"I cannot believe I agreed to this," Seungkwan grumbled as he fixed the headlamp once again. The stupid piece of equipment kept fallng into his eyes! 

The only response to his complaining was Vernon giving him a sideways smile, though Mingyu didn't acknowledge that he had spoken at all. The three of them were friends, had been since attending middle school together, but Mingyu was the active, sporty one. He played every sport he could play throughout their school years and even into university, and now he was interning as a sports journalist. Vernon was an artist, though a terrible one at that - his paintings could be questioned if they were of a person or of a plant with mold. He did enjoy nature, though, and so his inclusion in this event was no surprise.

And Seungkwan? He was a journalist, too, but certainly not for sports. Why anyone would physically subject themselves to be battered in bruised in the name of glory was beyond him, which made his acceptance of his friend's spelinking proposal all the more surprising. Honestly though, he was tired of sitting at home on the couch while Mingyu and Vernon did fun things every weekend.

"It's the strap," Vernon rescued him from the headlamp struggle, reaching back and tightening the band that encircled Seungkwan's head. "It's meant to be that tight."

"Well it's uncomfortable," Seungkwan whined, but under his breath - he didn't want Mingyu to decide to never invite him again. This was a weekend outing to a small town with less than 500 residents, with a lot of old mining caves in the area. Mingyu had been talking about how he was looking at maps of the old caves and that there were some that had never been fully explored.

Speaking of the taller man. "Okay! We're ready!" he said enthusiastically, his eyes shining in his tanned face as he looked at his two friends.

"Shouldn't we check our gear again?" Seungkwan asked, nervously fiddling with the pockets on his waist belt.

Mingyu gave him a little sideways look, an understanding of the nervousness, but shook his head. "We've already checked three times. Once more is bad luck," he added when the other opened his mouth to counter. "Now let's go." He turned and headed into the cave mouth, leaving the other two with no other choice. Vernon shrugged in his typical nonchalant way and followed their friend, leaving Seungkwan to gather a breath, adjust his headlamp once more, and enter the cave himself.

It was dark, of course, but eerie with the way their headlamps bounced around off the walls as they illuminated whatever each was looking at. The three friends joked around as they hiked downward into the cave, mostly at Seungkwan's expense, but as the going got tougher their voices cut off. Smaller passages to squeeze through, spots where Mingyu had to crouch to pass because he was so tall - these soon became the norm. They even came across a crack that spanned across their way, about a foot wide and who knew how deep - looking down into that, Seungkwan's heart began to beast faster and he found himself wondering if the cave was unstable and could crush them all.

"Whoa," Vernon said from ahead of him, pulling his attention away from the crevice. The other two were out of his sight and he quickened to catch up with them, the thought of being alone in the dark making him very uncomfortable. He came around a bend in the path and ran into Vernon's back, hands coming up to catch himself on the other's shoulders, and then his breath caught in his throat.

They stood in a cavern, large enough that they could move around freely without bumping into one another, but small enough that they could still easily make out the features on the walls. What Vernon was 'whoa'ing about was that on the far side of the cavern there were two narrow tunnels leading in seemingly the same direction, and yet one of them gave off a faint glow. "Dude, that's so cool," he said, trying to take a step toward the glowing tunnel, but Seungkwan's firm grip on his shoulders kept him in place. 

"What the hell is that," Seungkwan stated more than asked. "I thought there isn't supposed to be anything down here?"

Mingyu shrugged and flashed a small grin. "Yeah, there isn't supposed to be. Maybe another hiker. We gotta find out though."

As he entered the glowing left hand tunnel, ducking his head so that he wouldn't hit it on the low ceiling, Seungkwan heaved a sigh of discontent. "Mingyu, I don't think-" he began, but the tall man had already disappeared around the first bend. "Oh my gosh," he breathed, knowing that he couldn't just let his friend go ahead alone. He moved past Vernon and entered the tunnel, following where Mingyu had gone.

"Hey," Vernon said steadily from behind, "What's wrong? You're tense all of a sudden."

He couldn't explain it, not without