Seoyong clung to Seohwa’s side as he worriedly asked while walking to the cafeteria, “Are you sure you’re all right? Dr 8 even said you can rest for the day.”

  Seohwa stopped walking as she raised her brows suspiciously at him and asked, “Did she?”

  “Well…” Seoyong paused, “Not really, no. But, I can ask for it.”

  “You know that’s not a very convincing lie, right?”

  “Is it wrong of me to worry about you?” Seoyong began to pout. “You just woke up, after all.”

  “Well I think I’ve gotten enough rest since I feel more refreshed actually.” Seohwa rebutted, to which Seoyong frowned in disbelief.

  It had been 2 days since Seoyong and Seohwa had received their punishment. For reasons unknown to Seoyong, he was spared from any physical torture, but knowing he was responsible for letting Seohwa be unconscious for 2 days was more than enough of a punishment.

  As usual, Seoyong and Seohwa lined up to get breakfast as they sat in the corner.

  Seohwa stabbed the soggy sausage with her fork as she chewed it hungrily, grabbing another piece after another after another.

  Seoyong watched her greedily stuff herself and gaped, “You know, you can ask for seconds, right? The kitchen closes at 7:00.”

  “…It can’t be helped, I’m hungry.” Seohwa talked while there was still food in her mouth. Seoyong leaned back in disgust but still kindly wiped the sausage sauce off her cheeks, “Yeah, I guess so.”

  After a few minutes, Seohwa burped as she felt full. She then saw the figure of Mr Alpha in the corner of her eyes as she hesitantly whispered, “I think…Mr Alpha knows.”

  “Know what?” Seoyong raised his brows curiously before realising she meant the escape plan. His face turned grave as he asked, “Is it a risk?”

  Seohwa looked back at her conversation with Mr Alpha and shook her head, “No… I think he’s trying to help us.”

  Help us? Seoyong pondered before asking, “Why do you think that?”

  “All of a sudden, he talked about gathering his men on Fridays to have a drinking party.” Seohwa muttered softly.

  Seoyong widened his gaze as he glanced at Mr Alpha chatting with some of his men, “…He just gave us our opening.”

  “That’s right. This coming Friday will be our only opening.” Seohwa nodded.

  “Only?” Seoyong glanced back at her, “What do you mean?”

  “Actually, before I got… well electrocuted…” Seohwa cautiously said. Noticing how his mood turned sour, she continued regardless, “Dr 8 seemed to be the type of person who is a stickler for rules. She practically cursed Mr Alpha out for smoking only a little… What more if she finds out he was throwing a drinking party, lessening the security without her permission?”

  Seoyong hummed, “I see, that’s reasonable I guess. But the problem is, how to escape? Sure, let's say the amount of security is less. They will still be stronger than us.”

  Seohwa nodded, acknowledging the issue. That’s when a familiar irritating voice came from the side, “I want in.”

  Seoyong and Seohwa turned to see 8-21’s smug face, Seoyong scoffed, “Why should we trust you?”

  “I want out of here like you two.”

  Seoyong frowned, ““That’s not enough… because of you—!”

  “Ok.” Seohwa nodded.

  “…” Seoyong gaped as he felt incredulous to let her in, “What if she betrays us?”

  Seohwa glanced at 8-21, her vibrant personality from the first day vanished after endless days of the weary schedule. Seohwa noticed 8-21 fidgeting her uniform on the side but her eyes had a hint of hope. “…It’s because she knows exactly what she did that she won’t betray us.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Seoyong stayed quiet as he leaned back in his chair, “…Fine.” He muttered reluctantly. In terms of observing people, he knew he could trust Seohwa’s judgement.

  Seohwa smiled as she patted the seat next to her, “Come sit, 8-21, no, it's Jisoo, right?”

  8-21 or Jisoo widened her eyes, “How did you…?”

  Seoyong sarcastically rolled his eyes, “How can we forget the girl that bravely introduced herself on the first day?”

  Seohwa rebuked him, “Yes that’s right, though you didn’t need to be sarcastic about it, Oppa.”

  “…sorry.” Seoyong reluctantly grumbled an apology as Jisoo chuckled genuinely at the comedic skit between them.

  ***

  Day 240 - Thursday

  Many days had passed as Seoyong, Seohwa and Jisoo got close to one another during this time.

  During their lunch break, Jisoo was braiding Seohwa’s long, dark green hair as she chuckled, “It feels like I got a younger sister when I braid your hair.”

  “Yuck, that means you would be my noona, moron.” Seoyong rolled his eyes as he was reading a book on physics.

  Jisoo frowned as she smacked his head, “Since I’m the noona, I should smack some sense into you.”

  Seoyong groaned in pain as he glared at her, “That hurt!”

  The two of them began to pull each other’s hairs as Seohwa watched from the sidelines, having gotten used to their little squabbles. As she glanced around briefly, she noticed Mr Alpha was talking to Dr 8 about something. Dr 8 had brought various men, ones they haven’t seen before. If Mr Alpha’s men were in Black Masks, the men Dr 8 brought were in Grey Masks.

  “Guys, stop for a second and look.” Seohwa nudged them both. The two of them looked at where she was pointing and began to calm down. They all tried to listen to what was happening. Perhaps because the experiments were working but all of their senses were heightened to a significant degree so even if someone was far away, they could hear them.

  “You’re overstepping your boundaries, Alpha.” Dr 8 sternly warned.

  “Am I now? Well, if you suddenly brought some men that clearly aren’t mine, it makes me question that you doubt my ability, Dr 8?” Mr Alpha argued back, holding his anger in.

  Dr 8 sighed, “I see your misunderstanding. But this is a completely different matter, these men will be taking an extremely high value subject to the WOW-LAB.”

  Mr Alpha froze before responding, “To Dr Oh’s?”

  “Yes.”

  Mr Alpha still stood his ground, “I can just take that valued subject myself if it's so important. Anything related to these generations are my men and I’s responsibility. That's what we agreed upon when you hired us mercenaries.”

  Dr 8 hummed and asked in a chilling manner, “Have you gotten attached to the subjects, Alpha?”

  Mr Alpha clenched his fists as he responded, “…Of course not.”

  “That isn’t very convincing. Well, I understand, you’ve spent many months training these subjects, only for them to be taken away out of your care.” Dr 8 acknowledged, “I myself am quite attached to them as well.”

  “Not for the same reasons.” Mr Alpha glared.

  Dr 8 paused as she stepped into his personal space before placing a finger on his mouth, “It may not be the same, but, regardless, I care for them deeply. But I also care about you.”

  She gripped his arm tightly, her nails digging through his skin as she whispered, “Let me give you some advice, guard the exits with your men and the Grey Men will extract the High Value Subject. Any sign of rebellion will mean immediate termination, do you understand?”

  “…Shit.” Mr Alpha squinted his eyes as he shrugged her off before turning away to order his men to guard the exits. As he did, he kicked a table down, making a commotion to which everyone turned their gaze towards.

  Dr 8 scoffed, “Men. Grey Men, retrieve the subject.”

  Seohwa, Seoyong and Jisoo paled at what they eavesdropped as they saw the Grey Men coming towards them. Seoyong immediately stood between the Grey Men and Seohwa as Seohwa hugged Jisoo.

  The Grey Leader looked down at Seoyong and robotically asked, “8-32?”

  Seoyong felt a chilling gaze behind the grey mask. For some reason, he instinctively felt the man before him was much stronger than Mr Alpha. He had to be calm or else they might take Seohwa again for torture, once was enough. Seoyong reluctantly answered, “…Yes.”

  “Please follow me to the WOW-LAB.” The Grey Leader held his shoulder as Seoyong felt an indescribable pressure.

  Dr 8 stood behind the Grey Leader and tilted her head curiously, “You’re not rebelling, 8-32?”

  Seoyong scoffed, “And experience Seohw—I mean, 8-33 being hurt again? No thanks.”

  Dr 8 smiled crookedly, “You’ve learnt your lesson. Wonderful. Considering the circumstance, I shall allow 5 minutes for your ‘farewells’ before you are taken away for good.”

  “Farewells?” It was Seohwa’s voice that asked this time, “W-what do you mean, Dr 8? Is he not coming back?”

  With her question, Seoyong and Jisoo felt their heart sink as they waited for Dr 8’s reply. Dr 8 nodded, “That is correct, 8-33. 8-32 has been deemed an anomaly. A positive anomaly. He could be the key to achieving what we researchers call the Hidden Stage of Awakeners.”

  Jisoo cautiously asked, “What do you mean by Hidden Stage? We only heard of ‘Awakening’, which is when we get our powers.”

  Dr 8 being in a good mood, kindly explained, “The Hidden Stage is what Dr Oh’s amplification process is all about. The centre goal of these experiments. It is a stage of awakening that cannot be explained by science as there is no proof physically on the enhanced powers of Awakeners. 8-32 showed snake scales last week but there was no change in his blood. What makes him an anomaly is that he hasn’t even achieved the First Awakening, the very step to be an awakener, where there is usually physical proof that some part of your body will logically change whether it be your brain, your blood or your skeletal structure.”

  Dr 8 then glanced towards Seoyong who was trying to get the Grey Leader’s hand off him as she warned, “I should warn you, every Grey Men was a previous generation of awakeners. They’re far much stronger than normal mercenaries like Mr Alpha.” Before adding, “Well, it is thanks to these previous generations who awakened naturally that we can do something like these experiments.”

  Seoyong stopped moving before she chuckled, “My mistake, that was classified information. I have gotten quite chatty due to how joyful I am that a subject under my care gained the interest of my boss.” She calmed herself down, returning to her cold, stoic face, “You have five minutes.” She turned away and walked out the dining hall.

  Seoyong looked at Seohwa and hugged her, feeling her tremble as she reached his back. It took a few minutes to have her calm down before he assured her, “I’m going to be ok. As long as we’re alive, we can see each other again. So just endure and survive.”

  Seohwa sniffled as she whispered, “But… what about—!”

  “Go.”

  Seohwa widened her eyes in shock as she leaned back. All she could see was Seoyong smiling warmly at her before he was pulled aside by the Grey Leader. Seohwa couldn’t move, too much was happening too fast and her emotions couldn’t keep up.

  Seoyong knew this as he glanced at Jisoo next to her and mouthed ‘go’ and nodded with eyes that said, ‘Take care of her’ before he was taken away.

  “Oppa!”

  The Grey Leader saw her running after them as he faced his palm forward and the gravity increased on Seohwa.

  Seohwa was crushed under the weight of the increased gravity as she felt her vision blur trying to see the last of her brother. But as the doors slid closed, everything faded black.