Hyolyn peered down at the warehouse and saw that Chae and Lee were busy at work. She was impressed. The first thing they had done was to take photographic evidence. She saw that Chae even went as far as to picture the boxing manufacturing labels. When they had help to cargo everything they hadn't even thought of that.
"Should we go help them?" she ate some popcorn as she adjusted the binoculars. Hearing the suggestion, Jessi's head bounced off her seat. She looked at her partner in shock, with eyes wide open.
"Are you out of your mind," she said. But Hyolyn urged her to look and Jessi took the binoculars from her. Reluctantly she peered down and saw the two girls working thoroughly. Briefly she contemplated the comfort of their luxury car to the dusty warehouse. Her choice was immediate. Handing the binoculars back she shrugged seemingly unbothered.
"The cost of living is too high," she said. Hyolyn looked at her dumbfounded.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you honestly think those two can afford our rates for moving boxes? Just look at your nails," staring at her fingers she took in what Jessi said. Her nails had cost a fortune. Taking back what she said, Hyolyn asked her partner to pour them champagne.
Time had passed them and they soon realised they had been busy for over an hour. Lee thought that they had done more than enough and that it was time to head back. The drive was filled with aches, complaints and good humour. When they parked Lee's car underground Chae invited her up to her room.
"Oops, definitely not a good idea Rosie. That's a tad too much and folks won't like it. No harm in you coming down but there's problems if I come up," She said. Chae pouted sadly but Lee said she was going straight to bed anyway. Though it was still broad daylight, she felt like she had worked for years. They bid farewell as Lee got off her floor. Chae promised she would come round for some Rosé tomorrow. On her floor, she thought to knock on Jisoo's door. It was still locked and she found the other's rooms were too. She wondered how she got back before them. Texting them she headed straight for the shower.
Jisoo took out her phone, put it on silent and tried to go back to sleep. Jennie told Lisa that Chae was home and they joked that the red head had beaten them to the punch. Traffic officers had made the rounds from car to car. Apparently two cars had exploded on a head on collision and the traffic was jammed because there was only one road on to the highway from here. They moved at a snail's pace but 20 minutes later traffic was flowing.
Not long after they saw the agency building and Lisa placed them in park. They made their way to their separate rooms. Jisoo placed a message on the group that they would have a meeting in an hour's time. They felt it was best to just sift through what they could today and continue tomorrow. With what Lisa had been able to get, it seemed like it would take a few days' work. Seeing the message Chae realised she had an hour to kill time. Lee had sent her a selfie before dosing off to sleep.
She chuckled at her friend. Fetching her hardrive from her room she settled on to the couch. It was a compact thing but her laptop was small. She connected everything and soon the spread sheets and photographs were before her. She inserted today's events in her log. She added Hyuna to her network database and decided to search for anyone who was affiliated to her. It was really this tool that allowed Chae to not be surprised by who 2NE1 had recruited. Most people mistake her nonchalance for cluelessness. She liked it that way.
Uploading the photos from her phone and those Lee had sent she knew what they actually needed to do was to count the amount of syringes in each box. Unless they could find the actual inventory documents. She knew that the liquid was most likely the substance V. It was the name they had designated for it. But where exactly was it meant to go? Certainly not that warehouse. She needed to talk to someone from 2NE1. Her eyes scanned over Hyuna's associates. She added them to the database. The list was vast. She saw her mentors and smiled at their young faces. She heard a knock on her door.
Closing everything and moving the hardrive back in to the duffel bag, she closed her bedroom. It was one of many copies scattered all across in places only she knew. She honed herself on being meticulous; she was going to see this through. She opened the door and Lisa let herself in.
"Well please do come in and make yourself at home," she said sarcastically. Lisa told her to come sit down as she actually needed to have a word with her. Chae raised an eyebrow at the subtle bit of attitude being thrown her way. She sat down obediently.
"How'd it go today? With that thing you had to do," she asked.
"It went okay," said Chae. Lisa eyed her and knew her friend was not going to say anything more.
"You've been sleeping?"
"Why?'' countered Chae
"Work with me here, Park Chaeyoung! I'm worried about you," Lisa gave up the serious act, slouched in to the couch and pouted. Chae pursed her lips sadly. She hated seeing Lisa like this.
"I'm sorry Lisa. Today went fine okay but I haven't really been sleeping much. I've been working late nights consistently and I've been having nightmares," Lisa sat up.
"They're back?"
"It happens when I'm overworked, not much I can do about it," Lisa looked at her friend in shock. She had first come in to the contact with the nightmares when she'd briefly visited her friend in Australia during her transition period from the dungeons to full agent. They had come back in to contact and quickly made plans.
The moment she saw Chae back then she knew she was looking at a completely changed person. But the nightmares were a sign that the cause was not necessarily pleasant. Chae never spoke about it and Lisa respected that. But hearing that it's just become another "thing" was alarming.
"Rosie," back when they were trainees, Chae was seen as one of the weakest recruitments. She cried and bruised easily. She was severely bullied for it because in this world you had be tough, their definition of tough. Furthermore her Korean was worse than Lisa's and almost everyone teased her for that Aussie accent. It was abuse and though Lisa didn't have it easy. She didn't get it from everyone. Supervisors, agents, mentors, and the other kids all saw Chae as a target.
Despite it all she never complained. She would cry yes, but she would finish the exercises sniffling, dead last without a word of I can't do it. Lisa recognised this innate strength and it was what prompted her to make friends with her. Chae wore her heart on her sleeve and even at the age of 11 was unapologetic about it.
But once Lisa moved on to the dungeons 2 years later and was informed that Chae had gone independent they lost contact for a few years. The dungeons were hell and it was only the image of Chae, sniffle nose and all who didn't complain or ask for anyone to treat her better that got Lisa through it. Chae meant something to her.
She knew whatever happened to her when they lost contact was something ugly though. The trip to Australia was all she needed to be convinced. However, she was still Rosie; she was still unapologetic and wore her heart on her sleeve. Lisa wouldn't say Chae's hardened. It was more like she solidified.
"Rosie, I want to make this clear. You can trust me Rosie. I'll always be you're Lisa bear and you'll always be my chipmunk. You can trust me, you can trust us. I need you to know that. So whenever you're ready to talk about it. We'll be here to listen," Chae's eyes became slightly teary but none fell. Lisa's own eyes welled. She stood up as tears poured out of her and Chae hugged her quietly.
Jisoo and Jennie let themselves in and were surprised to see Lisa clinging on to Chae. Jisoo immediately went in to girlfriend mode and tried to console her. However, Lisa wouldn't let go of Chae and with the look the red head gave her, Jisoo understood it was best to just leave them.
Lisa cried in pain, in pain for her best friend. She slowly lifted her head and Chae moved to dry her tears. As always she was gentle and attentive. Jennie looked away, she found herself wishing it was her in Chae's arms. Jisoo was also slightly envious. They eventually separated and Lisa went to the bathroom to clean up.
"What happened," asked Jisoo.
"Nothing. We talked and then we cried" said Chae. But Jisoo could see no tear stains on the red heads face. She decided not to question anything and Lisa returned swiftly. She said she felt way better and she and Chae shared a look that spoke of history. Jennie chose to remain quiet. Lisa quickly headed to her room to go fetch the backpack. Chae offered drinks but nobody wanted any. She sat down and Lisa returned.
They informed Chae and Lisa about what the Tanabe's said. They all agreed that they lied. The Tanabe's saw Siyeon that night and one if not both knew where the woman was. Moving on to Lisa, she poured out the contents of the bag on to the table and stated that there were more USB's. She'd only taken a handful. They looked at it bewildered. Jisoo was about to open the envelope when Chae stopped her.
"Let's take a photo of each item, first," they waited as she took the pictures. Jisoo then opened the envelopes. They contained lists. Lisa opened the other one. It was the same. They saw that the lists were dated. They were all dated for either yesterday or today.
"What are they listing?'' asked Jennie.
"Names," said Jisoo. Jennie scrunched her eyes as Jisoo handed her and Chae each a page. It was names of people. Mainly children and teenagers. Chae took a photo of each page.
"This looks like a shipment list," remarked Lisa. She was the first to say it but they all knew. It was all marked with words such as "arrival" and "departure" dates. Chae went to go fetch her laptop and swiftly connected it to her TV.
She'd disabled her whole room from any YG servers and encrypted everything she was using. She felt her room was secure. If not it didn't matter. She placed one USB in to the laptop and it flashed on to the screen. Pages after pages of mathematical and chemical equations appeared before them. She inserted another. Again formula's. Chae began placing all those with formula's in to a pile.
She reached for another. A video file. 10 hours long. She played it. They watched men and some woman in laboratories. Chae skipped forward. There were children on hospital like beds. Skip. The scientists or doctors were showing off some form of liquid, then plants and other substances. Skip. Syringes. Skip. Syringes being inserted in the children. Skip. The arrival of new children. They were primarily Asian. Skip. The children are frothing at the mouth. Skip. More injections.
Chae placed that flash aside. She reached for another. Everyone sat in horror. But not Chae, she'd been here before. This time the laboratory seems to be in a tropical area. Skip. The children are dark skin, but look like islanders. Skip. They smile happily in the arms of the men in lab coats as they get injected. Skip. Some of the children are blind, others are covered in blisters. Skip. New children arrive. She inserts the next flash. Formulas. She reaches for the next one. It's filled with pictures. These children are African, they look frightened and starved. Four of the children have syringes all over their body. The images are graphic.
Chae inserts the next USB. This is an audio file with multiple recordings. Scientist explain their experimentations with glee. Some spoke of giving children "experiemental" sex changes in the hopes of progressing gender, sex and child development theories. They could always change them back later, said one voice. Other's spoke of plant mutations and with the "correct combination of molecular substance" could lead to the evolution of medicine. Psychologists spoke on their experiments on " induced traumatic patients" as young as 6 months old in the hopes of treating psychosis.
She reached for another. Video file. Audio. Video. Formula's. Pictures. Video with audio. Pictures. Pictures. Formulas. Chae had seen that each one was dated. As far back as 1952 to as recent as 2018. There were three USB's left. It's a documentary, September 2016. Scores of children and teenagers from multiple nationalities flash before the screen. Multiple companies, agencies and internationally acclaimed brands scattered the funders list.
They watched as teachers, doctors, scientist, politicians and more who had all participated in this era crossing project attested to its "premiuim tested" accuracy in health care, psychology and other facets of life. She took it out and inserted the second last one. Another documentary far older and as racist. She reached for the last one. A video file, only 25 minutes long. It's an interview.
Chae became numb as her eyes absorbed a familiar road. She looked at the date. 11 February 2013. She forced her body not to react as she saw his face come upon the screen. He spoke with charm and elegance as he gave a tour of his family's "historic" estate, one of many he chimed. Practically abandoned he teased as the interviewer entertained him. He spoke fondly as he described his own "personal" experimentations handed down to him from a long family lineage and involvement in this project.
He showed them to his experiment "box" in his back yard near the gravel. Chae rolled her tongue around the inside of her mouth. They sat him down and he spoke of his preference of Asians and particularly dark skin Africans as he felt that they were highly strong and beautiful "breeds". Jennie stopped the video. Jisoo sat in shock while Lisa was bawling. She wiped away her own tears and moved towards the red head. Chae's pupils had grown large and the moment that man had come on she was practically gone. Jennie hugged her closely and called for her. Chae was so far in to herself and her past. She was about to recline further in when soft lips kissed her tears away. They begged her to come back.