𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗞𝗘 [ UNDER HEAVY REVISION ]

AWAKE : TWO

Y/N'S POINT OF VIEW

A flicker of hope ignited within me as I refreshed the Twitter feed. 

Myoui Mina, a random username from Seoul, had posted: "Is anyone else awake?" 

A smile bloomed on my lips – we weren't alone! There were others who might know what was happening, who could help.

I followed Mina's account, then scrolled through the comments, desperately searching for anyone else awake.

Just as I considered creating a group chat to pool information, my phone buzzed. An unknown group chat notification made me frown. The sender's name simply read: "Mina."

My heart hammered in my chest. The message inside the chat was simple, yet chilling:

⌲ Mina: Do you know what's happening right now?

Panic jolted me back to reality. I needed to get Nayeon involved. Rushing into the living room, I practically shoved my phone in her face.

"So... we're not the only one," Nayeon whispered, her eyes glued to the screen. The initial fear in her voice had morphed into a cautious curiosity.

I nodded, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs. "Yeah, basically. I saw four comments ago at Mina's post, and everyone who replied is also in Seoul." I gestured towards the group chat window, where the first message hung heavy in the air:

⌲ Mina: Do you know what's happening right now?

Jeongyeon, another unknown name, had simply replied:

⌲ Jeongyeon:  Well, I don't know. I don't have a clue.

The silence in the chat was deafening. These people, whoever they were, were awake. 

Maybe, just maybe, they held the answers we desperately craved. 

"Calling them might be better," Nayeon suggested, her voice tight with nervous energy. "Texting feels too slow, too impersonal right now."

I hesitated, a knot of apprehension forming in my stomach. "I don't know," I admitted. "What if they'll seen me? I don't want to be the last chat--"

"'You'll chat with them or I'll smack this kettle against your head?'"

⌲  You: Calling might be more efficient. Would everyone be okay with that?

My heart hammered in my chest as I hit send, praying there would be a response. 

I don't want to be the last chat.

Just as dread threatened to overwhelm me, a new message popped up in the chat.

⌲  Dahyun: Agreed. Let's call. Hopefully, we can all understand each other better this way.

Relief washed over me, warm and welcome. One by one, the others chimed in. We were about to make a voice call, connecting with these strangers who, like us, were awake in a sleeping world. 

"So... what?" a girl with a brown hair voice crackled through the phone speaker. A jolt of surprise shot through me. She has a large tarpaulin of LeBron James at the back, and a small stuffed toy that looks exactly like Yoda.

Nayeon squeezed my hand, her eyes wide with a mixture of recognition and apprehension. "She's Chou Tzuyu, right?" Nayeon whispered to me,

"I dunno,"

"She's a transferee at Hyosan, she managed to become part of the basketball varsity."

A new face flickered onto the screen – a girl with pale skin, her eyes wide with alarm. "Yeah, what now?" she demanded, her voice echoing Tzuyu's earlier question. "We don't have any clue what's happening in our dorm."

"Dorm?" another voice piped up, this time from a figure holding a half-eaten snack. The confusion was clear.

Tzuyu, seemingly regaining her composure, explained. "Yeah, we're all varsity players. When we woke up this morning, everyone else in the dorm was out cold."

A wave of murmurs rippled through the call. A girl from the "Momo" view chimed in, her voice laced with fear. "Me too! I went out on the balcony, and the whole town was dead silent. The only sound was Momo's dog barking like crazy."

Maybe those two are siblings. They exactly look like both Japanese.

The silence stretched, thick with unspoken anxieties. Then, a voice broke the tension. It belonged to the girl who had been quiet before, her eyes wide with a desperate hope. "What if..." she began, her voice barely a whisper, "...what if we meet up?"

A collective gasp filled the air. The idea was audacious, reckless even. They were strangers, connected only by this bizarre circumstance. 

"No way!" A girl with a cap bristled, her voice laced with fear. "We don't even know each other." Her words echoed the apprehension many of them felt.

Nayeon, however, seemed to embrace the idea. "I'm in," she declared, her voice firm despite the tremor in her hand. "Jihyo's suggestion makes sense. Maybe if we're together, we can figure things out better."

One by one, others started to voice their agreement. Tzuyu, the varsity player, chimed in with a resolute "Me too." The pale girl, holding a giggling cub close to the camera, added, "Me three, then four for Chaeyoung."

Even Momo, the girl with the barking dog, offered a hesitant smile. "I'm in together with Sana."

The holdout remained unconvinced. The girl with the cap shook her head, her voice tinged with panic. "Y'all are serious? We're just a bunch of teenagers! What else can we do if something goes wrong?"

The girl with the cap remained a wall of resistance. Was she simply afraid, or did she see this whole meeting as a pointless exercise? 

"I don't like her attitude," Nayeon muttered under her breath, her earlier enthusiasm fading. I could only offer a helpless shrug in response.

Jihyo, her voice, though strained, held a steely resolve. "Look," she said, "if you're not comfortable, you don't have to come. But for those of us who are willing to try, we need a location."

Taking a deep breath, I cut through the tension. "Where does everyone think we should meet?"

A brief silence followed before a new voice filled the speaker. It was Mina, the one who had started it all with her tweet. "Are you all near the Han River? It's the only place I know with a good view."

"The Han River it is, then," Jihyo declared, her voice regaining its strength. "Those who are in, let's exchange contact details. We'll need a way to stay connected once this call ends."

The decision was made. We're going to meet. 

...

"Okay, then it's settled," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "5 pm at Han River. Please, don't be late."

Is this what they called...adventure?