1 Amusement Park ~ 1

"Can anyone hear me? I'm hidden underground... Can anyone hear me? I guess I'm talking to myself..." The bodiless voice sighed and soon ebbed away. Having given up on trying to find someone who could save her. Who could release her from this hellish existence?

☽

Sehyoon had just arrived at the practice room with the other group members when everything faded to black, and the world around them started to spin.

When things became clearer, they were in a different place. For a moment, they were confused and had to look around them to determine where they were exactly.

From the side, Sehyoon could hear some murmurs. Once he had turned his gaze to the source of the sound, he saw there were three other people besides his group: Two men and a woman. They seemed to be friends, and they stared back at Sehyoon with suspicious gazes.

One of them even strode forward with angry steps and yelled, "why are we here? Answer now or I'll call the police! This is kidnapping!"

The other guy joined his friend in his accusations, and the girl did her best to pull them both back. Despite her fear, she came forward to speak, "sorry about them. We were walking home from work, and that was when everything went black. Then we woke up here, so we were simply confused. Please don't listen to what these two idiots say."

"It's fine." Donghun moved to stand next to Sehyoon and reassured her. "Right now, we're in the same situation, so we should at least try to get along."

The girl smiled gratefully at his words and ignored her friends' protests from behind her. Then she gestured towards the groups of guys as she introduced them and herself, "I'm Taeyeon. The person with glasses is Han-gyeol and the other one is Sungho. And you are?"

"I'm Sehyoon, that's Donghun, he's Byeongkwan and..." he looked pointedly over at the two who were clinging to each other in fear, and said, "they're Jun and Chan."

The girl was about to reply when a chilly feeling from behind made her freeze. Slowly swivelling her head towards the amusement park gates, the sight there made her take a step back, and in the process, almost fall to the ground. For a second, Sehyoon went blank, then followed her gaze until his own eyes were locked on whatever was standing behind the rusty bars of the gate.

There was a solitary figure standing beyond the rusty metal bars. Their body was shrouded in the night's darkness, and it was hard to discern any of their features. With this being the case, it made their aura more profound, and it pushed down heavily on all the people outside of the amusement park, their knees buckling under them, forcing them to the ground. Skin scraped painfully on the gravel beneath them, and they each let out a little groan of pain. As they did so, there seemed to be a low chuckle coming from the direction of the gate.

The figure lifted their head in silent laughter and seemed to take delight in their misfortune. Then, the gates creaked open by themselves, and the person strode towards them... no, it was more like they floated towards them.

The group of people tried to stand multiple times but failed each time, and they trained their eyes on the unknown being. It was hard for them to look away. Something told them that if they did, their insignificant lives would end before they could even blink.

As they continued to struggle, the being chuckled once again, and they opened their mouth to say, "oh don't get up on my account. Stay kneeling as you are." They waved their hand joyously and stopped before the group. "It's so lovely to see some new ones here. It's been so long... so long. Ah, I can still hear the screams of the last lot... so delicious... really, you can taste nothing like it over on the other side."

"Oh, please excuse my manners." They covered their bloody lips with an oversized sleeve and giggled. "I haven't introduced myself, have I? How rude of me... so very rude. Hmm, but then again, knowing who I am doesn't matter, because you'll soon be gone, he-he."

"Mhm." They cleared their throat and waved their hand once more.

"Welcome mortals to the Eternal Damnation games. Here you will take part in a variety of games and the prize is your life. Of course, if you fail to win these games, you will disappear from this world and yours forever," they explained to the group and turned back to the gate.

Before entering the gates, they turned back and grinned once more - their mouth split open, revealing the gums and teeth underneath - and they spun back round to face the still struggling humans.

"What are you waiting for?" The nameless being seemed to be a little confused why they were still kneeling. The group wasn't sure if the being was faking it or not. "Get up and follow me."

The being flicked a bony hand, and a weight seemed to be lifted off of all of their shoulders, allowing them to stand up. And they hesitantly followed the being inside.