2105 – FIRST DIMENSION

The cold wind greeted, sending shiver to him. He quickly hugged his torso and simply mumbled some bad words. He was cursing under his breath.

It was still early in the morning with thick fog everywhere. Road lamps were his companion along the walking moment he took. And finally, he was there. He had arrived at his destination. Eyes were wildly looking around. And when he sensed no one was peeking or following him, he went nearer to the old building’s door.

At the wall beside of the wooden door, there was a cornea tracker. He released a long sigh with his hand slipped in his winter coat pocket.

And there it was. An eyeball.

‘IDENTITY RECOGNISED’, the smart machine talked. ‘WELCOME BACK, PROFESSOR WU.’

He sniffed and smirked at the little naïve machine. “Wu your ,” he said and stepped in as the door had been unlocked. “I am ing Kai.” And the door went closed back. In a blink of an eye, the dark house lit up with soft and dim light.

 For a moment, Kai was mesmerized with the interior of Wu’s Residence. Brown and white, just like classical movies back in 1990s. The wall was black with vintage flowers frames hanging on it. Lilies, rose and lilies. Wu must have such a gentle spot in his big brain, he mocked the dead genius professor.

The furnitures were white and clean. No black stain or coffee stain at all. It showed how Wu loved his home sweet home, with the concern and care he put in every item inside of his house.

“You’re fast.” Kai abruptly spun around with two electromagnet revolvers in his hands. He was ready to shoot his enemies.

The man blinked, in furious. “C-Calm down, man.” He put both hands on the air. “I am SME new assassin. I used to be a code breaker! My name is DO Kyungsoo.” He gulped. “And I’m good with tracker too.”

“Dohack?” he asked and the small guy nodded eagerly. It was his nickname in SME. “You should have told me earlier,” said Kai, withdrawing the weapons away. He had a good look of Dohack, from head to toe while the small guy began to shift uncomfortably at the spot he was standing. Short, slim, big eyes and lips, fair skin and… adorable. That was all he could point out about Do Kyungsoo. “Why did UPPER Lee send you here?”

Kyungsoo tilted his head, “Oh,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “He’s afraid you wouldn’t be able to pass through the cornea tracker.”

“And I did.” Kai took out Wu’s eyeball and threw it on the innocent assassin’s face.

“NO!” Kyungsoo panicking, kicking away the slimy round things with his leg and took a few steps away. “What’s up with the eyeball, Kai?!”

The man smirked, setting his pace to the couch. He sat on it and looked around. “UPPER Lee wants me to kill him and intrudes into his resident.” He paused and gave an empty look at the genius hacker. “You should sit. Your legs are shaking.” He let out a small laughter.

“R-Really?” Kyungsoo looked down on his knee. Kai was absolutely right. He was shivering too obvious. Taking the younger’s suggestion, he walked towards the tan skin guy and took a seat on the comfortable couch. “Wow. It really feels like a home.”

Do Kyungsoo started to roll around, jumping like immatured kids and giggled by himself, totally ignoring the lines of furrowing forehead which increased every moment past. The young guy became sorrowful all of sudden.

A long sigh was released. “I wonder. I wonder how does the people in Second Dimension and Third Dimension are living their lives?” The unexpected thoughts caught Do Kyungsoo’s attention and he got a grip on himself, eager to listen to Kai’s next words. Kai scoffed. “Do they kill each other like how we all did in the First Dimension?” He then moved his unreadable stare to the older. “Say Kyungsoo.”

Kai gulped. “Do they cheat each other just to gain more power? Do they betray each other to have more allies?” He darkened and that pair of the murderous gaze of his landed at the family potrait of Wu. “We did that because we have more chances.”

Kyungsoo nodded, understood how Kai felt. First Dimension might be a dreamy high technology of era that everyone would want to live in. And when talking about machines, do not ever be stunned if the human living in this era was heartless. Just like the machines they created. “I always wonder about that too. When Wu betrayed us, I could not accept that-”

“Wait.” Kai cut off his words. He stood up and went nearer to the potrait. “Wu has a family member?” His eyes were glued, totally aghast, at the young and beautiful girl who was leaning her head on Wu’s shoulder. She smiled delightfully. “Who is this girl?”

The other guy went towards the picture and stood exactly next to him. “I forgot her name, but yeah, she is Wu’s only daughter.” Kyungsoo crossed his arms on his stomach. “She got married last year. You didn’t remember? Wu invited all the allies.”

A pause. He was trying to search for a part of memories of wedding ceremony and he found nothing. “Wu.” A ball of fist was formed with the mixing feeling of anger and betrayed. “Thanks to her daddy that she is going to die soon,” Kai said, “Wu had betrayed us. Wu was and is a traitor. It’s such a waste for me to remember a traitor and now, my job is to kill all the Wu’s.”

Kyungsoo lowered down his gaze. The petite guy seemed to be a little against of Kai’s new assigned job. Killing the sinless because of their blood. “Unfair to kill her but you have been assigned for it.” Kyungsoo shrugged his shoulder. “I guess, assassin life is really an .”

Kai pretended to miss the last few words Kyungsoo spilled. Why? Because it was simply true. Assassin was another name for an . Heartless and murderer. Somehow, in Wu’s case, betrayal did not count as a brutal action because kindness was going to be paid with kindness and, “betrayal was going to be paid by blood. All of the blood.” He spat on the happy faces in the picture.

______________________________________________________________________________