“How did you get here?”

“I don’t remember”

Short exchanges of questions and answer somehow livened up the mood inside the room. It was soon shifting to night, and SinB was getting hungry. She could hear her stomach growling as she heard Momo’s as well.

“Damn, I just ate lunch and I am hungry”

Momo just stared at the young girl then stared at the corners of the room. “They serve crap at 30 minutes”

‘Crap? The food is crap? Is that what she was implying?’ SinB whispered in her mind.

She couldn’t get accustomed to everything that just happened. The imprisonment, the dance battle, her stomach churning… everything felt surreal to her and how she wished she would wake up to a bad nightmare.

Not taking the silence, SinB started to open the conversation once again.

“Why did they throw you here? Was this originally your cell?”

She shook her head and answered, “No, there’s no permanent in this place…” and paused for a second. “...I lost for the first time today, that’s why I was thrown here”.

SinB felt offended because from her words, it seemed as if this cell was a garbage can for dancers who lost. What about her?

“The cells here are for those who lost, or in your situation, hasn’t been sent to a battle”

That line relieved SinB.

“Why did you lose? You’re a great dancer”, SinB shyly replied to which Momo blushed. “Thank you… you too”

The mood suddenly felt lighter than before. There were curves forming in their lips, til Momo became serious once again.

“But it’s a case to case basis… the monarchs can make someone win or lose depending on their mood. But I will not deny that Chungha was a great opponent”

Chungha? She’s the main dancer of IOI and now a soloist. They have interacted before because Gfriend was close with the IOI members. Dancing skill-wise, her specialty is more on hiphop-ish and lots of waacking. SinB can also feel her charisma especially when she does her facial expressions.

“You have to look out for the Top Rankers - the monarchs love them”, she added.

“Who are they?”

“I haven’t met all of them, but so far, I’ve seen five males”

SinB clicked her tongue upon hearing her. She wasn’t too sure whether patriarchy still reeks in this realm, but she began to conclude so. If she’s faced with them, she might lose and be subjected to execution.

The room became silent once again, until the door opened. The guards placed their ‘crap’ as Momo described it on the floor.

The food actually looks disgusting, yes, SinB could attest to its ‘crapness’. However, she was hungry that she’d eat it, but how could she when she’s tied up?

“Won’t you undo these restraints?”, SinB asked in a rather sarcastic manner. This caused the guards to feel enraged and kicked her food. This put SinB into angry mode as well.

“Damn, I just wanted to eat properly! You piece of junks!”

SinB wanted to fight back as usual, but she couldn’t. The Japanese woman just stayed silent, knowing that further questions will cause more trouble.

“Eat that crap, ”

The guards laughed altogether, while leaving SinB feeling frustrated and still hungry.

“You crapheads!”

“SinB… stop already, they won’t listen”

“But—“

“You can eat my food of you want. I am not in the mood to eat anyway”

“Why are you letting this happen to you? This is injustice”

“We entered this path knowing that too well. This realm is no different from our reality as idols!”, the girl yelled at her which made her realize that Momo was correct.

Upon reflecting, SinB just started tearing up. All the memories with her friends and unnies rush into her. Her dreams of becoming an idol… her sacrifices and injuries and humiliation. Yes, idols suffer injustice in a hidden way, and Momo made her realize that too well.

“If you’re fine with it, we can share this crap… unnie”, SinB wiped her tears and faced towards Momo, to which the latter responded with a smile.

They ate their food and when they were finished, they talked about lots of stuff — especially the friendship within their groups and the rivalry that the netizens put them into.

When they were about to go to sleep, SinB heard someone call her name. This made her surprised.

“What’s wrong?”, the brown-haired girl asked.

“Someone… I heard someone call my name”

Hearing SinB’s reply shocked Momo for a bit. She knew that signal.

“You’ll be put into dance battle in awhile”

“Eh?”

Momo nodded and looked at her eyes sincerely, as if she was relaying a good luck message. SinB was hesitant to fight, because she wasn’t ready, but she had to be. So she clenched her fist and gathered strength in her core. Deep inside her heart, she knew the rest of the members would be cheering on for her. That is why she would face her upcoming battle with faith in their voices.

Soon enough, the doors opened and the guards got SinB. Out of that door was a chance for her to go out and show her skills. She will no longer be afraid, at least that’s what she thought.

At the same time, on a different perspective, Umji was lying comfortably on her bed. Even though she was sleep asleep, she could feel someone’s caressing her. It was a gentle touch that she’s yearned for these days as she’s too drawn in practice and fatigue.

“Hmmm”, the half-awake maknae unconsciously muttered.

“Oh, Yewon? Are you awake?”, a motherly voice rang inside Umji. It was a voice she’s heard many times that she couldn’t be wrong.

“Mom?”, the small girl with eyelids seemingly dropping at any moment sprang up suddenly.

“Our princess is awake, I see”, she was right. It was her mother who caressed her in her sleep. Yewon began to cry as she buried herself in her mother’s chest. Holding onto her clothes as her tears were just continuously flowing.

“Yewon, what’s wrong?”, her mother was surprised with her daughter’s actions, but perhaps due to motherly instincts, she just responded a warm embrace.

The crying maknae couldn’t fathom why she was doing what she was doing at that exact moment. Maybe it’s because practice has been tough, life has been tough and she just needed her mother’s warmth.

“Come, come. Little Yewon, what’s the problem? Did they harm you?”

Umji looked at her innocently, while attempting to wipe and stop the tears.

At the back of her mind, she could feel nostalgia creeping into her, a good variety of creep, or so she thought. It was more than nostalgia, her sense of time and memories were overlapping to the point that she felt like she had traveled through time.

It was this sweet moment, when she was in middle school that bunch of her classmates bullied her. She locked herself up inside her room, slowly falling to the pits of depression when her mother came to her refuge. It was that same event that made her weep so much in front of her mother.

“Yewon?”, her mother smiled at her so lovingly. “Remember that your father, your brother and sister and I love you so much… we won’t let anyone hurt you anymore”.

The girl was still sobbing lightly when her mother opened up a heart-to-heart conversation.

“Yewon… you’ll be transferred to the US. We’ve already discussed this and we have contacted a middle school having the same curiculum as your current school”