Hyojung was attending to her normal everyday life. She lived alone for many years and couldn't remember who raised her. All she knows is that she was alone now and her only purpose in life was digging up ginseng. She had been alone for a long time so she could immediately sense that right now, at 5:46 am, she was not alone. She gripped the tiny shovel tightly and got up.

"Choi Hyojung?" a deep voice asked.

Hyojung nervously turned around and was startled to see a smartly dressed man in a suit.

"You live farther than everybody else," the man chuckled. "It was quite a hassle to come and get you."

"G-Get me?" Hyojung stammered, trying to steady her voice.

"Have you ever heard of a debt, Hyojung?" he asked, rubbing his gloved hands together.

"N-No, I haven't," she answered truthfully.

"I can understand that, Hyojung," he nodded. "But just because you don't know what it is, doesn't mean you don't have one."

The man straightened up and walked past Hyojung. He turned around and took hold of Hyojung's hands and handcuffed her.

"How do you think you can pay us back?"

Hyojung rode in a vehicle she had never seen before. She and the man stayed quiet for a very long time. Hyojung couldn't recognize a thing anymore. There were no more mountains. In the place of the mountains, she was surrounded by massive, tall and stern-looking buildings. Finally, he stopped the vehicle. He got out and quickly reappeared on her side, opening the door for her. She thanked him with a smile. His cool demeanor seemed to disappear for a moment but he regained his composure quickly. He then lead her into a dark alley. Hyojung crinkled her nose at the smell. He pushed aside the huge, dirty dumpster and began feeling the wall. Hyojung watched carefully as his gloved fingers familiarly touched the wall. Finally, he pressed in at a certain point and the ground opened up to reveal a dark hole. It reminded Hyojung of all the holes she had dug. Hyojung had dug plenty of holes but she had never been in one. Today, she would find out what it would be like. 

"Jump in."

Apparently, it was unpleasant, especially if the hole didn't seem to have an end. Hyojung's stomach lurched as she plummeted down further and further. She felt quite relaxed after a bit.

"Is this where the ginseng live?" she asked aloud.

"Living alone must do strange things to your head," the man's voice came from somewhere around her.

Suddenly, everything was bright and she felt herself land on something soft and bouncy. She didn't have time to feel comfortable as the man landed beside her and pulled her up. Around them were glass walls and the floor was a very clean white. If Hyojung knew what hospitals were, she would probably felt anxious. Suddenly, there was the sound of an ear piercing alarm.

"MOVE!!!"

Hyojung jumped out of the way as to not be crushed by the speeding vehicle with two wheels. A blonde girl with slightly unruly hair was manuevering the vehicle professionally, swerving violently here and there. The most amazing thing was, she was driving handcuffed, facing backwards. Her teeth were gritted as she concentrated on driving forward. Hyojung watched as she was chased, on foot, by at least five men in suits who were shouting for her to stop.

"You'll crash into something!" the men said angrily. "You'll hurt yourself too!!!"

The blonde furrowed her brows and looked displeased.

"I never crash and I never fall."

To prove her point, she revved the engine louder and sped away. The men continued to chase her but they didn't get far. They were knocked to the ground as a graceful and brown haired girl used their shoulders as landing pads as she jumped away. She was also being followed by a group of suited men.

"If you've ever gotten up somewhere, you'll most definitely fall back down," the girl said, backflipping gracefully onto the lap of the driving girl, not breaking a sweat.

The motorcycle swayed uneasily for a second but the girl had it under control.

"G-Get off!!!" she blustered, embarrassment spreading across her face.

As the blonde continued to fume at the gentle, free-spirited girl who didn't seem to listen to things she didn't want to, Hyojung almost didn't catch the next girl who whizzed by. A short haired girl was running by so fast, she passed the two girls on the speeding motorcycle.

"Woah! what is that!?" the blonde girl exclaimed, swerving away and eventually coming to a stop.

The fast runner didn't speak, focused only on running. She only stopped as a body fell in front of her from the vents.

"How did you fit in there?" the fast girl asked, amazed.

"I... am a fairy?" the younger looking girl answered.

"This really is a madhouse," the fast girl said, stumbling back.

"What do you mean by that!?" the blonde shouted angrily.

The fast girl didn't have time to reply as everybody's eyes were directed to the palce where an explosion sounded. There was a series of fireworks which followed and everybody had to duck down to avoid getting hit. Hyojung's eyes stung as the smoke began clouding the entire room. Through her teary eyes she managed to see a girl pushing her way forward, eyes closed, with a handkerchief over . Hyojung heard a loud bang and the girl with the handkerchief fell to the ground.

Finally, the smoke cleared out. Hyojung saw a beautiful girl with a serious look, holding a gun.

"Stand down, rebels. You can't fight justice," she said witha  stern expression.

She was about to fire again when a smaller girl appeared and, much to Hyojung's surprise, she gripped the gun tightly, shattering it. Everybody watched as teh shards of the former gun dropped to the ground. The girl with short hair in pigtails looked at Hyojung and smiled quickly before turning back to the serious girl.

"What would you know about justice? All you know how to do is take orders," the pigtailed girl smiled, mocking the other girl.

Rage appeared behind the beautiful girl's eyes but before she could do a thing, she suddenly dropped down on the floor, as did the other girls.

"I didn't want to have to waste our tranquilizers but they were extremely rowdy," an older looking woman sighed.

She appeared with two bodyguards beside her. She looked like an important person but Hyojung didn't care. She immediately got up and ran towards the girl with short hair in pigtails.

"Hyoujung! What are you doi-!?" the man who accompanied asked roughly, trying to stop her.

"She didn't do anything wrong!" Hyoujung cried worriedly. "Yet you still hurt her!"

Hyojung shook the girl, trying to wake her up.

"We didn't hurt her," the lady explained. She didn't seemed bothered at all. "She's just asleep right now."

"How can I trust you?" Hyojung asked warily.

"How can you trust her?" the lady fired back. "She might have seemed nice to you but back there, several of my men aren't as handsome as they used to be."

Hyojung saw the bright red marks of blood splattered around the girl's hands. She felt her blood run cold yet she couldn't forget the girl's smile. The lady didn't wait for Hyojung's response.

"If you like her so much," the lady continued, "You can take responsibility for her."

Hyojung blinked, unsure of how to take the lady's words.

"Actually, you didn't cause us any trouble at all. You..." the lady said carefully, "You're in charge of your unit."

After that, the lady turned her back on her and swiftly walked away, followed by her bodyguards. The man who escorted Hyojung to the underground place, took her arm, helping her up.

"Come on," he said, "We have a few more things to do before you can rest."

Hyojung was still hesitant to leave the pigtailed girl, the older man could sense it. He sighed and paused for a moment.

"Hyojung, since you've been good I'll try to put in a good word for you and make her your roommate. For now, come with me. Is that fine?"

It seemed that the deep voiced man was more considerate than he seemed. Hyojung steadily followed after him, looking at the girl until she was out of sight. She was led to an empty room with a table and two chairs. The man brought Hyojung's seat out for her and waited for her to take her seat before sitting down himself. Hyojung admired his manners.

"I'll keep this short."

The man removed his gloves and placed his bare hands on the table. It was wrapped in bandages.

"My name is Archer but make no mistake, I am not an archer. It was simply the name given to me. Once you enter this company, you'll be assigned a name if your real name isn't safe."

"A name that isn't safe?" Hyojung repeated. "What does that mean?"

"Know what you only need to know, Hyojung. That doesn't concern you. Your name here is Hyojung and only Hyojung. No first names or last names. You'll be doing training with your unit until you're all ready to go out into the real world. Hyojung, you still don't know what a debt is, right?"

Hyojung nodded.

"A debt is something you owe to someone else. The reason as to why someone could be indebted to someone else varies. What the person owes also varies. In this case Hyojung, your debt can be paid off by working for us."

"How long will it take to pay off my debt?"

"That depends. If nothing special happens, you could work for us your whole life."

Hyojung was shocked. What did she do to have her whole life in debt?

"A life, Hyojung," the man stated, "for a life."

Hyojung was still confused.

"I'm sure you don't remember but, Hyojung, you killed someone."

Chills went down her spine and the room was filled with more silence than before.

"I don't remember killing anybody," Hyojung whispered.

The man smiled at her response as if he were expecting it.

"Hyojung, lots of people are indebted to us but not everybody works for us because not everybody is special. Maybe it was because you were special, somebody was killed so shouldn't that mean you should use your ability of being special to do good?"

"What makes me special?" Hyojung inquired meekly. She was still in shock from what she had heard.

"Your inability to lie."

Once again, Hyojung was puzzled. How did that make her special? What use would it be to the company?

"You said you don't remember killing anybody instead of saying outright that you didn't kill anybody. But also, not remembering could mean you did or did not kill somebody. Both of those options remain very true, correct? Well, I don't need to explain it. You'll figure it out for yourself. All of you in your unit, by the way, have life time debts so it's useful to put you all in the same unit. We need more full-time employees anyways."

After saying that, he got up and walked towards her. Tilting her head up, he placed a collar around her neck.

"Don't do anything to get yourself hurt. This'll send enough electricity through your body to make you hurt really bad but not enough to kill you. It would be best if you don't try to find out just how much this hurts."

Hyojung nodded carefully. He led her out of the room and they walked through many halls and corridors before arriving at another small room now with two small beds on either side. There was already another girl on one bed, sitting down slouched. Her head snapped back when she heard them enter and maybe it was Hyojung's imagination but she thought she saw malicious intent in the girl's eyes. It was gone in a second and was replaced with a smile.

"It's you~!" the girl smiled, waving. "I'm glad I wasn't cooped up with one of those weirdos."

Hyojung looked at Archer who seemed to be frowning. He was eyeing the other girl with caution.

"Don't cause any trouble," he said, directing it more to the other girl rather than Hyojung.

He stayed for a few more seconds, uncertainty clouding his eyes. Finally, he left them and Hyojung heard the door lock itself. She stood there for a few moments as the girl watched her, still smiling, until she decided to seat herself on the left bed right in front of the girl who was still smiling.

"What's your name?" the girl asked.

"Hyojung."

The girl paused, as if she was waiting for something to happen. When the thing she was expecting to happen didn't happen, she laughed. It surprised Hyojung.

"You're really interesting, Hyojung."

"What's so interesting about my name?" Hyojung asked.

The girl laughed again,a s if Hyojung had said the funniest thing in the world.

"You're just... really refreshing. You're new to me."

"That makes sense since we've only met now," Hyojung nodded.

The girl laughed again and Hyojung still couldn't understand her but Hyojung laughed along too.

"That's not my point, Hyojung. You can meet lots of new people who are just all the same," JinE said, shaking head.

"Nobody's the same," Hyojung said.

"If that's how you see it," she smiled. "Oh, my name is Hye-" she started but stopped and crouched, shaking.

Hyojung got up and tried to help her but the girl simply held out her hand and laughed.

"It really is an unpleasant feeling," the girl laughed, straightening up. "My name, apparently, is JinE."

"It's a nice name," Hyojung said, smiling.

JinE smiled and Hyojung couldn't help but appreciate howw cute she was. JinE got up and sat next to her.

"Do you mind if we sleep next to each other? It's pretty cold in here."

"I don't mind," Hyojung said shyly. This girl seemed to be straightforward enough. It might be easier spending time with her.

"Thanks," JinE said. "So anyways, how'd you answer the question?"

"Question?"

"So he didn't ask you? That jerk," JinE muttered.

Hyojung didn't think Archer was a jerk. She didn't bother telling that to JinE though. JinE seemed to be thinking. She turned back to Hyojung after a few more seconds.

"Well, they're supposed to ask you something about how to address one's sins."

"What does that mean?" Hyojung asked.

"Basically, they're just trying to see how we think. How about this, Hyojung? I'll ask you then. How would you address your sins?"

Hyojung stared at the girl who was looking at her intently, as if her answer were actually very important.

"If I did something wrong," Hyojung said, thinking seriously, "I'd do something right in order to make up for it."

JinE closed her eyes and flopped down on the bed.

"You know, Hyojung, you don't have to pay something back if you don't owe them personally directly. Let's say you killed someone. How would you pay back a dead person? It's not like they need it. They're dead. You're technically debt free."

Hyojung simply stared at JinE. 

"What did you tell them then?" Hyojung asked.

"I told them I'd make it up to the person I hurt," JinE smiled.

"If you say it like that you probably think you're debt free," a voice called out.

At that moment, the left and right walls disappeared upwards and all that was left were metal bars. In front of them, well, past the other bed and the metal bars, was a girl, sitting cross-legged, facing them. It was the fast runner as Hyojung remembered.

"Don't worry, it's just me," the girl said, "I guess in a sense, we're all roommates," she added.

Hyojung and JinE looked at each other.

"My name is Binnie," she continued, her huge eyes, blinking. "The girl on the other bed is named Jiho."

The other girl was sleeping soundly, straight as a stick. Hyojung felt nervous as she saw the beautiful face. Even while sleeping, she was very disciplined. Hyojung wanted to look at her more but focused on the conversation happening.

"You're not lying," Binnie addressed JinE, "But your intentions aren't pure."

JinE sat up and sighed.

"You're the smart cookie, aren't you? You'll definitely make my life harder," she winked.

Hyojung couldn't understand what they were saying.

"Before you ask, I'll explain," Binnie sighed to Hyojung. "JinE, was it? Well, JinE said she'd make it up to the person she hurt. In JinE's perspective, the person she hurt would be the direct person, not anybody else who got hurt because that person got hurt. If JinE's sin was killing someone, she's technically debt free because that person no longer exists. I think, in JinE's terms, she's debt free but in my terms and yours, she'll be needing more than one life to adress her sins," Binnie concluded coldly.

Hyojung was astounded by Binnie's intellect. She seemed to be right but Hyojung still wanted to defend JinE.

"We can't know for sure," Hyojung said.

She felt JinE's surprised eyes staring at her. Hyojung swallowed.

"Even if she doesn't know what she owes now, she'll know later but if JinE says she's debt free, then she is and that's what we should believe. We don't have any proof that she isn't."

"But technically-" Binnie started.

"'Technically'... sounds like a word for robots."

The three girls turned towards a faraway voice. Past Binnie's cell, there was the brown haired girl and at the farthest end, the blonde haired girl. It was the brown haired girl who had spoken.

"Technicality is something that sounds fixed," she continued. "Humans are not fixed. They're flexible."

She stood up on her bed and held onto the bars and turned herself upside down, only holding onto the bar with her leg wrapped around it. She wasn't facing them but they didn't have to see her face to know she was quite at peace with herself in her upside down state. She swung around slightly, as if she were swaying to some calming music, before sliding down onto her bed.

"YooA," she said, "is who I am here."

"They didn't ask for your name, YooA," the blonde said grumpily.

She seemed really tense, like the complete opposite of YooA. She seemed more highstrung than before.

"If you say you're name I'll have to say mine," she grumbled.

"Why don't you want to say yours?" JinE asked.

"I liked my old one better. This doesn't seem like a cool name. It's just... Mimi."

"I think it's quite cute," Hyojung smiled.

"I'm not that cute," Mimi pointed out.

"It's probably because you haven't really seen yourself," YooA smiled, walking over to her. Mimi froze rigid as YooA touched her cheek and examined her face. "You are cute."

"As cute as a potato," a loud voice laughed.

"Was that supposed to be an insult?" a softer voice asked. "Lots of people love potatoes so I don't think that's a very smart insult."

"I don't think you're smart to be going against me, little girl."

They turned to see the girls behind Hyojung and JinE. The other one had flicked the younger one's forehead.

"O-Oww..." the young one stammered. She was the one who had fallen from the vents, the self proclaimed fairy.

"Don't hurt her!" Hyojung bursted out angrily.

The other girl looked surprised. She didn't apologize though but merely shrugged.

"Alright, alright, roomie. Hey, since we're on the topic of introducing each other, you guys can call me Seunghee."

Seunghee looked confident and arrogant while the other one seemed meek and quiet. 

"This pipsqueak here is called Arin. Or should I call you tiny fairy like that guy did?"

The other girl shook her head. JinE slowly looked around at everybody, examining them closely. Binnie only watched JinE. They made eye contact and Binnie swiftly looked away. She could feel JinE's grin.

"Hyojung, let's go to sleep already. We have to get up early tomorrow," JinE said stretching.

"I find you offensive and untrustworthy. We just started talking and now you want out," Seunghee said in a high and mighty voice. "Too bad this nicer girl got stuck with you. Well, nice people know how to put up with anybody. They don't really care" Seunghee shrugged.

JinE stopped stretching.

"So what you're saying is that Hyojung is just putting up with me? You're also saying I'm offensive and trustworthy when you don't even know me."

"That's right. Eyes are for seeing and I've seen plenty. I've known a lot of people who were nice to me. They never loved me though and so I never stayed."

"That sounds sad," Arin said sympathetically.

"W-What's so sad about that!?" Seunghee stammered. "If they don't love me, I certainly don't love them. If they don't need me, I don't need them either. Nobody and nothing is a loss for someone like me. I'm enough for myself," Seunghee said stubbornly.

"So, you're still hung up over someone who said you were so talented and had everything. Once that person left, you had nobody but yourself so you had to keep up that illusion that you were a special kid who had everything, huh? All they did was make your head big," JinE scoffed.

"What..?" Seunghee faltered. "Why do you-?"

Her words were left hanging as the tension in the air thickened. Only Binnie broke the silence.

"How do you know so much?" Binnie challenged. "You called me the smart cookie too, just like they did. What's your deal?" she asked JinE.

JinE ignored her and sighed. She lay down on the outer part of the bed, facing away from Binnie. After settling down comfortably, she patted the space next to her, telling Hyojung to lie down.

"You'll regret it if you don't sleep now," JinE laughed.

Not waiting for Hyojung any longer, she took her arm and pulled her down. She was really strong. They were laying down face to face. Hyojung suddenly felt self-conscious. JinE didn't seem to notice as she wrapped her arms around Hyojung, bringing her closer.

"Good night, Hyojung."

Hyojung nodded in response. She had a hard time falling asleep as JinE continued to cuddle her but somehow she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

"JinE, what are you doing?"

JinE stopped fiddling with Hyojung's collar and rolled around to face Binnie, who was still wide awake.

"Binnie, you were so quiet I thought you were asleep," JinE said sweetly.

"You didn't answer my question."

JinE and Binnie stared at each other in silence.

"Binnie, you're smart. I get that. Let's be good to each other. We'll make a good team. When we're done, we can get out of here."

"We'll be here forever," Binnie replied coldly.

"That's a choice, Binnie. Your choice. You won't leave if you don't want to. Do you think this place is some sort of sanctuary? There's no safe place for you. So keep on running like you always have. You're not staying here to repay a debt. You just want a place to rest, even if it's just temporary. I know you. After all, we've met before haven't we?"

Binnie's eyes widened. JinE waited for her reply but Binnie just faced away from her, keeping her silence. After staring at nothing, JinE smiled feeling satisfied and rolled back towards Hyojung. 

"Hyojung," JinE whispered, "Why would you try to atone for a sin you could never make up for?"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lol sorry for the late update. This is quite long as well xD

It might be a bit slow for now and there might be too many questions but hang in there guys xD

It'll get fun soon enough haha

Author, out ;)