Somewhere at the foot of the mountain, a woman emerged from her sleep. Scratching her head and elbows as if bugs bit them, her eyes wandered from west to east, trying to know where on earth is she. 

“Dang, the bugs bit me hard”, she said in an annoyed tone when she saw red blisters forming in her elbows and arms. 

She stood up and started walking without any direction or destination in mind. It was early in the morning, far different from what she remembered, but everything made sense to her. Yerin knew she was in a completely unknown place, but she can’t quite connect how it happened.

The last thing she remembered was they ate chicken inside their dorm. And now, she’s up in the woods, dealing with some creepy teleportation or whatever sorcery she could name in her mind. Thankfully enough, she was wearing training pants and long sleeves. Somehow this scenery reminded her of the Law of the Jungle, and yes, she knows she could survive this if only she had a pocket knife. But things escalated quickly, she doesn’t even know how she got here. That’s why she kept on walking. 

The sun was starting to show itself and shine its light on earth, and she still hadn’t seen any signs of humans trekking here.

‘What to do?’, she thought, worried that she may be run to trouble, as if this wasn’t a trouble enough. Also, at the back of her mind, she worried about the rest of her squad. 

‘Should I yell their names here? They might be here’, she thought. 

Honestly, Yerin wanted to cry and stopped walking, but ever since that incident wherein she faced lots of criticisms for being fake, she started to get better at hiding her feelings that she can’t cry that easily anymore. 

“Yewon-ah! Sinb! Yuna-yah! Eunha-yah! Sojung-unnie!”, she can hear her voice echo in the nothingness of the forest.  

‘Goodness, they’re not here’ Yerin could feel her tears accumulating in the corners of her eyes. They were thick and heavy, but she still held on to her ambiguous strength. 

Soon enough, she reached a stream. She doesn’t know whether that was a good thing or it could lead to another chaotic event. Upon further investigating the place by sight, she noticed that there was a tent sitting upon the left side of the river bank. 

Seeing the tent, she jumped into conclusions. ‘What if the rest of the group are there?’ By this time, she no longer relied on her rational mind. Her legs led her to the seemingly harmless tent. 

Upon reaching the tent, she heard a rather disturbing noise, barely audible but she identified those as moans. She wasn’t quite sure whether it was out of pain or some other stuff, but she could feel her ears and cheeks burning red due to embarrassment. 

She wanted to inspect further, but never ending thoughts intervene in her trail. ‘They can’t be the members’, she told herself. 

She kept on having this decision battle inside her, until she chose to ignore the tent. She didn’t want to witness anything out of her comfort zone as of the moment.

However when she began walking away from the tent, she heard the voice speak, “Help me” in an almost silent tone. She couldn’t identify clearly whether the person was of what or gender, but she decided to go back anyways. 

“Please help me”, Yerin heard the moan once again, but this time she was certain it was out of pain. 
She opened the tent and contrary to what she had expected earlier - there was no human inside. This sent shivers into Yerin’s spine. She’s not that good with other entities, and mystical events. It is somehow ironic that she’s now inside a world wherein she couldn’t quite measure or identify the percentage of realness, if that was quantifiable. 

“Sowon-unnie, Eunha, Yuju, SinB, Umji… I am truly creeped out right now”, she muttered. She ate her fear knowing that it isn’t an option for her in that situation. Then she started guiding her legs away from the site.

She was trying to cross the stream, thanking the heavens for the weak current, when she heard the voice once again.

 “Please help me”

She was frightened but she chose to go on. Ignoring the voice, she engraved a resolve in her mind - ‘I will get out of this thing or what and I will find the rest of the members’. 

Before she could finally cross the stream, the current suddenly changed. The level was rising rapidly, flooding the whole bank. This caused Yerin to hurry and go to the other side, but it was too late for the water dragged her into somewhere. 

From another side of the world, SinB woke up with chains around her wrists and ankles. She felt sore all over her body, and she was right. There were light bruises in her thighs but she didn’t know how she obtained them. 

Neglecting the soreness, she looked around and realized that she was locked inside a cramped and dirty room. The walls seemed like they were made out of clay like one of those from the ancient Roman or Greek time. A window maybe enough for her to peek was situated at the topmost corner of the room. SinB could hear faint cheers from the distance, but she wasn’t too sure of what’s happening.

‘What is this situation?’ she thought. Earlier they were inside their room, experiencing a lot of creepy events and now she’s alone and perhaps imprisoned. The lady could only let out mild curses from . 

A little later, the door opened. There were few guards, wearing bronze chest plates and helmets. They were holding a woman with brown hair and high cheekbones, having the same chains and bruises. SinB found the woman familiar but she wasn’t too certain. The guards threw the woman to the ground and kicked her.

“You rascals—!” SinB felt enraged seeing violence unfold before her eyes but she couldn’t fight back with her arms and legs restrained. 

The guards were speaking in a language she couldn’t identify, but SinB was sure that they were mocking her and the woman. Locking the door once again, the guards left the room with their laughter echoing in the hall.

SinB clenched her jaw in anger, wanting to get her revenge, but she was distracted by the sobbing woman. SinB somehow managed to help her even though they were both cuffed. And seeing her face to face confirmed her guess, it was Twice’s main dancer, Momo Hirai.

‘Why is she here?’ ‘What is happening?’ These questions were revolving inside her mind. 

There was an uncomfortable atmosphere between the two of them. She had collaborated with her few times, but they weren’t really close or even casual. 
Whenever SinB searches for her fancams in YouTube, a recommended video would always be a dancing battle between her and other groups’ main dancer. It was disheartening for her as many netizens belittled her skills, but she didn’t blame the other idols. Still, it was a little awkward for them to be sitting face to face, and inside a realm that’s even ambiguous in terms of reality. 

“Momo-ssi…”, she wasn’t too sure how to address her. They weren’t that close for her to call her unnie, so she just spoke in a highly formal tone. “...where are we?”

Momo stared at her for awhile before breaking out the stare game. “It is an avenue of gamble for some. It is a place where we fight… and humiliated in public, where people could judge us openly and throw garbage at us.” 

SinB appreciated the sentence construction but she couldn’t sum the descriptions up.

The Japanese lady looked into her eyes once again and spoke, “It is a place where dancers are being subjected to battles for the monarch and the common people’s entertainment”.

Great, a dance battle. SinB was a competitive person, but she’s actually insecure of her skills. Moreover, now that she’s placed in this kind of realm, she has no choice but to strive and survive, thinking that she could see the members when she wins. 

“Who are here?” SinB asked in an interrogative yet calm manner, making sure that her will wasn’t revealed. 

“Many, but now only few people remain.”
“Why is that so?”
“If you lose three times in a row, you will be subjected to execution”, Momo said in a sad and serious tone. 

What SinB heard made her worry more. Executed? Even though she thinks she could be in her astral state, just like Sowon, she was still afraid. What if she was really teleported and this is her physical body being put into risk? She doesn’t know, but all she could do is hope for the best.