BYUN BAEKHYUN: BEYOND DETECTIVE ▷ EXO GAMEBOOK

4

4

 

THE LAY HAS SPOKEN

It wasn’t Chen’s fault to be enamoured with this strange phenomenon. In layman terms, this Lay who lay there was exactly the same as the Lay he used to know (too many Lays in one sentence). Call it a chronic imprinting syndrome, but it didn’t matter. At least, to him, there’s an image of familiarity in the midst of an alien forest.

That made him remember how he met Lay, or by his real unspellable name, Zhang Yixing:

There was a day about half a decade or more ago when the list of members of EXO-M were announced. Six child-teenager hybrids of teen and tween age were quarantined in a room. However, there were also some gadgets being laid around on the table for the children to fiddle on while waiting for the President at that time, Heather Evermore (Claudia’s mother) to arrive.

One by one, members of EXO-M filled their places. First came a sickly lanky Equatorial boy, sitting at the farthest corner of the room. He quickly searched the room for a decent book to read. He later picked an astrophysics textbook written by a former Super Junior engineer.

Chen thought that this boy looked like an easy target. He was really bored, you know, and he needed to amuse himself. But, looking at the frail-looking Equatorial boy, he didn’t have the heart to pull a prank on him. So, Chen and his loyal henchman, little Taozi, waited for a more suiting target.

Luckily, (for Chen, not for him) a wide-eyed, expressionless boy walked casually into the room. From the look of his eyes, it was obvious that he was not paying attention to his surroundings. Chen could imagine that he was performing thought experiments in his head, or maybe some complex mental calculations. Or maybe he was only daydreaming, high in the clouds. The boy pushed back his falling forelock and sat by the coffee table, thinking.

“What should we do, Chen-ge?” asked Tao. At this age, his eyes were so big and dark, they were the most prominent features of his face. He showed Chen a plastic bag of a slimy, shell-less EXO Planetian snail. Tao grimaced in disgust. “Put this in his pocket?”

“Too controversial.” said Chen, dismissing.

“This?” Tao showed an outlawed acupuncture seat cushion.

“Too evil.” Chen waved his hand, dismissing again. “Try something simple.”

“Chen-ge.” Tao tugged on Chen’s right sleeve. “I can only see a steel replica of an Earth phone beside him.”

“That’s jackpot, boy! At least, something to kill my boredom!” Chen whispered the details of his evil plan in Tao’s ear. “Take these, and this, and this…”

“Aye, aye, cap’n!” said Tao, saluting.

After performing his evil henchman duties, Tao rushed to the victim-to-be and asked him a favour. “Gege, can you please answer the phone for me?”

Slowly, the victim—his nametag showed that his name was ‘Lay’—raised his gaze to meet Tao’s. “Do you mean that one?” asked Lay, pointing at the steel phone.

Tao nodded vigorously. He held Lay’s hand and slapped something onto it.

Lay didn’t seem to care about that act. “But it isn’t ringing.” he said.

“It’s in… silent mode!” said Tao. Such excuses!

“Alright.” Lay dragged himself across the chair and picked up the phone. As he lay his hand on the phone, he felt a shock jolting through his right hand. Lay squealed, and the diodes strapped to his hands were lighted up. Lay’s face lighted up red in embarrassment. All pairs of eyes turned to the source of the blinking lights. Even a light-sensitive bot scooted over to Lay with a stamp fastened to its body. It collided with the back of his hand, leaving an imprint behind.

From Chen with Love.

The stamp took days to be cleaned completely. Imagine walking around with that mark on your hand. Sweet dreams, children.

From that day on, that stamp became the most feared mark among EXO-M members.

Things get better, don’t worry. Until today, the two of them are best friends. That’s why Chen will always recognise Lay the moment he saw that poor lad. Add a little sense of déjà vu, since this Lay also had an unfortunate accident with electricity.

Look, look! He’s waking up!

Earth-Lay opened his eyes to two inquisitive people staring at him. “Baekhyun? Chen?” he called in a weak voice. “What are you two doing here?”

So, this version of Lay also know a Baekhyun and a Chen. This would be a nice multiversal family reunion! Baekhyun was puzzled. Could he say that there were Earth versions of Baekhyun and Chen as well?

“You were unconscious.” answered Chen. His head ignored the paradox for some compassion. “So, we waited for you to wake up.”

“You two are so nice…” Lay rubbed his eyes. “Where am I?”

“Earth forest—ow!” Baekhyun was nudged in the side by Chen. “I mean, you’re still in the forest.”

“What happened to me?”

“You tripped…” Baekhyun conjured an explanation. “And slammed your head against that… cone-head tree?”

“You mean, that pine tree?” corrected Lay.

Cold sweat ran down Baekhyun’s neck. More silly mistakes like this and their covers will be blown. “Yes.” he nodded nervously. “Pine tree.”

“My head is spinning…” Lay rubbed his head. “I want to be left alone for now.”

“As you wish.” Chen smiled. “But where is the way to our settlements, may I ask?”

“Go there, to the southeast. Our chalet is there, I think. Ow.” Lay raised his hand to point at the direction before clutching his head.

“Thank you, Lay.” Baekhyun bowed. “Are you sure?”

Lay didn’t answer him. He kept his silence and cradled his head in his arms.

“Should we follow him?” Chen turned to Baekhyun. “His head’s damaged, thanks to you.”

“At least, his memory is intact.”

Suddenly, Chen remembered something. “You said that this Lay has the same genetic composition as our Lay, right?”

“Yes…?”

“So, shouldn’t he share the same memory capacity, too?” Chen argued.

Maybe he had a point there.

If you choose to follow Lay’s direction, go to 8. If you choose to just wander aimlessly, go to 9.