Chapter 6: Put The Puzzle Together

The first time Soojung saw the gymnasium, her jaw almost dropped.  The region has kindly let the rebels borrow it and Soojung has been told many times by her trainer about how much they appreciate it. The gymnasium is usually filled by people training except for the days when Soojung and Sehun use it for their own special trainings. Soojung is quite thankful for this because she doesn’t really want anyone to see how much the trainer is kicking her around. It’s already embarrassing just thinking about it.

Soojung wipes a trail of sweat from the side of her face. The trainer assigned to her is currently crouched in front of her, already poised for Soojung’s next futile attack. She must be bored by now, but Soojung will give her credit for not showing it.

Soojung bites her bottom lip, eyes trailing towards the trainer’s torso which is completely not shielded. She takes a deep breath before lifting both fists in front of her face. The trainer gives her a cocky smirk, urging her to go ahead and attack. Soojung complies, running forward and using all her strength as she swings a punch. But the trainer quickly sees this, stepping aside and grabbing Soojung’s arm before moving behind Soojung and pushing her down on the floor. Soojung falls on her face, mouth opening for a loud scream as the trainer twists her arm behind her back.

The trainer only releases her arm after Soojung has completed three rapid taps on the floor mat. Soojung closes her eyes, waiting for the still lingering pain on her arm to disappear.

“Are you alright, girl?” The trainer kneels beside Soojung and pats her back, the gentleness a complete contrast to how she just beat the crap out of Soojung earlier.

“No.” Soojung groans. “I think I need to go see my sister’s husband and get a check-up.”

The trainer snorts. “No, you don’t. You just need more training.”

Soojung pushes herself off the floor and twists her body so she can sit down. She looks on the far side of the gym and watches Sehun still sparring with his assigned trainer. Sehun surprisingly has good technique, something the young man claims he learned from reading books. Soojung doubts this.

“I’m still surprised at how well a Kaptan scholar fights. Shouldn’t they be only good in academics?”

“Your prejudice will do you no good.” The trainer says slowly. “Here we are all equal.”

“I know.” Soojung sighs. “I’m sorry.”

The trainer nods. “I am supposed to make you run five laps later but I remember that today is your special training with the doctor, am I right?”

“Yes.” Soojung confirms. “Can you tell what you know about her?”

“I haven’t actually seen doctor Kahi before, but I have heard from many people how kind she is.” The trainer shrugs. “That’s all I know.”

“Thanks.” Soojung mutters before standing up. She turns back to watch Sehun, just in time to see his trainer throw him to the ground.

“That’s going to hurt.” Soojung’s trainer says airily before turning around and walking towards the gymansium’s exit, while waving at Soojung. “You better get ointments for him.”

“Are you sure you’re fine?”

Sehun is sprawled on top of two tables that they put together. He’s currently on his stomach, groaning every now and then while Soojung massages a healing ointment on his back. They went to the infirmary earlier and luckily met Jinki there who gave them a small flask of what he says is an effective remedy for pain.

“I am.” Sehun murmurs. “I just wish this training thing with the doctor gets over quickly.”

“I seriously don’t think it would.” Soojung says. She pours the last content of the flask on Sehun’s back before spreading it evenly on his skin. “But for your sake I hope it does.”

“Me too.”

“We should have stayed in the infirmary longer and have Jinki check up on you better.” Soojung wipes her hands on her cotton pants.

“Nah,” Sehun shakes his head as he sits up on the table. “I don’t want those other kids to see us there.”

Soojung admits that Sehun has a point. The other younger members of the rebels have already alienated them because of the special treatment given to them. They were hoping to at least talk to Jongin, but they haven’t seen the boy yet.

Their conversation halts when the door suddenly opens. A woman wearing a lab robe enters the room. She has an angular face that is softened by her long and wavy brown hair, and a dimple appears on her cheek as she smiles at Soojung. She gently closes the door behind her before walking towards the table on the center of the room where she puts down a pile of papers. Soojung notices the small letters sewn on the pocket of her robe and she mentally reads it. Doctor K. it says.  Soojung realizes that this woman is the colleague that Yunho was talking about before, the doctor who sacrificed her own son for the sake of the rebel group’s vision.

This woman is Doctor Kahi, and she is Sehun’s mother.

Doctor Kahi clears before speaking. “The two of you must be Soojung and Sehun.” The smile on her face wavers slightly as she takes a glance at Sehun. “My name is Kahi, and I believe Yunho has already explained to you both why you’re here.”

Soojung nods at her while Sehun just stares. Soojung can see him clenching and unclenching his fist. She understands what Sehun feels towards the woman, but she hopes he wouldn’t do or say anything bad to her.

“Well now it’s my turn to explain to you why I’m here.” Kahi says. She picks up two papers from the pile on the table before handing one each to Sehun and Soojung. “But first, those are the lists of books that I want you to read. They are all available in Kaptan’s main library.”

“You’re not allowed to enter the main library if you’re not a Scholar.” Sehun speaks for the first time.

“I know.” The doctor responds. “That’s why I asked Junmyeon to get you passes. You can get it from him later.”

Kahi stands tall in front of the room. Her presence making Soojung feel like she is back inside the confines of Sinkuwan’s classrooms together with the Kaptan teachers that she spites. Not that she spites the doctor, she doesn’t, but the aura she has does feel very similar to every Kaptan teacher that Soojung has the misfortune to meet.

Soojung hurriedly pulls out a chair and sits down on it like the good student that she was back at home. Meanwhile Sehun stays seated on top of the table, his long legs swinging lazily.

“Now I know that Yunho only told you that the system virus that we made needed a container, and that became the two of you. That is why we needed you to be here so we can keep you safe until the right time comes.”  Kahi says. “Jaejoong, one of our colleagues disappeared two years after the experiment. We don’t know what happened to him but there’s a high possibility that he was captured by Hannan, and I know for certain that they will do everything to get information out of him.”

“That time, the two of you weren’t ready for the training required to keep the code safe, so Yunho and I decided to let the two of you lead a normal life. You stayed with Yunho and his family as their youngest daughter.” The doctor says to Soojung before turning towards Sehun. “And you had to stay with my late husband’s parents here in Kaptan. They’re also part of the council so hiding your real identity would be easier since they have a high position in this region.”

“So you mean to say that my father is dead?” Sehun asks. “How did he die?”

“He had been sick for a long time.” The doctor says, wistfully. “He fought for so long but everyone knew he would be succumbing to death soon, so when it finally happened, not even I was surprised."

Sehun nods his head, he opens his mouth as if he’s about to ask something again, but he stops himself shortly and shakes his head before looking down.

Soojung takes this opportunity to change the subject. “So this training…”

“Right.” Kahi says. “I was called here to train the two of you on how you can keep the codes safe.”

The doctor picks up a piece of paper and a pen. She places the paper on top of the table where Sehun is seating. Kahi motions for Soojung to stand up beside her so can see what Kahi is about to do. Soojung quickly  complies and once satisfied, Kahi starts drawing an X on the middle of the paper. Soojung and Sehun both look at it in confusion.

 “This here is the code.” She then draws a circle around it. “And this is its first line of defence, a password to keep it from being accessed by people that shouldn’t know about it.” Sehun and Soojung nod. Kahi starts another drawing beside it, this time an X inside a square box. “The passwords the two of you have are unique from each other. The password for Soojung’s code cannot be used to access Sehun’s code.”

“When we were younger, the three of us thought that this would be enough to keep the codes and the two of you safe since we were the only ones who know the passwords.” Kahi laughs bitterly. “That was before Jaejoong disappeared.”

Kahi takes the paper back to her own table. She crosses her arms in front of her chest as she continues her explanation.

“See, what happens when the password is used on you is very tough.” Kahi tucks in a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. “You lose control of your body and during that time your body will unconsciously do anything to get the codes out. It will become very complicated if not done in the right way.”

“I cannot picture it in my head,” Soojung mutters, head cocking to the side as she sits back on her chair.

“Like I said, it is very complicated.” Kahi says. “The passwords must only be given to you at the right place and at the right time.”

“When and where is this right place and time?” Sehun asks.

“The “when” is very hard to tell since it depends on lots of factors and on whether or not the two of you are ready to do it.” Kahi explains. “But the “where” is preferably inside Hannan’s Bureau of Defence since that is where they keep the vessel.”

“According to the Book of Law, that place is heavily guarded by Apolaki military personnel.” Sehun says and Kahi looks impressed by Sehun’s knowledge of said book, while Soojung snorts thinking about the difference in education between Sinukwan and Kaptan.

“How are we going to get inside one of the best guarded place in the whole country?” Sehun asks.

“We will know when the opportunity presents itself.”  Kahi shrugs before smirking. “I did tell you that our “when” depends on a lot of things, right?”

Sehun only scowls at her.

“Your actual training will begin tomorrow since the apparatus that we need for that arrived quite late today, and I still need time to set it up.” Kahi nods to the number of boxes placed at the back of the room.

“So today is only for introduction purposes only.” Soojung states.

“Yes.” Kahi confirms before turning towards Sehun. “And also, I need to talk to you.”

This surprises Sehun and the doctor smiles at him before she looks back at Soojung. “You can go ahead Soojung, we will see each other again tomorrow.”

Soojung nods at her, thankful for the fact that she could escape from this awkward atmosphere, before clumsily standing up and patting one of Sehun’s knees, startling the boy. She scoffs at Sehun who is currently sporting an obvious blush on his cheeks despite the frown on his face. Sehun mouths an “I hate you” at her as Soojung walks away from him and out of the room.

“So what you’re saying right now is that doctor Kahi was very different from how you imagine her to be.” Sooyeon says as she cleans up the dirt on the face of the toddler on her lap. “Am I right?”

“Yeah,” Sooung mutters from her position on the floor where the other children are playing with her hair. “She was so normal. I thought so many bad things about her, now I feel guilty about it.”

Sooyeon laughs. “I’m sure she will understand.”

“She seems very nice.” Soojung says. “But it was so awkward when she said that she wants to talk to Sehun alone. It was so funny how Sehun’s face went through so many different emotions in a span of seconds.”

“Don’t be mean to him” Sooyeon chastises. “Aren’t the two of you friends?”

“We are!” Soojung says. “And that’s why I’m allowed to .”

Sooyeon only shakes her head while laughing at Soojung. She finishes cleaning the child’s face and pats his head, after that, the child runs towards his friends.

“Sooyeon you will be a good mom.” Soojung smiles at Sooyeon. “You’re definitely going to be better than mom.”

Even better than my real mother,  Soojung thinks.

“Once you get older and find a good husband, I’m sure you’ll be a good mom too.” Sooyeon says.

“I don’t know about that,” Soojung sighs, running a hand through the tangles on her hair made by the children. “I don’t even know if I’m still considered human. I may as well be called a human storage device.”

Sooyeon frowns. “Don’t say that.” Soojung is surprised at how angry Sooyeon suddenly sounds. “You are just as human as any of us are. And don’t you ever forget about that.”

“O-Okay.” Soojung blinks at Sooyeon, who still has her eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. “Please don’t be angry at me?”

“I’m not angry at you.” Sooyeon heaves a sigh. “Just don’t say stuff like that again. It’s going to make the baby in me mad.”

Sooyeon takes one of Soojung’s hands and places it on top of her belly. Soojung laughs at her.

“Sooyeon you’re still months away from having a baby kicking from in there, you know?” Soojung says.

“I know that.” Sooyeon says. “I just want to you to promise to the baby that you are never going to say stuff like that again.”

Soojung laughs at her again, but Sooyeon is persistent so Soojung yields. “Alright.” She looks directly at her sister’s barely seen baby bump while struggling to keep a straight face. “I promise.”

“Good.”

Soojung finds herself the next day walking towards one of the newest filled office in the building they are staying. It’s still quite early in the morning and only a few of the people are already awake, Soojung preferred it that way since her plan today is something a bit personal, something that she has to do without anyone else interrupting. She reaches the last room in the hallway and gently knocks three times on the door. It takes a while, but when it opens, she is greeted by the sight of doctor Kahi garbed in a simple brown dress and wearing thick glasses. Soojung notes that the doctor looks even more approachable now without her lab coat.

“Good morning doctor.” Soojung greets her.

“Good morning,” Kahi says it like a question. “You’re quite early. The training doesn’t start for …” She looks back inside her room for a second before turning back to Soojung. “Three hours.”

“I know.” Soojung says. “But I came here for another thing.”

“Alright,” Kahi mutters. “What is it?”

Soojung bites her lip. Thinking about how she should form her words in a way that wouldn’t make her sound desperate. She gives up soon though, thinking that prolonging her silence would bore Kahi and ultimately lessen her chance of getting what she wants. Soojung opens and says the first thing that comes to her mind.

“Can you tell me anything you know about my mother?”

Kahi stares at her blankly for a moment, probably considering whether or not she should shoo Soojung away. But then she tilts her head to the side and opens the door to her room widely.

“Come in.” Kahi says. “I’ll tell you all I can remember about her.”

A/N: hi?