Area One

19

It had been two months since he had entered the hospital. He was supposed to be released today and the doctor had told him they would talk about the insurance then. Junmyeon suspected that he was talking about money. They had also assured him that, as soon as he was recovered, they would inform the police so his case could be investigated. So, despite his guilty conscience, he had started planning to get out early on the day he was supposed to be released. The final check-up was already done. It had just been too late to discharge him yesterday, they had told him.

Junmyeon didn't mind. He wanted to leave an apology in his room, but he couldn't leave any traces in case the Red Force would start looking for them outside of Area One. Someone had brought him a pair of clothes to wear today, so he carefully stood up and started dressing. What a relief it was to finally get out of these weird hospital gowns.

He had learned a lot about the world during his stay, but his main focus had been on the map he had gotten during the second week. It was a map of Seoul and its surroundings, including the southern part of the Chronos area. It showed an entrance, and even though sneaking through it without being seen would be beyond difficult, it was his only chance to get inside.

It had taken him a while to decide what to do. He was terribly ashamed of his thoughts during the first few weeks of his stay. Even with the map in his hands, or maybe because of it, he had strongly debated over his plans. Why would he even want to go back? He had just come to know that there was a world outside of this mess he had grown up in, a world without the cruel reign of the Red Force. He could build up his own life as a free person, someone who wasn't being hunted down for cruel experiments.

He often had nightmares where he experienced all of his memories of that place again. More than once had he suffered from panic attacks during the occasional check-ups and he found himself being way more cautious with people in general. And his power... he had tried using it once. He knew it wasn't gone, he had been able to form and move a water droplet, but that was it. His control over it was far worse than it had been in the very beginning, and he didn't know if it would ever be back to how it had been.

For a few days, he had allowed himself the luxury of dreaming of a life outside. He could just stay in Seoul. One of the people he had met in the hallways of the hospital had given him a small card and told Junmyeon to call him if he ever wanted to work as a model. He had asked the doctor what that meant later on, and even found himself considering the idea afterwards.

But that had been the point where he had realised what he was doing. He had burned with shame. His friends were out there, some might have not made it out alive or even be back in the labs of the Red Force and there he was, considering a peaceful life without any worries and without having to hide.

He had even considered speaking to Chronos for a short while. He had learned a lot about this organisation and they had nothing to do with the Red Force. Everyone loved them and set their hopes on them, and he had seen pictures of the other test areas. They were trying to grow plants with a higher rate of photosynthesis to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. He had tried to learn more about these processes, but looking one thing up usually brought up at least three other things he didn't know, so he had just stopped being curious about how that worked.

He knew that he should tell Chronos what was actually happening in this test area. But no one would listen to him if he spoke up, and if they did, they would start asking questions. And the last thing Junmyeon wanted was to be confronted with the Red Force again in that way. They had been able to clean up behind themselves for decades, he wouldn't be able to stop them on his own.

That was why he had to get back. They had to find a way to defeat the Red Force, so that the world would see what had been going on all this time. Chronos always reacted to criticism and they were quick to take appropriate measures if something went wrong or if an employee deceived them.