You and Mingi had just begun to warm up to one another, when Jongho was sent down to the pit to switch shifts. Jongho waited in the shadows for a short time before revealing himself. He listened to you telling Mingi about what life was like growing up in your world, and your cute little stories you had memorized in your mind about their alternate selves. Jongho didn't know how to feel about the interaction he was witnessing. Your story had seemed completely unrealistic and improbable, but your stories were so detailed and vivid that he had a hard time believing they were made up. In short he was conflicted, if what you were saying was true, then he couldn't understand why your world was so fucked up that it was destroyed.
Aside from it imploding, it sounded almost like a utopia."It sounds like you had a happy life in spite of everything y/n" He said finally revealing himself
You smile sadly. "I suppose I did, but only because I had such amazing friends."
"Did you need something Jongho?" Mingi asked him
"Yes go upstairs your shift is over, I'll be keeping Miss y/n company. They are all in the lab"
"Got it. It was lovely talking to hopefully next time it will be under better circumstances. Jongho, please be nice she is in fact rather harmless."
As he looked at you, you looked so lost and exhausted, that Jongho couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for you. "Y/N I don't mean to sound insensitive but if you are going to be stuck in this world, you are going to have to learn how to mask your emotions better."
"Mingi mentioned that we'll but he didn't explain why."
" Human emotion is banned in this dimension" Jongho said bluntly. He paused when he heard you gasp, he wasn't expecting the statement to garner such a big reaction from you.
"That's terrible, but how on Earth can that possibly enforced?"
"School age children all are scheduled appointments where they are operated on and given an emotion suppressing brain implant. This is also how the government spies and monitors every household. Music, art, and everything that encourages creativity is also banned."
"Oh my God!" You say feeling nauseous. Your world had its own fair share of problems but at least you were never denied your basic right to free will. At least you were never denied love or affection. What must Mingi think of you with the way you whined about the wars? Their emotional statuses made so much more sense now.
"The fact that the 8 of us met, and do what we do, is a complete fluke. Each of our implants malfunctioned at random moments in our lives. However, though we are free, it damaged each of us in unspeakable ways. We went from feeling nothing, and wanting nothing for ourselves, to feeling everything at once and wanting to keep everything that was stolen from us against our will." He finished with a faraway look in his eyes.
"What is it that you guys do?" You say wanting to confirm a suspicion, but Jongho said nothing. "Ah I'm sorry, I overstepped, please forget I asked, you don't have to tell me anything. I'm just naturally curious person."
You fall into an awkward silence. God you're so dumb y/n, how could be so nosey. We were finally getting somewhere. After a while, you got bored and began humming a familiar tune, it always made you feel better.
Jongho's eyes widened as he listened to you. "What are doing?"
You were startled by the question. "I'm humming" you say as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Humming? Is it a form of music?" He asks excitedly leaning towards you.
You were about to laugh and shake your head no, humming wasn't real music, but then you remembered everything he said prior. You realize to him, this is music. It broke your heart and pissed you off. "Yes I suppose it could be seen as a form of music, but in my world it pales in comparison to actual music. I wish I could share it with you."
Jongho fell silent for a moment deep in thought. " I always wondered what life would be like with music." For the moment, Jongho forgot he was skeptical of you. "What was he like-my alternate self?"
Your breath hitched as you heard the question, your voice was thick with emotion as you said " He was a wonderful person. He was sweet, funny, sarcastic, brave; he was everything. He also had the most beautiful singing voice I have ever heard or will ever hear again. It's his song I was humming, he used to sing to me when I was upset or not feeling well."
Jongho was overwhelmed by how passionately you spoke of him. He felt a strange urge to say something to comfort you, though he wasn't sure how or why he felt like he should. "Perhaps one day you could share the song with me." He said softly, he had expected you to respond, but only silence greeted him. " y/n? Hey! You ok? This isn't a very funny prank." He crossed the room quickly, you were slumped over unresponsive. He reach down to shake you a little and found that you were burning up. This whole time you were sick they hadn't known.
"Fuck! Y/N you're burning up! Hang on I'll get you down and get you some help." Jongho knew they had orders to keep an eye on you down here, but this was different. He gather you up into his arms and ran upstairs as quickly as he could. As he burst into the lab, he found everyone else on the floor looking through something. "Captain, I know you said she had to be in the pit but something is wrong. I think she might be sick."
They all scrambled to get up. " Go bring her to my room. Wooyoung go into the medtrunk and grab some fever reducer. Yunho call Doc. " Hongjoong spout several orders left and right. " You made the right call Jongho, we were all wrong about her,"
