“What… what did you just say?”

Jinki’s gaze turned sympathetic as he took note of the panic in Krystal’s eyes. “There’s been an earthquake in Busan.”

Krystal in a breath. Busan. That’s where the Facility was.

“My friend from Busan just called to tell me. It wasn’t a big one, so I wouldn’t worry too much, but if you know people living there, you might want to check up on them. It’s really strange, though. Busan shouldn’t be having random earthquakes.”

That earthquake probably wasn’t random. Krystal thought to herself. A glance at the other boys’ faces told her that they had arrived at the same conclusion.

Chen was already pulling up the news on his phone. They all gathered around him as he played the live stream.

“...An earthquake of a 5.1 magnitude has erupted near Byeongsan-si in Busan. A private research facility near the epicentre has been reported to have suffered major structural damages.”

The screen changed to a live footage from a helicopter flying over the earthquake’s area, and Krystal could hear Chen in an audible breath at the debris of an isolated building being shown.

She turned to Kai. “Is that…?”

Kai nodded.

“What are those black spots?” She squinted at the image. As the helicopter flew lower, it became clear that they were overturned vehicles—vans that were strangely similar to…

“...NIS agents were reportedly engaging in a training exercise in the vicinity when the earthquake occurred. There is still no update on any survivors. Disaster relief efforts have already begun, and we will soon be able to have a more comprehensive assessment of the damage. This earthquake comes as an absolute shock for seismologists, who reportedly were not anticipating an earthquake of this magnitude…”

Krystal’s hand flew to . The puzzle pieces were fitting together in her mind. The NIS must’ve went to storm the Facility after their men had been caught in Sokcho, and it resulted in the geokinetic unleashing his powers. She could feel vomit rising in as she thought of the possible casualties.

Agent Lee!

“I need to… I need to make a call…” Krystal could hear herself say, as she began to back towards the door. Chen, Yixing, and Kai followed her out, leaving Amber and Luna to talk to Jinki.

“Oh no…” Jinki gasped softly as he saw them run out. “They have family or friends in Busan?”

“Yeah.” Amber bit her lip as she watched the door slide to a close. “Family.”

-

“I need to call Agent Lee.”

The words were leaving before she fully left the laboratory.

Kai nodded. “Yeah, do that. We need to know what’s going on and whether D.O. and Xiumin are alright.”

“Wait.” Chen flicked his finger towards the security camera in the corridor, and the red blinking dot disappeared. “Now you can make the call.”

With shaking fingers, she dialled Agent Lee’s number and put it on loudspeaker.

“I’ll call the house and let the other guys know,” Chen offered. He moved further down the empty corridor.

The dial tone seemed to ring forever. Krystal’s fear only seemed to intensify with every passing second. What if she got caught in the earthquake—

“Agent Lee speaking.”

“Agent Lee! Are you okay? What’s going on?!”

“Miss Jung?” Agent Lee let out an audible sigh of relief. “Finally! I couldn’t get into contact with you because your number was encrypted. Have you seen the news?”

“Of course! Did you guys attack the Facility? Are you alright? What about the other two enhanced boys?”

“You’re asking too many questions at once, Miss Jung. No, we didn’t attack the research facility. We just wanted to bring them in for questioning, especially since the five boys escaped our custody in Sokcho.”

“Oh—uh… About that…”

“I should have expected it when you weren’t anywhere to be found on that field.”

Krystal barked an awkward laugh. “So,  um, what happened at the Facility?”

“I have a few questions of my own for you, but I’ll answers yours first. The research facility turned hostile immediately. They seem to have some sort of control over the two superpowered males. They attacked, and the aftermath is as you see on the news.”

Krystal could see Kai and Yixing’s expressions darken at the mention of their friends. “Are the two of them okay? Where are they now?”

It was silent on the other end for a while, before Agent Lee spoke again, but this time softer.

“Look, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but I think you’ll know what to do better than any of us do. The two males escaped after bringing the whole place down. I had just managed to get onto a helicopter when the earthquake began. I saw them run once the building was demolished.”

Krystal exchanged looks with the boys. Chen had brought his phone over while the call with Suho was still ongoing, so that the boys at Amber’s home could listen in as well.

“You need to stop them from causing another earthquake, Krystal. They might be heading into civilian areas as we speak. If they cause an earthquake of a similar or bigger magnitude, the amount of lives lost will be devastating.”

“...Thank you for telling me, Agent Lee,” Krystal breathed. “Leave them to us.”

“Keep in touch, Miss Jung.”

She ended the call, then looked at the boys nervously.

“We have to go get them,” Suho’s voice sounded from the speaker. “Kai, you need to come back now. The five of us will go to Busan. Chen and Lay will stay at the university and continue with the analysis.”

Chen looked like he wanted to protest, but he bit his tongue. “...Okay.”

“See you in the next minute, Kai.”

Krystal let out the breath she was unconsciously holding once the dial tone came through. She turned to Kai, whose expression was unreadable.

Chen glanced between the two of them.

“I’ll go update Luna and Amber,” he announced, then disappeared back into the lab.

“I—I have to go.” Kai told her, his stony mask melting away once she held his hand. His voice was resolute, but his eyes were pained.

“I know,” she threw her arms around his waist. “Stay safe.”

He gave her a nod when she stepped away, then closed his eyes.

She stayed in the corridor until the white wisps dispersed completely.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter