“- Hyunie, wake up, hurry! It is finally the day, we are entering in our twentieth year with all the others whose number is starting with “88…”, aren’t you excited!?”

I grabbed my roommate’s pajama and pulled it hard to force him to wake up. I fell loudly on the floor, carried away by my own strength, a little piece of the white cloth in my hand. He sat lazily on his bed and looked at me, hateful.

“- Again!?”

I shrugged my shoulder and smirked.

“-It is not like you are the one getting yelled at. Plus we don’t care anymore, we are getting new clothes today, what they call adults’ clothes. And if you don’t hurry I will be the only one having some. You are tired because you could not sleep last night, am I wrong? See, you are as excited as I am! You are just acting cool…”

He nodded, hiding a malicious smile. He jumps from the bunk bed and landed in front of me.

“- Yah! Why do you keep doing these dangerous things, you know we are not supposed to damage our bodies.

-Wow… You are really becoming like them! Congratulations Kwon Jiyong, you became annoying enough to be a part of the Quarter’s staff team!”

I slapped his head strong enough to make him understand I was upset.

“- You are supposed to respect me! According to them I am your “hyung” since I was taking off my incubator two minutes before you!”

He feigned the ignorance and gave me an “Oh really?” look.

The bell rang, announcing 8am, breakfast time. We came out of our room and stand in front on it, greeting the others who was coming out one by one from their bedroom, until our birth year was called : “Year 1088”.

We joined the other 1088 born and queued in the canteen by our number’s order. I placed my key into the reader and it read my information out loud as it was doing every day.

“Number 8806, Kwon Jiyong. 1,77m, 58kg. Breakfast’s menu : Bread, Bacon, scrambled eggs, milk, orange juice.”

Once it was done talking, Iput back my key under my shirt; we all possessed a key since we were born, each of them were unique and contained our identity. I waited for few minutes and my plate came off the dispenser, my omelet steaming on it. I smiled, satisfied, I really had one of the best breakfast, especially compared to the one the next number had to eat.

“Number 8807, Lee Seunghyun. 1m77, 60kg. Breakfast’s menu: broccoli, compote, apple juice.”

He received his plate with a grin. I heard him complain.

“- No meat today neither!? And I really hate broccoli…

- They seem to think you weigh too much. And broccoli is not that bad, it is for your dark circles!”

He his tongue out.

“- My dark circles are one of the reason I am good-looking, don’t be jealous Ji.”

Here he was again, he was so confident about himself. Well, he could be. Even though the Quarter seemed to think he was weighing too much, his body was looking a lot better than mine. He was more looking like a man, his stature was bigger than mine and he had more muscles. Even if I hated to admit it, he was indeed good looking.

The Quarter’s atmosphere was different today. Each December 1^st we were allowed to eat our breakfast while talking. It was a day of celebration, it was the day when new residents of the Quarter were born and when we were all celebrating our entry in a new year. On this year 1108, Seunghyun and I were becoming adults. It was a really important day for us, we heard some many things from the older ones that I was dying for it to arrive.  

I was happily chatting with the persons of my table when the second alarm rang. It was finally time! As if it was a day like any other we range ourselves in front of our classroom, waiting for the Head of the Quarter to come. It was the first I was seeing the “president” like we were calling him among ourselves, in real. Of course we were seeing him every day in the hallway screens but according to the others’ saying he was way more imposing in real life.

The classroom’s door opened, revealing the president. Even though he was smiling he was really scary. He invited us to enter the room. From behind I could hear Seunghyun talking.

“- What a weird and fake person…”

I motioned him to be quiet, I was hoping he won’t act too stubbornly today. My best friend had the ability to never act as he was supposed to during important occasions. Because of him, we had to undergone a lot of scolding and ever more. He was different from the others here; since he was little he hated authority and always did the things as he wanted to do them, always testing the limits of the Quarter’s staffs. Of course every time he was doing something wrong I was with him and I was not trying to stop him because the truth was I was curious too. We were living surrounded my secrets and uncertainties. We were always taking the punishments together as we swore to ourselves when we were eight years old, we always remained by each other side for the best and for the worse. At first we thought the punishments would be to get yelled at and beaten as in the movies they were showing us in the “behavior class” but ours was of a completely different order : they were erasing our memories. The most memorable time would be the time when they found the two of us kissing on the lips. It was a purely innocent act at that time, we were only reproducing what we saw earlier in class that day. The expression of horror the guards had on their faces when they found us on this position was indescribable. The feeling was so strong at this moment that despite all their efforts, it was the only memory they could not take off my mind. Without really knowing why, this day became the most important in my life after the one where we made ‘our promise’ but I had to keep this feeling to myself, Seunghyun never wanted to talk about it again, maybe he realized too late the importance of the act.

If we were to believe their words it was for our own sake. Knowing unappropriated things could be dangerous and could lead to the disturbance of our mental state. I believed at their well-chosen words but Seunghyun did not. He thought there was something more important than what they hinted. I started to believe him the day they tried so hard to erase his memories that he fell into the coma for one week. When he woke up he said he remembered some things they could not erase because he fought for keeping them intact in his mind. However he never shared them with me, according to him I was not ready, I was still too attached to the Quarter’s rules and life.

I shook my head and went back to the present. We slowly made our way into the room and took place at out assigned places. Our new clothes were put on our desks, a badge with our names attached on it. The feeling was so different today, a shiver of excitement passed through my spine. My eyes were sparkling. I looked at my friend, wanting to see if he was sharing the same emotions I was feeling but there were no signs of them on his face. His expression was cold, like he already knew what was going to be said. I signed him to smile and he did. It was an unsecure and anxious smile but it was still a smile. Did the things he knew had something to do with today? I guessed I will never know…

The light went off and a Slideshow was projected on the wall and the president began to speak as the pictures were passing.

“- You are now at an age where you are reflecting on your life and where you are asking questions to yourselves but you still do not have all the answers. If I am here today it is to give an answer to most of them. Even though you are living here since you were born, the Quarter is still a mysterious place for you and so is the reason why we are educating you.  Let's go back to the day you were born, on December 1^st 1088. As you all know you come from an incubator where you have been growing from a fetus stage to a baby stage. Nine months after you were put in, we took you off and you were born as a person. The numbers that were given to you were the order you became alive. Not long ago everybody was called by a number but few years ago from now the administration decided to give you names to encourage the individuality. Your names were not chosen randomly, we did a personality test on each of you when you were little, you probably don’t remember about it now.”

I heard Seunghyun letting out a small laugh. I knew exactly what he was thinking about, they probably erased it from our memories or even worse, they probed our mind to know how our personalities were really like. It was a very scary thought.

“- It is also according to this personality test that we established a life program, different for everyone. That is why not everybody is studying the same subjects, eating the same things or training for the same length. Everything has been perfectly adapted to every one of you. Now you must be wondering why, am I right? Well the reason is easy and complicated at the same time. Every person who was born in the Quarter is destined for a great future, far from here. But you are not all leaving at the same time, some might leave sooner than the other, some even stay at the Quarter until they are really old, it depends. We are the ones deciding when you are ready or not. I know the past few years you saw members of the Quarter still considered as ‘children’ leaving. They did not leave the Quarter, they just stopped living. You have to know that we are constantly looking for perfection to allow you to fulfill your future mission the best way possible. You are all really lucky to be here today as adult.”

“- A mission you said? Aren’t we going to be free when we will be out of here?” I recognized Seunghyun’s voice and closed my eyes, it was happening again, him and his stubborn personality.

I saw the President froze for some seconds and he gave us his usual smile.

“- I see that we have a curious one here. I maybe did not choose my word very well but you are all born for a reason right? So living on your own in the outside is like a mission.”

Seunghyun did not answer anything. I easily guessed what he was trying to do. He wanted to trick the president and forced him to say more than what he was supposed to. But it was a failure. Of course it was, what was he expecting? The persons directing the Quarter were a lot more intelligent that we were and since they had a complete access to our brain they could easily make dumb the ones born genius.

The class came to an end and we all left the room, our new clothes in our arms. Despite Seugnhyun’s intervention and the doubt he has sown, I was enjoying the first day of my adult’s life. The alarm rang again; it was 10am, time for our sport class. It was not my favorite class since I tended to be quite lazy and prefer the classes where we had to use our brains rather than our body. Here again Seunghyun was the opposite of me, he loved physical activities and the sport class was allowing him to vent and to forgot all his bad thoughts and lately he seemed to have a lot of them.

Inside the boys changing rooms we putted on our sport uniform. As usual I could not help but give a look at Seunghyun’s body. Even if according to the Quarter’s sayings he did not have the perfect body, for me he was perfect.  I moved my gaze down his shoulder blades to his kidneys and noticed a big bruise, half hidden by his white underwear. I put a hand on it, being careful the others did not see it, we were not supposed to hurt of body and his bruise did not look good. I saw him clinched his teeth and winced in pain. He quickly pulled on his shirt to cover. I gave him an interrogative and worried look.

“-Hum… You were not supposed to see this Ji. Don’t worry too much, I just fell. Don’t tell anything to the staff, I don’t want to go to the healing room.”

I nodded, accepting reluctantly. Once we were all ready to go, we made our way into the fitness room, filled with treadmills. Seunghyun and I went for two, one beside the other. We put our key in the reader and the treadmill started with our personalized program. If mine was the same as usual, my friend’s one seemed slower, which was surprising. He also noticed it but said nothing and started to run after connecting the electrodes to monitor his vitals. I did the same and began my sport’s session, wanting to finish it as soon as possible.

Everything was going well until I heard sounds coming from the machine next to me. Seunghyun was trying to run faster than what his program allowed him to and it made his heart monitor go crazy. I looked around me to see if the staff noticed him but they did not, they were still sitting under the desks, looking at their computer. I called Seugnhyun’s name but he ignored me. I carefully got down my treadmill without stopping it not to catch the staff’s attention and went next to my friend’s machine. I talked with my coldest voice while looking at him with an angry gaze.

“- Seughyun-ah, what are you doing? Can’t you see your body can’t take it? Get down. Now.”

Seeing he was not reacting at my words I pushed the red button and the machine stopped instantly making my best friend fell in a loud noise. This time the staff’s attention was caught and they ran by our side. Their facial expressions were not good.

“-You two again!? What happened this time? Oh no. His arm seems broken. Take him immediately to the healing room. You are going to be in serious troubles, believe me.”

A broken arm? I looked At Seunghyun who was still sitting on the floor, holding his forearm, tears sparkling in his eyes. I apologized to the staff and told them I would take care of him. I helped my friend stand up trying my best not to hurt him. We quietly left the gym, under the eyes of the others. Once we were alone I stood in front of him and bowed, apologizing for what I’ve done.

“- I am so sorry Hyunie. I did not want to hurt you but I was really worried about you. What were you trying to do? You seem different lately… You don’t talk to me anymore and you are more distant. And now your bruise and this… I don’t know what to think anymore. Remember what we swore to each other? You can tell me anything you know.”

He listened to my words without reacting. He began to walk away but stopped few meters ahead.

“- Soon I won’t be there anymore Ji. It is my turn to go and I am afraid I can’t keep my promise. I am truly sorry.”

Sobs could be heard in his voice. What was he talking about? He just turned twenty today, he could not leave so early. I was not ready to be separate from him. I was so shocked that my body could not move.

“-What… What are you saying? Is it the reason why you are acting so strange lately? But you swore it to me. I don’t want to be away from you… It is true I am not completely ready to leave the Quarter but if I am with you on the outside I won’t be afraid. Please, if you really have to leave, take me with you.”

He signed.

“-It is not up to me Ji. Now let’s go, my arm is hurting me.”

I followed him from behind to the healing room. I did not want to believe it; nothing has been said officially yet. But he was probably sure of what he was thinking, seeing how it was behaving these last days.

We arrived in the healing room soon after. A healing bath has already been prepared for my friend. He carefully got in the fluo greenish water without looking at me. I took place on a chair not far from the transparent bathtub and looked at my friend being cured for the injury I caused. I was slowly falling asleep when I heard voices coming closer to the room. As I was not supposed to be here, I hide myself behind a big container filled with a black liquid.

Among the two people who just entered the room I recognized the scary president from earlier. He came closer to Seunghyun’s bath.

“-It seems like we have delay his departure. Let me know as soon he is ready. He is highly needed outside.”

I put a hand on mouth, stifling a sob. So it was true…