[CHAPTER 23]

"A Revolution "

They closed the door behind them carefully.

Jaehwan let out a sigh as soon as he stepped inside the room.

"What should we do about Hongbin?" He asks with his brows furrowed and worried.

"What do you mean what should we do? He won't even see us! What can we do if he won't even come out?!" Wonshik slammed the wall in anger.

Hongbin went back to how he used to be, back to the way he was before he entered Moirae's Edge. The two who have known Hongbin for the longest time couldn't help but become worried for him yet they were too powerless to do anything. They had a lot to worry about aside from their concerns for their friend. They also had to worry about their position within Moirae's Edge. Both Jaehwan and Wonshik are well respected disciples within the facility. Both were going to be nominated as the next Supervisors of their respective departments yet because they helped Hongbin enter a human's story, their positions were now at risk.

Hongbin tried to keep everything a secret and not many people even knows about Jaehwan or Wonshik helping him. But still, there were still some who knew. Someone who wouldn't leave them alone, someone such as Jung Taekwoon or those within the higher ranks of the council.

"It's all my fault," Jaehwan said as he slouched onto a chair. "If only I didn't help Hongbin go into Hakyeon's story in the first place..."

"Hyung, it isn't your fault. You just wanted to help that fool. You were trying to do what you thought was right," Wonshik tried his best to cheer the older up.

"No, I helped him because I was selfish. Because I also wanted to know the answers behind the gates of fate. I only helped him because I wanted to try and accomplish something I couldn't do alone..." Jaehwan continued to blame himself. "I used Kong as a scapegoat..."

"Don't say that!" Wonshik grabbed Jaehwan's shoulder in frustration. "You did your best for him, you've blamed yourself for long enough! You wanted to help him not only use him. You only did what was best for Hongbin because that idiot can't do anything by himself. Even I couldn't do anything to bring that fool out of his shell but you did!"

Wonshik was so frustrated to see both of his precious friends falling down in despair and he felt so powerless to do anything to help them. His eyes began to water just thinking about how frustrated he's been as of lately.

"Wonshik-ah..." Jaehwan could see how irritated the younger must have felt, just like himself. "But what can we do to help him? i don't want to just sit around and watch Hongbin revert back to the way he was before... it took us so long to bring him out and now he's back to before."

"Dammit if only we can do something... we don't even know what's happening to Cha Hakyeon right now because those bastards confiscated the book for research," Wonshik said as he tried to calm down a bit.

"It's not fair."

"What is?"

"That only Hongbin got punished! What about Taekwoon? He's getting it off easy and Cha Hakyeon still remembers him! If anyone should be punished, it should be him don't you think? He's the one who started it all!" Jaehwan bursted out.

"But he's the Goddesses's loyal puppet, so of course nothing will happen to him," someone suddenly said.

"W-what?" Wonshik and Jaehwan both turned around to see an outsider in the room.

"Seo InGuk Supervisor...." Jaehwan felt nervous.

"If you two are going to talk about Hongbin and Hakyeon, you should really find a more secretive place than here within the facility to do so," InGuk said as he stood against the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Wonshik asked with his guards up. "D-did you hear everything we said?"

"Yeah and? If you have the guts to be angry for Lee Hongbin than you shouldn't be afraid of getting caught either."

"Are you going to tell on us?" Jaehwan asked.

"If I do, what good will that do for me?" 

"..."

InGuk looked behind him and closed the door as he came inside. Inviting himself into the conversation between Wonshik and Jaehwan.

"So you two feel useless now that Hongbin is exiled from the facility and Jung Taekwoon is left unpunished huh?" he asked.

The two younger nodded.

"It's not fair that only Hongbin got punished and Taekwoon got away with everything he's started," Wonshik told him truthfully. 

"Hongbin never meant to prolong the process, he really didn't think he would fall in love with Hakyeon and he wasn't the only one. Cha Hakyeon really loves him! He believes that he was able to move forward, move forward from his past because he met Hongbin. If anything, Hongbin saved his life. If he never met Hongbin, he would still be trapped in isolation and unable to forgive himself," Jaehwan said.

Both Wonshik and Jaehwan have studied Hakyeon's story for a long time. The two of them have been reading what Hakyeon's been going through, what he feels and everything that was on Hakyeon's mind for the longest time. By engaging with Hakyeon's story, the two of them felt familiar with Hakyeon as a person and though they haven't met, they knew what the character Cha Hakyeon have been going through. And it's true that by falling in love with Hongbin, Hakyeon's story began to move forward once more.

"But if it wasn't for Lee Hongbin, Hakyeon's story would not be in a complete mess even more so than before," InGuk reminded him. "He broke the law and play against the Goddesses' beliefs."

"Beliefs... something like that is bullsh*t," Wonshik felt angry. "Why do we have to abide to those rules and beliefs if we've never....."

A pause.

"If we've never even met them before..." Jaehwan completed the younger's sentence.

The two looked at one another and finally, they realized something wasn't right. They really have never met the three Goddesses of Moirae's Edge. They've been in the facility almost all their life, they studied everything about humans and fate yet never have they met the so-called Goddesses who writes fate.

"Who are they exactly?" Wonshik asked as he faced InGuk.

"Who knows," InGuk let out a smirk. Finally, even Wonshik and Jaehwan was finding a mind of their own. "We were born to believe them. We were born to follow their rules. We exist to serve them. We're nothing but fate's puppets."

"W-what do you mean?" Jaehwan asked in fear.

"Why is it that you guys want to work inside of Moirae's Edge?" InGuk asked back. "Don't you ever have dreams of your own? To do something else aside from trying to become the top of the facility?"

"I... no... I've always wanted to become a Supervisor and serve the facility since I was young," Wonshik said.

"Same here," Jaehwan nodded.

"But why?" InGuk continued. "What can you possibly achieve by serving those that you've never even seen before? For example, why do you even care for human fate if you have never met them nor do they know you even exist?"

"Because..."

"Because it was the right thing to do? Ha! Don't you have a mind of your own? Don't you find it strange that your entire life, since the day you were born, was only to follow the beliefs of fate and abide to the rules set by the Goddesses? Do you really believe that fate exist or is it because you're made to believe it?" InGuk found it rather amusing to see the two younger ones fallen in confusion and questioning for the first time in their lives, the purpose of their life. "Don't you ever think it's strange that every human on Earth has a book written about their fate, yet what about us? Where is our story?"

"Our... story?" Jaehwan asked.

InGuk was right. Neither have Wonshik or Jaehwan ever thought or question about it before but if all humans had a story, what about them? Don't they have a story about themself as well? A story about their fate or their outcome?

"We don't have one..." Wonshik found his voice starting to tremble in realization. "W-why?"

"Simple. Because we don't exist," InGuk said boldly.

"We don't exist? What do you mean?" Jaehwan asked.

"We're nobodies on our own. We were created by the Goddesses as servants to their beliefs. Without them, we would not exist in the first place but because of them, we're not just a bunch of puppets to help them play their game." 

~

Even InGuk was rather surprised when he found out that both Jaehwan and Wonshik were defying the laws of fate in order to help their friend, Hongbin. Never has this happened before and he kept a close eye on the two of them. After all, both of them were about to become the next Supervisors in their departments. He thought that both Jaehwan and Wonshik would end up giving up on Hongbin for their own goods, especially since Hongbin never mentioned the amounts of help he received from his two friends. No one has ever placed friendship before achievements in Moirae's Edge, at least not until now.

He kept a close eye on Jaehwan and Wonshik for awhile after Hongbin was exiled from the facility. He wanted to rebel against the facility and its beliefs, but he also knew that he would be powerless to do so alone. So, he watched them. He watched the two friends closely to see if he could trust them both. And indeed, he could. 

Both Jaehwan and Wonshik never gave up on Hongbin. The both of them have been visiting Hongbin almost every other day in order to see how their friend was doing. They felt powerless of the fact that Hongbin have reverted back to the way he was before and it broke their hearts knowing that they couldn't do anything to help. 

That's when InGuk realized that something had changed in Jaehwan and Wonshik. 

They were no longer just mere puppets of the facility. They valued friendship over the rules. But because they believed in the practices of the Goddesses for a long time, they had no clue of how to venture outside of the laws. So, InGuk decided to step in instead.

He told the two about everything. Everything from when he was a Keeper up until he was a Supervisor because he was the only one ever to be inside that department. The three statues of the Goddesses that were placed in the library of fates continued to watch over InGuk, at least that's what he believes. He hated being in that library because he felt like he was being watched. So, he had to find the perfect place and timing to talk to both Jaehwan and Wonshik. 

Now, with the truth being told to the two, both of them became more aware of their so-called 'existence' within Moirae's Edge.

Indeed, for the longest time, for as long as they could remember, they have always obeyed to the beliefs of the facility and the laws of fate. They thought that it would do everyone a deed if they continued to serve and study about human fate as the Goddesses would want but now, they begin to doubt. Do they really believe in the Goddesses or were they created to believe in them?

~

"But what should we do?" Wonshik asked. "There's no way we can defy the facility... we don't have that kind of power..."

"Wonshik is right. We're only a bunch of researchers at most. What can we do to overthrow something we can't even see?" Jaehwan questioned.

"We don't need to overthrow anything or anyone," InGuk said.

"Huh?" 

"All we need to do is mess with them. Mess with their ideals and their beliefs. Make them feel powerless and uncontrollable. That's the best thing to do. Just imagining how powerless and useless they feel is satisfying enough for me to imagine," the older told them.

"You're kinda... twisted you know that?" Wonshik asked.

"Hah! Not as twisted as those who enjoy creating fate and ending it to their own accord. I'm only paying them back for what they deserve."

Both Wonshik and Jaehwan looked at each other and sighed as they looked at how InGuk seems to be enjoying himself with the thought of rebellion.

"So what do you suggest we do? There's too many eyes in the facility and we don't know who's actually watching us," Wonshik said.

"Yeah, especially when we don't even know where the Goddesses are or if they're watching us or not," Jaehwan said.

"Screw them. Don't worry about whether or not they're watching, what we should worry more about is those that will actually get in our way," InGuk reminded them. "For example, Jung Taekwoon."

Just the name made the two younger ones twitch in anger.

"What should we do about him? If it wasn't for him... Hongbin would've never been caught and exiled. If it wasn't for him, Cha Hakyeon would still remember Hongbin and everything they've been through together. If only Hakyeon knew how he was used for Taekwoon's research, he wouldn't feel so sad or broken in the first place," Jaehwan said.

"Jung Taekwoon is one of the biggest obstacle we have right now. He is favored by the Goddesses and who knows what else he's planning to do. The most worrisome thing right now is the fact that he has Cha Hakyeon's book," InGuk told them.

"What?!" Wonshik was surprised. "How?! Not only was he not punished but he has Hakyeon's book too?"

"The council gave it to him to keep and guard. It's ironic isn't it? The one who started it all, ruined the course of Hakyeon's story is now watching over it. It almost sounds like he can control Cha Hakyeon's story however he wants to. He might even be able to rewrite all of Hakyeon's memories if he wanted."

"We can't let him do that. He's dangerous!"

"Yeah. We need to get that book back for both Hongbin and Hakyeon's sake," Jaehwan said.

"You two sound like you're a friend of Cha Hakyeon you know that? Have you even met the guy?" InGuk asked.

"No but we've been reading and watching over his story these past two years as well. It's almost no different than actually knowing him in person. Sometimes, the more we know how he feels or think makes us feel as if we've actually known him for years. I think I know how Hongbin feels when he got his hands on Hakyeon's story," Jaehwan told him. "Sometimes, even I wish I could be friends with the real thing himself."

Wonshik also nodded in agreement.

"That's why we have to get it back. Especially from someone like Jung Taekwoon, we have to get Hakyeon's book back at all cost," he said.

InGuk couldn't help but smile at the determined faces on the two guys.

"Well then, shall we go steal the book from him? Even if it means that the two of you will no longer hold the same reputation within the facility after that?" 

"I'll do anything as long as it means to help Hongbin," Jaehwan said without a doubt.

"Same. That idiot can't do anything without us anyways," Wonshik said as well.

With no time wasted and zero hesitation, the three of them started to plan on the perfect timing to steal the book back from Jung Taekwoon. Even if it means that they'll be exiled themselves, even if it means that their lives might be in danger, they were willing to do anything to set the story back to its rightful place. 

~

And just like that, the three of them waited for the right timing. They acted as if nothing was wrong and they performed their duties as per usual. They continued with their researches and other responsibilities within their respective departments. Jaehwan payed extra attention being in the Coordinator's department and he marked down all the times his Supervisors were out of the office. His relationship with the Supervisors remains unchanged and even though he was reprimanded at first for his actions, Jaehwan pretended as if he had learned his mistakes and revert back to his position before. Deep down, he was waiting for the right time and perfect opportunity to notify both InGuk and Wonshik when the facility will have a meeting. His Supervisor was the closest person next to Taekwoon and if he can find a time to bring the two together while separating them from Hakyeon's book, it would become the perfect time for them to steal the book back.

Wonshik on the other hand was performing his usual security runs throughout the facility. He knew all of the in and outs of the facility, where to escape as well as shortcuts that most people don't even know about. He had the blueprint in his hands and it was only possibly after his many years of service within his department. He was able to find out exactly where Taekwoon was hiding the book and at times, he's even met Taekwoon in person while pretending that nothing was wrong.

"It's been awhile hasn't it?" Taekwoon asked Wonshik in a small, wary voice.

"Yeah," Wonshik said without much expression as usual.

Wonshik often does a facility check as part of his job as a Guardian, so he usually goes around the several departments as part of his job. Thanks to that, Taekwoon wasn't that suspicious about Wonshik at all. And maybe InGuk was right about the fact that almost everyone inside of the facility are puppets of the Goddesses that no one would ever suspect that there would be a few people, planning to revolt against their beliefs. 

"Your Supervisor mentioned that you'll be installing a new security system here right?" Taekwoon asked.

"Yeah. To strengthen the security and protect the research in here since there's so many documents," Wonshik told him.

"I see. How long will the installation take?"

"Not long. You can check it afterwards."

"Okay."

Luckily, Wonshik was in charge of developing the new security systems even before Hongbin got exiled from the academy. He has been working on the project for a very long time, so he knew everything that the new system can do as well as all the faults he actually has. Through a few tweaks and changes, Wonshik installed the new system inside of the department of the Scholars. He was also able to inform both Jaehwan and InGuk of what to do to get around the security system.

"We will strike tonight since Taekwoon will be attending the meeting with the others in the council. He should be out for a couple of hours and that should be the perfect timing to take back what is ours," InGuk said as he laid down the plans with Jaehwan and Wonshik.

"Understood. I'll keep an eye out while Jaehwan-hyung gets the book back inside of Taekwoon's office," Wonshik said.

"He's sneaky though. He hid the book inside of a vault and we would've never known if it wasn't for Wonshik eyeing on him every time he went to do a security check," Jaehwan patted the younger on the back for a good job.

"He's very hard to approach sometimes though. He puts his guards up almost all the time even if it wasn't against me. It's like he can't trust people or something..." 

"And I thought you were bad," Jaehwan teased the younger a bit.

"Even if he is always on guard, there will definitely be a time where he has to lower it. And this meeting will be the perfect opportunity for us to take Hakyeon's book back into our possession. But that being said, the two of you will need to be careful. I will also keep an eye on the other Supervisors during the time just in case. We have to make it haste and fast," InGuk directed them.

Both Jaehwan and Wonshik nodded their heads. 

Everything was now set in place and soon, the book of Cha Hakyeon will be back in their hands.