SM Wonderland Annabelle and the Mummy

"Oh my, Xiao Yan, don't laugh."

As if struck by a bullet by his smile, the makeup artist clutched her heart, "My heart can't take it."

Pei Xiyan glanced at her helplessly, her smile fading as her face turned icy cold.

"Vampires should be cold and aloof, like something out of a comic book." The makeup artist clapped her hands, then pulled out her phone and waved it. "Want to take a picture?"

This is a tradition they've maintained every year: taking photos to commemorate the moment their Halloween makeup was created.

"Okay." Pei Xiyan nodded. "After Nuna finishes taking the photos, please send me a copy, just like before."

"I know, go stand next to the light, hands in your pockets, look up, yes..." The makeup artist turned on the camera and began directing Pei Xiyan.

With a click, a photo was captured on her phone, and a few seconds later, the same photo was also on Pei Xiyan's phone.

A minute later, it also appeared in Sana Minatozaki's chat interface. She was probably busy, as the message was unread.

After putting away her phone, Pei Xiyan said goodbye to the makeup artist and left the dressing room.

The corridor was much quieter than when we arrived, and it felt quite empty. We could clearly sense that many people had already left the beauty salon, and there was hardly any noise from the nearby rooms.

It seems everyone's gone to Cheongdam-dong to wait for their turn to enter.

After walking a few steps, the door to a dressing room suddenly opened. Pei Xiyan stopped and saw Annabelle, whom she had met just yesterday, walk out.

Yesterday it was Kim Annabelle Dahyun, today it's Kim Annabelle Taeyeon.

Besides sharing the same surname, Kim, the two also perfectly matched each other's attire in the original "The Conjuring." They wore long, plain white dresses that almost reached their ankles, and their golden hair was tied into two braids that hung down in front of their chests, with red ribbons tied to the braids. Their faces had puppet-like makeup that could trigger the uncanny valley effect.

"Taeyeon noona," he greeted with a smile and a nod.

"It's Xiaoyan!" Dazzled by the warm smile in front of her, Kim Taeyeon took a few seconds to realize.

She walked up to him, her two braids swaying, and reached out to touch his fair face, her gesture like that of a mountain bandit teasing a chance encounter with a young woman.

"Oh my, you've gotten even more handsome since I last saw you. Are you a vampire today?" Adding the words makes it even more like one.

As for Kim Tae-yeon's strange makeup, Pei Xiyan couldn't bring herself to say, "Noona has become even prettier since I last saw her."

"Yes, today's theme is vampires," he said. "When I saw Nuna, I thought Annabelle had actually stepped out of a movie."

"Really? It took you a long time to put on makeup." Upon receiving the feedback, Kim Tae-yeon lifted her skirt and spun around.

"I feel like Nuna should be number one this year," Pei Xiyan said.

"Hahahaha." A hearty laugh echoed down the corridor, sounding very similar to her own Noona's laughter. Pei Xiyan thought that this might be the short captain's legacy.

Kim Tae-yeon casually reached out and patted his shoulder, "Thanks for your kind words."

"However..." Her expression suddenly turned serious, "If not, how does Xiaoyan plan to compensate me?"

The matter-of-fact tone made Pei Xiyan's lips twitch.

He had a good relationship with Kim Tae-yeon, having been involved in the production of several of her albums under the guidance of their teacher, Kenzie, and they gradually became acquainted. Pei Xiyan also knew the personality of Noona, who was eight years older than him; like her youthful appearance that hadn't changed in decades, she was still a child at heart and liked to joke.

"What kind of compensation does Taeyeon noona want?" He played along.

"Help me write a song." Kim Tae-yeon revealed her true colors.

"What kind of song?"

"Anything that sounds nice, as long as I can get the Sun Crown." Her tone made it sound like she was talking about something trivial.

"If you trust Tai's songs, why worry about Ri Guan's affairs?" Pei Xiyan frowned at the right moment, expressing her confusion about her words.

"Hahaha~" A hearty laugh echoed through the corridor once again.

Hearing that powerful laughter, Pei Xiyan couldn't help but admire that he was indeed SM's top vocalist; his vocal range was truly extraordinary.

......

SM has several company buildings in Seoul, the oldest being SMtown, Samseong Building, and Cheongdam Building.

The Halloween party was held at the Cheongdam Building.

Everyone knows what day it is today. The road opposite Cheongdam Building is full of fans waiting. They hold up cameras and mobile phones, guessing which celebrity will get out of the van like guessing a blind box, so as to decide how fast to take pictures and how loud to cheer.

Pei Xiyan knew where the side entrance was, so she drove around the well-known road and slipped in through the side entrance.

On the first floor of the building, there is a photo wall with a black background. Celebrities need to stand in front of the background and pose for photos, not only to keep memories, but also to create material to be uploaded online.

Pei Xiyan wasn't a celebrity, so he felt perfectly justified in trying to bypass the backdrop and go inside, but was stopped by the staff taking photos.

"Hey there, vampire prince Cicadaxi, you look so handsome today, wanna take a picture?"

"Yeah, Yan, you look so handsome, why don't you come and take a picture with me?" In front of the backdrop, the "mummy" wrapped in bandages waved enthusiastically to him.

Pei Xiyan recognized the two people next to the mummy: Kim Jongdae, who was also dressed as a vampire, and Kim Minseok, who was dressed as a Minion. They greeted him, "Yan, come on, come on."

These were all older brothers he had gotten to know and had a good relationship with during the album production process, so Pei Xiyan really couldn't refuse. He walked over and said, "Minseok hyung, Chung hyung."

"This is...?" He looked at the mummy in the middle and figured that, logically, it should be one of the members of EXO.

But judging by height alone, it's definitely not Park Chanyeol...

Pei Xiyan was still guessing, while the mummy, upon hearing his words, excitedly patted Kim Jongdae's arm beside him:

"Haha! I knew people wouldn't recognize me!"

"You're dressed so conservatively, who could tell you're Baekhyun?" Kim Jongdae shrugged.

"You are... Baekhyun?!" Pei Xiyan clearly didn't expect that the mummy in front of her was actually her game friend.

"How about it, isn't it cool?" the mummy waved his arms.

"That's so cool." Pei Xiyan didn't hold back her praise. "Today's skin is practically an Amumu limited edition—the EXO Baekhyun version."

"Wow, this name is good, I like it." Byun Baekhyun nodded stiffly in approval.

"3, 2, 1, look at the camera."

After taking a photo with a classic "yeah" gesture, Pei Xiyan said goodbye to the three people who were still filming a video and went inside.

Inside, staff members were also taking pictures with cameras. Against the completely black background, the three long banquet tables in the middle were covered with black cloths, on which were placed candles with gilded bases, small standing lamps, and white ceramic tableware. Various kinds of wines were placed on the grids on the walls on both sides.

At the very back of the venue, there was a small stage where Pei Xiyan saw a woman dressed as a maid holding a microphone and preparing.

Pei Xiyan didn't look closely because someone was calling him, "Xiaoyan!"

He looked in the direction of the sound and found Red Velvet sitting in a row at the banquet table on the left. Bae Joo-hyun, who was sitting in the middle, waved and smiled brightly.