Super

63. the other side

Taeyong had never felt quite so hopeless.

He remembered fifth grade, when he'd first watched the science fair trophy being handed to someone that wasn't him. Senior year of high school, when he had been kicked out of foster care. First year of college, when he'd taken Jaemin under his wing. Junior year of college, when he had almost flunked out of his course after falling prey to the exhaustion of working four jobs at once.

Big failures, little wins.

When he had been offered the opportunity to work with the other Supers, Taeyong had felt for the first time the passion of working towards something bigger than himself. He had lived his entire life shadowed by the fear of underachievement, thinking that he could never do something truly meaningful with his life, but the Super project had given him a goal. For the few months he had spent with the team, helping people and forging bonds that he had been too much of a coward to acknowledge, Taeyong had been truly happy.

Then everything had gone wrong all at once. He had found out that the motivation for the team was corrupt, the person giving him his orders had once been with the enemy, that he could lose his life and the one person he cared about by continuing the way he was. Then Mark had swooped in, and Taeyong had finally realized the fundamental mistake in his own beliefs: Jaemin wasn't the only person he cared about.

And now he was about to lose all of them.

Irene didn't speak a word after the little stunt with the fire, but she didn't need to. The fire itself spoke volumes for her, burning like tall spires that managed to make them feel the rippling heat despite the distance. There was Shao behind her, and Jisoo—the carpet underneath her was in ribbons and hanging out from the side, the banister crumbled away long ago. This was how Irene remembered her home.

Taeyong felt something close to pity for her at that moment.

Now he was beginning to understand what Taemin had tried so hard to explain. He still wasn't sure what they were in—completely inside Irene's mind, or in another dimension entirely, but he was beginning to get it.

Though the building itself seemed perfect, like a place that could actually exist, but there were discrepancies in the design, little flaws that jumped out. The banister was destroyed along with the carpet, but the fire hadn't even reached the upper floors yet. The velveteen curtains hung like ropes—another mistake. There were flaws in the build, things that made the building impossible, as if Irene had made it out of Legos or on a game of Minecraft.

That was to their advantage. Taeyong's brain worked quickly, the cogs turning as he assessed the mistakes. The Supers could use them to their advantage, to break out of this—whatever it was.

What was it?

"Taemin," Baekhyun warned, pulling him out of his reverie. "Things are not looking good."

"I can see that," Taemin muttered back. Hie eyes were fixed on Irene, who had her arms slightly spread like she was a performer presenting an act.

"I thought I would just keep all of you here until my work gets done," Irene said, "but that wouldn't be any fun, would it? So I thought I should leave you something to entertain yourselves with in the meantime."

The corridor trembles beneath their feet. Taeyong eyes widened and he clutched the broken pillar for support. The pillar shouldn't have been able to hold up the ceiling, but it felt solid and steady underneath his hands—yet another reason to believe breaking out was possible.

"Have fun," Irene said with a winning smile, and turned away to walk through the door behind her.

The other girls turned to follow, but Shao hesitated, glancing back at them. Taeyong's eyes narrowed on her, seeing the shifting of her feet and the hesitation in her eyes. She didn't want to see them hurt, he knew, which meant whatever Irene had in store for them couldn't be life-threatening. However...