Human

Chapter 10

The hall was crowded. Wonshik could sense his partner next to him tensing up and in the back of his mind he wondered if it had anything to do with those scars. Still, it wasn't his place to ask. And right now wasn't the right time anyways. Instead he carefully grabbed the older one's hand.

"Don't worry, I'm here."

Taekwoon sent him a glare, but the younger could still sense his relief.

"Ravi! Is that you? Wow! I didn't think we'd meet again this soon!"

His heart started racing and slowly he turned around. Had they already found him? Were they going to kill him? Were they after Taekwoon? Why did they ask him directly here, in the middle of people?

The relief he felt when he saw the person was definitely visible on his face because he earned an odd look.

"Jin! It's you!"

Wonshik let out nervous laughter. With even more people he knew this mission was becoming harder and harder to do. How was he supposed to be unsuspiciously searching for a murderer when he had more and more people tailing after him?

"I'm sure you're surprised to see me here, but I'm actually here as part of the police force that is stationed here to make sure the party is safe. Why are you here?"

Wonshik forced himself to ignore his worries and smile.

"Oh we..."

"We were invited."

Taekwoon sounded way more confident than Wonshik felt. He made it seem so easy to appear as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with them being here, as if they belonged here.

Jin shot him a glance.

"And you are?"

"Leo. A good friend of Ravi."

His smile didn't even look forced and Wonshik couldn't help but admire the amazing acting talent his partner had. Jin smiled back.

"Well, if you were invited, then I guess I should show you where you can find CEO Hwang. He probably wants to see you if he invited you."

"Oh...haha...yes...please lead us to him..."

Wonshik really wasn't a good actor, but again Taekwoon saved him.

"We've never met in person until now so that would be very nice of you. We might not find him otherwise."

Jin nodded and motioned for them to follow him.

It wasn't a long distance they had to walk, but due to the other guests it still took quite some time and additionally to Taekwoon's tensing up, Wonshik could feel himself getting nervous as well. They were on a mission that they had to finish as soon as possible or else many people were in danger!

"This is Hwang Sejun, the CEO."

Jin motioned to a middle aged man in a suit, who stood next to the stairs and looked up when he heard his name. Then a wide smile spread on his face and he walked towards them.

"Oh, the young Dr. Tuan! It's a pleasure to see you again! I hope the hospital is going well?"

Mark smiled at the older and returned the greeting.

"It's going very well, Mr. Hwang."

The CEO turned towards Jin, completely overlooking Wonshik and Taekwoon.

"This is doctor Mark Tuan. His father's hospital, that he works at, treats cyborgs and he is a very good friend of mine. It's sad that hospitals these days are eliminating them because people think that they are dangerous for our society."

The doctor smiled humbly.

"May I introduce you to my acquaintances from the Seoul Police Department? These are Kim Wonshik and Jung Taekwoon."

Wonshik could see the slight anger in his partner's eyes when Dr. Tuan used their real names, but he couldn't really blame him. After all they hadn't explained that they were using other names right now. He put on a smile.

"Kim Wonshik, pleased to meet you."

His heart almost stood still when he saw the look on Hwang Sejun's face though. He couldn't even read what emotions were in his expression, but he could for sure see the shock. Did the CEO know anything? Was he a member of blackout? Was there anything else?

"Could I...could I maybe talk to you? Alone?"

There were several alarms going off in his head, but all he could do was to nod and mutter a surprised "yes, sure."

How was he supposed to react to this? What if the CEO knew who he was – what he was – and tried to kill him when they were alone? What was he supposed to do then?

Dr. Tuan gave him a pat on the back.

"Please go on. Mr. Jung and I will wait somewhere around here."

~ ~ ~

"Please, sit down."

Wonshik followed the calm request. At the moment the situation didn't seem dangerous, but you could never know.

"What did you want to talk about?"

He watched as the CEO made a drink for himself and sat down opposite of Wonshik.

"I knew your father."

"What?"

The cyborg was taken aback, but met with a sympathetic smile when he looked at the older in shock.

"He was one of my closest friends. Your father worked in my company and he was a genius, a wonderful man. Dedicated to his job and especially to his family. I've known you since you were little, Wonshik."

The younger could feel himself getting choked up. Of all the things he hadn't expected something like this to happen.

"Why...why are you telling me this. I've never known my family. I've been an orphan for as long as I can remember."

The CEO put his glass on the table in between them and nodded. It almost seemed like an apology.

"I think you need to know this, so that you can know who you are, to understand what made you who you are now. Some things went down that I wish I didn't have to put you through. You know my company creates cyborgs. We're not searching to make superhuman weapons, but we want to help people. People who have lost certain abilities, people who wouldn't survive otherwise."

He paused and looked directly and very seriously into Wonshik's eyes.

"People like you. I was the one who gave you a second life because otherwise you wouldn't have survived that attack. I couldn't save your father from them, but I could save you. And I'm sorry I had to."