Alice grinned, she was so happy to be in Korea now, because she slowly realized that there already were more friends and people who knew her, and she could fit in with than she had thought of before. "I'm not sure.", she replied. Then Youngjae looked as if he just realized something: "Wasn't there a second letter in the living room? You just opened one, right?" Alice smiled: "You are right! Should we go back and open it?" "Oh, no need, I brought it with me.", Youngjae announced smiling and handed the letter over. "Great, let's see.", Alice said and opened the letter. It revealed a map. JB and Mark giggled and said: "It's like a treasure hunt! Your family seems to like those." Alice giggled as well and then asked: "So, which room do we visit first?" Jackson pointed at a room called "Baby Kitchen" and grinned. Alice looked up at him and smiled, then she nodded, and they headed back over to the house. The name "Baby Kitchen" was definitely fitting. There was a small cupboard with glasses, cups and a few plates, a small fridge, a coffee maker, a microwave, a small stove including an oven, a kitchen sink and a very small dish washer. The kitchen was so small only three people could fit in. There was a letter on the fridge which Alice read out loud once again:

"Hey mini Mark,

Happy Birthday! We hope you like the dishes we picked out for you. We knew you wouldn't really have a need for a kitchen, but we thought a "Baby Kitchen" couldn't hurt, this way you and your friends can have some snacks even in the middle of the night and you won't have to make the long trip to the main house just to get some coffee.

Have fun with everything there is!

Yours truly,

Mark and Jaebum."

Alice widened her eyes, turned towards Mark and JB and exclaimed: "You two are crazy! There was no need to do all this!" "Yes, there was, so we did", the two said as a choir and then added: "Happy Birthday!" Alice just shook her head and hugged the boys as she said her thanks, while smiling widely.

Alice jumped a few times excitedly, then she found another note inside the envelope. She took it out and read once again:

"Happy Birthday!

I know we haven't met just yet but guess what we will meet today. At least I hope so. I couldn't believe it when your uncle contacted me and told me about your move to Korea. Well in our letters we never actually mentioned where we lived, so I will tell you now, I'm Korean. Born and raised here. :D

So, my dear pen pal, my birthday present for you is just a small one, since I haven't earned much money yet.

I filled your fridge with drinks, I organized coffee and I filled up the shelf next door to the kitchen with a few snacks. I hope you will like them.

Happy Birthday once more!

See you later,

SpearB!"

Alice widened her eyes went out of the room and opened the door next to the kitchen. It was a giant shelf filled with all sorts of snacks. Alice grinned and jumped up and down. "So, he actually is Korean.", Alice chuckled and said: "I can't wait to finally meet him." Youngjae nudged Alice when he came to see what she was looking at and said: "How about we open some of those snacks?" Alice grinned: "Sounds good! Open whatever you want and share it with the guys in the living room, I'll join once I'm done looking around. There are only two rooms left anyway. I have a feeling that I should find everything out before the party, it's like there are some more mysteries ahead which might be solved tonight." Alice smiled widely and couldn't stop hopping around. "So, how about I help Youngjae with the snacks and drinks and you four go ahead and see the rest of the house.", Jinyoung proposed. All the boys nodded, and so Alice held up the map and went along the corridor towards the room called: "Most likely to be Paradise"

Alice thought the name sounded somehow familiar, but she couldn't tell why. She stopped in front of the door and turned towards JB, Mark and Jackson, then she asked: "What do you think could be behind this door?" JB and Mark just shrugged, and Jackson said: "It could be anything you want. Maybe it's just empty and you can fill it up with whatever you want." Alice nodded: "That would be cool!" Then she turned around and opened the door. It revealed a mix of two rooms a music studio, with a lot of instruments, space to dance, a mirrored wall, and a recording studio a new computer and all the necessary recording equipment. There was a message written on the window between the music studio and the recording room:

"Happy Birthday!

Remember when we met in the states and you helped us recording? I told you how much I missed my own recording studio, the one in my house. I can't forget your excitement and what you said about it. Do you still remember? Anyway, that is the reason I thought you needed one of your own.

I hope you have a lot of fun recording. I can't wait to hear your songs. I hope the instruments are to your liking and I hope I got them right, otherwise you'll just have to learn a new one!

Waiting for your songs is your fiery dragon,

Jiyong.

PS: YG-nim helped out as well, so he wishes you a Happy Birthday as well."

"No way!", Jackson yelled: "This isn't real! It can't be!" Alice laughed and danced through the studio. “It seems quite real to me, Jackson.”, Mark said and looked around as he entered the studio. JB followed him and asked: “Do you know the answers to the questions GD-hyungnim wrote down?” Alice turned towards the window and answered after she had read the message once more: "Yes, I do know the answer. I couldn’t forget something that exciting and important. I told you before that I met Jiyong, TOP and Youngbae at a meet and greet. We got along well and YG-nim was present as well. Now that I think about it I guess YG-nim had heard about my interest in music from uncle J, because he asked me whether I made music as well. I told him that I could play guitar and piano and that I tried to sing. Back then I never actually thought I was any good, because I was just used to playing the instrument while Mark sang. After he had left there was some time when I didn’t play at all. But at some point, I just wanted to try again, and it was still fun. I began to sing along to playing, but it was solemnly for fun. As you might be able to guess YG-nim asked me to sing something and handed me a guitar. The only thing I could remember due to my anxiousness was a song which I had written for Mom’s birthday. I guess I made an impression and Jiyong stayed in contact with me. We jammed a little, while he was in the states and later on just sent some mp3 via e-mail. Then Big Bang came to the states once again and they had to do some recordings. So Jiyong asked me whether I would like to join them and said I might be able to help them. We had a lot of fun. And I was actually of some use, since I was able to help with translations. In the recording studio Jiyong used to complain about the equipment that was available, while I thought it was great, because I just used a microphone and my laptop to record things, so I found it amazing to be in the recording studio. Then Jiyong showed me pictures of the studio he had in his house, which he used more or less for fun. It was so amazing, and I told him it had to be his own personal paradise being able to record things, he thought of either for fun or for work whenever he felt like it and he agreed. He said he'd often jam there with friends and use those tracks to get inspired." Alice walked over to the instruments and twirled some more as she said: "Now I have my own paradise as well!"

Mark looked at the girl in front of him and couldn’t believe all the things she had done during the time they had spent apart without any contact. He started wondering what he could have experienced if they had stayed in contact or if he hadn’t decided that it was his dream to become an idol. Before he started thinking to much about unnecessary things JB nudged him. When Mark looked up to him, he just shook his head slightly and grinned as he whispered: “There is always more that you miss when you think about something. Instead of thinking about things you might have missed think about things you experienced, and you want to share. That way Alice gets to know you as well.” Then JB smiled reassuringly and went over to comfort Jackson, who still seemed to feel like he wasn’t able to wake up from a dream.

Mark strolled over to Alice, who went ahead and inspected the instruments. “So, which of these do you actually play?”, he asked. Alice turned around and grinned then she looked at the instruments again and said: “I can play the guitars, the piano, a little bit violin and I’m trying out drums and bass guitar. Although Dad is great at the drums, so he helps me out with them oh and uncle Joe is a fabulous bass player. So, if I need help with the rhythm, I can always ask them.” “Wow, so many talents!”, Jackson awed. JB grinned and tried out the piano as he said: “Hard work is worth more than talent. Think about how you started out when you first started dancing.” Mark nodded and then he giggled and slapped Jackson on the shoulder: “Just like the video we saw while recording Weekly Idol!” Jackson scoffed: “Please don’t remind me! That was so humiliating! Anyway Alice, what’s the last room supposed to be?” “Hm, it seems to be my bedroom and my closet. It was probably mom, who arranged that one, and it seems to be the whole upper floor, so I guess there isn’t really a need to walk up there. Or do you want to see it?”, Alice explained with the map in her hands. Jackson shook his head and on the way towards the living room the four heard the door bell, so they went to check out who it was.

When Alice opened the door there was Chan, who had picked up the other members. “Hey, I’m back!”; he greeted Alice, then he stepped aside and introduced: “These are Minho, Seungmin and Jeongin.” Alice smiled and said: “Hi, I’m Alice, it’s nice to meet you. Come on in!” Then she looked at Chan and asked: “Isn’t there still someone missing?” Chan nodded and explained: “Yes, Changbin wasn’t with the others, apparently he left some time this morning and just left a message, which said he would be back tomorrow, but nothing specific and we can’t reach him. Felix or Jisung might know something more. Mabe even Hyujin. It’s really strange. He normally tells me everything, it’s even stranger that he left Gyu behind.” With that they made their way towards the living room and asked the other Stray Kids members about Changbin, but no one knew what might be up. With all of them gathered in the living room they decided to play Karaoke in a kind of death match. The first pairs were decided by chance and then they wanted to go on with the winners advancing towards the next round.