He was drowning.

His eyes flew open, and with a gasp he sat up. Panic clogged his throat as his heartbeat pounded wildly in his ears, a moment passing before his brain managed to register his surroundings. He realized with a jolt that he was sitting upon a wooden raft, surrounded on all sides by water.

The mere realization that he was not, in fact, drowning, made him feel overcome with relief. However, it wasn’t long before this relief was replaced with fear. Where was he? Who was he?

“Taemin,” he said aloud, his own voice echoing strangely in his ears. “My name’s…Taemin.”

But what did that mean? Who was Taemin? How had he ended up here, stranded in the middle of the ocean on a tiny raft, with no recollection of how he had gotten there? The panic returned, clawing painfully at his chest, and Taemin took several great, heaving breaths in order to calm himself.

It was at that moment that he looked up and noticed, for the first time, an island in the distance. He squinted, and realized that the island was growing bigger and bigger with each passing moment. Crying out in relief, Taemin sliced his hands through the water in an attempt to propel himself forward towards land. It was only as he neared that he realized there were people on the island—but before he could do much more than comprehend this, the raft hit shore and he tumbled forward onto warm, wet sand.

Arms shot out and helped him up, countless pairs of hands grabbing at any part of Taemin they could reach. He found his feet and stood, legs trembling slightly as he looked around. Staring back at him were two dozen or so other boys, who all appeared to be in their mid-teens. With a sickening jolt, Taemin realized that he had no idea how old he was.

“Welcome to the Island,” came a voice to his left. Taemin turned his head to see a short, sandy-haired boy gazing grimly at him from where he stood a couple of feet away. The boy, who looked to be around 19 or so, walked up to Taemin and stuck out a hand. “My name’s Jonghyun,” he said. “Who’re you?”

Taemin stared back at the boy, his mouth dry. I don't know! he wanted to scream, but instead he answered, “Taemin.”

The other boy gave up trying to shake Taemin’s hand and dropped his arm with a sigh. “Well, pleasure to meet you, Taemin,” he said. And then:

 “Welcome to your new life.”