The two hours pass like mere minutes for them, but along the way there is roughly enough time for them to recover from their hunger. Jongho and Wooyoung didn't wait a second before shoving the burgers inside their mouth, while San only preferred to eat the vegan option for wraps. Arin goes for the pasta and Mingi seems to be salivating over all the food choices that he decides to take a little portion of everything. On the other hand, Elenna has herself stuffed with different types of fruits as the freshness of it hits her mouth.
It has been quite some time since they had the chance to eat with such privilege. They don't even eat sometimes to save themselves from being a burden amidst the war. Eating itself becomes such a struggle because of how all of the food stocks in their district had been destroyed by the soldiers of VESTRA, leaving them crawling for even the tiniest bits of food. A little guilt follows their heart as they eat there, thinking about how other people are still suffering outside the walls of Astral Ruins.
With their full stomachs now, Yunho has them gathered again at the assembly point in the lounge where he no longer stands on top of the stage. Instead, he's on the ground facing them directly, but Jongho can still see that the soldier's height is not a joke as he surpasses most of the newbies here even when he's standing on the ground with them.
The soldier then starts to assign them a room number, but not specifically the numbers to the sector on the lounge floor. They are moving upwards, where their eyes widen even more as the door of the lift opens. Each group was assigned a different floor and their group had to move to the 24th level, where an extremely bright light greeted their sight as they stepped out from the lift.
There isn't much that captures their attention but a huge machine that is heavily built with the latest version technology definitely takes the spotlight. Wooyoung is the first one to approach the machine, running his fingers through the material of the couch attached to parts of the machine.
It is almost like a machine that you see when you visit the dentist, with a chair that looks softer than any other bed they've ever laid their heads on. Next to it is the machine that has wires dangling from the side, connected to a monitor that displays a blank white screen. Their eyes trail the head piece placed on the chair, they can feel their stomachs turn.
All of them turn towards the door simultaneously as it creaks open, revealing a man with blonde hair and nice teeth. He's smiling at them, before taking his place on a smaller chair in front of the monitor and his hand goes to click something on it. A little beep sound ringing in their ears as the soft chair beside him starts moving, now it is laying flat similar to a mini bed. Wooyoung hold himself from running and crashes down his body onto that soft chair as he feels his muscles sore due to his training with Arin.
The guy continues to check up on the machine for a few minutes, before he finally calls out San's roll number, reading it from his little notebook.
"Wait, I thought only newbies have to complete this quarter?" San's voice appear smaller than his usual tone, for the first time Elenna can sense a tiny bit of emotions through him.
Fear.
"There have been some changes in the policy. Now, if you please," the man points the soft chair towards San as he moves hesitantly, clearly doesn't favour the idea of going through this particular sector again. All eyes are on him, but Wooyoung's attention is disrupted by a little grin playing on Arin's lips as her eyes fixed on San. He squints his eyes, a little curiosity creeps into his heart, and almost a bit of fear.
San lays down on the chair, his face maintained still. His body is stiff, and the man on his side is slowly putting on the head piece on top of his head, fastening the wires all together.
"Hongjoong, I don't think this is right.." San voices out, his eyes seemingly pleading.
What could've been so bad with the simulation?
"Sorry. It's really not my place to go against their rules," Hongjoong replies as his hands are still working on the wire around San, Elenna can see that he is equally reluctant, as if he was forced to be there. She keeps her eyes on them, observing without uttering anything towards the others.
"You know each other?" Jongho's voice echoes through the room, as he quickly covers his mouth with his palm, "ah, sorry I didn't think my voice would be that loud."
Hongjoong gives him a small smile, before he immediately turn away back to the monitor. Jongho furrowed his eyebrows, sensing something weird within this guy, Hongjoong. He doesn't seem willing, but he doesn't seem like a rebel either. His eyes focus more on him as he moves towards San to switch on the head piece, catching a glimpse of something.
A tattoo on his wrist, seemingly like a symbol of three droplets of water.
His heart beat increasing, as he tries to maintain his eyes on him. Everything this man is doing doesn't seem right, it's as if he's not doing the right thing, a real thing. Something so wicked buried deep within him, that he didn't show out to the world. Jongho feels his heart and mind telling him things that don't even correlate and it messes with his brain. His head throbbing, a sense of empathy suddenly creeps into him as he opens his eyes back again.
Everyone is looking at him, even San.
He then realises he is no longer standing, but crouching on the floor.
"Ah.. what happened?"
His voice turns out raspy, realising his throat going sore, as if he has been screaming.
Elenna rushes to him, helping Jongho to stand on his feet again. She grabs a water bottle from the desk near them, twists the cap open before she asks him to drink it. Jongho did as she asked, and he feels his throat throbbing as water passes through.
"You've been hyperventilating and screaming," she says, concerned all over her eyes, "what is it, Jongho? What did you see?"
Before Jongho gets to reply, Hongjoong's voice reverberates through the room.
"You can have your get to know each other session later but we are about to start San's trial now. It's important to understand what you are doing during these simulator sessions. So please, gather around the chair now."
Letting out a sigh of defeat as Jongho looks at Elenna helplessly, before she moves to help him walk towards all of them again. San closes his eyes as he obeys, discomfort written all over his face. Elenna stands right on the side of his head, Jongho claiming the place beside her. Wooyoung and Mingi stand on the opposite site, their eyes staring at the monitor in front of Hongjoong.
"Simulation one, Choi San, Roll 138. Starting in 3.. 2.. 1..."
_
San blinks his eyes a few times as it adjusts to the bright light shining through the window on his side. He squints, and there he sees the vast light blue sky, similar to paintings that he could sit and appreciate for hours. Taking a deep breath, he stares longer towards the window as he rests his head comfortably on the desk before his hand accidentally pushes a tiny piece of eraser off.
His head shoots up and immediately, looking down below the desk to find the eraser but it is nowhere to be found. Unconsciously his hands run through his hair, frustration creeping up into his heart. The feeling of frustration brings discomfort within his heart as it becomes more intense, with him now already crouching on the ground, eyes wilting over the glossy floor to find the small piece of eraser. San takes a few deep breaths as he keeps on searching for the piece, before his head accidentally hits the surface of his desk.
The eraser is still missing, and the discomfort laying in between his heart doesn't seem to get any better. His hands are now exploring the floor as it suddenly begins to move. The glossy white floor now appears to have sharp edges, and the interior of it changes into something that resembles a wave. San's breath gets shaken as he navigates his body through the floor and within a mere second, all of them are gone.
There is no longer glossy white floor instead it turns completely into the harsh waves of the ocean. His knees sink into the water as he struggles to keep his head out to breathe in the air. The waves keep on crashing his face, as it moves higher each time a new wave is formed. San maintains his body still as he fights for air, and swims against the storm of the sea. The waves are getting higher each second as he slowly drowns within the storm. His whole body is shaking as he gradually loses his consciousness due to the waves engulfing him deep into the mouth of the sea. San yells for help, but it only echoes through his mouth as it fills with water.
Don't let it drown you!
Bubbles coming in and out from his mouth as San fights against the storm, wanting to give himself a little more time but the waves are still there, coming, wanting to swallow him all up. His legs are pushing against the gravity of water as his body slowly gives in to the strong force that pulls him to the heart of the sea. He hears the sound ringing in his ears as he cries, tears streaming down his face and his chest hurts. He coughs out water only for it to find its way back in, drowning him down, deep into his own misery. San feels himself giving up, other parts of him no longer able to keep him alive as the last, highest wave builds up right in front of his face, ready to swallow his existence down to the ground of the sea.
His chest burns. His eyes blurry. His body immobilised. His mind is blank.
San!
San jolts awake as he screams out with all the breath left in him, startling all of the people around the chair. Beads of cold sweat drip down his forehead as his chest moves rapidly, taking in the darkness that has been brought by the simulation. His hands subconsciously wrap around the head piece on his head and throw it away on the floor, breaking it into pieces. Everyone is in shock, unable to move from their position as they watch San breathe heavily, his face illustrating the emotion that he hides away all this while.
Tears escaping his eyelids without him even realising, as he ends up giving up to the shock that still lingers in his mind and heart. His body drops down back to the chair, as his eyes roll back to his skull, unconscious.
"Alright now, Roll 182, Song Mingi. Your turn."
Elenna, who is the closest to the chair, staggers backward as San falls back to the chair, lost his consciousness. She quickly rushes to the operator who is still typing in something with the monitor, pushing him back to his chair as she advances towards him.
"What the fuck did you do to him?"
Hongjoong's back hits against the chair as he frowns, hand quickly covering his face from her. He raises his hand, pleading for her to stop hitting him. Mingi then takes a step in front of Elenna before pulling her backward, creating distance between them.
"Elenna, calm down."
"How can I calm down? Couldn't you see what he did to San? You really want to go through that too,huh?" she exclaims, her tone is higher than usual. Mingi bites his lips as he tries to pull her again but Elenna is fast enough to snatch her hand away.
"It's only a simulation, it's not a real thing," Hongjoong manages, his hand still raised up, blocking her.
Jongho steps forward hesitantly as he towers over Hongjoong, taking Elenna's place. She moves backward when she sees him, though her heart is still screaming mixed with fear and anger.
"You want to put us through that thing too?" Jongho asks, voice as calm as the ocean.
"You have no choice," Hongjoong replies, gradually bringing his hands down, "and neither do I."
He stands up to match his height with Jongho, but slowly turns away when he still sees Jongho being taller than him. Hongjoong moves towards the monitor, showing him an input of San's trial.
"All of you saw the screens. That was one of his fears. The fear of drowning and being lost. Technically, we see it as fear of drowning but it has more things beyond that can be interpreted differently. By using this Terror Trial, we can find out your fears and alter it into something more bearable for you. It's a good thing really, it may have a bad start like what you just saw on San but in the end, if it's successful, we could remove those fears so you can be emotionally independent without things that triggers it. Fear is one strong thing that correlates with emotions, and we need to overcome it."
Hongjoong takes a breather as he continues, "humans.. sometimes think too much with their emotions. So, with this invention, we could help you. We can help you erase those fears so you can have a better control of your own cognitive thoughts and not just be a victim towards emotional distress."
The room falls into silence as he finishes explaining the trial. Elenna rolls her eyes as she advances beside Jongho.
"How does this even correlate with our purpose being taken here? What does emotion have to do with the virus? The crawlers? What, you're saying, being emotionless will give us a better chance at surviving the virus and crawlers attack now?"
Hongjoong closes his eyes, fixing his glasses as he takes a deep breath.
"You're here only to train as soldiers to keep Astral Ruins safe from the crawlers. So, we need to make sure you have a strong will to fight against them."
"Are we really?" Jongho intercepts, his face mocking. "Are we really just here to be forced to train as one of your soldiers? Or perhaps we are here because we have something that you don't?"
All eyes are on him. Jongho doesn't back off from Hongjoong as he keeps his eyes on him. Hongjoong doesn't reply but he raises his eyebrows, clearly as confused as the others.
"Huh?"
Jongho breaks into a grin right after, slowly making his way towards the chair San is sleeping on. He instructs Wooyoung and Mingi to help move San to another place and proceeds to lay down on the chair, willingly putting on the other functional head piece on his head. Hongjoong looks at him, still holding the same expression.
"What are you waiting for? I'm sure they don't mind you not following the order of the members. It's only important everyone goes through this simulation isn't it?"