CHAMPION | NCT

o40

"He was trying a weapon. Knocked him down. An accident. He's now fast asleep in his bedroom," Mark explained.

"Oh. Is he injured?"

"Nothing physical, don't worry. His Neowaves was just interrupted," Yuta said hastily, as if he's being chased by someone. "By the way, can you keep quiet for a moment? We need to concentrate. The machine can sense if the user is distracted."

I bit my lower lip and sighed, "Fine."

Silence filled the room. There's nothing that we could hear except the tranquil hum from the machine. Just sitting on this couch felt like I was inside an elevator, as if the atmosphere was hoisting up a part of me in different levels.

Now I understood why the machine only requires seven persons.

Seven persons for seven colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. A rainbow. The colors spread from machine and throughout each of the boys, forming a breathtaking color wheel that glows.

Donghyuck wolf-whistled. "This aurora sure looks pretty."

"It's a rainbow, genius," Yuta commented. Since when did these two start to get along?

Oh, like calls to like.

"It's really amazing!" Renjun said with a cheery chuckle. "But now what? What does it do?"

"Observe carefully. What do you see?" Yuta asked.

The six younger men stared more intensely.

"Um, a color wheel?" Chenle said, as if that wasn't obvious enough.

"The colors!" Jeno beamed. "The colors are not in order. It doesn't follow the color of the rainbow."

A grin tugged on Yuta's lips. "True. And why is that?"

"It's the wavelength," I answered for everyone. More likely guessed. "It has something to do with the wavelength."

"Oooohhh," the rest of the boys cooed.

"And what is its connection to the arrangement? Why does Mark have the red, Jungwoo the orange, and so on?" Yuta said, eyes locking with mine. I knew that he knows the answer. He just wanted to find out if I do to.

"The colors bend depending on energy. Your Neowaves are the cause why. The one with the strongest Neowaves -- the strongest color faces him. We all know that Neowaves has something to do with a person's brain cells. So if there's a damage under any condition that disrupts a person's brain then their Neowaves are weakened. That's why that machine scattered in no particular arrangement, because it follows its bearer- the one whose waves could match with their own. That's also explain why the infected people musn't see red. Because they can't take it. The strength of the color disrupts their Neowaves. That's why they feel pain. It's like forcing a needle on a cloth that musn't be impaled in the first place."

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.

The rest of the boys were clapping, taking me by surprise.

"Wow. That's more detailed than what you said at the Capital Dome during the competition," Mark said, jaw slacked open.

"Crazy smart!" Chenle barked. "How did you know all of that?"

I suddenly recalled the brown-eyed boy that I met at the river when I was small. When I was plucking apples from the forest. When he was staring, fascinated, at the scatter of colors stretching upwards from the water.