"I think you can let go of me now," Yoojung whispered while taking a deep breath.

"You sure," Yixing said hestitantly, "Your anxiety is only gone for as long as I'm healing you."

"I still don't know what you mean by 'healing me', but I think this is something I need to process with my own strength. Don't worry, I can do this..." Yoojung reassured.

Slowly Yixing took his hands off of Yoojung's shoulders and began to back away. Much to everyone's relief, Yoojung focused on her breathing patterns and was able to stay calm. While Yixing was calming Yoojung down earlier, Kai had teleported back with the remaining members of EXO-K. Not wanting to overwhelm her further, the members were all silent, waiting for her to speak first.

"Now, I think you boys have some explaining to do," Yoojung said with an uneven voice.

The members glanced at each other unsure of who would be the best choice to explain the situation to her. In most cases, the obvious choice would have been Suho, but they felt that the information would be easier to process coming from someone Yoojung knew already. At that moment, Jongdae stepped forward towards Yoojung.

"It's a bit of a long story. Maybe you should take a seat first and we promise to explain everything to you."

Yoojung walked to the nearest couch and took a seat on the edge, still feeling uncomfortable with the boys.

"Alright well, I guess I should start from the beginning..." Jongdae started.

--------------------

There's twelve of us, but originally there were twenty. We didn't know each other before the project, but now we're all each other has. 

It was a secret government project conducted underground. A very limited group of people knew -- only the scientists and a group of seven elite government officials. To the public, it was merely marketed as an informational experiment to find out about human DNA and hopefully further our research in becoming immune to certain diseases.

For our own individual reasons, we took an "audition" of some sort for the experiment and were told that we passed the first couple of rounds. The first round was a health exam to make sure we were in good shape. The second was a DNA exam to test for a certain gene called the JSL6 gene, which only 4% of the population posesses. Afterwards, they put us through all sorts of training to test our physical and mental capacities. Many were unable to handle the difficulty and stress, and dropped out along the way.

Some of us told our parents about the experiment, and some of us did not. Finally we passed all the tests and were qualified for the experiment. At this point, we still weren't clear on what the experiment was about. 

They gathered all twenty of us in the room, and for the first time, we met the government officials directing the project. They called it 'Project EXO'. They were high-ranking officials from the defense department and they began to inform us about the experiment we were to take part in.

It turns out, the scientists had developed a sort of vaccine that triggers the JSL6 gene. If successfully administered, we would gain super speed, strength, and hearing in addition to individual specialties unlocked from the gene. We would stop aging at the age we "turned" and would become immortal due to the especially healthy conditions our bodies would be in. They warned us that even though we tested positive for the gene, not all of us would survive. We would have to endure excrutiating pain before all of this would happen.

If this project worked, we would work as special government soldiers. It would put Korea at a huge advantage in national defense. We were all given time to spend our last week as humans and prepare for the worst, should we not survive.

Words can't explain the pain we went through. Every minute felt endless as we tried to make it through the 30 hour safety threshold. Like I told you earlier, only twelve of us made it... and we called ourselves EXO.

Once we made it to stabilization, they didn't let us go home until we fully cultivated and mastered our powers that we were given. You've already seen some of them. Kai's is teleportation and Yixing's is healing. Mine is electricity/lightning. Exactly after 52 days of training inside the secret facilities, we were finally allowed to go out into the world on the condition that we would come back together if called for.

Not long after, we heard news of something peculiar happening. The scientists who led the experiment were being found dead one by one. What's worse is that they seemed to be killed by certain natural elements... elements like the powers we possessed. We tried to deny having any part in it, but it was no use. The evidence was too unquestionable. 

Scared for their lives, the government officials began to plot to kill us. How can we die when we're immortal, you ask? There is one way we can die - by a knife dipped in the root of a special plant.

At that point, we had no choice but to flee. We packed our bags, said good-bye to our families, and pretended to go on a long vacation. To be safe, we couldn't go back for several generations in order to avoid anyone who ever knew us.

That's why you saw so many newcomers in town. We only just moved back several months ago after 104 years away from our home.

--------------------

Yoojung stayed silent for a while after Jongdae finished telling the story. She could tell the members felt uneasy about what her reaction would be.

Kai was the first to break the silence, "How can we even trust her to keep our secret? Look at her. She's speechless. What if she decides to take our story to the police?"

"You don't have to worry about me tattletaling on you," Yoojung responded curtly, "I would stoop so low as to ruin your way of life."

She turned back to Jongdae and asked, "So how does Jaeho have a role in all of this? And his uncle?"

Sehun stepped in this time, "We're not sure how Jaeho got dragged into this, but his father is one of the supposedly dead original scientists. We don't know why he's still alive or why he's after us, but it can only mean he took the vaccine."

"Oh," Yoojung said in a low voice as she tried to make sense of everything she heard, "That's why you, Jongdae, and Chanyeol looked so uncomfortable when Jaeho's uncle came to school today..."

Taking the chance to speak, Suho introduced himself and the person on his left, "I don't believe we've met yet. I'm Suho, and this is Kris. We're leader figures in the group. I know that was a lot to take in. How are you feeling about all of this?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I've known Chanyeol, Sehun, and Jongdae for a couple months now and I want to trust them... and trust the rest of you but I don't know what to think." Yoojung admitted.

"You can take all the time you need to process it," Yixing said soothingly, "But I hope you understand that we can't let you go until you decide what you want to do with this information. If you'd like, Luhan can manipulate your memories to erase this incident but that wouldn't be ideal."

"You're likely to remain in the line of danger, so it wouldn't be helpful to you to be oblivious about all of this," Suho explained further.

"Just know we're here to help you, not hurt you," Chanyeol offered sincerely, "Please trust me on that at least.

Yoojung couldn't ignore the deep sincerity in Chanyeol's eyes.

If even the one who apparently hates me the most, Kai, was willing to save me. I guess I can trust that they're the good guys in all of this.

"Alright," Yoojung finally said, "I trust you, Chanyeol, and because I trust you, I'll trust the rest of you as well. Just give me some time..."

"You can meet the rest of us later, why don't you go to the room and take a nap or something?" Baekhyun suggested kindly.

"Okay... but what time is it. My dad will be worried." Yoojung said, taking out her self phone to check the time.

"I'll call my dad and tell him I'm sleeping over at Hyemi's tonight I guess..."

"That's a good idea," Kris nodded before adding, "Chanyeol, lead her to the guest room."

Chanyeol jumped up from his seat and gestured for Yoojung to follow him.

I wonder what happened to Jaeho... After all, he did defy his uncle and try to save me tonight. His uncle doesn't seem to be the forgiving type.

{A/N} I was excited to update after yesterday's chapter. So here it is, the general backstory of how EXO came to be. In the later chapters, I'll let you know more about each member's pasts and how that contributes to their personalities in the story. I'll also be soldifying certain members as love lines! Thank you for reading, subscribing, and commenting/upvoting. Please recommend my story to others if you like it! :')  xoxo -- JS ♡

PS: If you like my writing, I hope you'll give my new story a chance too! CLICK HERE TO READ!