Once I stepped inside the government room, all eyes turned to me. There were about ten older men sitting around a large table. The lighting was very dim, almost like everyone in the room got laser eye surgery. I didn't think twice about it when the man sitting right in front of me motioned for me to sit down. I quickly lowered my head, feeling very nervous, and stumbled a little into the open chair.

For the next few seconds, there was nothing but stone silence. Nobody made any kind of sound except for me adjusting a little in the hard chair. I kept my gaze down, remembering that is polite and just waited for something to happen. As more silence followed, I could feel myself getting a bit antsy from bring nervous but I tried not to show it.

"...what is your name?" A quiet voice asked from my left side.

I glanced in his direction. "L-Lee Taemin." My voice cracked a little and I cleared it quickly, flushing harder. "My name is Lee Taemin." I spoke carefully.

Nobody made another sound for a moment and I honestly thought I was going to burst from so much anxiety running through me.

"...I understand you were resurrected from a simple strand of your hair approximately one week ago." The main man spoke up from my front.

I looked up at him. "Yes...that's right."

"How has living...in this year been for you?" He asked me.

I could see he was very awkward asking me that question. And after quickly checking the faces of the other men, I noticed they were all very much in awe.

"...well...um, it's been interesting." I answered honestly. "There's many things I learned."

"Don't you miss your family and friends?" The man asked.

"Yes of course..." I trailed off but before I could continue, the man kept talking.

"Were they the ones to convince you to bury a strand of your hair in the forest?"

I felt a little uncomfortable under his sudden harsh tone. "I-It was just a joke. I never intended anyone to actually try to clone me."

"Yes well it happened, and to speak honestly with you, your existence is quite a dilemma for us." The man leaned forward. "My men have been talking to me all morning about whether or not I should let you live or not, and the only reason you're sitting here like this is because I decided to humor them."

I didn't respond, just swallowed some fluid in my rather dry throat.

The man looked to the other men sitting around the table. "So go ahead. Ask him your questions. I'll wait patiently."

Nobody said anything for a moment, then one other man leaned in toward me.

"How...how did it feel?"

I leaned my head toward him. "E-excuse me?"

"When you first woke up after being resurrected. Your first feeling." His question made a couple other men around the table nod in agreement and focus on me.

My mouth opened a little but I didn't say anything at first. I wasn't expecting to hear that question and it took me by surprise.

"...I um...it was...a little painful." I cleared my throat again.

"Why?" The same man asked.

"...I guess because it was right after my body was resurrected. All of my senses were very sensitive."

"Have they improved up to now?"

I nodded. "Yes. I'm fine now."

The man nodded and leaned back, glancing at the men next to him. They returned his gaze with impressed expressions.

Then another man spoke up from the other side of the table. "Did you remember your past life immediately or in fragments throughout the week?"

Internally I though the leader explained all of this in the report already but I answered their questions nonetheless. The questions kept flooding out as the men became more relaxed, all except the leader sitting in front of me. There was a hard gaze in his eyes that didn't faulter.

After a couple minutes, a natural silence fell among the table and everyone glanced at the leader, silently communicating that they were finished with questions.

The leader took in a deep breath and straightened up, staring me down hard. "Now I have some questions."

I blinked, waiting for him patiently to continue.

"First of all, how do we know you're not lying to us right now?"

I blinked again. "...you didn't read the report?" I don't know why I asked that and I inwardly flinched.

"Of course we did. Why else would you be sitting here?" The leader's eyes narrowed. "Now if you'll please answer my question."

"Of course I'm not lying!" I replied with a slightly louder voice. "How could I lie about something like this?"

"Well, let's see." The leader leaned back. "You were resurrected, like the group's leader said, but how do we know he or anyone else on the team didn't fill your head with untrue things about your past just so you could answer our questions today?"

I opened my mouth again but I couldn't answer right away.

"Sir." One of the men near me spoke up quietly. "I really think he's telling the truth." All of the other men in the group nodded in agreement.

"I'm not convinced." The leader spoke bluntly. "The only way he'll convince me is by saying something that completely surprises me."

Everyone looked at me again and I could only lower my gaze. Somehow I knew this kind of situation would come up but I had no idea what I could say.

“…very well.” The leader said with a small sigh and straightened in his chair again. “Then if any of you men don’t have any other questions, I’m finished here.”

Nobody made a sound.

“This meeting is over.” The leader said finally and stood up. Everyone else followed him but I remained still in my chair, feeling as if I had failed and that my world was crashing down all around me. What does this mean? Was I about to die?

I felt a hand touch my shoulder gently and the man who brought me in here politely motioned me toward the door. I didn’t give him a single glance and stood up slowly, looking down at the ground in nothing but utter shame.

When we stepped back into the lobby, the team of scientists who were sitting around the lobby all stood up and came up to me, Minho being the first.

“How did it go?” His expression was hopeful and it only made my heart cringe even more. I couldn’t answer him and just kept my steadily moistening eyes focused on the ground.

“Our leader has heard all he needs to.” The man spoke quietly. There was a tone of sadness in his voice that everyone could immediately hear.

As the scientists spoke with the man, Minho silently took my arm and led me away from the group. “What happened in there? Did they ask you a lot of questions?”

I nodded, unable to talk from another lump that suddenly formed in my throat.

“What?” Minho shook me a little. “Come on, tell me what happened!”

“Isn’t it obvious?” My voice was very quiet and a bit shaky. “The man said so himself; the leader heard all he needed to.”

“…he doesn’t believe your story, doesn’t he?” Minho asked.

“He said he’s not convinced that I’m not lying to them just to get out of getting killed.” I closed my eyes tightly, trying to keep tears from falling out of them. “What’s going to happen to me? A-am I really going to die?”

“No.” Minho immediately answered. “I already told you I’m not letting them take your life. Even if they don’t believe your story, me and my team do, and that’s all that matters.”

Before I could ask another question, Minho was called over to speak with the rest of the scientists and I was left alone in silence that felt like it was slowly taking away from my sanity. I half expected some guard to come out and grab my arms, bring them behind my back, and then drag me away toward whatever way they kill people now…

I jumped a little when Minho touched my arm. “Come on, let’s go.”

I gave him a funny look as he pulled me out of the lobby rather quickly and before I could ask any questions, he motioned for me to keep quiet and the two of us ran out into the open, grassy area.

We ran for a while until I got tired and slowed down, breaking my arm out of his grasp to rest them on my knees. “Why are we running?”

Minho looked at me while occasionally glancing at the office that was a little far away now. “We’re going to leave this area. Go somewhere where they can’t find you.”

I stared up at him. “S-so they were going to kill me?”

“The leader’s mind was set even though s tried to convince him otherwise. They thought you were telling the truth but the leader is too close-minded to fully accept you as a human like us.” He took my hand and continued to run. “We have to keep moving. Get out of the grasslands and head toward the mountains. Only one or two other people live there despite the drastically-changing weather, but it will a good hiding place for us until I can find a better place.”

I stared at Minho as he spoke these things so confidently, as if he figured all of it out in only the short amount of time we were separated in the government lobby.

“B-but what about your house?” I asked, breathing hard.

“Don’t worry about it.” Minho shook his head. “I already said finding a new home is very easy.”

We ran until we both got tired and then walked the rest of the way. Soon the grasslands become less peaceful and a little colder. Then I saw the mountains Minho mentioned and they steadily grew in size the closer we got. Then we were standing at the mountain base and I was shivering.

“A-are there any houses up there?” I glanced at Minho.

“Only one or two. If we find one, hopefully they’ll either be empty or someone would be kind enough to watch us for a while.” He motioned for me to follow him up the slope and I followed, nervously glancing behind me to make sure no one was following us.

After about fifteen minutes and a lot of shivering from me, we came across an abandoned adobe-looking hut and Minho immediately ran up to it, opening the door and sticking his head into the main room.

“There’s no one living here.” Minho motioned me to follow him into the house and he closed the door once I was standing on the inside. It was still cold inside and I was getting tired of shivering.

“Is there no heater in here or something?” I glanced around the shallow room annoyed.

“Wait a minute.” He answered and moved to one of the stone walls. After feeling around it, he pressed on it a little. To my surprise, it slide down and revealed two buttons. Minho pressed the top one.

“The room should warm up in a few minutes.” Minho turned back to me and grinned.

For a moment we just stared at each other. So much appreciation built up in my chest and before I could stop myself, my feet moved me up to him and I wrapped my arms around his waist.

“Are you that cold?” He chuckled and patted my back.

“Thank you.” I mumbled quietly.

He was quiet for a moment, then I felt his arms tighten around my back. We stayed like that for a very long time and all of my anxiety about getting found and killed by the government slowly faded away. I wasn’t expecting to become a fugitive on the run if I ever got brought back to life, but as long as I was with Minho, it would be a life worth enjoying.