Chapter 53:  07:11– REFLECTION BLUE/BLACK/WHITE [4:49pm]

< REFLECTION:BLUE>

They came like a cavalry, descending out of darkness. Their sheer white apparel, blinding. They looked like ghosts, hell, they moved like ghosts. But they weren’t ghosts. Sanghyun knew that all too well.

Corruptions, they were called back at the facilities. Cleaners were the offfical term given by the government.

They were mindless beings programmed with the sole purpose to locate and hunt down any anomalies that entered the Graveyard. Once found, they would engulf the subject and ‘corrupt’ their data to place them into a coma like sleep. Once anesthetized, the Cleaner would then take the subject back to a central facility located in the center of the Graveyard where the anomaly would then be kept until the governmental team could sort out what to do with them manually. 

The most common: the dead, granted 24 days to bid their loved ones farewell, and then found themselves on the twenty fifth day to still be present in the living world, but a world far away from the world of that they had once known. They could not be allowed to wander endlessly.

The less frequent: the people who threatened the system with their knowledge. To the remainder of the Three Levels it was told that they were sentenced to a lifetime of labor in repentance. Usually for a crime that they had not committed. In truth they were removed before they could damage. But equally they could not be left to wander around the Graveyard just like that.

And finally, the rarities: those who had slipped by the Government’s eyes entirely and were considered foreign and completely unidentifiable by the system.  

Sandara and Sanghyun were both of the last kind. And once captured by the Corruptions, Sanghyun knew what fate would await them once the governmental officials got their hands on them. 

“Hurry noona!” Sanghyun huffed, tugging his sister off the main track and onto a side road to their left. 

“We can’t outrun them Sanghyun,” Dara said between breaths. “They’re Corruptions. They’ll only stop when they’ve accomplished what they were programmed to do.”

“Well we can’t just stop and let them consume you!” Sanghyun hissed with frustration as he tugged them around one of the white coral trees and skidded down a path that would hopefully be harder for the corruptions to go down. “You know what will happen if we let them take you.” 

Sandara dug her heels in, halting and drawing Sanghyun to a stop as well.

“Noona!” he hissed, eyes flashing furiously. 

“Listen to me Sanghyun, you know we can't outrun them. They're programs; we're not." 

Sanghyun shook his head. He didn't want to hear this. “Noona! We don’t have time for this.”

“Listen to me Doongie,” she said again, firmer this time. “I need you to promise me something.” 

Sanghyun froze at the term of endearment. Only Sandara could use his pet name and sound frightening at the same time.

Sanghyun could hear the clicking of the corruption’s claws now and he knew they were drawing close. He closed his mouth in defeat and let Sandara have her say. 

“Good," she said, softer now. "Now promise me this. That if I get caught, you'll continue what we were doing. Find Durami's killer and then get out of this world. Got it?" 

Sanghyun’s eye widened incredulously. “And what about you?"

“I am secondary," Sandara said simply. She glanced behind them warily, knowing they were running on bought time. "You can help me once you get out of here. You know that right?"

Sanghyun's nostrils flared. “Yes but-“

“But nothing,” she shushed him. “Your first priority is Durami. We came here to find her killer and we're not leaving empty handed." 

“Yes but we can do it together. Don't give up on yourself so easily noona," Sanghyun begged. "We can escape. Both of us."

Dara gave him a disapproving look. "Be realistic Doongie. If you want to save me the best way to do it from the outside." 

“I’m not leaving without you noona,” Sanghyun said firmly and turned to pull her forwards again. They had wasted too much time here. 

“Oh Doongie.” Sandara leaned over and hugged him tightly. Her arms, so much shorter than his wrapped around his neck. Her fingers, small and smooth, caressed his cheeks. Sanghyun stilled. "I know you will make the right decisions." 

"Noona..." Sanghyun said warningly, half turning his head. 

There was the sound of scuttling in the distance and Sanghyun felt Sandara give the slightest of shivers. "They're only after me. Not you. 

"Noon-" Sanghyun started. 

"Now go little brother," she said softly and Sanghyun's eyes widened. As he turned he saw Sandara's eyes, bright with determination, still frightened with fear. Her hands came about his face and she kissed him gently on the close. "My baby brother. All grown up. You know you have to let me go right? Because I’m already dead.”

"Noona!" Sanghyun cried with a little shout, Sandara's little push sending him toppling over the edge. 

“Noona!” he yelled as he fell, one hand immediately striking out as if to grab her, but she was too far away and he was falling into the murky blackness of the beneath. Where he would end up, he didn’t know. This was the Graveyard and it was forever expanding.

“Goodbye Sanghyun,” Dara whispered and turned to see the encroaching army of Corruptions. The flickered with static energy as they crawled on six spindly legs, their white fat bodies giving way to a snapping pair of pincers. They had no eyes, just empty sockets that stared out. Instead they sensed her position with antenna that produced from just above their pincers.

So this is how she would go? Dara couldn’t help but give a bitter laugh at that. All those times long ago when the three of them had promised as a family that no matter what, if they had to die, it would not be by the government’s hand. And once again she couldn’t keep her promise.

Dara clutched her hands and closed her eyes as the first of the Corruptions scuttled in close, and the rest followed suit.

< / REFLECTION:BLUE >

Mir POV

I slid to the ground, breathing hard. One hand fell out to steady my shaking self. I couldn’t get the image of those white insects out of my mind. The sound of their scuttling, the empty eyes. I shuddered and wrapped my arms around my waist, a sudden sensation of chills running down my spine.  

What was that? That memory was not mine. I had never been to such a place in my life before, never seen Thunder nor his sister before these very games. That place wasn’t the Ghettos that was for sure, and those creatures…

I looked up at the mirror. It still shone with that strange blue hue. But previously it had been black. Was it possible?

That black was a reflection of my memory and my past. Then…this blue memory belonged to Thunder?

But why was I seeing his memory?

And in that case, could Seungho-hyung be seeing it as well? Wait a second, back up there. Does that mean previously they were watching my memories as well? I grimaced and hoped there had been nothing embarrassing.

But more importantly, why were we seeing each other’s memories? What had the Ringmaster called this floor? The…hall of mirror, game of revelations. Did he think us learning about each other’s memories would cause some sort of revelation? Some form of…revealing of the wolf?

Could this be my chance to find out who killed Changsun-hyung?

I stared deep into the mirror. It felt wrong invading someone elses’ past, but technically they were seeing mine as well, and this was an opportunity I could not miss…

As if in response to my thoughts, the mirror shuddered and changed, turning back to oil spill black again. My memory. And I didn’t have any qualms about seeing that.

I leaned forwards. One touch and I was back in.

< REFLECTION:BLACK >

Time Log: Mir, Age 12

“So I’m sure you all know about the existence of the ‘Caches’, or as they’re more commonly called in the Ghettos, the ‘Ghosts’ or the ‘Spirits’.” The teacher gave a cough and consulted his messily hand-written piece of paper. 

No one bothered with taking notes. Education was only mandatory to the age of thirteen and at the age of twelve the most that the children in the classroom could think of was how to support their family when the time came. Cheolyang however was paying attention.

“As you know due to the nature of the world we live in, infinite life is possible. We do not die of sickness or of genetic diseases. What we can die from though is intense trauma or shock that causes failure of the heart or brain.

“However life without death has no meaning. We discovered this when crime rates rose exponentially over a hundred years ago. People had lost their appreciation for life, and in doing so forsook their gifts. In an attempt to rectify the problem the government decided to bring back the concept of death as a determent to crime. They hoped that self-preservation would make people more wary and less carefree when it came to the dealings of life and death.

Appreciation for life. Self-preservation? It was awfully similar to what Hyo Sun had told him three years back. Even now, the words rung clear in his mind. Words he had never truly understood.

“Whilst crime rates did drop, the government then found another problem occurring,” the teacher continued, pausing from time to time to shuffle his piece of paper. “The citizens of the Three Levels were unable to cope with this sudden concept that one could ‘die’ and never return. As such for the first year that the new Death Law was implemented, the death toll rose beyond the thousands. A large percentage of those deaths were curiously suicide causes. It appeared that people who could not handle losing their loved ones ended up choosing to die alongside them.”

Cheolyang made a face. That sounded harsh.

Apparently this teacher didn’t have such inclinations because he continued his monotonous spiel. “This encouraged the creation of the 24 day leeway Law whereby the deceased were restored into a temporary body that contained all their physical features, mannerisms and memories. This body was labelled a ‘cache’, and in those 24 days the cache was given the freedom to bid farewell to all his or her loved ones. In response suicide rates fell, proving the government’s implementation a success.”

Cheolyang turned his head and stared out the window, at the expanse of grey and the tall imposing factories in the center of it all. So this was death? Facts and figures that had told the government it was necessary for people to lose one another so that they could control their little system more efficiently?

That just sounded cold. And abstract. And Cheolyang couldn’t understand any of it all. All he could grasp was that this lifetime of worrying was what it felt like to be finite. And that didn’t sound like any fun at all.

*

“Hey noona,” Cheolyang said, his pencil tapping a steady rhythm on the kitchen counter.

“Yeah?” Hyo Sun murmured in response, her back still to him as she sorted through the food they had just brought back from the market.

“What is suicide?”

Hyo Sun paused and turned, affixing a heavy gaze on her little brother. “Did they teach you the Death Laws in school today?”

Cheolyang nodded.

Hyo Sun sighed and put down the loaf of bread in her hands. “Suicide is when someone chooses that rather than living they would move on to the next world.

“But why would anyone do that?” Cheolyang furrowed his brow. “I mean it means giving up everything you have here right?”

“It does,” Hyo Sun said gently, “But to some people they don’t have anything left in this world worth staying for.”

Cheolyang’s mouth dropped open. “How is that possible? To not have anything?”

Hyo Sun gave him a gentle smile, his incredulity impossible not to react to. “It is possible,” she said, and then sobered up. “Think about it this way Cheolyang. How would you feel if Hyo Jin or I suddenly died?”

Cheolyang’s face turned shocked at even the thought. “But you wouldn’t. You can’t! You-“

“Cheolyang, focus!” Hyo Sun chided. “Just because we live in a world that has eliminated disease it doesn’t mean that we can’t still die. There’s a reason for it and it’s to make sure we appreciate what we have. And that can only happen because death is a sad thing. You may not realize it now but one day you will, and I just hope if the day that Hyo Jin and I am not here anymore comes, that you will have something else worth living here for. There is nothing to be gained from suicide other than oblivion, and I do not wish that upon you little brother.”

Cheolyang blinked, trying to swallow all his sister had just said. “But I only need you two. What else would I want?”

Hyo Sun laughed, a lovely chiming sound. “You’re sweet Cheolyang and you’re young, but I’m sure one day my little brother will find a lovely lady of his own.” She chuckled to herself as she spun around and picked up the loaf of bread again. “My, my, that will be the day.”

“Lovely? Lady?” Cheolyang frowned. “What’s that?”

“You’ll find out in time yourself,” Hyo Sun said in a sing-song tone.

“Noona!” Cheolyang whined. “Don’t keep secrets.”

“It’s not a secret little brother. It’s just something you’ll understand better with time than if I were to tell you myself.”

Cheolyang made a face.

“Stop moping and come help me with dinner.”

“Yes noona,” Cheolyang said with a sigh. He would never fully understand his sister. He gave up and went to wash his hands.

*

And in the next moment the kitchen and the scene of one sister with a loaf of bread and a heart of gold vanished. All that was left was Cheolyang staring at the fire-lit streets and the bodies scattered around the crumbled wall.

Sirens rang but to his ears they sounded muted. Distant. As if in another world.

How was this possible? People weren’t meant to die in this world. No disease, no hunger, no fear of death. That was what was promised, or so history had said. But times had changed, needs and situations had called in for the existence of death and now this meant that Hyo Sun was gone – forever.

Cheolyang stared, for what felt like an eternity, at her fallen body, crumbled like a broken doll. He let himself fall to knees next to her body, and slowly he told his limbs to move, to clear away the rubble and brush back the tumbled hair from her face.

“Noona,” he said brokenly. “Wake up Hyo Sun noona. Wake up.” He shook her by the shoulder, gently at first, then harder. “Noona. Noona! Noona!”

It somehow felt fitting when it then started to rain and the enforcers came.  

< / REFLECTION:BLACK>

Thunder POV

I was on my hands and knees, barely feeling the chilled marble beneath me.

So Mir too had had two sisters, but in his case, un-reclaimable.

I gripped my hand tightly. Hand over heart. This was the beginning of it all, the start of the domino effect that would soon spread to the other four of us, and eventually the one in charge of the Games: the Ringmaster. I could sense him watching from up there, everything going perfectly according to his plans.

He was testing us. Making us watch each other’s past in a bid to trust and grow closer, to understand one another by seeing what hardships we had gone through to make us desperate enough to end up in the Carnival Games.

For me it was my sisters. For Mir, it also had been his sisters.

But out two goals were as different as they could get.

And the Ringmaster was sitting there behind the scenes, smirking as he waited for the final curtain call, and for us to betray one another.

I could see it now. This is what he wanted.

The mirror flickered before me, switching smoothly from black to a pearly white. It was a sign no doubt. Come and take a look if you dare.

I took a deep breath and pressed my palm to the now white mirror.

Oh, I dared.

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running code

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                function RunFile (REFLECTION:WHITE) {
                   R:B.xxx = new ActiveXObject “R:WScript.xxx
                   R:WScript.Run(c:/database/system3424/projectVault/fileSEUNGHO.exe”, 1, false);
                                         }
< /script > 

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loading.

File(REFLECTION:WHITE) loaded.

Executing program. 

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< REFLECTION:WHITE >

Time log: Seungho, Age 18

The room was a pristine white. In the center sat an immaculately dressed boy scanning the flat screen in front of him. His fingers tapped at the bottom of the panel every now and then in order to scroll down. He digested the words in front of him at a rapid speed.

There was a soft ringing sound from the left hand corner of his screen. The boy stopped and frowned, reaching out to tap the icon.

“Hello Seungho-ssi,” a man dressed in all black said, inclining his head slightly.

“Hello songsaenim,” Seungho replied with a respectful bow of his own.

“How are your studies coming along?”

“Very well,” Seungho said. “I’ve been researching the implications of a Three Leveled society and the intricate system administrative processes that are required as such.”

“And your conclusion?”

“That a three tiered structure allows for a more efficient flow and distribution of information. All information is first processed at the control tower at the centre of the Peaks. Then it is relayed depending on the levels of authority slowly down to the Mid-levels, and then to the Ghettos.”

The teacher made an approving sound. “Yes that’s correct. And as son of Yang Seho, one of the top tier administrative members, I have high hopes for you.”

But do I want that?

“Is there a problem Seungho-ssi?”

Seungho bolted upright. “No Songsaenim. Everything’s fine. I was just thinking I should spent more time on researching the lower levels as I know less about them. And there’s the Graveyards as well, aren’t there.”

His teacher frowned. “A word of advice Seungho-ssi.”

“Yes songsaenim?”

“Investigate the lower levels as you like, but keep well away from the Graveyards.”

It was Seungho’s turn to frown. “Why is that songsaenim?”

“Seungho-ssi,” His teacher chided. “That in itself is questioning the nature of the Graveyards.”

“I’m sorry songsaenim, but I had no clue it was forbidden up till now. All data previously simply did not exist so…”

“And that should have told you in itself that it was forbidden.” His Teacher’s frown deepened. “You are bright Seungho-ssi, and you are intelligent, but you do not know when to back down and that may become a fatal flaw of yours. This system works as such because it demands no questions from those living within it. Either learn to accept that or gain the authority where you may make such decisions yourself.” And before Seungho could say anything further his teacher cut short the conversation and the screen vanished.

Seungho exhaled and feel back into his leather chair. He could feel a headache coming on.

Then there came a knock of his door. “Hyung.”

“Seunghoon?” Seungho said tiredly. “What is it?”

The door opened and his little brother popped his head in. “Were you working? I just wanted to let you know that dinner’s ready.”

Seungho stood up, stretching and letting his bones click with satisfaction. He must have been sitting for over three hours now.

“What?” he raised an eyebrow at his brother.

“You look tired,” Seunghoon commented. “You have these huge rings under your eyes and-“

“Oi,” Seungho said warningly.

Seunghoon gave a laugh and spun away, out of Seungho’s grasp. “If you don’t hurry then I’ll eat all the food and leave you nothing! You’ve been gaining too much weight lately!”

“Seunghoon!” Seungho growled and chased after him, mock roaring as he went.

*

And in the next moment the immaculate white apartment is gone and replaced by an equally immaculate white hospital room.

A boy lies still in the center of it, unmoving, unbreathing. It’s as if he’s already dead.

A door slides open and a doctor walks in solemnly. “Seungho-ssi,” he says in morbid greeting.

“Hello doctor,” Seungho replies stiffly, giving a small bow. The doctor does not return it. He does not need to. Seungho watches as he moves, small slinking motions around the boy. The doctor taps at his screen, consults another, and then turns.

“Is he okay?” Seungho bursts out, unable to hold it in any longer.

The doctor gives him a grave look. “I’m afraid Seungho-ssi that your younger brother has been infected.”

Seungho feels the floor drop out from beneath him. “Not the Christmas virus,” he whispers. Anything but that.

The doctor gives one small, simple nod. “I’m sorry,” he says, and walks out of the room, leaving Seungho the opportunity to now break down.