NCT : The Dream Lab

IX : The Origins of NCT 127

Seoul, South Korea. 2016.

Johnny signed the contract with the owner of the property on the spot. It was originally a warehouse that nobody wanted anymore because this side of the city had lost its industrial identity. It was quite poorly insulated so the scientist made a few renovation works to make it suitable. Mark had arrived a few days ago with so much material that Johnny was happy that he rented something twice bigger than what he had originally planned. Taeyong helped them move in, too. He visibly got along quite well with the Canadian student.

There was the main room, the biggest one, where Johnny had settled his computers and detectors. Beside, Taeyong installed his own desk with a lot of drawing supplies and Mark installed some kind of dental chair, where Taeyong would sleep every night while electrodes were recording his brain activity. He also brought a bunch of useful plants, medicine and chemical substances that Johnny couldn't precisely identify. Next room was a lot smaller and included a bunch of sofas with a nice TV, a microwave oven, a fridge and a sink. There, they could relax, play board games and get to know each other during breaks. The bathroom was still quite rudimentary, but hired men were working on it. The last room was the bedroom, which only consisted of bunk beds and a big wardrobe, with a few personal decorations.

One night after fully moving in, the three men shared some instant ramens, discussing their future plans. Taeyong confessed his desire to create a parallel humanity, which led to an animated debate about the ethics and the potential psychological impacts of such a thing on the latter.

- You cannot proceed by accelerating the evolution of your monkeys, that's for sure, Mark objected. There are too many uncertain parameters. You mentioned that your will power might have some limits so you might indeed be able to accelerate their evolution, but not control the direction the whole thing will take. Humans became humans because of countless factors that the environment of your dreams won't fit. Plus, there is no guarantee that your monkeys are actual monkeys, with the same organs, vital functions, diet and reproductive behaviors... This plan could easily get out of hand.

Johnny nodded approvingly.

- You also said there was a woman in your first dream. Is she still somewhere in the dream ? If that's the case, that'd mean that you don't have a grip on everything. She gave you crayons, right ? Where were they from ? If she created them only with the power of her imagination, doesn't she have at least as much power as you ? Also, there was a dead fire in the desert, which indicates the presence of someone else beforehands.

- You guys are maybe too literal about this. Dreams have always been symbolic. Maybe the woman isn't actually a woman, but the representation of something abstract that exists within me.

- But you still want to find her in order to procreate ? Those two logics are incompatible, Johnny protested.

- Why don't you invite preexisting people in your dream ?

Taeyong looked at Mark with keen interest, inciting him to continue.

- I mean, if you can produce neo-waves only since the creation of your stable dream world, doesn't it mean it has something special ? Maybe its particularity is being stable for outsiders too ?

Taeyong noted the idea in his notebook, nodding enthusiastically. He looked very joyful and excited, but Johnny worried for his health. The young man frequently refused to eat and had lost an unreasonable amount of weight. One night, the scientist interrupted the recording while Taeyong was still sound asleep, and carried him from the experiment chair to his bunk bed. He was so light in his arms that it felt like carrying a little bird and not a fully grown adult. His face was emaciated, the dark bags under his beautiful yet empty eyes testified about his struggles with sleep. Indeed, when he spent a huge amount of energy into organizing his new world, he woke up even more tired than when he fell asleep.