Gwangju was a bustling city with many impressive high-rise buildings, and although it wasn’t as large as Seoul, crowds of people occupied the streets in its center, making it easy for Baekhyun and me to blend in. We had decided to leave the hotel in order to find something to eat and buy all the necessities we needed. It was easy to get lost in an unfamiliar place, so we stayed close to each other as a precaution. Since I felt safer when being at his side, I walked right next to him, my arm brushing his occasionally. Like the day before, we wore baseball caps that shadowed our faces and prevented people from looking at us too closely.

“Where do you want to eat?” he asked, his eyes darting over the various restaurants we passed.

“How about the Chinese place over there?” I suggested, pointing in its direction. He nodded and followed me through the doors without saying a word. It wasn’t crowded inside and we easily found a table to sit at; secluded and located behind a room divider. Nobody would be able to spot us from the entrance or the windows, which calmed my nerves a little. We ordered, and while we waited for the food to arrive, I looked around in the restaurant. Some pictures hung on the walls and the tables were decorated with flowers. The wonderful smell of fried rice permeated the air, making my mouth water—it had been a while since I had eaten.

“Do you think Minho already knows we’re in this area?” I asked, absentmindedly playing with a lock of my long hair. Baekhyun drummed his fingers on the table, keeping his eyes shadowed by his baseball cap.

“I’m sure he has a rough idea of where we went. He’s good at finding people,” he growled ominously. The corners of his lips tugged down, forming a scowl.

I shifted in my seat, overcome with unease at his response. Being chased down was incredibly unsettling since I had never experienced anything like it. How would our life go on now? We wouldn’t be able to run forever since South Korea wasn’t a particularly large country… So where should we go, and what should we do? I hoped Baekhyun had a plan because I certainly couldn’t think of one that was safe.

“I wouldn’t have expected Minho to be a criminal—he was simply too good at playing the role of the kind uncle. He kept everything about the experiments and his work a secret from me… Only when he hired you as my bodyguard, he briefly mentioned an experiment he was conducting, but that was it.”

Baekhyun studied my guilty expression, drawing his brows together. “Don’t worry about it. None of this was your fault—you couldn’t have stopped him anyway. It’s better to be unaware than to end up dead because you got in his way,” Baekhyun replied, keeping his voice low.

“If I had found out earlier, I would have told the police. They would have done something, I’m sure. Why did you never mention anything yourself? You could have told me.”

“It’s not that easy, Hyorin. Your uncle blackmailed me. He set certain rules I had to follow and if I violated one of them, he threatened to hurt or kill me.” He gritted his teeth. “I wasn’t allowed to tell you anything about the X-EXO project, and I wasn’t allowed to reveal my ability either.”

I had already suspected something like this, but to hear it from his mouth prompted sizzling anger to rise within me. He had been under so much pressure all this time and I hadn’t had a clue until the end. Minho certainly was cunning and had planned his scheme well… The only thing he hadn’t taken into consideration was the possibility of me gaining Baekhyun’s trust and turning against him.

“Who are the other people that took part in the experiments?” I asked since I remembered the profiles in my uncle’s files and wanted to find out more about them.  

“Five of them are still in the lab. Originally, we were nine, but three of us managed to escape around six months ago. I have no idea where they went. It would be impossible to find them now. I’m mostly worried about the five who are left in that terrible place. If they are subjected to these horrible experiments for much longer, they will lose their minds. What the scientists do is difficult to endure, both physically and mentally.”

My eyes hardened to steel and I leaned forward, putting my elbows on the table. “Then we should help them. There has to be something we could do!”

“I’m afraid not right now. I don’t know the new location of the laboratory. Your uncle changed it a while ago so that I have no way of finding it. Besides, we’re being hunted down at the moment, too…”

“I guess you’re right, but this bothers me,” I growled. I felt responsible for helping these people since I was in a position to stop him with the knowledge I had gathered recently—I only needed solid evidence to ensure the police would believe this insane story… However, I was convinced Minho never left any evidence behind. He was thorough and likely had already gotten rid of the folders in his office, deeming them a risk.

“Do the others have an ability too?” I asked after a pause.

“Yes, every one of them has some sort of ability. Chanyeol can control fire and flames do not hurt him at all. Suho controls water. He can make it appear out of thin air and mold it however he wants. Kai can teleport, which is creepy at first, but once you get used to him randomly appearing out of nowhere, it’s fine. Chen controls thunderbolts and lightning. Sehun is the youngest, he commands the wind,” he explained with a melancholic tone in his voice, wondering how they were doing.

“Wow, sounds amazing!” I blurted but then suddenly frowned. Lowering my head, I glanced at the table and bit my lip.

“What is it? I can tell something’s bothering you, Hyorin,” he muttered, his piercing blue eyes taking in my nervous grimace.

“I was wondering… what exactly they did to you in the lab? How is it possible for a normal human to gain these strong abilities? If you don’t mind me asking…” I trailed off, not sure if he was comfortable talking about it. He didn’t seem to mind my question, but he checked if anyone was nearby before he continued.

“I’ll spare you the details. The researchers messed around with my DNA and kept altering it until my appearance was affected as well. My hair color faded from black to white, and my brown eyes became bright blue. The scientists found a way to enhance physical strength and stamina through a painful procedure. It was pure torture, and I was close to going mad in that cursed place. At first, I didn’t see the other test subjects often, but later on, we were locked up together, and that was when I made friends with them. They had to go through the same ordeal as me. The researchers were ruthless and didn’t care what happened to us or if we were in pain. They didn’t even call us by our names; we were mere tools to them which they labeled with numbers. Lastly, they did something so insane that even they didn’t expect it to work. They used radiation. It hurt terribly and when I woke up afterward, I was suddenly able to manipulate light,” he explained, his eyes turning darker and darker the more he revealed. “It was scary at first because I couldn’t control it. The light around me was connected to my emotions and whenever I got angry, something bad would happen… It took time to learn how to use it properly.”

“Baekhyun, that’s awful! These people must be held accountable for what they did,” I whispered, shocked about what he had told me. The puzzle pieces were finally falling into place, showing me the true extent of my uncle’s actions. How were Minho and his team of scientists able to torture people without an ounce of hesitation or remorse? Why did my uncle of all people fund and support this?

“Yes, but first of all, we need to ensure Park doesn’t find us,” Baekhyun muttered, leaning his chin on his hand while his gaze aimlessly moved over our surroundings. When he suddenly straightened up, I turned to see a waiter approaching us. He brought the food we had ordered and set the plates on our table. The dishes smelled delicious, and I couldn’t wait to dig in. Perhaps my nausea and the debilitating feeling of weakness in my limbs would fade after I ate…

Taking my chopsticks, I began to eat and Baekhyun did the same. The mix of fried rice and meat tasted great and raised my mood a little bit. We didn’t talk much for the next few minutes, each of us getting lost in their thoughts. When we were finished, we didn’t linger in the restaurant and instead opted to leave. The streets were as crowded as before, so we mingled with the people and continued our little trip.

“Baekhyun?” I said, staring at a clothing store that looked quite big from the outside. “Can we go in there?”

He didn’t seem exhilarated about it, but he kept his complaints to himself and nodded at me. I hid a smile seeing his (slightly sulky) expression and walked into the shop. Baekhyun probably expected this to be extremely boring, but I didn’t plan on wasting time. I walked through the shop, looking at the displays and picking up a few pairs of pants and shirts. All of them appeared ordinary and inconspicuous and definitely wouldn’t make me stand out. That was the idea.

Eventually, we ended up in the underwear section of the shop—of course, I would need that kind of clothing too, but it was admittedly a bit embarrassing to choose and bras with Baekhyun trailing after me and watching over me. I shot him a look over my shoulder and noted that he didn’t plan on leaving me alone. Not even for a minute. Groaning under my breath, I occupied myself with br