguk!” she shouts hitting him on the arm. Yongguk just smiles and watches as she presses on the screen a few times. “Hey, don’t delete it.” he says.

 

Yongguk snatches her phone out her hand causing Keya to look at him with wide eyes. “You shouldn’t erase memories.” he states. Keya puffs out her cheeks. “Well, it would have been better if it was the picture I wanted to take.” she says. Yongguk shrugs. “We can take that picture too.” he states switching to the phone’s inner camera.

 

Taking Keya’s hand with his free one, Yongguk pulls her closer to him as he holds the camera out in front of them. After taking the picture, Yongguk once again posts it to Instagram. Exiting out of the app, Yongguk hands Keya back her phone. “There you go. Now you have to keep both pictures on there.” he says.

 

Putting her phone back in her pocket, Keya lets Yongguk lead her toward the castle. “Why both?” she asks. Yongguk shrugs. “Well I mean you can delete it. But I’m pretty sure the fan accounts have already screenshot It.” he states. Keya narrows her eyes as him. “You did that on purpose.” she states.

 

Yongguk smiles and shrugs as he leads her toward the right of the castle. “Let’s stop and eat something before we explore this island.” he suggests. Keya nods in agreement, letting him lead her into one of the restaurants.

 

After ordering their food and sitting down at a table, the two are soon joined by the others. “Been having fun?” Jongup asks as they begin to eat. Keya nods. “Yep. With the expectation of a photo token when I wasn’t ready and posted on Instagram” she says looks at Yongguk. Himchan looks at Yongguk then at Keya. “You must not have seen his account then.” he states.

 

With a raised brow, Keya looks at him. “What do you mean?” she asks. She then looks at Yongguk who just smiles back at her. Once again narrowing her eyes at him, Keya takes out her phone. Going into the app, Keya goes to Yongguk’s account. “Yongguk!” she shouts hitting him on the arm making the others laugh.

 

“You didn’t realize him taking the pictures?” asks Zelo. Keya looks at him. “Some of them, yes. I even smiled in the one I took with him.” she states. “I thought the other ones were of the attractions.” she adds. Daehyun, who sat next to Keya, smiles and leans to the side, closer to her. “The others were of his attraction, just not the park’s attraction.” he says winking at her.

 

Feeling her face heat up, Keya lightly pushes Daehyun away from her making him laugh. “Stop it.” she whispers before stuffing her face with the food in front of her. The other just laugh at her as they focus on eating their own food.

 

Once done eating, the group slowly trail out the restaurant. “So, know what you want to do next?” Yongguk asks. Keya shrugs as they beginning walking aimlessly. Looking around, Keya notices that lights were now on around the park since the sun was starting to lower. The crowds of people was a bit smaller now since the parade was about to start soon inside.

 

Taking Yongguk’s hand, Keya moves closer to him. “You know what we should be?” she asks. Yongguk looks at her. “We should ditch them.” she says motioning to the others that were trailing behind them. Yongguk raises a brow. “Really now?” he asks. Keya nods. “I think this date would be a lot more fun if we weren’t being watched the whole time. Partially is good enough. We can meet back up with them later.”

 

Yongguk nods in agreement. “Or this could just cause a big game of hide and seek in Lotte World.” he states. After a moment of silence the two look at each other. “Oh, now that sounds like a great idea.” Keya says. She then turns to look at the others. “Hey guys!” she calls making them look up. “You all are it. Good luck.” Before they could reply, Keya pulls on Yongguk’s hand and runs off.

 

“Uhh… what just happened?” Suyun asks. Her answer came in the reply of a small ring. Daehyun takes his phone out his phone. “Ah, they ran away from us.” he states. He then turns his phone toward the others. “They want to play a game of Hide & Seek to make this more fun.” he informs. Zelo shrugs. “Sounds about right. We play a fun game and they get time alone together.” he states.

 

“Not that much time.” Youngjae says. “There’s six of us and only two of them. I’m sure we can find them easily.” he states. Himchan rubs his chin. “Not if we stay together as a group.” he says. “If we do, they’ll hear us coming, we’ll have to split up.” he suggests. He then turns to Suyun. “Do you have your smaller cameras with you?” he asks.

 

Suyun nods. “Always.” she says. “They’re in my backpack.” she states. She turns a bit for Jongup, who was next to her to take the cameras out. “So, what are the groups?” Jongup asks, holding up the cameras. Smiling, Daehyun takes the cameras away from him. “I’ll go with Youngjae, Himchan is with Zelo, and you’ll go with Suyun.” he says handing one of the cameras to Himchan.

 

“If someone spots them, let the other teams know so that we can come to that area.” Suyun states. The boys nods before the six break up into their pairs and goes different ways.

 

~~

 

Keya laughs as they slow down to a stop. “This was one of the best ideas ever.” she states. Yongguk looks at her. “Although it doesn’t seem like it, we’ve been at this for almost a hour.” he states. “I’m more surprised that they haven’t caught us yet.” he says. Keya shakes her head. “Well they would have if Youngjae didn’t trip that one time.” she states.

 

“There’s not that many places to hide out here.” Yongguk states. “Should we go back inside?” he asks. Keya nods and looks around the corner of the building they were behind. “Daehyun and Youngjae are patrolling though.” she states. Yongguk looks around the corner also. “Think we can do it?” he asks.

 

Moving back, Keya nods. “Of course we can.” she says. Yongguk smiles and takes her hand in his. “Okay then we make a dash for it…” Yongguk watches his group mates. He waits for the right moment before running with Keya toward the entrance. Halfway there they hear Youngjae call after them. Laughing, they rush through the entrance. Once on the passageway, the two stop to catch their breaths. “Figured that they’ll see us.” Yongguk states laughing.

 

Hearing the others behind them, the pair hurriedly makes their way down the passage back toward the indoor facility.

 

~~

 

“Best game of Hide & Seek I’ve ever played” Keya says laughing as she plops down on a bench. Suyun, who sat next to her, nods. “I agree. We should do this again sometime.” she states. Zelo looks at her. “Well we did tell Haneul about that race idea. So hopefully, they decide to go with It.” he says. “More people and a different field would be a great opportunity.”

 

After taking a few minutes to relax a bit, Keya looks around at the others. “So does this end our adventure at Lotte World?” she asks. The others look at Yongguk. “There’s one more attraction that I want us to do before we leave.” he states. “We’re already on the 3^rd floor so its nearby.” he states looking around before looking at his map.

 

After resting for a couple more minutes, the group is up and following Yongguk through the building. Walking through a cave-like zone, the group arrives at the attraction. “Oh, it’s the Monorail.” Himchan says. “It’ll take us on a tour around the park, inside and out.” he informs. Keya wrinkles her nose. “Ahh, but won’t we be high up for that?” she asks.

 

As the others walk forward, Yongguk takes Keya’s hand. “Don’t worry, it’ll be okay.” he says. “You’ll love it. You trust me?” he asks. After a second, Keya nods. Smiling, Yongguk pulls her forward, following the others to join the line.

 

Once their turn came, the attendant lets them choose where they’ll like to sit. Zelo, Suyun, and Jongup sit in the front compartment; Daehyun, Youngjae, and Himchan choose the second compartment; while Yongguk leads Keya to the third and last compartment. After checking to make sure that everyone was ready, the attendant locks the doors and starts the ride.

 

As the ride slowly pulls out from its station, Keya unconsciously moves closer toward Yongguk on the seat. “You know, if you want, you can stand up and move around to get a closer view of the park.” he states. Keya looks at him and shakes her head as she entwines her hand with his. “No, no, I think I’m fine right here.” she says making him laugh.

 

“So why did you chose this as the last ride?” Keya asks. Looking out, Keya could still see people on the floor level below them. Yongguk tilts his head as he looks out his own side. “You’ll see in just a moment, when it takes us outside.” he says. “Sometimes you have to make opportunities yourself for something happen.”

 

Keya turns and looks at him. “What do you mean?” she asks. When Yongguk just smiles at her, Keya puffs out her cheeks. “Hey, you can’t say something like that and not explain.” she states. Yongguk shrugs. “Don’t worry. Later on you’ll know what I was talking about.” he states. At this, Keya scoffs. “Why can’t I know now? Rude.” she says making him laugh.

 

Before she could say anything else, something shiny behind Yongguk catches Keya’s attention. Sitting forward a bit, Keya tilts her head. “What is…” she stops when Yongguk motions for her to look behind her. Turning around, Keya eyes widen as she gasp.

 

“Oh my goodness.” she whispers. Outside the train, Magic Island stood glowing in the night sky. The Magic Castle towered over it, glowing in a bright halo white light. Completing the view, Seokchon Lake spread out behind it, the lights from the park shinning off of it. “This is so beautiful.” she says.

 

“This is why I chose this ride as the last one.” Yongguk says. The two watch the scenery in silence for a moment. “Keya” As they go through the Lake View Port, Keya turns and looks at Yongguk. “You enjoyed today, right?” he asks. Keya nods. “Yeah, it’s a bit different from how I imaged my first trip to Lotte World.” she says laughing. “I think it came out better. Thanks for bringing me here.”

 

Yongguk smiles. “I’m glad to hear It.” he says. “I love the others but next time I hope that we’ll be completely alone. Just the two of us.” he states. Keya blinks. “Next time?” she asks. Yongguk gives her hand a small tug. “It’s great having you around and I’m glad that we’ve met each other.” he says.

 

Feeling herself blush, Keya looks away. “You feel the same right?” Yongguk asks. Keya nods. “Of course I do.” she whispers. Yongguk pulls Keya closer. “Keya look at me.” he says to which Keya shakes her head. “Why not?” he asks. Keya shakes her head again. “Because you shouldn’t look at others that way.” she says.

 

“What if I choose to only look at you this way?” Yongguk asks. With wide eyes, Keya immediately turns and looks at Yongguk to see him staring back at her. “Y-Yongguk… Don’t s-say things like t-that.” she says. Lifting his free hand, Yongguk runs it through Keya’s hair before moving it to the back of her neck.

 

“If I’m serious, why can’t I?” he asks. Keya feels her breath catch as Yongguk pulls her closer. “This is okay, right?” Yongguk asks. Keya nods, her heart skips a beat when Yongguk moves even closer, their lips almost touching. “You’ll think about it seriously, if I’m serious, right?”

 

Keya nods. “Why wouldn’t I?” she asks. Yongguk smiles. “That’s my girl.” Keya lets her eyes close and all thoughts leave her mind as Yongguk closes the remaining distance between them.

 

~~

 

“So the real question is… Are you two dating now?” Lina asks. The girls were once again scrolled around Keya’s room at night with Daehyun on speakerphone. The only difference this time was that Suyun was on the bed and Keya sat on the beanbag cushion, reading. Keya looks up from her book. “No… I’m pretty sure we’re not.” she says.

 

“No, they’re not.” Daehyun’s voice says. “At least not yet, anyways.” he adds. Stacy looks at Keya. “Okay, what are you two waiting on?” she asks. Keya shrugs. “Don’t ask me. He’s the one who told me to think about it seriously. It’s only been two days Stace, give him time.” she says. Stace narrows her eyes at her. “Why are you so calm about this?” she asks.

 

Keya shrugs. “Because I always think logically.” she says. Suyun looks at Stacy. “Or she’s have an internal war in her head and don’t want it to show.” she says making the others laugh. Stacy sighs. “I guess it’s okay for now. At least he finally admitted that he has feelings for you.” she says. “Next step is for him to do something about It.” she says.

 

“I’ll give him two weeks.” Stacy says making the others laugh again. Lina looks at her. “They’re on a time limit now?” she asks. Stacy shrugs. “How do you all think I got so far in my relationship? Sometimes you just have to have limits.” she says.

 

“If Yongguk and Keya date for five years, we’re just going to naturally start referring to them as a married couple.” Daehyun says. “You know if they’re not married by then. But you never know what can happen; all options are on the table.” he says. Keya looks around. “Can I start officially dating him before we start talking about marriage and stuff?” she asks.

 

“Of course not. What sense does that make?” Suyun says. Keya laughs as she looks back to her book. “Well as the logic person I am. A lot.” she says. “So first let him ask me officially.” she says. Lina looks at her. “Or you can toughen up and ask him first.” she says. Keya shakes her head. “Nooo, that’s never going to happen.” she states.

 

“How is the future World Leader scared to ask a guy out?” Stacy asks. At this the two sisters look at her with confused looks. “Wait what? World leader?” Daehyun asks. Keya shakes her head. “Stace, they don’t know about all that. Wrong group of people.” she states. The sisters look from one girl to the other. “But please enlighten us.” Lina says.

 

Keya sighs and closes her book. “At my job, we have a running joke that when I’m old enough I’m going to run for the Presidential Elections and win. We even picked out who I would choose as my Vice President and my Campaign Manager. Even what I would do for my first two years in office.” Keya explains.

 

“But Stace said World Leader.” Daehyun states. Stacy nods. “Yeah, because one of the younger ones decided that it would be better to take it up a notch. He said that she could bring the world together as one.” she reveals. “The rulers of the World: Empress Keya.”

 

“First I unite the fifty states together. Others in the world would just see how great I am and then I’ll unite the World together as one.” Keya states. Keya and Stacy lets out laughs as the three sat in silence. “How do you guys come up with this stuff?” Suyun asks. Keya smiles. “It’s because at the time we started it, the Presidential Election was going on and I said that I was going to run when I was old enough.”

 

“Now that I think about it, dating Yongguk would actually get you more votes.” Stacy says. Keya raises a brow. “Really? How so?”

“Because of those who know about K-pop.” Stacy states.

“People won’t vote for me just because of who I date.” Keya states.

“No, no, I see where she’s going with this.” Daehyun says. “K-pop fans will be able to feel closer to you over the feelings that the music and culture presents.”

“Others would look at your relationship. It’ll show them how well you handle being immersed in a different culture and adjusting to it.” Suyun says.

“You’re a very logical thinker and not in politics. So that helps too.” Lina says. “With a calm head, bringing the greatest mind in the world together to solve a word crisis.”

“Greatest minds in the world?” Keya asks rubbing her chin. “Solve a crisis then build my teleportation center.” she states making the others laugh.

 

 

---

A.N.: And there is Chapter 16.

Now, I've never been to Lotte World, so I'm sorry if some of the things in this chapter is wrong. For this chapter I spent like 3 hours on Lotte World's website. I got information on all the attractions and surprisingly enough, when i was looking for experience blogs, for people that have been, they don't have many pictures, nor did it go into too much detail. They were more about telling you how to get to Lotte World. Fair enough.

So yeah, the floor plan from the website could only help out so much. Hence why I decided not to go into too much detail about the place. Except for the view of Seokchon Lake. I came across a picture for that. And I know if anyone see Seokchon Lake at night, it's even more breathtaking then the picture I seen.

But anyways this is the start. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Thank you for reading.