Fangirls (and fanboys) were crowing the company’s gate like usual, hoping to catch a glimpse at their idols. Renjun could hear the screams were getting a few notches louder as his group made an appearance. Mark, the leader made a signal for all of them to stand in a line. They greeted their fans with a bow and Mark expressed their gratitude towards their fans. Then, they waved at their fans with smiles as they made their way to the van that the company provided for them. Renjun’s smile waver slightly as he was being pushed and pulled almost frantically along the way, but it was never noticed by the fans. He was only able to take a breath of relief after the van’s door was closed.

In their journey, it was the same as always. Some of his group members were snacking, the leader was talking to their manager, some of them were taking a nap, and Haechan, as always, being loud as he is. Renjun usually was with the napping team, but that day, he somehow didn’t feel sleepy at all. He looked through the window. The sun has set at the horizon a little and the sky turned slightly orangish. Different from his hometown, in this unfamiliar city, he could barely see any birds flying home in the sky. Renjun might have felt a bit nostalgic thinking of this hometown, so he searched for birds in the sky.

“This sky is connected to my hometown’s sky, it can’t be too different, isn’t it?” he thought.   

As he scanned through the clouds, he saw something that was unlikely to be there. A scarlet crescent moon. At first, he thought he saw it wrongly, but as he stared at it, it turned to be real. Renjun never saw or heard of red crescent moon. He never knew a moon eclipse can appear in crescent shape. Moreover, if something rare like this to happen, there are usually a lot of commotions in the internet or news. He had not heard anything about it at all. He wanted to ask s about the strange phenomenon, but before he could open his mouth, there was a loud screech and the van suddenly spun around. Everything happened so fast. The van spun, they screamed, someone held Renjun’s hand, the van hit something, Renjun hit his head onto the mirror, and everything went dark.

“Is the temperature alright?”

Renjun opened his eyes. It took him a moment to realize that he was soaking in water . He looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. He was in a traditional wooden bathtub. The warm water filled up to his collarbone and it smelled like herbs. Moreover, he was in an opened air space. The nearby trees rippled softly as the wind blew by. He could see small animals like birds and squirrel were passing between the trees. From the sound of cicadas, the green leaves, the comfortable breeze and the bright sunlight between the trees, he was sure it was a morning in summer. 

“Did you fall asleep?”

The same voice asked again. Renjun tilted his head and saw a man in a greyish robe behind him. He couldn’t make out his face because of the bright sunlight, but somehow, he knew the man was smiling softly.

The man scooped some water from the bathtub with a wooden ladle and he poured it over Renjun’s crown gently. He massaged Renjun’s scalp with his long fingers and Renjun started to feel sleepy.

“Sleep some more. I’ll wake you up when the breakfast’s ready.”

In Renjun’s mind, he had so many questions, but his body seemed to prefer the man’s suggestion. His eye lids became heavier and before he knew it, he had dozed off.

When Renjun opened his eyes again, he saw a different view – a flock of birds flying high across the dusk sky. So, there are birds… he thought absentmindedly, feeling relief for some reasons. 

But then, he remembered the scarlet crescent moon that he saw - and the accident. Gasping, he sat up right away and a terrible headache shot through him. Renjun held his head with both of his palms as he groaned in pain. It felt like his skull was being split into halves and he cried a bit from the pain. Luckily, after some time, the pain subsided slowly that he was able to lift his head.

He still felt the pain, but it was bearable compared to before. He looked around. Renjun was surprised to find himself in a forest alone. He was lying on the hard ground and there was no human being in his sight. Renjun panicked – What happened to his group members? Where are they? Where is he? And how did he get there?

He checked his pockets to find anything to help his situation. Unfortunately, he had handed in both his handphone and his wallet to his manager before he got onto the van. There was only a bill of 1000won that he hid to buy some snacks and two pieces of chewing gums on him.

His van was riding on a highway, even if he had been thrown out of the van, he shouldn’t be far from the road. With that logic, Renjun got up and tried to find his way.

However, no matter how far he walked, he never found the road or anyone at all. He found a river and walked along it, but to no avail. He had tried screaming for help but the only replies that he got were the sounds of birds, crickets, the running water. The day was getting dark and Renjun was getting desperate. Was he going to spend the night in the forest? Alone? He had gone to camping a long time ago, when he was in primary school, but that was with friends, teachers, equipment and food supplies.     

He remembered vaguely some survival tips that he had read somewhere. First, he needs to set up a fire, then, a place to sleep, then… food? He didn’t really remember. Even if he did, he didn’t have the skills to make any fire or set up a bed or tell poisonous food apart. As he was figuring out how to make through the night, he saw something from his side view. It was the river. Something suspicious was floating in the river. At first, Renjun thought it was some old clothes and he was quite happy about it because there was a possibility that someone was at the upstream of the river.

However, when the “clothes” stuck on one of the big rocks in the river, Renjun breathe hitched. It wasn’t some clothes, it was a person!

Renjun stared at it for the longest time, unable to believe what he just saw. Is the man alive? Because he wasn’t moving at all. Renjun thought of what he should do. The man might die if he was left there – he can be carried away by the currents to unspeakable deadly place or he might die of pneumonia for being in cold water. On the other hand, what if the man is dead? Renjun might crossed the river for no reason and he might be haunted by the ghost of the dead man after that. Scary!

After staring at it for quite sometimes, Renjun decided that he didn’t want to be haunted by the dead man for leaving him to die. The sun was setting, but he knew that he had to work fast. Luckily, the stream was bearable, and the river was quite shallow. His feet were able to touch the bottom as he fought against the currents to reach the body. As soon as he reached the man, he almost thought that it was a woman because of the long black hair. But when he dragged him onto the land, he knew it was a man.

The man was wearing a traditional green long robe and his dark green waist band was embroidered with golden threads. Renjun almost regretted dragging the man onto the land when he saw how pale the man’s face was and there were a few blood spots that he missed before. He was bleeding so much and it looked like he was dead. To be sure, he touched the man’s face slowly and whimpered as he came in contact with the ice-cold skin. Tears formed in his eyes but he couldn’t moved his hand away. He was overwhelmed with emotions; frightened, guilty and pity.

Suddenly, the unconscious man coughed.