Chapter 5: The Numbing Truth

Sooyeon places a cup of tea on the table in front of Soojung. She gives the younger girl a small smile and gently pats her shoulder, nodding her head towards the tea as she sits beside Soojung.

“You should drink it,” Sooyeon says. “It will make you feel calmer.”

“I don’t need it.” Soojung shakes her head. Her eyes are still a bit red from the crying she did earlier and it makes her feel embarrassed to face her older sister. She straightens her back and decidedly looks on the other side of the room. “I’m calm.”

The two of them are sitting inside a large office where Joonmyun and the others left them. Soojung curiously eyes the three tall and grey filing cabinets. Each of its drawers is labelled with a different six sets of numbers. She turns her head to the other side of the room and watches the different footages being shown on the multiple monitors that seemed to be built in the walls.  On the third monitor, Soojung finds Joonmyun, Sehun, and Jongin walking in an empty hallway, the three of them walking directly to where the camera is most likely placed. Joonmyun seems to be talking about something and the two younger men look like they are listening to him intently. When they disappear from the monitor, Soojung quickly searches the others one by one until she finds them on the ninth one, this time they are walking away from the camera. They all seem to be oblivious to being recorded.

“We have cameras installed everywhere.” Sooyeon suddenly says.

Soojung blinks at her. “Why?”

“For security reasons of course.” Sooyeon answers simply.

“Are you one of the rebels too Sooyeon?” There’s a slight quiver in Soojung’s voice when she speaks, something that Sooyeon notices right away.

“You don’t have to be afraid of us.” Sooyeon places one of her hands on the side of Soojung’s face, her thumb gently rubbing away the tear stain on the younger girl’s cheek.

“I don’t understand anything.” Soojung croaks. “No one would tell me anything. I don’t know why I’m here.”

“Soojung,” Sooyeon starts, her voice implying the seriousness of what she has to say next. “Dad is here.”

Soojung frowns, mind taking a while to process what her older sister just said. She feels a strange mix of relief and dread in her heart, relief because she now knows that her father is still alive, and dread because of the unknown meaning of this fact.

“How?” Soojung breathes out.

“I think it will be better if he explains it to you himself.” Sooyeon says. “It’s a long story and I’m afraid I won’t be able to explain it all by myself.”

“When can I see him?” Soojung asks.

Sooyeon pauses, thinking, she looks up on the projected time above the door and then she shrugs her shoulders. “Any time now.”

As soon as she says that, they hear two knocks on the door. The two sisters share a look before Sooyeon stands up and quickly walks towards the door. She opens it and looks at the person outside, they share a few whispers before Sooyeon completely opens the door and reveals the person outside.

Soojung gasps sharply, heart beating loudly and body not knowing how to react. They’re long lost father is standing a few steps in front of her, Soojung is lost between wanting to hug him and punching him for leaving their family three years ago. Her father looks at one of her hands clenched on her side, he moves in front of Soojung before kneeling on one knee.

“If you want to hit me, then do it.” Yunho murmurs.

The sound of her father’s voice finally breaks Soojung from her numbness, fresh tears falls from her eyes and her face crumples as she releases sobs. Yunho envelops her inside his strong arms and Soojung is suddenly drowning in memories of her childhood. Her hands move on their own, slapping Yunho’s chest repeatedly.

“Why did you leave? Why did you leave” Soojung chants, voice muffled by her father’s shirt. “Why?”

“I’m sorry.” Yunho whispers, hand gently smoothing the hair on the back of Soojung’s head.

On the other side of the room, Sooyeon is leaning on the wall, watching them with her own teary eyes. A man enters the room and stands beside her, placing one hand on the small of her back, gently leading her outside of the room. Sooyeon follows him out, but not before looking one last time at her reunited father and sister.

Yunho gave his daughter a gentle push so he can look at her face. He wipes the tears on her face, just like how he did when she was still a little child. He smiles at her and proudly thanks his wife inside his head for bringing up Soojung on her own.

“Explanations.” Soojung mutters. “Please.”

Yunho nods. “Alright,” He moves back and pulls out a chair so he can sit in front of Soojung. “But drink your tea first.”

Soojung quickly grabs the cup and swallows all of its contents in large gulps, thankful that the tea is already at room temperature. She discards the empty cup on the table before facing back towards her father.

“Your hunger for knowledge had always been fascinating.” Yunho chuckles. He crosses his legs as he comfortably sits on his chair. “State your questions.”

Soojung mulls, carefully picking out which questions are more important in her head. “What is going in here?” She starts.

“Jonmyun told me that you believe that we are a rebel group. A terrorist.” Yunho says making Soojung nod. “That is somewhat right. We are all against how the System is running our country. This organization was created in order to bring the System down.”

“And your part in here is?” Soojung asks.

“I’m their leader.” Yunho supplies. “I’m one of the founders of this organization.”

Soojung’s eyebrows rise. “That’s a very high position.” She says slowly.

“It is.” Yunho smiles.

“Why are Sooyeon and I here?” Soojung starts again. “Is mom here too?”

“I am afraid the System will soon find out my identity so I decided to bring you and your sister here for your safety. Unfortunately, your mother decided to stay in Sinukwan because your grandparents are very old now and the region will need her to be their next council leader.” Yunho explains.

Soojung frowns when she notices how shaky his hands are, something that he unsuccessfully hides by clasping and unclasping them. “You’re not telling me the whole story, aren’t you?”

Yunho sighs. “Yes.”

“What is it?” Soojung inquires.

“Eighteen years ago, I did something very hateful.” Yunho says. “I played with life.”

“What do you mean?” Soojung feels genuinely confused.

“Genetics.” Yunho says. “I did something very terrible and you will surely hate me for it.”

There is obvious fear in Yunho’s eyes but Soojung cannot figure out why. Yunho flounders for a second, not knowing how to continue.

“The System is a very powerful entity. It has full control over all the regions and all the law makers residing in Hannan treats it as some kind of religion when in  fact it’s only some kind of computer filled with information on how to govern the regions. Every six years the law makers elect one of them to be the System’s vessel, a human sacrifice of some sort. This person undergoes a surgery where the System will be implanted into him, and it will occupy all of his consciousness.” Yunho explains anxiously. “The system will never work without a human vessel.”

The facts stated by her father makes Soojung feel sick. She couldn’t imagine why someone would be willing to undergo such a thing.

“Eighteen years ago,” Yunho continues. “My colleagues and I were finally able to create something that would ultimately destroy the System. But in order to hide it until the right time, we needed to do the unthinkable.”

Soojung looks up towards her father, carefully watching his face. Yunho shifted in his seat, his posture now slouched and seemingly defeated.

“What did you do?” Soojung asks.

“Kahi, one of my colleagues volunteered. She is a doctor and she was pregnant at that time. She said her child would be perfect for the task.” Yunho folds his body, arms resting on his thighs. He clasps his hands together as he continues his story. “We programmed a virus that would kill the System but it needed a container. Some place where we could hide it. At that time we thought the human mind was the perfect place, and Kahi volunteered her own son.”

Soojung pales at this but Yunho is still not finished.

“As soon as she gave birth, my other colleague, Jaejoong, and I did the procedure on the child. The child’s mind was still fresh, it was quite easy but there was a problem.” Yunho sighs. “If we put the whole code inside his mind the child would die. Kahi was devastated. We cut the code in half, put the first half in the child’s mind and stored the other.”

“Why would you-” Soojung starts but Yunho cuts her off.

“We thought that was the end of it. That we failed.” Yunho gravely shakes his head. “But then this young girl approached us. She was pregnant and unmarried, and she knew what would happen to the child if Hannan finds out. They would kill the child and the young girl would be Delivered.”

“She would be killed.” Soojung murmurs.

“Yes.” Yunho exhales. “We don’t know how she found out about our experiment, but there she was, willingly offering a new container for us. It gave us another chance. The operation was successful and both of the children are healthy. But the young girl disappeared. She didn’t even stay to name her child. Kahi, Jaejoong, and I decided to separate the babies so we can hide them well.” Yunho lifts his head, miserable eyes gazing at Soojung. “And now, after eighteen years they are finally back here.”

“What?” Soojung whispers. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Soojung you’re-”

“No!” Soojung exclaims, standing up and briskly walking towards the door. She hastily opens it before bursting out of the room, blindly running to wherever it is her feet takes her. She runs through hallways after hallways, passing through startled people who she doesn’t recognize. None of them stop her though, something she is thankful for. She wouldn’t be able to explain to them who she is anymore.

Her father looked at her earlier with eyes so full of grief while he explains the story about the two children they experimented on. They did the experiment eighteen years ago, and now those children are back here. Soojung’s feet jerks to a stop, her knees buckle and she falls heavily on the ground on her back.

The last thing she sees before her eyes closes is a roof made out of glass, making her see the clear sky, preparing itself for the sunrise, and then everything turns black.

Soojung wakes up to a dimly lit room. The walls are painted with a nice shade of purple and there is a small window beside the bed that she is lying on. She slowly plants her bare feet on the cold ground before pushing herself up and padding towards the door. She notices that her clothes are new so someone must have changed it while she was asleep. The door makes a creaking sound as it opens, making Soojung wince. The next room seems to be the living room. There is a small couch in the middle of it and table in front of it. There’s a small folded paper placed on top of the table, Soojung picks it up and opens it. Written on it is a small note signed by Sooyeon. Make yourself at home, it says. Soojung crumples the paper in her hands before uncaringly dropping it on the floor.

She leaves Sooyeon’s home and starts walking outside, arms wrapped around herself and hair flowing down the sides of her face in an untamed shape. Soojung’s eyes are blank, and she seems to be not herself. She finds herself back under the glass roof, and this time she notices the large fountain in the middle of it, there’s a statue of a person in the center of the fountain, surrounded by the water sprinkling upwards. Soojung walks until she is in front of it. The statue is of a woman with hands in front of chest, palms against each other. There is a strange pair of large wings on her back, Soojung wonders if someone like that truly exists. She sits down in front of the fountain, wrapping her arms around her folded knees, pressing them closer to her chest. Soojung closes her eyes, and listens to the sounds of the water coming out of the fountain. She stays like that for a while, and it somehow makes her feel calm. She tries not to think about her father again. Suddenly, she feels a presence on her side, she slowly opens her eyes and turns her head.

Soojung finds Sehun sitting next to her, legs stretched out in front of him and head thrown back as he looks up in the sky. There’s a sad look on his face.

“Hey,” Soojung says.

“Hey.” Sehun answers. It takes him a couple of seconds to speak again. “Did they tell you?”

“About?” Soojung asks, pretending to be oblivious.

“That they did to me eighteen years ago?” Sehun utters, voice clipped.

Soojung turns her head away from the boy. So he’s the first experiment.  “I try not to think about it anymore.”

“You’re the second child, right?” Sehun continues.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Soojung grits out.

“Well, it’s either we talk about it now or you stay like a numb ghost forever.” Sehun says. Soojung presses her lips together, determined to stay quiet. Sehun rolls his eyes at her. “Did you ask her name? Your real mother I mean."

Soojung refuses to acknowledge his question and Sehun sighs, feeling like he is only talking to himself. “Well, I asked.” He says. “Her name was Yoona.”

Soojung suddenly turns to him, hands quickly finding their way to slap his shoulder. “I told you I don’t want to talk about it!” Soojung screeches, while repeatedly whacking Sehun’s arm.

“Stop!” That hurts!” Sehun screams.

Soojung leaves two more slaps on Sehun’s arm before finally stopping. Sehun starts rubbing his arm, while pouting at Soojung.

“Stop that face.” Soojung murmurs. She looks back up towards the strange statue. “Do you know who your mom is?”

Sehun shakes his head. “I’ve never heard of the name Kahi before. My grandparents mentioned a different name for my parents. I guess they lied.” He picks up a small pebble on the ground before throwing it on the water. “What I’m curious about is how Yunho never mentioned a dad. It’s like he didn’t want me to know who he is.”

“The woman—Yoona. She was unmarried and Dad probably didn’t know her lover’s name too.” Soojung says.

Sehun turns to her, eyebrows raised. “You still call Yunho dad?”

“It’s-” Soojung starts. “A habit. I don’t know what else to call him. Just Yunho seems to be a bit disrespectful.”

“He experimented on you and lied about it. If I were you I would’ve lost all my respect.” Sehun says.

“Too bad you’re not me, huh?” Soojung murmurs, mostly to herself.

“Anyway,” Sehun’s expression hardens. “Yunho said Kahi will be coming here in three days.”

“Oh,” Soojung gasps, wondering what that meant. “Did he tell why?”

“Another experiment probably,” Sehun snorts.

“I don’t think I-” Soojung says, a little numbly.

“Neither do I,” Sehun frowns. “But it seems we don’t have a choice.”

Soojung’s face dims. She slowly rewraps her arms around herself again, and she tries very hard about what might happen in three days. Sehun places his head on top of Soojung’s shoulder before releasing a heavy sigh.

“I think we’ll be fine.” Sehun says quietly.

Soojung tries very hard to believe him.

Soojung belatedly realizes that her older sister is pregnant.

“I’m so sorry.” Soojung apologizes again.

Sooyeon only laughs at her, while one of her hands unconsciously rubs small circles across her belly. Her pregnancy is actually not that obvious, her stomach is still not that big, still just a small bump that can be hidden with the right clothes, but it still made Soojung feel horrible for not noticing earlier.

“You don’t have to say sorry so many times Soojung,” Sooyeon says while lying down on the couch. “You were very preoccupied and I understand that.”

Soojung shakes her head, fingers tracing the embossed title of one of Sooyeon’s books. “Still...”

The knowledge of her not being Sooyeon’s real sister seems to have no effect between the two girls’ relationship. Sooyeon still cares for her and adores her, the same way she did before they were separated.

“Who’s the father?” Soojung asks from where she sits on the carpeted floor of Soooyeon’s living room.

“A wonderful man.” Sooyeon answers, smile wide and bright. “We got married last year in Cirena before dad asked me to come here.”

“And he stayed in Cirena?” Soojung frowns.

“No!” Sooyeon exclaims happily. “He’s here! He became the official doctor.”

Sooyeon laughs as if that is the most wonderful thing to happen, and maybe it is for her, but Soojung will never understand why.

“I should meet him.” Soojung says airily, placing the book she’s playing with back on the table. “So I can interrogate him and stuff.”

“I’m sure you’ll like him.” Sooyeon giggles. She pulls out a small note from the pocket of her dress before handing it to Soojung. The younger girl reads the words written on it with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s this?” Soojung asks.

“Your official schedule.” Sooyeon answers. “You’ll have to attend trainings and volunteer in the cafeteria. Everyone here has a job.”

Soojung looks up at her, tucking the note inside her back pocket. “And what do you do?”

“I babysit the children here.” Sooyeon smiles. “Small little creatures with very evil ideas. They remind me of you.”

Soojung snorts. “Of course they do.”

Sooyeon gently pats her head. “You’ll be fine Soojung.” She reassures. “Don’t worry.”

“I’ll try.” Soojung says half-heartedly.

“I hear trainings are fun.” Sooyeon says thoughtfully. “They teach you how to fight and shoot guns and all those bad stuff.”

“Interesting,” Soojung chuckles.

“They are!” Sooyeon says. “I watched it with Jinki once, the trainers were very kind.”

“Jinki?” Soojung asks.

“Oh, right.” Sooyeon laughs. “That’s the name of my husband.”

Soojung hums. “I’ll remember that.”

“You should.” Sooyeon agrees. “My husband’s name is very important. He’s a doctor.”

“Stop bragging Sooyeon.” Soojung says, smiling.

“I’m happy with him.” Sooyeon says dreamily.

“I know you are.” Soojung smirks, gently patting Sooyeon’s baby bump. “There’s enough proof here.”

Sooyeon’s cheeks redden from embarrassment. She throws a pillow at Soojung’s face. “Brat.”

Soojung laughs at the older woman. She stands up and goes to the kitchen, bringing out a small bottle of water from the refrigerator. She takes small sips before placing it on the counter, and then she pulls out the note from her back pocket and starts reading again the last sentence written on it.

Special training with Sehun under the guidance of Doctor Kahi in three days.

File no. 2394

INFORMATION: Identification of assumed leaders of the rebellious organization threatening the System.

Name: KAHI

Occupation: DOCTOR

Region: CIRENA

Status: MISSING

Name: YUNHO

Occupation: WINERY OWNER

Region: SINUKWAN

Status: MISSING

Name: JAEJOONG

Occupation: LAW MAKER

Region: HANNAN

Status: UNKNOWN

NOTE: The System orders that the above mention individuals be detained and brought to Hannan for questioning.

A/N: this chapter is very unbeta'd. i'm sorry guys :(