The day before my birthday party Daehyun sent me a text saying that his girlfriend is hosting a party and he wants me to go. I was annoyed, obviously. What can I do in the party? Dance by myself? But he said it’s the party for those who actually passed the Specialist test and it’ll be a blast.

“Please go, Kyung Mi-ah. I’m sorry for what I did to you the other day. It’ll be fun! I don’t want you to miss this party.” Daehyun pleaded just yesterday. I had to come up with an excuse just to get away from him.

My communicator vibrated non-stop and receiving messages from Daehyun. I grunted and threw my communicator off my bed. I will never be able to fit in. Daehyun is – well I got to admit he kind of stands out now, but me? I’m just the commander’s daughter. Ugly and short. People respect me just because of that title: Commander’s daughter.

“Kyung Mi-ah, let me in.” Daehyun, the only person who has the permission to enter my house was him knocked on my door. In a matter of seconds, my door will be swung opened. “I’m going in…” Daehyun appeared beside my bed, his body loomed over me. “Let’s go.”

“No, I’m not going. You go there by yourself.” I scowled, facing another direction, not wanting to meet his gaze.

“Just come with me, everything will be all right. We’ll have fun!”

“No.”

“Please…?”

“No.”

“I’ll introduce you some cool friends there. I am so sure you’re gonna love it. C’mon.” he grasped my shoulder and pulled me up. “I have a surprise for you.”

My ears perked up. “Surprise?” Daehyun gives awesome surprises. And his surprises always works on me. I give up; I can’t against my best friend. “What surprise?” He laughed and went to my closet, fished out a dress from it and dumped it on my lap.

“Go and get changed. You’ll find out soon. I’ll be waiting for you downstairs.”

**

“Close your eyes.” Daehyun instructed when he pulled over to his girlfriend’s place. Even in the car, I could feel the loud and heavy bass making light tremors on the ground. I snorted and closed my eyes. “Don’t peek.”

“I won’t. Hurry up.” I hear the door closing shut on his driver seat and then a few seconds later my door slid opened. He lifted me off my seat and escorted me into the house. From here, the music is already getting into my nerves. I won’t be surprised if I came out of this party deaf. When he suddenly stopped walking and left me hanging, I panicked a little. Should I open my eyes? Should I not? The music died down and I have no idea what in the world is happening.

“You may open your eyes now.” I heard Daehyun say. Slowly, I flickered my eyes opened, blinking a couple of times because around me is just total darkness.

“Daehyun?” I called, stretching my hands out and trying to feel something.

Suddenly the lights switched on and I squinted, shying my eyes away from the direct light. “Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to Kyung Mi~ Happy birthday to you!”

Daehyun stood in the middle of twenty other people with a chocolate cake placed on his palm and a traditional glowing candlestick placed on top of the cake. Heat rose up my cheeks as I flicked my gaze to the rest of the kids who seemed to be too friendly for my sake. Daehyun approached me, a bright smile spread across his face. “Here, blow it. Make a wish first though.”

I clasped my hands together and closed my eyes, quickly make a wish and blew out the candle. The crowd cheered. “Yay! Happy 18^th birthday. I planned this specially for you.” He placed the cake on the coffee table beside him. “Really sorry I can’t attend your party tomorrow. Don’t be mad at me bestie.”

I hugged him, grateful for this effort he made. “You’re forgiven.”

“Now that’s more like it.” he said and we pulled back. “Now let’s get the party started!” He snapped his fingers and the music cued. Ear-splitting songs blasted out from the speakers and I cringed. Daehyun leaned closer to me and shouted into my ear. “COME ON, DANCE AND GET YOURSELF DRUNK. IT’LL BE FUN.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed him away. He laughed and I shook my head, signaling him that I won’t dance in front of these people. Instead, I made my way down to the kitchen and got myself a drink. After an hour of so of just randomly walking around and talking to classmates that once I thought they hated me, Daehyun’s girlfriend announced that there would be an adventure hunt special in the Forbidden Forest. She instructed all her guests to be at her backyard for this event to start.

“Daehyun, I think I’m going home. Getting tired.” I told him. He scrunched his brows.

“No way. This is going to be fun. Let’s go together.”

“Never. If my Dad catches me wandering in the Forbidden Forest, I’m so screwed. Just let me go,” I said and spun in my heels. Daehyun grabbed my shoulders.

“Come on, I promise your Dad won’t find out about this. Besides, Haeyoung has guards to protect us. Nothing will go wrong. It’s just a game.” That convinced me a little. I wanted to know how the Forbidden Forest looks like. My Dad never lets me out. He says it’s too dangerous and blablabla. But I knew better than that. His ears always twitch whenever he’s lying. But it’s better for me to avoid his wrath whenever I can. No matter what, my Dad doesn’t discriminate when he’s giving out punishments.

“All right. Let’s go.” I sighed again. I am such a pushover. We gathered in a small circle and Haeyoung stood in the middle. A small hologram appeared in front of her as she set up the map of the Forbidden Forest.

“Okay, so. My parents allowed me to have this adventure race and don’t worry, it’s completely safe. Now if you take a look at this map - ” she linked her screen to our communicator and the image of the map popped out in front of me. “This is like the safest side of the Forbidden Forest where no Estrovians will be able to pass through. But if any of you steps over the safe border, you’re in danger. The tracking device that I will pass it to you later won’t be able to register your position. And if you encounter any Estrovians… We wouldn’t be able to help you. So please don’t go over the border.”

She continued giving us safety instructions and then passing us a tiny device that looks like a ring. I slipped it on my ring finger. “Okay, so the objective of the game is quite simple. You’ll just have to find me. I’ll be in my position waiting for you guys to find me and the first winner gets something. We’re going to be transported via the portal in my place. It’s gonna cost me a huge amount of allowance so you all better get in fast.” Haeyoung laughed to herself.

“Are you sure it’s’ going to be fun…?” I nudged Daehyun who seemed too excited to play this game.

“Of course. Oh and I’m going solo. Gonna be the first to find her.” He winked and followed the students to Haeyoung’s portal. Something in me tells me not to go but well, all Humans are rebellious at heart. The twenty of us stepped through Haeyoung’s portal and the next instant we were at the entrance of the Forbidden Forest.

Even though it’s not really the cold season, I suddenly felt ten times colder. The entire forest loomed over us making us feel more inferior to necessary. I zoned out, not focusing on what Haeyoung has to declare and just concentrated on the surroundings. It’s weird, everything is weird.

“Come on, the event has started. Gonna beat you in winning!” Daehyun ruffled my hair before disappearing into the Forest. I swallowed.

I have a reallyyyy bad feeling about this…