"Jooooohta," Keeda dragged out the 'o', "Remind me why we thought this would be a good idea."
I sighed, slumping down in my chair. Taehyung was still out, and had been for the past three hours.
It wasn't as if I felt horribly guilty. It wasn't as if I regretted anything at all. It wasn't as if I lied to myself constantly to boost my own moral. Not at all.
"We didn't," Johta said, glaring at me, "She did."
"Look. You started this, Lex. You have to fix it.." Devin sighed.
"You were all behind me!"
"That was before you actually did it!" Seo Hyo shook his head, matching Devin's sighs.
I bury my face in my hands, "Sohyee," I plea for help desperately, "Pleeease tell me something I can do..."
Sohyee hummed slightly under her breath for a long, tense moment before responding quietly, "Have you tried just telling him?"
I blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Just... tell this Taehyung exactly what you did. Tell him the truth."
I wasn't the only one to gasp in horror at the suggestion. "I- we can't do that!"
"Why not?" Sohyee smiles at me, waiting for the lightbulb to go on.
But I'm still in the dark. "If we tell him, he might be in even more danger! We don't know what kind of sensors our enemy have. If they have a Knowledge-Gift with them, the more we tell him the worse the situation will get!"
"They already kidnapped him!"
"In the future. The undecided future. We're doing all we can, Lex. But we can't keep him under for much longer. Panic won't be good for anyone, and Taehyung least of all. Lex..."
"I just... I don't know. There's something wrong."
"Well... there is something..." Mun Hyo murmured, exchanging a cautious glance with Hyun-Ae.
"Very well," Hyun-Ae sighed. "Remember the failed reconnaissance mission a year ago?"
The room went dead silent. Even the air lost its life.
"I... I... well, how could anyone... anyone forget?"
Hyun-ae closed her eyes. "Well, we managed to reconfigure the cuffs."
"What?"
"They can be set, as you know, to prevent Gifts. We've managed to get them to block any Gift at anytime, even externally. They can only be removed by a set person, as you know, but we haven't figured out how to change that yet."
"And... why are you telling us this?" Seo Hyo titled his head to the side, pale pink hair falling across his eyes.
Mun Hyo, Max, and Hyun-ae shared a look before Mun Hyo spoke.
"We can tether him here. It would keep anyone using a Time or Space Gift to jump him out. It would essentially tie him down. Whoever is trying to attack him wouldn't be able to get him out of this building without physically moving him."
"And... you think this will work?" I stared at the IT team.
"Yes. It will work." Max bit his lip, "After all, it worked on Min Sun..."
Any previous energy drained completely and totally away from all of us. Mi-Hi wiped her eyes on her sleeve, Devin mimicking her motion in perfect silence.
"That's that, then." Sohyee broke the tense darkness filling the sunny room, standing and opening the door. "Hyun-ae, if you would attach the cuffs while he's still under. Johta, how long will the sedative last?"
"Only a few more hours at best. You'll want to transfer him to one of our rooms, move the current resident to the Hall."
"Then... who's moving?"
For some odd reason, everyone in the room, even Sohyee, hovering by the door, looked directly at me.
"Well, it was your idea, Lex..." Keeda laughed nervously.
"Wait... what..?" I snapped to attention. "Um... no. I'm not sleeping in the Hall! There was a cockroach in there three months ago, no one's assured me that it's dead!"
"Consider yourself assured." Seo Hyo rolled his eyes. "In all honesty, though, it's only fair."
"But-but..."
"Anyway, Lex, maybe you'll finally bother to clean your room!"
I rolled my eyes, yet slipped farther down in my seat in defeat, "Well. Fine. Whatever."
"Hey! We got her do something!" Mi-Hi bumped fists with Max, both of them making explosion sounds as they did so.
"Yes, only after three hours of trying," Devin shook his head, "Lex is just too tired to protest."
I grunted in response.
"Well! Better go move your stuff over into the Hall!" Keeda bounced slightly in her seat, hair bopping up and down in unison.
I made yet another uncommitted noise in response.
"Good! Let's go!" And with that she grabbed me by the hand and dragged me away to make what Sohyee called, "necessary sacrifices."
