You Make Me | Lee Eunhyuk

29, winter

"Never a dull day," Jiwon muttered to herself, her voice barely audible over the cacophony of explosions occurring through the facility.

The ground trembled beneath her, but she remained seated on the cold, hard floor, arms crossed over her chest, eyes squeezed shut. She needed to stay out of this. Whatever was happening out there wasn't her fight. But the relentless noise tugged at her curiosity.

"Would they shoot me for this?" she wondered aloud, rising to her feet and walking over to the glass wall that enclosed her.

"Hopefully not," she added under her breath, before gathering all her strength and smashing her fist into the glass. The shards fell like rain, clattering to the floor around her.

Now faced with the metal-padded door, she took a deep breath and threw herself at it repeatedly. Each impact sent jolts of pain through her body, but the door barely budged, only small dents appearing on its surface.

"Wow, they thought this through," she panted, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. Her knuckles were raw and bleeding, but she kept pounding on the door, each hit growing more desperate.

Frustration bubbled within her. She knew she had to bring out the big guns. Closing her eyes, she focused on transforming into the monstrous form she dreaded yet relied on for survival. When she opened her eyes, nothing had changed. "Damn it," she swore, feeling a surge of panic. Taking a deep breath, she punched herself in the face. "Come on!" she yelled, delivering another blow.

The second hit did the trick. Her body started contorting, and she watched in the reflection of the metal door as her appearance morphed into something grotesque. Her eyes turned pitch black, dark circles swelling beneath them as if she'd been crying for days. Her skin grew pale, green veins pulsing visibly. She looked more like a sick patient than a monster, save for the disturbing wings protruding from her back.

It was time to break out. She slashed at the door with her winged appendages, carving a hole large enough to escape.

"Maybe not that thought out," she growled in a low, monstrous voice.

Stepping outside hesitantly, she braced herself for gunfire, but the corridor was eerily silent. She tiptoed down the hall, each step echoing in the space. The lack of any plan made her anxious, a feeling she wasn't accustomed to. Or was she? Her thoughts felt jumbled, a mix of her old self and this new, monstrous existence perhaps.

Her appendages retracted as she walked, leaving tears in the back of her red jumpsuit. She assumed her eyes had also returned to normal. The quiet halls gave her time to think, to reflect on the strange new reality she was living in. She felt oddly detached, her snarky attitude and long hair no longer feeling natural. What was her goal? To survive, perhaps, but why? What did survival mean in this hellish world?

Rubbing her head in frustration, she groaned, "Ah, this is so annoying." She heard faint thuds in the distance, like a fight or something heavy being thrown. Cautiously, she moved closer, the sounds growing louder and more distinct.

She reached a section of the facility filled with sterile white labs. Peeking inside each room, she found them deserted, but in one, she discovered a pair of scissors. Grabbing them, she hacked at her hair, chopping it shorter and shorter until it felt right, albeit unevenly cut. The hair now lightly grazed her collarbone. She nodded, satisfied. It felt more like her, more natural.

Noise echoed down the hall again, closer this time. She had to check it out. After all, she still needed to find Hyunsoo. As she approached, she saw a sight that made her heart race. Under a descending doorframe, a stone sculpture was about to be crushed. Moving closer, she realized it was—

"Hyunsoo!" she shouted, her voice breaking the eerie silence.

The figure didn't respond, trapped in his stone form, maybe a result of his own monstrous transformation. Without wasting another second, Jiwon sprang into action. Her claws extended once more, and she slashed at the doorframe, trying to halt its descent. Her muscles strained, veins bulging with the effort. The metal screeched and groaned, but it was working, barely.

She sat in front of Hyunsoo in the forest outside the facility waiting for him to wake up. It was freezing cold out, to the point that the lake nearby had frozen over. That only reminded her she didn't what day or month it was.

Eventually, his eyes fluttered open, disoriented but alive.

"Jiwon?" he croaked, his voice weak as he saw the dishevelled figure in front of him.

She nodded, helping him to his feet. "Yeah, it's me. We need to get out of here."

Supporting each other, they moved through the forest, the facility now eerily quiet. They had no plan, no clear path, but together, they would try to figure this out. 

[author's note] 

Hello readers! I hope you're enjoying the updates, I'm planning to finish writing season 2 as soon as possible. 

Also, would you guys kill me if I did a Hyunsoo x Jiwon mini-romance?

Anyway please comment and vote for the chapters if you enjoy them and have a good day!

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