POV from Junjin

Chun called me earlier today to say he will not come back to the office… and then he did not come back at all. We were always so busy multi-tasking that we end up sleeping in the office most of the time. I actually expected that he would just come back late today… but it was a “no show”… did he go home or something?

That aside… I was too busy writing up a report for the death of one of the experiment subject to bother tracing his whereabouts… too busy feeling all upset and guilty. The poor girl did not survive experiment 45…

Experiment 45 is the worse of its kind… any of the “special ones” here will tell you that. 45 is also notorious across all sectors... and it is conducted by Jung Kwang, he is the “primary investigator” in who actually created this experiment. This sick experiment basically consists of a long period in simulation… except that it is more strenuous process.

The experiment subjects involved will be forced to exhibit their abilities, to fend off the heavy objects thrown at them… so the younger ones usually dies from this… since they will either be killed by the objects hurled at them… or they will tire out. The most disturbing thing is that the experiment is only meant to test how long they can last on the average… just for that purpose…

I vehemently refused to get myself involved in that experiment due to its thwarted nature. You see… Chun and I both have an unexpectedly soft spot for the younger subjects. We do not get ourselves involved in an experiment that deals with younger subjects… and we know what we want, and do not want… that is what we both have in common.

However, we do not actually have a say in which sector we get assigned to… but it is “comforting” that we get to change sectors every once in a few years. Both Chun and I have been in this sector for more than 5 years though… and it is getting to me a little as well, but we still consider ourselves fortunate not to get thrown into sector 4. That will be the worse yet.

I was a rookie together with Chun… and we have worked together for many years. I got to witness how much his guts and resolve have softened over the years… and though it should be the opposite way around, both of us seem to have become softer… somehow… I don’t see why the others cannot feel as much empathy as we can.

“Bom” the door behind me slammed shut… startling me a little while I was getting all stuck at the comment section of my report. Chun just came strolling in like any other morning.

“Chun! Where did you go last night?” I asked him. I am concerned… he looked somewhat different today… now that I have noticed. He actually shaved and washed up thoroughly… plus… what’s with that “pretty” hairdo today?

“Home.” He answered me nonchalantly, while picking up the file I was scribbling on and flipping through it.

“Really? Since when do you go home?” I asked him again. Honestly, I am getting a little suspicious. He had not looked so… so satisfied in years!! He even had this unusually “radiant”… grin on his face, for the whole time since his return. It’s as though he had found or did something that is providing him with immense joy…

The thing is, both of us have given up a lot of things… and I can tell he is really empty most of the time… void of emotions most of the time… even his anger is very well curbed. I would never miss out the fact that he does look really different today… probably because of the “glow” on his face.

“You discarded the body?” I asked for the last time. I want to know what he did to the boy’s body so… and it’s partially because I needed to finalise the report and shelve it.

“I cremated his body.” Chun replied… And then I got skeptical. No… the pieces do not exactly fit yet… what made him go home? If he had only needed to burn the body… why would he claim to be busy, and disappear for one whole day?

“Chun… I have been your friend for years… tell me what you did to the boy… really.” I wrapped up whatever I was doing and confronted him.

“What do you think?” He threw a question back at me instead.

“You didn’t do what you said you did…” I replied… according to the assumption that he had lied. Honestly, I am not too sure myself… it’s just a gut feeling. What will he hide from me? We are best friends and he knows he can trust me with his secrets… right?

“You don’t need to know my friend… what you don’t know cannot hurt you. You just need to know that I don’t hurt kids.” He reassured me… as if he were afraid that I will be upset at him for hurting a child… which I would.

“You didn’t kill him?” I “concluded”. Is that a good thing? Should I feel proud of him? And most importantly… is that the truth?

He just ignored me and turned away. Aish!! … This friend of mine can get really stubborn at times! When he does not want to say something… his mouth will be sealed shut! I am seriously worried though… had he really pitied the child and brought him home or something? Don’t tell me he did kill the boy and liked it…

I can only say that if I were in the same situation, I would probably not do anything to the boy… since I have never killed anyone younger than 21 before. He swore to me before that he will not do it either… had he changed? Did he really become so cold hearted?

I doubt he had done what he said he had… we will see… I need to falsify the report first… close the case as soon as possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jaejoong had gone “camping” in the dilapidated part of town and found the man that his gang was looking for. However, the man was really paranoid and refuses to talk to Jaejoong, no matter how he tried to make him open up. Jaejoong ended up subduing and “kidnapping” him. The guy is unexpectedly powerful, and he is able to produce electricity, but Jaejoong was able to neutralize it by freezing both his hands.

“Just let me off already!! I really have no idea what you are talking about!!” The man yelled wildly as he kicked the empty beer can at Jaejoong, while the beautiful man sat with his legs crossed on the other end of the room.

“I know what you are… we are the same!” Jaejoong replied irritatedly. He really regretted not bringing a mind reader along… since he could at least get something out of the guy through mind reading. After all, talking was not exactly working.

“Min… no… I’m still with him… can you come? … I will send you our location.” Jaejoong returned Changmin’s missed calls and decided to ask for the gang to come. Changmin will be coming with Siwon and Yunho, since Jaejoong had no choice but to send them his location, even though he is unwilling to have to interact with Yunho now, he had no other choice. Jaejoong is sure that Yunho will kick up one hell of a fuss when he arrives, so he is not exactly looking forward to it.

“You are staying with me til they come… They were looking for you anyways… The truth is… we really need your help… but this will be the last time I am begging you.” Jaejoong spoke as he folds the metal wires more snugly around the man, locking him into a sitting position on the armchair before he can try anything funny.

“PLEASE!! I really don’t know anything!!! Please just let me go!!! They will kill me if they find me!” The man begged Jaejoong more sincerely this time, but his pathetic pleas had fallen on deaf ears, as Jaejoong busied himself with looking around the house and making sure the place is secured.

“I need to pee!!” the man shouted at Jaejoong as the man returns to the hall again. However, no matter how loud he tried to get Jaejoong’s attention, the young man would just block him off completely, ignoring him as he busied himself with the radio and trying to intercept all the frequencies with it. Doing that often had become some form of a habit for Jaejoong, and he sometime manages to actually tap into some stranger’s conversations, but they were mostly useless chats. But he will still do it in hopes of finding something useful.

“ALRIGHT! YOU WIN!” The man’s sudden exclamation had caught Jaejoong’s attention… at last.

Jajeoong took off his earphones slowly and swiftly shifted his chair to face the man, while digging out the maps and some note books from inside his bag. “Start talking.”

“I escaped from sector 1… but the place is for adults only!! Trust me!! The boy you have talked about… I have never met him before!! There are no boys in sector 1!!” The man said conclusively.

“What?! Is this all you wanted to hide?” Jajeoong stood up and hissed at the man angrily. He felt that the man had wasted a lot of his time, and he can only comfort himself by thinking that he could at least take sector 1 off his list. Jaejoong finally decided to resign to letting the Siwon do his job this time. He is sick of trying to squeeze out information from the man.

“You said you are looking for a boy right? Try sector 3!” The man shouted after Jaejoong as he was about to exit the room. This sentence had gotten Jaejoong’s hope up again.

“Tell me what you know about sector 3.” Jaejoong turned to face the man again and sat down to continue the “interview”.

“Sector 3 sends surviving kids over to our side when they outgrow that sector…” The man continued, hoping that Jaejoong will understand that he does not know much either. After all, he was only an “inmate”.

“Have you met any of them? Previously from sector 3…” Jaejoong could feel his guts twisting painfully as he asked the question. He actually expected a big no, but was relieved to see the guy nod his head. The flicking glimmers of hope, to finding his brother alive, are burning strong again.

“I have met a few of them… but they are usually less likely to survive the experiments on our side. They are already screwed enough over there… and the ones I did meet… usually do not make it pass a year…” The man said as if deep in thoughts.

“Can I pee now? I really can’t tell you anything else!! … Let’s not forget I was a subject… and I never want to go back there ever!” the man emphasized his plight to Jaejoong.

“Here… relieve yourself with this. You will have to wait til my leader comes… he will decide if you can leave…” Jaejoong replied as he waved a jug in front of the man’s face, earning a groan from him.

“Bam Bam!!” the loud knocking on the fragile wooden door made Jaejoong jump a little as he prepared for a counter attack.

“Jae hyung! It’s me!!” “Jaejoong ah!! No one knows we are here… you can open up.” Jaejoong could hear Changmin and Siwon’s voice echoing around in the long empty corridor, finally followed by loud slams and angry footsteps, indicating that Yunho had arrived.

TBC

Please do comment and subscribe! *bows*