𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚕 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚌𝚎: 𝚀𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔

🅔🅝🅨🅐

16. ENYA

『 Jini's POV 』

Everyone was awake. Well, almost everyone—except for Bae, who was probably trapped in one of her death trance dreams again. None of us were surprised. It was kind of expected at this point.

"We need to go ahead and start preparing. Someone should stay back and help her when she wakes up," Huening Kai said after we finished our light breakfast.

"I'll stay," I volunteered. "I'll be fine even if Sunghoon and Jungwon wander off too far."

"Okay then," Huening Kai said, handing me Bae's share of food.

"Don't eat that," Jiwoo teased.

"Yah! Kim Jiwoo!" I yelled as she nonchalantly flipped her hair and strolled away.

I had just sat down for a few seconds when Bae woke up with a jolt.

"Oh my God! Thank God!" she exhaled in relief. She looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"What happened?" I asked, alarmed.

"Yunjin! We're all heading to our deaths," she said, her face pale.

"...I thought that was obvious," I replied.

"No, you don’t get it," she insisted. "I don't know if it was real or not, but I saw you suffocating, Sullyoon bleeding out, and Kyujin locked in a dark room. Jiwoo and Sunoo were being burned alive, Ni-ki's dragon form was lifeless, Jungwon was turned into a statue, Yuna was possessed, and Sunghoon was frozen—" She choked, her breathing turning ragged.

"And it was my fault. I caused all your pain."

I grabbed her shoulders. "Jinsol, you don’t mean that. You’d never hurt us."

"But I did," she whispered, coughing and shaking.

"What happened after?" I asked.

"Everything turned pitch black, and then suddenly, I was in chains. A man appeared and told me I’d done a good job," she said. "Then he looked at me and said, 'Too bad you have to die too.' And then I woke up."

I stared at her. That was terrifying.

"Well, that’s the worst-case scenario," Huening Kai's voice cut in. "Now hurry up and eat, we need to move."

"Why are you so insensitive?! She's terrified, and that’s all you have to say?!" Yuna snapped as she walked into the cave.

Kai rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Eat up, Bae. Your dream isn’t a guarantee—it’s a warning. If we succeed, none of that will happen." And with that, he walked out.

"I swear that man is an idiot," Yuna muttered, plopping down beside Bae. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I’m fine," Bae said, finally eating her breakfast.
"Good! Let’s go!" Yuna said. Why was she so peppy about this?

"Okay!" Bae said, matching her energy.

The three of us stepped out, where the others were already waiting.