Putting her lab safety goggles on, Go Ha In runs her hands once more on her clean lab coat and stares back at her reflection on the narrow mirror hiding inside her office locker.

Her dream had finally come true.

It was all just a matter of time, to be honest.

With her intelligence, she and everybody else had expected that she would be scouted much sooner.

She wasn’t complaining though.

All that mattered from that point on was fulfilling her job with 100% dedication. In a world governed by men, she was nothing less than proud to be one of the first female scientists in ages - and what made it even better was that she was the one of the three first female scientist working for no one else than ruling party. The biggest Lab in whole Asia.

S.M. Labs, Inc.

The ruler of the governing party, Lee Soo Man, had made sure that everything in his labs ware at the best conditions with the most technologically up-to date suppliments.

For a science nerd like Go Ha In, this place was nothing less than a heaven.

The only thing that bothered her from the moment she had arrived though, was her first task. She was to work with a few other fellow senior scientist on a group of ‘inhuman creatures’ that seemed to be the government's new experience.

 

In the year 2191, even with all the improved technology, humans still feared anything and anyone that was in their words was ‘abnormal’. About 50 years ago, a new species were discovered.

They were awfully similar to human - but they were far from it. People referred to them as monsters. The scientists prefered to refer to them in a more ‘scientific’ way. They called them ‘the EXO’.

 

exo

1. external; from outside.

   1. from Greek exō ‘outside.’

 

In the past decade, many hunters were sent out to gather these ‘monsters’ and bring them to the government so experiences could be done on them to figure out what exactly they are. About four years ago, after years of searching, the hunters were about to give up when out of nowhere, one EXO was caught and the weirdest thing happened when eleven more were soon to follow. The scientists were ecstatic. They couldn’t wait to get their hands on them and start with their research.

 

Surprisingly, Go Ha In was not one of those scientist. She hated the fact that those men were forced to stay against their will so humans could run experiences on them like they are some kind of lab mice.

Funny thing was that, a few decades ago, after Vegans had protested against animal cruelty, it had become illegal to perform those experiences on any kind of animal - but in the most sick and twisted way, no one seemed to be against the awful things that was happening to those men in the lab.

Not that many knew the exact process.

It was claimed as government confidentiality.

 

The scientists - seeing how they had gotten tired and bored of having nothing other than plants and microorganisms to perform their experiences on -  were definitely not holding back on any tests and having as much fun as they could.

Sighing, Ha In takes out the hair band around her wrist and pulls her hair together in a low ponytail just as a knock is heard from the door.

“Come in.”

“Dr. Go.” the intern bows in respect.

“Professor Han and the other members are waiting for you in the lab.”

Nodding in acknowledgment, Ha In follows the intern to the lab.

“Are you excited?” the young fellow asks as he leads the way.

“Excuse me?” Ha In questions, not sure what she is supposed to be excited about. She had started working here a couple weeks ago before being assigned on a project and she had started to get adjusted to everything here. She didn’t have time for excitement. She needed to work.

 

“Meeting those monsters I mean. Their files are all kept a secret so only the team can view it. Isn’t it exciting to be able to work on them? All the other departments work only on plants and microorganism. The closest we have gotten to anything human-like is dead animals or dead humans. You are so lucky to be part of that team! Those monsters are obviously nothing close to human but I can tell that you’re going to have so much fun!” the intern blabbered, voice dripping of excitement with a sign of envy.

“EXO.” Ha In sharply said.

“If you are not intelligent enough to know what they are called, then maybe you shouldn’t be here.” she walks in front of the wide eyed intern and slightly bows before turning around and entering the big lab - the big glass doors smoothly closing behind her.

A few of her colleagues that had heard her sharp tone stare at her in interest.

“Nice Dr. Go! I see you are pretty passionate about this field.” Kim Heechul nods in approval and hand her one the EXO information files -  the file that was supposedly one of the government's’ top secrets. Sighing, she open the folder and starts reading.

Not too long after, her face gathers up in a frown.

“I thought there were 12 of them? Why does this say only 9?” she asks in confusion.

“You’re quite impatient I see.” Professor Han’s voice comes from behind her.

“If you had read the next page you would have known the reason. Unfortunately, we lost subject #7, #00 and #68 to China.” he said bitterly.

Ha In could only nod her head in understandment as the unexpected information settled in.

“Dr. Go will be assigned to subject #10 today. He is the most peaceful and human-like one out of the bunch.” he says with a chuckle and Ha In doesn't miss the snickers that appear on Kim Heechul’s and Kim Dong Wan’s face.

“Yes sir.” she mutters and follows the two guards to the cell. As she follows the two tall men, she takes a look at subject #10’s files.

“Be careful here” the taller guard says and wraps his arms protectively around her without touching her as they enter the highly secured and guarded ‘private area’. It was basically a high tech prison.

‘Shim Changmin’ she read the guard’s name tag as a faint blush lead its way on her face.

Clearing , she turns her attention to the men that seemed to be quietly sitting inside the glass doored and windowed rooms.

“We’re here.” The other guard, Jung Yunho motions as he pushes a card towards her.

“What is this?” she asks in confusion. She had just arrived in this section and she was feeling overwhelmed with how they just gave her such a big responsibility right away before explaining anything to her.

“His medication.”

“Oh.” she says sounding a bit sadder than what she was going for.

Giving her a confused look, the tall man places her hands on the card and gives her a gentle shove towards the door.

“We’ll be standing here and occasionally walking up and down the hallway to check on the other subjects. Their powers don’t work here so don’t be afraid and don’t let him scare you. He can’t do anything.” nodding she pushes the card and quietly walks inside before closing the transparent doors behind her.

Placing the card by the door, she continues reading the file she was previously on.

“Zhang Yixing.” she mutters to herself

“Weird. Why isn’t your age and origin here?” she asks more to herself.

“I mentioned before that I’m 25 but you people don’t really believe me.” a gentle voice says and her attention shoots up to the lying figure on the small white bed- seeing his unmoving figure had made her initially believe that he was asleep.

 

Looking around the room for a moment, she realizes how everything is white and a bright light is shining up the whole place.

Same was with all the other rooms in the protected area.

She also notes how every other EXO member seemed to be intensely staring at her -  burning holes into her skull.

“I see.” she mutters, gulping as she replays the guard’s words in her head to try to calm down.

 

“What about your origin? I can tell from your name that you are Chinese. Where from, exactly?” she calmly asks as she heads towards the card and grabs a syringe of medicine and heads towards the male that was now sitting on the bed - his eyes carefully following her every move.

 

“I didn’t tell anyone else of your kind. What makes you think I would tell you.” he asks in an annoyed voice and Ha In notices the electrical shackles that seemed to be wrapped tightly around his ankle. An evident frown immediately takes over her face

“So you admit that you are different from our kind?” she continues on with her question, ignoring his rude tone, as she gently lifts up his sleeve to inject the medicine which he surprisingly accepts without any opposition.

“Of course I admit it. You people call us monster when you are the only true monster's existing in this world.” he says, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable of her gentleness.

“You call us EXO,” he chuckles “when the only outsiders here are you.”

Looking at him from the side of vision for a short second, she bends down on one knee and grabs ahold of his trapped ankle. At first he tries to free his ankle from her grasp but freezers at her remark.

“You seem to have healed pretty nicely for someone who has something like this on his ankle everyday.” she lowly comments before standing up and heading out with the card.

---

 

The same routine carried out for the next couple of months. The subject that Ha In had come in contact with the most was Zhang Yixing. She had also delivered subject #4’s medication a few times. His name was Byun Baekhyun. He was said to be the most dangerous of the 9 subjects they had in their possession currently.

Possession.

Subject.

Ha In shivered at the words she had come to use while working around here. She still hadn’t mentioned anything about Yixing's ankle to anyone.

 

After that day, whenever she went to give him his medication, she would slightly glance at his ankle and she had noticed how it seemed to be no longer healed and in a perfect condition like it was on that day. It was like all suddenly, the shackles had started to have an effect on him.

 

She had started herself a research on his behavior - keeping everything in track in daily video journals at her office, after her visits with Yixing.

 

Today would mark 3 months since she had started working at the special EXO unit lab.

She had gotten to know all the EXO members and her crew a lot better but she spent the majority of her time with subject #10.

Every member of the group were assigned towards one subject that they were to add about in the overall research.

 

One thing she had observed about all 9 subjects was how every single one of them had undeniable handsome and inhuman physical characteristic that would draw anyone in.

She was also positive that Kim Heechul - although his disgust towards them -  had a crush on subject #88, Kim Jongin.

That man was unbelievably breathtaking after all.

Most importantly, what she had noticed lately was how her heart acted up around Yixing.

She snaps out of her thoughts as she feels Changmin's protective arms around her.

She had gotten used to his behavior and could now manage to control the blush from reaching her full cheeks.

When she enters the room, Yixing immediately sits up and stares at her as she prepares the syringe.

“How was your day?” she asks, taking her time.

In the few months that she had spent everyday coming here, she would always ask the same question. He never answered. She knew he wouldn’t.

 

She just felt like she needed to make sure he knew that someone was curious and interested on what was going on in his life. Not in a creepy way.

Just a.. ‘Friendly’ kind of way. Not that they were friends.

But Ha In just liked to think that they weren’t foes either.

 

“How’s your ankle, she asked in a whisper once she was standing in front of him.

She grabbed his arm and pulled the sleeve up as she injected the syringe. She stared at him expectantly.

“Who are you?” he hissed in a low voice, harshly grabbing a hold of her wrist.

His sudden movement caught the guards’ attention and they were fast to storm inside.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” she told the men as they got inside.

“It was my mistake.” she says as she gently takes Yixing’s hand off of her wrists

Placing her now free hand on her chest she walks away in quick steps.

 

‘It's getting dangerous.’

 

---

More time had gone by and even though Ha In and Yixing had forgotten about the incident of that day, the weird feeling she had whenever she was around him seemed to not have calmed down one bit.

 

Weirdly enough, Yixing as well - regretted his behavior of that day more than anything.

Go Ha In was the only person that had treated him and his kind with any kind of kindness since they had been captured. It broke his heart to know that she had become more careful and afraid of him ever since. Even if it was the slightest.

He couldn’t get attached though. Not when he wasn’t planning to stay here for too long.

 

They had only gotten caught by the humans because of their own will in the first place. If it wasn’t because one hunter had gotten the youngest member of their group, the rest wouldn’t come along so willingly. It was all a plan to rescue Sehun

 

But now they had Sehun and they had stayed here for too long. Joonmyun had suggested staying for a while with the humans not only because they would learn more about them and their intentions but also because it was dangerous to escape right away. Their guards were too high when they had first gotten them. Now a few years later, they had just started to feel more confident and bringing down their guards - thinking that they had their hostages under control.

 

What they didn’t know though was that they still had their powers.

No such thing as science would threaten their inhuman abilities.

But humans didn’t need to know that.

If only it wasn’t the new young girl that seemed to act a bit too different than the rest of her kind.

If only she hadn’t noticed the only thing that the rest hadn’t bothered noticing.

If only she hadn’t managed to slowly creep into the his heart more and more everyday.

 

---

The day had finally arrived.

The 9 men had finally decided to put their years ago planned escape into action.

 

That day Go Ha In woke up with a tight feeling in her chest. She had fallen asleep on her office’s couch which she was looking over the information she had gather on Yixing and his friends for her personal use. She wakes up from the uncomfortable sleep with a sudden urge to gasp for air and sweat running down along the sides of her face.

 

Taking a deep breath, she walks into her washroom and rinses her face with some cold water.

Staring at her reflection, she doesn’t miss the dark circles surrounding her red eyes and groans in annoyance.

Lightly patting her heart she shakes her head to snap out of whatever had taken over her mind, enabling her to think straight.

Grabbing her coat and goggles, she heads to the lab.

 

“It’s time.”

“Are you sure sir?”

“Yes. Get everyone ready. He’s Dr. Go’s subject, right?”

“Yes sir. Do you think she’ll do it? Even though she seems cold, she’s much softer than the rest of us.”

“She’s the one he trusts the most.”

 

Ha In could feel her heart beat pace up in an suddenly inhuman speed.

This time, not because of being around Yixing but the fear of not being able to do that anymore.

 

The Professor had talked a few times in the past about a greater experience he would like to try.

Something worst than the medication they forced EXO to consume every day.

Worst than the mental and physical torture they had EXO go through everyday as part of their daily ‘durability test’.

He was planning to see if the 9 men were truly immortal like they had assumed they were.

And he was planning on testing it on Yixing.

At that moment she swore she could hear her heart crying out to tell her something.

Telling her that this wasn’t just a crush.

 

---

 

Walking as fast as she could without looking too suspicious she enters the private area before Changmin and Yunho could see her go in and she tries to act as normal as possible while dragging the medication card down the long hallway with shaky hands.

She could feel the stares of the rest of the subject but ignores them as she hurriedly enter Yixing’s cell and takes the syringe quickly with her hands even shakier than before.

 

Surprise by her sudden early arrival, he sits up and stares at her confused.

 

“How was your day?” she asks him, going through her normal routine to look as natural as possible.

 

“Lonely. You arrived earlier than usual today. Is it okay for me to take the medication so early?”

 

He answered, shocking Ha In since he would usually only stare at her and let her do the talking and questioning.

 

Brushing it off she gets close to him and slowly lifts his sleeve up.

 

Yixing immediately notices her unusual behavior and places his hand on hers.

 

Today was the last day he was going to be able to see and he didn’t want to remember her so scared and shaken.

 

His eyes go wide when he feels a cold liquid running down on his while pants and his hand goes on it immediately and he suddenly realizes whats going on.

She wasn’t here to inject any medication.

 

“Run away” she whispers only for him to hear and the cracky sound coming out of her lips breaks his heart.

“What ar-”

“They want to kill you. Run away. Take your friends and go away from this hell.”

Tears had started to fill her eyes but she quickly whips away any evidence of it when she hear the sound of the guards entering.

“Dr. Go?!” she hears Yunho calling out.

“Tonight. 7:36pm. Most guards are at the end of the corridor at that time and most scientists won't be around since it's supper time.”

“Dr. Go!”

“I’m here!” she calls out back, placing the tiniest piece of paper along with a very small usb card in Yixing’s hands. She had to get rid of all the evidence of her research.

 

Grabbing ahold of the card she walks out of the room without looking back.

 

Yixing, still too shocked to react in any way, snaps back to reality when he feels one of his brother’s eyes on him. Looking up at Joonmyun, the older firmly nods and Yixing just nods back, suddenly feeling a bit unsure about tonight.

 

---

 

At 7:34pm, Go Ha In is walking down the bright corridors and stops in front of the security room. Walking inside the room, she sees the guards that seemed to be unconscious from the medicine she had fed them earlier in the name of some simple vitamin juice.

Just as her watch’s arrow point 7:36, she clicks on reset and all at once, the bright private corridors go pitch black.

Less than one minute later, a red warning flashes through the screens reading;

SUBJECTS MISSING

Ha In can’t help but smile as the security room’s doors open wide and big men holding huge weapons storm inside then before she knows it a sharp pain shoots through her body starting from her shoulder and big hands roughly drag her out of the room.

 

At quite a distance from the tall, dark building, 9 men were trying to run, but they knew they couldn’t hide from all the chaos back inside.

Out of the 9 inhuman men, the one with the power of healing swore he felt his heart break into a million pieces as a sharp pain runs through his shoulders -  and he knew healing this was beyond his capabilities.

 

- but back inside the young girl was smiling.

After all, she was a monster.