Stranded | Twice

23) "Something Lurks Beneath"

"Everyone, gather around!" The leader announced.
As the girls gathered around in front of him, they looked at Nayeon and Jihyo who looked quite happy.
"What happened to you two?" Sana asked.
"They're talking to each other again." Jeongyeon replied.

"Follow me." The leader started walking, the girls followed him to the deeper side of the river.
He stepped in the deeper end of the river, there was a rock in the middle of it with a hole on top.
"Jihyo!" As he signalled Jihyo to come, she was confused why.
"Give me your necklace." He pointed at her chest.

It was the key that was left by her father when he left. To this day she doesn't know what it opens, but again she remembered what he said,
"This is a necklace that unlocks something great, keep it with you all the time, I love you."

Jihyo did what she was told and gave him her necklace. The leader placed the key into the hole and turned it, the place started to rumble. The girls at the back huddled together, suddenly the rock which was once small grew into a passage way.
The others walked towards it, inside was the dark abyss.
"How did you..." Jihyo didn't finish her sentence.
"When you're father was about to go, my father gave him that key to remember us by." He explained.
"Why did he gave you that key?" Jihyo asked.
"To keep it safe, if explorers come here and get greedy." He paused. "It's not going to end well."
"But the treasure map says it more over to the east." Jisoo pointed as she got her map out that she remembered.
"Those are fake, we have the real ones here."
"Have you ever been in it?" Tzuyu asked.
He shook his head, "My grandfather has, but he has never told anyone."

"Come over here!" Dahyun shouted.
She was behind of the passage way, on it was some writing.
"Take what you want but take the wrong one and the spirits will haunt." Tzuyu read.
"What does that mean?" Chaeyoung asked.
They all looked at the leader, he just shrugged.
"Something to do with taking." Jisoo spoke.
Jihyo stepped down a step and Nayeon stopped her.
"Are you sure?" She asked nervously, looking down the dark passage.
Jihyo nodded and smiled at her.
"I guess we're going inside." Jeongyeon said.

Before they went inside they wrapped some cloth on some branches and lit them on fire from the flint and steel. Jihyo took a deep breath and walked in first followed by Jisoo.
They were in pairs going down the passage way.
Dahyun was holding the torch whilst Momo tugged her arm.
Both Nayeon and Jeongyeon were holding the light.
Mina took the lit torch and held it up, since Chaeyoung was a bit short.
Lastly Sana and Tzuyu were at the back, Tzuyu holding the torch whilst Sana hugged her from behind.

They came to a stop when they reached flat ground, it was stuffy and dusty inside.
"I'm getting hot." Nayeon wafted her face.
"We get it, you love yourself." Dahyun rolled her eyes.
"I didn't mean it in that way." Nayeon came back.
"I would mean it that way." Jeongyeon smirked.
Nayeon playfully pushed her and blushed.

There was something in the middle of the room, something that stood out to them.
"What is that?" Momo asked.
"Some kind of thing that pops up from the ground." Chaeyoung said.
The girls turned to look at her, raising their eyebrows at her.
"It's what I see."
Jihyo went to investigate it, but Jisoo stopped her.
"What if it's a trap?"
"Then I'll be the one who will face my consequences." She smiled back at her and walked forwards.

As she got closer she saw that it was a bowl placed on a pedi stool. Inside the bowl was a long wick, the other girls watched as she slowly lit it.
Suddenly the fire spread to the sides where the room was now brightly lit.
In the middle of the room was replaced by two artefact with a person holding each one. The first artefact was a staff and the man who was holding looked damaged and sick.
The second artefact was a coin and the man who was holding it looked healthy and strong.

"What does this mean?" Tzuyu asked.
"Something about two artefact and two men." Sana spoke.
"Take what you want but take the wrong one and the spirits will haunt." Jisoo remembered.
"Do you know anything about this?" Jisoo asked the leader.
"My grandfather told me this story..." He continued.
"This island used to be connected to the South Korea, it was all because of one man. There were two men on the painting, one who survived and one who suffered in this island."

"They both were explorers and as it was connected to Korea it wasn't hard to get here, this part of Korea was abandoned that's where we come in, at the time we could speak Korean and then drifted off to make our own language."

"My ancestors found them and captured them, though they did help them at the end. When they did help them they should've known what could happen, there were two artefacts a staff and a coin."

"The man who was wise wanted to take the coin but his friend took the staff instead. The ground began to shake, it was the volcano and the man got out alive while his friend was stuck in there."

"What happened next?" Sana asked, clearly immersed in the story.
"Next thing you know, we were separated from the main land, that's why we are sworn to protect it from others."
"So is the volcano still active?" Chaeyoung said puzzled.
"It has been dormant for so many years."
"Why show us this?" Mina asked.
"Because you've helped us a lot." He smiled.
They focus back onto the two artefacts.

Jihyo walks toward the coin but stopped by Jisoo again.
"We don't know if the coin is dangerous."
"Only one way to find out."
"Saying that makes it no better." Nayeon said shaking.
Jihyo reaches for the coin and...