CHAPTER FOUR
 

What is this place?

A large white room with bright flashy lights came into focus. The smell of sterile chemicals flood my senses

"Ah, Hello Ms. Lee and students." A man calls out to us. We walk in to find the room with all kinds of workers with white jumpsuits walking with clipboards on the catwalk above us.

I look around me. Yifan was standing at my side calmly looking at the man in front of us. All the other boys play amongst themselves and poke fun at each other. We come to a table with metal bracelets laying in a plastic container and a woman wearing a white lab coat.

“You know the drill, everyone please find their wristbands and stand on the line” she instructs while pointing to a red line painted on the floor a few meters away. Each boy moves by instinct and does as they’re told. When Yifan and I come up to the table she gives up a curious look before glancing down at her clipboard in her hands.

“And who are you?”

“This is Black Pearl and Kris, they’ve just joined our class today.” Ms. Lee answers walking to the woman and looks over her shoulder to look over the papers on the clipboard. Within a few minutes the woman scribbles a few things down and hands us our wristbands.

“Please put these on. I know they might seem quite large but once they’re on you won’t even know they’re there.”

Yifan and I examine the metal bracelets. They appear to be made out of some kind of steel or aluminum. There’s a glass window showing our test subject names and numbers. We exchange eyes and put them on. They click together and begin to dissolve into our skin.

My eyes grow wide in surprise when the metal completely disappears leaving just the window appearing on the surface of my skin.

“They're pretty cool huh?” I suddenly hear from behind me. “It's true what they say, it really feels like nothing once you put them on.”

I nod towards Yixing who’s just now getting his bracelet. He nods politely to the women and walks to the line of boys.

Yifan and I follow slowly still looking at our wrists in amazement.

A new man in a red jumpsuit approaches us,

“Subjects 1127, 112, and 522, are with me.” he announces through a megaphone despite being just inches away from us. “That’s test subjects Loey, D.O. and Suho.”

The three boys who I suspect are the three names that were called step forward into another line. The tallest one looks toward the other two shorter boys with a smile. When he's returned with an unsettling glare by the shortest, he flinches and cowardly turns away.

One by one the man scan each of their wrists.

“Please come this way.” he says once he finishes scribbling down on his notes and takes them to a different room to the side.

Another worker, a woman, in a blue jumpsuit calls out four other names,

“I need subjects 326, 921, 412, and 506. You should know your test names.” she had a sharpness to her voice that sent slight chills to my spine. The boys who were called gather together in another line in front of her. She begins to scan their wrists, writing on her papers in between each.

“Jongdae is in his room sick, ma'am.” One of the boys piped up as she finishes writing on her files.

“Thank you for letting me know Buoxian.” She replies dully without looking up from her writing. The tallest out of the three leans into Buoxian with a smile and whispers something inaudible that causes a silent giggle fit. The women quickly shoots a look at the pair making them freeze and return to standing like statues.

“Let's get moving.” She finally says and guides them away.

The next worker holding a clipboard has the most stotic facial expression calling out another trio of names.

“May I please get Xialu, Kris and Tao to follow me?” He announces with lack of passion or any kind of enthusiasm. Hearing his name, Yifan perks up standing taller. He watches as Luhan and the other boy make their w