Project IZ*ONE: Secret Files

Memories Lost: Part 5

"Uh, maybe we should've asked her to specify where in the park Sohye would be." Chaewon says when she and Eunbi arrive at Hyochang park. There were many stone paths snaking through the greenery and different types of trees towering over them. At first glance, it didn't look like it'd be easy finding their target here.

"Nayoung said that Sohye lived here, so we should be looking for structures or trailers.." Eunbi replies.

"Sure, you want me to split up? I can cover more ground that way." The younger girl proposes.

"I don't know. She's well-trained, and we don't know what'll happen if she wipes the mind of one of your clones." Eunbi says worriedly.

"It'll be fine, unnie. I'll just make sure not to look into her eyes. I promise to report back if I find anything." Chaewon then splits herself into four copies and runs off before Eunbi could rebut.

"Ugh, that girl, always running off towards trouble." Eunbi sighs and goes off on another path.

~~~~

After trekking for a few minutes, a thought at the back of Eunbi's mind begins to surface.

"What if Nayoung didn't tell you the truth to protect her friend?"

Eunbi tries to shake the worry off. Nayoung said she understood what was at stake. She even asked her to bring Sohye back to them. Why would she give her the wrong place?

"Would you have done the same if one of IZ*ONE did the same thing?" Another voice in her head whispers which causes her to stop in her tracks. Eunbi couldn't imagine any of her friends turning on them, but wouldn't Nayoung have felt the same about I.O.I?

The doubts in her mind only began to grow as she wandered off the stone path and into the forest. Sakura's natural inclination for logic led her to create the mutant database they were trying to recover. Eunbi's initial plan after retrieving it was to delete all the data, but now she wasn't so sure.

"No...what are you thinking, Eunbi? Pull yourself together." She thinks back to herself. Just before her doubts could creep back though, Eunbi hears an unusual sound from her feet. So far, it's just been her shoes crunching on the occasional autumn leaves, but all of a sudden, those were replaced by a different surface. Eunbi looks down and sees a sheet of metal protruding slightly through the ground.

"Not another one..." She groans, realizing that Sohye's little abode was likely underground. The metal below her feet must've been exposed due to rain washing away the soil. Eunbi looked around the grove that she'd entered for a lever or button, but couldn't see anything.

"This would've been a good time to have Tomi." She mutters, thinking about how the younger girl would be able to detect any disturbances in the plant life. Eunbi then considers contacting Chaewon if she'd found anything on her end while leaning on a random tree. To her surprise though, one of the branches she rested her arm on moves downwards, revealing a hole in the ground with stairs leading down.

"Thanks, Hii-chan." Eunbi says with a smile as she looks up at the sky. Somewhere in Japan, the peach-cheeked girl sneezes. Is someone talking about me? She thinks before going back to buying bread.

Eunbi now reaches for her phone to call Chaewon only to realize that the area she was in had no signal.

"Great..." The leader takes a deep breath, looking back behind her one more time before going underground herself.

~~~~

After a couple steps down the narrow staircase, Eunbi notices a door to her right. It looked like the kind you'd find attached to an RV trailer. As she looked down, she realized the stairs kept on going down further into the darkness, not even the light of her phone being able to illuminate the bottom. Because of this, Eunbi decides to check out what was behind the door she'd seen first..