Chapter 05

The days passed by slowly after that. All three keepers agreed to just mind their own business for the time being, but high on alert now that only one team left unknown. They know that the test is coming closer. Yongsun works as usual, departed early at eight and arrived home at half past five sharp. Hyejin and Wheein, too, keeps on going to campus depending on their schedule.

What changed is that Jihyo and Dahyun also went to work. Jihyo went to the restaurant that had accepted her while Dahyun was hired by a cafe near Hyejin's house, the very same cafe where Chaeyoung and Sana work. Coincidentally, the cafe was in need of a delivery-person, so Chaeyoung offered her the job. Luckily the manager likes her enough to hire the overly energetic girl.

Mina decided to stay home, growing fond of the daily routine of doing chores. She sometimes hangs out with Tzuyu–mainly when the younger's bored. Nayeon, on the other hand, has found a part-time job as a librarian since she met Wheein, and has no desire to leave her job.

But much to Dahyun's dismay, trouble come brewing when she only had five days of an enjoyable job.

###

"Excuse me."

The jingle of bells from the front door made Sana looked up from her station at the cashier counter. She beamed at the three Anihumans slowly made way to her. Tzuyu, dragging a whining Mina with her, and Nayeon who grinned like she had saw something hilarious.

Without asking, Sana knows that their state now was caused by none other than the penguin Anihuman.

"Having trouble luring the penguin out of her lair?" Sana asked, giggling when Tzuyu shot her a wink.

"Don't worry. Birds of a feather flock together," the tall maknae smiled, ignoring Mina's soft, "I couldn't even fly."

Sana only shook her head fondly. She looks behind those two at the still grinning Nayeon. "And what's up with you, unnie? You seems giddy."

"Oh, nothing," Nayeon waved her hand in dismissal. "Just that something good happened to me at the library. By the way, Sana, can I get a cup of cappuccino?"

The hazelnut haired girl swiftly saluted. "A cup of cappuccino for Ms. Nayeon. What about you two?"

"I'll have latte, please. And green tea for this lazy blob," Tzuyu's unusually chipper today. She pulled the unmotivated Mina to a vacant seat followed by the oldest unnie.

Sana just chuckled, relaying the order to Chaeyoung who happily made them. The cafe's not too busy at this time of the day. It gave Sana time to take a good look on whoever come and go. Currently there's only the five of them in the cafe. The elderly couple who came before the trio had left already.

Another jingle of bells caught Sana's attention. She looks up to see two gorgeous women walking side by side. The slightly shorter one with wavy brown locks met her eye and smiles. The taller one with hime-cut black hair just nodded, and with the timid, shyshyshy attitude she somehow reminded Sana of Mina.

"Welcome! What can I help you with?"

"Oh, do you have any pastry?" the brown haired woman asked, eyes scanning the shelves of coffee the cafe displayed.

"Yes, we do."

"Then I would like some donuts," the woman smiled cheekily, then nudged the black haired woman beside her. "What would you want, Seobaby?"

Sana noticed how the black haired woman turned two shades redder.

"Unnie, I told you not to call me that in public," she shushed her companion who just laughed it off. "Can I have a cupcake?"

"Sure," Sana smiled warmly. Her gestures made the woman relaxed visibly.

"Do you serve takeaway?" the first woman spoke again. At Sana's confirmation, she grinned widely. "Then we'll buy three chocolate donuts and a cupcake, please!"

"Got it! Just give me a minute to pack your orders," Sana swiftly typed their order into the cash register and handed them the bill. She then turned to the pastry shelf, taking a paper bag with her. After she finished packaging the pastries, she gave it to the two women in front of her.

"Here you go, Miss!"

"Thank you!" again, the brown haired woman beamed at the young Anihuman. "May I tell you something?"

Sana nodded, not having any negative thought as the woman leaned to the cashier counter. But, suddenly there's a flash of gold on her deep onyx eyes that took the younger girl aback.

"You're real pretty for a young Ani."

"Wha–"

The young Anihuman doesn't have the chance to finish her sentence when an unnatural blow of wind forced her to close her eyes. When she managed to open it, the two women has gone. Sana was shocked, and she nearly caught a heart attack when a sound of glass shattering echoes from behind her.

She barely recovered from her stunned state as Chaeyoung pulled her arm, running erratically away from the cafe. She also noticed that Nayeon, Tzuyu and Mina had already ran before them, moving at impressive speed along the sidewalk. Even Mina looked like she's flying. Sana saw a blur of red, orange and brown which she realized late is Dahyun speeding up alongside her.

It only clicked in her brain what the hell is exactly happening the moment she felt a massive power wielded only by the strongest of the Anihumans pressured the atmosphere.

###

Today is a rare day-off for Yongsun. Yesterday her manager told her that all employees are given a holiday for celebrating their head director's birthday. Strange, but Yongsun always welcomed a chance to relax. Tzuyu and Nayeon had come earlier, somehow managed to found a sleeping Mina and took her somewhere.

That made the house empty save from the owner.

Yongsun lazed around in her house, taking a note about how quiet the building felt without the constant chattering of her younger sisters. She usually came home last, so it certainly is a new feeling for her to be home alone. It's been a while since total silence engulfed her in her own house, and she took time to appreciate it by doing absolutely nothing.

So when there comes a knock on the door, Yongsun groaned slightly and rose from her sprawled position on her couch. She doesn't bother to take a look at herself, feeling she's decent enough despite only sporting an oversized long-sleeved white shirt and a pair of denim shorts nearly invisible under her shirt.

Yongsun opened the door to meet a young woman with bright red hair standing at her porch, smiling with the power of 1000 sun underneath her pale complexion.

"Um... I'm sorry, but you are..?"

"My name's Sunny!" the red-haired woman cheered and Yongsun felt the urge to shield her eyes from the literal light in front of her. "Excuse me, miss. I heard that Jihyo live here. Can I meet her?"

"I'm sorry," Yongsun frowned. "But Jihyo's currently working."

"Oh," Sunny immediately cast her gaze down, looking extremely dejected. Her sullen expression tugged Yongsun's heartstring painfully. "Then I guess I'll just leave–"

"No, wait!" said Yongsun, catching Sunny's wrist before the latter turns on her heel. "Jihyo will be back in a few moments. You can.. you can wait here."

Her sentence apparently made Sunny jumped back into her happy state. "Really?"

Yongsun nodded. "Of course. Please, come in."

"Thank you~" the red-haired woman giggled, taking her shoes off and followed Yongsun inside. As she sat on the couch, Yongsun excused herself to make tea for both of them.

The young intern hasn't even finished boiling the water when her front door slammed open.

"YONGSUN-UNNIE!"

Said girl whipped her head at the loud voice owned by the one and only Jihyo.

"Jihyo what the hell?"

The bat girl panted heavily, then stormed into the kitchen while straightening her waitress uniform. It's clear that Jihyo ran all the way home. Yongsun glanced at the clock that showed 2.30 in the afternoon, half an hour before Jihyo's supposed shift ends.

"Why are you here?" Yongsun wiped her hands on a towel before reaching out to Jihyo's disheveled hair. She gently tucked the loose strands behind the younger's ear, waiting for the girl to catches her breath before questioning her.

"A-Are you okay?" Jihyo asked between strained breath. She searches her sister's face, trying to pick up anything peculiar. "Nothing happened to you, right?"

"I'm... fine?" Yongsun cocked her eyebrows. "I was only preparing tea for Sunny-sshi."

Jihyo tensed. "Sunny..sshi?"

"Yeah, the woman at the couch? Don't you see her?"

The young Anihuman grew even more rigid as time passed. "N-no I d-don't."

"What?" Yongsun shakes her sister's shoulder, but Jihyo's too stiff to properly responds. "Are you okay? Do you know her?"

"I-I.."

"You know it's rude to just barge in without saying hello to your guest, Jihyo-sshi."

Yongsun lifted her head to find Sunny standing on the doorway. She smiled, still as warm as the smiles she threw at Yongsun, but there's something eerie about the way she leered at Jihyo. If it's possible, Jihyo must have been turned to a statue at this moment. Beads of sweat started to form on her forehead when she heard Sunny's light footsteps nearing her.

Jihyo jumped a bit when Sunny tapped her shoulder. The shorter woman leaned to her ear, murmuring a soft instruction to the youngest of the three.

"Now be a good girl and fetch the keepers three houses down the road."

Jihyo nodded hastily and in the speed of light, the bat girl disappears into the street. Yongsun blinked, processing everything as Sunny grinned at her. "W-What? What are you doing to Jihyo?!"

"Girl, relax," Sunny patted Yongsun's arm. She strutted into the living room, winked when she caught Yongsun staring. "Your friends will be here soon."

Jihyo returned a few minutes later with three females in tow. The young Anihuman immediately shuffled closer to Yongsun. She tugged at Hyejin and Wheein to stand beside Yongsun as she stepped in front of them. The last woman, the one with chestnut hair and darker complexion, waved at Yongsun and stood near Sunny.

"Unnie, what is this all about?" Wheein whispered, linking her arm with Yongsun's. "That woman suddenly came to visit Chewy and Nabong. Her name's Yuri. I thought she was their friend. But when Jihyo came, she seemed like she'd met Satan himself."

"I don't know," Yongsun whispered back. "Jihyo had the same reaction when I said Sunny-sshi's name."

"I have a strong feeling that I'm correct, so I'm gonna told you that they are our Anihumans' examiners," Hyejin butted into the whispered conversation, making the two girls whipped their head on their maknae's direction.

"What makes you think so?"

Hyejin shrugged. Typical Hyejin when she's feeling smug. "The fact that they showed up a week after we met each other and the fact that Jihyo's currently panicking. Unnie, calm her down before she does something stupid."

Yongsun takes a good look at her younger sister to know that Hyejin's correct. She grabbed Jihyo's hand, squeezing it to tell the younger that she's not alone. Jihyo visibly relaxed after that, sending her unnie a forced smile.

"Unnie, I think I'm going to die."

"Hush," Yongsun slapped her sister's arm softly. "Don't say that, you'll be okay."

"No, unnie," Jihyo laughed bitterly. "They are from the Silver Moon Region. Often called as SM Region, and every single people I've met at the academy dubbed it as 'Save Me Region'."

"Huh? Why?"

"It's because–"

"YONGSUN-UNNIE!!!"

For the second time this afternoon, Yongsun's front door slammed open. Surprisingly, the one came barreling through the door is the quietest, most reserved person Yongsun ever met in her life.

Mina.

"YONGSUN-UNNIE OH MY GOSH ARE YOU OKAY???!!!"

Correction. Used to be the quietest, most reserved person Yongsun ever met in her life.

But Mina stopped there, looking at the two 'guests' giggling at her antics with horror. She doesn't even flinch when Chaeyoung crashed into her, followed by Tzuyu, then Dahyun, then Nayeon, while Sana came last as she tried to catch her breath.

"Y-You are ..–"

"Nope! No chit chat! Girls, get inside. You're blocking the door."

A voice from outside startled the Anihumans. They quickly made way for the woman to pass by. She's tall, probably around the same height as Tzuyu, and her short dark brown locks are messy in a way that made her extremely attractive. Behind her, two more beautiful women walked into the house. One of them merrily nibbled on a chocolate donut. Sana immediately recognized the women as the ones who bought pastries from her.

"Alright, now that we're all here...–" the tall woman started only to be smacked by Sunny at the back of her head.

"Choding's not here, idiot! Wait for her before we take them to the castle!" Sunny narrowed her eyes dangerously to her companion.

"Ouch! Sorry, I forgot!" the tall woman cried in pain, holding her skull in fear of getting another beating. "She's supposed to be here anytime, right?"

It's as if the universe's listening to the tall girl. Not even a second after she finished her sentence, a loud ruckus could be heard from the outside. Yongsun quickly snatched Dahyun's wrist and pulled her closer, alongside with the other young Anihumans. They are now standing on a different side of the room, the keepers with their–scared, stiff as a log–young Anihumans, while the elder Anihumans stood across them. All with an amused expression on their face.

Sunny rolled her eyes and started to count. "Impact in three... two... one..."

"KIM CHODING COMING THROUGH!!!!"

"PUT ME DOWN! YAH! PUT ME DOWN!"

What sped through Yongsun's door took everyone aback. It's a short woman, about Sunny's height, with faded green hair and bright yellow eyes. Two prominent upper fangs showed up when she laughs–which she did all the time since she came rushing in.

On her back, though, is a traumatized young woman with silver hair that caught Yongsun's attention. The girl seemed thoroughly freaked out, written on her frowning face and the hands clutching the green-haired girl's shoulder tightly.

"Alright, you can come down now, Byulyi-sshi," Kim Choding–or whoever her name was–grinned widely at the girl on her back.

The silver-haired girl–Byulyi–cautiously descend from the other girl's back and made way to the stunned keepers. She looked up, then blinked when her eyes met Yongsun's puzzled ones. "Hey, I know you. You're that office lady I met a week ago."

"Huh?" Yongsun gasped, racking her memories about this girl in particular. "Oh, yes. I remember. You're that singer girl, right?"

Byulyi smiled–her handsomely, gentle, genuine, soft, out of this world smile–and Yongsun's knees go weak. "It was me, alright."

Yongsun barely had time to recompose herself because another girl came screeching into her house.

"BYUL-UNNIE!" the newcomer, a short silver-haired girl with a pair of eyeglasses, frantically whips her head in every direction until her gaze fell to Byulyi. She sighed, relieved that her unnie is okay. Then she shifted her attention to the crowd at the back, smiling brightly when she saw seven pairs of eyes that are looking at her as if she's growing another head.

"Yo, losers," she waved at the crowd. "Been a while."

Standing on the audience side, Wheein saw the moment her most hard-headed dongsaeng crumble into pieces. Nayeon's eyes are gleaming with tears, and she tried hard not to cry right there and right now. The other Anihumans are in the similar state.

"Jeongyeon-a..."

Jeongyeon nodded, eyes full of yearning. It doesn't stay long because she quickly turned her head outside in panic.

"Oh, ."

"For the love of Jokbal don't any of you understand the concept of, 'wait a minute'?!"

There's a sudden, heavy, suffocating silence at the rough voice from the outside.

"I was starving! At least give me a chance to finish my food!"

With that, another girl walked through the door. Limping. The girl with dirty brown hair is clearly supporting her whole weight to her right leg. When she grabbed the sills with her left arm, her hoodie sleeve rides up, showing crisscrossed scars along the length of her arm. She scanned the room with eyes different in color–pitch black on the right side and dull grey on the left side–and stopped when she saw the gaping crowd.

She gulped.

"Andwae."

Jihyo choked. Chaeyoung tensed. Nayeon's jaw dropped. Tzuyu had her eyes as big as a saucer. Dahyun looks like she's having a . Sana's literally turning blue. Mina's eerily silent, but there's no mistaking the beginning of tears forming on her eyes.

"M-Momo...–"

"ALRIGHT!"

Sunny's loud exclamation caught everyone off-guard. All eyes now fixed on the bright-haired woman. Without missing a beat, she smiled. "Now that you've all gathered here..."

She nudged the tall woman who smirked, then clapped her hand once. Immediately, the scenery changes. Yongsun's living room became blurry, replaced by gigantic pillars of stones soaring high to the sky. The warm cream walls turned into pure white ones. The floor under them fluctuates before transforming into gleaming marble stones.

In a few seconds, their entire surrounding changed into the view of the interior of a castle. Yongsun watches, with gaping mouth, the large room with big pillars, big marble floors, big windows, big chandelier hanging from the roof, and last but not least, a big throne placed at the end of the room.

There, sat a beautiful woman with wavy black hair. She wore a white dress hugging her body all in the right places, emphasizing her otherworldly beauty. The woman curtly nodded and smiled, showing her eye smile as she gazes through her guests.

"Hello, my little Anihumans. I, Hwang Tiffany, representative of the Soshi Team, welcomed all of you into the Silver Moon Region."

She then leaned closer, placing her chin on her hand in an authoritative manner.

"Now, shall we begin?"

To be continued...