-a bit louder, say my name, it wakes me up from my sleep-

Lee Eun Byeol found herself in a large grey room. It looked abandoned, save for the white box in the middle of the room.

She took her time to look around. It looked like a museum to her, seeing how there were some statues on pedestals that looked Greek to her.

Either I'm in a museum or someone has a serious mythology obsession.

Eun Byeol went out of the room and found herself in the corridor, leading to other rooms both in front and behind her. She decided to move front first. She went past an empty room with a large mirror against the wall and a table, a room that looked like a workplace and finally she entered a hall.

She touched the white pillars, wondering how this place was so empty. Something in her mind was nagging at her. Almost like she was forgetting something.

She heard a sound from the door she had entered the hall and instinctively, she hid behind the pillar. She peeked carefully and saw a figure entering. A boy.

The boy was wearing a brown fur jacket. He was dressed in an edgy fashion, plus there was something in his hand...

A trumpet.

Eun Byeol came to her senses. She knew why she was here. She came out of her hiding and cleared her throat.

"Hongjoong? Is that you, Hongjoong?"

Hongjoong looked at the girl who had appeared out of nowhere and called his name. She was dressed in a fur jacket herself, with brown leather pants and boots. Her dark hair, parted in the middle, reached her shoulders and bangs covered her forehead. She came forward to get a closer look at him, and gasped.

"It really is you. The mullet looks good on you."

Hongjoong was confused. Who was she and what was she doing here? She wasn't supposed to be here. Not at this moment.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"Ah, apologies. I forgot that you won't remember me. I'm Eun Byeol. Lee Eun Byeol. Ring any bells?"

Hongjoong shifted from one foot to another, trying to think. The name sounded strangely familiar.

"I don't think-"

"You sent me, Hongjoong. You, from the future. Well, not your future, an alternate future that won't happen again but yeah, you sent me. Let me just-"

Eun Byeol took out a red cloth from her pocket. She spread the little cloth and Hongjoong realized it was a flag, with 'Ateez' written on it.

"Give me that trumpet over here for a second," Eun Byeol, without waiting for an answer, grabbed the trumpet from Hongjoong's hand. She tied it to the trumpet and handed it back to him.

"There. Now you're all ready. Listen to me carefully, Hongjoong. You have to do what I say-"

"Excuse me, what did you say your name was? I don't even know who you are and you're talking crazy. Why should I-"

"Stop interrupting me and listen," Eun Byeol held Hongjoong by his shoulders and shook him a little. Hongjoong was taken aback.

"I don't have any time. If you want to save your friends, you're not gonna blow that trumpet now. In a few minutes, some people will come through that door-" she pointed to the door across the hallway, "and you're gonna throw that trumpet to the ground, without blowing it, you understand?"

Hongjoong nodded. He was very surprised but at the moment, he could do nothing but hear her out.

"I have to go soon. I've done what needed to be done." She dropped her hands and smiled at him. "Good luck. Don't mess it up." She started to walk away.

"But, wait!" Hongjoong said and she stopped and turn around.

"How are you here? What's going on?"

"Here they come!" She said and ran out of Hongjoong's sight. He sighed and looked at the door across the hallway, light shining brightly through it as some cloaked figures filled the hall. He couldn't see their faces, but they were 8.

"Are you gonna blow the trumpet?" One of the cloaked figures asked.

Hongjoong looked down at the trumpet and found himself in a dilemma. Should he? He heard Eun Byeol's instructions run through his head.

Lee Eun Byeol, he thought. He touched the red flag. Suddenly, images of Eun Byeol and his friends in a pirate ship ran through his head. Hundreds of images. Were these memories? A flashback? Or something else?

What was definite was that he had seen Eun Byeol and his friends playing around happily. And he realized that he could trust her.

Hongjoong looked at the trumpet once, the red flag dangling from it, before deciding to drop it to the ground.

---------

Eun Byeol ran back to where she had come from, entering the room that looked like a workplace, except it was covered in plastic and only a desk, a chair and a few other things remained.

She walked to the desk, full of books and notes, inkpots, a table lamp, etc. She organized the books a bit, making space and decided to sit on the chair and catch her breath. She took off her backpack and took out the hourglass, placing it on the desk.

"Just like Hongjoong had instructed," she said to herself and smiled.

She needed to place triggers to make sure every one of them would realize that they were dreaming. Soon, Yunho would come in this room and see the hourglass. That's how this cycle was going to begin, how this timeline was going to change. 

Eun Byeol was conflicted. Hongjoong didn't remember her because in this cycle, in this shared dream they were stuck in, that's how they first met. They had been friends before they got stuck here, but since it took a while to recall their memories here, he wouldn't recognize her so quickly.

As she got out of the room and walked across the hall, she heard a voice across the hall. Shit, she thought. She had to hide. She went to the room on her left and took a quick glance around. Broken glass on the floor, a mirror leaning against the wall, another desk. She decided to hide behind the desk as it was the only place that could possibly attempt to hide her. Wasn't much help, she was exposed.

She started to recall what Hongjoong from the previous timeline had said about the room with the glass. And the mirror.

San.

She bent further beneath the desk and waited for someone to either come in or ignore this room, hopefully, and go somewhere else. Thankfully, the latter happened. She saw Yunho and Wooyoung walking across the hall. She sighed in relief and got on her feet, brushing her clothes. She looked at the books on the desk and went through them to see if anything of use was there. Upon finding nothing, she decided to get out of there, almost tripping on herself, stumbling across the room. She stood at the door, deciding where to go. She opted to go right, away from the room Yunho would be in right now.

As she went down the hall, San came out of the room where Eun Byeol had previously been in. He had come from the other side of the hall, met Wooyoung and Yunho in the hall, and Yunho and San had went into that room while Wooyoung had gone straight ahead. Before San was going to come out of that room, he had heard something that sounded like stepping on broken glass. He had stayed there, waiting for whoever was in that room to come out.

San saw a girl going down the hall, backpack slung across one shoulder, casually humming as she walked. The bag was half open and it looked like something was gonna drop out of it. He couldn't see her face, she was going away from him. What he did notice was her dark hair down to her shoulders, covering her neck, and something that looked like a tattoo on her right hand, some text written from her wrist to her pinky finger.

He was going to call her out, ask who she was and what she was doing here but something in him decided against it. So he went to the room she had come from, the room full of broken glass and a mirror against the wall. He stepped carefully, making way to the lone desk in the room. A red flag stood out among the books. He picked it up and examined it. It had Ateez written on it.

His head turned to the direction where the girl had gone. Did she leave it here on purpose? Did she drop it accidentally? San put it back on the desk. He felt déjà vu, something about the girl was very familiar. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it felt like he had seen or met her before.

How could that be, he thought. 

A wave of reality hit him. San took a step back, his eyes wide as his thoughts ran rampant. How was he here? How did he even come here? What was he doing before he came here? How was everyone here? And why does it all feel so normal? 

San needed answers. He followed the route the girl had went, and peeked inside the room she was in.

---------

Yeosang found himself in a glass box. He almost panicked as he ran his hands on the box, trying to figure out how to get out of it. He looked around the room he was in, dark, with some statues decorated. The only light source seemed to be in the box he was in; it was too dark to actually make things out.

Why was he trapped? He sat down in the box, hugging himself, resting his head on his knees.

He didn't hear Eun Byeol come in the room until she tapped on the glass, almost giving Yeosang a mini heart attack. She noticed it, and said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Yeosang looked at the unfamiliar girl. The hazel in her eyes was bright. She crossed the border around the box and stepped in, sitting down so she was almost on eye level with him.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Lee Eun Byeol. I've come here to help you out-"

"Can you free me?"

"Only you can free yourself, Yeosang," she said. Yeosang wondered how she knew his name when he had never told her before. "I have to make you aware of what's going on. You will talk about this to no one, okay?"

Yeosang nodded. He'd decide that later, first he wanted to hear her out and see who she was.

"I know you all, okay? This may sound crazy, but I know every one of you. I came from the future to help Hongjoong. In fact, he's the one who sent me."

"That's... bullshit." Yeosang's face was hard. This was no time to joke around. He needed to get out of here.

"Oh is that so?" Eun Byeol said and smirked. "Did you not wonder how you got stuck in this box in the first place? What you were doing before?"

Yeosang's mouth opened to retort, but he had nothing to say. She was right. How did he come here and get stuck in the box?

"See! I told you so. Now I have to go back soon. A man in black with a fedora will come here. Don't be surprised when you see him. He'll tell you what to do, and you have to do it, no matter what, okay?"

"Could you be more vague about this? At least tell me some details," Yeosang shook his head. 

"I've talked to that man already so I don't need to talk to you about that. Trust me, you'll know why soon. And you know why you're gonna do this? Because that's how you'll find your treasure. If you still doubt me, you can ask Hongjoong later. I've already met him."

Yeosang decided to trust her, since he had no better option and she knew about their quest to find the 'treasure', something only Ateez knew. He nodded and she said, "Remember, don't talk about this to anyone other than yourself. It's for your own good. It's how you're gonna succeed."

She got up and wore her backpack on both her shoulders, smiling at him. "Good luck, Yeosang."

Outside the room, San, who had heard everything, rushed back to the other room before the girl could come out. Eun Byeol, he thought. 

I remember.

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I promise everything is gonna make sense soon, so stay tuned! xx