Taeki led Sulli and Myungsoo to a private area, exclusive from anyone else. Sulli glanced at her surroundings and found no familiarity where they were. The sunlight was about the only thing that she recognized. Numerous historical treasure chests were lying around, for what reason, Sulli was not sure. As Taeki slowed down his pace, so did the two candidates.

“You two must realize the importance of your journey.” Taeki wiped his hands together. “Instead of fearing, feel courage. We are relying on you two to create beneficial change for the rest of us.” He glanced at the two standing before him with a slight smile. Upon more motivational remarks, which Sulli thought were useless at the moment, Taeki finally finished up. Sulli let out a subconscious sigh of both relief that he was done speaking, and stress. “Before I get going, you two get to better know each other. It will be very important that you remain by each other’s sides on land.”

“Yes, sir.” Both chimed.

This was definitely not the first time Sulli was interacting with strangers, and it was something that Sulli was always bad with, but Myungsoo seemed comfortable enough to interact with. Both candidates exchanged their places of birth, favorite hobbies, and other superficial talk normally gone through in introductions.

“Are you really that scared for tomorrow?” Myungsoo questioned in concern upon seeing the fear etched in every part of Sulli’s face.

“Is it that noticeable?” Sulli understood that she was bad at hiding her emotions, but this Myungsoo seemed especially good at reading her. Instead of arising fear, she felt safer. “What about you? Are you nervous?”

“Me?” Myungsoo smiled. “Not at all.” Even though, he knew for sure he was lying right through his teeth. “I’ll protect you when we’re there.”

“Thanks.” Sulli shyly answered. She looked upward towards the sky, realizing that it had transformed into an orange hue. It was time for sunset, a time that she was always interested in. Her dream was always to see the sunset clearly, but unfortunately, there was no way she could where she lived. The sun was always a wavy blur above her.

“You like the sunset?” Myungsoo brought his arm up to point upwards. After Sulli nodded, Myungsoo added on. “Me too. Looks like we found something in common.”

Sulli chuckled. It was barely anything, but Myungsoo heard it. “Looks like we did.” Even behind her facade, she was crying on the inside. Thoughts of her parents and Sunhee emerged in her mind endlessly. She reminisced on the old memories of when she was a child. That time was such a great time, Sulli thought. It was a time in which she never knew about the selection process and never knew about leaving home. The nostalgia washed over her entirety as one tear dripped down her milky white skin. Before it landed, the tear transformed into a teardrop diamond, as any of her tears do. Suddenly, she felt a set of arms wrap around her.

“It’s ok, Sulli.”

Sulli flinched at first, but quickly adjusted herself to his warmth. “Why are you already so nice to me?”

Myungsoo loosened his hug at the question, but quickly tightened it again. “I’m really not sure,” he started with a laugh. “Something about you makes me feel like I need to protect you, you know, like how an older brother protects his siblings.”

“I understand that feeling. I have a little sister.” More tears followed the way down to her chin.

Myungsoo finally dropped his hands by his side before replying. “I never had siblings, even though I’ve always wanted one.” Recalling his old childhood memories, he thought they were quite lonely. “I guess you’re like my new younger sister.”

Minutes had gone by, as the silence around them began enveloping them. Sulli took this as a moment to end their conversation. They would have much more time to talk later. “I’m a bit tired, so I’m going to go rest first.” After getting Myungsoo’s nod, Sulli proceeded, “You should get sleep too. Tomorrow is going to be a big day.”

“I will.” And with a light smile, he watched as Sulli laid down on a comfortable rock, entering the peaceful world of sleep.

Sulli woke up to the tap on a shoulder. In front of her stood Taeki, who was standing besides Myungsoo. She stretched her arms out before proceeding to Taeki and Myungsoo, making sure that her ring was still hanging on the necklace. “Sir,” Sulli greeted Taeki.

“You two will be swimming for a few hours, so prepare yourselves for the journey.” Taeki warned the two candidates before him. “And remember, stay together at all times. If you’re not together, there’s increased risk that one of you will be discovered.”

Sulli nodded with a smile plastered on her face. If anything at the least, she had to seem somewhat interested in helping those of her kind, and if it meant sacrificing herself, maybe it would be more acceptable. “I understand, sir.” As she looked forward, only the darkness of blue met her. A foreboding emotion emerged from within as all the risks of this journey arose in her mind. The questions continuously flowed into her mind. What if she did accidently leave Myungsoo? What if Myungsoo abandoned her? What if she got caught?

“Sulli! Sulli?” Myungsoo tapped her shoulder, seeing that she had spaced off.

She turned her head over, realizing that she probably ignored something Taeki just said, only to see that Taeki was no longer there.

“Just in case you didn’t hear what he said, he told that us the swim is about two hours if we travel quickly. Once we reach Seoul, someone of our kind will assist us to where we need to be.” He scratched his head trying to recall the word Taeki used to describe their final des