The sunlight streamed in from Minsoo's window in golden sheets, illuminating the old wooden floorboards of his room and making the hundreds of dust motes in their path visible. He watched them carefully, as they rose and fell with invisible air currents, spinning in place forever. They reminded him of himself, trapped in one place no matter how much it seemed like they were moving. Enough daydreaming, he told himself, and with a groan pulled himself upright in bed. Stretching his arms above his head, he looked at the pager he kept on his nightstand. The little red light that meant he had a message from Headquarters blinked steadily at him, waiting to be attended to. He picked it up and read the message. 

N E W  A R R I V A L - A S S I G N E D  T O  Y O U - P I C K  U P  A T  1 2 P M

Minsoo sighed heavily and threw the pager carelessly onto his pillow. The clock on the wall told him it was just past 11:15. He padded his way out of his bedroom and into the "Central Room" of the "Compound". He didn't really think it was an appropriate word for their living arrangement; it was really just an apartment, but of course the heads of the Project liked to make everything seem more menacing.

"Wake up, Ricky. Did you really sleep on the couch again?" Minsoo said, picking up a pillow from an armchair and tossing it at the small, sleeping boy on the worn-out old sofa. Ricky merely mumbled something in his sleep and rolled over. Minsoo felt a small smile cut across his face. As much as he might pretend otherwise, he actually enjoyed watching over the four other boys assigned to his care. Unlike them, he was a C System, slightly higher up in the ranks of Project V. It was his job to monitor them and make sure they didn't cause trouble or expose the Project. Just at that moment, two bleary-eyed boys walked into the room; one with the pink hair of a late night whim dye-job, the other tall, skinny, blonde, and wearing bright yellow pajama pants. 

"I'm surprised you're up this early," said the pink-haired boy, blinking and rubbing his eyes.

"I got a page from headquarters. That means you're going to be in charge while I'm gone, Byunghun," Minsoo said, walking past the two of them and making his way to the bathroom.

"Niel's still in there," said the tall one, yawning and stretching, "which isn't really surprising." Minsoo rolled his eyes and banged on the door of the bathroom.

"Calm down, I'm almost done!" called a voice from the other side of the door, "so be quiet, Chunji!" The boy just laughed, and dropped himself lazily into one of the many armchairs in the room.

"What does headquarters want?" Byunghun asked, shuffling his way into the kitchen, which was separated from the living room by counter.

"Apparently they have a new arrival. They've been assigned here," Minsoo said before banging on the door again. It swung open after the second hit, and a cranky looking boy with long brown hair swept past him and into the living room. He paused only to smack Chunji on the head before following Byunghun into the kitchen.

"Great. Where are they going to sleep?" Niel asked, pouring himself a bowl of brightly colored sugary cereal.

"You shouldn't eat that," Chunji warned, looking over his shoulder.

"It's fine if I only have a little bit."

"That's what you said last time."

"Last time I had too much."

"Really? Because it looks like you have the exact same amount."

"Would you two stop arguing about the cereal? If Niel wants to make himself sick, then he can go right ahead," Minsoo said before stepping into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

"Anyway, back to what I was asking. Where's the newbie going to sleep?" Niel asked, fishing a spoon out of a drawer and walking into the living room to sit on the arm of the couch.

"Probably with you and Ricky," Byunghun replied as he leaned sleepily on the counter.

"What?" Ricky inquired, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, "did someone say my name?"

"We're getting a new System. They'll be sleeping in your room," Chunji said, "and by the way your hair is sticking up."  Ricky ran his hands through his haphazardly spiked black hair before pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees.

"You shouldn't eat that," he mumbled to Niel, who shot him a dirty look as he continued to eat his cereal.

"Speaking of eating, when was the last time you fed, Ricky?" Byunghun asked, detaching himself from the counter and walking into the living room. Ricky shrank back nervously as Niel and Byunghun eyed him suspiciously.

"Seriously, when was the last time you ate?" exclaimed Niel, setting his now empty bowl down on the coffee table and inching closer to Ricky.

"I...I don't know. It wasn't that long ago. I'm fine," he said quickly, hiding his face in his hands, "now stop staring at me like that!"

"Don't lie! The Signs are totally showing on your face, I can see them from here!" Byunghun snapped.

"Ricky, you can't keep doing this to yourself. You're going to drive yourself crazy," Niel said softly, and Ricky lifted his face to look at him. The veins around his eyes and mouth were a dark blue, sharply contrasting with his pale skin.

"I can't do it, okay? I can't...I can't eat like you guys do! There's no way I'm going to hurt somebody like that!" Ricky pleaded, shaking his head.

"It's fine, leave the kid alone. I'll get him blood packets on my way back from headquarters," Minsoo said, walking through the room with his towel wrapped around his waist, shaking out his wet hair with his hand.

"You can't keep stealing for him forever, you know," said Byunghun, moving out of the way so the other boy could get to his bedroom. 

"I know," Minsoo sighed before disappearing into his room. Silence hung in the air for several minutes before he came back out, wearing torn up jeans, a black tank top and a worn out leather jacket. "I'll be back soon. In the meantime, clean this place up and get Niel's room ready for the new arrival. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." He eyed them all before grabbing a set of keys from a bowl on the counter and heading out of the apartment. The silence continued on for a few moments before Chunji stood up.

"Well, you heard him. We'd better start cleaning," he said with a shrug.

"I don't feel so good..." Niel groaned, darting past the others and into the bathroom.