"I'm not even sure if the rest know about the lights," Wonho said as we headed down again.

"Were they there before?" I asked and he shook his head.

"But I haven't been up here in awhile either so I can't tell but when Shownu's group came up, they said there wasn't anything up here.

"Let's just head to the north and see if there's actually anything worth noting," Minhyun said and we nodded.

"You're coming with us?" I asked Wonho, a little surprised but he nodded.

"Of course! I know the roads and we can make it there without having to face anyone."

"That's cool but didn't you say the world changed recently for you too?"

"It did but how can I explain this... The roads still have the same layout as before as if someone just put on a different theme or something over it."

"That's... Convenient," I muttered under my breath and we said no more as we headed to the exit. We gave a quick look around just in case the others were back by now but they weren't so Wonho started showing us the way to the game center he was talking about, slipping through alleys and underground tunnels that we didn't even notice before. He started explaining that these were mostly train tunnels before this but now they looked more like sewers.

"So, tell us more about the game center," Minhyun said and Wonho puckered his lips.

"I haven't really gone in before. It gives me a bad vibe."

"You could have said that earlier."

"Well, I didn't know you would pick that. But it should be fine... Maybe."

"What kind of bad vibes?" I asked and Wonho shuddered a little.

"It only showed up not too long ago but when I walked pass it, it always feels as if there's lots of danger inside but at the same time, it feels as if its coaxing you to approach and enter it. It's scary that way."

"Huh..."

When we climbed out of the manhole that would connect to the front of the game centre, we understood what Wonho meant. It was huge double storey game centre with bright lights shining from almost every direction. Some neon, some flashing but none the same as the next.

"I don't know if this is how a game centre would usually look like," I said but noticed the light that was connected to the building. It seemed important and we would find out right now. As bright as it was, there were no windows to peek in and even the door was tinted as if hiding lots of secrets behind it.

"Let's go in then," Minhyun said and we nodded, approaching the door. Minhyun pushed the door open and we headed inside, not knowing what to expect but definitely wasn't floating televisions and a whole solar system. There was a giant teddy bear sitting in the back of the room too as well as presents and other toys scattered all about, some moving and some just laying still.

"This isn't a game centre... Its a toy store," I blurted out as we carefully walked in, checking out our surroundings.

"Or maybe it is a game centre too. Look over there. There are arcade machines floating around," Minhyun said. Wonho stopped walking when he caught sight of something, moving his hand outwards to make us stop too.

"Look between the bear's feet," he said in a serious tone. We squinted and tried to see what he was talking about. Between the teddy bear's feet was some sort of circular platform.

"What's that?" I asked since it didn't seem like anything superb to me.

"Remember I told you that we had to enter portals to win? That's how they look like but it seems deactivated. Maybe... Just maybe we can do something to turn it on," Wonho said, looking a little eager.

"How did you guys turn it on?" I asked.

"They were already on to begin with. Once someone passes it, it turns off."

"Let's try to get closer."

We started walking towards the portal but before we can get close, the whole place became eerily quiet and still. Every single toy that had been moving and clanging had stopped. As if we were in a horror movie, they all turned towards us and we froze.

"What on earth....," Minhyun whispered.

"They're protecting it... We should move back slowly," Wonho replied but before we could, everything started at the same time and charged towards us. Toys of all sizes and shapes slammed against us.

"Ow! Ow!" I yelped as I lifted my arms to fend them off.

"Baekho, the sword," Minhyun squeaked while grabbing hold of a flying toy train before it hit him. I gasped and pulled out the katana from the backpack. I started to cut them down as much as I could while moving forward. Minhyun grabbed onto Wonho and pulled him along as we rushed towards the portal. The toys were almost merciless, tearing at our clothes slightly but the moment we reached the bear's feet, they all stopped attacking and just floated in the air. Wonho rushed to the platform and stood on it but nothing happened.

"Like I thought, its deactivated," he sighed. "So much for thinking I could leave."

"You have been here very long after all....," Minhyun said and I kept my eyes on the toys just in case. "Huh? Wonho, look out!"

I yelped as I didn't expect Minhyun to suddenly lunge forward, dragging me backwards. I almost screamed when I saw the Teddy bear's glowing red eyes and swinging paw. He shoved Wonho out of the bear's reach but it grabbed him while I stumbled.

"Minhyun!" I yelped, trying to find my footing. This reminded me of the chess game except the fact that my feet were lifted off almost instantly as well and I was swinging.

"Ugh... Baekho," Minhyun gulped and tried to pry the bear's paw away. He reached into his backpack and pulled out the bow we took from the elves previously and started shooting at the bear's face. It growled as ice arrows hit its face, swinging us violently and throwing us aside. I couldn't do anything. There was nothing to hold onto and we were about to crash into the arcade machine.

"Baekho! Minhyun!"

I braced myself for the pain but we seemed to get absorbed into the machine instead. We hit the ground and rolled, gasping for air from the shock rather than the pain as we looked up to see where we are.

"Baekho?! Help!" a familiar voice called out to me. I blinked and gasped when I saw Hoshi and Woozi inside a cage.

"What?! How did you two-"

"Finally, someone else! Help us!" I realised that they weren't the only ones there as more cages came into my view. Minhyun and I stood up with confused expressions.

"Holy ..."

"What happened?" I asked Hoshi as I headed to their cage.

"The bear stuffed us in here," Hoshi said and frowned. "If we could just lift it up... Somehow."

Minhyun and I looked around the cages but there didn't even seem to be a door anywhere so it had to be the kind that opened from the bottom completely which made it difficult since we weren't strong enough to push it off.

"Don't leave us here please," another person pleaded but what could we even do?

"Let's peek outside. See what the situation is like," Minhyun said and I nodded. We headed back to the place we came in from which was now just a white fuzzy looking screen. We poked our heads out and noticed the toys seemed to have resume their movements from earlier, floating by here and there. We noticed Wonho trying to sneak around the bear that had deactivated again, avoiding the other toys as much as he could too. "Baekho, this might be weird but aren't we... A little too small?"

"Huh?" We stumbled out from the screen and I squeaked, just realising how small I was and he was too. We were barely as tall as the arcade machine's screen. "How did this happen?! It's the cat game all over again."

"I'm not sure... But maybe when he shoved us into the machine... That's how we fit in. We shrunk..."

"Ugh... This is going to be one of those crazy games..."

"But in a way, this might work to our advantage," Minhyun said as he straightened himself and looked down.

"Huh? How?"

"Earlier when we got close to the portal, I noticed that there were some unplugged cables. Maybe if we can connect them, the portal might work."

"Okay but how do we get there?"

"We jump and land on Wonho. He will throw us there."

"Throw?! Do you hear yourself, Minhyun?!"

"I do but if I'm right, this whole toy or game centre doesn't obey the any sort of physic or nature's law. It follows the toys'."

I didn't know how true that could be but it wouldn't hurt to try. Yet at the same time, I knew the only reason I was hesitating right now was the fact that this would be Minhyun's one and only life left. If we screw anything up, it's over. For real.

"Hey. Snap out of it. It's either we do this or we try to get Wonho's attention, get him in and have three people try to free everyone in there. Either ways, we don't know what the final outcome would be anyways."

"Isn't there any other way?" I asked, not liking either options since they both still involve Minhyun anyways. Minhyun stared at me momentarily before sighing.

"There is one more. We get Wonho's attention. Tell him about the cables and have him plug it back while distracting the toys and the bear from here. We got shrunk but we still got both the bows from the elves and from what I noticed earlier, it seems to shoot ice arrows."

"And if we get into trouble, we can just hop into the screen! That's brilliant," I chirped and Minhyun sighed.

"You're just worried I'll die, won't you?" he said and I chuckled nervously.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yep." He pulled out the bow and steadied his stance. "But we can talk about that later. Right now, we have problems bigger than us."

I nodded and retrieved the bow I had as well. We pulled the string and let go at the same time, aiming for an area close to Wonho. He jumped and looked up towards us. We waved frantically and he became shocked but kept still as he waved back a little. We tried pointing and signalling towards the unplugged cables but he quirked a brow at us. Okay, maybe this wasn't the fully fleshed plan we had thought out of but not every plan has to be perfect.

"We can lead him with our arrows," Minhyun said and I nodded. Both of us taking aim and trying to lead him towards a safer path back to the bear. One arrow signifying go and double to stop. Thankfully, he catched on quick as he followed our direction towards the bear while keeping a low posture. Minhyun managed to hit the cable to show Wonho what was going on and he noticed it but our bigger problem now was how to get to it without alerting the bear since it seemed to get activated as long as we enter its field of vision. I looked around and noticed the toy train going around in large circles. A clapping monkey floating and a plane flying in an infinity symbol.

"Let's try to knock one of them down and see what happens," I said.

"Hmm?"

"There are so many floating toys... But only the train, the plane and the monkey is hovering above the bear. If we can just get it distracted somehow, maybe it'll spare Wonho some time to get to the cables."

"Guess we gotta pick one..."

~

Ooh~ toys~

> Train

> Plane

> Monkey