Monsta X: The Clan Pt. 2

19: Your Hopes

"Put your hopes on me"

"I'll be standing right in front of you"

Wonho:

It was almost ready. 

Now that everyone's nerves were collected we were working with a purpose. All of us had the same ambitions and the same fears of our dangerous project, of our dangerous mission. Yet the time to contemplate has passed. The time for fear is over.

They were all ready.

Calling each member from their individual workstations I gathered them near the machine and made sure everyone was listening.

"Alright guys, here's how it's going to go," I said, silencing their hushed whispers.

"You two," I said, pointing at Jooheon and Kihyun. "Are going to be constantly fueling the machine with the liquid of the flower. Kihyun I expect you to be manning the extractor station and make sure that the device extracts the liquid at a consistent pace."

Kihyun nodded and headed towards a strange blender-looking device sitting on the worktable. It was attached to the main device through a series of neon-colored pumps. 

"Jooheon, you're going to be watching the liquid as it enters the system," I said, gesturing towards the large machine. "You have to be sure that not a single leak occurs and that the machine is channeling the flower fuel into the right location."

Jooheon nodded simply and headed towards the machine. It felt strange giving him such a mundane task but somehow this seemed to suit him best. Despite the fancy uniform, Jooheon performed best behind the scenes; it was a fact known by nobody but us.

I turned back towards the last member, the final, most important piece of our puzzle who was standing before me looking pale as a ghost. Softening and approached him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Just play the game like you normally would. Watch the time limit and make sure that you reach the end of each level in precisely one minute. Level 5 is the last level," I said slowly.

Changkyun nodded, still looking towards the door if he were contemplating escape.

"Wonho, do I gotta worry about this time limit business?" Kihyun called from across the warehouse.

"No, you just keep pouring that flower juice until I say stop or until the machine works."

Meekly Changkyun asked, "How do we know that it'll work?"

"Which each level completed another phase is activated by the machine. The more phases completed, the more warped our surroundings become. We're messing with the space-time continuum here kid. Lots of freaky stuffs' gonna happen but you can't be distracted. Your part is key."

"And what if I mess up?" He asked, looking towards the machine with an expression of fear. "What if get the timing off or the flowers don't work or we get shredded by space or whatever weird science stuff you have, cause you never know what's going to happen and I don't think that you accounted for-"

"Don't worry," I said, holding up my hand to stop his worrisome ramble. "Before this machine can work, we have to make it work, and before that, we have to hope it works, and before that, we have to think hey maybe this whack idea might work."

Changkyun looked confused and I simply sighed.

"Listen. All I'm saying is to remember why we're doing this. Why you agreed to come here, why we're even speaking right now despite avoiding each other for months. We all have the same purpose. And we now have the chance to fulfill it."

At this, Changkyun surprisingly smiled at this and gave a simple nod, heading silently to his place in front of the blinking, arcade-like machine.

Picking up the controller from the ground he shifted the weight of it from palm to palm, smiling at the apparent comfort of it in his hands. I made sure that it was perfectly suited for him, that it would be perfect for this purpose.

"Hey Wonho, while I'm doing the all the heavyweight here what're you going to be doing?" Kihyun grunted as he carried a large (surprisingly heavy) barrel of flowers.

"Don't worry," I said, nodding at Changkyun to prepare to start. "I have the most important job of all."

You see, while there were people fueling, checking, and playing the game you needed someone to simply stand there and watch. That, to me, was all one needed. The person who watched was the only one who say everything at once, the only one who's sole attention is on the result and not the process. If no one had their eyes on the result, then the result would become destiny. Something that can't be changed. While I watched the "result," I could tell the others what to do in order to change it. That was the key.

"Final checks!" I yelled, as everyone stood at their stations. "Kihyun ready?"

"Ready!" He called.

"Jooheon ready?"

"Ready!"

"Changkyun," I said, glancing over at him with a smile. "Ready?"

He smiled back brightly and replied "Ready!"

And just like that, the game of time had started.

A/N

Hey everybody! Sorry that this update is delayed by a few days; I've been so busy that I had no time at all to write it. This update was also cut in half because it was way too long (it would've been 2000+ words if in one chapter) so the second part will be a continuation or a "part two" of this chapter. Thank you for your patience!

Timestamp for this chapter is 2:54-3:03. The next update is going to be Sunday 3/17.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote!