Hourglass || pjm ||

05

Sung Rin's POV

Wordy chapter beware

The girls and I ventured further into the cave after setting everything down. Our backpacks were by the entrance, and we had with us a battery operated torch, courtesy of one of the boys who had led us here. To date, there was only part of their group here and they were planning to have a campfire with all of them, including us, when the rain dies down.

The cave was relatively spacious and was cooling. We wanted to scavenge around just to see whether anything was off about this place. We borrowed some masks from the boys just in case there was some poisonous gas in some restricted areas of the cave.

I placed my palm against the damp surface of the walls of the cave to help myself slip through a thin gap. I pressed myself against the rocks and slid right through, only to be poked on the head by a sharp crystal. A dozen other similar crystals covered the roof of the cave, some hanging so low that I couldn't pass without getting an angry gash on my head. Some emerge from the floor like mushrooms, while others cover the sides. Seems like this was a dead-end.

I looked up, rubbing the side of my forehead and cursing under my breath. My pain was soon forgotten when I took in the astounding view. A dozen similar crystals covered the roof of the cave, some emerge from the floor like mushrooms, while others cover the sides. All of them glimmered even in the dark. I had never seen crystals in a cave before, and this was beyond my imagination.

However, there was no way to pass through the crystals without getting numeral angry gashes on my forehead. Seems like this is a dead-end.

"Shit!" Yeon Young yelped, half in fear and half in annoyance.

"Are you okay? What is it?" I called after her, concern etched into my features. I knew that caves could be really sketchy - one wrong move and you'll end up plummeting six feet under to your death.

"I'm fine, just woke up a few bats," She shouted back and moved out of the gap. I shifted out after her and trailed after Jiwoo. My hands moved along the wall to support myself. I expected smooth surfaces all the way, but my fingers soon came across a rough surface.

"Johyun, shine the torch over here." Johyun's footsteps echoed in the empty cave as the whole group made their way towards me. I inspected the wall carefully. With the light, I was now able to make out the squiggly inscriptions, carved by a sharp rock.

"That looks like a fork," Jiwoo said, pointing to a carving.

"No," I took a step back, then another four. My eyes widened. I then motioned for my friends to join me. "It's a snake or a dragon." The intricate details on the painting were incredible. It was a painting of the creature slithering up a boulder, hissing ferociously at an unseen predator. Its tongue was like a fork, just like Jiwoo had said. I could almost envision the sharp tongue darting from the mouth. It emitted power, yet it's posture hinted that it was scared shitless.

"This," I waved my hands around to indicate the painting, "should be a medieval carving done by people from years ago. The only problem is, it looks fresh, like just a few years ago, and not one from millions of years, but it might just be a fellow speleologist or an indigenous tribe. This might very well be a Templar symbols too."

"Hey, sorry to interrupt on your humanities lesson but the bonfire is going. Mine if you join us?" A smooth voice made me stop my speech. I turn around, about to glare at the guy who made me stop when I was just getting to my point. It was the Jungkook lookalike from earlier. He leant against the cave, holding a torch in his hand and cocking his eyebrows arrogantly.

"It's very nice of you to offer us a bonfire. We'll come along in a while." Johyun replied. Jiwoo brushed past him, stopping just awhile to whisper, "Thanks for saving us from that lecture. My friend's nuts about humanities, don't mind her." Then she had the audacity to wink at him and walk by, humming an unfamiliar tune.

"I heard that you brat!" I called out to Jiwoo, feeling embarrassed inside. Hey, it wasn't my fault that I loved humanities. I didn't want the guy to think that I was a geek. First impressions, right?

The guy led us back to the entrance where a fire had been started. There were four more unfamiliar faces staring back at the four of us.

"Hi, ladies," One of the boys nodded at us. "Sorry we had to make do with a campfire indoors. It was pretty chilly outdoors, so we had to move it indoors instead." I bobbed my head politely and took a seat around the fire like the rest of my friends.

"Since we're meeting for our first time, let's introduce ourselves, okay? I'll start first. Hello, I'm Namjoon, or you can call me Joon. I'm 24 years this year. We're actually a band named BTS, if you didn't know." Namjoon held out his hand for a handshake and smiled sweetly.

Only Johyun, who wasn't much of a fangirl, reached forward to receive the polite gesture. "Wait," I processed my thoughts slowly, "you're saying you're the kpop group who won Justin Bieber in the billboards?" Namjoon, or should I say Rap Monster, nodded.

I immediately blanked out. No wonder their faces were familiar to me. Perhaps I couldn't recognise them right away because off they weren't wearing their makeup like on screen.

"Do you know wonhae manhi manhi-yap?" Jin asked innocently.

The deafening silence was broken right there and then, and we couldn't keep our laughter in. The boys stared right back at us, perplexed.

"Sorry," Jiwoo wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of her eyes, " it's an ARMY inside joke." Hoseok clapped excitedly, thrilled that we were their fans. I forced my hysteria down and introduced myself, and the rest of my friends followed suit. Since we knew the members' names, there was no need for them to introduce themselves.

"Wait, if you're an ARMY, it means you're from the modern world?" Taehyung inquired in a serious tone. "How did you come here?"

"We went to the museum and found a lift there. One moment we were there, and the next I woke up in the middle of the forest." I answered, brows furrowed. To be honest, I didn't know about others, but this was all too uncanny for me to dismiss it. Sure, I told my mum that I would be having a sleepover at Jiwoo's house, but how was I going to make my way home when I didn't even know how I had gotten here?

"Koreaboo said that yall had gone to a museum and disappeared. How come you're here now?" Yeon Young questioned.

"That's the point. We can't remember anything, and I'm pretty sure something's wrong with that museum from both our experiences." Jimin piped up, eager to reason out the whole episode.

"And we have a theory," I whipped my head to look at the speaker. It was Yoongi, who had not yet spoken this whole evening.

"We might have just been transported back in time."