Byun Baekhyun, day ten 11:38

Five days. I've spent five days staring at a stupid lamp, wishing for it to turn on yet nothing. I can feel myself slowly slipping away into madness. If the test was about how long it would take me to go insane then I regretted to tell anyone who bet on longer, but I was quite sure that day was today. Despite the many hours spent inside the testing room, I had made no progress whatsoever. It was frustrating to say the least.
At that precise moment, I was still staring at the lamp. It felt as if I had never left the, what i was beginning to believe was cursed, room. It didn't help that my only company was Haneul and even then the only answers I got were robotic, monotone and no help at all. One positive thing could be said about the past three days; I was brought into a cafeteria for the first time. Although no one was there, it was obvious that I wasn't the only one being tested in this vast building.
"Haneul?" I said, tearing my eyes off the lamp to look straight ahead at the usual white wall.
"Yes, Mr. Byun?" The voice answered.
"Can I have lunch now?"
"It is not yet lunch time, Mr. Byun."
"I know, I know," I said, waving my hands in dismissal, "but I'm really hungry. Trying to turn on this lamp has been using more energy than I realized." Instead of an answer, the door opened. I smiled to myself as I walked out to my guard. "I'm going to lunch." I said to him. He took the hint and walked in front of me, leading me to the large cafeteria.
You can probably guess by now what the cafeteria looked like but just in case you can't, here's a short description: white. Tables, walls, chairs, floor, trays, everything! It was becoming more and more unsettling, the complete lack of color. The only glimpses of color I could see were me and my guard.
He started slowing down his pace until he came to a full halt in front of the cafeteria doors. They opened slowly and I followed him inside. To my surprise, someone was there. They had the same white clothes as I did so that lead me to believe that they were being tested as well. As I got closer I could see his face clearer. He had large, cat-like eyes and a round face. He noticed me as well. I walked over to the trays of food and noticed that one was missing, number 99. Presumably it was sitting in front of the man. As my fingers grasped the tray numbered 04, I looked back to see him still focused on me. One thing that annoyed me about the numbering here was the fact that there were gaps. It went straight from 01 to 04 to 07 to 12 and so on, leaving gaps between the numbers. I picked up the tray and walked over to him, placing the tray down on the table by the seat in front of him. The echo of the tray touching the table top rang loudly in my ears as no other sound could be heard. I sat down and neither of us said or did anything until he suddenly picked up his spoon and proceeded to submerge the utensil into the soup in front of him. His hand was trembling.
"Hello." I said hesitantly. I wasn't sure why but something about him felt relaxing, unlike Master Kim. I felt slight happiness coursing through my veins at the thought of not being alone here. He looked at me suspiciously. I couldn't blame him, everything about this place raised cause for suspicion.
"Hello." He simply replied, barely sparing me any volume. For once I was thankful for how quiet this place was so I could hear him.
"I'm Baekhyun." I said with a smile, raising my hand for him to shake. He looked at my outreached hand for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the food on his tray. I placed my hand back onto my lap and focused my stare on it, slightly discouraged by his lack of interest. Just when I thought I would have to go through lunch without knowing his name, he spoke up.
"I'm Minseok." This time his voice was a bit louder. It had a bright sound to it although it sounded faded. Like the happiness behind it had left. I looked up at him, a smile pulling at the corners of my mouth.
Nothing more was said but I felt comfortable in his presence. We ate our food in silence, or as much silence as you could have while eating.
Every time Minseok's spoon clinked against his bowl he looked up at my guard, fear evident in his stare. That was when I noticed that there were only three people inside this large cafeteria, that Minseok didn't have a guard with him. That could explain why he was so uneasy. I had gotten used to the guard leading me everywhere. I was, in fact, so used to him that I'd routinely forget about him while he navigated me through the endless twists and turns in this building. I glanced between the two before giving Minseok a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, he's just here because I got kind of mad my first day here." I said, hoping to ease some of Minseok's fears. He nodded slowly, now raising a suspicious gaze towards me. "To explain; I got mad at the test. It wasn't anything like I attacked someone or threw anything, I just shouted a bit at Haneul." Minseok still didn't look comfortable. "How long have you been here?" I raised the question that had been at the tip of my tongue ever since I first laid eyes on him.
"I can't remember." He answered quietly. I was beginning to think that he wasn't one to speak loudly, unlike myself. "You?"
"Ten days." Minseok nodded at my reply. I was almost certain that he had been here shorter than me.
"Do you," he started, my eyes widened in anticipation and I felt eager to answer, "do you remember anything?" I furrowed my brows. I didn't understand his question.
"About what?"
"About before?" His voice sounded like he was becoming more and more discouraged to talk to me.
"Before... here?" I asked. He gave a silent nod. "Bits and pieces."
"Oh." Was all he said. "I thought, since you seem so happy I thought you remembered something."
"Oh, that." I said, referring to the happiness that he didn't seem to realize was caused by his mere presence in this plain place. The conversation died out again. His words made me think. How come I couldn't remember anything before here clearly? I knew that I had a home, a family, people and things that I cared about but I couldn't remember a single thing about them. It was as if every fact and characteristic of my life -my previous life- had been wiped clean out of my mind. Why can't I remember?