Jiwon tried to sit up as he opened his eyes, but it was useless.  His arms and legs were strapped to a metal table and his shirt was thrown across the small, windowless room.

“What the hell? Can anyone hear me!?” He screamed.  Seconds later, a door opened and a short guy with round glasses entered the room.

“Hello Jiwon.  I am Taeil, resident scientist here at Blockbuster.  I’ll be extracting some DNA for research purposes okay?  I promise it won’t hurt… much,” he said, never making eye contact with Jiwon.  He was too busy examining the large syringe in his hand.

“Extracting my DNA? For what!?” Jiwon demanded.

“That’s not important information.  Now just relax,” Taeil replied.  He jammed the syringe into Jiwon’s chest, causing him to scream loudly as his blood filled the clear vial.  Taeil put the syringe in a small metal box.

“There… you got what you wanted.  Now let me go,” Jiwon said.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.  But don’t worry, your DNA will be put to good use,” Taeil replied.   Jiwon didn’t have time to ask any further questions before two other guys entered the room.

“Did you get his blood?” one of them asked.

“Yes Minhyuk.  Were you and Yukwon able to capture the others?”

“Unfortunately not.  They had a wizard with them and he was more powerful than we initially expected,”

“No matter, they’ll die soon enough.  We just won’t have the luxury of killing them ourselves. Jaehyo will be sorely disappointed,”

Jiwon recognized the name.  Jaehyo was the guy who pretended to be his brother to trick the order into freeing him from BTS.  Was this their plan all along?

“He’ll get over it,” Minhyuk said, taking the metal box from Taeil and leaving the room.

“What are you gonna do with him?” Yukwon asked, pointing to Jiwon.

“I was hoping you’d take care of that for me; I only have until tomorrow to engineer the mutagen or Zico will have my head,” Taeil said as he left.  Yukwon smirked as he pulled a gun from the holster on his hip.  Jiwon’s heart rate immediately sped up.

“Stay away from me!” he screamed.  He felt the familiar swell of heat in his throat, but he couldn’t move his head enough to aim the fire blast, sending it straight up into the air.  Yukwon chuckled as he pointed the gun.

At that moment, Jiwon’s instincts took over.  His skin tightened and hardened, but it wasn’t turning scaly like it usually did.  Instead, his entire body became metallic, almost as if it was mimicking the surface of the table he was strapped to.

“Wow, so it’s true… you really are a proxy,” Yukwon said, awestruck.  He shook off his surprised expression and fired the gun… however, the bullet bounced off Jiwon’s metal skin and hit the overhead light.  Using all the strength he could muster, Jiwon broke free of his restraints and slammed his entire weight into Yukwon, sending him crashing into the wall.

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

Hansol felt like he and Jin had been talking for eons.  He told him everything they’d learned and how much his life had changed in just a few short days.

“Wow… even though I’m a just a manifestation of your subconscious mind, I still didn’t understand how much of an effect all this has had on you,” Jin said softly, rubbing his forehead.

“I just wanted to enjoy my senior year, be with my friends, and be proud of who I am.  I didn’t wanna be some black ops agent dealing with government conspiracies and psychotic organizations!” Hansol started to tear up, but Jin put a hand on his shoulder.

“Listen Hansol… I know you didn’t expect this to happen, I don’t think anyone did.  But the fact is, you’re incredibly strong.  Whether you believe it or not, you were always meant to do great things.  Think of this as a trial, like a test of your abilities,”

“What abilities?  My wizard power?”

“No, don’t you get it?  You’re a revolutionary.  The era of reformation?  Isn’t it all starting to make sense now?”

“Um… not exactly,”

“Think about this Hansol… The world is dynamic, ever-changing like the wind.  Civilizations, cultures and ideologies are not immortal; as time moves on, so too does the world and these things perish, as new eras are born,” Jin said, looking directly into Hansol’s eyes.  He recognized the words; they were a quote from the ending to his favorite book.

Just then it was like a light bulb lit up in Hansol’s mind.  He finally understood.  He felt his heartbeat again for the first time since he’d been in this place and the sky above them started to fade into white nothingness.

“What’s going on?” he wondered.

“That's it, you get it now.  My work here is done and so is yours.  Now get back out there and be the leader you were always meant to be,” Jin replied with a big smile.  Hansol smiled too.  He wished he could’ve known Jin better, the real Jin.

“Thanks for all your help,”

“Don’t thank me; this knowledge was inside you all along, you just needed some help unlocking it,” Jin said.  He waved goodbye as the rest of the grassy field faded away.  Hansol felt lighter than air before his vision blurred and what looked like a camera flash nearly blinded him.

When things cleared up, he could hear the beeping of medical equipment.  He tried to sit up but his body felt extremely heavy.  His head was wrapped in bandages and he was wearing a hospital gown.

“You’re awake, that’s great!  I’m Dr. Jung, do you know who you are?” asked the young doctor.

“I’m Kim Hansol.  I know exactly who I am,” Hansol replied.  It felt good to be back in the real world; it was just the first step in the long journey to come.