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CHAPTERTHREE

❝THERE'SADIFFERENCEBETWEEN

POKINGANDHITTING❞

Woohyun wasn’t sure how long they had been walking, but all he did know was that his feet were killing him. He had never walked this much in his life before. It aggravated him to no end.

A part of him still couldn’t believe that he had actually time traveled. He couldn’t completely come to terms with that fact. Another part of him thought that maybe this was all just a very, very bad dream. Maybe he was involved in an earthquake, and he survived, but he was injured badly and fell into a coma. Maybe he really did die, and he was officially stuck in oblivion or purgatory, waiting for his soul to prepare itself for the next stage of the afterlife or reincarnation.

But then again, Woohyun didn’t really believe in that stuff.

If none of this was real, the earthquake, the time traveling, the almost getting arrested by a psychotic cop, the smelly, old hobo–Leeteuk–then he shouldn’t be able feel any sort of pain, right? Having that bullet graze against his cheek was just an illusion, right? His mind conjured up the pain to make it seem like all of this was real, right?

None of this was real, right?

Several thoughts like these ran through Woohyun’s brain. He came to the conclusion that none of this truly happened, and all of this was just a figment of his imagination.

Maybe he really was on drugs like Leeteuk kept insisting.

If none of this was real, then he could tell his brain that all of the pain he felt emitting from his wound on his cheek wasn’t real. If he were to fall down at the moment, he would feel nothing. If he were to–

L and Leteeuk suddenly stopped walking when they heard a crash from behind. When they turned around, they saw Woohyun spread out on the ground, whining in pain. It seemed that he had tripped.

Woohyun groaned as he stood up, dusting off his pants. His face was slightly flushed from embarrassing himself in front of his newly-made acquaintances. He guessed that all of this was real if the pain he was feeling from the fall indicated anything.

A quiet snicker could be heard from L as he turned back around to lead the way. Leeteuk frowned at Woohyun. They both continued following L.

“It’s a shame what drugs can do to a kid your age,” Leeteuk mused, shaking his head. “You look like the smart and intelligent type. It’s really a shame you wasted your life on narcotics and such.”

“What are you talking about? How many times do I have to tell you I’m not on drugs?! And stop acting like you’ve known me for a long time! You know nothing about me.”

“True, but I know enough to tell you that you need some serious help. I know a few rehabilitation programs that work with people like you–”

“Where are you getting this all from? I don’t understand why you continue to think I’m on something,” Woohyun was starting to get fed up with Leeteuk. He crossed his arms, stopping in his tracks.

“Why?” Leeteuk turned to him, stopping as well. “Isn’t it obvious?” Woohyun shook his head. “One word,” the ‘old man’ held up his index finger. “Time travel.”

Woohyun’s eyebrows furrowed.

That was two words.

“Leeteuk, give it a rest. If the guy said he had time traveled then he had time travel. Let him be,” L interjected.

“What? Don’t tell me you actually believe him!”

“Of course,” he glanced at Woohyun. “Not.”

The brunet scoffed, rolling his eyes. He could care less if they didn’t believe him.  It’s not like he actually said he time traveled. Leeteuk just assumed. And you know what they say about people who assume? They make an out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’

“Where did you say we were going again?” Woohyun asked.

“Back to the headquarters,” Leeteuk answered.

“Headquarters?” He eyed L’s weapons. Besides the two guns L carried, Woohyun also noticed the man carrying an array of knives tucked into several pockets and pouches that adorned his pants.  “What are you guys? Some sort of resistance group or something that fights against the evil warlord that has taken over your country?” Woohyun chuckled at his silly accusation.

L and Leeteuk stopped walking, eyeing Woohyun with suspicion. The brunet’s laughter died down as the situation grew slightly awkward and tense. They stood in the middle of the abandoned yet extremely conspicuous alleyway for well over a minute, eyeing each other.

“It’s getting late. Let’s hurry,” L suddenly turned away and continued leading the way. Leeteuk wordlessly turned away as well.

Woohyun gulped, frowning at the situation.

Who are these people really, and what did I get myself into? He thought.

The young man was starting to dislike the situation he was in. Although Leeteuk generally seemed like a nice guy–a little smelly but nice overall–and L saved his life, they were both starting to act a little weird and suspicious.

“Alright, we’re going down,” L gestured to the manhole cover in front of them. He crouched down, lifting the alloy to reveal the entrance to the sewers.

“You know, we’re going to have to have a long talk with your boss about the location of your hideout. It shouldn’t be in the sewers.”

“It’s not. The only way to get to HQ from this part of the city without bumping into the cop is by going through this combined sewer. You know as well as I do that the HQ is not down here,” L let Leeteuk and Woohyun go down first. Woohyun wrinkled his nose as he climbed down into the sewer system.

It smelled just as bad as Leeteuk.

“I honestly don’t know how people could live down here!” Leeteuk complained. “It’s dirty and disgusting. And it smells like rotten milk.”

“Coming from the one who lives in a dirty and abandon children’s home,” L frowned.

“Hey, it wasn’t dirty till ‘as high as a kite’ over here crashed into it,” he dramatically pointed a finger at Woohyun, who rolled his eyes in return.

L sighed. Leeteuk was starting to get on his nerves. Next time the boss decides to collaborate with one of our outside contacts, he should ask Dongwoo to do it. Not me.

“Another one, Lay?” A tall, young man asked, walking up behind one of his workers who were sitting at his desk, typing away at the computer.  The tall man had his hands in his laboratory coat pockets as he leaned over his worker’s shoulder, peering at the computer screen.

“Yes, just like the rest,” Lay responded. He sighed, pushing up the rim of his glasses. “Sir, what are we going to do? They keep dying. Pretty soon we’re going to have to send more of our men to gather more subjects.” Lay spun around in his chair causing his boss to stand up straight. Lay looked up towards him.

“If this keeps up, the population will start to dwindle down. There won’t be anyone left to experiment on,” his boss concluded, frowning. He ran his hand through his short blond hair, tucking a part of it behind his right ear. His thick eyebrows furrowed as he attempted to figure out a solution.

“How are we supposed to create a soldier that operates beyond normal human limits and abilities if they all keep dying? The injections we give to them continue to do the reverse effect and either ended up sending their bodies into a convulsion or a cerebral hemorrhage,” Lay complained.  He pulled at some of his short, brown hair in frustration.

 If they couldn’t figure out a way to keep their experiments alive...

Lay shuddered at the thought of their red-haired boss pulling the trigger on them for being incompetent failures.  He could just see it now, their boss pressing the gun up against his head, spouting derogatory insults. Giving him a malicious smile as his raspy voice lowered, each degrading term digging into his self-esteem.

Let’s just say Lay has been tortured quite a few times for his clumsy fiascos at work.

“I don’t understand what we’re doing wrong. I’m sure it has something to do with the chemicals we’re injecting,” the blond mentioned. “Maybe if we lower the amount of anesthetic,” he pushed Lay off of the chair and took his spot. “And increase the amount of lithium salt and anxiolytic...” He rapidly began to type on the keyboard, entering data and several formulas that Lay was not familiar with

“Um, Kris, sir?” Lay questioned. The tall blond–now known as Kris–ignored him. “Maybe I should get Lu Han… He’ll probably be of more use to you than me.”

Kris stopped typing and turned to Lay, “True; while you’re at it, get Suho as well.”

“No need to,” a familiar voice confirmed. Kris and Lay turned around and saw Suho, Kyu