Jimin Ki Archives/V: I Found Real Life Flash

BREAKFAST WAS QUIET THAT MORNING. Opposed to the noisy lunch yesterday, I preferred lunch better. Without Alice's optimistic spirit and Baekhyun's sarcastic comments. The only sound in the vast room was the clink of metal chopsticks, forks, spoons, and knives against delicate china as we slid our food around and pretended to eat.

Sophie kept shooting me worried glances as if still convinced I wasn't okay although I felt fine. Paula was stabbing everything on her plate and mushing it together, occasionally actually taking bites. Seojun had given up on eating altogether and was instead focused on Natalia who seemed uncomfortable just from his stare in general.

Seojun sighed and switched his gaze to me before opening his mouth to speak. "So, Jimin. You're probably wondering what the hell happened yesterday." I nodded, fully looking up to meet his gaze. I set my chopsticks down and placed my hands in my lap. "I figured. So July, the deity of summer and bunch of other things I can't remember about right now has a group of followers called LV who double as his servants and closest comrades. They live in his fortress which is located in the Taebaek Mountains near the border and are in general, pretty close to him.

"The Institute, July, and LV used to work together to fight the threat of de-evolution due to an extensive reliant on technology. But for reasons unbeknownst to us, they've turned against us. In the past couple of months, they've reportedly destroyed storage warehouses, other bases around the world, and constantly harassed her in South Korea, They've kept lying to us as if we've somehow offended them by going against their morals. but only Dr. Maxwell and some of the higher officials know about the full situation."

That doesn't add up with what Zero told me. They were supposed to protect people and stop evil. Wasn't July one of the seven most powerful deities in the Council? Didn't they exist to stop de-evolution? Why would he turn against them? But then again why do I keep thinking about what Zero told me? He's from the other side, he's most likely lying. A boy with a deceiving smile like that could most likely get away with anything.

But I kept going back to what he said and kept trying to put the pieces together. Someone was lying, something was wrong here, I just don't know what.

Natalia finished chewing her food and set her fork down. "Now, we have word that July is apparently planning to reverse the human evolution process, which would reverse the Council's age and place of power so he can become the most powerful deity in the Council and import a sort of monarchy system. There are reports that July has received blueprints for a doomsday device that could do such things," she said, continuing off from where Seojun ended.

"We've created a plan to steal the blueprints for this device from July's fortress, but now that Baekhyun has been taken we will simply combine this plan with the one to save Baekhyun, essentially killing two birds with one stone," she concluded. Paula, who happened to be the only one who finished her food seemed to be ready to talk as well.

"After you've done enough training that Dr. Maxwell sees fit, we're going to go head out to the Taebaek Mountains to save Baekhyun and get the blueprints back. First, we're going to of course go to the Taebaek Mountains, but that in itself will probably take a week or two. Then, Natalia is going to do her 'magic' and get us past the security system so we can enter the fortress. Once that's done, we're going to send Natalia and Seojun through the venting system since they know the place best so they can go steal the blueprints while Jimin and I will keep watch and Sophie and Alice will go rescue Baekhyun," she exclaimed, talking quickly and elatedly.

I nodded slowly in understanding, yet still didn't say a word. Sophie opened her mouth to speak, as it looked as if she wanted to add something to the conversation but the door to the cafeteria slid open and we all turned our heads to look. Dr. Maxwell, dressed casually in a long-sleeved red cotton shirt and black jeans, had walked in with his hands in his pocket and a soft smile on his face.

Simultaneously, we all stood, but only Seojun and I bowed in greeting. The girls seemed a bit uncomfortable as they probably weren't as familiar with Korean culture, so they just stood there.

"Good morning, I assume you all slept well?" Dr. Maxwell questioned. We all nodded in response. "Good. Well, the rest of you should head off to training, I will personally escort Jimin as he is new." The others nodded again and left the table to all walk to the door and disappear beyond it. It was just us two now, and despite his reassuring smile, I did not feel comfortable in the room with him.

"I apologize for yesterday. It must've been very overwhelming for you." I simply nodded in response, dead set on saying nothing to the man. "Well then Jimin, how do you like the rest of the Selected so far?" he asked. I couldn't nod my head on this question. I had to answer. I didn't want to answer.

"They're... fun," I stated in the shortest response I could think of. Dr. Maxwell raised an eyebrow, possibly in disbelief or disapproval.

"They're fun? Well, that's not very descriptive. I expected more from you Jimin. According to school records, you are absolutely fantastic at literature. I thought a question like that would earn more of a response." I just blinked, and he finally got the fact that I didn't want to make conversation. "Shall we go then?"

I nodded for what I swear was the fifth time since this one-sided conversation began.

Dr. Maxwell turned himself around and headed to the plain sliding door and passed by it, me following him. We entered the drab, irregular hallways that killed me from the inside out and drove me insane. I followed him around twists and turns and decided to at least make an attempt to memorize our route. Compared to yesterday where I was constantly panicking, I found myself quite more successful this time.

I hypothesized that by two weeks from now I would have the whole building memorized. The superhuman ability really did help, and now that I was aware I had superhuman abilities, I found it much easier to notice when I was using them. I felt much more confident knowing that I ran faster than the most athletic adults in the world, and more intelligent knowing I had the mental capacity to solve algebra problems in my head in a span of a second. I simply assumed if Baekhyun could do it, I could do it to with some practice.

I was still half convinced we were going nowhere even though I clearly knew this path was of its own accord and we weren't wandering around in circles. We finally stopped at another door that looked the tiniest bit brighter shade of peach than the walls, and that subtle difference made the environment less threatening. A tiny bit of me was longing for Zero's deep voice and a kind smile to calm me down.

For some reason, I was still having trouble convincing myself Zero was the enemy. Not only did Zero and Seojun's stories not add up, but a person as nice and gentle as Zero simply couldn't be aiming to reverse human evolution. At least that what's I believed. Yuna and S? Yes. Well, it's debatable. But they definitely didn't seem like the people you would want to be best friends with. I wondered how they even got along. It was subtle, but I noticed a type of hostility between Yuna, S, and the others, even though I knew they were apparently ex-friends turned enemies.

Yuna and S honestly didn't seem to ease up to the others quite well although they've known them longer than I have, and at one point use to be allies and maybe even friends with them. On the other hand, Zero seemed completely relaxed even though I was sure he was aware that I could've told the others and everything—but I didn't. A random conversation during an attack between captor and prisoner somehow made me trust him more than I should. This obviously wasn't a safe thing to do, but how are you supposed to tell your heart to shut up when your head is screaming at you too?

We entered the room, and I took note of the swoosh the doors made when they closed behind us that happened to amuse me. The room itself was superior like the rest of the building. There were several other doors around the room that either connected to more hallways of insanity or other training rooms. The walls were a light cream color, and all the walls beside the one with the door we entered from were covered three-quarters in leather. The floor was covered in a soft foam-like mat material that probably existed to soften landings or something like that based on the equipment in the room.

Speaking of the equipment, this particular room must focus on enhancing agility and general gymnastics based on the things I was seeing around the room. There were climbing ropes and nets of all sorts, silver monkey bars and handles hanging from the ceiling. There was a climbing wall on the far side of the room, taking half of the wall across from us. Someone was currently on the climbing wall, darting up it with amazing skill and balance. They were a blur of light brown hair and black and blue clothing as they scaled halfway up the wall in seconds.

Dr. Maxwell noticed my slightly shocked expression, and I could take notice of him chuckling. "I have to go. I need to return to my work in the laboratories, but first, let me introduce Connor to you," he informed me. "Connor? Come down here please," he called to the boy who was now at the top of the climbing wall.

The next line of events amazed me to the point of temporary paralysis.

Connor released his grip on the top two ledges that kept him from falling off the wall and bent his body over, his feet coming loose of their footholds to let him plummet downward. He tucked himself into a ball and landed on the mat in a roll, standing up when he had ceased movement. To my surprise, Connor seemed to have no injury whatsoever. He strode over to us and I noticed his shocking height as he got closer. His bright smile was composed of pearly white teeth and beaming blue eyes that were simply captivating.

Connor, like many in this place, was a foreigner from what I could guess would be Europe due to his paler hue in skin color. He smiled at me and waved at Dr. Maxwell. "Annyonghaseyo! My name is Connor, and I understand you are Jimin?" he quipped cheerfully, his voice a curtain of happiness, wrapping me in a sudden sense of trust.

I nodded, letting a small smile light my face as well.

"Well then Jimin, we should begin training, shouldn't we?" he asked in a rhetorical manner. "Hope you make some progress Dr. M, I'll see you at lunch." Dr. Maxwell nodded in understanding and turned to leave. For once, I didn't watch him walk out the door. Instead, all my focus was on Connor who seemed to radiate positivity and cheerfulness.