NCT : The Dream Lab

XI : The Origins of NCT 127

Seoul, South Korea. 2016.

When Taeyong opened his eyes, it took him a moment to get used to the daylight again. He sighed, feeling painfully heavy in his chest and turned around. His vision rocked for an instant. An uncomfortable stinging around the eyebrow annoyed him. He brushed the zone softly, feeling the encrusted blood under his fingertips.

His blood-stained t-shirt was on the floor but he didn't want to put it on again, so he just got up shirtless.

While moving around, he noticed something unusual on his left wrist : a black tattoo that formed some sort of bracelet. It was nothing else but a simple sleek black line. Maybe his twisted mind was playing tricks on him, but he couldn't deny anymore that those powerful dreams had direct effects on his real life. But how to logically explain that ?

He shrugged this thought off, too tired to have this kind of complicated reflection.

Guided by muffled masculine voices, he headed to the sitting room where, unexpectedly, he found not only Mark and Johnny but also a very intimidating stranger.

They all looked very surprised to see him looking around but other than that, Taeyong also sensed tension between the three of them. Mark didn't even try to hide his scowl while Johnny was pressing an ice bag against his forehead.

- What's happening here ? Taeyong asked with a hoarse voice.

Johnny hurried in the bedroom to bring a jumper for the young man to wear.

- Oh well, a weirdo forcibly entered our lab and injected you we-don't-know-what, Johnny explained sarcastically.

The unknown man chuckled.

- Actually, you were on the verge of death and since none of them knew what to do, I helped a little.

Despite his haughty behavior towards Johnny and Mark, Taeyong felt a lot of sympathy for the newcomer.

Noticing that his companions hadn't welcomed him properly, the young man offered him some tea.

- How do you know about the existence of this lab ? How did you know I was in danger, too ? Were you...kind of spying on us ? Taeyong asked in a gentle way, even though the idea of being unknowingly followed by someone unsettled him.

- That's actually an unbelievable story. After all, your story is unbelievable too, so you might be the best person to understand it, right ?

Taeyong nodded in a friendly way. Both ignored the grumpy scientists.

- My childhood was pretty tough (Johnny rolled his eyes but Taeyong ignored his childish demeanor) and in the most painful moment of my life, I started having scary dreams. They predicted the future of someone I saw during the day. (The student gasped). A month ago, I saw you exercising at the park and well... I didn't really want to pry on your private life but I got intrigued by you, so I came back every day at the same hour. (His ears were beet red, which Taeyong couldn't help but find cute). The thing with my dreams is that I can't control whose fate I will foresee. After a week, I dreamt about Johnny who always accompanied you so it gave me key information about your life. And a few days later, I finally dreamt about you. I didn't know everything, just the location of the lab, Mark's illegal tests on animals and what caused your tachycardia.

- Wait, you know what caused this ? Mark exclaimed, suddenly very interested.

Jaehyun glanced at Taeyong.

- Do you know ?

The young man awkwardly scratched his nape.

- N... Not really, to be honest. I did feel myself waking up but I didn't want to go back to my suffering body, so I tried to stay asleep. I teleported – don't ask me how – to the place I visited when I was in coma. Then, I felt an unbearable pain that blinded me, the landscape transformed into space, something happened with the planets but I couldn't process what... Oh, by the way, this tattoo appeared, he added, pulling up the sleeve of his jumper.