"Participants grouped together will be sent to the location where you’ve received the most Life Book points," one staff mber said.
Plotter had long stepped back from speaking, thinking that an Overseer like him wasn’t supposed to handle such mundane task.
Suddenly, a projector screen rolled down in front of them, the whole lounge dimming. As the screen lit up, an image of a dazzling cityscape was projected.
"Beijing"
"The participants who’ll be called, please step forward," the staff continued. "Xu Jiji, Chuu, Liang Zhi, Cherry, Iris."
As expected, most of them had Chinese identities, except for Cherry and Iris. It was common in shows like these for a participant to garner more attention from their own country. That explained why they received most points from there.
After concluding the mbers of the first group, the image on the projector screen changed.
"Seoul"
The staff mber began calling nas again.
"Yeo Haru."
At the ntion of that na, Rayen was hoping not to be placed in that group as he didn’t want to deal with this cara hogger again.
"Ryeon, KLi, Park Minho, and lastly..." The staff mber paused briefly and scanned the crowd before landing at one person. "Im Rayen."
Rayen sighed. Of course, none of his prayers would ever co true.
The staff mbers continued announcing nas for each groups that would be sent to different locations. Four other participants were in the sa group as Rayen, with his group becoming one of the largest groups. Each group had a unique destination.
anwhile, Adrian was placed in the sa group as Ara again. His deadpan expression said it all. He was clearly not thrilled with his situation.
Rayen also wasn’t pleased with how this turned out. Apart from Binh and Renjiro, most of his teammates from the first round were now in his current group.
"Brother, we’re teammates again!" Yeo Haru and Minho exclaid at the sa ti.
Their excited expression seed like they weren’t heading outside for an impossible challenge but on a field trip.
As the only mber who hadn’t been their teammate in the past, Ryeon briefly glanced at them expressionlessly.
Assessing this person who was among the participants who had passed the bonus trial to catch up for the second segnt, Rayen still couldn’t read him. His face was even more blank than Liam and Renjiro as though he was in so other dinsion.
Yeo Haru seized the opportunity to possibly gain screen ti and greeted the silent Ryeon. "Hello!"
Ryeon gave a light nod of acknowledgent. Now that Renjiro wasn’t around, it was Ryeon’s turn to join Liam in staring blankly into space.
Rayen sighed. What a turn of events.
After a short preparation period, the staff called for the participants’ attention.
"The groups will head out one by one."
They were led to the familiar French doors where they first ca in after arriving in this place. Unexpectedly, it didn’t lead to the strange greenhouse.
On the glass panes of the door, the scenery outside were quite murky and distorted.
One staff mber, hand on the doorknob, addressed Jiji’s group. "Please prepare. This might feel a little disorienting, but please remain calm."
The group nodded, their faces tense. Having been dead for so long, stepping outside felt unnerving. Although they had encountered living people the previous day, eting them outside this controlled environnt felt entirely different to them — almost alien.
Before opening the door, the staff mber gave one last reminder.
"If you et soone familiar, just don’t try to introduce yourself. After the grafting, they won’t recognize you, no matter what."
Disappointnt flashed across several faces. Even Yeo Haru and Jiji, who had held onto hope after being assigned to familiar locations, looked crestfallen.
After that, the staff mber finally opened the door. However, the participants could only see a dark and purplish aura outside as though its space was distorted.
Despite the terrifying and bizarre scene, the groups headed out one by one. Rayen’s group was the second.
Gulping, Rayen stepped into the dark void. He was instantly enveloped in intense darkness. His vision blackened, and it felt like his body was being pulled into a whirlpool.
It was incredibly disorienting. He couldn’t tell where his limbs were. He couldn’t even sense if he was still standing upright.
Only when the sensation of being pulled and smashed into pulp receded did he gain his normal senses.
Rayen felt his cold sweat dripping down his face as he gasped for air. His fingers and lips were tingling as if he was about to faint.
Suddenly, the phone in his hand buzzed.
Ding!
Taking deep breaths to steady himself, he finally cald down and lifted his phone up to see the system notification.
He imdiately tapped on it which made the app interface pop up on the screen. Just as Rayen was about to read the text, his phone screen glitched, making it unreadable.
’What?’
The glitching worsened, the screen flashing as though the LCD was damaged. When the distortion cleared, the text inside the pop-up window was clearly different.
[Idol:Revive
An unexpected error occured. Please wait a mont...]
Monts later, more error ssages popped up in rapid succession.
[An unexpected error occured...]
More and more windows popped up on Rayen’s phone screen, his face paling at the sight.
Then, it abruptly stopped. The screen cleared, leaving only one error ssage.
[Error: System lost contact.]
’Lost contact? What the hell?’
Clutching the phone in his hand, Rayen scanned his surroundings.
Right now, he was in a bustling tropolis. People walked passed him, minding their own business. There were students in winter uniform, office workers, and others lost in their routines.
Rayen was just about to pull soone from the crowd and ask. However, before he could even do it and identify the city, his entire surrounding suddenly warped again.
Sucked into another disorienting shifting of space, Rayen landed on his back.
He found himself in another location.
’What the hell is happening?!’
The phenonon repeated three more tis, each transition making Rayen’s stomach churn. Repeatedly being transported was taking a toll on him, and he couldn’t hold back his nausea anymore, barfing on the ground. His hearing had turned fuzzy, a deep ringing echoing in his ears.
By the ti the transportation ceased, he was back in another tropolis, but now bathed in the orange hue of dusk.
Rayen hadn’t stood up since the first ti the strange situation had occurred. He held his stomach and covered his mouth, the astringent taste of vomit still lingering on his tongue.
Five minutes passed without the incident reoccurring... finally, Rayen exhaled in relief before standing up weakly.
He assessed the situation he was in.
’Where the hell am I?’
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