Crescent // ATEEZ ✔

63 [data]

"Statue, first."

Yeosang confirms his connection with the rest through his earpiece before sprinting off onto the island, his shoes barely burying into the sand as his strides get bigger. Instead of heading for the main entrance where all the sensors are, he looks for the unconventional way he can slip inside, disarm the alarms at the entrance to grant entry for the rest. With his black outfit and the cloth around his head to cover the lower part of his face, letting only his eyes to shine under the moonlight, he slips among the trees, disappearing into a quest to break into the training centre.

Ducking behind a bush, he whips out his binoculars to spy on the two guards taking care of the entrance of the KTC complex. Fishing out something from his bag, he extends his hand to throw the ball bearings into a bush to the left of the guards, the items causing the leaves to rustle and the guards to be momentarily distracted. As the guards crane their necks towards the source of sound, he dashes towards the side, using his momentum to launch himself off the ground and his hands clamp on the edge of the top of the wall, barely missing the spikes and shards placed on top as a deterrent.

Relying on friction against the wall to stop himself from sliding down, he throws the rope he's holding, letting the suctioned end get attached to the other side. Taking a shot that he won't tear his skin with the spikes and shards planted, he climbs up slowly and as soon as he gets nearer to the top, he uses his last bit of momentum to throw his body over, the sleeve of his left getting caught and torn. His skin remains unscathed as he falls to the ground, rolling before he stops himself while pulling on to the rope. He takes it off, barely saving time for himself to inspect his torn sleeve. That's only one barrier taken care of.

As much as the KTC is a rigid place where rules are in place for your every move, the security isn't as uptight as you would expect. They have cameras littering the place, security guards patrolling the area every now and then, and trainees being monitored constantly, but he would've thought it would be harder for him to break into the complex.

But then again, they know that nobody can run away anywhere because they are literally on an island miles away from the mainland, with no transportation except for the boat that comes twice a day to transport the Bifidensis board members to and from the island, plus send over necessities. Meanwhile, the other occupants live only on the island, no way out except when the staff are laid off work, or when the trainees are released as agents. Therefore, it would be fair enough for the board members to decide to reduce their costs on security systems and instead focus on others to maintain the complex.

A trap, a prison for all.

Based on the schedule they're given, the trainees are currently separated into different 'classrooms', where they have night lessons on random topics. It could be related to the knowledge they would need once they become agents, but there are some portions of the teaching module which are tailored in favour of KTC. Sometimes they feed untrue stories about the real world, how everything is a mess because people feel emotions. They are not allowed to pose any questions but rather accept whatever is given.

He doesn't know what these people have against having emotions. Once, Yeosang made the 'teacher' angry because he asked this question, and he was thrown into a cell for one night, asking him to 'reflect back on what he asked', saying that he will regret it if he ever does it again. So he spit back, saying that 'Isn't anger what you're feeling right now? Anger is an emotion too, and you're displaying it.'

They didn't entertain his question, but they beat him up until he was lying down on the floor with blood pouring out of his mouth. The next day, Wooyoung hastily went up to him despite them being in different Aeons during lunch, scolding him and said that he needed to stop making them have more reasons to lock him up. He only shrugged, because he knew that he would be doing it again.