Chapter Seventy-Two

“Nicole,” It was two days after Tiffany and Yoona returned from their patrol, Nicole and Kyuhyun came back from their trip to Satron’s Headquarters as well. Tiffany went to meet them as soon as she heard about it and caught them on the corridor just as the two were about to go separate ways. “How is the trip?” She noticed the obvious languid on Nicole’s face. “You look awful, did something happened?”

Tiffany averted her attention to the quiet guy standing next to Nicole. While Nicole looked distressed, Kyuhyun looked as though he didn’t sleep for days. His dark circles and eye bags were so terrible that he looked totally like a zombie now.

Nicole looked flustered for a split second but it went unnoticed by Tiffany. “Not… Nothing! We didn’t sleep throughout the journey. I guessed that’s why we looked awful.” She forced a smile at Tiffany when she saw the latter returning her gaze to her. “How about we talk again after Kyuhyun and I get some rest?”

“Sure.” Tiffany complied with her request. Work might be important, but she cherished her co-workers’ health more than that. Placing her palm on Nicole’s shoulder, Tiffany drew a smile on her lips. “Take a good rest. We can always talk about your trip tomorrow. No rush.”

Nicole didn’t know how or what to reply. She was stunned by the unusually friendly Tiffany.

“Nicole, are you okay?” Tiffany asked when she saw that hunter staring at her, but said nothing.

Nicole shook and scratched her head. “I’m alright, don’t worry.” She was just not used to a friendly Tiffany. “I’ll get going, see you tomorrow!” She bid goodbye to Tiffany and ran off hastily, leaving her stoned travel partner with Tiffany.

After Nicole left, Tiffany turned to Kyuhyun who hadn’t spoken a word since just now. She frowned and nudged the guy, “Kyuhyun, are you still here?” Not only that Kyuhyun looked like a zombie now, he seemed as though he had lost his soul.

Tiffany’s nudge pulled Kyuhyun back into reality. He jumped up a little in surprise, as if he was sleeping and someone woke him up by force. “Uh, yeah?” His face was written with nothing but confusion.

“You don’t look good.” Tiffany stated out the obvious with knitted eyebrows.

Kyuhyun replied honestly, “I thought so too.” He hadn’t been feeling good ever since he went to Satron’s headquarters.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh… I keep having this bad dream and it made me feels horrible.” Kyuhyun rubbed his temples distressfully.

Tiffany gave a pat on his shoulder, “Let’s get you back to your dormitory first.” The poor guy was obviously in need of a place to sit and rest As much as she wants to listen, it sure doesn’t seem good to have the poor guy standing here and explained his problems to her.

“Alright.”

*

Tiffany brought a glass of warm milk over to the couch where Kyuhyun was seated with his head lying against the backrest. He was still rubbing his temples when Tiffany passed the glass of milk to him.

“Thanks.” Kyuhyun put down his arm and grabbed the glass.

“Feeling better?” Tiffany asked as she watched their I.T. genius sipped on the milk.

Kyuhyun let out a satisfying huff and placed the empty glass on the coffee table in front of them. “Much better!”

Unlike the hunters, since Kyuhyun’s title is a professor, he was given a small apartment to himself instead of living with a bunch of people.

Tiffany took his glass to the sink and washed. She came back minutes later and sat next to Kyuhyun.

“You were saying you had bad dreams?” Tiffany asked, seeing Kyuhyun had his head resting against the backrest of the couch again.

“Uh? Yeah…” Kyuhyun got up and twirled his upper body a little to face Tiffany. “I’ve been having this dream ever since I stepped into Satron’s headquarters and it’s horrible. It tortures me every time I sleep.”

“How come?”

Kyuhyun became silent for a moment. Tiffany witnessed frowns crawling onto his forehead before he spoke again, “I dreamt I’ve become a mutant. It is really awful.”

Her eyebrows knitted towards one another upon hearing that statement. Tiffany questioned, “What is the dream about?”

Kyuhyun closed his eyes and pondered hard. “I was in Satron’s territory when this strange woman approached me. She offered me a chocolate and I ate it. Minutes later, I found my skin ripping apart and I saw myself in the midst of becoming a mutant.” His hands had clutched tightly together into a fist unknowingly.

Tiffany saw it and quickly held his hands with one hand, while the other one went around to his back as she rubbed it gently.

“Let’s stop Kyuhyun, you need a rest.”

Kyuhyun shook his head and removed his hands away from Tiffany, leaning away as well to avoid Tiffany’s hand on his back. “No, I’m fine. I have to share this with you please.” He insisted. “I lost the control of my body after my skin started to rip. It is so painful that it eats up my conscious.”

Tiffany knew it was impossible to stop Kyuhyun now, so she decided to listen to his story before forcing him to bed.

“Then I saw Nicole, she came back with a strange guy–– no, I think she was forcefully brought back by the guy. I saw her crying and screaming for me the moment she saw me, I tried to reply her but I couldn’t move at all.”

“What happened next?”

“Next? There’s no next. I woke up from my dream and found myself in one of the houses there. Nicole was sitting beside the bed. She said she found me fainted on the ground when she came back to look for me.”

Tiffany remained silent, not knowing what to say about this.

“It is scary… It feels like reality to me. But when I told Nicole about it, she said I am dreaming and told me not to think too much.”

Tiffany stated truthfully, “You should listen to her.”

“I know, but I can’t help it!” Kyuhyun ruffled his hair frustratingly. “The images keep appearing in my head whenever I close my eyes.”

“Should I get you some sleeping pills?”

“Will that help?”

“I’ve no answer to that until you give it a try.” Tiffany let out a silent sigh through her nose. “Kyuhyun, you really need a rest. You look totally like a zombie now.”

Kyuhyun knew that more than anyone else obviously. He didn’t even dare to look at his mirror now. “Well, I’ll rest inside my room while you get them then.” He got up from the couch and dragged himself back to his bedroom.

Tiffany watched him left in silence. It was only until the guy had completely disappeared from behind the door, only then Tiffany left the apartment to the infirmary for the sleeping pills.

*

After bidding goodbye with Tiffany, Nicole went straight to her dormitory. There, she found her sisters – Seungyeon and Jiyoung – sitting behind the coffee table on the opposite sides of each other playing cards.

“Unnie!” Jiyoung stopped playing when she saw Nicole entering. She threw the cards aside and got up, running towards Nicole and gave the latter a bear hug. “How is the trip to Satron?” Jiyoung released Nicole a little and asked excitedly.

Nicole flashed a weak smile at her, “It is boring and tiring.”

“Really? I thought there will be interesting stuffs in Satron’s headquarters.” Jiyoung pouted unhappily. She was disappointed.

Seungyeon pulled Jiyoung away from Nicole. “C’mon, give Nicole a break. She’s tired.” She then turned to Nicole and patted the girl on her head. “Go get a rest, you looked really pale.”

“Thanks Seungyeon unnie.”

“Aish,” Seungyeon nudged Nicole’s head. “We’re sisters alright? Save your thank you and return to your room now!”

Nicole muttered a soft ‘okay’ and ran to her room.

“Weird.”

Seungyeon heard Jiyoung said. She turned to her and asked, “What?”

Jiyoung shrugged and replied, “Nicole unnie looks weird to me… But whatever, let’s continue with the cards unnie! I was going to win you!”

“Let’s start a new round.” Seungyeon proposed.

“HELL NO.”

*

Locking the door behind her, Nicole threw herself on the bed without bothering to change out of her clothes. She buried her face deeply into her pillow, trying to dry those tears that were rolling out of her eyes uncontrollably.

Her head is in a mess now. She had no idea what to do. She doesn’t want to do whatever those people have told her to do, but if she doesn’t, Kyuhyun will turn into a mutant!

*

Nicole and Kyuhyun had gone separate ways upon arriving Satron’s headquarters, thinking that it would speed up their searching progress, but little did they realized, this was the beginning of their mishaps.

Nicole found a mysterious man minutes after she was separated from Kyuhyun. Sensing something was wrong, she pulled out her weapon immediately and was ready for a fight. However, the man calmly kept his arms by the sides and instructed her to put down her weapon.

“You’re only wasting your energy if you do that.”

Nicole ignored him obviously and launched an attack without hesitation. But before she was even able to make her second step, the mysterious man was gone and she was caught by him the next minute.

“LET GO OF ME!”

It was unknown how the mysterious man went behind her back in split seconds and caught her from behind. Nicole only knew she wasn’t the only one who had been caught when she witnessed a half-conscious Kyuhyun lying next to a woman in front of her.

“OPPA!” Nicole tried to struggle out of the mysterious man’s hold and reached for Kyuhyun, but for some reason she didn’t have the strength to do so. “KYUHYUN OPPA!” She cried out loud when she noticed the ripped skin on his arms. “PLEASE DON’T! LEAVE HIM ALONE!” She turned around and begged the mysterious man who was holding onto her. “PLEASE! I BEG YOU! DON’T TURN HIM INTO A MUTANT!” This had never crossed her mind at all. She had never thought of seeing her comrades turning into a mutant in front of her.

The mysterious woman, who was standing next to Kyuhyun, approached Nicole and pinched her chin, forcing the hunter to look at her.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” The mysterious woman shook her head pitifully and wiped off the tears on Nicole’s face with her thumb. “Pretty girl like you shouldn’t cry. It’s going to ruin your face.”

Nicole wouldn’t care more, it is her friend they were talking about! How could she watch Kyuhyun turned into a mutant and do nothing to stop?

“Hush pretty girl, I can stop the mutation if you agree to do something for us.”

Nicole’s tears stopped almost immediately upon hearing it. She looked at the woman and pleaded desperately, “I’LL DO ANYTHING! JUST DON’T MUTATE HIM, PLEASE!” If only the man wasn’t holding onto her, she would have knelt down in front of the woman.

“Don’t promise too fast, darling. You may regret your choice.”

Nicole retorted loudly, “I WON’T!”

“Well then.” A mysterious grin had found its way to the woman’s face and with a click on her fingers, a tinned bottle appeared in her hands. “I have a tin of chocolates here.” She reached out her hand and held the tin in front of Nicole’s face. “I want you to share this with every single Aurales’ members.”

Nicole’s eyes widened at the sight of that. Her instinct was telling her to destroy the bottle instead.

The mysterious woman noticed Nicole’s hesitation. Pretending to be oblivious, she flicked her fingers again and a green glowing orb appeared hovering above her hand. She brought the green orb next to her lips and whispered something to it.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Nicole was startled by that screaming. She turned to the source of the voice in surprise and found Kyuhyun struggling on the ground by himself.

‘’KYUHYUN OPPA!”

Nicole tried to reach for him again but the mysterious man was holding her back.

“KYUHYUN OPPA!” No… his skins were ripping in rapid speed now, it was only a matter of seconds before he turned into a mutant completely!

Nicole threw herself forward and hugged the mysterious woman’s legs. She cried and begged, “I’LL DO IT! PLEASE! JUST DON’T HURT HIM!”

The mysterious woman bent down, holding up Nicole’s chin with her index finger and grinned at the tearful hunter. “People are going to say I force you when they saw your tears.”

Realization struck Nicole. The hunter quickly wiped her tears away and sat straight up.

“No one is forcing me. I volunteer to do it myself!”

“That’s my girl.” A smug grin was drawn on the mysterious woman’s lips as she caressed Nicole’s cheek with utmost gentleness. “And as promise, I’ll stop his mutation for now.” The mysterious woman held the green glowing orb next to her lips again and whispered something again. Kyuhyun stopped struggling gradually as his ripped skins pieced back to their original positions slowly.

Speechless was the only word that could describe Nicole’s current feeling. She knew she had hit the jackpot this time. These two people who captured her and Kyuhyun must be the mastermind of the mutations.

“Now,” The mysterious woman brought the tinned can to Nicole again. “Take this back to Aurales and share them with everyone.” Nicole stared at the tin with fear. “I hope you understand what I meant by everyone.” The mysterious woman paused and leaned closer towards Nicole, “I want every single member from Aurales to eat this chocolate. Do you understand me or no?”

Nicole could only swallow her fears down and nodded to the mysterious woman’s question forcefully.

“Good.” The mysterious woman stood up gracefully. Her eyes never left Nicole. “I’ll be watching you, Nicole Jung. You know what will happen to that oppa of yours if you failed to do so.”

Nicole continued nodding her head, secretly hoping these two people would leave soon.

“Oh by the way,” Just as Nicole thought they had left, the woman came back again. She took the tin from Nicole’s hands and opened it up. “I almost forgot…” She took out one of the chocolates in there and removed the wrapper around it. “You have to eat this too.”

*

Nicole didn’t have a single clue what those chocolates were. It was tasteless and melted in as soon as it touched her tongue. Nicole would have called it an ice-cream – a tasteless ice-cream to be precise – if it didn’t hold the shape of a chocolate.

Brrrrrrr!

Nicole felt something vibrating against her thigh. She quickly dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out the small device which was given to her by that mysterious woman.

I hope you hadn’t forgotten your task, Nicole-sshi.

Nicole clutched her empty hand into a fist and threw the device away in frustration.

She didn’t have a choice at all. If she refused to pass those chocolates to the people in Aurales, Kyuhyun would become a mutant!

Inhaling a deep breath and calmed her temper down, Nicole stood up and reached for her bag which she had thrown to the ground after she entered the room.

She pulled out the familiar tinned can and stared at it with hesitation on her face.

Well, these chocolates are not going to harm them right? She had eaten it anyway and was seemingly fine for all these while.

Yeah, it’s not going to hurt anyone of them. She shall send this to everyone in Aurales later and save Kyuhyun from becoming a mutant.