By the time Sungjae had come in Wendy had woken up. Irene wished she had just stayed down. At least there was some peace in that. Especially since the moment she saw Sungjae, she got a bad feeling. Irene knew that something was terribly wrong, and all she needed was to see Sungjae’s smirk to confirm that hunch. This wasn’t going to be good, and there wasn’t going to be anything Irene could do to stop it. Not this time. Not while she was already in trouble for the stunt she pulled.

“Sungjae, I think you know what to do.”

“Yep. It’ll only take a moment.”

“What is he going to do to me?” Wendy asked with evident fear in her eyes and voice, but despite everything she still pulled on her binds. Still fighting. Irene had to look away. What more would Irene have to watch?

How much would it take for her to actually make a move?

“Subject 22, after everything you’ve already gone through, this will be painless.” What a comfort Irene’s father was. Really, I was envious of Irene for having him as a father.

When he stepped back to let Sungjae do his job, Irene stepped next to her father to talk with him.

“What are you doing? We’ve never done this to a subject before.”

“We haven’t, and that’s why we lost the last one. Subject 22 is too powerful for us to handle, and so we’re giving us insurance to keep us safe. So that we may carry on testing on her.”

Everything that happened with Sungjae seemed to happen so fast. I don’t know if it went fast in general or if it went by like a blur for Irene. All I knew was that I barely understood how we got to this moment.

Sungjae, this young-young guy, just waltzed in with an unsettling smirk and took Wendy’s memories away like it was nothing. Just a minor stop in his day, while Irene stood there beyond herself. Except, for Wendy and her sake, she couldn’t show it. I don’t know how she managed it when Wendy looked as frightened as she did. Irene must be a lot stronger than I am. Because if I were in her position and Moonbyul was in Wendy’s, I think I would have gone crazy. Maybe something even crazier would have happened than what I’d done to the Principal.

I wouldn’t be able to handle just watching all of our precious memories disappear like they were nothing.

God, I missed her. I missed her being safe by my side. So even if being with her in her mind helped, it wasn’t the same. I missed being able to touch her, and feel her comfort. I missed how she’d always find a way to get what she wanted, and the way she looked at me in a manner that couldn’t be matched. We didn’t really need any special way of communicating when we were together.

I smiled just thinking about it. She totally took advantage of it too. She knew I could never resist giving her a kiss when she asked me with her eyes. How could I when she looked at me like I was her world? And knowing the feeling was mutual? Man, it was the best thing in the world.

So if Moonbyul was in Wendy’s position, there’s no way I would have stood and watched. Our memories were too precious. I couldn’t say Irene didn’t care like I did, though. She doesn’t exactly have the same gift as me, so she’s was just playing it smart for a woman with her conditions. It was the right move. I admired her for it.

The fact that Wendy lost her memory was devastating. We didn’t make it in time to save her from that, and I was crushed. She lost her childhood, her family, her friends, and every precious moment she held dear to her. Irene recognized this too, and she looked at Wendy with just as much of a lost feeling. She was thinking that she had failed, but she still doesn’t know she has another chance in my team. We can still get her out.

I hated to even think it, but the loss was also an opportunity. Her desperation would make it more likely for her to take a chance on us. And, we really needed that chance.

Maybe we needed more than a chance, and maybe I could be the one to make it reality. After everything that Moonbyul made me do in her bunk, who was I to say there was some limit to my powers? I just had to develop the new skill Moonbyul showed me. It’s true that all I did was give Byul a feeling of my presence, but if I could somehow use that presence to create an urge, I could get Irene to want to visit Moonbyul, and finally I would no longer be just a spectator. In more ways than one. First being that I wouldn’t just be on the outside of the facility, watching through other people, and two, probably the most scary way of all, is that I’m no longer just a passive watcher from people’s minds.

Even just thinking it gave me a shiver. It was quite a bit of power, wasn’t it? I tried expanding the room I took up in Irene’s mind, and kept supplying the thought that she should see Moonbyul. I had no way of knowing whether or not it was working because for the moment, Irene was still preoccupied. I felt her anxiety spike though, and I thought that it might have been because she wanted to do something that she couldn’t get to, so I pulled back a bit.

Despite everything that had happened, Irene was still tasked with taking Wendy back to her room. Wendy didn’t know who Irene was, or what she was doing, but she still had an effect on her. Unsurprisingly, when Sungjae was finished, Wendy freaked out a bit. Who wouldn’t when they were surrounded by a bunch of people in lab coats, and you had absolutely no idea what you were doing there? She didn’t quiet down until her dad told Irene to take care of her.

There was no mistaking everything Wendy was feeling. She showed everything on her face. Irene stepped up to her and soothed her with a gentle gaze, something her other colleagues didn’t seem capable of offering.

“Wendy, please, there’s no need to worry.” Irene whispered softly so no one else would hear.

“Wendy?” Something as simple as her name, she didn’t even remember.

“Yes, that’s your name. It definitely isn’t Subject 22, I can assure you.”

Wendy shook her head as if the movement would clear her head and everything that was taken from her would return. When that didn’t seem to work she accepted Irene’s word as truth. I suppose her name wasn’t her biggest concern at that moment. I mean considering… “What do you mean I don’t need to worry? I’m tied to a chair.” She said as she pulled at the binds.

Irene laid her hand on one of her arms. “This was just a precaution for your own safety. I’ll be more than glad to explain everything as soon as we get you to your room, and you calm down a bit. Can I trust you to give me a little faith, so I can release you from these?”

Wendy looked at her skeptically, weighing her options. The way Wendy looked Irene now, did nothing but add salt to her wombs. Moments ago, Wendy had basically confessed to her, and now she was just afraid of her. Irene tried soothing her with gentle touches to assure that she really was on her side, but it wasn’t really Wendy anymore. Touching her didn’t seem familiar and reassuring like before. It most likely didn’t have the same effect on Wendy anymore either. Right now, she was just the nicest scientist to approach her.

At least Wendy, by her nature, gave Irene the benefit of the doubt. There wasn’t much she could do anyway. I’m sure Wendy would rather listen than risk being forced to do things she didn’t want to.

The fact that Irene was still given the task of taking care of Wendy after what happened, was cause for concern to me. Did her dad really trust that her intentions were purely for their cause, whatever it was, or was it some sort of test? If anything, we had to work under the assumption that he would be watching Irene a lot more closely from now on.

After telling Wendy to rest and reassuring her that she would be back, Irene walked out of the bunk feeling nauseous. But like I said, Irene is strong, so she pushes the feeling the away, and follows the urge I gave her.

Her steps are a lot heavier than before, angry sounding. Along with the anxiety of feeling like she needed to do something, she’s grown mad. I know she had every right to be, but it didn’t seem like it was directed at the right person.

When she gets to Moonbyul’s room, she pushes the door in with a lot more force than necessary. Moonbyul sits up fast, not surprised to see Irene, but startled by the force of the interruption.

“Irene, what’s the matter?” Moonbyul looks at her with a guarded gaze. She didn’t expect to be looked at like she was the bad guy.

“Why don’t you tell me? You have to have something to do with it.” This was throwing me off guard too. What could Moonbyul have done from her bunk?

“Something to do with what?”

Irene didn’t respond right away. She was studying Moonbyul, and everything from her body language said that she really didn’t know what Irene was going on about.

“Alright, I’m sorry.” Some of the sternness left her voice, but she still wasn’t completely satisfied. “But tell me, why did I suddenly have the strongest urge to come see you? It was impossible to put it out of my mind.”

Moonbyul furrowed her eyebrows for a moment, but not a moment later the answer hit her.

“Solar!” She exclaimed with a wide dopey smile.

“Solar?”

“Sorry. Solar’s my girlfriend. This might take some time to explain, do you have some time?”

At the moment, Irene wanted answers no matter what the cost. “Yes, tell me.” She said crossing her arms. I can imagine that she looked pretty intimating. I knew she had the eyes to display that emotion well. Moonbyul was doing little to show that she wasn’t affected by her.

“Um, I didn’t get here by chance, or because your corporation or whatever found me. It’s actually the other way around. When all this happened to me, I didn’t go looking for any answers, because there was a lot going on with me, but also because I wasn’t the only one.”

“My girlfriend, Solar, also has a gift. A gift that is, in my opinion, much more impressive than mine.”

As much as I liked seeing Moonbyul gush over me, I wished she’d stop. Irene just had, not her girlfriend, but someone she really cared about basically taken from her, and it wasn’t helping the pain to see someone else rave about their special someone. It was making her a bit envious, but it was mostly the thought of her developing feelings hitting a wall that couldn’t be climbed that hurt the most. The look in Moonbyul’s eyes, the way she talked about me, it was something Irene didn’t have the chance to have. Something she was just about to let herself try for. For the first time.

“She saw Wendy in this place, and the experiments going on. We were looking for her.”

“You guys know about Wendy?” Now Irene was interested.

“Know about her, yeah. We also knew her.”

“How?” Irene took a step closer.

“She’s from our high school, and we aim to get her out of here. That’s something you can help us with, right?”

Irene opened but didn’t say anything. Her mind was everywhere and I was having a hard time shuffling through her webs.

“How exactly did Solar see Wendy? What’s her power? I want to know everything before I put Wendy’s fate in the hands of a couple of high schoolers.” Irene demanded.

“Okay, no problem.” Moonbyul gave in easily. “Solar’s a bit like that guy that brought me in.”

“Sungjae.” Irene said venomously.

“Right, Sungjae. His power’s come from his mind the way hers does. She can get into people’s minds and see everything they do, feel everything they do too, and as we just discovered, she can urge you to come see me, plus she can communicate with me. We’re still working on things, but that’s the gist of it.”

“So what? Where do we go from here?”
“We know some of what’s going on here, but we don’t know where this place is or how big it is. We need you to meet up with them. Give them something they can work from.”

Irene turned away and chewed on the inside of her cheek. As far as she could tell, us “high schoolers” were her best shot as of now. “Fine, let’s meet. Where would be good?”

“Um I don’t have any idea where we are, so maybe you can give me an idea and they can meet you half way…”

“We’re in the Gwangdaehan forest.” She revealed without hesitation. “Somewhere deep in there.”

Moonbyul’s eyebrows shot up but she nodded unsurprised. “This forest is dangerous… Holds too many secrets. Well, I want to give you an address but I want to know if I can fully trust you, so I’m going to wait for Solar’s approval. She must me with us. Just not with me, as far as I can tell.”

Irene raised her hand to her head feeling unsettled. “She’s in my head then?” She answered her own question feeling no less unsettled. “Of course, she gave me the urge as you said…”

I gasped sitting up fast, taking three deep breaths as I looked around for water.

“Solar, holy ! You scared me!” Wheein yelled while still managing to hand me a water bottle. “I thought you said you were going to take a nap!”

“I know, sorry. I just couldn’t take a break like that. But it’s was a good thing.” I said after a long drink.

Just then Hwasa bursts through the office door with a bag of food looking at us with wide eyes. All I could focus on was the food because, God, was I hungry. I had impeccable timing, at least.

“Jesus, are you guys okay?! Wheein, you nearly made me drop the bag of tteokbokki!”

“It was Solar’s fault! She came out of comatose like some crazy zombie!”

I paid no mind to their bickering. I had my full focus on the food. I reached my hands out to Hwasa like a kid begging from their mother. Not only was I starving, but it was my favorite.

“I’ll catch you guys up on everything, while we’re eating. Just please feed me now.”

“Damn, you sound desperate. You had nothing to worry about though, we weren’t going to hold it from you. Dig in.” Hwasa said dropping the food in front of me.

“… I can’t believe you gave her the address to the garage. She should be her soon, yeah?” Hwasa asked still hardly able to believe the progression of their current situation.

I’m sure after her best friend being taken and the fact that she was legitamently tortured, it sounded like a horrible idea. Under normal circumstances, I would have completely agreed, but we aren’t under normal circumstances. I know what Irene’s intentions are. After Wendy’s memories were taken, there was a hard shift in her. She wanted Wendy safe. Really. With no alternative motive. Whatever alliances she held toward that place and their ideals, at the very least she shifted them back.

“Yes, I did. But just trust that whatever I do, I do with confidence that it will help us get Moonbyul and Wendy back. Honestly, we’re lucky that there’s someone in there with conflicting feelings towards their whole operation. Everyone else seems so… on board. They seem so gray, so unfeeling towards the subjects.”

“I just can’t wait until she gets here. I’ve felt like we’ve been at a standstill forever. I want to get them out. Wendy…” Wheein trailed off sadly from where she was sitting, while her leg bounced uncontrollably.

“I agree. It’s about time we make a move.” I was ready. Except, we didn’t exactly have a real plan… The fact that we may not have been capable is what scared me the most.

It was only about a half an hour since we all arrived at the garage for a new day, but it seemed like forever until Irene was finally pulling in.

We stuck it out in the cold garage, wanting to see her as soon as she pulled in. We didn’t exactly have Moonbyul there to warn us of her impending arrival.

No one said anything as the scientist exited her car. I could feel the excitement from Hwasa and Wheein, finally able to the girl they’ve only just heard about. She stood at her door a bit awkwardly. She was probably waiting for one of us to make an introduction, but none of us did. I realize that it should have been me. Between all of us, I had the most information. I mean I was in the woman’s head for God’s sake.

She cleared and squared her shoulders. “I’m Irene…Which one of you is Solar?”

Well, I couldn’t avoid this.

“Me. I’m Solar.”

I pointed at the others and introduced them as well. Wheein waved with an awkward smile, while Hwasa simply nodded.

“Good to meet you…” Irene said uncomfortably. Then she dropped her shoulders, and shook her head at a loss. “I don’t really know where to begin.”

“Why don’t we start by going inside? It’s freezing out here?” I motioned for her to follow me so we could all warm up and maybe feel more comfortable.

Once we were settled in, there was nothing to do except get straight down to business. “So we know that the facility is somewhere in the Gwangdaehan forest, but that place is huge. We gotta know where specifically, and how far it is from here.”

writing this is hard