rewrite the stars - jaywon

chapter 34

Jungwon frowned, because what the hell kinda name was Soobin? And who did Soobin think he was, calling Jay gorgeous like that?

"His name is Jay," Jungwon informed Soobin. He was prepared for what was to come, so he was the only one among their group who didn't react when Jay's eyes lit up and he said, monotonously.

"My designation is model gamma-eight-six-five-seven, jay three."

"Oh, he speaks!" Soobin turned away from Jungwon, back to the 'bot. Jungwon felt Taehyun shift at his side, as he opened his eyes and looked at Jay.

"That was weird," Yeonjun stated, "Your boy's kinda creepy, kid."

Jungwon felt his heart clench. He wished, uselessly, that Yeonjun had had the chance to talk to Jay before he'd had everything he was erased.

"While I'd love to stick around here and figure out what else he's capable of saying," Soobin beckoned them all to rise from their seats, "We really need to get downstairs."

"We're on the ground floor," Jungwon pointed out, confused.

"That we are!"

Without another word, Soobin started to briskly walk away, his messenger bag bouncing off his side.

Jungwon shared an uncertain glance with Yeonjun, who was only watching Soobin's back recede with a fond look in his eyes. 

Finding no help there, Jungwon sniffed, set his jaw, and asked the blank Jay to please follow them.

⭐

Soobin first led their group to a hallway with six shining stainless steel elevators, three embedded in each concrete wall of the hallway.

Once in the elevator, Soobin pressed an unlabelled button at the bottom of the panel by the door. The doors slid shut, the elevator started moving down, and Jungwon once again wished he had someone to share a glance with.

Compared to the lobby area, which had been teeming with students and robots alike, the sublevel seemed nearly empty. The dim, yellowed lights flickered above their heads as Soobin led them down a hallway, then another hallway.

It was on the last hallway that their group ran into the first person they'd seen underground. A student with a sheaf of honest-to-God papers in his hands.

The student pulled up when he spotted them, looking first at Soobin, then at the rest of their group, then back at Soobin.

"Been awhile since I've seen you down here," The student said, his voice careful. Conspicuously, he slipped the sheaf of papers into a messenger bag he had.

Soobin grinned winningly, "I've had a bit of a social life lately, unfortunately."

The student looked over Soobin's shoulder, at their group again. Yeonjun waved at him, good-natured. Jungwon wondered if he should join Yeonjun and wave too, introduce himself to the guy. He looked nice enough. It was just that this conversation was delaying whatever plans Soobin had for assessing Jay.

"I see," the student said eventually, then, he turned his eyes back to Soobin, as if the rest of them weren't worth anymore of his notice, "I was just working on a workaround for HYBE's latest patch. Do you think you could drop by sometime this week, help me troubleshoot it?"

"Sure thing, bro! Can't wait to see what you've cooked up this time."

Soobin threw a thumb up, and started walking again, unsubtly motioning their group to resume following him.

Close behind the guy with the sheaf of papers, Soobin hung a left.

He pushed through a metal door with a cracked and curled sign on it that proclaimed it led to the stairs. Jungwon drew his fingers across the sign as he passed through the door. Paper. Jungwon looked back to Yeonjun. Yeonjun shrugged, looking just as lost as Jungwon felt.

There were floors lower even than the first sublevel. Soobin led them down the stairs-- he had to, the stairs only led one direction. He pushed on the door that led to the lowest floor. Its hinges made an awful rusty, squeaky noise.

"Come on, come on," Soobin hurried them along. Jungwon's eyes were drawn to the walls, to the actual, physical posters lining them. He barely saw those anymore, especially ones depicting messages about computer etiquette in excited neon font.

After half a minute of walking through the poster-lined halls, Jungwon started to wonder if this Soobin guy wasn't crazy. If he wasn't leading them on a wild goose chase. He drew back to ask Yeonjun if this was really the same guy he'd spoken so highly of, when Soobin exclaimed.

"Alright, we're here!"

And then Soobin drew up to a door Jungwon had barely noticed amidst the brightly colored posters. Soobin rummaged through his bag, then pulled out a key. 

Jungwon stared at it. It wasn't a normal key, fit with a scanner and an LED. It was one of those metal keys, the ones you only ever saw in old movies.

Jungwon's eyes narrowed, as he looked up at Soobin. The guy just kept getting stranger and stranger. It was hard to swallow that Jungwon's hopes for finding out if he could retrieve Jay all rested on his shoulders.

Soobin inserted the key into the door's lock and turned it, then pushed through the door. Jungwon followed, pushing the door open wider. Jungwon paused, as he noticed the door was heavier than it ought to be. He tested it, pulling it back and forth. Real wood. Of course.

Soobin must have turned the lights on, because suddenly the room was lit up. The overhead lights crackled to life, casting the room in a yellow hue, illuminating rows and rows of desks with massive, strange-looking computers that took up half the desk surface atop them.

— the end of chapter 34 ♡

sorry for the late update :c

i will update again after this
reaches 450 votes ^_^