Lightning struck near the window startling all the friends wandering around the local natural history museum at night.
"Remind me again why are we in this boring museum and not snuggled up in our warm beds." Sunghoon complained as he trailed behind his friends looking at all the creepy artifacts which were lit up with dim lights for the night.
"No one even invited you to come along." Eunhae retorted as her voice echoed through the large empty corridor.
Sunghoon simply pursed his lips at the words since they were true. But it was only natural for the egoistic boy to tag along since he had the same friends as her.
"Why did the shipping have to arrive in the middle of the night..?" Sohyeon spoke to no one in particular.
"Don't you ladies worry....." Heeseung announced as he turned around with a proud grin. "Your knight in shining armor is here to protect you in the dark." He finished continuing to lead the path alongside Eunhae.
"You'd wet your pants if someone screamed right now." Sohyeon retorted with an eye-roll.
"I think this place is cool at night." Jake spoke from behind the trail.
"Who are you fooling? Yourself?" Jungwon chuckled sarcastically in response.
"Have you guys heard that most of the museums are haunted that's why they close them at night." Heeseung started with a mischievous grin as all of them reached the wildlife section of the museum.
"Stop it!!" Jay shouted violently as he held onto Sunghoon's arm earning a sigh from the boy.
"It's not funny Heeseung. My legs are already shaking." Sunoo confessed as he clung onto Sohyeon.
"Don't worry guys I've been here with my grandfather during his night shifts there's nothing to worry about." Eunhae explained as she felt the youngest near her.
As soon as the words came out of her mouth everything went pitch black in a blink of an eye. They were left with two flashlights as the only source of light held by Heeseung and Jake.
Sudden screams of panic mixed with fear could be heard from the group.
The loudest contributors were Jay and Sunoo who seemed to be trying to make the others deaf.
"Stop tickling my back Heeseung I told you it isn't funny!" Sunoo whined in between the screams.
"But I'm standing here..." Heeseung replied while directing his torch in Sunoo's direction. This made the timid boy even more terrorized as he screamed even louder this time.
Sunoo's eyes were still shut so he hadn't realised that the power came back.
Eunhae sighed and grabbed a hold on the boy's shoulders and violently shook him.
"Shut up! Everything's fine!" She screamed at his face earning a confused look from him as he hesitantly opened his eyes.
Sunoo could hear a peal of playful laughter from behind him as he turned around to witness Riki almost tearing up from joy.
"Stop tickling me." Riki mimicked while bursting into laughter.
"I think I just lost an eardrum or two." Sunghoon commented while poking a finger in his ears.
"No one asked." Eunhae retorted with a fuming sigh from the nostrils.
"I wasn't talking to you in the first place." The boy uttered with annoyance in response.
"Oops." Sunghoon stretched his lips in a satisfied smile as Eunhae almost tripped over her feet.
The girl simply sighed in frustration as she didn't want to end in another one of their usual 'fights'.
"This snake looks like it's staring me right in the eye." Jungwon spoke as he eyed the huge anaconda on his right which was behind the glass staring right at him through the glass that was lit by a dim light.
"We should get to your grandfather's office as soon as possible." Jay advised with a vacant expression and a slight pout on his lips.
"You're just scared of that anaconda. What if it comes to life?" Riki tried to scare him.
"Yeah..right...." Jay scoffed as he adjusted the straps of his backpack.
The nine of them went past from the wildlife section to the marine life section. To the right of it was Eunhae's
grandfather's office which held several research plans and animals which were being inspected and be preserved.
There was a new find that was arriving at the museum later at midnight. Eunhae's grandfather was busy in another affair and asked his only granddaughter to receive the shipping that was to arrive later after midnight.
All of her friends insisted on assisting her after they heard the matter regardless of the girl refusing the help.
Eunhae reached for the pocket of her jacket taking out a keychain carrying numerous keys of the whole museum.
Her grandfather had allowed Eunhae and her friends a pass to his office until he arrived in an hour or so.
Eunhae's grandfather trusted her because he knew she'd never been a part of meddlesome acts in her past and he thought her friends would naturally be the same.
Eunhae finally identified the right key while fiddling through the huge keychain. Everyone gathered up around her in anticipation as she clicked in the key and twisted it to reveal her grandfather's workplace. The man was the head conservator of the town's natural history museum.
The door opened to reveal a dark room with a strange odor of chemicals.
"Where are the lights Hae?" Heeseung asked while scanning the place with the flashlight.
"At your right." The girl replied while pointing exactly where the light switches were.
"The smell is killing me." Sunoo's nasal voice could be heard as he covered his nose and mouth with the sleeve of his shirt.
In a matter of seconds, the once pitch black room was lit up fully.
"Wow, this place is bigger than I thought it would be." Heeseung remarked while switching off the torch in his hands.
"It actually looks like a whole secret hideout for some detective or something." Sunoo commented with his mouth wide open while walking towards Eunhae's grandfather's desk.
"You could say that. Grandad is basically a detective of dead things." Eunhae explained with a chuckle as everyone wandered off to the area which pleased their eyes.
"Just please don't touch any of the stuff because it's every fragi-" Before Eunhae could finish she saw Riki holding up a horn of some animal that was laying on one of the shelves.
"Riki put that down this instance!" She shouted.
"Make me." The youngest challenged the girl with a smirk.
In an instance, Eunhae was chasing the boy around the whole place like a mother trying to catch her child which seemingly was the same situation.
"What's her grandfather? A Dracula cosplayer?" Sunghoon laughed as he picked up a black cloth that looked like a cloak from the coat hanger.
Jake who was laughing at Eunhae and Riki having a chase, regained his sight at Sunghoon to witness the boy wrapping the black cloth around his shoulders while trying to look cool.
Jake giggled in response. "You could honestly pass as the real Dracula." He continued with his giggling.
"Hey what's this parcel that says do not touch highly confidential." Jay announced waving the parcel in his hands earning everyone's attention.
"It's exactly what it says Jay put it down!" Eunhae shouted once again as she averted her attention to the other boy.
Her grandfather was absolutely wrong in thinking that her friends were like her. In fact, the complete opposite. Everyone was all over the place checking around the fragile artifacts placed in the room.
"Too bad your grandfather isn't here Hae, I'll just have to find out what it is." Jay replied nonchalantly as he turned the parcel over to unwrap it.
"Are you insane?!" She widened her eyes but it was too late because before Eunhae could get to the boy he had already ripped the paper apart revealing the backside of a photo frame.
Out of curiosity, everyone gathered around the boy including Riki who still had that huge horn in his hands.
The air in the room suddenly felt heavier as Jay turn around the photo frame slowly revealing another note attached on top of the picture in the frame.
"You have been warned." Jay read the note out loud as he gulped a lump in his throat. "Maybe I should put it back...."
As soon as the boy let out the words, Jungwon had already ripped the note off of the glass covering an old picture with ripped edges.
Upon seeing the image everyone went silent. Eunhae glanced at Sohyeon giving each other a look that 'are you seeing what I'm seeing'.
"Give me that." Heeseung snatched the frame from the boy's grip and further inspected the picture in it.
A faded picture of nine people having rough and ripped edges.
Heeseung further widened his eyes as he noticed the visible similarities between the people in the picture and themselves.
"This can't be...." He parted his lips to say something further but couldn't manage to vocalize the words.
"Wait let me see." Eunhae hasted in being the next person wanting to look at the picture up close.
"This looks like.....us." Her voice broke while trying to ingest the information.
"Look this looks exactly like Jay...." She pointed out while tapping on the face in the picture repeatedly. "but why does he have blond hair?" She questioned looking at the boy and then the picture.
"Out of all the people in the picture, you're only sure that Jay is in there? How closely have you examined his features?" Sohyeon questioned with sarcasm making the other girl flustered at her cause.
"No I meant he was the only one with b-blond hair... that's why....." The girl stuttered.
"There's another blond guy in here Hae." Sunoo pointed out while pressing his finger on another young man.
"Wait is that?" Eunhae exclaimed with wide eyes. "Is that Riki?!"
"I look so handsome, wow." Riki expressed being struck by the wonders of his handsome self.
"And that's Jake...." She pointed out to the other boy with brown strands.
"Sohyeon is that you?" She questioned.
"Wait wait wait....." Jay spoke all of a sudden while seeming to have lost his mind. "I'm pretty sure this is all just a prank, probably Riki and Sunghoon are behind it." Sunghoon squinted his eyes in response while mouthing "what did I do?"
"I'm pretty sure something like this is far too weird, even for Sunghoon and Riki." Eunhae answered while bringing her lips into a straight line.
"Look guys let's all just think this through with a cool and relaxed mind." Jungwon advised with a serious tone as he gained everyone's attention.
The rain had gotten heavier from the sound it made while making contact with the roof, creating a much more intense atmosphere than before.
"Hae? Isn't this your favorite book?" Jungwon pointed out as he saw the book cover of the book that he took pit from the parcel.
"Yeah.....but what's this doing here? I thought there was only one copy of this and I have it in my library at home.....unless...." She gasped silently.
"I guess your grandfather must've brought it here." Jake completed her thought.
"But why?" Sohyeon pointed out.
"Maybe he's the one who photoshopped us into this picture to scare us. He's probably pulling a prank on us." Jay added.
"You're probably right. That's the only rational explanation to this I guess." Eunhae agreed. "But....he isn't the type to joke like this..." She seemed visibly distressed by her face.
"Come on let's just chill. We'll just ask him when he gets back." Jake tried to make the atmosphere calm.
"Wake me up when you guys figure out something." Sunghoon sat down with his back resting on the wall and placed the black cloth he found earlier on his face to cover it.
"What's so special about this book?" Jay inquired with curious eyes as they all sat down in a circle.
"It's just a fictional book about the history of vampires. Sort of a story based on 'true' facts." Eunhae answered.
"Oh yeah.....come to think of it we kind of look like those vampires in movies and mangas. I meant the clothes." Heeseung pulled the frame in front of him and scrutinized the picture.
"Wait...." Eunhae squinted her eyes and took the frame from him. "No way...." She thought out loud confusing the others.
"What happened?" Jake asked for everyone.
"The main characters in this book....they're....nine in total! Like seven boys I mean technically I guess and two girls. They're the ones around whom the whole plot revolves around." She explained with a thunderstruck expression.
"You're right! I've read it too and I think Eunhae's absolutely right." Jungwon agreed.
"But still that doesn't explain the picture or why this book was here." Sohyeon replied.
"Let's just wait for Mr. Kim, okay?" Jay reassured.
"The beginning of chaos and confusion. This dates back to when it all started. When everything was devoid and out of order. When the host of heavens rebelled and were cursed for eternity." Sohyeon started reading the first page out loud.
"Guys is it just me or is the ground shaking?" Heeseung widened his eyes as he felt the floor vibrating.
"Yes it is." Sunghoon removed the cloth from his as he felt the wall shake behind him as well.
"Get under the door frames!" Jay stood up since they all felt the earthquake.
"What....." Sunoo widened his eyes as he rattled the doorknob. "Why isn't this opening?"
"Get aside." Jay went ahead and pushed the door while twisting the doorknob but it wouldn't budge.
"We're locked in.....oh my God." Sunoo clutched his hair in frustration.
"Don't panic. Just stay away from large objects that could fall on you." Jake announced while standing against the wall.
"What's happening?" Sohyeon hugged Sunoo as the two shivered in fear.
"Please go away please go away....." Eunhae covered her ears while trying to calm herself down.
"An earthquake isn't this prolonged! What's going on!?" Sunghoon questioned while still trying to open the door.
Everything shook violently making the shelves collapse on each other, increasing the fear of their lives.
In the next moment, everything went silent and Eunhae removed her hands from her ears to looks up.
"Guys it's over....." She smiled but stopped as she got no response. "Guys..." She widened her eyes as she saw everything frozen in the air. Objects were still falling but stood still in the air.
"Hyeon?" She looked over at her friend who was frozen as well. She touched Riki's arm and shook it slightly but he didn't move.
"What's....happening?" A tear escaped from her right eye.
A bright light coming from her back gained her attention as she looked behind being blinded by it.
"It's time to go back Eunhae." A hand reached out of the light and held her arm as the girl screamed while being absorbed by the light.