Enveloped in silence, Yongsun watched Byul gather her thoughts while playing the bottle in hand. As she waited, another question popped in her mind.

“Wait,” Yongsun placed her hand on Byul’s forearm and gripped on it as she proceeded with her inquiry. “Do you know where Wheein is?”

Byul immediately pulled her arms, releasing it from Yongsun’s grip which surprised Yongsun. 

“I’m sorry,” Yongsun muttered.

“They took her,” Byul said, wincing at the fact that Wheein is in the hands of the enemy. “I’m not really a fan of rallies, protests, whatever you call it. I just go there because I want to make sure that Wheein’s alright and this time I failed to do that,” 

“How are you so sure that they took her? She could be hiding somewhere,” Yongsun asked.

“Because I was there when they took her just like how she was there when they took you,” Byul shot her a look as if saying that this is all Yongsun’s fault.

So the dreams are really real? That really happened? Oh,

Yongsun started to come up with lots of questions but one thing struck her with gut feel.

The Underground!

“The Underground! Chorong said I was at The Underground. Maybe Wheein’s there!” 

“Hey, Yongsun! Listen,” Byul brushed her hair back with her hand then pointed at Yongsun. “I need you to shut up right now, okay? You wanted to know about yourself, right? Then I’ll start there. You just sit and listen,” Byul stated firmly.

Yongsun sat quietly just like what Byul wanted and as soon as both of them had settled down, Byul started to talk. She began to talk about the basic information about Yong.

“Wait, I already know about them,” Yongsun interrupted Byul.

“Well, I’m sorry because I don’t know what you don’t know, princess,” Byul scoffed.

“Why don’t I just ask questions? Like specific ones. The one I wanted to know first,” Yongsun suggested.

“Whatever,” Byul rolled her eyes.

“Do you know how I lost my memories?” Yongsun, fiddling with her fingers like a little child.

Byul sighed. “Whatever I’m telling you about it, it’s all based on Chorong’s report, alright?” Byul clarified and Yongsun nodded. “Okay, before I go there, I’d like to start on the day they took you,” Byul took something from her pocket and revealed an item that she’s seen before. Is that the earpiece the patrols put on the girl from the elevator? “You know what this is?” Byul asked.

“There’s a girl who ran into the apartment building. She was being chased by the mechanized patrols and one of them put this on the girl’s ear,” Yongsun said, staring at the table as she recalled what happened that day. 

“Did something happen after that? Something unusual?” 

“Yes,” Yongsun frowned as she realized how unusual it was. “Before they caught her, she was scared and panicking but seconds after they placed that thing on her ear,” Yongsun paused as she tried to find the right words to describe what happened to the girl. “Seconds after, I mean like two or three seconds, she went completely calm like almost blank. Then she just followed everything the patrols told her,” Yongsun said, eyes still glued on the table.

“I see,” Byul said as she adjusted herself on her seat. “This is what they used to you that day but the thing is, this one in my hand is one of the latest versions. The one you had can only put you to sleep. As long as that thing is on you, you won’t wake up. This here,” Byul waved the earpiece at Yongsun to get her attention and as soon as Yongsun looked at her, she continued. “This is the same thing they used on those poor kids. It is now completely programmed to accomplish their goal.”

“And what is their goal?” Yongsun asked.

“To terminate us,”

“‘Us’ who?”

“The one who opposes the government and the people who control them,” 

Terminate? Wheein?

“I hate that this even crossed my mi-,”

“You think they already terminated Wheein?” Byul interrupted her. Yongsun was a little surprised that she already knew what’s on her mind. “It’ll be a stupid move if they will terminate her and didn’t you noticed what was happening in that video? They are turning against each other,”

“Meaning?” 

“Meaning, it is a huge possibility that they’d use Wheein, and the pieces of information that she has, against us. If we are already too late, Wheein could be our enemy now,” Byul said as she frowned at the possibility.

“If we’re too late, is there a way to bring her back?” Yongsun inquired.

“The ed up part is that she’s the one who’s capable of doing such thing,” 

“What do you mean?”

“You see that metal bed in the basement? With that huge curved thing hovering it and computers and monitors around it?” Byul asked and then continued as Yong nodded. “When Chorong gave us the information about what they do to the captured individuals in The Underground, Wheein decided to create something that could reverse whatever it is that they did to you and the others that were captured. Unfortunately, that damned kid’s not here anymore to finish it. She’s almost done with it, you know. She couldn’t wait to have you back but here we are now. I can only hope that H could find a way to continue to work on that,”

“What did they do to us, to me, in The Underground?” 

“When you were brought there, you underwent physical and mental torture and when you are at your most vulnerable that’s when they do their experiments,” Byul stood up again to grab another bottle of beer. “You sure you don’t want one?” 

“I need my mind to be clear so I can process everything well,” Yongsun said as she shook her head.

“Alright,” Byul said as she sat down.

Yongsun noticed how Byul had gotten soft on her as time went by. She isn’t as short-tempered as she was earlier.

“In your ‘batch’, traditional or manual brainwashing was used but it was aided with modern science ,” Byul continued and Yongsun noticed how short she is with scientific and technical terms.

“You said something about experiments. What is it?”

“It’s not really ‘experiment’ experiment. It’s like, , I knew I’m not the best person to talk about this stuff,” Byul sighed and took a sip of her beer. “The purpose of those torturing and brainwashing is the same purpose of these new earpieces. When they have finally buried your memories, they trained all of you to become ‘assassins’ or ‘spy’ or somethin. That’s why after you got released, we waited for another year to finally interact with you. Chorong said that she makes sure you don’t get full sessions of all those despicable s that they do so you won’t be Completed and be quick and easy to stabilize,” Byul tried.

By this time, with this amount of information, Yong felt a little too overwhelmed. And to top that, numbers of questions kept rising. There are so many things she wanted to ask but she didn’t know where to start.

“Stabilize? Why should I be stabilized?” 

“Ugh! Are you even listening to me?!” Byul brushed her hair back with her fingers in frustration. “Because you are dangerous! Wheein and I, and many people will be in danger if you saw us because you are somehow programmed to terminate us. Your memories that are now sitting at the deepest part of your brain is, in a way, used to identify us. Do I make sense to you?”

“I guess,” Yongsun frowned but her eyes grew wide when she remembered the day she almost killed Wheein. “So what you mean is that my previous memory, the one that they made me forget, is somehow used to identify my targets? Am I correct?”

“Yes!” 

“And what triggers it?”

Byul frowned at her, clearly, she doesn’t know what Yongsun meant about it.

“What do you mean ‘triggers it’? Once you recognize Wheein, you just, you know… do it, but you are already stabilized and Chorong made sure that you’ve forgotten everything about The Underground so you are no longer a danger to us,” Byul said, more confused.

“You see, there was a time where I kind of hurt Wheein,” Yongsun revealed and a little ashamed of what she did that day to Wheein.

“What do you mean ‘hurt’ her?” Byul asked, leaning closer to Yongsun. Byul is clearly fuming in anger at this point but Yongsun can notice that Byul’s anger is not towards her. 

“Does it mean something bad?” Yongsun inquired.

“What did you actually do?!” Byul asked, glaring at the bottle in her hand.

“I, uh, I choked her with my own hands,” Yongsun looked at her palms and got almost teary as she remembers what she felt in her hands. She remembers clearly what she felt on her palms, every vibration, every movement of the muscle in Wheein’s neck. “I didn’t know what came over me that day. I know she was just planning to tickle me by poking my sides but it felt like there's a switch inside of me. It’s like I came out of my own body and someone else took over like I’m getting possessed or something. I promise you I didn’t-,”

Yongsun was stopped from talking when she heard a sound of shattering glasses. Byul threw the bottle against the wall and stood up. She walked fast to the elevator and Yongsun followed.

“What are you doing?!” Yongsun asked as she watched Byul pull down the lever. “I’m sorry if I did that but it’s not my intention. I told you I-,”

“You were supposed to be stabilized! Chorong promised that you are no longer dangerous! I knew there are things she’s hiding from us!” Byul interrupted. “in’ double spy!” She muttered.

“Wait, why do I don’t remember being in that place? I don’t have a memory of being trained as an -,” Yongsun stopped as she remembered her dream. “If that dream really happened, then it means my memories are coming back?” Yongsun unknowingly spoke her thoughts.

“The are you talking about? What do you mean your memories