The Ace (Stray Kids Kim Seungmin)

37

"Shut off until further notice?" Avery shrieked, throwing the flyer onto Mr Brown's desk. "You can't do that! Who will look after them if all the scientists are shut out?"

Mr Brown sat at his desk, leaning back against his chair with his feet crossed on his desk as he sprinkled walnut halves into his mouth.

A confident smirk illuminated his face when he responded, "there are still some scientists in there. Besides, I'm sure the teenagers in the game know the place well enough by now."

"That's not what I meant."

"Oh of course. You mean how are the Jokers and rebelled Aces going to figure out how to kill Melody if you aren't instructing them." He glimpsed at her, amused at the way she clutched her fists. "Ah yes, you weren't expecting me to figure out so much overnight, were you? That's why you didn't immediately rush back to the headquarters, isn't it?"

"George-"

"That's Mr Brown to you." He pushed his bowl of nuts away as offered her his full attention. "I was a bit confused when you first told me about Season X. Everything about it sounded completely illegal and clearly something no one would willingly tell their boss so I shrugged it off initially. But your words kept gnawing away at my brain that I couldn't help but research it all."

She furrowed her eyebrows, "you researched it?"

"Of course I did. And the more I researched it, the more confused I got. Fourteen years ago, over two hundred thousand kids aged zero to fifteen years old applied to be the next generation of players. Ten years ago, all but fifty-two were sent back and after that, no one had ever see or heard of the selected fifty-two, not their friend nor their families, no one. They just seemed to vanish."

"They didn't vanish-"

"I wasn't finished talking. I gave you time to share your side of the story last night, now it's my turn. As I was saying, the kids vanished. Police reports were made but nothing was every done. News articles were written but disappeared hours later. Anything that could ever link back to that time was buried until it was almost completely forgotten. It was so obvious that whatever the kids were going to be used for was illegal and something scientist and the government didn't want anyone to find out. Which led me back to my initial question: why were you telling me all this? I thought at first that it was because you knew of it and wanted to end the whole experiment but the more I researched, the weirder it all seemed. Your name was mentioned in every single article; Avery Murray did this, Avery Murray said that. Every single aspect of this case seemed to link back to you. Why?"

"Because it was my idea. I told you already. I wanted more."

"Exactly. But if it was your idea and you are in a high position among the scientists, that means you have full control of the experiment. And that ruled out my original theory that you told me so I could end it. So I thought long and hard-"

"Just get on with it. You don't have to build any suspense, we both already know what you are going to say."

He smiled, "fine. You told me because you thought I was too dumb to put two and two together, didn't you? The police were starting to gain on you and you wanted someone else to take responsibility for it."

"Perhaps I did. Perhaps I didn't, you can't confirm anything."

"Actually, I can because this isn't the first time you've done it." Her eyes widened at his words before she instantly dropped her gaze to the ground. He chuckled. "That's right. I know exactly what happened in Season X. But one thing I just can't for the life of me understand is what the heck that mountain symbol means. Care to explain?"

"It's the escape. Haven't you watched any of the seasons you release to the public?"

"Yes, but Season X isn't like other seasons, is it? There isn't a specific place they have to go to or a specific button to press to escape, no. 'Only one will make it'. That's the real escape. This isn't a case of the Jokers against everyone else. It's a case of Melody against everyone else."

"Fine," she rolled her eyes. "I'll tell you everything you wish to know about it. I'll tell you everything, I swear I will. Just... Just don't let Melody escape. Make sure she dies in there. I don't care who escapes. Just not her."

"Alright then." He dragged his feet off the desk and sat up, narrowing his eyes at her. "Tell me, and be a hundred-percent honest here, what happened between Melody's death five years ago and her arrival in the new Pen earlier this year? What does she know that you don't want to come to light?" He paused for a moment, examining her worried expression before asking the main question he needed an answer to. "What happened to your fellow scientist Lisette South who went missing the day after Melody was killed?"