The sound of the crowds was loud and clear. The backstage isn’t a bad place to wait in. It was large, neat and peaceful, only low volume voices danced around the room. She sat there, waiting for a red hair girl to come out of the giant, vermilion curtain.

 

“Chorong.” A sudden voice called for her while she was watching her boyfriend read a book. Chorong turned to where the voice came from and saw Bomi, her red-hair friend.

 

“Oh, there you are. How’s the show?” She stood.

 

“It was awesome of course. Wish you could watch me perform next time.” Bomi replied. Chorong gave back a smile. Bomi then quickly went to her room to change her outfits and pack up. Rushing, they made their way to the caravan.

 

 

 

Û

 

 

 

“Hi.” Their friends greeted them as they entered the caravan.

 

“Ready for the journey?” Jongdae simpered.

 

“I think I am always ready as long as you are the tour guide Jongdae.” Bomi replied.

 

The journey, it was something that Chorong had never experienced before. Chorong sat on the left bed in the first row of the caravan with Luhan, her boyfriend. They enjoyed their time while the sun dragged the cerulean sky down to the left of the horizon.

 

“Are you sleepy?” Luhan put his arm around his girlfriend’s neck.

 

“No. I slept enough last night.” She smiled and put her head on her boyfriend’s shoulder. “Where are we going again?”

 

“The Red Cave.”

 

“Just remember that I participate in this journey to help your friend Han.” Chorong changed the topic.

 

“Yes Chorong.” He patted on her head from the back.

 

The journey took longer than what Chorong thought it would. Chanyeol, her friends had to take turn on driving the caravan with her Chinese friend, Kris. Chorong turned to her back, facing the window behind her. She watched the grass fields that extend to the right. She watched the forests behind them, as the row of trees shook their branches and enjoyed the rhythm of the wind.

 

The sky in front of them lost its color too soon. Just shortly, the areas of grassland turned into rocks and hills of red rocks. There were barely some trees that stood in the land in front of their eyes. By the time the car stopped, Chorong saw a large opened mouth cave made of rocks not so far away in front of them. It’s the Red Cave.

 

Pulling themselves back to reality, the group of friends went out of their caravan.

 

 

Û

 

 

 

The ground was soft. Chorong saw some trees around them now.

 

“So here we are, in front of the Red Cave.” Jongdae broke the silence by explaining about it. “… So, it is…”

 

“Why is it called Red?” Naeun, the youngest friend among the group cut him.

 

“It is because the cave are made of red rocks, the rocks that was once buried in a pool of lava from that volcano over there.” He pointed to the right, where a rocky mountain sat quietly behind the mists, before she continued with the explanation again.

 

Chorong was uninterested. She disliked the mists. She disliked the cold damp air. She disliked the sounds of the water drops which grew louder as they entered deeper to the dark world below until the clock nine, when they had found a nice spot to enjoy the late dinner.

 

Luhan and Kris helped with making the fire from the firewood while the rest helped with setting out the bedrolls. Their dinner began soon after everything was set. The friends then sat around in circle.

 

“Thank you everyone for helping me with my work. With all of you, I was able to do my promotional reports for this cave.” Joangdae smiled.

 

The dinner ended not long after the air gets colder. The youngest couple from the group, Naeun and Taemin, was the first one to left the group for their own romantic little time, followed by Luhan and Chorong who left half an hour later for a board game.

 

Chess. Chess is a simple board game, but it means something deep for the couple. Chorong and Luhan laid prone on the floor facing each other during the game. It was not long until the silence broke.

 

“Looks like the queen is mine again.” Luhan chuckled.

 

“Dammit Han.”

 

“Checkmate.” He laughed merrily. “The queen’s heart is mine.” Chorong buried her face on her hands and smiled sheepishly.

 

“This is unfair.” She came to a sitting position. Luhan followed. He then stood and grabbed Chorong’s hand to stand.

 

The silence came back. The sounds of the water drops were heard again. In the darkness, Luhan pulled Chorong closer and put his arms around her waist. With no hesitation, he kissed her on the lips. Inside the trap of his hand, Chorong was still holding the chess between them. After a while, she moved back and broke the connections between their lips. Feeling shy, she immediately looked down and dragged her boyfriend’s hand to walk.

 

 

 

 

Û

 

 

 

 

The silence was clearer when they were seating on the edge of what seemed like a ravine inside the cave. Sleepy, Chorong laid her head against Luhan’s shoulder, until she saw a foggy figure of someone short. Chorong kept quiet. Instead, she buried her face on Luhan’s shoulder which confused him.

 

Luhan too, soon noticed the white figure that was in front of them on the opposite side. But, he asked Chorong to stay still and be quiet.

 

The air grew colder; the couple shortly heard a trumpet-like noise.

 

“Han.” Chorong mumbled. Luhan held her hand tight. The couple stayed still, until they heard a miserable scream somewhere around them, a familiar scream. Naeun’s scream.

 

The dinner spot was where everyone gathered. The group of friends soon made their way to where the scream seemed to come from. Chorong, still holding onto Luhan’s arm, followed the others reluctantly.

 

“What the f…” Kris yelled. Bomi and Jongdae walked backward slowly. Shortly, they watched as the white creature crawled hungrily to them. But, before it could reach them, Kris took out his gun and shot it.

 

Through the light that his torch gave, Luhan saw slime, thick veins that build up small path on the creatures skin. The dwarf beast was small, but had a quite thick reddish sharp tail. As he moved the torch above it’s face, Chorong was terrified to see the figure of it. The monster had no pupil at all.

 

Luhan and Chorong went to join the rest of the group, just to found out Kris struggling to inhale his last breath. Chorong watched in tears as Naeun tried to stop the blood from her boyfriend’s neck.

 

Now that the sound of the water drops had come back, Luhan and Chorong went to the dining room to take some of their supplies. They took small steps and tried hard to not stepping on any debris. Shortly, the couple could hear the sound of the firewood burning. Chorong continued to walk behind Luhan when he stopped all of a sudden.

 

“Seriously Han.” Chorong whimpered. Squinting, she counted how many of them. “What the hell are those things.” She began to cry and suffocates. Luhan quickly took out the inhaler that was in Chorong’s pocket, before they began to move back slowly.

 

The couple returned back to where their friends were and told them everything. Jongdae, the only who was holding his phone, tried to make an emergency call but, no signal was found. As their voices grew loud with arguments, so did the creatures’ moan. Shortly, the emptiness in front of them was filled with faint white figures. 

 

The group began to run. And as they run, Luhan and Chorong unconsciously split from the rest of the group. The couple ran to a higher ground of rocks. Knowing that they wouldn’t be able to defeat the beasts, they looked for ways to escape instead of fighting back.  

 

Chorong couldn’t bear the heavy breathing that she had to take. Her energy broke. She fell to the ground just as Luhan held her red cheeks. The couple didn’t speak anything. Instead, they sat there silently, watching the last dwarf beast passed by them without even looking at them.

 

“They are blind.” Chorong whispered.

 

 

 

 

Û

 

 

The couple rested for half an hour, before they continued to walk. They trekked on higher and higher rocky grounds as Luhan believed that the exit might be somewhere above because the Red Cave is underground. Just as they kept walking, they could hear more sounds of the water drops. The deeper they go, the brighter the cave was.

 

It’s a short break after the long walk. The ground was now wet and freezing. When Chorong began to fell asleep, Luhan put his arm around her and removed her fringes that were covering her face.

 

Four hours, Luhan watched their surrounding. The dancing mist in front of them got thicker. The young man watched its movement across the lake -- sudden and brutal, before his attention was cut off by Chorong’s arm that suddenly grabbed on him.

 

“What is it?” He asked, watching the drops of slime that fell on her girlfriend’s thigh. Coming to his epiphany, he felt the strong, warm breath that was above them. He knew they were in danger.

 

The creature moaned, louder and louder. Luhan hid his girlfriend behind him and kicked the creature. Quickly, they ran away from it. Despite the faster they run, the grew louder, then stopped as the beast took its first bite for dinner.

 

Luhan fell on the floor. He felt a deep pain on his neck. Chorong fought for the life of her boyfriend, but her weak punches and kicks were nothing to the small devil. Sobbing, she stopped and took off a red pin from her shirt. With strength, she pushed the pin deep into the creature’s head, which made it rolled on the floor. The moans finally died.

 

    Chorong pulled half of Luhan’s body and leaned it on her. As she hugged him tight from the back, Luhan threw his arm around her neck. Chorong tried her best to cover the blood from overflowing out of his neck, but her efforts were useless. “Go Chorong”, his last words echoed through the damp air.

 

Chorong felt like screaming for him to wake up, but she knew that it would just bring her more troubles. Hands around her stomach, Chorong made her farewell to Luhan.

 

Chorong continued the walk by herself. Like what her boyfriend said, she stepped onto each higher rocky land. The ground was now more wet and slippery. Through the brightness of her torch, she saw moss in some parts of the rocks.

 

The thought of home filled her mind when she began to saw faint rays of lights somewhere in front of her. She heard the sounds of flowing waters, the sounds of active thunders. Hurriedly, Chorong moved forward. A minute later, she found a sign of home and a symbol of death.

 

A hole to the rain sat in front, across a crowd of white, blood- beasts. Chorong froze. She watched as each monster moaned and took a bite on the meat they were holding in their hand.

 

The hole on the other hand means survival to Chorong. Despite all the monsters in front of her, Chorong tiptoed on the left sides of the area, where there were no beasts. It’s a very small path; a path that only one people can pass at a time. Chorong stumbled left and right, but she still maintained to be quiet.

 

One.

 

Two.

 

One.

 

Two.

 

She followed the patterns as she continued walking, until a bloody image disturbed her vision. Chorong looked at it and shouted unconsciously. It was Bomi’s head. Chorong screamed in tears.

 

A miserable moan flew through the air. As Chorong turned to her right, she saw bunch of demons starring back at her. Chorong managed to run, but before she did, the little monsters were already chasing for their prey.

 

   Chorong took a quick glance to the back, before she began to run even faster. After breathing through the inhaler, she quickly grasped the bottom of the hole and pulled herself up. The grip on the hole tightened, but her body fell in a sudden instead of being pulled up. In no time, Chorong felt a sharp thing that cut through her flesh.

 

 

She screamed for a moment, before trying to pull her heavier legs up. Using the other foot, she kicked on the monster’s head hard.

 

“Sons of a .” Screaming, she finally pulled herself up.

 

Chorong peeped outside the hole to find nothing but misty air and a fen just below it, 10 meters away from where she was. With no exhaustion, she took a last glanced at them and run, before then jumping down to the pool of water, not knowing what will the next chapter of her life be.