Dream Is A Killer

Chapter Five

Lee Jinki's status hasn't been updated for over half a year now, and Yesung worries that something had happened to his friend. The media doesn't have a single clue about what happened to Earth. Even the deep web doesn't. And it's fishy, risky, and too dangerous to be doing what they're doing now, but he'd give it a shot.

He's met Nikita a few months after moving into the new planet, and one of her many countless capabilities, is the way she has with networks. On his request, the girl is spending the weekend hacking the stations nearby Earth to try and get something.

"Oh!" The clicking sound of the keyboard stops, and he turns his gaze from the contact list to her screen. "This is interesting," she hums. "There's a recording that happened during Earth's initial destruction, but the file had been shredded rather than deleted. Probably to stop anyone from retrieving it." Yesung leans closer to the screen, but he hardly understands the codes written. "I can try to assemble the shredded parts, but I doubt we'll be getting a full video." She starts typing again, and some of the codes turn from red to green. It's already taken too much of her time, and Yesung is going to give up for good if they don't have a result today. "Here we go," she takes a deep breath and presses the play button, and Yesung holds his breath. The video is barely having colors, and there is an awful amount of lines across the screen that he has to squint his eyes to see. Earth is shown though, that much is visible, and in a matter of seconds, the planet's outer shell expands and glows from beneath until it's exploding completely. "Well, I mean that much we know. But it's astonishing to see it live. It's like a star going supernova." Nikita gasps as the video stops there. "I think there's an image that had been taken of Earth after the explosion." She types a couple of codes, and Yesung's heart skips a beat.

Floating in space, is someone. Looking very much like a human with extremely long white hair. And when Nikita enhances the quality, he collapses on the floor making the girl turn to him with a confused expression. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Taem?!"

"You know this person?!" Her eyes grow wide.

"Nikki," he regains his senses again. "Can you have any other recordings afterwards?" He asks desperately, and the girl cocks a brow at him.

"No," she turns back to her screen. "Every other data is completely gone."

"Whose station is this?"

"Mars neutral forces."

"Surely other stations have something."

"I've cleared them all," she pauses. "Only Choi remains."

"And?"

"Are you nuts? I'm not penetrating Choi's system, they'll come for my head!" She panics. "Who is this person anyway?"

Yesung sighs and sits back on the floor. "An old friend of mine."

🪐

Okay, he's got this. He just needs not to panic. Which is easier said than done. He raises both hands in the air to assure her that he means no harm. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Of course you're not," she scoffs. "You'll suck the life out of me just like you did to my sisters."

"No-"

"You're a lot less terrifying than she describes you," she looks over him. "Could hardly mistake you for a human if I didn't know better."

"Lady Ester?" Taemin frowns. "Does she really threaten you with the idea of my existence?"

"She glorifies you," the corners of her lips turn downwards in disgust. "Ready to risk all of us just to have you."

"What?"