The alarm’s shrill sound rang throughout the whole of South Korea. It was the day of ‘The Choosing’, where the President chooses a slip of paper, containing the name of a past idol group, among hundreds of others to participate in ‘The Comeback Games’.

As per usual, Suho and Kris were the first to wake up. Even though EXO had splitted up shortly before the President had taken over South Korea and implemented the games, they were still required to live with each other in a dorm, as they were once part of an idol group.

“Are you nervous?” Suho whispered, his eyes wide. According to the many rules for the Games, each time a group wanted more money, or food, they had to apply for something called ‘Tesserae’, but in exchange, their names would be entered into the List three more times, increasing the chances of them being Choosed. The EXO members had to find another job after the President had taken over, and the jobs that were available all had very little income, causing them all to have a hard time adapting to the new change. As such, the group had applied for Tesserae for over fifty times, which means that their names would be in the List for 151 times.

“Nervous? Why would I be nervous? There are hundreds of idol groups out there, and I’m sure they have applied for Tesserae many times too. The chances of us being Choosed are like, really really low,” Kris shrugged. “Come on, we have to wake the others up or we will be late.”

The members walked into the Square in a single file, with grim expressions on their faces. The Square was where all the important ceremonies were held, and the Games was one of them. Sehun stood next to Donghae, who had the same expression too.

“Good luck Sehun,” Donghae whispered, and squeezed the youngest’s hand to comfort him. Sehun smiled slightly but decided not to reply. According to another one of the Games’ stupid rules, idol groups were no longer allowed to communicate with one another, in fear of a rebellion. Sehun was definitely not looking forward to getting anyone in trouble, especially on such a day.

After about ten minutes, the President strolled up the stage slowly, with a chilling smile on his lips. “Welcome! Today is a really wonderful day, for me, for you guys, and the whole of South Korea. Today is The Comeback Games!” The President announced, and paused for a while, for the fake cheers of the idols to fade.

“This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Games. Five years ago, SNSD was chosen for a fight to the death and a chance to comeback, where Jessica had perished. On the second Comeback Games, Big Bang was chosen. Their fight lasted for an amazing eighteen days, where G-Dragon emerged champion and had a solo debut. Three years ago, BTS got chosen, and surprisingly all of them managed to last four weeks in the arena, giving them a group comback, which was the first in three years. Just last year, Red Velvet entered the Games, and all five of them died. That was a rather boring year, if I do say so myself,” The President continued.

Sehun couldn’t help but agree. The Games last year only lasted for a day, before a landmine planted by one of the girls was triggered and blowed the entire arena, including the five girls, into pieces. Needless to say, there wasn't any comebacks that year, and the whole year was an uneventful one.

“This year is the fifth year of the Games! Every five years, the Games would be tweaked to make it more fun, and more special. All of you can count on an interesting Games this year to make up for the lackluster one last year. So, without further ado, let the Choosing Ceremony began!” The President nodded his head, and his assistant quickly walked forward to bring him the List. The List was actually names entered into a system in the computer, and in EXO’s case, their names would be in the List 151 times. Once the President clicked a button, the List would start scrolling randomly for one minute until it stops at a name, like a random name generator.

The President pressed a button and grinned. The next one minute was a nerve wrecking one. Through a projector on the screen, all the idol groups can see the List being scrolled. Rubbing his hands, Sehun stared at the screen. Seventeen… Twice… iKon… all the names flew past in a blur.

Suddenly, the List slowed down. “Crap, we are screwed,” Sehun muttered to Kai. There was only three names left, and amongst the three, two was EXO.

“Nah, we have a 33% -” Kai replied, but was cut off by the cheers of the other idol groups.

“So! We have our participants for the fifth annual Comeback Games! Let's give a round of applause for … EXO!” The President grinned and applauded loudly. “Please come up on stage!”

“Ugh! Is this Games rigged or what? Of all people, why us? I heard that other groups’ name are on the list for more than 300 times! This is so stupid,” Baekhyun sulked and threw a cushion on the floor.

“Shut up, Baek, there might be cameras in the train,” Chen replied and threw the cushion back at Baekhyun. After the Choosing, they were all hurriedly ushered into a train, which would bring them to the Training Centre to train for the Games.

All of a sudden, the door flew open, and the members of SHINee stepped inside the carriage. “What the heck?” Baekhyun muttered his breath.

“Erm…… Hi guys? So this usually won’t be broadcasted to the country, but every participant for the Games would have a mentor to help them. But since there are so many members, you guys would have to share a mentor, unless you guys want to train together,” Onew shut the train door behind him and stared at EXO expectantly.

Kai raised an eyebrow. “No wonder I have never ever seen you guys at the Choosing. Now I know. While all the idols are living pathetically, you guys are living in the Capitol. Being a mentor must have a high income, huh?”

“I think we should split them up into K and M first. Onew, Jonghyun and me will be with K, and Key and Minho will be with M,” Taemin ignored Kai’s remarks. “You guys will be reaching the training centre in five minutes. Meet us at the basement of the centre.”

The flashing of lights almost blinded EXO once they stepped out of the train. The train station was so crowded that they had trouble moving past the crowd.

“Will you guys battle for a solo debut?”

“Please don’t end this year’s games with everyone dying!”

“Please kill off the Chinese traitors!”

Tao couldn’t help but snicker a bit at the last one. Chinese traitors? He couldn’t believe that after so many years, people were still so bitter about him leaving EXO. But he also couldn’t help but worry. Even though Suho tried to rebuild the members’ relationships with one another, it wasn’t exactly successful, and it was obvious that there was still a gap between Luhan, Kris, Tao, and the rest, while Lay was just on the fence, refusing to take any sides. If the rest decided to team up against the Chinese members, he was going to be dead. He had to act fast.

“Hey Luhan. Can you meet me in my room after dinner?” Tao nudged his way through and whispered to Luhan, who gave a questioning look but agreed.

“Phew. I didn’t know there was going to be so many people and cameras,” Kyungsoo closed his eyes and flopped onto the couch in the basement.

“You would have to get used to it. There is going to be more, during your interviews, which is going to take place about two weeks later,” Minho said, appearing out of nowhere.

Key shoved Kyungsoo off the couch and sat on it. “Okay guys. We will settle some stuff and then you guys can go back to your rooms and rest. So as you guys know, this year there will be a twist. You guys still remember your first concept, right?”

There was a feel disgruntled ‘yeahs’ and nodding of heads.

“The twist will be that you all will have a superpower, according to those that you have gotten in the music video. Like, Kai will have teleportation and Chanyeol will have fire. Any questions?” Key continued.

Baekhyun yelled, “What the heck! Does this mean that my power would be light? What kind of power is that? That’s the most useless power out there! And how do the government even come up with these stuff? Superpowers? Seriously?”

Jonghyun replied calmly. “Don’t worry, you can still train for other powers. But it would be a little harder. Also, I thought the superpowers part is cool. Anyway, the government has been researching on various stuff, which is why technology is so damn advanced right now to the point that it is possible to have superpowers. You guys would be the first batch to try this out, though. It’s new. If you guys don’t have any more questions, please go back to your rooms and rest. There will be escorts to guide you. Dinner is at 7. See you.”

Tao moved over and whispered to Luhan. “Nevermind, Lu. Change of plans. I will meet you at your room after I try to get Kris to come. Don’t tell anyone about this, okay!”