Chapter 10

"STOP, GIRLS! STOP! CAN'T ANY OF YOU JUST PLEASE CALM THE DOWN?!"

"I AM CALM, JI!"

"THEN STOP SCREAMING!"

Mina trembled, standing far from her friends who are in the middle of a heated argument. And if seven years of living together had taught her something, is that her friends are this close to lift their fists and start fighting each other.

"Enough!"

Mina hadn't realized before that Momo also chose to stay silent. The raccoon had stood behind the younger girl because she didn't want to risk her already broken limbs. But seeing her friends' unhealthy arguments seemed to spark her emotions. Momo shoved Jihyo with her healthy arm and knocked Jeongyeon back with a swipe of her leg. Her actions made the two girls stumbled backward, hitting the other girls and effectively ending the almost fight.

"Stop fighting! The more we fight the more time we waste! We should have started moving to find our unnie now!" Momo snarled, voice dripping with aggressiveness only someone with her experience could muster.

"Well, what do you expected us to do?" Dahyun growled back. Eyes meeting Momo's in a challenging stance.

"Why don't... why don't we just sit first and talk?" Sana chimed in. She was also silent before, standing timidly beside a fuming Tzuyu. "I mean... there's must be a reason why Tiffany-sunbaenim gave us a hint, right?"

Silence.

Sana scowled when her friends gave her blank stares. "If you guys forgot about the hint, I'm going to hit Tzuyu."

Tzuyu whipped her head in surprise. "Wait, what do I have to do with–"

Nayeon shrugged. "To be honest, I do forget."

SMACK.

"Ouch! Sana-unnie!"

The oldest Anihuman smirks at Tzuyu's pained wail. Chaeyoung noticed Nayeon's evil intention and rolled her eyes at her unnie's antics. The house cat raised her hand, trying to get Sana to not hitting another person. "Unnie, unnie! I remember!"

After she managed to grab everyone's attention, Chaeyoung starts reciting the poem Seohyun sang back then. She finished the poem to find her teammates all deep in thought. Chaeyoung cleared . "You know, maybe we should try and decipher the hint. Starting from the first sentence, I mean."

"Star, wind, flower, sun, and you," Jeongyeon ponders for while, clicking her tongue when she realized something. "Star. Star meant Byul in English. The 'star' words must have refer to Byulyi-unnie."

Mina nodded. "You're right. The star is Byulyi-unnie. Wheein-unnie's name is literally the sound of the wind. If it's true, the flower and the sun must have meant Yongsun-unnie and Hyejin-unnie. But which is which?"

"Hyejin-unnie's the flower! I've heard her friends once called her Hwasa! Doesn't that mean 'the language of flower'?" Chaeyoung offers. The other team member agreed with her theory, so she moved on and recites the second sentence.

"Hear the wind sings? What, Minari if the 'wind' is Wheein-unnie, so we have to listen to her singing?" Jihyo asked, confused. Mina seems baffled as well. "No.. I don't think that's the meaning of this sentence..."

"Maybe it has something to do with their location?" Dahyun's voice breaks the trance. "Like, there are four of them? And there are four major wind directions, right? North, south, east, west?"

"Yes, there is a possibility," Jihyo nodded. She abruptly stood up, then starts running to the direction of the Soshi's castle. "Guys, continue on interpreting the hint! I'll be back fast!"

"So if we settled on their location on the four major wind direction, we need to know what stands between us and them," Nayeon her lips, memorizing the second verse of the hint. "What strikes me as a hint is the 'trapped in a fog, inside your mind', for Byulyi-unnie. The only place I would think as foggy is either a mountain or a swamp."

"No, wait. There's this thing about 'where are you looking?' and 'inside your mind'. I don't think this 'fog' is a literal fog, Nayeon-unnie," Dahyun said, clutching her head tightly. "I think... it means that this 'fog' is something that we thought, that made us confused about what we should be looking at!"

Nayeon sat straight in realization. "A diversion. No... an illusion?"

"Yeah.. but then we should have felt the power of illusion right now."

"It doesn't have to be by magical power," Nayeon shook her head. "It's a natural illusion. A... mirage? A fata morgana?"

"The desert!" Dahyun exclaimed. "Byulyi-unnie must have been in a desert!"

"Yeah, that must be it," Nayeon rubbed her chin. "Okay, one down. Three to go."

"I think Yongsun-unnie's one is really obvious," Mina gulped worriedly. "'The summer sun is like a jewel on top of the ocean'. This region's southern border is literally the open seas between K-continent and J-continent. There's no doubt that the Soshi team put Yongsun-unnie there."

"Well, then it's either there or down there," Tzuyu said gritting her teeth. Mina's face immediately drained of any color. "We have to be fast."

"Guys, I'm back!" Jihyo came running, a roll of paper clutched in her hand. She kneeled in the middle, unrolling the paper which is actually a map. "You guys said that they're located at the four wind direction. So I just kinda got an idea to ask for a map. Have you guys progressed on interpreting the hint?"

"Yes," Tzuyu nod. She moved her hand to point at the western outmost of the region. "This is where Byulyi-unnie is. The deserts. But we should really narrow it down because the deserts are hella wide."

Jihyo's eyes are focused on the yellow area on the map until she spotted a difference. "Here! Look, this area's colored red. That's the unreachable area of the deserts. Too hot and too dangerous. Only the rulers are able to go there. I think if they're trying to test us, they'll be putting Byul-unnie there to know if we're able to retrieve her, ne?"

Tzuyu grimaced. "I agree. Still too wide but, well at least we have a location, now. Next, Yongsun-unnie is as Mina-unnie said. The K-J-continent ocean. Another way to narrow it down, perhaps?"

"The second sentence on the 'sun' verse. 'Even if the path to you hurts so much'. Must have been something dangerous to pass by," Sana said. She put her finger on a dark blue area on the map. "This place's name is literally 'The Shark Reef'. Dare to say that's where Yongsun-unnie is."

"Okay, so Yongsun-unnie and Byul-unnie's clear? How about Wheein-unnie and Hyejin-unnie?"

"The cliffs."

Momo's quiet voice caught everyone's attention. She shuffled to the front, grabbing Sana's shoulder to balance herself and points to the region's eastern border. To the long chasm separating the SM Region and the RV Region. "Hyejin-unnie's verse contains something about 'floating in the air' and 'clash with gravity'. The only place for her to be able to 'float' and 'clash with gravity', or should I say, resisting the gravity, is the cliffs."

Nayeon's eyes widened. "You mean... she's hanging?"

"Not quite literally, if we take the first half of the second sentence in consideration. But yes, she's hanging on a cliff."

"Which cliff?" Tzuyu chased the older girl.

Momo narrowed her eyes at the map, trying to locate any difference. "No idea. If anything, the clue must have laid in the 'the sparkling flash' sentence."

"The Valley of Diamonds," Mina suddenly said. "I've heard once that there's an area on the SM Region chasm that's filled with diamonds. Diamonds sparkle, right?"

"Yeah, you're right, Mitang."

The team's oldest member bit her fingers in anxiousness. "Okay, Hyejin-unnie cleared. Now, what about Wheein-unnie? The northern border of the SM Region is a mountain range. 'When the sunlight hides my body'? What does it means?"

"Probably a place where the sunlight's so strong it made you blind," Jihyo wonders.

"Why do I thought the opposite..." Jeongyeon muses out loud. She met Jihyo's questioning stare and lifts her hands defensively. "No offense. But somehow I thought that 'sunlight hides my body' means that her body is located somewhere the sunlight couldn't reach."

"Like a cave..." Sana's forehead wrinkled. "There's a lot of caves at the mountain."

"And the last sentence, 'should we meet?', in my opinion means a meeting between caves. So she's located in a cavity inside the mountain," Dahyun proposed her theory. "Here, look. There's a place on the map named as 'The Dragon's Belly', and there are a lot of smaller paths surrounding it."

"Then it's fixed," Jihyo claimed, slamming her hand on the map. "I'll make a summary. Byulyi-unnie's located at the western desert somewhere within the red area. Yongsun-unnie's located at the southern ocean –inside or on top of it– near the Shark Reef. Hyejin-unnie's hanging by the Valley of Diamonds on the east. While Wheein-unnie's inside the Dragon's Belly at the northern mountain range."

The red haired bat clapped her hand. "Now, the problem is how are we supposed to fetch them? We've wasted half an hour already. Only five and half an hour left from our time."

"Easy. We split," at Sana's suggestion, everyone cocked their eyebrows. The lizard shrugged. "What? The last sentence of the poem says 'the call of those who were walking distant from each other'. If we split, we are walking distant from each other."

Mina shook her head. "Too dangerous, Sana."

"No, Minari," the older J-continent girl scoffed. "We're going to be rulers. If we pass this, we'll do a routine of scouting the perimeter alone. If we don't start now, when will we?"

All seemed to consider Sana's words. Tzuyu's the first one to agree. "Sana-unnie's right. We'll have to split if we want to find our unnies fast. I'll go west. That's the farthest area from here and I can fly. That will make my journey faster and I'll be able to find Byul-unnie by watching the desert thoroughly on an appropriate height."

The youngest then gazes at her friends. "Let's split the teams into 2-2-2-3. I'll go with someone I'm able to lift. Its either Dahyun-unnie or Sana-unnie. Who wants to go with me?"

Sana offered herself. "I'm a horned lizard. My habitat is in the desert. In case anything happens, I'll be able to protect you."

"Mina should go to the seas, she's the only one who's capable of swimming in her animal form," Jihyo nodded to the younger girl. Mina nods back. "I'll take Wheein-unnie. Someone with a good night vision or tracking sense should come with me. It's either Jeong, Mo, or Chaeng."

"I'll pass," Chaeyoung refused and instead linking her arm with Jeongyeon. "I'll go to Hyejin-unnie. Just in case we fell from the cliff, cats always landed on their feet. I'm a cat. Hopefully, I'll be able to cushion our fall. And I'll take Jeongyeon-unnie. Can't risk Momo-unnie to go near a cliff. No offense, unnie."

Momo waved her hand in dismissal. "None taken. My balance can be problematic at times. I'll go with you, Ji. My scavenger senses might help in total darkness. And I can still use my super speed, in case you're wondering."

"Okay, good," Jihyo grinned. "Okay, that left Dubu and Nayeon-unnie. You guys go with Mina, or...?"

Nayeon shares a look with Dahyun. Both nodded and shot a grin at Jihyo. "We'll be with Minari. The seas seem to be quite dangerous, and we can't risk Sana and Chaeng to have an additional burden in case the worse comes to worst."

"You're not a burden.." Chaeyoung trailed confusedly. She tried to grab Dahyun's hand, as if asking for a permission.

"No one is," Dahyun grinned. She grasped Chaeyoung hesitant fingers. "Just, this time, it'll be better if we go this way. Okay?"

The cat agreed, still a bit hesitant. Jeongyeon shook her head and pull Chaeyoung's arm firmly. "We have to go. We've wasted too much time here. In all we know, our unnies might be in a grave danger."

"What Jeongyeon said," Jihyo agrees. She put her hand forward, smiling when her friends reciprocate her gestures. "You guys remember our cheer back at the academy?"

Eight different voices answered Jihyo excitedly. The red haired girl grinned then clenched her hand into a fist, followed by her friends.

"Hana!" Jihyo, Nayeon and Jeongyeon shouted.

"Dul!" Sana, Mina and Momo yelled.

"Set!" Chaeyoung, Dahyun and Tzuyu came last.

"ONE IN A MILLION. ONE IN FOREVER! GAJA! GAJA! GAJA! HUZZAH!!!"

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Byulyi's POV

So.

I feel like dying.

I groaned, lifting my hand to shield my eyes from the harsh sun. Where am I actually? The last thing I remember was that I, along with Mo and Jeong and the other Anihumans plus the keepers were called to the Soshi castle. Then everything's a blur, and when I woke up, I'm already in the middle of ing nowhere with only sand as the scenery.

By the way, I'm stuck.

I know I'm trapped in a desert, but to think that I can't move further than 1 square meter is really confusing. I've tried to feel around me, and I deduced that those Soshi team are confining me in a glass cage.

Emphasis on 'glass'.

Emphasis on 'desert'.

Emphasis on 'sun'.

I gulped, flinching at the pain in my throat. It's been about an hour since I woke up, and I slowly feel the dreaded upcoming of dehydration. I've been sweating a lot, as expected for a person sitting on a sand dune with nothing as their protection. Plus the glass surrounding me making the air feels 100x hotter.

It's as if I'm inside a greenhouse. A human-sized greenhouse thrown at the desert for a human experiment.

Maybe the rulers want to test my limit. Why me? I mean, I'm not the one challenging their throne as a ruler. Or maybe Tiffany-sshi somehow wanted me as a ruler? But I'm human? Will I be able to live here? What do they even eat? Will I have friends here?

Talking about friends, how's Yongsun and those two maknaes doing? Are they suffering like me, too? Or are they the one who's actually behind this? I knew I shouldn't have believed in Yongsun's and Wheein's innocent faces. Hyejin's not innocent. I always feel creeped out by her. No, not creeped out. But I'm panicking. Yeah. I'm always panicking when she's doing some bizarre things around me.

Like, there's this feeling that she always judged and knows exactly what I'm thinking. I think she's a witch. Yeah, she's a witch. And Wheein's her familiar. She's definitely a dog.

What about Yongsun, though? She's not familiar-like. Hyejin seems to respect her. Maybe Yongsun's a witch too. A stronger witch, even. I'm always feeling weak when she looks at me with those honey brown eyes of her.

Hey, look. I'm starting to ramble. The dehydration came too fast for my liking.

I slumped my body to the glass wall. Even if the scorching heat pained my back, I don't have any more strength to lift my body.

I shrugged.

Oh, well.

Guess I'll just die for now.

End of Byulyi's POV

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Wheein's POV

...

End Wheein's POV

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Yongsun's POV

I sighed, playing with my fingers as I tried not to take a look at the things outside my glass cage. Yeah, glass cage. Surprise surprise, the 'participation' I and the other keepers are supposed to give is to become fish food.

Summary, I'm currently crouching inside a glass cage a bit bigger than my body, but still small nonetheless. The blue views around me told me that I was put in the depth of the ocean. I could see the sand under me, moving slightly following the deep current.

There are reefs surrounding me, but I don't really have the desire to appreciate their beauty because of the creatures swimming not far from me.

Sharks. Lots of it.

I'm well aware that I'm afraid of any creature capable of biting me to death. So I just sat there in the middle of my cage, frowning while playing with my fingers and muttering any prayer to any God listening. In case one of them are moved to help me.

Or, in this case.. moved to let my Anihuman sisters know that I'm at the edge of having a panic attack here.

So I closed my eyes, hoping for anyone to come and rescue me.

I'll wait, I'm patient. I know my sisters will come to me.

I believe in them.

Yeah.

I believe in them.

End of Yongsun's POV

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Hyejin's POV

BOI AM I SCREWED.

To be continued...