[ToG] Muse: Book 1 [Song of the Beginning]

Chapter 23 Galère

Galère: group of undesirable people; unpleasant situation

In which Evolet finds herself in an unpleasant situation because of the Test Administrator and she doesn't appreciate it.

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Usually Evolet would've enjoyed a trip to the open sea. But not when it was supposed to be a normal floor test they should've passed with ease. The Test Administrator was leading them around as if they had no clue of what's about to take place. Evolet's gaze travelled to the others who seemed to be enjoying the occasion without a care in the world including Bam. Well, maybe it's fine to let them indulge every once in a while. She still exhaled a sigh, knowing that if the test they were about to take was the same exact one she had in mind… Yihwa is not going to like the outcome of it. Though then again it was something she should discover sooner or later, what use would it be to delay the inevitable?

There was still an underlying unease in her heart for some reason. She could feel the Shinsu strings tighten and loosen uncontrollably before some of them knotted themselves. A storm was brewing and she was sure she wouldn't like it. As if on cue, the ship started shaking as a presence of a Shinheuh surfaced. The test was to go into the Shinheuh called Zygaena and retrieve the Zygaena’s jewel that grows on the Zygaena flower. Too many Zygaenas, people need to be more creative with names.

Every 30 minutes the Zygaena would flip around, and they had a two and a half hours time limit before the Zygaena submerged. With that in mind, they split into two groups and each would go into a Zygaena blowhole. Wangnan, Arkraptor, Goseng, and Miseng had gone up first to enter from the back blowhole. The other team consisted of Bam, Evolet, Yihwa, Horyang, and Prince to enter from the belly blowhole after the Zygaena flips in a moment.

She should've known they weren't off to a good start since the beginning. The current situation on Evolet's side was a non-functional motor boat when the Zygaena was about to flip soon. Pushing Prince aside, Yihwa tried to fix the motor but lost control of her emotions and set the motor on fire. They could only watch speechless as it exploded and the fire burnt the motor to a black crisp within a few seconds. Almost robotically, Yihwa turned to the others with an embarrassed smile.

"Now that it's a black motor, it'll be twice as fast."

"Is this a Go-kart?!" Prince cried out in panic.

"ARGH!! You're an arsonist!!"

"Hey… calm down please…?"

"It's not only food that you burn!"

"W-why would you talk about food now!!!"

"Darn!!! He's going to flip!"

"Run! Run, black motor!"

"Stop obsessing over the black motor!!!"

The shouting match was a mess in the evident panic. Yihwa was still banging the motor desperately as the water around them started lurching. It was already too late when the Zygaena rumbled and turned itself around with a splash that sent crashing waves towards the team. The whole boat was flipped and they were submerged in water within seconds.

Water pushed down from all sides as Evolet stilled for a moment from the sudden shock of being submerged. It was a feeling similar to dense Shinsu, but slightly different as she moved sluggishly through the pressure. The sudden surge of coldness that enveloped her made Evolet snap open her eyes. She held her breath, eyes trailing around until she found Bam and the others.

Not wasting a moment more, Evolet pushed the Shinsu around her and formed it into a bubble as how Yunuen taught her on the 9th floor. With nimble fingers, she manipulated the Shinsu strings expertly in order to move the bubble towards the others and pulled them in. She raised an eyebrow at Yihwa's absence from the ones she pulled in, before she caught the sight of Yihwa swimming further away from them. Exhaling an exasperated sigh, she opted to pull them to the surface instead since Yihwa seemed fine on her own.