He was falling, and falling, and falling. A pitch-black bottomless pit was all he could see under his feet. His body doesn’t even feel like his own, and he had absolutely no control as to what will happen next.

                Fear.

                Like a creature only exist in the worst of dreams, it gripped his heart and unwilling to let go.

                Then he was no longer falling. He was thrown all over the place like a ragged doll in a big metal box; completely helpless. And the fear intensified by hundreds, then thousands, until he felt like his heart will burst any second.

                In the midst of it all, he heard strangely familiar voices; one soothing and one encouraging.

                And he was no more.

                The first thing Changmin realized as he opens his eyes was that he was not in his room.  There was no busy sound of the building’s residents starting their day, or kids running along the street just in front of his apartment building. He couldn’t smell Jaejoong’s breakfast; consist only of rice, kimchi and tofu, but they were good nevertheless. He couldn’t hear Yunho’s loud voice booming through the thin walls, telling him to wake up and get ready for school, only to disappear before Changmin could even get out of his room.

                No, he wasn’t in his room. The room he was in right now was far too fancy to have any acquaintance with his extremely modest life, he decided as he pushes himself to a sitting position.

                The second thing that crossed his mind was Jaejoong, and how he was soundly sleeping right next to him. And Changmin realized that they were sleeping on a queen-sized bed, at least, because it was big enough for the both of them to sleep comfortably. He looked around and saw a single bed just across his and Jaejoong’s, but Yunho was nowhere to be seen.

                And then in a flash, last night’s events flooded his mind and he came to a realization that no, all of those crazy things that happened was not a dream.

                He had died, after all.

                “Ah, I was just started to wonder when the two of you will wake up…” A familiar voice greeted his eardrums softly. Changmin turned his head around and landed his eyes on a freshly-looking Yunho, dressed in a simple jeans, shirt and sweater. He was stunned for a moment, as he searched in his mind for a memory of the last time he had ever seen his oldest brother looking that nice.

                “What time is it?” Was the first question that came out of his mouth. There was a huge window that filled one side of the room’s wall and it clearly show the night view of Seoul. But the fact that the very building he was in right now was probably miles underground, he could only believe the window as much as he could believe those guys who tried to kill him last night.

                “Half to six in the morning. We slept for almost 24 hours,” Yunho chuckled. He walked to a panel placed beside the window and touches a button. The view changed to a calm morning over Seoul; the sun had just peaked from behind the tall sky-scrappers that decorate the busy metropolis. Changmin made a mental note to ask Yunho about how to do that later.

                “This place is kind of unreal…” Changmin retorted as he joined Yunho standing in front of the window. “I feel like we’re in one of the spaceship in Star Trek,”

                “Yeah, well, our live for the last 48 hours had not been exactly normal,” Yunho voiced out.

                They stayed in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, looking at the city which slowly waking up. It’s nice to see that some things still says the same in the midst of all the chaos they were in.

                “Are you feeling okay?” Yunho asked again, this time with hints of worry and concern in his voice, though his eyes were fixed on the far horizon, not on Changmin’s.

                “I guess?” He answered, not bothered to lie because truth be told, physically, he felt quite okay. Emotionally though, he probably could use a psychologist in a few days.

                “And are we…” The oldest brother tried to find the right words to finish his sentence, “… Are we okay?”

                “Well, that depends, hyung…” Changmin started, a glint of mischief playing in his brown orbs, “… If you being the bossy, work-a-holic you are, could be defined as ‘okay’, then I guess me being the rebellious, smart and good-looking younger brother that never listens to you could be okay as well. So then, yeah, we’re fine,”

                Yunho blew the breath he unconsciously hold as he waits for Changmin’s answer and punch his youngest brother playfully on his arm.

                “Tch. You and that smart mouth of yours…”

                “Could the two of you shut your ing mouth up? Somebody was actually trying to continue his beauty sleep here,” A sleepy voice joined their conversation, followed by a flying pillow that hit the glass window.

                “He’s moody when he wakes up. I’m going to take a bath,” Changmin dashed to the bathroom just as another pillow flew just mere inches from his face.

                “Yah! Come back here, you!” Yunho yelled. Changmin just laughed inside the bathroom, trying to remember the last time he felt this happy and safe.

*                             *                             *

                “So, had a good sleep?” Kyuhyun asked an hour later when all five of them were seated on a round table for their breakfast.

                “They slept for more than 24 hours! ‘Good’ is probably an understatement,” Eunhyuk answered before gulping down his glass of orange juice.

                “I’m not asking you, hyung,” Kyuhyun said, rolling his eyes.

                “No, for once, he’s right. I feel like I could go one-on-one with an elephant after waking up,” Yunho meddled before an argument could rise. It’s true though that he felt completely recharged waking up that morning. According to Kyuhyun’s explanation, they slept through the whole day they fell asleep on and only waking up the next morning. Just after Changmin finished showering, realizing that he didn’t have any clean clothes to change into, Kyuhyun came knocking their door with a bunch of fresh clothes for him, Changmin and Jaejoong who was still trying to block the rest of the waking world off and tried to went back to sleep. Kyuhyun explained that the clothes were theirs from then on, and in the event that they may need more, all they need to do is to let him or Eunhyuk know.

                “What do you mean by ‘for once’? I’m always right,” Eunhyuk threw back, putting on a hurt-puppy look.

                “Can I take more?” Just then Changmin’s voice shyly surfaced, referring to his empty plate.

                “Take as much as you like. These foods are free of charge. You know, one of the perks of working for a secret government agency that also trained super-kids,” Eunhyuk responded leisurely, followed by Changmin dashing back to the buffet.

                The five of them were sitting for breakfast in a dining room that is bustling with people- agents and trainees and employees alike- eating in a flash and then dashing out to do whatever it was they are suppose to do. While the interior of the place could easily match the dining mess of one of Seoul’s most high-end office building, the age range of the people occupying the place is probably a little bit confusing. From those as young-or they could possibly be younger than- Changmin until those whose appearance could simply be mistaken for a director of a huge company up in the city. They all lined up to pick their food into their tray, then eat in the hundreds of tables scattered around the room. Some tables looked just like kids in their high school lunch time, some of the others looked like a company higher-up’s having a meeting. Most of them though, dashed out the instance they finished their meal, going to do whatever work they were supposed to do. Their table seems like the only one consist of people who really having the time to stomach their food properly and chat in the process.

                “These people, they’re all agents?” Jaejoong blurted out while looking around, amused.

                “Not all. Most are employees; they work the ‘normal’ job. ACE is pretty much an office too, we need people to manage the desk job, you know. From accountant to telephone operator to cleaning service, everybody eat here. The older ones usually held the slightly more important positions, though nowadays the younger ones are finding themselves climbing up the positions pretty fast as well…”

                “Like you,” Eunhyuk teased. Kyuhyun chose to ignore it.

                “The younger ones, most of them are agents in training or junior operative agents. Junior agent trainings usually begin at the age of 16, though under special circumstances, it could be reduced.” Kyuhyun continued, sipping on his coffee.

                “Like Yuri?” Yunho remembered the girl from last night, the one probably trying to hit on him.

                “Yuri is one example of that ’special circumstances’. Her parents were involved with drug trafficking long before she was born, not to mention that her father was next in line to the head of one of the biggest criminal organization in Seoul. She learned weaponry and self-defense alongside her school lesson. When our agents caught her parents in act, then realizing that they are Ext.’s and had a ten year old daughter that they planned on using in their business, the agency take her on proper training. Officially starting as a junior agent at the age of 16, when most her age were just starting their training, she was one of the youngest agent to ever operate on missions we have,” Eunhyuk rant, letting Kyuhyun finished his coffee.

                “That is impressive,” Yunho commented. He was just going to ask some more questions when they heard clanking sound of eating utensils, followed by a series of ‘I’m sorry’, unmistakeably Changmin’s voice. Then four heads turned to his direction.

                Changmin was awkwardly standing at the far end of the now-far-less-crowded buffet; his food tray innocently lay on the floor. Surrounding him are three boys slightly taller than him and possibly slightly older as well, one of them is trying to dry his coffee-stained shirt.

                “Watch what you might be walking into, boy,” The one with the coffee-stained shirt said, showing no friendly attitude even in the slightest.

                “I already said I’m sorry. I was a little bit too focused on watching where I was going that I did not notice somebody just appear out of thin air before me,” Changmin retorted back, irritated that he had to went back to take another plate of food.

                “A smart mouth you got there,” Coffee-stained boy lift his gaze up to meet the eyes of the boy who spilled coffee this early in the morning on his shirt.

                Changmin just stared back, holding his sarcastic reply before it could cause more trouble for him than he’s already in. It was just barely three hours into the new morning and he’d pissed off some guy just because of his clumsiness. But, hey, it wasn’t his fault that the guy and his friends just magically appear out of nowhere on the path he’s walking towards.

                “Lay off, Yoochun. The kid already said he’s sorry,”

                And then it was no longer coffee-stained boy in front of him, but Eunhyuk. He had his smile-plastered face on, but there was some hardness to it. Like he was trying so hard to held something back.

                “Oh, he’s your new pet, Hyukjae? The other brat is not enough?” Coffee-stained boy who apparently have a name –Yoochun- bitterly fire back.

                “Yoochun-ah…” One of Yoochun’s friend – awkward boy, nice face, somehow looked soft – tried to meddle. Yoochun ignored him.

                “‘Pet’ is a little bit harsh, don’t you think? Let’s just go our own ways, shall we? I don’t want any trouble this early in the morning,” It was apparent that Eunhyuk was sugar-coating his words.

                “You’re not a Junior Agent Trainee. Who are-“ Yoochun started talking again, only to abruptly stop upon a realization. He scanned Changmin head-to-toe, then looked past him to the table where Jaejoong, Kyuhyun and Yunho sat, watching intently from afar, trying to find out what’s happening, and then back to Changmin.

                “It’s you. And you’re brothers, you’re the one everybody’s been talking about,” And there was no more mockery in Yoochun’s eyes, replaced by such an intense hate it made skins crawl.

                “Yoochun, it’s almost seven. SDA will start soon,” The other one of Yoochun’s friend – short, tough-looking, good-built- that said that. He kept glancing back at his watch nervously, as if they were supposed to be somewhere more important that the cafeteria, having arguments with strangers.

                 “Let’s just go…” Soft-faced say, tugging Yoochun’s arm. He kept throwing nervous glances at Eunhyuk, which the said person just brush off.

                “Wait a minute, Junsu-ah…” He said, then stretched his head to Kyuhyun’s direction. “You know what? People like the two of you could be the best of friends. You both have gotten some blood on your hands. And it ain’t washing away,”

                Yoochun said loud enough for Kyuhyun to hear than walked out of cafeteria, Junsu tried to keep up with Yoochun’s fast pace while the other one walked as if he was on fire. SDA, whatever it was, must be quite important to him.

                Changmin, meanwhile, just stood there trying to make sense of everything Yoochun has said, and try to put a reason on why a guy he had just met barely five minutes ago seems to know some things about him that gave the other a reason to hate him.

                “He’s not exactly…. ‘friendly’. And that’s putting it nicely,” Eunhyuk said as he walked Changmin back to their table. Jaejoong and Yunho kept throwing curious glances, while Kyuhyun just stared back at his toast as if it has suddenly grown an apple tree.

                “Well, yeah, I can see that,” Changmin  responded.

                “What was that? Who was that guy? What did he say to you?” Jaejoong welcomed him with questions as soon as Changmin sat back down, only to look longingly back at the buffet, as if remembering of the food he spilled.

                “I don’t know,” Changmin answered honestly. “I was innocently walking back with my food when they just suddenly appeared in front of me. Collision was inevitable, hyung.”

                “They seem to know you. Who are they?” Yunho asked to Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun. Even from afar, the gestures that they show was enough to see that something was going on between Eunhyuk and those guys.

                “The guy Changmin spilled coffee on is Yoochun, the other two are Junsu and Donghae. Yoochun and Junsu were in my class in Operative Agent Training, but they took a year leave and now have to repeat the whole year of advanced training. The other guy, Donghae, is just a guy in their class. Oh, and SDA stands for Self-Defense Art, one of the compulsory course to complete in order to get you Operative Agent license,” Eunhyuk explained in one breath.

                “And you are an Operative Agent?” Asked Yunho, somehow doubting his statement.

                “I was initially put to look after your family as a part of my training, under supervision of more senior agents. But, hey, apparently I was doing a marvelous job, then they decided to assign me to your family’s case as soon as I got my license,” Eunhyuk proudly stated. Kyuhyun just snorted silently.

                “But seriously, what was that guy’s problem?” Jaejoong said, clearly still irritated.

                “Well, let’s just say he does not exactly have a ‘happy’ approach towards life. He’s that bitter to everybody,” Finally Kyuhyun said, after pushing his plate of toast away. Refusing to eat any more of it.

                “But… toward you especially?” Came a response from Changmin. He tried to lock a gaze with Kyuhyun, but the other one is clearly still avoiding any direct contact.

                Kyuhyun seems kind of caught by Changmin’s question.

                “That’s a story for another time, my friend,” Eunhyuk quickly interrupted. “For now, we got a whole building to explore. Would you like to see how this whole ‘wonderland’ works?”

hullo hullo. here i am, apparently still alive. and still writing, it seems. so, here's the 11th chapter. excuse any spelling mistake. or any mistake i might made. i've had a busy week but since i just reach 40 subs, i need to fulfill the promise i made to myself to update. the next chapter might come sooner than this one. 

dada.