In order to rally up enough force that the even King feels threatened, the people need to be swayed. Thoughts like ‘this isn’t fair’ and ‘we deserve better’ are useless without any further convincing. Why isn’t this fair? A governor from a district with a successful background is not going to have the right persuasive power over the people. A business owner in a district that follows all the rules is not going to have the right influence on the common jobless people. A doctor, an engineer, muscle for hire. They will not have the right impression without revealing their back stories and motives. A rich man wanting to marry an android? That is not reason to rebel against a system that works. Power hungry men can’t convince anyone of anything unless they lied about their cause.

Yoochun and his cause were correct and had the right idea behind it. What is laziness but a loss of ingenuity? The rich don’t try or need to be innovative with ideas and technology is stuck at what it was before the domes were sealed and the craze led to decreased productivity and over population in the sectors closer to key’s residence. The basis of prosperity in districts like Junsu’s was the ability to survive and produce children while in Yoochun’s districts is was whether or not the people could conform to his radical ideas. A ruler in a dome thousands of miles away could not control the people like he thought he could and his bureaucracy reeked of heavy corruption.

What people needed was not a leader to encourage them to battle and revolt, but a spark to set everything in motion. Governor Yoochun’s initial attacks on the surrounding districts are throwing those few thousand domes into chaos, but nothing will really change in the long run. The rebellion lacked those essentials. A cause, an instigator, and a plan to fallback on.

That’s what Onew concluded as he acted out the story in one of little Kibum’s books for the boy’s recreational time. The boy needed assurance that his world was not coming apart at the hinges and losing to the reality the rebels wanted.

“Do they want to kill me? Do they want to hurt my dad?” How was one to respond to such questions? Kibum was not a child, but he understood as much about the world as an infant. That’s all they understood. An uneducated man like Onew knew nothing of politics or even what was really happening in the world outside the palace.

He knew of 3 absolutes. One– Art flourished and he and Hangeng were talented dancers. Two– The young Kibum enjoyed performances with complicated action. Three– He and Hangeng will never be rewarded like the other servants because they can’t have children.

Those were the things he knew for certain, but he knew many things even if he wasn’t sure they were true. Things like the conditions of the rebels in the domes, things Miss Ga-In should not have told him. She told Hangeng too, but he couldn’t speak their language even after living in the palace since his early adulthood. She meant to make the oncoming waves of terror seem like a disaster that needed to be stopped, but it made a small light come alive in the pit of his stomach. Somewhere out there, a spark was trying to catch fuel and burn.

Onew looked at the kid as Hangeng balanced on his hands in an odd acrobatic dance. This kid needed to know because he would have to find a new path if the sea surged up and swallowed them all.

“I’ve heard rumors of men killing thousands because of your father’s oppressive rule from hundreds of miles away…”

*************************

It was easy for Jaejoong to understand that his friend Yunho hadn’t really understood what happened outside their dome either. Back when that ing fiend, Junsu, had threatened to throw them outside the domes, he acted as if it was a big deal and they needed to prepare. Yoochun hadn’t told him about Heechul’s little adventures out so he hadn’t known. Looks like his friend pledged loyalty to a man who didn’t even trust him. Just like Yunho hadn’t known, Junsu hadn’t, and Key surely doesn’t either. An important question would be: why does Yoochun know?

That fear everyone had of the outside world and the radiation leaking in and killing them all, why did Yoochun disregard it enough to send someone out into it? He spouted propaganda for the equal treatment of all the people, but then he went off and discriminated against women. Jaejoong wasn’t ignorant, he knew Yoochun’s feelings. Yoochun couldn’t protect the rights of the poor, nor the women, nor the children.

And any war driven by revenge is doomed to failure. Jonghyun didn’t know that, so as someone had said to Jaejoong earlier, ignorance was bliss, and Jonghyun would find out how wrong that saying was.

The sun peaked through their dusty windows and embraced them with the scorching touch of a summer morning. “Wifey, get up, it’s time for another day serving those in higher positions. Do you want to spend your days like them? Wifey, wake up already.” Jaejoong pecked his waking wife on the neck, brushing his rough fingers over her smooth skin. She hadn’t looked any more radiant in her life than just then.

Yuri was the only beauty that wasn’t damaged by this war. The flowers that should have bloomed full of florid colors had a familiarity Jaejoong related in full to the dullness back in the domes. They shined with more magnificence back mid-winter. The notes that G-Dragon breathed out sounded like a child choking on vomit, even now as Jiyong woke up the neighborhood with his drummer boy beats. Even the water that Jaejoong used for the last of their powdered milk had a dissatisfying sour tang to it. He’d rather drink the dirty water from the bathhouse than this putrid mix.

War had driven this paradise into another hellhole.

The married couple got ready that morning like they did every morning in their old sector 7453. Perhaps the only difference was they didn’t leave their abode together but were instead picked up by Leeteuk and Changmin to head off to their separate stations. Jaejoong kissed Yuri goodbye, and she felt colder than the cold of hate.

“Be fast, concentrate, and try and get him,” Changmin instructed as he led Jaejoong to their troop. Young men of all types stood before him in columns of fit and fitter. Seungho heading the soldiers; Taemin, Seungri, Chansung, and L.Joe at the front of their respectful lines. “We’re entering from the east side of sector 1. Key won’t know what hit him.”

“We?” Jaejoong questioned. Changmin caught himself and gave a mismatched smile, hiding the blank gaze in his eyes.

“I’ll be staying here at home base. I’m not much use in mortal combat. You should fare fine. Taemin trained you to the bone. Literally.” A little more discreetly, he added in Jaejoong’s ear, “and he says he trained your mind just as well, right? You’ll be unstoppable in there.”

Nothing is unstoppable, just like this revolution is not inevitable. The circumstances were perfect for a victory, and their claims were justified enough for Jaejoong to even try. He’d get to Key, and he’d stop that egotistical ruler, but not to kill and overthrow him.

Changmin shifted his head to the sky and soaked in the sun’s rays. “We should be going in about fifteen minutes.” And Changmin proceeded to explain the procedures again as if Jaejoong hadn’t understood when he was told the first ten times. “The siren will go off and those that aren’t on the bomb squad will hide in the bunker. The walls will explode and the air will clear out in ten minutes. By that time, you all need to be inside and surging the place already.”

Finally the moment came when Jaejoong would himself back into the society he left. He had been so desperate to leave and he was coming back like this world was where he was supposed to be. The sirens echoed loudly in the bunker and when they died out Jaejoong had already slowed down the speed of Taemin’s heavy breathes and the path the debris flew at. The air was heavy as Jaejoong’s boots marched over the tundra into the smoke of confusion.

The area turned into a warzone as Jonghyun’s troops shot their laser guns and froze the defenseless civilians, rooting their feet to the ground and numbing their arms in a submissive resign. Like history says, to revolutionize weapons means to be superior to those that are stuck with sticks and stones. Inside, the screams of the residents went to deaf ears as Jaejoong blocked them out and trudged down the streets. The horror stuck faces of civilians he passed were frozen in fear morphed with contentment meeting destruction. The joyful life they had lived in this district was going to perish if Jaejoong didn’t work fast enough. Just as he had trained for, Jaejoong was physically and mentally prepared for the invasion. As his body improved he was able to react quicker to the slowed vision his mind showed him, his body evolving more and more as he spent increased time in the outside world.

Jaejoong worked quickly, bypassing all of Jonghyun’s men and entering the middle of the city within those ten minutes he was guaranteed for cover. His wristwatch had been programmed with a blueprint of the entire sector, his path to the palace highlighted in red. Rushing by restaurants and shops, homes and schools, entertainment centers and parks, he noticed that the rumors were true; sector 1 really did have it all, minus the illegal brothels and slums.

Most people avoided Jaejoong as he looked just like all the other soldiers –black uniform and buttons to show rank, except he didn’t have any buttons. The first real encounter he had with the people of sector 1 was the guards to Lord Key’s palace aiming their old laser guns at Jaejoong’s forehead. “They actually think they can stop me,” Jaejoong muttered as he ran past the men, too fast for them to even recognize what had happened. Don’t turn around to confirm their confusion, he told himself, you might see the damage the troops have done.

Inside, he lost images on his blueprints and it became clear that even Jonghyun didn’t know what the layout looked like. When he found his first window, Jaejoong ducked under the frame to avoid detection, listening for sounds of life. He could hear distant shouts, but none coming from the room. The window was latched closed and covered with bars, but the walls were oddly destructible. It took only a quick laser sawing and he had crawled in the room through a pseudo mouse hole.

The room he had entered was filled with small cots from wall to wall. There were too many for a children’s bedroom, it must have been where the servants slept. Just as he had heard, there wasn’t anyone there, not even a slumbering slave to their Lord. Of the three doors to choose from, one sounded like a laundry room, the other sounded like the kitchen where food was being created even this time of crisis, and the last sounded eerily quiet, like captives were hiding from their masters. He entered upon the assumption that anyone sheltering in place couldn’t pose a threat to him.

In this room, which was a bathroom, about ten women hid in two separate bathtubs, every single one shrieked and grasped the woman next to them even tighter. Jaejoong flashed them an assuring smile and ran straight through. He noted the female clothing thrown around the room and the beauty products on a cabinet. The mirror was rather dusty for them to use, but at least it wasn’t cracked like the one he had in his sector home. This room had two other doors minus the one had entered from. Taking a guess, the one leading to the hallway was the one all the screams echoed in.

Jaejoong closed the door to the bathroom after flicking on the lights, no use keeping those girls in fear when they were scared enough. He had indeed entered a hallway. All the lights had been dimmed, throwing a dark hue onto the walls. Disappointing, Jaejoong had been looking forward to the cheerful brightness Key’s palace should have. Instead all he saw was misery and careful structure. The arches of the ceiling meant nothing if he couldn’t see into their depths.

Key was a prideful man, but he put himself before others; he wouldn’t fight back in his own home. Instead, he’d either hide or flee. It was time to start searching randomly. One door led to a vast Library even bigger than the Jung’s, another day when he could sit a spell he would read everything the room had to offer. A separate room was a Dining Hall, and beside that laid a Ballroom. When he reached the large foyer around the corner, he noticed the patio area and the many servants armed with buckets of rotten potatoes and kitchen utensils. It was the sewage smell that he recognized first; it reminded him off his old home too much. Past the servants was a large parking building, and there could only be so many things inside. Automobiles, weapons, a safety bunker, Key himself.

It wasn’t actually any trouble to get passed the servants. In the time it took them to blink Jaejoong had crossed the path through the garden and reached the building. There was not, however, any time to stop and enjoy the fragrances the garden emitted. The scents wafted faintly through the air, not strong enough at this time to dance radiantly.

There was Key, hiding in a window, trying not to be seen. Too late, Jaejoong found him. Too late, Jaejoong came to him. Too late, Jaejoong tackled him to the ground and locked his limbs. Too late, Jaejoong had a gun to his forehead, have snuck up on him like he had his eyes closed in a resolute slumber. Lord Key had a face confidence knew, but at this moment only panic showed. Before him stood a raven haired man who appeared out of the darkness around him, and this man threatened his power more than any other out there. With his life on the line, the angular curves of Key’s flushed cheeks and sharp eyes softened. The strength he stored inside diminished.

“I think you know why I am here,” Jaejoong whispered, left hand holding out the gun while his right tapped into the watch for transmission with Jonghyun. “You’ve hurt a lot of people with your selfishness and cruelty. There are some angry men out there who want revenge.” The almighty Key whimpered, he downright whimpered in utter submission. “Do you know what you did wrong?”

Key shook his head frantically, too afraid to get words out. He let out short gasps that stuck in the back of his throat. If Jonghyun was the one to capture Key, he would have gagged the man already and tied his arms up to pull out his fingernails.

“Let me tell you. When people were going hungry, you tried to improve the state of your sector. When governors went corrupt, you sent in soldiers to destroy homes instead of appointing a new council. When people went sick, you chucked them outside and basically allowed their deaths. Instead of trying to improve the labor force, you told the nobles to enjoy the fruit of our labors. When we lost our child you condemned us to hardship until we could produce another head to feed. You ran a society as backwards as the medieval ages!”

It was just a list of grievances. All the things he felt were wrong that Key probably didn’t even know about. So many things that their Lord didn’t know about.

The double-crossing soldier released a heavy sigh. “But you didn’t know? How could you? You were stuck in this bubble your whole life. Does your Kim Kibum Jr. know? I bet not, if you didn’t.” This time he scoffed, and Key, who had been on the brink of tears before, squinted his eyes in rage, the glare shaking Jaejoong a little. A gentle person like Jaejoong found it hard to play the villain, especially when the real villain slouched in front of him.

“How could I know?” He spat. “I know what my father knew, and my father only knew what his father knew. I know I am to be loved. I know that we need more children in the poorer districts because the adults die from diseases faster there. I know that radiation was a damn efficient treatment for cancer patients, and if I see correctly, it made you stronger.” He sneered, suddenly not afraid of the weapon pressed to his head or of the knees pressed into his back. “This world is perfect if you follow the rules! No child? Just have some ing and make one! If you are chucked outside, maybe your genes will mutate enough so you can have one! You have no idea!”

The ruler put up a struggle, finding the moment of uncertainty he had caused the solider the best time to escape. He twisted his slender hips back and forth, trying to squirm out from under Jaejoong’s boots on his legs and topple over the knees from his back. His efforts failed, as the call went through and a strong right hand wrenched his hair up to look into the screen. Shimmering in his face was the devious grin of the reincarnated Bling Bling.

“Let me watch you kill him slowly-” Wild white locks showed up on the screen behind the ruler’s head and the glimmer of a hatchet caught the light, and then suddenly Jonghyun didn’t have a head. The revolution inside the domes reached the outside world.

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Whoo, I had to reread the entire fic because I didn't know what season the fic was in currently. I'm guessing late Spring or early Summer. It was really hard to write this chapter for some reason, despite researching revolutions for the past two months thanks to school. I feel like I have a much better understanding of history and how revolutions work. Thankfully, I haven’t really strayed from a realistic look.

This chapter is really wrapping up the story like I want it to (in the beginning). As the story started developing a plot, my vision for the ending did, too. Finally all the events at the beginning of the story are starting to tie back in. From Jaejoong and Yuri waking up in the very first chapter to Yuri describing how dull and lifeless the domes were and Jaejoong contrasting how the life in the outside world reminded him of their old home, the parallels are shaping up. (As you can see, I added all these themes and motifs to the foreword).

I’m not going to say it now in case it hasn’t become very obvious to you, but this is their utopia and some things are absolute.

One more chapter guys! I was right, I could be finished by May.
Comments are Motivation~♥