Set Me Free-Chanbaek

Chapter 1

It was 11:30 at night, the air was thin and everything was closed for the night. It was colder than usual but still wasn't enough to snow yet. The cold kept everyone inside, which kept the streets eerily quiet. Not even a chirp came from the surrounding forest as if they knew what was about to happen. It was only a couple of hours before the sun rose. He had only seen the outside world once as a kid, but now it was only a matter of time before he could escape before he could be free.

Baekhyun waited patiently for someone to come at a certain time. He had memorized the ever-changing schedule, looking for something, a pattern. Finally, after 16 years he found one. It switched every 3 days, a different person would come to get Baekhyun for different sessions, once in the morning and once at night.

He took note of every place he went, learning the routes from the testing room or the training field back to his cell. He knew every person that ever walked into his cell, what hand they used to unchain him, which key went to which lock, where they put their keys, and who feared him and who didn't.

It was a rotation of four people that came to take him away. Two women and two men always came randomly, who came to get Baekhyun wasn't scheduled, but the person changed with each rotation. Baekhyun guessed that it was whoever was free at that time. It didn't matter to Baekhyun who came into the room, he knew how to deal with all of them. There was one huge dilemma Baekhyun was in, Lee Soo Min.

Lee Soo Man made random appearances, throwing off Baekhyun's plans. He would come when he wanted to do his private testing on Baekhyun or simply to use him for pleasure. Lee Soo Min ran everything, everyone worked for him and was on top of everything. He created the whole underground organization. Although he was on top of everything Baekhyun thought of him as a careless and reckless man.

11:38. Baekhyun crawled to the front of his cell near the bars, but the chains prevented him from touching them. The pipes hissed in front of him, smoke filling the hall and slowly fading away until it repeated every few seconds. There were growling and groans from the cells next to him but he simply ignored them, still waiting. He stared at the pipes, the workers weren't trustworthy when it came to their schedules, but the pipe system was. The pipes tell him the time and when a worker needs to mend them.

Baekhyun didn't know what the pipes were for but apparently, they were important enough to need this much care and effort. Still staring at the pipes he sat with his knees to his chest. It hissed again and again. Inhaling it again and again.

One long hiss and a red light flickered in the smoke. 11:40. 11:40, the time when the pipes overheated. Baekhyun's eyes flickered with ambition as he now waited patiently for the doctor. The smoke was now suffocating him, the red light continuously flashing. He heard buzzing from above him right when the light came on, probably a reminder for them to come.

Eventually, the buzzing worked, and footsteps quickly came down the long hallway. Baekhyun heard papers rustling and a phone buzzing. The man finally stepped into Baekhyun's line of vision, Doctor Choi Siwon. A man he knew too well, his least favorite doctor. He stopped at Baekhyun's cell with his back turned, looking at the pipes while scribbling on his worn-down clipboard.

He looked at his phone and sighed, "damn it, this is a mess." He frantically turned the nozzles, talking to himself. Baekhyun scoffed, enjoying watching him struggle. "Subject 004." He turned on his heel and gave him a blank look. No one called Baekhyun by his name except Lee Soo Min in private.

"Doctor." Baekhyun stood up, eyeing him up and down. Siwon was much taller than him, everyone was taller than Baekhyun. Siwon wasn't wearing his normal attire, a black shirt with tan loose pants with a doctor's coat over him. Now he wore something more formal, a black suit without a tie and his hair seemed to be gelled but it deflated and looked messy. His top buttons were undone, this wasn't like him at all, Baekhyun analyzed. There was maybe a formal event upstairs, but it wasn't likely that it was Soo Min's idea, he never invites guests.