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CHAPTERSIXTEEN

❝BIO-ENGINEERINGQUANTUM

PARADOXFACILITY:PARTTHREE❞

Woohyun gave a small smile in return as he felt himself being pulled up slowly.

“It’s a good thing you’re not heavy, Woohyun,” Sunggyu grunted, tightening his grip further. “Do you ever eat? You’re as light as a ing girl.”

Woohyun’s smile turned upside down. Leave it to Sunggyu to rescue him and insult him at the same time.

“Need help?” Dongwoo asked, peering over the edge at Woohyun. Not waiting for an answer, though, he reached out and grabbed Woohyun’s arm. With the added help, Woohyun was successfully pulled back into elevator.

The brunet never had a serious fear of heights before, but after this near-death experience, he was pretty sure he would never get on another roller coaster.

“Are you alright, Woohyun?” Dongwoo frowned, inspecting the younger man. “Did you get hit by the bullet?”

Woohyun shook his head, wiping his tears away. He inched away from the edge of the elevator, not wanting to fall out again. Almost getting shot again and falling out of an elevator was something he never wanted to experience. The brunet looked up and noticed they were just about to reach the eighth floor.

“This mission is just getting more and more dangerous for you,” Dongwoo mumbled apologetically. He rubbed the back of his neck, frowning at the brunet in front of him. He was starting to think that convincing and taking Woohyun on this mission was the biggest mistake he had ever made.

“Argh! Get off of me! You all are going to regret this!” Taemin grunted, attempting to break free of the hold Hoya had on him. The resistance member had his knee digging into Taemin’s back, one hand bounding both of his hands above his head and the other hand had a knife pressed to the back of his neck.

“What now, Sunggyu?” Hoya asked, ignoring Taemin.

Before Sunggyu could answered, the elevator lights turned red and started flashing. Sirens blared from the speaker inside the lift. Everyone cringed as the alarms grew louder.

“What’s going on?” Woohyun screamed over the noise. He looked towards the doors and saw that Kibum had opened up a small box above the floor buttons. He was yelling into the intercom and rapidly pressing a red switch below that had the word ‘EMERGENCY’ imprinted upon it. He couldn’t hear what the man was saying over the sirens.

Woohyun wasn’t the only one who saw him, though. Sunggyu stomped up to him, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and snatched him away. He then slammed the worker into ground, pressing a gun to his head.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Woohyun heard Sunggyu yell over the alarm. When Kibum shook his head and refused to answer, the resistance leader smashed the of his gun against the man’s skull, knocking him out.

Sunggyu quickly pushed himself off the ground and inspected the elevator buttons. He began pressing various switches that adored the box but nothing worked. He then groaned loudly and punched the wall out of frustration.

Feeling like he should do something, Woohyun moved Sunggyu out of the way and observed the buttons. After briefly glancing over the buttons, his eyes fell upon one particular switch. He shook his head and rolled his eyes. He pressed a green button and the sirens died down. The lights began to slowly alternately between red and white.

Woohyun turned to Sunggyu and pointed to the green button he had pressed. The words ‘EMERGENCY OFF’ was written upon it. Sunggyu frowned and crossed his arms, scowling at the switch.

“It’s too late!” Taemin laughed. He was still on the ground with Hoya on top, but he was no longer struggling. “That alarm alerted the entire building that you fools intruded our facility. That camera up there is now showing everyone what’s going on in here, and they’ll know exactly who you all are.”

Sunggyu tsked and looked up at the camera that was hanging from the ceiling. He raised his gun and shot it, destroying the recording device.

“It’s no use!” Taemin claimed. “Everyone knows you’re here. Yongguk probably knows you’re here.”

“Well, I hope he knows!” Sunggyu sneered. He nodded towards Hoya, and said man got off Taemin. The caramel haired man grabbed Taemin by the arm and forced him to stand up.

And at that precise moment, the elevator doors dinged and slowly slid open, alerting everyone that they reached the seventh floor. Hoya and Dongwoo raised their guns. Woohyun hid behind Sunggyu, peeking over the elder’s shoulder.

The brunet’s brows furrowed as the doors slid completely open. There was no one there. The hallway was completely empty.

Dongwoo lowered his gun but kept his finger on the trigger. He walked slowly past the doors and eyed their surroundings. After a moment–Hoya pressed the ‘Open Door’ button to keep them open–he turned to Sunggyu and shook his head. “It’s completely empty. There’s no one in sight.”

“Take him out there.” Sunggyu gestured to the unconscious Kibum. Dongwoo, with Hoya’s help, lifted Kibum and threw–literally–him into the hallway. The elevators doors then closed and continued its descent to the underground levels.

“Hoya, press the B1 button,” Sunggyu ordered. Hoya nodded, doing as he was told. “Now that they know we are here, we cannot afford to stay on this elevator much longer. We’re going to get off on the basement first floor and travel down to the fifth some other way.”

“What are you planning on doing in the underground levels?” Taemin demanded, struggling against the hold Sunggyu had on him.

“We’re paying Yifan a visit,” Sunggyu smirked.

“What business do you have with Dr. Wu?!”

“That’s between us. But don’t worry, as long as you behave you’ll find out.”

It wasn’t long before they reached the first floor of the underground levels. Just as it had previously done, the elevator dinged, and the doors slowly slid open. They all filed out of the lift one by one.

“This place is seriously lacking with security.”

Woohyun nodded, agreeing with Hoya’s statement. The brunet was expecting wave after wave of security coming after them, attempting to stop them. Woohyun wasn’t complaining, though. He would rather the hallway be desolate, just like the rest of the facility they had encountered so far, than walking into a crowded room filled with scientists and security.

Walking down the only path they saw, the resistance members (and Woohyun and a struggling Taemin), followed the hallway into a larger area. The room was filled with various computers and generators. It reminded Woohyun of what the main room of the INFINITE headquarters looked like. There was a gigantic monitor attached to the wall on the other side of the room.

The skeletal image of a body could be seen on the screen rotating. Woohyun walked further into the room, approaching the monitor. The name Patient X flashed on the screen above the body. To the right of the figure were several formulas and equations, pointing to various parts of the body.

They reminded the brunet of his high school algebra class.

And that was a time in his life he did not want to remember.

Woohyun cringed mentally at the thought of his pimply, oiled complexion back in freshman year.

Woohyun shook his head, eyeing the formulas on the monitor again. He couldn’t make heads or tails of the information, but it looked important. What truly captured his attention was the rotating body, though. Every few seconds, the skeletal figure morphed into another body but with skin.

The brunet’s brows furrowed. The fully skinned figure on screen looked familiar. He felt like he had seen him before. Woohyun closed his eyes, thinking about everyone he had met recently. He knew he had seen the man, but where? It was on the tip of his tongue.

The shutter of a camera distracted the young man. Hoya appeared beside him, taking several more pictures of the monitor.

“Why are you taking pictures?” Woohyun asked.

“As proof and leverage,” Hoya informed, lowering his camera. “My job for this mission was to capture as much evidence of the heinous crimes that go down here as I could. This looks pretty interesting to me.”

“What will you do with the pictures?”

“Make several copies and have Sungyeol leak them to the press. Despite being public enemies, a lot of people support our cause. Mainly the citizens from the lower sectors, though. One of the reasons why Sungyeol is a part of INFINITE is because of the many connections he has with the press. The guy can easily persuade and leak damaging information about YG to the m