NCT : The Dream Lab

XXIII : The 7th Sense

TW : violence on minors

🌹🌹🌹

Seoul, South Korea. 2016.

When Mark woke up that morning, he mechanically headed to the bathroom and stayed locked up inside the whole day without uttering a word no matter what Jaehyun and Taeyong said to reason with him.

They were eager to know what anomaly they just witnessed but the poor scientist was too shaken to face the memories he kept from his first time in the Neozone. He couldn't process any of it. His brain was simply disconnected from the rest of him. In the middle of the afternoon, he used his last percent of battery to read a message from Johnny who nicely asked for him to run errands at a factory in the suburbs that had accepted to build a special dream recording machine for him.

He thought breathing some fresh air wouldn't harm, so he accepted to go but, as expected, as soon as he opened the door of the bathroom, he was assailed by two very worried Taeyong and Jaehyun.

-Please, leave me alone for today. I'm going to the factory as Johnny asked.

-Are you sure you can drive like that ? Taeyong questioned gently, which made Mark wonder if he really looked that miserable.

As a response, he simply grabbed the keys of a second hand car the Neos bought recently for the lab's needs and left without further explanation.

He felt guilty for causing so much worry to his friends but he couldn't help it. His mind was more messed up than ever. Nothing felt right anymore.

He drove for over an hour, mind empty, the car filled with some quiet music he didn't even listen to. He thought about Chittaphon and his heavy breathing, and the fear present in his eyes. Despite his confident act and his years of experience as a dreamer, he never faced such a situation and struggled to hide his apprehension. As they spent endless hours in the darkness, they showed each other's cage. Mark inspected Chittaphon's with attention but was briskly pushed back when he tried to step into it.

-Please, don't go inside. This is my most awful memory. I don't want you... to see me like that.

-You think those cages contain our most traumatizing memory ?

-Even in things Taeyong can't control, there is logic, a repetitive pattern that is the same for every dreamer. Didn't it remind you of the worst moment of your life ?

Mark pursed his lips hesitantly.

-I'm not sure.

Chittaphon hummed.

-Then we'll only be able to confirm my theory when the others will join us in this place.

The more he reflected about their discussion, the more confused Mark grew. Could he, by any chance, have forgotten a part of his life ? How could it even be possible when he spent his whole life with the same people ? His parents, his friends, they all knew him by heart, he had never hidden anything from them... If something so bad had happened in the past, they would be aware of it, right ?

On his way back from the factory, a couple hours later, he stopped at a drive-in fast-food with a customized machine carefully attached in his car trunk to buy a bucket of chicken wings. He ate them sitting on his car hood, appreciating the summer atmosphere and observing the scenery absent-mindedly until his gaze fell inadvertently on a distinct building in the horizon. From what he could tell from the distance, it had nothing particular, nothing worth lingering on it. In fact, it was almost ugly as if it had been elaborated and built too much in a hurry, typical in the 60's architecture, back when South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world.