First and Final
Beneath | O.SH
First and Final
I stared at the models on screen in awe, my eyes glued to the television. Perfect body proportions. Perfect figures. Everything was flawless. Like how the heck can someone fall that gracefully?!
When would I ever get the chance to be like them? To be modeling under one of the most well known and prestigious companies ever — LUX. Holding the reigning titles of Miss USA, Miss International and Miss Universe, they were a force to be reckoned with. Technically everyone in the modeling industry knows of the company which was run by the famous Oh Sehun. People have said that he was as gorgeous as the models from his company, deserving the title of 'CEO'.
It was very hard to get accepted as a model in LUX, but it wasn’t impossible. Every year, they will accept one model trainee and I was determined to be the one chosen. Being a trainee for 4 years now gave me the upper hand, all I had to do was to be the cream of the crop. And I was confident. I had trained so damn hard for this, and I wasn’t going to let my hard work go to waste. It would be a major boost in my career and maybe I could be as famous as Taylor Swift...nah that isn’t going to happen.
“Chin up Mina” the photographer hollered, the resounding snaps of the camera beginning to annoy me a little. I was in the middle of my photoshoot when one of the staff came into the room, stopping us as he claimed that the manager wanted to talk to me. I instantly panicked as my mind was flooded with negative thoughts.
Am I going to be fired? Did I do something wrong? What could he possibly want from me?
Calming myself down, I knew I was overreacting and tried to replace the negative thoughts with positive ones. Nothing bad could possibly happen anyway, I reminded myself as I headed towards the managers office.
I nervously sat down on the chair, awaiting the news from the manager.
“Congratulations, you have been accepted as a model in LUX!” he smiled, handing me a red envelope.
I opened it egearly, excitement and relief washing over me.
Dear Song Mina,
Congratulations for being accepted into LUX! You will officially be starting work on the 10th of October as a permenant model. We look foreword to working with you.
Yours Sincerely,
LUX
I was bursting with happiness before turning to look suspiciously at my manager. “This isn’t some kind of prank isn’t it?” I stared at him, trying to see whether he was lying or not. Fortunately, he only chuckled and pointed to the official LUX logo stamp on my envelope, showing that it was indeed real. I clutched the envelope in my hands, my eyes glistening with tears of joy as I hugged my manager.
“Oh and by the way, 10th October is next Monday so today will be your last day in our company” the manager spoke up. I thanked and gave him one last hug before leaving the room.
This is it. I finally got what I wanted after so long.
Marvellous. Jaw dropping. The two perfect words to describe the high rise building. Painted in gold were the words 'LUX' which matched well with the intricate design and color of the structure.
I took a step inside, my heels clicking against the shiny marble flooring as I shamelessly admired the equally gorgeous interior of the building. Damn. The designer has got some skills. I approached the lady at the front desk, asking for some directions to the CEO’s office. “On the highest floor” she said briefly without even looking up at me. Rude much. But I shrugged it off anyway.
Entering the huge lift, I pressed the number 20 before turning my attention to the words beside it. “Level 9, training room..Level 12 testing room” I muttered feeling confused, wondering what kind of testing room it was. What got me even more confused was the room on Level 16 — the laboratory. However before I knew it, the lift halted and I had no choice but to get off.
I headed towards the large office but I was still utterly confused.
Why would a model company have a laboratory?
I was so caught up with my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed a tall man walking towards me. He tapped my shoulder and I stumbled back a little in shock. “I suppose you are Song Mina?” he inquired. I nodded my head in a daze as I admired his features. Damn that jawline and his pale skin. Nice hair too — it looks so fluffy. “Nice to meet you. I am Oh Sehun the CEO of the company. You may address me as Mr Oh.”
Smiling widely, I bowed respectfully and greeted him in return. Totally was not checking out my boss. Totally not.
“Would you like any drinks? Tea perhaps?” Mr Oh asked as we sat down on the fancy velvet sofa. "That will be great" I shyly said. He was intimidating and my confident self somehow disappeared. He phoned his secretary and asked for 2 cups lemongrass tea. Even the tea is of high class.
“Are you excited to be working here?” he spoke up. “Yes I am. It really is a dream to be working here. Your company is known for having the best of the best models and I am very honoured to be able to be one of them. I figure it must really hard to find all these models since all of them are stunning.”
He chuckled lowly, “Not at all.. they are also very obedient—but why wouldn’t they be anyway”.
Well that’s weird.
“They came into the company looking completely different. Some of them had dry skin, legs with many scars while others had faces that were not appealing at all. Only under our company’s special treatment that made them what they are today. Don’t worry though, it is not plastic surgery.” Mr Oh added on.
“Do I need to get the special treatment?” I asked while sipping on my hot tea. I personally found my appearance quite decent. Mr Oh scanned me from head to toe as I squirmed a little under his intense gaze. “There isn’t much to change about your appearance. You are really pretty. The only change you would need will probably be your nose and your eyes. Your nose is slightly slanted and your eyes should be bigger with double eyelids.”
My jaw dropped in awe, cheeks burning a little from his compliment. “How did you manage to find my flaws so quickly? And how will the special treatment be carried out — is it some sort of special cream or tool that you use?” Mr Oh only shrugged and answered “Years of experience I guess. As for the special treatment, you should find out yourself. Would you want to now?”
I nodded in anticipation but I failed to catch the mischievous glint in his eyes and the ghost of a smirk on his gorgeous face.
We were in the lift when we saw a young man and a lady calling out to us. Holding the lift for them, they approached, panting a little while thanking us.
“Good afternoon Mr Oh” they politely greeted, totally ignoring my presence. "So did anything bad happen to cause you guys to be in such a hurry?" Mr Oh asked as they entered the lift. “Carol isn’t really feeling well so we are in a hurry to take her to the bay room incase any mishaps happen. Isn’t that right Carol darling?” almost robotically the lady nodded her head. She looked fine to me, the only thing off about her that I could see was her stiff posture. She stoood as still as a rod but I assumed it was because she was trained to have a great posture. Part of being a model I guessed.
When they left, I glanced up at Mr Oh only to find him staring at me. I immediately adverted my gaze and awkwardly cleared my throat. “So..where are we going to?”
“Level 16. The Laboratory.” I fidgeted a little, the thought of going to a laboratory abit creepy to me. Aern’t laboratories used by scientists? Mr Oh sensed my discomfort and soothingly placed his hand on my back. “Don’t worry. The people there will take very good care of you.” I could only smile and hope he was right.
“Please lay down on the reclining chair Miss Song” the young man known as Kyungsoo said. I glanced at Sehun only to receive a reassuring smile as I slowly made my way to the chair.
“I will have to chain you to the chair in order to prevent you from moving too much. This will prevent any mishaps from happening during the prosedure” Kyungsoo muttered. The cool feeling of the shackles made me feel even more nervous as I nodded my head.
“So how is the procedure going to work?” I asked Mr Oh curiously. He advanced towards me, a cunning smile painted on his lips, “Oh honey, you won’t want to know. But if you insist...” he dug into his pocket and took out a remote controller. Pressing a red button, a large capsule emerged from the ground beside me. It opened, revealing a lifeless human body of a female.
An unsettling feeling begun to well up inside of me. Why was there a female body hidden in the room?
“Laboratory...”
“Special Treatment...”
“They are very obedient..why won’t they be anyway...”
“Carol’s weird behavior...”
Something strange was going on but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
“ You asked earlier how I get all these models. Well I don’t get them. I make them. To start off, this right here has what you need — the nose and the eyes. Using the machine that I have worked on for years, I’ll swap the body parts of you and her. After that, I will implant this microchip into your body so that you will be brainwashed or in other words, manipulated by me.” Mr Oh chuckled darkly.
My blood ran cold as I stared at him in horror. I was trembling and I wanted to scream but I couldn’t. I struggled against the cuffs, only to fail miserably. My eyes watered and before I knew it, I was thrashing wildly as I choked on my sobs. I screamed and pleaded for him to let me go but he only smirked in response. Shouting countless 'help me’s' but of course no one came. I turned to Kyungsoo for help but he wore the same smug expression as Mr Oh. They all knew what was going on yet they allowed it to happen. 'Maniacs' was the right word for them.
“By the end of the treatment, you will be perfect like all the others. And under my control” he grinned and cackled a twisted laughter. “You should be thankful you have only this few adjustments to make. Other models had it worse.”
A metal cover enveloped the chair, trapping me, my sobs and screams were the only things I could hear. I breathed in one last breath, the last tear cascaded down my cheek as white smoke filled the case.
I was finished.
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