Hakyeon wakes up early as usual. He delegated the job of going to get Hongbin to Jaehwan as Wonshik slept in a hotel once again and had to buy some clothes for showers are a thing too and he's already staying for too long.

He has to return to the 900th eventually.

He didn't sleep all that well but at nights like this where he is just thinking of the past it's hard to find the peace of mind to sleep properly. Mostly because he just wants to get everything done.

Make his way to the 104th again.

Underground.

“The engineer was reintegrated to the main database.” Himchan tells him as soon as he walks inside.

“Considering you don't have a syringe on your hand I suppose you found nothing on Hongbin.”

“You won't get any brownie points for doing without consulting us first. Be grateful Yongguk is such a lenient person.”

Hakyeon scoffs. “I'm truly blessed.”

“That's why you're single, really. Aish.”  They walk down the hallway in silence.

Hongbin looks up at him as soon as he steps inside. He seems nervous.

“You won't be lobotomized Hongbinnie. Calm down will you?”

“Good. Then what the is this place?” Closer to normal. That's a good sign.

Hakyeon smiles a little. “Yongguk will fill you in with as much information as he deems fit.” Hakyeon says in that subtly sardonic tone of his and Himchan gives him a look. “Go ahead boss.”

“You are such a gigantic nuisance Hakyeon.” Himchan says, touching Yongguk's shoulder lightly for he probably didn't hear anything. Hongbin has the feeling the man is one of those super focused individuals. "Have you slept at all tonight?"

He is, too, when his brain isn't scattered. “Oh, hi. Did you bring the drive Himchan?” He tells him, soft, pushing the headphones off his head.

“I left it on the table two hours ago. Did you eat anything? You said you would.”

“Sorry.” He at least sounds apologetic as he reaches for the drive. “Did you try to open it, Hakyeon?”

“I'm curious, not stupid.”

“Are you really? I wonder…” He hums quietly, not bitterly but not jokingly either.

Hakyeon huffs a breath.

“Zelo lock everything will you?”

A red light start blinking. Hongbin is not sure about how he feels about it, about that and being completely brushed off. Actually after a threat of being “neutralized” they are now pretending he isn't there.

He would protests but it doesn't seem like the best time to do so, Hakyeon looks tense. That's never a good sign.

The voice on the speakers intones blandly. Opening drive.

Executing files.

“I hate being paranoid… but after the things I've seen, I don't know how much faith I have in what I'm doing.” The Taekwoon from the footage has shorter hair, swollen red eyes with deep dark circles underneath, he looks exhausted. “I think… something this big needs a failsafe.” He scratches his neck, closing his eyes to say. “I’ll set a number of answers for questions I think are relevant in this program. but you’ll have to find the questions on your own. The number of attempts you can make are limited. Chose wisely.”

“How can we destroy the Aurora?” Hakyeon asks without a second thought.

Hongbin is not quite sure of whatever is Aurora but it must be something important… probably.

The footage skips, seemingly much later, Taekwoon is sitting on the floor this time, aimlessly throwing and catching a small blue ball against the wall. “If you’re asking about destruction, then you must know destroying Aurora means destroying everything else we’ve built.” He says, drawing the words as if he’s been talking for a long time now. “Aurora is the cloud where we storage every document, data, books, every register we possess... Aurora is the credit cards, the electricity centers, the security cameras, the passwords on every house for every function, the locks on jail cells and anything that needs electricity or has a battery.” He looks up at the ceiling. “Aurora is your invisible god, the manifestation of order and the only pillar that sustains our entire civilization.” He gives a small humorless smile. “Too dramatic aren’t I? I haven’t slept in a while.”

“If she’s sentient then can we talk to her?” This time it’s Yongguk who asks and they all look at him, and his face of absolute concentration.

“Talking… Talking to Aurora…” It seems like another day entirely, he’s in different clothes, holding a steaming mug, perched with his legs crossed over the bed. It’s daytime now. “Why? She only speaks to her operators.”

“We need to understand her reasons.”

Another cut, the mug is now on the table, empty. “Her reasons are our reasons. World peace.” It’s like… a conversation between time, Hakyeon wonders how much time it took for him to record everything.

“It’s not working. We are all voiceless, we cannot stand against the government when it has eyes everywhere.”

“If Aurora is our God, then he who controls god is…? I'm sorry, I don't have an  answer to that question, try again.” This time Taekwoon sits by the window, it’s night again, he looks out and down with something unsettling in his eyes, something that makes Hongbin squirm in his chair. Like he’s measuring the distance between him and the floor all those stores down…

“The operators, do they have names?” This time is Wonshik who asks.

“I am one. I don’t trust you enough to give any other name, I don’t know which ways you used to get this drive.” He’s sitting in front of the camera again, it’s morning again, voices ring some place else. There’s other people in the apartment this morning. “As far as I know, I might be dead.”

“Mr. Jung your father asked me to make sure you’re eating properly.”

He hums a sardonic little smile, l