The same routine went on for Sinb — the torture has been her motivation to live each day. Perhaps it’s because of the influence the dark lady has on her, but Sinb completely transformed into someone prolly unrecognizable by the people who knew her. 

Instead of crippling due to this cycle of tormentation, Sinb endured it and eventually learned to love the results the torture gave her. Every time her mind and body is toyed upon by the woman, she obtained this magical feeling. She could hear this beautiful symphony as her blood flows inside her body. She could feel her joints and muscles being maximized to a point she could conclude that she’s become a greater dancer than she was, or perhaps than everybody else. 

“Young lady, I could tell that you’re loving this”, the dark woman approached Sinb in her ‘training’. 

“Am I?”, the sweating Sinb smirked. 

The woman moved around her, analyzing Sinb inch to inch. Simultaneously she stopped Sinb’s ‘training’, to which the latter was flabbergasted. 

“You’re complete now”, the woman traveled back to her seat, with her heels putting down extra force on the floor. 

“Complete? I can still endure much… I need to be the greatest”, Sinb argued. 

The woman became somehow annoyed with the young girl’s mouth, responded that Sinb talks too much. She eyed her, sending shivers to the main dancer’s spine. 

“Are you underestimating my creation?”, her voice commanded every arm hair in her listener to go up. 

“No… it’s just that—” 

The woman cut Sinb’s words as she embraced her. Her cold cloak was covering Sinb, but how ironic it was for the young lady to feel warm with her embrace. It was as if there’s an undeniable connection between the two of them, that even if she tortured her, Sinb could still fully accept her. 

‘Creation…’ the word brainwashed Sinb, as the woman was still clinging onto her. 

“You are now the world’s greatest dancer, and you’re gonna prove that to your spectators”, the woman whispered in a devilish tone. 

Sinb was seduced, the sentence was ringing inside her head. The intoxicated lady just nodded and smiled, accepting her new features. 

The woman finally took off her arms around Sinb, and walked out of the door, the difference was that she left the door wide open. 

“Come with me, and have the battle you are yearning for”, she told Sinb. 

The young girl could no longer feel herself shaking and hesitating. Her system was telling her to win and win and win, and so she followed her. 

When they were few steps before the arena, where Sinb could hear the audience cheering and jeering repetitively. It was loud and prolly scary, but Sinb became more fired up with the scene she’s hearing. 

The announcers declared the winner of the past fight, and now Sinb’s name was called out, as well as a well-known male main dancer. 

“A top ranker”, Sinb assumed. 

The dark woman heard her and patted her head once again. “You are now greater than anyone, don’t forget that”, she told her. 

Before Sinb could enter the place, she asked the woman a question she refused to when they first met. “I am glad you helped me, but who are you?”

Sinb wasn’t certain whether the woman was looking at her or her direction because she couldn’t see her behind that mask. The woman only replied, “I am someone you really know…”, she paused and continued, “Go there and win, Hwang Eunbi”.

The woman’s words intrigued her, but mainly those words encouraged her to win. She also thought of how her Gfriend unnies will be proud of her as well, even if her reality seemed sketchy.

“I will”, she smiled to the woman. 

Stepping out of the shadows and emerging to the crowd, Sinb could feel the tension but she enjoyed the attention even though they were mostly bad. The crowd hated new faces, or new women to be specific. It’s her first battle and she’s facing a tough Top Ranker, sure the audience wouldn’t like that. 

As she continued to waltz in the sound of the crowd’s jeers, she looked up to see the Monarchs, eyeing her from head to toe. 

“Look at these Monarchs looking down at me like I’m some trash”, Sinb clicked her tongue. 

“Aren’t you a trash tho?”, the Top Ranker responded, pissing Sinb off, but the woman still displayed her class.

“At least I’m not from the misogynistic vomit of your masters”,  Sinb grinned back. The Top Ranker obviously took it by heart, as his ears were starting to turn red prolly due to anger or embarrassment, Sinb didn’t care. 

“So you’re going to play the gender card, huh? Why don’t you women accept that we are being fed equally in this world… stop being ist”, the guy emphasized the last word. 

Sinb had a short distance of atomic radius for her patience, but she still handled his remark. 

“I don’t see the equality you’re saying when I witnessed most women rotting in their cells. It’s not being ist, it’s being truthful”, Sinb raised her eyebrow and continued, “Let’s stop this nerve talk and dance to death already”. 

The Top Ranker loved her confidence, but at the same time hated her for that. The guy just nodded as a reply, and they started their dance battle. 

Every eyes were on them, especially the Monarchs. They were amazed by the beautiful battle of the two. Spins and twirls and break dances were inserted, various genres were also applied — it was a one-of-a-kind battle in their realm. 

Sinb and the Top Ranker were dancing alongside each other. As they hit every note given to them, their gazes became different. They were both determined to win this. 

In their movements, they slipped on conversations, with the man starting the discourse, “Listen, Miss Hwang Eunbi, we are not enemies here…”. Sinb replied with swatting him as if he’s a fly, while matching the beat with her tapd and hips and facial expressions. 

“I don’t care…”, she was exerting her utmost force. She could hear her heart pounding, as she was doing her last few steps. She successfully executed the most difficult dance combination the audience and the Monarchs have ever seen, and as she raised her hand to the crowd, they both knew the fight had ended. 

They were both out of breath and drenched in sweat. The Top Ranker came close to Sinb as she smirked at him and said, “Enemies or not, I’ll be winning this crap”. She could hear the crowd displaying their festive faces, and that fed Sinb’s ego. 

“I am the best”, she whispered to herself. 

Soon the guards went after the defeated Top Ranker and cuffed him up. No one knows where they would bring him, but the people didn’t care for they jeered at him endlessly. 

After the iconic dance battle, Sinb went back to their training room. She looked for the woman but she was nowhere to be found. She wanted to flaunt her achievement, and be complimented for it. The main dancer has never felt this good before. 

After her rest, she engaged herself in self training once again. Due to the amount of request from her spectators, the battle signal would often ring in her. Day by day, hour by hour, she fought with the other main dancers, defeating them. Her successive wins made her feel too proud of herself that she forgot her main purpose of winning. Sinb has changed into a completely unrecognizable person, especially when she was promoted as a Top Ranker. Being on the list had her head stuck in the clouds, and she couldn’t even realize that. 

One fine day, as she strolled down the woods within the vicinity of the Top Rankers’ place, she discovered Momo being dragged by the guards. She ran to them and rescued her. The Japanese lady thanked her as Sinb witnessed her cry. 

“I heard you’re a Top Ranker now… congratulations”, Momo sniffed and smiled at her. 

“I thought of it as such a great wall, but now that I’m here, I want to achieve more”, Sinb told her. 

With her remark, Momo felt uncomfortable, but they continued  talking anyway. 

“You know Chungha, right? I heard she was executed by a Top Ranker”, Momo looked down. 

“Oh”, Sinb paused. Her eyes transformed into someone else’s, someone that Momo does not recognize. 

“I defeated her, and as a result she was executed”, Sinb laughed and held Momo’s dirty hands. “That was to avenge you, unnie”

The Japanese lady could not believe what she just heard. “To avenge me? I never wanted to defeat or kill anyone in here… why did you do that?”, she was shaking on her knees.

Sinb felt wronged after Momo’s response. Was it wrong for her to do that? 

“I don’t understand why you’re reacting this way”, she replied. 

Momo cupped Sinb’s face and told her in the eye, “Sinb, this is not the purpose of dance, right? Why are you letting yourself become a pawn of this game? What you’re doing is injustice”.

In that instance, Sinb could feel her anger accumulating within her at the speed of light. She pushed Momo, called for the guards, and glared at her with much hatred. 

“You’re an ungrateful … injustice? No, what I did was nothing different from our situation as idols. It’s all about popularity and who can charm the audience better. Honestly, I don’t want to sound rude, but I helped you by proving that I am better than anybody else here”, she was clenching her fists and turned away from the woman.

“Sinb-ya… your unnies won’t be proud of you if you keep this up”, Momo was struggling to stand as the guards started to drag her out of the place. 

Sinb turned to her, and replied, “Shut your mouth, who are you to tell me that?”

As the guards dragged Momo on the bumpy and dusty ground, she winced at the pain every time a rock pierced her skin and bruises. It was painful to hear, but Sinb showed no empathy, and she walked further— away from everything. 

Suddenly, the dark woman appeared in Sinb’s sight. The latter just stared at her as the woman kissed her forehead, her cold mask touching Sinb’s skin instead. 

“You don’t need people like that, Hwang Eunbi… what you did was a good thing”, she said in the most soothing voice Sinb has ever heard. The young woman just nodded at her, with her heart darkening at the rate of her breathing.