Luhan never finished reading all the files he collected from the archives. There were so many of them it would take him days to go through all of it and his eyes hurt so badly, but he knew enough about their projects to get him through.

                When Luhan arrived at the laboratory early in the morning, he was not surprised to find that the lab was dark with the lights turned off. Luhan preferred being the early bird anyways, but he was surprised to turn the lights on and still find Zitao inside, only he had slumped down on the lab table and was asleep.

                “Zitao?”

                “Ernghkhfmp…” he mumbled something before blinking his eyes repeatedly. “Oh good lord it’s you.”

                “You didn’t go home after the lab was closed?”

                “No, I…” he yawned and stretched his back. “There was a small emergency with one of the boys so I stayed behind to take care of it. I was working on the report and I must have dozed off.”

                “Would you like me to get you anything?” Luhan helped him out of his seat.

                “It’s okay, I’ll get my own breakfast. I need you to prep the apparatus and turn on all the computers. We’re conducting an experiment today on some new weight gain pills and I need everything in perfect condition.”

                “Yes sir.”

                Weight loss pills have been perfected long ago, what with humanity’s seemingly odd obsession with losing weight, but perfecting weight gain pills was a bit more difficult. Today’s experiments were conducted on the girls, namely R.E.D.V.E.L.V.E.T. They went over to the cosmetic department, another building just opposite of the research and development centre. Luhan watched the scale go up and down as the girls, all dressed in sports bras and tight black shorts got up and down the scale, had their waistline measured, fat percentage calculated and their chest sizes taken down.

                “55 kg and 27-inch waist.” Luhan recorded in the data findings. “If you don’t mind me sir,” he turned to look at Zitao “I’d say these pills don’t have much an effect.”

                “Have you been eating regulary?” Zitao asked Irene, the girl that was currently being measured. She had light brown hair, alabaster skin and blue eyes. Crystal blue. Again.

                “Yes.”

                “Exercise?”

                “Every day sir. For 30 minutes.”

                “I will need to see a copy of your food diary.” Irene handed over a sheet of paper to Zitao. He looked through it and clicked his fingers. “You’re not taking enough carbs.”

                “I took all I could sir.”

                “How much is that?” Luhan asked.

                “3 bowls of rice for 2 meals.”

                “Try 4 bowls. These pills are designed specifically to work with your metabolism rate, try taking more food.” Zitao handed her back her diary as Irene stepped down off the platform and another member stepped up.

                Her name was Yeri, the youngest of the girls. Here, at age 18, she was stripped down to minimal clothing and is padded over by scientist, trying to find out what’s wrong with her. Her stomach was prodded, weight taken over and over again, waistline pinched and tucked, and s expanded.

                Luhan could not bear to look at her. He felt like a e.

                “These weight gain pills are very difficult to get right.” Zitao explained when the experiment was almost over. “They have to be specially crafted according to the person’s body. Last experiment we did with them they gained almost 3 kg a day.”

                “Wow that’s impressive.”

                “Yes but it also caused a severe rash and loss of feeling in the toes. Minor side effect.” Zitao shrugged. “Fed them weight loss pills and now they are on a new one we just tested today. Depending on the results we’ll see if we need to change the dosage or if we are successful.”

                The cosmetology department didn’t differ that much from research and development, but it was slightly fancier and had better lighting. There were still machines and all sorts of strange apparatus in laboratories, everything from fat-zapping rays to body-molding beds and a huge eye-shadow colour chart.

                There was one object that caught Luhan’s eye when they were touring the department. It was a set of eyes, locked in a display unit. It had crystal blue lenses that seemed to pierce into your soul.

                “Beautiful isn’t it?” Zitao smiled, pressing a button that lifted the glass case. He reached for one of the eyeballs. They had soft veins and arteries behind it, just like real eyes. Upon closer inspection Luhan realized they were real eyes.

                “Nobody thought it would be possible to have such crystal blue eyes, but we did it.”

                “Irene had these eyes, and so does Taeyong.” Luhan picked up the other one in his hand.

                “Almost every project has at least one or two members who do. All the leaders have them.”

                “How do you put in the eyes?”

                “We remove their old eyes and put these in. Their old eyes are then recycled to create more of the blue eyes.”

                Luhan lifted one to the light, looking at the way the blue absorbs the light, while some of it reflects off the pupil. Luhan narrowed his own eyes.

                “There are cameras.”

                “I beg your pardon.”

                “These blue lenses hide cameras in them.” He peered into the eye. “The wires are hidden in the soft vessels behind it.” His fingers pressed on the vessels, feeling the almost invisible wires, so thin they were the size of a human hair. “And I’m pretty sure there’s a transmitter that sends the data to a hooked up computer.”

                “You are good indeed.” Zitao was genuinely impressed.

                “I did my internship in the military. They were working on a project called Spy Eyes, a new tool in conducting espionage without using old camera lenses or planting listening devices anymore. At that time, it was still confidential.”

                “Not anymore obviously.” Zitao took the eye from Luhan’s hands and placed them back in the case. He smiled at him and urged for them to walk back to their department.

                “So we get to see what happens through our artist’s eyes? Literally.”

                “Not all the time, but yes we can. At first it was placed in merely for cosmetic reasons. A permanent blue iris was much more attractive than just regular brown. The cameras were added in for extra security.”

                “What kind of security?”

                “Didn’t you read the files?” Zitao asked, shaking his head.

                “There is a lot to get through sir. I’ll finish as fast as I can.” Luhan tapped his fingers on his notepad as they rode the elevator. “Speaking of files sir, I was wondering what the secret was.”

                “The secret?”

                “To the company’s success. Other companies have been trying to create perfect artists and entertainers but S.M.E. always seems to be the top. Now what is the company secret?”

                “Since you’ll be helping to produce them I can show you.” Zitao took him to a large steel door at the end of the lab. “It’s a little chilly inside so I wouldn’t stay long if I were you.”

                Behind the steel door was a large walk-in refrigerator. Rows upon rows of serum in tiny bottles, labelled neatly of course, are arranged by alphabetical order, date of production and content. Some contained serum, some contained pills. Pills of any shape, round or long, and in all sorts of colours were available.

                “Welcome to the Formula Container, or FC as we call it.”

                “Does it also stand for Freezing Cold?”

                “That is the joke around here.” Zitao laughed. The room was kept in a cool 5^OC, which was apparently the best temperature for chemical storage. Zitao picked up one of the tubes containing a colourless liquid. “This is the secret.”

                “Triple X?”

                “It’s a type of neuron suppressant that attacks the hippocampus.”

                “Meaning that they don’t feel emotion.” Luhan held the test tube in his hands, fingers shivering already but he was very careful not to break it. “The hippocampus is responsible for emotions and feelings. If the neurons are suppressed they don’t feel anything.”

                “Exactly. They don’t feel pain or sorrow or aches…”

                “Or joy or fear or anger…”

                “We don’t get complaints when Triple X is injected.” Zitao laughed. “All artists are injected with Triple X at least 6 months before their subsequent project starts.”

                “And how long does the serum stay inside?”

                “Forever.”

                “That’s impossible.” Luhan nearly dropped the test tube. “The body’s own defence mechanism would have attacked the bacteria or virus. There is no way the serum could stay in there forever.”

                “The serum itself will be flushed out by the body, but the response time of the suppressants is very fast. It takes only an hour to fully attack the hippocampus and afterwards you feel nothing. The attack is permanent too, like a plug in a leaking hole.” Zitao explained. “What we lose by cutting off all emotion, we make do by chemical hormones and pill substitiutes.”

                “Look,” he dragged Luhan to the other side. “Humour pills, dance serum, singing pills, here’s one for rap, one for debate, one for endurance, one for performance…you name it we have it.”

                “Every skill an S.M.E. artist needs are in the form of a pill? Then why the need for all the rigorous training?”

                “Your body reacts differently depending on the pill but your consciousness is still there. It makes no sense if you can do something but your brain is not aware. We make sure our artists undergo full training so that they understand what happens after they take the pills and how it affects them.”

                Luhan stared at the rows of chemicals, feeling awed at the scale of it all. “You guys certainly have perfected the formula.”

                “Well, all of this is from 20 years of work and research. We don’t achieve this by chance, but the Triple X has played a large role. By suppressing their emotions, we are able to control their needs. We can program how well we them to dance, sing, act…”

                “You can model them to perfection.”

                “Exactly. If the formula for Triple X gets out, then all the companies will want to jump in on this.” Zitao hushed, bringing his fingers to his lips. “It’s all in the files.”

                “Speaking of files sir, I was wondering about the E.X.O project.” Luhan turned to face Zitao. He was starting to shake due to the cold, but he had to ask the question that plagued him all day since he read the files.

                “What about it?” There was an iciness in Zitao’s voice that matched the room and Luhan hesitated for a few seconds. Curiosity won over Luhan though, he could never resist a mystery.

                “I was reading the case file summary and it said that the project was terminated over a year. I don’t even remember such a group making their debut and I have been following S.H.I.N.E.E and R.E.D.V.E.L.V.E.T.”

                “You didn’t read the files?” Zitao raised an eyebrow. Everything is about reading the files to you isn’t it? Do you think I would ask you if I didn’t ING READ IT?

                “There weren’t any sir.” Luhan swallowed. Which was the truth. In E.X.O’s record file, there was nothing. Empty.

                “Good.”

                “Sir,” Zitao started picking up speed to leave the freezing tomb and Luhan to chase after him. “Sir, there must be something wrong with that project. If it was retired I could understand, but terminated? Now that’s very strange.”

                “Not every project is a success Luhan.”

                “I understand which is why I want to know why.” Luhan held onto Zitao’s arm. “If we can figure out what is wrong with E.X.O then we can come up with solutions, and those solutions lead to innovations that could perhaps fix E.X.O and improve our upcoming projects, especially N.C.T.”

                “You just can’t wait to get fix something can’t you?”

                “It’s not necessarily about fixing things. It’s about making a contribution, and as a scientist I believe we should always be curious and pursue the inevitable. Exploring all possible options and never be afraid of failure.” Luhan looked at Zitao. “They taught us that in the first day of school.”

                “Those documents are classified.”

                “Okay, so what do I have to do to get permission?”

                “Only Professor Kim can, and I doubt he will give you the permission.”

                “Why not?”

                “That project was dangerous.” Zitao’s voice dropped an octave. His eyes looked down and he started breathing heavily. “Professor Kim would rather it never happened.”

                “How do you know?”

                “I was part of the team that decided the project would be terminated.” Zitao got up from his seat and head for the door. “Watch your nose Luhan. Don’t stick it in places it doesn’t belong in.” with one last look he opened the steel door and left, leaving a very cold Luhan inside the room.

                Luhan breathed, watching wisps of mist leave his mouth, his fingers turning numb as he turned to leave the room.

*******************

                A few hours before it was time to go home, Luhan made another stop at the archives. He was dying to know more about project E.X.O, so he was hoping there was something in the archives he missed. It haunted him ever since he saw the red highlighted words TERMINATED. In the world of technology and science, TERMINATED is never a good term.

                What happened to E.X.O?

                He was about to head to the shelves directly when he caught the eye of a female archivist working at the counter. She smiled at him politely. “You must be new here.”

                “How do you know?”

                “Hardly anybody comes down to the archives.” She laughed. “Those who do, I would know. You, on the other hand, I have never seen before until yesterday.”

                “I’m Luhan, a new research scientist for the R&D.” he extended a warm hand and she shook it.

                “Seolhyun, archivist. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

                “I was just searching up past records regarding S.M.E.’s previous projects. Medical records, experimental data, lab reports and stuff like that.”

                “That’s quite a bit of material you’re looking for.”

                “I know. It’ll take me days to get through them.”

                “We do have online versions of all of our records. Perhaps accessing those would be faster.”

                “Oh no I’m a terribly old fashioned person.” Luhan laughed. “I have never fancied staring into a screen for too long. Data should be on paper in my opinion.”

                “Then we have a lot in common.” Seolhyun’s laughter was soft as she twirled her hair with her index finger. “I can help you look up all the materials you need and pack them ready for you next time.”

                “You can? Oh that would be perfect.” Luhan smiled gleefully. “I just wanted to check. Are there any more E.X.O files in the archives?”

                “We do have a copy. The originals are with Professor Kim I’m afraid.”

                “Oh that’s fine.” Luhan nodded, biting his lip carefully. “How do I access them?”

                “Unfortunately they are password protected. I can show you where they are.”

                “Would you please?” Seolhyun nodded, standing up and getting ready to walk. Luhan noticed her tall, svelte figure with long legs. Apparently a requirement to work with S.M.E. is that you must be models. For an archivist she was very beautiful.

                “Here.” Seolhyun reached for a black box with a password code. “You will need 6 digits.”

                “You say that there are online versions of all the files in this archive?”

                “Yes but even the online versions are password protected too.” She placed the box back.

                “So I do need Professor Kim to open this?”

                “I’m afraid you do.”

                “What do you know about E.X.O? Do you know the contents of the black box or…”

                “Unfortunately I don’t. I have never even heard of it until I came here.”

                “Me too.” Luhan rubbed his chin. They don’t seem to want anyone to know about the project.

                “Do you mind me asking why you are so interested in the project?”

                “Oh, in the interest of science of course.” Luhan shrugged. “I will talk to Professor Kim about those files.”

               

 

A/N: This story is coming along pretty well...I understand that some of you may feel like it's a slow start but I really wanted to spend time building the story up as much as possible so that it would feel immersive. Thank you for being so patient with me!

Please do let me know how it is!