A small room that was decorated like an employee lounge. Black walls with shimmering gray geometric mesh designs. A table with a fancy coffee maker and miscellaneous drinks. Even some hand sanitizer bottles.

Jinhee blinked and wondered for a moment if she had stepped back into the real world.

[Your sponsor, Demon-Like Judge of Fire stares at the coffee maker with clear envy.]

'No. You can't have any right now- Wait, how are you even outside of the Tutorial?'

[Your sponsor, Demon-Like Judge of Fire puffs her cheeks and says she played the part, but she's the real deal! She admits to be surprised that sneaking in would restore her powers though.]

'Sneaking in? What do you mean, sneaking-'

"Oh good. You kids made it through alright." Sora spoke up while leaning against the doorway leading outside. Adjusting her black suit and her long crimson hair, she looked at Jihu and said, "I was worried for a bit whether Darling would take you all on another field trip before you got here."

"I swear it wasn't my fault, okay?"

Jinhee flinched and spun around to see her older brother perfectly hale and healthy. Not only that, but immaculately dressed in a silver tuxedo with a regal-looking sword sheathed at his left side.

Jihu noticed Jinhee's reaction and let out an apologetic smile. "I know it's a bit cheap, but I've gotta look presentable for the idiots out there, Jinhee. We can have a private vent session later, okay?"

Yuri blushed.

[Demon-Like Judge of Fire fans her face.]

Jinhee groaned and said, "Idiots. All of you."

Maybe she should have toned down the BL in her story a bit. It seemed to have attracted a bit too many weirdos...

Sora raised an eyebrow and said, "Darling. Even if she's adorable, that kid IS your biological sister, you know?" She paused and said, "Unless she's not... Wait. Is THAT why you have an Oppa fetish?"

Jihu groaned and said, "For the 1,234th time, I do not have an Oppa fetish."

Sora raised her other eyebrow and said, "...Then why are you keeping track?"

"I'm not. Gula is. It's on my freaking status window next to my aliases." Jihu let out a long suffering sigh and said, "Anyway." He turned to look at Jinhee and Yuri and said, "I promise the next part will definitely be normal. And to make sure of that, I'm going to walk out of the picture to prevent any other weird stuff from popping up since that seems to be happening more frequently these days."

Jinhee nodded. "Well, duh. You're the protagonist, Oppa. Stuff like that always happens when you're around."

Yuri let out an emphatic nod as well and said, "Right! And it'll just be plain boring when you're not around."

"Boring and safe is better than exciting and dangerous. Take it from a guy who's lived the latter for a better course of a year... two years?" Jihu paused and looked over at Sora. "How long has it been anyway, Sora?"

Sora immediately responded and said, "Less than a year, more than a girl should have to deal with in her lifetime."

"...Anyway." Jihu pulled a golden neck tie out of thin air and expertly put it on with a full Windsor-knot before walking into the wall.

Wait, into the wall?

Jinhee blinked and rubbed her eyes in time to see her Oppa half-lean out from a clearly solid wall and wave.

"Have a good time, girls. We'll talk soon after you've had your fun with the Neutral Zone. Well, that, or you can flag one of the staff. They'll know where to find me."

And with that, Jihu leaned back into the wall and vanished.

Sora pinched the bridge of her nose and said, "That bastard. I swear he's gotten crazier since he did that Divine Stigma trial..." She shook her head and said, "Whatever." Looking at Jinhee and Yuri, she said, "The others went on ahead, so I'll lead you kids there myself. Hope you don't mind attention though."

Yuri shook her head and said, "It's fine! Can't be worse than the time I showed up to class in my pajamas."

Jinhee shrugged and said, "Not like some random schumcks matter, right?"

Sora laughed and said, "That's the spirit, Little Sis."

Jinhee raised an eyebrow.

Yuri stared at Sora.

Sora coughed and said, "A-Anyway, follow me." Spinning around to hide her red face, Sora quickly started walking down the hallway.

Jinhee followed after her. Yuri did as well, moving to Jinhee's side.

A long marble hallway stretched out in front of them. A plush red carpet lined the floor, guiding them to the end of the hall where an ornate set of double doors waited.

But while that was interesting and fancy, what was the most eye-catching were the walls.

Elaborate murals lined both sides, depicting an epic war scene. Disgusting bug-like creatures swarmed a battlefield, facing against a piddling army of soldiers.

But then seven figures wreathed in white light rushed out to meet them, cutting swathes through the bugs.

The tides of the war seemed to be changing. But then there was the appearance of three figures wrapped in inky darkness, along with vast armies.

A desperate situation.

And yet one person stepped out to confront them.

A pure silver line cut through one of the figures that had bat wings.

Another cut through a figure leading an army of what looked like vampires.

And then an endless rain of swords almost wiped out the last figure, forcing him to retreat and leave his army to ruin.

From the style, and from the fact that it was in this long marble hallway, it seemed to be telling the story of some ancient myth. The tale of a grand hero who changed the fate of the world.

...But for some reason, as Jinhee stared at it, she felt that it wasn't quite right. Not the part about the grand hero, but the part of it being an ancient myth.

And the main reason for that was that one of those seven figures had red hair. And was a woman. A swordswoman at that. Then the hero there... that guy had black hair. Which, considering all the tropes, made sense. But...

Yuri stared at the murals on the wall and said, "Miss Guide-"

"Just call me Sora." Sora waved her hand and said, "You'll probably share a bed with Darling anyway, so no need to stick to formalities."

Yuri blushed.

Jinhee cleared her throat.

Sora snorted. "What? You know it's gonna happen. Your 'Oppa' has a bad habit of getting involved with every beauty he meets. ESPECIALLY if they've called him Oppa at one point or another. The only exceptions to that rule so far are a young Queen who's only being held off with the combined might of his official wife, a princess and a saintess, a widowed Queen who hasn't rolled with your Oppa because he's too respectful to bed a woman who still pines for her ex... except apparently his own ex until recently, and that creepy possessed priestess because that saintess has clearly marked her spot as the only paranormal beauty in Darling's cadre of women."

Jinhee sighed. "Even if that's true, I'd rather you *not* encourage my overly obsessive super fan here who both knows about and has written enough tags on Our Own Archive to make even a porn actress blush."

Yuri huffed and said, "I keep telling you! That was my cousin's account!"

"Sure, Yuri. Whatever you say."

Yuri puffed her cheeks out to act cute.

'That's not fooling anyone, Yuri.'

Sora chuckled and said, "Sure, sure. Though considering all the weird stuff I've heard from some of the other girls, she'd probably fit right-"

"PLEASE spare me the details of my brother's love life."

Like, ew. To the nth degree, *ew*.

"...Huh." Sora gave Jinhee a weird look and said, "Must be a cosmic joke or something then."

"What?"

"Nothing." Sora reached up to stretch and said, "Anyway, ignore the overly fancy drawings the gods put in of Darling's latest exploits and get ready to face the music. Literally. We couldn't talk Ian out of the shenanigans when Cinzia doubled down. And Claire said that she suffered, so the other girls should as well, so..."

The girls reached the end of the hallway.

Sora opened the door.

And the moment she did...

"Junbi wa iinka ne~?"

Jinhee froze.

That... There was no way, right?

Yuri gasped. "That song...?"

It was a wide auditorium. There were people already seated down and waiting. Not only that, but there were signs sectioning out the audience into places like <Europe, Area 2> and <China, Area 7>.

But Jinhee ignored that for now. Instead...

Standing there on the stage were three beautiful women dressed in colorful and frilly idol uniforms.

The woman in the lead position was a fit blonde woman with clear blue eyes and a light blue uniform.

It wasn't Claire though. Instead... Yeah, she was that girl who showed up at Oppa's apartment that one time.

Behind her, there were two Oriental beauties with silky black hair. One was that Seohui woman who showed up with that foreign lady who dyed her hair pink. The other was a woman who looked like a Chinese beauty... and who was clumsily following along to the steps with a bright red face.

And just when Jinhee was recovering from the shock of what was going on, they hit the main part of the song.

"Pikatto rune ga hikareba Whoa oh whoa~"

At that time, two men jumped on stage in the back, dressed in flashy gold suits. An older Westerner and a middle-aged Chinese man.

Holding mics in hand, they pointed at the crowd and sang.

"Say do you remember~?"

The beauties turned to the side and pointed at the crowd as well, spinning their fingers in circles before continuing to sing. "Whoa oh whoa~"

The men in the back did a synchronized spin and sang, "Dancing in September~!"

"Whoa oh whoa~"

The men stopped on their heel and pointed at the crowd again, singing, "Never was a cloudy daaaaaaay."

Sora cleared her throat. "I-I swear it was supposed to be more normal at the start..."

Yuri clicked her tongue and said, "I need to get Oppa to make me the dance coordinator for the next Tutorial..."

Jinhee facepalmed and muttered, "...I miss when I thought Oppa was just doing a dangerous job to keep me safe..."