Dawn by the time they were done packing their leftover belongings. The fire that was once heating up their cold night already out when there were no barks to support the heat, not that they necessarily need them any time soon. They came to an agreement where they should walk together since they did not want any of them to get lost along the way. It was not an ideal trip if they were to go on separate ways. Just as expected, Yoongi’s team took the lead right upfront while Jungkook and Sujeong left tailing behind.

The sun was barely up in the sky which explained the small amount of light seeping through the trees. They kept their steps gentle and careful as they did not want to gather any unnecessary guests or trigger any more traps that hid deep inside the forest. Sujeong still assumed that their boats vanished for a reason so that was why in the midst of the hike; she was busy mumbling her thoughts to no one in particular. It did not make any sense at all. Occasionally, their hands pushed vines out of their sight and before the last two people realised it, they arrived at their so-called location. Or so they thought they arrived.

“So, where’s the castle, Jimin hyung?” Jungkook was the one asking as he could not see what lay in front and the fellow was the nearest to him to ask. Sujeong wanted to smack his head if it was not the fact he was not one of her group members but the least he could do was being a bit patient. But he was right though. Where is the castle?

All she could see was houses made out of wood with coconut tree leaves as the roofs and bamboos for windows. The girls took their time to be mesmerised by the amazing architecture, minus Jiyeon who already saw it beforehand. They had always wanted to witness those types of houses and finally for the weirdest reason, they felt achieved. Something was indeed bothering Sujeong though because she could only think of one thing. If there were houses, that would mean there were actual people living in the area. She could not make out any other sign of living things besides them (and the plants of course).

“Talk about an exodus. It’s just as if they did, you know.” Yein spoke out of the blue, earning a look by most of the people. One should know the fancy choice of word after reading the Bible or maybe even came across the song by the same title. They questioned her on the meaning of the foreign word though and Sujeong decided to explain it based of her readings and it seemed that only Yoongi nodding his head understandingly. “It does look like people left the place in a large group. But where and why?” The oldest one among the eight asked to no one specifically.

“Maybe that’s why?” Taehyung simply answered with another question instead of a solid answer. In synchronise, their heads turned towards his pointed direction. As if the ground was holding their feet, they remained immobile as their eyes widened in fascination at the shining building located metres away from their standing point. A snap of the fingers were all she needed when attention turned to the owner’s hand. “Let’s get going. You don’t want to stay here alone, right?” Taehyung said in concern when he saw Sujeong had no intention of moving.

Their heads glanced up at the massive yet ancient-looking building which seemed to stand there way longer than their ages combined. With algae and vines covering the other structure, it screamed the word ‘mysterious’ on their faces almost instantly. Although it appeared to be left for centuries, one particular colour revealed itself when Jiae randomly scraped it out.

Gold: the colour that symbolises wealth and richness.

The boys walked around the area before they were able to find a large partition made of hardwood in front of them. Calling the girls to check it out, they began to fiddle with the sides, attempting to find a way to get in but Sujeong preferred to stay back for a bit. Her imagination was running wild, trying to decipher the familiarity of the building. A rumbling sound caught her ears and as she turned at the source, she saw a smug expression of a very proud young adult male. She did not even bother wanting to reveal who but the readers might knew it already based on her description.

Immediately, they bumped onto the same door except a smaller version of it as their warily walked inside. Eyes were all over the place and being the one that discovered how the contraption worked, Taehyung with the help of Jungkook and Jimin hastily removed another set of thick bush where apparently a rusting lever hidden. Thanks to the en