Rayen heard the screams—not screams of fear, but wild screams of wanting more.
"Adrift!!!"
"Encore! Encore! Encore!"
People clapped endlessly, whistled, and shouted their names. Out of breath, he looked at the audience below the stage. Smiles were plastered on their faces. The smell of sweat lingered in the air, but it wasn't unpleasant.
It smelled sweet.
"Rayen! Look at me!"
He turned toward the person who had shouted his name. Their face was flushed, and they held up a banner with his name and a picture of his head crowned with flowers.
'Eh, why make my face like that?'
Nevertheless, he still flashed a smile and waved.
Bang!
A sudden gunshot woke him up from his dream.
When Rayen opened his eyes again, he was lying on a flat stone slab. His back was stiff and cold as if he had been lying on that slab for a very long time.
'What happened? What a strange dream…'
The first thing that entered his vision was a transparent roof and the cloudy sky beyond it. The entire sky was painted in an orange hue. It didn't seem to be twilight, but instead a mix of smog and blocked sun rays. It's almost as if time had stopped. The longer Rayen stared at it, the eerier he felt.
He stretched his neck to look around and saw that he was inside a greenhouse. The area was filled with different varieties of flowers and plants. Some were potted, while some were planted directly on the ground.
Why was he here?
This place didn't evoke any sense of familiarity to Rayen. He blinked and tried to remember what he had done to end up here, but the more he tried to think, the more his head hurt, as if his mind was deliberately preventing him from recalling what had happened.
He hissed in pain while sitting up. Both his back and his head hurt.
Did he drink too much during the concert after party and end up here in his drunken state? His head felt like it was splitting apart!
He stayed still for a moment, letting the pain pass while massaging his temples. After the dizziness and pain subsided, Rayen looked around, but he could barely see outside because the glass walls were fogged and cloudy. He then noticed a French door, stood up and walked toward it, only to barely see through its glass panes that it didn't lead outside.
Trying to ascertain where he really was, he leaned in closer to see through the interior of the building. The door swung open, making him nearly fall forward, face-first.
'Why leave the door open, ah?! I could be a robber!'
Rayen pretended to fix his clothes and lightly coughed out of embarrassment, but then realized there wasn't even a single soul inside the room.
'I guess I worried for nothing.'
He silently heaved a sigh and closed the door. The room's interior heavily leaned towards retro style, its furniture and wallpaper was vibrant, full of bold colors with lots of playful patterns that pricked his eyes.
Too irritating!
He walked further inside, enduring the sight until he found a retro jukebox—though its model didn't seem to be particularly too old. What caught his attention was its flashing LED corners and the sleek black screen at the center.
'I've never seen a jukebox before. Didn't know there were still some modern models existing to this day.'
Having already satisfied his curiosity by staring too long, he was about to walk away when its screen flickered to life.
"Participant Rayen, please sing a song." A playful, distorted voice came from the jukebox.
The distortion made it impossible to pinpoint whether the voice came from a single person or multiple people; so strange that he couldn't tell if the one who spoke was a man or a woman, a child or an adult. It carried a teasing tone, like someone enjoying the situation.
'What?'
Rayen stopped in his tracks and looked back. The jukebox's screen was displaying a playlist of songs—some familiar to him, some not.
'Participant Rayen? What participant? Is this a prank? What's happening?'
Rayen looked around the whole room, searching for hidden cameras, but found nothing. It was silent except for the mechanical hum of the activated jukebox.
[Select a song to sing.]
'This must be a prank. I guess, I'll just have to play along.'
He touched the screen and scrolled down the list until he finally found something he could sing. Then, he took the microphone hanging at the side of the jukebox. His mind was still wandering about when the song started to play. But, as if it were instinctive, he started singing in time, without any delay.
"Say my name... Say that it's me."
When Rayen finished the song, he still couldn't determine if someone was recording him. He gazed at the screen and placed the microphone in its original location. Was this not a prank afterall?
"Good job! You are a nice singer!" the distorted voice said again.
'Of course, that's how I make my living!'
Just as Rayen was feeling satisfied, he waited for the screen to show his score. But what appeared wasn't what he expected.
[Please select a song to dance.]
'What? Dance?'
His mouth twitched and recalled that this might be a prank.
'Dance? Me? No way. I'm just a band vocalist! How do I dance? I don't even know how!'
Suddenly, the voice that had called for him earlier spoke again.
"If you don't choose a song within ten seconds, I will choose a song for you."
"You dance yourself! Ain't no way I'm doing it!" Rayen shouted.
"10, 9, 8, 7..."
Rayen walked away towards the door leading outside, but it was now locked. A sense of annoyance washed over him, but he restrained himself.
He suspected that he was being recorded, so he couldn't lash out in anger. He had to maintain his image, or he might face public backlash for his attitude.
Just as the countdown was nearing its end, he shouted.
"Alright! Okay, I'll dance!"
Better to look ridiculous than take it out on the innocent jukebox.
'I don't really like dancing…'
He scrolled the list again and found a TokTok song that he was somewhat familiar with. He had heard the song countless times, and it was quite catchy and easy to remember. But although he knew the song, he didn't know the dance steps.
Fortunately, the dance steps were shown on the screen just as when the song started.
'What's this? Justice Dance?'
Trying hard to maintain his stoic expression, Rayen tried to follow the steps shown on the screen. The figure had one arm raised and pointing upward. There were arrows near the waist to indicate the hip movements. Just imagining what he must look like made his scalp tingle.
'Whoever's messing with me must be having so much fun!'
Hip sway, make a rainbow, hip sway, turn around, hip sway, repeat. He followed the steps with a straight face until the end. When the song finished, a cheerful clap sounded from the jukebox.
"Yey~"
Rayen's face turned even more sour at the teasing voice.
"Congratulations, you finished dancing!"
Clap. Clap. Clap.
'Was it happy that I managed to finish the song, or was it happy that I finally stopped?'
Suddenly, another set of claps echoed from behind him. Rayen's heart nearly leaped out of his chest. Stiffly, he glanced over his shoulders and saw a man standing in the doorway.
'Did he see me dance?'
Rayen was speechless for a moment before the man raised his hand and waved it as a greeting
"Uh, hello, Mr. Dancer?" he said.
Rayen's face felt like it was burning from embarrassment. But the person didn't mind him and approached, his gaze fixed on the demanding jukebox.
Upon sensing the new arrival, the jukebox spoke. "Select a song to sing."
The man crossed his arms. "What if I don't want to? I'm not silly like this person beside me. I won't do as you said."
Seemingly not understanding the person's words, the jukebox went silent for a moment. Then, a horrible screeching noise filled the room, tearing at Rayen's and the man's eardrums.
The screeching noise gradually stopped, and the distorted voice spoke again, its tone laced with annoyance.
"For a dead person, you're quite a yapper."
Despite the pain in his ears, Rayen still heard what the voice said. His hands remained pressed over his ears as he went frozen in place.
'Dead?'
Rayen slowly lifted his head and stared at the jukebox with its flashy LED corners; his mind numb as he did so. In his eyes, the jukebox seemed to transform into a terrifying entity.
"Stop wasting the time given to you." The creepy voice continued as if to slam down a hammer in his head. "Select a song or disappear?"