BYUN BAEKHYUN: BEYOND DETECTIVE ▷ EXO GAMEBOOK

5

5

 

SCREAMING IN SILENCE

 

“Remember what wise sages used to say in the past?” asked Baekhyun.

Chen remained silent. He just let his gaze freefall onto Lay’s sleeping face.

Baekhyun squeezed Chen’s shoulder and gave the latter the answer. “It’s ‘let sleeping Lays lie.’”

 “That phrase doesn’t even exist.” Chen crouched a bit, reaching for a strand of Earth-Lay’s hair to check whether he’s real or not.

“Thank you.” Baekhyun pulled Chen by the shoulder, stopping him. “Now let’s go.”

Chen didn’t budge. His body was frozen in a crouching position; reaching out but not moving downwards.

“I said, let’s go!” Baekhyun’s voice escalated. His irritated tone morphed ‘let’s go’ into ‘let go’. If Chen refused to move, he should drag that lad with him, even if he didn’t want to. Hope that would wake him up from his confusion.

For the first few steps, Chen was heavy and he was still looking back. Baekhyun hoisted his arm, pulling Chen towards him as hard as he could. Chen staggered on the brink of collapsing. Still, he trudged onward. After some time, his heavy steps changed for a regular one. He had let go to continue with his initial mission—to dismantle the time-bomb.

Focus on your mission. This universe is a distraction, Chen Chen ah, said the iFrost prototype. The genderless instructional voice returned.

“H—how do you know my name?” Chen lifted the prototype from Baekhyun’s grasp. The screen was still black and blank.

To be a great thief, I must know my victims well. Sorry, Baekhyunnie, I hardly know you.

“Wait a second.” Baekhyun cleared his throat. “You’ve been watching us for so long, right?”

I’m afraid that you’re wrong, the prototype said, this time in a callous, computer-generated voice. I’ve been watching over you for so long.

“Watching over us, huh?” Baekhyun snatched the prototype iFrost from Chen and screamed into the device, as if interrogating. If only the thief was here with them, he would grab his collars and stare into his guilty eyes.  Shouting, punching. “Yah, who are you?”

I’m afraid I can’t tell you that for free. That’s what the mission is for.

“You…!” Out of rage, Baekhyun swung the prototype, ready to smash it into pieces, but Chen quickly grabbed his wrists, reminding him that it would be very, very foolish to do so. “Michyeosso?” Chen yelled at his EXO-K counterpart. “Don’t you realise that he—she—whatever might be tricking us?”

You can’t go back to your universe without me, the voice snickered. And Chen, you’re a fine trickster yourself, so you should know. I’m one of the distractions.

The two stared at each other for some time. A standard K-Drama scene. Realising that their current position was awkward, Chen released his grip. Baekhyun fell to his knees on the grassy ground. His head was bowed. His voice broke. His anger cracked, showing its true form: hopelessness, sadness. He felt like a scolded child, under the mercy of a higher power he could never surpass. “Please, whoever you are, please, return the iFrost to us. EXO had worked too hard for it. Some days we’d even overworked ourselves. Being in EXO is our dream, and you know that, don’t you? As a watcher?” he pleaded.

Baek—I—I, the callous voice became scratchy, I’m afraid that I can’t. I’m sorry. I’m only a virus in your device.

“Why did you do this to us?” Baekhyun questioned. His question burned his eyelids. “A group that didn’t even get to debut?”

Talk is cheap, but nothing is free. I will not disturb you in this mission anymore. Goodbye and hi.

“Wait!” Baekhyun shook the prototype. When it refused to speak again, he shook harder. It was all in vain. The device won’t speak. Like, duh.

Only the screen flashed a quick message:

Look around.

Bickering and arguing with a device sure made time pass fast, right? Baekhyun and Chen found themselves wandering in a clearing. The grass and a hollow log whistled to the passing winds. Fallen leaves rolled away from a green heap in the middle of the clearing. The show had begun. Leaf curtains were pulled away, revealing the still body of a marble-white man dressed in black trousers and a white shirt complimenting his death-kissed complexion. Good thing he was wearing a bow-tie.

From what they could see, the man was somewhere in his sixties or seventies. A snow-white handlebar moustache framed his upper lip. His age-lined face was locked in an ethereal scream, like that in a painting. However, this wasn’t a picture of calmness. Death had come to him as an assailant more than an old friend. Just look at his wide, open eyes… My, even narrating this scene gives me the chills—this is my first time, really. Wait, let me catch my breath. Ahhh, that’s better. Here goes another set of narration:

Where did I stop? The murder scene?

Yo, okay—

(SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: I know you’re thinking about ‘sekshii’ right now.)

So dangerous, the scene was. A knife sank into the body’s abdomen, but strangely, the knife’s handle was missing. Basically, there were only a blade and a silver hollow sticking out of that poor dead man.

“That’s a very clever murderer.” said Chen, rubbing his lantern jaw. “He’s smart. Removing the handle from the knife is the smartest way to avoid any detection of his fingerprints.”

“The less messy way, too.” Baekhyun agreed. “If the knife had severed the man’s major artery, removing the knife would cause blood to be splattered everywhere.”

“You know Biology quite well for a Physics scientist.”

“I study anatomy as a hobby.” said Baekhyun in pride.

“How Byun of you, Baekhyun.” remarked Chen.

“Yah!” Baekhyun flicked Chen in the arm. “Not that kind of anatomy!”

“Okay, okay! I get your point!” Chen shielded himself from more flicking. “Do you mean that this is a murder of medical precision?”

“Kind of.” Baekhyun shrugged.

“Really?” A curious voice chimed in.

Baekhyun and Chen turned their heads to the uninvited third speaker. He was an alternate version of a familiar face, only stronger, cooler, and healthier. He was as tall as ever, black-haired, cropped short, matching his slightly tanned skin. Dressed in a full lab coat not unlike Lay’s, he was absolutely charming.

“No, not again.” Chen facepalmed.

If you choose to talk to him, go to 10. If you choose to abandon him as well, go to 11.

To multiversal travellers, don’t spoil the fun in the comments. As a guess, however, you may comment below: