Encounter in the Unexpected Abyss | Choi Seungcheol

three.

~ The Following Day ~

I arrived at the meeting place at around 5 in the morning. To my surprise, everyone who was part of the trip was already there. There were 5 of us – including me and our formator.

I sigh and quickly made my way to approach the group. I filled up some paperwork and read the itinerary for the day.

5:30 am-1:30 pm - Travel Time

I was surprised to see it would take 8 hours to get to the venue. Where exactly are they taking us?

I released another sigh and decided to buckle up in the van. In no time, I was fast asleep.

~ Time Skip ~

Unsurprisingly, I was in dreamland the entire ride. I only woke up when I felt my seatmate lightly tap my shoulder as she called out my name.

At the call of my name, I was wide awake. I looked out the window and noticed that we were in the unknown, literally.

There were lots of trees and mountains – everything was green.

We were told to step out of the van. However, as soon as we did, I noticed that there was only nature and nothing else. I thought about what the next plan would be. Are they going to make us camp out here for 3 months? No way.

My suspicion was correct because our formator announced that we had to take on a 2-hour journey on foot.

"Each one of you will be assigned a buddy who is part of the group we will be working with. They will serve as your guide for today and for the rest of the Immersion." She said.

We all nodded, waiting for the community members to arrive. One by one, an unknown person would come to introduce themselves and they would take one of us to begin our journey.

Currently, it was only the formator and I left. Interesting, I thought.

She must have noticed the curious look in my eyes so she spoke, "I believe the person assigned to you is a new recruit so they're probably taking their time too. I'm sure they'll be here soon though so don't worry." She ended with a reassuring smile.

Just a few moments later, someone new arrived. Thinking it was my buddy, I prepared my stuff. However, my formator stopped me, "Oh! This is the leader of their community. Let me just talk to her, okay?"

They were whispering amongst themselves while taking glances at me. I thought, something must be wrong and I was correct.

My formator looked at me with hesitancy as she approached me, "Um Andi? I was told that my presence was needed to welcome your other classmates to the location. Would it be okay if I were to leave you here for the time being? Your buddy is on the way, I promise."

It wasn't like I had a choice, so instead of protesting, I agreed. I was told to remember 3 things.

Do not leave the meeting area.

Do not harm anything or anyone in the area.

Do not forget the name of your buddy: Seb

2 mins. 5 mins. 10 mins. 25 mins later I was still here. I sighed, I was running out of rocks to play with, I thought.

So to distract myself, I went over the rules that my formator gave me, realizing that I had messed up the final rule. I completely forgot the name of my buddy. Oh gosh.

Annoyed with myself, I threw the final stone I had been playing with for the last 25 minutes, hoping to recall the name, somehow.

Instead of remembering the name, I was surprised to hear the voice of a child, "Ouch," she said.

I looked up with wide eyes, noticing a toddler who had tears forming in the corner of her eyes. Did I accidentally hit her with the tiny rocks?

Realizing that I did, I approached her as quickly as I could but her tears turned into cries.

"I-I'm so sorry oh my gosh" I pleaded as I took her in my arms.

I looked up in the sky – cursing myself for messing up 2 out of the 3 rules I was given.

I did not only forget the name of the person who was meant to take me to safety but I had also accidentally assaulted a child! Great, I thought sarcastically.

Just when I was about to cry out of frustration, the little girl let go of my grip and ran towards the direction she came from.

"Sheb!!!" She cried.

Was that the name of my buddy? It had to be, right? Sheb.

I looked at the figure, feeling happy that he was there. I no longer had to keep messing up because we were finally going to make our way to the main area.

However, as soon as I looked up, the color drained from my face, because instead of coming face to face with an unknown man, named Sheb, there stood

Scoups.