“Experiment L.313, four years old, male. Heart rate is stable. Breathing is stable.” A man in a white lab code stated into his two way radio after inspecting the first sleeping toddler. The room was relatively quiet, the only sounds that could be heard were the three heart rate monitors running in the background, the oxygen tanks pumping air into the three little unconscious bodies and static from the two-way radio in the older man’s hands.

“Infections?” A female voice asked through the radio. He stared down at the small boy’s large stitched up incision running down from the top of his small chest towards his midsection. He momentarily looked away from the boy’s body towards the large window above. On the second floor staring through the glass stood his partner.

“None.” He informed the person watching over him, shaking his head side to side. The woman above nodded her head then proceeded to write something onto her clipboard. After seeing the other motion for him to continue, he walked to the next bed, which held a smaller body.

“Experiment J.918, three and a half years old, female. Heart rate is slower than Experiment L.313 but seems to be stable. Her breathing is stable.” He said looking carefully at the heart rate monitor and then the small girl. He lightly lifted the small child, careful so as to not disconnect the cords. Jihoon checked around the small girls back where two stitched up vertical parallel lines could be seen. He then laid the child back down and looked at the vertical incision on her chest that resembled the first child he checked. “No infections.”

“We had to do a different procedure on her since she’s smaller. We used different drugs and antibiotics that’s probably why her heartbeat is slower. No infections mean that the antibiotics were successful.” The woman above said smiling as she informed the concerned scientist below. Lifting her head from her clipboard she could see his worried face, the woman above blew out a sigh. “JiHoon-ah… she’s fine. You probably shouldn’t care so much about these kids, you’re getting too attached. Everyone in this department is already starting to question you.”

Ignoring the woman’s statement, the scientist continued to the next bed after making sure the previous child was fine. He looked over the second boy of the three toddlers. He smiled sadly as he remembered what the young boy told him before being taken into operation.

‘Am I going to be turned into a robot? Cause that would be cool!’

“Experiment K.114, four years old, male. Heart rate and breathing are both stable.” Jihoon carefully moved the small boy’s head to the side to check the incision around his head. He then turned the small body to his side to inspect the long incision down the middle of his small back. Lastly, he checked the similar vertical incision on the front of his chest. “And no infections.”

“Great. So they’re all stable and doing rather well… more than we theorized.” The woman stated smiling brightly as she tapped her pen on the clipboard that she was studying. “This is going to be big if they survive through this. Imagine it! This could change the world, Jihoon!”

“Yeah...” Jihoon mumbled taking off his gloves and mask. He stood away and stared at the three unconscious children. He knew he shouldn’t feel this way; it was his experiment to begin with. He wanted to change the world and he came up with the brilliant idea of Experiment Paragon but once the three toddlers were brought into the plan, his demeanor changed completely. He didn’t want to go through with his plans anymore but working for the government he had no choice. “Three perfect human beings… I’m sorry.”

“Jung Jihoon.” A deep male voice brought him out of his stupor. Looking towards the window he saw the tall figure of the Army General next to his partner.

“Sir.” Jihoon greeted the other male through the two-way radio before bowing towards his direction.

“When will the three alien babies wake up?” The tall general asked showing off a smirk that he knew Jihoon hated. “I’d like to see the outcome of this long awaited experiment of yours.”

“Soon. They need to recover and have their wounds healed first.” Jihoon replied glaring at the other man above him.

“Of course… Excuses, excuses.” The general scoffed. He turned to walk away but stopped momentarily and turned back around staring down at Jihoon. “You need a haircut, Jihoon. Your hair bothers me.”

From below, Jihoon watched as the arrogant Army General strutted away. He touched his hair feeling self-conscious. He stopped when he heard giggling from the radio. He turned his attention to his partner.

“I like your hair, don’t worry.” Jihoon couldn’t help but blush at her remark.

“Thanks, Hyori.” With that he watched as his partner walked away from the window. It was silent once again before a small voice broke through the air.

“Appa, I think she likes you.” The older man turned to the source of the voice and found one of the toddlers awake and looking directly at him with a tiny sly smirk showing on her small face. He smiled once he realized what the little girl called him.

“No she doesn’t… and why are you awake?” He asked walking towards the child. He pulled a seat next to her bed.

“Everything hurts, Appa.” Hearing the little girl’s small pained voice broke through his heart. He reached up and moved her bangs out of her forehead.

“I’m sorry Eunyoungie.” He whispered kissing the top of her head. “Appa’s sorry. I promise you’ll be fine after today. You’ll be healed and you can go play with Myungsoo and Jongin again. Alright? Just go back to sleep.”

The little girl nodded her head then proceeded to reach both arms up towards the older man asking him to carry her. He smiled down at the small child before unplugging her from the oxygen tank and heart rate monitor. He carefully picked her up and carried her in his arms. He securely wrapped one arm around her small body while his other hand held her head gingerly against his shoulder. He walked around the room humming a lullaby while lightly lulling the child back to sleep. Soon the little girl had fallen asleep in his arms.

“So… I was wrong. You already are attached. Do all of them call you Appa?” Jihoon jumped in shock after laying the toddler back in her bed and hooking her back up to the devices. He turned around seeing his partner with her eyebrows raised and arms crossed looking at him with a perplexed stare.

“Look, don’t tell anyone.” He said quickly moving closer to the doctor. “I didn’t intend to love these kids as if they were my own, okay? It just happened. You have no idea how smart and loving these kids can be.”

“I know, I’ve been around them for a year Jihoon… but you’re playing with fire right now. You know sooner or later the government will take them away. After this experiment breaks through, they’ll be gone.” Hyori reasoned. Jihoon turned away. He already knew the truth but he refused to actually believe it. “You’ve made a big mistake. Your major experiment will be ruined if you continue to care for these three kids like this.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Jihoon angrily whispered. “I’ve tried telling myself that! But Eunyoung started calling me Appa and I couldn’t… I just can’t…”

“Eunyoung?” Hyori asked confused. Her eyes widened in realization. “You even gave them names?!”

“Stop yelling.” Jihoon whispered glaring at his partner. “You’ll wake them.”

“Unbelievable.” Hyori sighed out shaking her head. “What’re you going to do when SeungHyun comes and takes them away? You shouldn’t of let this go this far. He’ll be back once they heal.”

“I…” Jihoon thought of an answer but nothing came to him. He sighed frustrated with himself before sitting down in a vacant seat. “I won’t let him take them though.”

“And how exactly are you gong to stop him, you moron?” Hyori asked rolling her eyes.

“I’ll take them far away from here. From him." Jihoon said snapping his fingers at his idea. “I’ll run away-”

“Are you insane?” She looked at her partner as if he had gone insane. “I hope you know that these three are part of a huge government experiment that you came up with. Running away with them will get you and them killed.”

“Not if I get help.” Jihoon said looking hopeful at his partner. Realizing where the conversation was going, Hyori quickly shook her head and raised both hands in the air.

“Nope. No, I am not going to help you!” She said staring intently at Jihoon. The scientist put up his puppy face and looked pleadingly at his partner. Hyori continued to shake her head at his actions. “No!”

“Would you rather have these kids stay in the hands of Army General SeungHyun Choi or would you rather have them be taken care of and loved by me?” Jihoon asked in a serious tone. Hyori stayed quiet contemplating her options. Remembering the sweet moment of the little girl and Jihoon a few minutes ago, she succumbed to a decision.

“Fine. I’ll help you but we’re going to need more people to help us. It’s not possible with just us.” She said letting out a loud groan as she furiously rubbed at her face. “You’re lucky that I actually like those kids too. If I didn’t like them so much then you’d be on your own-”

Without waiting for her to finish, Jihoon ran towards his partner and engulfed her in a tight hug. He repeatedly thanked her and continued to hug her. Hyori stood frozen in place, too shocked as Jihoon kept his hold on her.

“Thank you so much.” Jihoon whispered pulling away from Hyori.

“Don’t thank me yet.” Hyori sighed out turning away from the man in front of her trying to hide her heated face. She cleared before continuing to talk, “So where would you plan to go if you manage to escape from here?”

“America… I’ll keep them there for a few years. I’m pretty sure the last place the government would be able to reach is there. I have a dual citizenship of both American and Korean, I can easily get through. And when they start searching there I'll leave and come back, they'll never expect it.” Jihoon said sounding overly positive about his statement.

“Mmm, sounds like you got this all planned out.” Hyori nodded her head. “How long do you think it’ll take them to heal?”

“If my hypothesis is correct, in a few hours. The formula I gave you to infuse into their blood stream is supposed to make them stronger. It’s supposed to make it easier for their body to heal faster.” Jihoon explained to the doctor.

“So Mr. Scientist, care you tell me what was in that formula since you know, you’re not technically aloud to say but what’s the point now since you’re planning to run away?” Hyori asked clicking her tongue.

“The formula has extraterrestrial substances in it.” Jihoon stated slowly watching Hyori carefully for her reaction.

“Extraterrestrial?” She mumbled clearly confused. Her eyes widened when she repeated the word in her head multiple times. “Wait… you mean like alien extraterrestrial stuff?”

“Not really alien stuff.” Jihoon continued with squinted eyes not sure how to tell her the story. “The government found this sort of jelly like substance that fell from the sky a few years ago. It was blue glowing gelatin, it just rained full of that stuff in the desert part of North Korea. It was really weird but the South and North Korean governments kept it a secret. They gave me some to experiment with… a year ago I debunked it, experimenting with animals and stuff like that. Turns out when it gets into the blood stream it shields the blood cells with this protective outer shell. A couple more tests and I figured out it helps the body heal itself at a very fast pace. When I mean fast, I mean extremely fast-”

“Wait, then what was the point of us taking out their hearts and replacing them with titanium ones?” Hyori asked even more confused. Her mind swirled with questions. “If it was that easy… you know to just instill the formula into their blood streams. What was the point of all the other operations on them?”

“That’s what I was going to get to…” Jihoon said running a hand through his long hair. “All the animals I’ve tested this stuff with… they all died. The extremity of its healing causes the heart to explode.”

“Okay, that’s understandable I guess… but that still doesn’t explain the other parts you wanted us to operate on. Experiment L.313’s liver, J.918’s lungs and kidneys… or K.114’s skull and spinal cord… why’d you want us to replace them all with titanium? And why are they all different? Oh god, my brain…” Hyori exaggerated grabbing her head from spinning out of confusion.

“They all have different blood types. I checked the effects of the formula on different blood types. L.313 is an O blood type, side effects of O’s cause the liver to burst. K.114’s blood is A and for A’s the skull and spinal cord give out. For J.918, her blood type is B and the side effects for B’s are that the lungs would suffocate them to death and the kidney’s would burst.” Jihoon went through each child’s possible death. After finishing he looked over to his partner and saw that she was trying to slowly wrap her brain around the newly found information. “Am I saying too much?”

“Yeah, just yeah.” Hyori said rubbing her temples and waving him away with a free hand. “Wow, but… one more question.”

“What?”

“Why is your formula called Paragon?” Hyori asked tilting her head to the side staring at the man before her. She was curious. “Doesn’t Paragon mean like something that’s viewed as a model of excellence or to be perfect? But if the formula causes so many problems, why is it named the complete opposite?”

“Paragon does mean exactly that but the experiments are named after it, not the formula. The formula’s the problem but in the end it makes the experiments perfect. It pretty much kills illness and heals the body making them indestructible. The healing is what I was going after, that’s what started my experiments. To be able to heal people. That’s the main point of my experiment… but the government wants to use the formula to make a perfect army.”

“A perfect army?” Hyori wanted to laugh at the ridiculous statement.

“An indestructible army… pretty much just like it sounds. But what General dummy doesn’t understand is that they still feel pain. They may heal faster and the possibility of death for them is at one percent but the pain still remains and it’s much more intense for them.” Jihoon told the doctor. He shook his head with a light scoff as he remembered the things General Seunghyun told him before he was able to start his experiments. His features softened however when he thought about the pain the three toddlers are currently going through in their sleep.

“So when are you planning on escaping with the little rascals?” Hyori asked watching as Jihoon stared attentively at the three little children.

“As soon as possible…” He nodded his head looking over to the doctor. Hyori nodded her head in understanding. She didn’t know what pulled her into wanting to help him but she knew it was for the better interest of the three children. Seeing them the way they were at the moment pulled at her heart.

Incase you need a little help: L.313/Myungsoo is Eru “L”, J.918/Eunyoung is Amber, K.114/Jongin is Kai. We’re sorry if this chapter was confusing to start this fic off but if you ever get confused with the characters just refer back to the Foreward! ^^ Throughout the fanfic the three will be refered to with three names!