Why do we live if we’ll turn to nothing but dusts?

The laboratory was always in chaos when it was night time. Eight-stories and filled with hundreds of the best doctors, psychologists and soldiers from all over the world, this place was secure and secretive from the outer realm. Its’ existence was a myth of its own, known only to few selected world leaders and the councils. The ground level was the most spacious, usually handled by dozens of soldiers on patrols for the overnight patients. There had been less complications over the year, although some foolish ones still tried to escape from time to time. Their efforts most often resulted in death.

On the top floor, a woman dressed in white cape and red dress was watching all of her subordinates as they functioned perfectly in balance – another normal day for her, except for the record shown on her table. It was a detailed report consisting of a hundred and thirty pages of people from all over the world. As the head of the laboratory, her job was to pick on them and make sure that these new recruits were fit enough to perform satisfactorily for the next step.

One glance and she looked inapproachable. Her hair was dyed black, but there were few strands of grey peeking off the roots, almost a magnificent display of her aging beauty. There were thin lines forming around her lips, and her cheeks had sunken in, but those bright blue eyes and perfect pout were still a sight to behold. Her expression was frosty, as if she had seen too much of everything that nothing fazed her anymore. The man in front of her wore a soldier uniform with a tag.

“How many new recruits do we have now?” He asked, neither overbearing nor timid. He had grown quite used to the frown on her face. She had had it on for years since they first met, keeping her smile reserved only for several occasions. Still, this woman was worthy of respect and fear, even for a man almost twice her size. He continued without waiting for her response, knowing that she had a lack of interest in conversing with him at the moment, “The General has been asking for a while now. It’s almost that time of the year.”

Jane Lee didn’t reply for a while. The frown line deepened. There were so many thoughts clouding her mind right now, with two particular cases from the new recruits that seemed much more peculiar than what she usually had. And Doctor Lee had seen a lot over the years. “Forty-five recruits. Twenty boys, twenty-five girls. All below twenty years old as per requested.” Her eyes narrowed at the pile of papers on her table. She was starting to get a headache just thinking about it. “Tell the General to wait a little longer. He will have what he needs this year.”

A fleeting look of surprise appeared on Lieutenant Key’s face. “You mean from these new recruits? Are you sure?”

She was, but she didn’t want to be overly optimistic with her analysis. After all, these were only data. She needed to see them personally to do further examination on their skills and endurance. This time of the year was always the busiest and although she didn’t mind the extra time spent on working, she felt a little uncomfortable for no reason at all. It took her a few extra seconds to reply, and she looked quite absentminded this time, “Almost. They will be brought in very soon. We’ll have to see then.”

“When would it be?” Key inquired further. After all, he would be the one facing that old General whose temper was always as violent as his fist. He never did much talking except for the time when he gave command and rain curses on other people. At times he would regret ever taking this opportunity to serve beside the General and working as his right-hand man to relay the messages and communicate with the laboratory, but the salary was too good to resist. And besides, he got to know all the secret codes and private information of the military dealings. This opportunity wouldn’t come knocking the second time.

“Tonight,” Jane answered. She hesitated a little before adding on, “If everything goes well.”

“Is the Rebel still trying to sabotage us?”

There was always that fear that the Rebel party – the opposition of this whole organisation – could one day succeed and take away their recruits. They had never found out anything about them, except for the fact that they stood at completely different sides. Jane wouldn’t call herself the good one, but she was sure as hell that the Rebel was ten times worse than her. At least they didn’t exist solely for the purpose of killing. While Jane wanted this world to become better with what they were doing, the Rebel wanted the whole world to burn in chaos.

“Trying, should they be,” Jane emphasised coldly. “There is always that possibility, Lieutenant. After all, we are only collecting forty-five recruits of the one hundred and thirty talents. Who knows what would happen to the rest?” She paused. “It will, however, be an imminent danger to all of us if the Rebel happens to interfere with the transfer this time. There are two of them…” She wasn’t supposed to say too much, but she was so fearful at the moment. “These two cannot fall into the hands of the Rebel. Absolutely not.”

“Show me their pictures and I will send out more men to help with the transfer,” Key said. Jane was rarely frightened of anything. If she was, then trouble would surely follow. The woman took the paper from the top of the pile without even looking, singling out two profiles from the crowds and showing them to Key. “A seventeen year-old girl and an eighteen year-old boy. One from an orphanage and the other from an average household in Seoul.”

“Sera?” Key read out with his eyebrows furrowed, trying to memorise all of their details at once, “Jung Sera?”

* * *

My head hurt.

Not… like the usual pain that hit me every once in a while.

This time it was ringing in continuous wave of pain from the impact of the hit that almost damaged my face should I wake up later. Nausea followed. This was terrible. I dared not make a sound and tightly clenched the hem of my shirt as I swallowed the pain in. I only remembered going to my weekly therapy with a psychologist in the hospital before my consciousness faded away. The car moved every so slightly and although the surrounding was completely dark, I could faintly hear a few others scrambling beside me, their breaths a little rushed in panic.

“What… is going on?” I softly whispered. Fear rose in me in an instant I realised that I was kidnapped.

There was low sobbing, but strangely none of them screamed. “Don’t you know?” Another answered, his voice sounded so calm and soothing, but this boy had yet to reach puberty, so it was a little high-pitched. I shook my head, only to realise that he couldn’t possibly see me. I couldn’t even pinpoint out his exact location, only that he was somewhere close in this van. “No, I don’t,” I replied, still in a whisper in fear that anybody would hear. The pain hit again and this time, I groaned from the intensity, unable to hold back from crying loudly for once.

“Shh! Quiet, you fool!” The boy whispered in panic. “They would punish you when we arrive later.”

“They?” I asked, unsure. “Is this… part of human trafficking? For slavery or ion or… organ selling?” I doubted I could bring much value given how malnourished I was. My skin was yellow-ish, and my eyes had two terrible shadow hanging below them. My hair was thin and fragile and the only good thing about my appearance was that I was several inches taller than the average height. Surely, they couldn’t have picked me out of all the beauties in Seoul?

“No,” He answered, shifting a little closer so we could talk comfortably in low whispers. “This is the camp. Haven’t you heard of it? Some people call it the Death camp. Although to me, it isn’t really…”

He couldn’t even finish when the van stopped. Now the sobbing ceased and nobody dared make a sound. The surrounding was dead quiet and a few seconds later, the door opened with a loud bang. It was night time at the forest. Several guns pointed at our heads and we were all trembling mess. A man – clearly the leader of the bunch – lowered his head to examine each and every one of us with a cruel grin. “Well, Children, don’t you look fantastic?” He snickered, “Welcome to the Camp of the Gifted!”