Episode 1. The Room That Was Not on the Map

LUMI9 finished rehearsal at two in the morning.

Their manager had just said, "Back to the dorm," when Yuna saw a door glowing at the end of the hallway. Room 404. The venue map only had waiting rooms from 301 to 318. Still, music leaked through the gap under the door: the chorus of LUMI9's debut song, a hook no audience had heard yet.

The members thought it had to be a prank. Then they opened the door and found their own poster on the wall. The girls in the photo looked thinner, paler, and older by a month. Under the logo was a date that had already passed.

On the television, LUMI9 was walking onto the showcase stage. The version on screen bowed and said, "Hello, we are LUMI9." The audience did not cheer. Every seat was filled, but every mouth moved with the same sentence.

"The second team should not have come in."