Produce Project #101

First Flight

Everyone looked up to see a trainee with a small figure unstably flapping their wings and gaining some height. The trainees were amazed until he began to rapidly fall from the top of the auditorium, aggressively flapping his wings in an attempt to save himself from hitting the hard floor below.

"Minki!" Son Dongmyeong yelled as he ran under the flying trainee. Choi Minki got lucky and was caught by Dongmyeong, who surprisingly caught him with one arm around Minki's shoulders and the other around his waist even though he was known as the weakest trainee.

The others watched silently in amazement until Kang Dongho just-

"It looks like a scene from a k-drama!"

Dongmyeong cleared his throat and let go of Minki's shoulders. "Thank you so much...." Minki began. "I could've lost my life." He said chuckling bitterly as he looked at the hard ground. Dongmyeong nodded in response and itched his neck, slowly stepping away from Minki.

~

"Guys, this is an important discovery." Hyeongseop explained as he walked forward, interrupting the scene. "If we can fly, then maybe we can fly our way out of here!" He said giving the other trainees hope. Dongho stepped forward and strongly patted Hyeongseop's back. "He's right, but not all of us can fly yet. Why don't we start training?" He asked the trainees with his loud voice. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and excitement.

"But what if BoA finds out that we've been training? Maybe we should look for exits first, and see if what we will be doing is really going to be worth it." A voice said. Dongho turned his head to see Lai Guanlin speaking behind him. He smiled at the 15 year old and nudged him forward. "That's very smart." Dongho said, trying to make Guanlin feel more comfortable. The trainees still weren't exactly happy with or used to each other's company, but they had to do their best to deal with it. Dongho tried his best to get comfortable with people and make the others comfortable with him since the trainees needed each other to get through this.

"Produce 101 trainees!" He began. "Actually, no.... Produce Project number 101 experiments!" He corrected. This got everyone's attention. No one wanted to admit it, but it was true. They weren't just trainees anymore. They were experiments. Still, they tried their bests not to think that. "Let's look for as many exits as possible! Return here in an hour and sit at the pyramid for a head count!" He ordered. The trainees nodded their heads and left immediately, all determined to get back to their usual lives.

"Minki, you keep working on flying and teach a few others if you can. Maybe, just maybe we can find an exit through the roof." Guanlin explained to Minki. Being from another country, Guanlin didn't usually have this much confidence when talking to others but even he was determined to leave the building.

~

Minki immediately attempted to get some height using his wings, succeeding more this time than the first time. As he kept flying, he came across a little window. He was excited to share his discovery with the others, but when he looked through the glass his smile quickly dropped.

Outside was a sea of police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and reporters. There were so many camera flashes that they irritated Minki's eyes from all the way inside the auditorium. He unhooked the latch that locked the window, and used his small body as an advantage to slip though the window. After standing up on the rooftop, his mouth dropped to see two times the people and vehicles standing outside of the building. "Look! There's one of them!" A man said pointing straight at Minki. As soon as the man said it, the whole crowds attention was on the boy. People were taking pictures, yelling, and even trying to throw things at the male trainee. He ran back to the window, catching himself with is wings after he had snaked himself through the small hole, a small tear escaping his right eye.

By the time Minki made it back to the ground, the trainees were already waiting at the pyramid taking a head count. "Is everyone here?" Dongho asked as he pointed a finger at every trainee to count them.

"Dongho." Minki barely managed to say. He was so scared of what was happening beyond the walls of the building. Could people really turn on the trainees this quickly? Dongho nodded to show that he was listening as he counted more people. "Dongho listen to me we're in big trouble." Minki finally spat out. The big trainee looked at him seriously. "What happened?" He asked. Even back when the two boys were in the boy group Nu'est, Dongho had never seen Minki ahead a single tear. Seeing Minki now got the bigger trainee worried about what Minki was going to say next.

"We have enemies. About 2,000 of them at the least." Minki whispered in disbelief.