The Fallen (EXO Fanfiction)

~ Chapter Thirty-Four: Just A Peep ~

If there was one thing Ryo hated the most in the world, it was to be called to work when he was off-duty. However, the young researcher, Dee, had called in a supposed update, one that he'd been asking for and according to the young man, it couldn't wait. On top of that, Miss Kumiho, who appeared to never go home, stated that she wanted to know about his plan for the new project and whether more developments had been made. Said that Mr. Yok was eager to hear news and it couldn't wait till morning.

So, here he was, at the biotech department, doing his best to keep his eyes open while a caffeinated Dee explained how he tore the system apart to study all of its components and put them all back together. Ryo thought that the time of him spending nights at the office were long over, but it seemed like that wasn't the case just yet. Glancing at a hyperactive Dee, the poor kid probably didn't get a wink of sleep either, and he wondered whether he had been home these past days or not.

"Of course the systems placed at a few parts of the island are just prototypes so they'll be updated if needed, but I thought you should know in an instant, sir," he finished his story and Ryo blinked, trying to process everything.

"Okay, hold on. Let me get this straight; you're saying that the security systems aren't safe after all?" he summed up in one sentence what took Dee exactly 23 minutes to explain. The young scientist nodded his head fiercely, his narrow eyes a little wider than usual due to all that caffeine pumping in his veins by now.

"Well, not necessarily unsafe either, sir. There are kinks in the system. We have to modify the scent that scares off predators and find a way to not have the gates shoot a charge of electricity after it, because that would totally not be cool for those animals," Dee said seriously. "But the weirdest part, and the most important part- because that's why I called you in the middle of the night, sir-, is that net you talked about," he moved towards one of the fences, grabbing a tablet with which he could control it. Ryo followed a little slower, watching the kid work as he stood beside him.

"Observe," Dee stated dramatically, pressing a button which startled Ryo since the fence started buzzing. Dee grabbed him by the arm to move him out of the way. Three seconds after that, Ryo had counted, the net flew off, actually sparking with electricity as it landed on the ground where he had been standing mere moments ago. This shocked him to such an extent that he was wide awake now.

"What the hell was that?" he cursed, since that was a feature of the system that he was not aware of.

"A charged net, sir. It's seriously the weirdest thing. Apparently, the net falls off whenever an animal comes near, catching it, which doesn't make sense because our company is not supposed to catch animals, we're trying to make machines that can co-exist with them right? Now the amount of voltage on the net alone is enough to render them unconscious which is another thing that is totally not cool, so I was really confused when I researched it, because by my accord, it shouldn't even be on it- unless something changed and we're catching animals now, sir?" Dee blurted out a stream of words at high speed, but Ryo was focused enough to catch all of that. He grabbed the tablet from Dee's hands to deactivate the whole system, including the net, and knelt down to study it.

"Yeah, 'totally not cool is right', Dee," he mused. "These things are dangerous. I want all the systems that have been deployed so far to be retreated until the development is completed. And I want this net off the final design," he ordered, waiting for Dee to respond with an affirmative, but the young man bit his lip nervously. Unsure whether it was a nervous tick brought on by the amount of coffee he had consumed, Ryo looked at him. "Is there a problem, Mr. Kang?"

"Well, eh, no, sir, I mean- yes, well- um...maybe, sir?" Dee cringed a little and Ryo only looked at him, one eyebrow lifted. The young man immediately cleared his throat and licked his lips. "May I speak freely, sir? Just between us?"