SILENCE | ATEEZ

8 | Diverge Reality

The two hours pass like mere minutes for them, but along the way there is roughly enough time for them to recover from their hunger. Jongho and Wooyoung didn't wait a second before shoving the burgers inside their mouth, while San only preferred to eat the vegan option for wraps. Arin goes for the pasta and Mingi seems to be salivating over all the food choices that he decides to take a little portion of everything. On the other hand, Elenna has herself stuffed with different types of fruits as the freshness of it hits her mouth.

It has been quite some time since they had the chance to eat with such privilege. They don't even eat sometimes to save themselves from being a burden amidst the war. Eating itself becomes such a struggle because of how all of the food stocks in their district had been destroyed by the soldiers of VESTRA, leaving them crawling for even the tiniest bits of food. A little guilt follows their heart as they eat there, thinking about how other people are still suffering outside the walls of Astral Ruins.

With their full stomachs now, Yunho has them gathered again at the assembly point in the lounge where he no longer stands on top of the stage. Instead, he's on the ground facing them directly, but Jongho can still see that the soldier's height is not a joke as he surpasses most of the newbies here even when he's standing on the ground with them.

The soldier then starts to assign them a room number, but not specifically the numbers to the sector on the lounge floor. They are moving upwards, where their eyes widen even more as the door of the lift opens. Each group was assigned a different floor and their group had to move to the 24th level, where an extremely bright light greeted their sight as they stepped out from the lift.

There isn't much that captures their attention but a huge machine that is heavily built with the latest version technology definitely takes the spotlight. Wooyoung is the first one to approach the machine, running his fingers through the material of the couch attached to parts of the machine.

It is almost like a machine that you see when you visit the dentist, with a chair that looks softer than any other bed they've ever laid their heads on. Next to it is the machine that has wires dangling from the side, connected to a monitor that displays a blank white screen. Their eyes trail the head piece placed on the chair, they can feel their stomachs turn.

All of them turn towards the door simultaneously as it creaks open, revealing a man with blonde hair and nice teeth. He's smiling at them, before taking his place on a smaller chair in front of the monitor and his hand goes to click something on it. A little beep sound ringing in their ears as the soft chair beside him starts moving, now it is laying flat similar to a mini bed. Wooyoung hold himself from running and crashes down his body onto that soft chair as he feels his muscles sore due to his training with Arin.

The guy continues to check up on the machine for a few minutes, before he finally calls out San's roll number, reading it from his little notebook.

"Wait, I thought only newbies have to complete this quarter?" San's voice appear smaller than his usual tone, for the first time Elenna can sense a tiny bit of emotions through him.

Fear.

"There have been some changes in the policy. Now, if you please," the man points the soft chair towards San as he moves hesitantly, clearly doesn't favour the idea of going through this particular sector again. All eyes are on him, but Wooyoung's attention is disrupted by a little grin playing on Arin's lips as her eyes fixed on San. He squints his eyes, a little curiosity creeps into his heart, and almost a bit of fear.

San lays down on the chair, his face maintained still. His body is stiff, and the man on his side is slowly putting on the head piece on top of his head, fastening the wires all together.