96 Hours

Description: Six students were the victims of a new deadly virus.  There was no cure but they were desperate to live and went through a lot of things to invent the antivirus.  Will they be able to do it before the 96 hours were up for them?

Rating: PG-13 (for profanity, really)

Characters: Choi Seunghyun (BigBang), Choi Sooyoung (SNSD), Kim Jonghyun (SHINee), Luna (f(x)), Park Gyuri (Kara), Yang Yoseob (Beast)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the fiction.  The story is only a narrative and does not involve any real life situation.  The whole plot of the story is written originally by myself.  If there's any similarity to other fictions, it is totally a coincidence.

“I’m asking you again.  Is there anybody else?” the agent asked Luna, for the thousandth times that day, for anybody she made a direct contact with.  Not that she remember though.

“I told you, I can’t remember everybody.  I did make a contact with that tall librarian guy, with a murderer’s face and no one else.  Out of a sudden, your people coming out of nowhere and caged me here and I don’t even have time to speak.  Maybe you can ask my friends if they made contact with anybody.  I’m not the only one contaminated.  We were together in this lab when the tube broke off,” Luna had to tell the same story again and again.

“And you didn’t make contact with anybody else?” the agent turned to Seunghyun and asked, since he was the tall librarian guy, with a murderer’s face described by Luna.

“I was next door all the time after we touched each other-”

“We were not touching each other!” Luna yelled and Seunghyun flinched.

“Right, I was next door all the time after our skins brushed off when she gave me the book.  Suddenly, you came with your gang and dragged me here and don’t even tell me what the fuck is happening,” Seunghyun said, trying his best to restrain his anger.

The agent ignored the vulgarity Seunghyun just used and turned his attention to Yoseob and Gyuri, who were in a group with Luna in their scientific research.  Yoseob looked very confused while Gyuri showed her sleepy face.

“Miss Park Gyuri, anymore contact with anybody else?” the agent asked her.

“Only Choi Sooyoung,” Gyuri said and she was sure as hell that was repeated more than hundred times already.  The agent looked at Sooyoung who nodded.

“And I did not make any contact with anybody else.  I went outside, sat at the common, which was empty all the time while waiting for Gyuri to finish her experiment.  That’s it,” Sooyoung said before the agent asked her the same question again.

“Mr Yang Yoseob?” the agent asked.  Yoseob rolled his eyes.

“I told you that I gave the towel to Mr Lee’s helper, because Mr Lee asked me to do so.  After that, I resumed the experiment before you came and caged me up in this room,” he explained.

Suddenly, another man is taken inside the room.  He tried to pull his hands away from the other agents who happened to drag him the same way they dragged the others into the room.

“Let me go!  I can walk by myself!  Blind, aren’t you?” he shouted.

All of them know that must be Kim Jonghyun.  He worked part-time at the lab as a helper to Lee Jinki, a post-graduate student now doing scientific research for his doctorate.  Luna, Yoseob and Gyuri, who were always at the lab next to Jinki’s, doing their undergraduate research, knew Jonghyun as the one who always got scolded by Mr Lee Jinki.  Seunghyun and Sooyoung, and the rest of people in the university knew him as the dumbest guy ever existed in the engineering building.
“You must be Mr Kim Jonghyun,” asked the agent.

“I am and who the hell are you guys?  Why the hell did you drag me here?  I have a lot of work to do for Jinki and if I fail to finish it on time, damn I’ll get scolded again,” Jonghyun spoke.

“We are in a very serious situation Mr Kim and we need your cooperation in this,” the agent forced him to sit down.

“Mr Yang said he gave you a towel?” the agent asked for confirmation.  Jonghyun looked at Yoseob.

“Yes, he did, because my boss said I should do the cleaning work instead of him, although it was his group that broke the tube with that stinky, gooey, disgusting green fluid.  In the end, I had to wipe off the whole mess,” Jonghyun explained angrily.

“So, Mr Lee was there when the incident happen.  Did he, by any chance, have a contact with any of you, or directly to the fluid?” the agent asked.

“No, Mr Lee told me to wipe the chemical room clean and continue doing his work.  Then, he was back at his lab next door.  No direct contact with the fluid whatsoever.  Now, could you please tell me what the hell is going on?” Jonghyun started to feel annoyed.

Ignoring his question, the agent asked another question, “Did you come in contact with anybody after cleaning it?”

“No.  I even threw the towel into the chemical disposal bin after I cleaned it because it is just impossibly disgusting and who the hell knows what that is.  Could be any chemical,” said Jonghyun.
“You made the best decision indeed, not to throw it into the common dustbin, because I’m afraid all six of you now are contaminated with a genetically modified deadly virus, and therefore have to be quarantined,” the agent said.

“What?!” Seunghyun yelled.

“We already classified six of you to different groups according to your infection risk, based on your cases.  Luna, Gyuri and Yoseob, you are in Group 1, which were the first exposed to the virus, because we are afraid that some of the fluid might have splattered on you when the tube fell and broke.  Seunghyun and Sooyoung, you are in Group 2, in contact with those who were contaminated, which in our investigation have a slightly higher risk than them,” the agent stopped to wrote something down.

“Am I supposed to be in Group 2 as well, since I was in direct contact with Yoseob?” Jonghyun asked.

“No, Jonghyun.  Unfortunately, you are in Group 3, because you were in direct contact with the person infected and then was exposed to the whole fluid.  You wiped off the ‘whole’ thing, remember?  We still don’t know about your infection risk but we are very certain it is going to be very far higher than those two groups,” the agent said and Jonghyun’s face fell.

+++++

“The NNH can be whatever virus it wants to be and can infect any part of your body and we don’t know what organ it will choose to attack first.  Two of our agents were infected, one at lungs and another one at his skin.  We didn’t know what happened that time but at first one had pneumonia and the other one had bad skin rash.  They didn’t know they were carrying virus and they were in contact with two others, which in turn were infected by the direct contact and even get more severe diseases, pneumonic plague and smallpox respectively,” the agent explained.

“So, we won’t know which part of us that is going to be infected first?” Seunghyun asked, suddenly feeling scared of it.

“You won’t know until it shows.  I’m sorry,” the agent apologized.

“I’m sorry?” Luna said exasperatedly, “That is all you can offer?  Come on!  We are at the verge of dying here and all you could do is saying sorry?  What about antivirus, huh?  I think we need that the most now, not your sorry,” Luna rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air.

“We don’t have antivirus for that.  Not right now, at least.  Our scientists are still trying,” the agent replied carefully.

He looked at them with sympathy.  Seunghyun started to play with his fingers while Yoseob looked back at him pleadingly.  Sooyoung busied herself wiping her own tears while Gyuri and Luna tried to comfort each other.  Jonghyun was the only one very calm, as though he was not infected at all.  He busied himself looking at some boxes in the chemical room, connected to the lab they are caged in.  Maybe it was true after all, the myth saying he was the dumbest guy ever lived on Earth.

“What happened after that?” Yoseob gathered his courage to ask.

“After it attack one of your organs, it will spread throughout your body and mess up with your system, including your immune system and unfortunately after 96 hours, you will-”

“-be dead,” Gyuri finished that for the agent, “Tell us something we don’t know.”

“Really?  No way out of this?  Anything that can help us fight this?  Live a little longer than 96 hours?” Sooyoung asked with a hopeful face.

“Our scientist managed to invent a drug to help slow the virus down.  But, at most it will only help you to deal with the pain.  Maybe you have a chance to live longer than 96 hours but I doubt you will stand longer than a week,” the agent said.

“Thanks.  That helps a lot,” Luna said sarcastically.  The agent tried not to look at her.

“So, the government just geniusly invented the virus but not-so-geniusly not trying to invent the antivirus at the same time.  Tell me, what is the purpose of inventing this virus?  To create a biological war?  Genocide?” Jonghyun started to speak and the agent was shocked by his accusation on the government.

“That is a serious accusation, young man.  The gov-”

“Accusation, you said?  Then tell me, Agent Dennis O’Neil,” Jonghyun showed a box, opened and empty, “This package of enzyme glycogen phosphorylase which Luna ordered from the National Pharmaceutical Centre for her research was delivered this morning, with the tube of virus might be unknowingly sent together.  From this receipt, it said it was packaged and delivered directly from NPC to our lab.  It looks like our government makes a secret weapon and the enemy uses it against the government itself,” Jonghyun said.

“Nobody from NPC sent the virus.  I believe NPC wanted to send you your order and somehow the virus was put in,” the agent replied.

“So, the government did invent the virus.  But, somehow some enemy has gotten hold onto NNH and sent it to your agents.  Four died and the government were still very stubborn to get rid of this virus, I don’t know, maybe for their own biological war.  So, the enemy decided to send it to the public so that the more people die, the more the government learn,” Jonghyun looked at the agent in the eyes.

“You know too much,” the agent said.

“Forgive me that I am a minor in Law and Criminology,” Jonghyun shrugged.  The agent sighed.

“The Neo-Noxious Heterofunction virus was invented to be spread, but only when NPC invented the antivirus.  The plan was to spread the virus and then sell the antivirus to get our pharmaceutical industry a fame, also, to improve our economy.  Somehow, the plan was leaked and the enemy got hold onto it and as you said, they are trying to teach the government by victimize the citizen with the virus.  Our agents and all of you, were unfortunately targeted,” the agent said.

“And I thought you are the stupidest guy I’ve ever met,” Sooyoung said to Jonghyun.

“For the thousandth times, I am telling you guys, I am not stupid.  I just hate lab experiments and for that Jinki calls me dumb and you guys actually believe it,” Jonghyun played with a pen.

“You have that dorky look on you.  Can’t really blame the others,” Yoseob said, “Besides, you are lucky at least we know it a few days before we are going to die.”

“We are not going to die,” Jonghyun said it with emphasize.

“How?” Gyuri asked.

“We are going to invent the antivirus ourselves.  Luna, you take the lead,” Jonghyun said and he started moving into the chemical room to prepare.

+++++

Luna complained about her aching limb and the others noticed that the effect had already shown.  The virus must have attacked her muscles and joints.  Every single movement she made will make her cried in pain.

“I don’t want to die like this,” she said while looking into the electronic microscope to get a good look on the virus.

“We are not going to die,” Jonghyun reminded again and he rolled up the sleeve of Luna’s lab coat.  He searched for her vein before gently injecting the liquid drug to ease her pain.  After a few seconds, Luna could relax a bit.

“Feeling better?” Jonghyun asked.

“Yes,” Luna nodded.

“Guys, I can’t find more test tubes,” Gyuri said and turned to them from the cabinet.  When they saw blood trickled down Gyuri’s lower lip to her chin and dropped onto her coat, they knew that she was affected as well.

“Err, Gyuri?  Are you okay?” Seunghyun asked.

“Yes, why?” Gyuri said.  She did not realize the blood staining her clothes.

“Do you happen to feel pain?  In your mouth?  In your throat?” asked Yoseob.

“Oh, I do feel like my throat is burning bu-”

“Gyuri!  Just stop talking, okay?  Stop!” Sooyoung yelled.

“Why?” that one word only caused more blood trickling down her chin.

Jonghyun quickly pulled her to the sink and rinsed her mouth.  Only then, Gyuri realized what had been going on.  She panicked.

“Oh my God!” and more blood coming out of her mouth.

“Gyuri, stop saying anything, not even a word from you.  Keep your mouth shut from this point onwards,” Jonghyun said and jabbed her arm with the drug.

“You use different needle right?” Luna asked Jonghyun. He nodded.

“Yoseob, could you please check on the manual, the daily dose for this drug per person?” Jonghyun asked.

Yoseob took the manual and started to look at it.  It turned out he saw only symbols he thought were supposed to be Greek, something he did not understand.

“Err…Seunghyun, do you happen to know how to read this?” Yoseob asked him.  Seunghyun looked at the manual and then to Yoseob, back and forth.

“Are you fucking kidding me?  Just read it.  It says there, not more than 50 ml per day,” Seunghyun said.

“Since when you can read Greek symbols?” Yoseob asked.

“What?” Seunghyun was getting confused.

“Wait,” Luna sensed something, “Yoseob, please read this for me?” Luna shoved Yoseob’s own lab note to him.  He frowned.

“Another Greek symbols,” Yoseob said.

“Oh, my God!  Yoseob, you lost your ability to read!  Even your own handwriting!” Luna looked so scared while saying it and Yoseob’s face fell.

“Damn it,” Jonghyun looked at Yoseob with a face showing an utter disbelieve, “The virus must have affected your inferior frontal gyrus or your inferior parietal lobule or might be your ventral temporal cortex.”

“Jonghyun, it would help me a lot if you could speak a language I could understand right now,” Yoseob demanded a clearer version of explanation.

“The virus must have attacked your brain.  You are showing a symptom of dyslexia, Yoseob.  This is just ridiculous.  I mean, you learned alphabets and you knew how to read, but it is gone just in a second.  How strong is this virus exactly?” Jonghyun took out his cellphone, planning to call the agent when suddenly Seunghyun fell onto his knees with a loud thud.

“Seunghyun!  You okay, dude?” Yoseob helped him to his feet, but he can’t bring himself to stand.  Gyuri, who was not allowed to speak at all, jumped up and down in panic, pointing towards a chair nearest to Seunghyun.

“A chair!  Give him a chair!” Luna shouted.  Quickly, Sooyoung pushed a chair for Seunghyun to sit.
“I…I couldn’t feel my feet.  It feels like I’m paralyzed from my knee down to my feet,” Seunghyun said once he was seated.

“God!” Yoseob pulled his hair.

“It makes sense,” Jonghyun said.

“What makes sense, Jonghyun?!  What?!  Nothing makes sense!  Not now!  We’re dying!” Luna yelled.  Jonghyun flinched to her emotional response.

“The agent told us that whoever in direct contact with the person who is infected will have a slightly higher risk of infection.  Luna has aching limbs and muscles, and Seunghyun who gets the virus from her suffer even a more serious illness, paralysed muscles and limbs,” Jonghyun explained.

“That’s it!  I give up!  That’s it!” Luna cried and Yoseob tried to calm her down.

Just then, Sooyoung jumped up and down, trying to catch everyone’s attention.  She seemed trying to speak something while shaking her head left and right and tears rolled down her cheeks.  At a moment, Jonghyun thought that the virus must have did something to his ears, that now he was deaf, but seeing tears on Sooyoung’s cheeks, he knew that he was not deaf.

It was Sooyoung who was mute.

“You can’t speak, Sooyoung?  You lose your voice?” Jonghyun assumed.  With that, Sooyoung stopped jumping like a mad girl and nodded.  Then, she fell onto the floor crying.

“She got it from me.  And even worse, she lost her voice.  She just can’t speak.  Oh, I’m sorry, Sooyoung,” Gyuri hugged her and Sooyoung quickly wiped the blood coming out from Gyuri’s mouth with a piece of tissue.

“Jonghyun, I’m infected at the brain.  How worse can that be for you?” Yoseob asked him.  Then only Jonghyun realized that he was the only one who did not show any effect, yet.  The hell, he can’t imagine what will happen to him sooner or later.

“I’ll be damned,” he said solemnly.

+++++

It had passed 36 hours now and they tried to work as best as they could.  Their man-power was decreasing since they had to deal with their diseases while finding the cure to the noxious virus.  Sooyoung and Gyuri can’t speak, Yoseob can’t read, Seunghyun can’t move from his waist down now and Luna’s muscles and limbs just kept aching all the time.

Nevertheless, Seunghyun still help them to find some books that could be helpful for references.  Sooyoung, whose major was nursing, kept looking for any sign of deteriorating health and once in a while gave them the drugs intravenously.  Gyuri, Yoseob and Luna were doing the most work to find the antivirus, since Biochemistry was their major anyway and they were quite used to lab experiments.  Jonghyun, who was a Microbiology major tried his best to keep up with them.

Seunghyun, your body temperature keeps fluctuating.  Sooyoung wrote that down on a piece of paper.  She noticed the raise in temperature of Seunghyun’s body.

“Like just now, it will be back to normal in minutes,” Seunghyun replied.

But, this is not a good sign.  The virus is now playing with your system.  Sooyoung gave her concern look to him.

“Not that we can do anything until we get this antivirus done, can we?” Seunghyun smiled.

“We are running out of time,” Yoseob muttered to himself after he heard Seunghyun.  But, that’s loud enough for everyone to hear.  Jonghyun sighed.

“We are not running out of time, guys.  We still have time.  Stay positive,” Jonghyun said.

“Right, Jonghyun?  Stay positive?” Luna had her breakdown again, “You can say that because you are the only one not affected by the virus yet.  If anybody going to die first, it will be any of us, not you.  What will you feel if you are in our position?” Luna asked.  Jonghyun looked at her in the eyes and tried to find the best answer.

“I will keep looking for the cure to be able to stay alive,” Jonghyun said.

“Easy for you to say that.  I am at the verge of giving up now.  I feel like letting the virus do whatever it wants to me, because I’m just fucking tired!” Luna shouted.  Gyuri flinched.

“But, you did not do that.  You keep trying to find the antivirus, because you have hope,” Jonghyun said.  Luna pulled her hair.

“NPC’s scientists tried it for months and they still don’t find it.  We have less than 96 hours now, how could we find it?”

“That’s what NPC’s scientists don’t have.  Desperation.  You don’t know what wonder it can do, Luna,” Jonghyun tried to get his friend back on track.

“Desperation?  What do you know about desperate, Jonghyun?  Did you lose your ability to speak?  To read?  To move freely, without being paralyzed or being in constant pain?  No!  So, don’t talk to me like you are desperate!” Luna bellowed.

“Hey, in case you don’t notice my blood test came out positive of the virus.  Just the same as you guys.  I’m in this too, okay?  I’m desperate to live too,” Jonghyun said.

“I don’t know, Jonghyun.  It is not fair.  We have to do this in pain, in disability while you are just calm and relax without being attacked by the virus.  You don’t understand,” Luna cried.

Jonghyun took a deep breath to calm himself down.  If fairness was what Luna was looking for, then he had no choice.

“Luna, Yoseob, Gyuri, stop what you are doing right now.  You can have your rest.  Let me do this on my own,” Jonghyun instructed.

“But, Jonghyun-”

“No, Yoseob.  If fairness is what you are looking for, then I’ll try to be fair.  Since I am the only one with able body right now, I think I deserve to have to do this alone,” Jonghyun said.

“But-”

“I insist,” Jonghyun said again and then he gave a forcing look to Gyuri.  Luna already put her book down and searched for a place to sleep.  Yoseob looked at Gyuri and finally put their apparatus down on the table, leaving Jonghyun to struggle with them.

+++++

Jonghyun had worked for straight 60 hours now and he started to feel a headache coming.  Usually a cup of coffee will be able to keep him up for another day, but where the hell can he get any coffee right now?  They can’t go out since they were quarantined in that lab and people from outside were not allowed to get any nearer to the lab even.  Their source of food came from some people who came a day ago, fully dressed like an astronaut, giving them some dried food.  That’s it.  And seeing Gyuri started to get a fever did not help at all and Luna had been vomiting just increase his level of desperation.

Seunghyun’s body temperature kept fluctuating and the only body part he could move right now was his right hand and his neck and head.  Even his left hand was not functioning anymore.  Yoseob had fainted once and for a while they thought they lost him, but hearing his still steady heartbeat gave them an assurance.  Sooyoung kept alert to give them the drug but sometimes she had breathing difficulties herself.  Jonghyun witnessed his friends’ condition deteriorating and he wondered how can he still standing without being affected by the virus.  Not that he asked for it, but he was sure his blood test came out positive and he was even labelled with the highest risk of infection.  So, what the hell was happening right now?

He stood up and that causes him an acute pain in his head.  He staggered back but regained his composure and continued walking to the lab freezers to see his second specimen.  He took out the petri dish filled with agar antigen specimen, to test it on his own blood which he drew just now.  He was going to look at the reaction under the microscope.  If it reacted with the virus, then he will multiply the antigen specimen for all of them.   If not, he needed to try the third specimen he had made.  He did not have much choice in this short time, but he hoped one specimen will actually work.

He was about to filled a beaker with water when he felt another pain at the side of his head.  His vision started to get blurry.  He massaged his temple in a futile attempt to get rid of the pain.  He regretted asking to work alone.  The effect of not sleeping for two days was not pleasant at all and he could feel like his body will just give up soon.

“Maybe somebody should take over,” Seunghyun said and Jonghyun narrowed his eyes to focus his vision on Seunghyun, “You can’t work alone straight without sleep in two days, Jonghyun.”

“I can’t force you guys to work,” Jonghyun said.

“Well, I can.  Just read for me and I will be able to do it for us.  Gyuri will be able to help too.  I am sure Luna had her rest too,” Yoseob said.

“Luna’s condition is bad.  She had been vomiting and I am sure that doesn’t feel nice.  Gyuri has fever and Yosoeb, I am not fond of the idea of you fainting all over this lab apparatus.  I need to get this done.  Your condition is deteriorating,” Jonghyun said.

I can help.  Sooyoung wrote.

“No, you need to look after them,” Jonghyun said.

You already look like shit.

“Well, thanks Sooyoung.  That was-” Jonghyun did not even finish with his words when he felt like tonnes of brick just fell on his head.  Both of his hand flew to his head, squeezed it to ease the pain.  The beaker dropped onto the floor and broke and the crashing sound woke Gyuri and Luna up.  Yoseob and Sooyoung were quick onto their feet, but not quick enough to catch Jonghyun when he fell onto the floor, his whole body was shaking violently, as though all his muscle was twitching in a weird way.  Worse, some of the shattered glasses actually wounded his skin.

“It is a seizure.  He is attacked.  It is a seizure!” Yoseob was worried.

As a nursing student, Sooyoung knew what to do.  She quickly turned Jonghyun’s body so that he lied on his side and waited until the jerking actually stopped.  Seunghyun used his right hand to drag his whole body all the way to Jonghyun.  Luna and Gyuri also hovered over Jonghyun to help, but knew better that they could do nothing until the jerking stop.  When it finally stopped, Sooyoung tried to bring Jonghyun back to his consciousness.

“Jonghyun, can you hear me?” Seunghyun asked.  Sooyoung tried to find any pulse and finally found a weak one.  She nodded to them.

“Jonghyun, come on.  Don’t do this to us,” Yoseob said this time.  Still, he was unresponsive.

“Jonghyun!  If you don’t answer me, I swear I will kiss you!  I swear, Jonghyun!  I swear!” Luna shouted while shaking Jonghyun very hard that Sooyoung had to stop her.

“Can you keep it down Luna?  Your voice makes my headache even worse,” Jonghyun finally spoke even his voice sounded very fragile.  Luna quickly pulled him into a hug.

“For a while, I thought you were really going to leave us just now Jonghyun.  Don’t you do that to us again, never,” Luna cried.

“Luna…it hurts.  Everything.  My head, my body,” Jonghyun complained.  Gyuri gave a sign to Sooyoung and she quickly caught what she was trying to say.  Sooyoung took the drug and injected it into Jonghyun’s arm.

“Now, better?” Yoseob asked.  Jonghyun nodded in response.

“We are equal now, are we not?” Jonghyun asked.

“Shut up, Jonghyun.  Just tell me what you got now and we will work together for the rest of it,” Luna said.

+++++

Jonghyun and Luna did not know how many hours had passed but seeing Seunghyun, Yoseob and Gyuri unconscious on the floor of the lab, looking so weak and fragile, they were very sure they had went over 96 hours now.  Sooyoung was now having difficulties in breathing.  Luna was helping her.  Jonghyun was still waiting for the laboratory chemical processor to do its final touch to the antivirus.  Everything went even more chaotic when Luna ran with a lot of pain to the sink and vomited again.  It sounded really painful and when she stopped, she just fell to the floor unconscious.
Sooyoung tried to get up to approach Luna, but Jonghyun stopped her.

“Stay where you are, Sooyoung.  Don’t move.  It will only mess with your breathing,” Jonghyun said.  Suddenly, a headache attacked him and he grabbed the edge of the table to calm himself down.

“Fuck this machine!  Can’t work even faster!” Jonghyun tried not to lose consciousness because once the cure was ready, he can’t expect Sooyoung to inject everybody with it, not with her condition.  He will be the one to help his friends.

A beep signalled Jonghyun that the cure was processed.  He took six syringes and inserted new, sterile needles into each, and drew the clear blue liquids into the syringe.  He tried not to lose consciousness although the pain was taking over him.  He ran to Sooyoung and tried to get the best vision of her arm with his blurry vision.

“The percentage of success is fifty per cent.  It is either you live or you die but have faith.  Try to fight it, try to be conscious,” Jonghyun said and injected the antivirus into Sooyoung’s arm.

Then, he quickly took another syringe to Luna.  He felt Luna’s pulse.  It was weak.  He quickly injected the antivirus and hoped that it will work.  He took out his cellphone and dialled up Agent Dennis number while running towards Yoseob with another syringe.  When the agent answered the call, Jonghyun tried to speak with the calmest voice he could produce in the agony he is experiencing.

“The antivirus was given.  Come tomorrow morning and pick us up.  Take us to the hospital.  Please…” Jonghyun said while giving a shot to Yoseob.  Then, he ran to Seunghyun.  He could hear Agent Dennis said something, but the pain in his head allowed him to focus only on saving his friends.  He dropped his phone and kneeled beside Seunghyun and jabbed him with the cure.  Then, with the last bit of energy he had, he injected Gyuri with the antivirus.

Finally, with the last syringed, he injected himself with the antivirus and everything went black after that.

+++++

Jonghyun woke up with the sound of a machine beeping.  He slowly adjusted his vision to the light and it focused bit by bit.  He tried to move but he felt too tired to even move a finger.

“Jonghyun?” it was Sooyoung’s voice and Jonghyun thought he was dreaming.  When his vision actually fully focused again, he could see all his friends looking at him.

“Oh, gosh!  Jonghyun!” he could see Gyuri spoke without blood coming out of her mouth.  Seunghyun was walking towards him and he tried to smile, seeing him able to move again.

“Finally, Jonghyun.  You have been sleeping for too long,” Luna said to him.

Jonghyun frowned.  Then only he realized that he was in a hospital room with machine attached to him to monitor his sign of life.

“What happened?” he asked, confused of things that was going on.

“The antivirus worked.  We were cured even before the agent came to picked us up.  All of us regained conscious the next morning after you gave us the cure, except you.  You have no idea how you scared us, Jonghyun,” Yoseob provided.

“It was bad.  The doctor said you had brain haemorrhage.  The doctor put you under medication through IV drip to decrease swelling and control your blood pressure, also to ease the flow of your blood.  You had seizure three times when you were unconscious and we almost lost you, really.  But, now you are okay, that’s what matters,” Seunghyun said.

“How long I was out?” Jonghyun asked after everything started to make sense to him.

“Almost two weeks,” Gyuri replied.

“You can read now, Yoseob?” Jonghyun asked.

“Hell, yes!” Yoseob went.

“Hell, it was the longest 96 hours in my life!” Sooyoung said and they laughed together.

__________

heaDeVil^23

Mood: Gloomy -.-

Music: Pitch Perfect Soundtrack - The Riff-Off

The Ultimate Multitudity

Description: Each of them possessed a supernatural skill.  They were assigned into a team to work together.  But, a member was so secretive and when a death happened, everything started to make sense.

Rating: PG-13 (for foul language?)

Characters: Choi Seunghyun (BigBang), Choi Sooyoung (SNSD), Kim Jonghyun (SHINee), Luna (f(x)), Park Gyuri (Kara), Yang Yoseob (Beast)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the fiction.  The story is only a narrative and does not involve any real life situation.  The whole plot of the story is written originally by myself.  If there's any similarity to other fictions, it is totally a coincidence.

“It started with a shooting incident.  I was six, at a bank with my mother when a group of armed robbers just crashed in and shot around,” Seunghyun explained.

“That must be scary,” Luna cringed.

“Hell, it was.  I cried, okay, I was small at that time, so it’s legal to cry.  Someone must have thought that I was annoying and tried to shoot me dead,” Seunghyun continued.

“But, clearly that someone failed,” Gyuri said.

“Well, yeah.  The bullet shattered before it could reach me.  The whole gang then shot me but the same happened.  They failed to kill me because the bullets shattered before it could even reach my skin,” Seunghyun smiled.

“Damn.  They must have chickened out,” Luna laughed.

“I would too, trust me.  Like you can’t be killed.  So over powerful,” Gyuri shrugged.

It was normal that the students of the school asked questions about each other’s ability when they were put into team.  It was the school’s curriculum.  During their first year, they will be trained one-to-one with their teachers, to control their supernatural skills before they could be put into teams to learn with other students.  The lack of control of self-power can be destructive to other students.  Hence, only after they mastered their skills the teacher will assigned them into team with peers who had also mastered their own skills.

When Gyuri, Luna and Seunghyun met in class that morning, for their first day of in-group learning session, they asked each other about their skills and when they started to realize them.  Now, they knew that Seunghyun possessed the Earth bending skill.  Just name it, gold, soil, sand, iron and even the radioactive elements will obey him.

“What about you?” Gyuri asked Luna.

“Are you kidding me, Gyuri?  She’s the girl who saved the whole school from fire that occurred last year.  It is impossible not to know her,” Seunghyun stated.  Gyuri covered her mouth in surprised while Luna looked everywhere but them, because she didn’t really know how to accept compliments from people.

“You can control fire,” Gyuri muttered.

“Fire and heat.  And you can transfigure into animals.  You can fly, can be venomous, can be tame and can be dangerous,” Luna complimented Gyuri.

“My skill is lame compared to yours,” Gyuri shook her head.

“Right.  Wait until you transfigure into a snake, or a lion or a dragon maybe,” said Seunghyun.

“Oh.  Are mythical animals included in your transform-into list?  Like unicorn or dragon?”

“Yes.  I’ve tried mermaid before.  But, mermaid’s easy.  Unicorn and dragon need a lot of practice though.  I might end up be a centaur, which is disgusting,” Gyuri spoke and Luna was amazed.

“You are so cool!  I like your skill.  If we can trade, I would trade,” Luna giggled.

“I wonder who the other three students in our team are,” Seunghyun went.

They were six in their team, just like the other teams.  They were classified by the teachers based on their skills.  Each group was assigned members that can help each other, and that was not a simple task since each student came with different skills.

“Am I late?” a boy, munching a bar of dark chocolate, walked to his seat.

“No.   We were just excited to come early to know our teammates,” Gyuri said.

“Good.  Then, I have time to finish my chocolate bar.  I’m Yoseob by the way,” he introduced himself and the others did the same.

“What’s your power?” Luna asked.

“Psychokinesis in Quantum Tunnelling and Telepathic Projection.  I might have another psychokinesis scope, Teleportation.  The teacher is experimenting on me,” Yoseob stated.

“That sounds complicated.  Mind explaining it?” Seunghyun asked.

“Telepathic projection means that I can project what is in my mind for people to look at and quantum tunnelling means that I can move through barriers.  This quantum tunnelling thing makes the teacher think that I might able to teleport,” Yoseob explained.

“And all those happen with your small brain?” Gyuri asked.

“Alright.  Technically, it is not small.  It weighs as normal, like yours.  It is just that I have a larger brain capacity to be able to control things around me by emitting high-energy brain wave, okay?” Yoseob rolled his eyes.

“Chill, dude.  We’re just joking.  Your brain is powerful, of course.  And that dark chocolate helps a lot I think,” Luna said and Yoseob nodded to that.

“I made it in time,” a tall girl, came in without anybody noticing it.

“Wow!  Look!  The fastest girl in the world came later than me to class,” Yoseob said, tone very sarcastic.

“Oh yeah, Yoseob.  I woke up like three minutes ago.  What say you to that?” Sooyoung rolled her eyes.

“Okay.  You’re fast,” Yoseob gave up arguing with Sooyoung.

The whole campus knew Sooyoung.  She moved very fast, a hundred kilometres per second, literally, so fast that she’s not allowed joining the track and field athletes.  That was because even Usain Bolt will never win.

They started introducing themselves to each other again.  As usual, they talked about their skills and how they are trained to control those skills.  They talked about the other students they saw on first year and how powerful their skills are or how lame their skills are.  They talked about a student everyone always talked about, a student who was rumoured to not have any special skill at all, and who was in that school only because his uncle was the President of the School Board.  Although that student was inarguably smart, that he seems to know every single scope of knowledge in the world, the other students thought he could just go to some school for genius normal people, not the school of students with supernatural skills.

“All five are here?” that was the voice of the teacher.

“Yeah.  The other one seems missing the first lesson of in-group training,” Luna said.

“I wonder who the other one is,” Sooyoung muttered.

“It’s okay.  We will begin our lesson today,” the teacher started, “I am sure you already know each other’s skill?”

Suddenly, the door of the classroom was yanked open, revealing a male student, looking like he had not sleep for a week, and holding a bottle of energy drink and also five packets of energy bar.  The moment Seunghyun saw the student, he knew that their team will have problems.  Of course, every team will have problems sometimes because lack of team work, but seems like their group had to take care of a powerless student.  Luna’s face dropped after knowing that this boy will join the team, because most of the days he will look like that, over-tired.  Gyuri had hoped for better because she thought they will have this one student with power of controlling other’s mind.  Sooyoung thought she could just push this guy off the school’s roof and he will just drop dead.

“I am Jonghyun,” the guy introduced himself.

“And your skill is?  Looking tired every day?  Eating a lot of energy bars?  Know-it-all?  Or your skill might be being a nephew of the school’s President?” Yoseob asked sarcastically.

Jonghyun undoubtedly looked very surprised by the treatment he got from his teammates in the first day of his second year.  He swallowed and took a seat at the back of the classroom, since he thought the other students did not like the idea of him being their teammate.

“Class, be nice to your teammate,” the teacher said and continued the lesson. What annoyed them so much was the fact that the teacher did not even angry when Jonghyun was late.  Was it because he was the President’s nephew?

+++++

The fire from Gyuri was so big that Luna had to quickly weaken it, so that it won’t hurt Yoseob and Jonghyun.  Then, Seunghyun tried to throw a huge boulder to Luna, so that it will knock her off.  Yoseob quickly conjured his power towards the boulder, so that it could just quantum tunnelling through Luna and won’t hurt her.  Sooyoung, who were also in the same sub-group of Gyuri and Seunghyun moved very fast towards Jonghyun and tried to knock him down.  It was a surprised to them that Jonghyun could move very fast too, although not really as fast as Sooyoung.  His martial arts skill could be praised too, because he managed to block some of Sooyoung’s attacks.  However, the skill of martial arts is something that a normal human could have.  Finally, Sooyoung choked him down.

“Is that all you have?!” Sooyoung shouted.

“Sooyoung, let him go,” Luna pulled her off him before she could kill Jonghyun.

“Do you think I can kill him?” Sooyoung asked angrily, “He looked so pitiful, so tired all the time and the teachers seem to be very protective of him.  Do you think I could possibly kill him?”

“Chill, Sooyoung,” Seunghyun held her hand.

“I hate him in this team,” Gyuri said as she transformed into her normal human shape after being a Chinese dragon just now.

“He made my sub-group lose this training,” Yoseob said.

“Truth is, whoever in the same sub-group as him will always lose, because he will always be knocked off first,” Seunghyun let his anger lose.

“Alright, I am still here in case you don’t notice,” Jonghyun said.

“And we talked bad about you.  So what can you do to us?  We have our own power and you have nothing, Jonghyun.  If it was not because of me protecting you from Gyuri’s dragon fire, you will be dead by now.  You can’t even do anything when Seunghyun threw that boulder to me.  I was lucky I have Yoseob,” Luna said.

“That is what you want, isn’t it?  To kill me?  To see me dead?  Why don’t you just kill me?  Sooyoung almost did it just now.  So?  Just do it.  Do it now.  Then only you can see my real power,” Jonghyun sighed.

“Don’t tempt me,” Yoseob said, “I can turn you into pieces of atoms in seconds and you won’t be you anymore.”

“Don’t dare me too,” Gyuri went, with the sound of a snake hissing after that.

“Sound like all of you have plans on killing me,” Jonghyun voiced.  He sounded disappointed.

“Oh, hell.  We all do.  But, you can go on killing yourself too, rather than tempt us on doing it, because by tempting us on doing it is already a suicide for you,” Seunghyun raised his voice.

“Believe me.  I have killed myself and watched myself being killed a lot of times before.  And I am never scared of that,” Jonghyun said and he fled, leaving them in confusion.

+++++

“Maybe he has the power of reincarnating himself right on the point of his death,” Seunghyun suggested.

“How can we find out if he really has that power?” Luna asked.

“We have to kill him to find out,” Yoseob said matter-of-factly.

“What if he doesn’t have any power and we kill him?  He will die and we will become murderers.  I don’t want to live my life as a murderer,” Gyuri argued.

“Right?  But, all of you seem so tempted to kill him.  All of you said that in front him.  This is so wrong guys.  I saw his eyes.  He didn’t lie when he said he had killed himself before.  He didn’t lie when he said he had watched himself being killed,” Sooyoung sighed.  She felt guilty to her bone.

“Let’s not talk about this.  We’re having lunch,” Luna drank her cold water.  She had to eat and drink something cold at least once a day to deal with her power.  Every student in the school had their own diet to maintain their skills.

“You developed a soft spot for him, Sooyoung.  That’s it,” Seunghyun said, voice deep and dark.  He gulped his glass of isotonic drink.

Right a second after, Jonghyun joined them at the table.  It was the school’s rule number 148: Students have to eat in their team when they are assigned to one.  Yoseob pretended like he saw nothing while Gyuri and Luna pretended to talk to each other.  Seunghyun fished his phone out of his pocket and played with it.  Sooyoung hesitated for a while before she talked to him.

“Jonghyun, I’m really sorry for what happened yesterday,” Sooyoung said, “I have no intention at all to kill you.  It’s just that…it seems unfair to me that you have to go through the harsh trainings.  It could kill you if you don’t use whatever skill you possessed.”

“It’s okay.  I know you guys don’t like me.  I will ask the teacher to assign me another team or the worst case scenario, I will just not train in teams.  I don’t think the students here like me that much,” Jonghyun munched on his second energy bar.

“I’m just worried if you get killed on training.  That would be so unfortunate,” Sooyoung did not really know what to say actually.  She just felt really guilty.

“Don’t worry about me.  I don’t mind dying actually,” he said.

+++++

It was one of the training sessions where the school wanted the students to showcase their skills and at the same time work in a team.  Each team will be attacked spontaneously when they were in the arena and the key was to think fast and act fast.  If any of the team members could not protect himself or herself, the other team members ought to help.

That day, their team made the biggest mistake in the history of the school.

It was fast though.  They were in the arena, ready for whatever task that will be given to them.  It was the sound of a gun that they heard and Sooyoung already made her swift movements in avoiding those bullets from hitting her.  Yoseob worked in quantum tunnelling himself and the bullet passed through him like nothing.  Seunghyun shattered the bullets before they even came in contact with him.  Luna melted the bullets with her heat.

Gyuri should turn into an ant and hide under the ground or turn into a dragon and fire away the bullet.  But, the panic stopped her from focusing and she knew by right it was the time for her to die, except that she didn’t.  A pair of strong arms held her protectively and the owner was standing in front of her received all the shots.  She opened her eyes wide enough to know that person was Jonghyun.

When the shooting stopped, the whole team realized that Jonghyun was hit, with God knows how many bullets.  Gyuri shouted when Jonghyun slid down, his breath was heavy.

“Shit!” Yoseob muttered.

“Somebody do something!” Sooyoung shouted.

Jonghyun caught Luna’s hand before she could call for help.  Seunghyun looked more frustrated when the teachers did nothing at all, as if it was okay for Jonghyun to die right in front of their eyes.

“Don’t,” Jonghyun had said with very much difficulty, “I will die anyway,” blood gushed out of his mouth.  Jonghyun looked deeply into Yoseob’s eyes, pleading to just let him die in peace.

Tears rolled down Gyuri’s cheek.  She felt like a total fail.  She felt dumb.  All this while she had the thought of killing Jonghyun, but that guy were willing to get himself killed to save her life.  The other members felt like an idiot too.  They should have defended Jonghyun and Gyuri.  That was supposed to be teamwork.  But, they ignored that aspect of the test.  Their group failed the moment they tried to only defend themselves.  The one who they thought was powerless tried to save a powerful member.

Jonghyun made his last eye contact with Seunghyun, and Seunghyun felt like he was going to pass out the moment Jonghyun closed his eyes and stopped breathing.  The teacher called them into their homeroom class, where they had lessons together, although Jonghyun technically will sit at the far end of the class, since they ‘out-casted’ him on the first day of class.  They felt guilty of not protecting him.  They felt guilty of leaving his body behind.  They felt guilty not to at least be kind to Jonghyun even once.

“What do we do?” Sooyoung asked.  The whole classroom fell into silent again after that.

“Fuck this shit!” Yoseob pulled his hair, “I don’t want this to happen this way!”

“Nobody wants this to happen,” Luna weakly offered, as if that would help.

“I feel like a total fail.  He defended us, guys.  He did,” Gyuri sobbed.

“We lost our team member, that is our ultimate failure,” Seunghyun pressed his palm on his eye, feeling a mild headache coming.

While they were grieving, the door of the classroom was burst open, revealing something that was really hard for them to believe.  Jonghyun, all clean without blood, dressed in army uniform, walked into the classroom, while heatedly arguing with their teacher.  Yoseob at first thought it was his telephatic projection, but he knew he couldn’t focus to do anything like that right now.

“You are not supposed to tell them,” the teacher said.

“Then, what do you expect me to do?  Let them grieve over me?  They are my teammates, sir.  They have the right to know who I am actually, okay?” Jonghyun replied.

“But, your uncle won’t be so fond of the idea-”

“They are my teammates.  And you have my word, only they know about this, nobody else,” Jonghyun said.

The teacher looked at the grief-stricken and confused faces of the students.  Then, he looked back at Jonghyun.  He nodded.

“Do what you think is necessary,” the teacher said.

“Alright.  Now, could you please leave us?  I have a lot of explanation to do,” Jonghyun asked politely, if not sarcastically.  The teacher left immediately.  All eyes were on him after that.

“I swear I saw you looking at me right before you died,” Seunghyun said.

“Yeah, right.  I remember looking at you before I died too,” Jonghyun said.

“This is nuts,” Luna shook he head, “You were dead, Jonghyun!  I swear!” Luna felt tears coming out of happiness because Jonghyun was right in front of her, although she had no idea how.

“I’m sorry that you guys have to face all this shit.  But, trust me.  I saw myself dying all the time.  It was never a good experience, but I sort of used to it.  So, I hope you will get used to this too,” he explained like nothing just happened.

“And how is that even possible?” Sooyoung asked weakly.

Jonghyun sighed.  They noticed that Jonghyun looked more exhausted than ever compared to the other days.  But still, they wanted an explanation.

“I’m too tired for this.  But, I think you guys can just follow me to my office and see what I have there,” he gestured them to follow him.

“You have an office?” Yoseob asked, just to make out some conversation, because he wanted to be sure that he talked to the real Jonghyun, alive.

“Sort of have to have it,” he replied.

Their heads were no doubt full of question marks.  But, with the amount of energy he had left, it was impossible to show them what he got.  His final decision was to take them to his office, so isolated at the school’s basement.  He scanned his palm and retinas before the written-in-fluorescent-green ‘Access Permitted’ appeared and the door was unlocked for him.

“Jonghyun, I brought back my body.  It was a total mess, countless bullets,” Jonghyun was greeted with that information and his friends gave him a questioning look.

“Jonghyun, I brought my teammates here,” Jonghyun spoke and his friends were confused again.  Jonghyun was speaking to another Jonghyun?

As they entered the office, they saw another nine Jonghyuns, all dressed up differently, with the one that was dead just now.

“What the hell?!” Seunghyun muttered.  Jonghyun would want to explain, but Gyuri shouted when she saw the dead Jonghyun on the metal table.

“He’s dead!  He’s dead!” she shouted.

Jonghyun quickly pulled her into his arm and tried to calm her down.  She cried into his chest, knees so weak that Jonghyun had to support her weight.  His eyes bore into hers, but his are all calm and convincing.

“Hey, Gyuri.  I’m here, alive.  Okay, yeah.  I am…dead, that’s for sure.  But, I am here, alive.  That’s enough.  And there are another 8 Jonghyuns alive here.  If you want to see more, well…yeah…you can, but I sort of need to replenish my energy to do that,” Jonghyun explained.

“What?” Luna was confused.

“Okay, that is my skill.  I can replicate myself into two, three, or infinity if I want to, provided I have adequate amount of energy.  It started when I was four.  I played piano and suddenly another ten fingers just came out of nowhere and my piano skill got better, if not creepier.  When I was bigger, like ten years old, I managed to replicate my ‘another’ self.  Since that day, my uncle had been training me to replicate more of myself, with minimum amount of energy used,” Jonghyun provided.

“Bloody hell!  You mean these are all you, including that body?” Sooyoung asked.

“Yes, it’s me,” Jonghyun nodded.

“How many Jonghyun can you make yourself into?” Seunghyun asked and he thought the idea was just ridiculous.

“For now, I can replicate into a hundred of me without feeling tired to death, two hundreds of me and will be completely exhausted that I could die,” Jonghyun replied as if it was some sort of a joke to him.  The other Jonghyuns laugh though.

“God!  You have tried a hundred Jonghyuns before?” Yoseob looked like he was about to collapsed.

“Two hundred, yes,” Jonghyun nodded.

“Where are the other…well, Jonghyuns then?” Luna asked.

“Well, here’s the thing.  I can replicate myself into any number and then diffuse myself into one again.  I usually replicate myself a lot in my self-training session, to achieve the maximum number of me possible with minimum amount of energy.  But, on daily basis I usually keep the maximum number of only ten Jonghyuns including me,” Jonghyun said.

“So, is it possible for you to diffuse that Jonghyun into you so that it is out of my sight?” asked Gyuri while pointing towards the dead Jonghyun.  Jonghyun looked at the other Jonghyun and they just shrugged.

“Alright, if that would make you feel better,” Jonghyun said and he looked at the dead Jonghyun, focusing on it.

In a blink of eye, that Jonghyun was gone, leaving a number of bullets and they looked again at the Jonghyun who were explaining just now.  He looked pale on his feet and was about to fell on the floor before the other Jonghyun in a formal suit caught him and led him to a nearby couch to sit.  Another Jonghyun in a Taekwondo uniform passed to Jonghyun in suit a bottle of energy drink and that Jonghyun helped who supposed to be the main Jonghyun to drink.

“You see, for Jonghyun to diffuse back together, it also consumed energy, although a lot less than it takes to replicate.  But, he just tried replicating another 200 of us just now so he is pretty exhausted,” Jonghyun in suit said.

“Well, I am sorry about that,” the main Jonghyun said, “You have to watch me all weak and tired.”

“Hell, this is amazing.  Although the idea is still hard for me to accept but you are so powerful,” Seunghyun finally admitted.

“Why are all the Jonghyuns dressed differently?” Gyuri asked.

“You know, each Jonghyun is assigned to do different task by me,” the main Jonghyun spoke again, “The one in suit is a law student.  He is a Taekwondo student.  I am joining the school for army and so on.  We rotate our task.  So, if today I am an army student, tomorrow I will be a medical student.”

“What is the purpose of assigning different tasks to each Jonghyun?” Seunghyun asked.

“We have one brain.  What the other Jonghyun did or learned, the other Jonghyun will have the same knowledge.  That way, I and the other Jonghyun are able to have more knowledge than everyone else in the world do.  It is a large capacity for a brain.  Sounds complicated, I know, but you guys just have to get familiar with this,” Jonghyun explained.

“No wonder you know so much,” Yoseob shrugged.

“So, which of you were with us on the first day of class?” Sooyoung asked.

“It was me, the main Jonghyun,” the tired-looking, army Jonghyun said.

“If you are tired to death, and can’t replicate anymore for the day, will the other Jonghyun able to do it?” asked Gyuri.

“I can.  But, we sort of know that he is the leader and we are the replication of him, so we respect his right on doing that.  We won’t do it.  It is the matter of self-control,” the Jonghyun in suit said while referring to the army Jonghyun.

“What if he was the one that died just now?  You won’t replicate anymore?” Luna raised another question.

“If the main Jonghyun die, the job of leading will be passed to the second in rank, which is me right now,” Jonghyun in suit said.

“How do you know who is the leader and who is the second-in-chief?” asked Seunghyun.

“The leader is of course the one who replicate.  But, the others’ ranks are sorted out in our brain, you know, since we shared the same brain,” the main Jonghyun said.

The whole team nodded a few times, indicating that they understand Jonghyun’s power and why he kept it secret all the time.  If the other people knew it, people will keep looking for him and kill him until there’s no more Jonghyun standing, because they are just stupidly curious how many Jonghyuns were there.

“When the other Jonghyun was shot, were you, Jonghyuns, feeling the same pain?” Yosoeb asked.

“You have no idea how it hurt.  I wished I could just die and feel no more.  But, it will be unfair for the leader to stay alive and replicate again.  The idea seems bizarre, but we share our pain,” Jonghyun the medic student, in a long white coat said.

“If the main Jonghyun die, and is replaced by the second-in-chief, will they still be the same?  I mean same characteristics?” Gyuri asked.

“We are who I am and I am who we are.  All the same, I am still me,” all Jonghyuns answered synchronously.

“Alright, Jonghyun.  I know that you had one hell of a day, us too, I mean seeing you dying and all.  But, one last question.  What is the name of your skill?”  Sooyoung asked.

“Seriously, I don’t know.    But, the teacher registered it as The Ultimate Multitudity,” the lead Jonghyun shrugged.

__________

heaDeVil^23

Mood: Lazy

Song: Titanium by David Guetta

Writing All Over the Place

Description: Jonghyun wants to write and be a hero.  Will he be able to do it?

Rating: PG-13 (for the cursing?)

Characters: Choi Seunghyun (BigBang), Choi Sooyoung (SNSD), Kim Jonghyun (SHINee), Park Gyuri (KARA), Yang Yoseob (Beast), Luna (f(x))

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the fiction.  The story is only a narrative and does not involve any real life situation.  The whole plot of the story is written originally by myself.  If there's any similarity to other fictions, it is totally a coincidence.

If I am able to ease it for them, I will do it.  Unfortunately, it is out of my ability and all I could do is keep looking for a hole which will lead me the way.


The noise causes him to wake up and he finds himself still in his seat, in the lecture hall.  The students pack their things and some of them go to the professor, for the never-ending pursuit of knowledge, or just for the sake of an ‘A’.  Some of them find their friends, because they didn’t get to sit together earlier in class because one of them were late.  Some just flee, for food, for bathroom or simply to escape the reality that is so boring and repetitive for students like them.

Jonghyun takes time to realise it is the end of the lecture and he fell asleep throughout it, again.  He looks at his notepad, nothing but his scribble of two sentences, which are not even the notes from the class.  He sighs and he packs his things, silently curses himself for wasting another hour of class.  He should have listened to the professor, or a better suggestion, he should have not come at all.

“You sleep in the class again,” Seunghyun says.

“Yeah,” he shrugs it off.  He sees Sooyoung casting him a worried glance and Yoseob’s shoulders slump.

“Maybe you shouldn’t come at all,” Gyuri says, not in an angry tone but sympathy.

“Thanks, Gyuri.  I figured out that much already,” Jonghyun goes.

“So, we are going for lunch and after that you will go back to your apartment and sleep,” Luna suggests.

“Uh, I don’t know, Luna.  I think I have Fluid Dynamics after lunch,” Jonghyun says.

“You will score even if you don’t come to class, smart lad,” Yoseob says.  Jonghyun rolls his eyes.

“It is a quiz day today, in case you forget,” he says.

“Missing one quiz doesn’t mean you can’t get an A,” Sooyoung goes.

“Thanks, but my dad wants an A+,” Jonghyun replies while zipping his bag.  He flings it to his shoulder and moves quickly to the door, “Are we going for lunch or not?”

+++++

At the end of the day, Jonghyun sits on a bench overlooking a huge pond with ducks swimming in it.  The sight of the water lily floating on the not-very-clear water eases his tired brain.  He smiles listening to his I Pod, to some random piano covers he legally downloads from some random websites.
He takes out his notepad from his school bag and stares at the two sentences he wrote in the lecture this morning.  He also takes out a few textbooks, so thick that they hurt his shoulder everyday carrying them.  Jonghyun doesn’t have the intention to study, not at all.  Instead, he opens the three textbooks into respective pages, where he wrote down some ideas.  He puts them all together in the notepad until they form a plot that makes sense, at least to him.

It is not the first time he faced rejection.  Not even the umpteenth times.  It is his second time, and the worst part about this time is that he has to face it together with the news of his mother’s death.  Perhaps there really is something worse than hell, and this might be it.

His mother had been his inspiration since he was young.  His mother was the one that told him that he can tell story to the world, to make people realise happiness does exist in reality.  His mother was the one that encouraged him to publish his own book and to stand in the same line with writers like J. R. R. Tolkien and J. K. Rowling and Dan Brown and etc.  His mother is gone and his second draft of fiction is rejected and the world still doesn’t end.

Maybe God wants him to try one more time.

Jonghyun wanted to enrol in writing, but what he doesn’t understand is now he is a junior in engineering in his university.  His dad has forced him to take major in engineering and minor in business and by the time he graduates, he has to take over the company.  His mom didn’t disagree with his dad, but told him that he can write while doing engineering at the same time.  He can’t believe that he agreed to that.

When Jonghyun started to be serious in writing his own fiction, his dad showed no sign of objection.  Maybe he knows that he had forced Jonghyun too much in fulfilling his needs or maybe he simply doesn’t care, as long as Jonghyun still takes the path he had shown.  So, Jonghyun has sort of letting himself to be ignorant about his dad too, as if he and his dad exist in two different worlds.
But then, Jonghyun’s first draft was rejected.  It is a story about a son and a father who lived their lives in hatred towards each other.  He told himself that very second that God was punishing him for revealing bad things about his dad.  Surprisingly, his dad was the one consoling him, telling that the reality is not always about harshness, it can be about happiness, just depending on how you view it to be.  His mom told him to not give up.

His second draft is a sci-fi.  This time, Jonghyun sold solely his imagination.  It is not the story of his life, or someone else’s.  He completely made a brand new character, who tried to save the world.  The publisher returns his draft and says that it is too perfect and impossible to be real.  Jonghyun would cut her throat if he had a chance, but right after that, his phone rang and his dad told him that his mom just passed away.  He felt like the world weighed down on him, not just because he lost his only inspiration, but because he wondered how much time he has left.

“You’ve been thinking,” Luna’s voice brings Jonghyun back to reality.

“Oh, hi Luna,” he greets her.

“Writing again?” she asks.  He smiles.

“I’ll make sure this time I won’t be rejected,” he says.

“I’m sorry…you know…about your mother,” Luna says and she throws a pebble into the pond and the ducks swim away.

“Don’t be.  I would wish for her death too, rather than seeing her in that comatose state, hanging between life and death.  Seems a bit too much for me,” Jonghyun states.

“But, you didn’t wish for that.  You wanted her to be alive,” Luna gives in.

“Well…that time I had hope.  But, now that she’s gone, I think it is quite logic that she is dead.  I mean it was a fatal car crash.  The other driver was dead on scene.  My mom survived but was left in coma and to me, she is better being dead.  Less suffering, at least,” Jonghyun sighs.

“I can’t say more.  I can’t put myself in your shoe,” Luna replies.  Jonghyun laughs.

“Perhaps it is more logic to die from a car accident rather than die from a cancer when you always lead a healthy life,” Jonghyun says, “But God always has His reason and I believe His intentions are always good.”

For a moment, it is quiet.  Only the sounds of duck quacking and people around them chatting and laughing.

“How’s your dad taking it?” asks Luna.

“Worse than I am.  I feel bad for him,” Jonghyun provides.  Luna smiles.

“It is good to know that you and your dad are in a good term,” she says.  Jonghyun laughs.

“I hate it when that happens. I hate it when I start to like what he wants me to do.  I hate it when I start to try my best in trying to fulfil his dream, to take over the company,” he tells her.

“Well, I thought you would be happy that you come to like engineering at last,” says Luna.

“I thought so, Luna.  But now I’m thinking, I won’t be able to do it no matter how hard I try, will I?” Jonghyun rests his case.


A hero doesn’t have to be perfect.  He could be weak with all his sidekicks stronger than him.  But, he is still the one that initiates the moves and is the mastermind of all.

+++++

Seunghyun is out, working as a supervisor at the gym.  Students oftentimes work on-campus.  Most of them with the same reason, to gain money to hang out with friends or to get some cool stuff very up-to-date with the latest so-called teen’s needs.  But, Jonghyun knows that Seunghyun doesn’t work for that.  Seunghyun just wants something to do, something that is different than a student’s life full with lectures and books.

Yoseob on the other hand tries to get out from reality by totally drowning himself in games.  He can punch the buttons on the controller for twenty-four hours straight, without food, without sleep.  Seeing his apartment-mates distracting themselves from the tiring reality, although not really escaping, Jonghyun thinks he has to find something to run away from the reality too.  Or he already had, by writing himself as a hero in his third draft.

“Hey, Yoseob,” Jonghyun calls nonchalantly.

“Hey, Jonghyun,” Yoseob says in the same, boring tone.  His eyes are still on the TV screen and his fingers are dancing vigorously at the controller.

“Tell me.  What is your hero-type?” Jonghyun asks, more like forcing Yoseob to give an answer.

“Huh?”

“I said, what is your hero-type?”

“You mean?”  Yoseob could be pretending he doesn’t understand, while he actually doesn’t hear his friend, too absorbed in the game.  But, Jonghyun knows best that Yoseob won’t ever put his friends after his game, ever.  So, he rephrases his own question.

“You know, if you are ever being given a chance to be a superhero and choose your own power and how you want to look like, what choice will you make?” he asks.  Yoseob puts the game at pause.

“Well, I want to be Legolas,” Yoseob answers immediately.  Jonghyun laughs.  He expects his best friend to give a character from the games he always plays.  To become like one of all-time favourite characters from Lord of the Rings is something bizarre coming from Yoseob.

“Why Legolas?” Jonghyun asks again.

“He is handsome and an accurate killer.  You see, he is so style with his bow and arrows and he is very fast in action.  Not to forget, he has sense of sight and hearing which human envy so much.  But, above all, he is beautiful and immortal.  Isn’t he perfect?” Yoseob states the answer.  Jonghyun smiles.

“He is,” he replies, “Because he can live long.”


He might not be as perfect as Legolas, but he is a plan-it-all.  He just needs to narrate and all will be under his control with helps from his loyal friends.


“What about you Jonghyun?  What type of superpower do you want to have?” Yoseob asks.

“I just want to be able to control things around me, including humans, to whom God has given free will to live, to make choice.  If I am able to control things that are going to happen, it seems like I am the most powerful, am I right?”

“But, such thing is out of norm, right?  I mean, you can control things that are going to happen by controlling yourself, not others.  Abusing the power of controlling others can make you become greedy, and if that happens, you are no longer a hero but a villain,” Yoseob provides.

“You are right, Yoseob.  For a hero to make a greater good, he must learn how to control himself, so that will lead others to bring forward the goodness he radiates,” Jonghyun agrees.

+++++

Gyuri calls them for dinner on Wedensday.  Gyuri shares apartment with Sooyoung and Luna, right next door to apartment shared by Jonghyun, Seunghyun and Yoseob.  It has been their unwritten tradition that the girls will cook on Wednesday and invite the guys for dinner.  The guys will have their turn on Thursday.  The other days are up to them to take-out from Burger King or to heat up microwave food for themselves.

Jonghyun runs from the class to the apartment.  The weather works against him.  Jonghyun doesn’t hate snow, but the winter wind sometimes feel like stinging his fingers and numbing his feet to the point he doesn’t even know his feet have ever existed.  Sometimes he feels like his nose has fallen off his face.  His skin dries up and turns purple and his lips always bleed and stain his teeth red, like a vampire.  But, he never hates winter.  He likes it although he can never stand the cold.

He knocks on the door, then rubs his palm together and blows what left of his hot breath onto them.  He hopes whoever behind the cheesecake-colour door will open in quickly.  As though his prayer is answered that instant, the door is opened, revealing Gyuri smiling ever so sweetly to him.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hi, Gyuri,” Jonghyun looks at her with pleading eyes, hoping that she will let him in to enjoy the heat from the heater.

“You are early,” Gyuri says, “It is supposed to be six-thirty.  Now is six-fifteen,” Gyuri states.

“I know.  Got straight here from my quiz section, all my students seem to finish the quiz early today.  Let me in, will ya?” Jonghyun likes working as a TA.  He feels a bit ahead of others.

“Oh, right.  Come in,” she quickly pulls the door wide open.  The wind rushes in and she quickly closes the door once Jonghyun is in.

“Can I use the bathroom?” asks Jonghyun, just to make sure nobody is in the bathroom.  The last time he wanted to use the bathroom, he almost encountered Sooyoung sitting on the toilet but she shouted so loud that he had to close the door immediately.  But, she was enraged by the incident that he was forgiven only after two months of apologizing.

“Nobody’s back yet.  Use it as long as you want,” says Gyuri and Jonghyun immediately jumps to conclusion that the dinner today is cooked solely by Gyuri.

He goes into the bathroom and turns on the tap and enjoys the warm water on his fingers.  Then, he washes his face.  He looks at his reflection in the mirror and quickly, he rinses his mouth with water.  His teeth are stained red again.  He fishes a chapstick from his jeans pocket and quickly applies it to his lips.  He looks just fine again.  He walks back to the living room finding a mug of hot peppermint-choc on the table.

“You know.  If it is too cold, you can always take the shuttle.  Don’t walk in the cold.  You are never good with it,” Gyuri says from the kitchen.

“I would rather run than have to wait for a shuttle in the cold,” Jonghyun replies.

“Call us then.  At least one of us must be able to offer you a ride,” Gyuri offers.

“I’m afraid I might just bother you guys,” he says.  One thing he is really afraid of, being a burden to others until the end of his life.

“No, Jonghyun.  You are our friend and we are glad to help you when you are in need,” she says.  Jonghyun nods.


When people imagine a hero, people imagine someone with good body built.  What if a hero is someone very thin and pale but he is a strategist?  And all he wants to say to people in this world is ‘I am glad to help you when you are in need.’  But people don’t notice that because he doesn’t look hero.  But he still have his sidekicks that can finish his job, isn’t it?


Jonghyun glances at the clock hanging on the wall, showing the time, showing how short life is, and showing how every second with his friend and family is damn important.

“Do you need help in anything?” Jonghyun asks Gyuri, feeling bored waiting for the others.

“I’m done with cooking, but I need to clean the kitchen.  Maybe you can help me with the utensils in the sink?” that is more of a statement.

Jonghyun jumps onto his feet.  He walks to the kitchen and begins with pouring detergent onto the bowl.

“I’m glad to help you when you are in need,” Jonghyun says.

“I’m sorry, but did you just repeat what I said?” Gyuri smiles.

“I don’t think I did,” he replies.

“Because that sounds so familiar to me,” she says and both of them laugh.

Jonghyun use the sponge to absorb detergent-y water and scrubs the oil off the pan.  The way the small sponge absorbs a lot of water never fails to amaze him, never.

“People say that brain works like sponge.  It absorbs and absorbs until it is full,” Jonghyun starts.

“Quite true.  Our brain is amazing.  It absorbs a lot of things and sometimes old things that you had once forgotten just pop-out again.  Our brain continues absorbing,” Gyuri says.

“But, sponge cleans stain.  Does brain?” Jonghyun looks at the clean plates that it reflects back his own reflection.

“Should be.  But, human choose to use it to stain others.  Corruption and never-ending war and lies and whatever stains you can think of.  We don’t use it as wisely as we use sponge,” Gyuri says and she sighs after that.

“One thing that I am very sure of.  Some sponges can have moulds grow on them, and so do some brains,” Jonghyun says and he leaves Gyuri in question mark.

+++++

“You literally write on your MacBook.  As in write ‘write’,” Seunghyun says and that surprises Jonghyun.  Seunghyun comes out of nowhere from his back.

“Well, you are the one who told me to write on my MacBook,” Jonghyun replies.

“I mean write as in type in your MacBook,” Seunghyun tries to talk some sense to Jonghyun.

“You said ‘write’ two months ago.  As much as I am expecting my memory to deplete, it just doesn’t.  I still can remember you say ‘Hey Jonghyun, go write using your MacBook’ and I just did what I was told.  What’s the big deal?” Jonghyun asks back.  His apartment-mate has been nagging and Jonghyun thinks he is going to miss that.

“That is still considered as writing all over the place.  You are still writing all over the place, although I could say more controllable,” Seunghyun states.

Jonghyun always write everywhere whenever some ideas just pop-out for his fiction.  On the wall, on the table, on different pages of his textbook, on Seunghyun’s bed, on Yoseob’s cereal’s box (although Yoseob doesn’t give a shit about it), and on everywhere he could reach, just name it.  Although he will always erase it back when he collects the idea and put it in his notepad, Seunghyun just doesn’t like the idea of Jonghyun writing all over the place.

“It is my MacBook, Seunghyun.  And I will erase it once I assemble all the idea.  Oh, how long have you known me?” Jonghyun stops typing and looks deeply into his friend’s eyes.

“Well, I am sorry if I annoy you, man.  But, I gave you the voice recorder for your birthday.  You can always record your idea.  Easy, just speak into it,” Seunghyun suggests.  Jonghyun sighs.

“Some things are better left unspoken, because when you speak it out, it will be less meaningful,” Jonghyun states.

Seunghyun feels like he is just being slap on his cheeks.  What Jonghyun says is very true.  He feels shameful and he doesn’t know is it because of Jonghyun’s words or he just feel shameful of himself.

“So, you choose to write,” Seunghyun makes a statement.

“Exactly,” Jonghyun nods.

“What is it about this time?” he asks.

“You’ll know, Seunghyun.  One day.”


Sometimes, strength is not shown physically.  But, that doesn’t mean one is weak.  A hero might have a mental strength stronger than everyone else and is able to put himself and others under control.

+++++

It is like another ordinary day where he wakes up with a headache and when he gets down from his bed he feels like he can’t even balance himself on his two legs.  The Earth is like jelly and he is surprised he is able to make it to class.  When the lecturer wraps up his class, Jonghyun feels like throwing a congratulation party to himself for being able to stay awake for the lesson.

He makes his way out on his wobbly legs and trips on his own legs even, just lucky not to make contact with the hard concrete beneath them.  He keeps his face down and covers himself with his hoodie, and people will think he is just having a hangover, while the truth is he just never drinks.  He leads a healthy life, doesn’t he?  He doesn’t smoke, doesn’t involve in sex, doesn’t drink, doesn’t take drugs and eats healthy food.  So, why the hell is he feeling so shit now?

“Hey, hey, Jonghyun!” he feels like falling but then he’s not.  God, is he high?

“W-what?” he manages to say after a while.  He opens his eyes, and he doesn’t even have any idea when the hell he even closed them.  He is walking, isn’t he?  Or was?

“You look like shit,” his stupid brain tells him that it is Sooyoung’s voice and he knows he gets it right when his vision focuses on the girl’s face.

“Oh, thanks Sooyoung,” he says.  He doesn’t know whether he is being sarcastic or he really wants to thank her for noticing it.

“You have no idea, Jonghyun.  You scare the shit out of me.  You were falling at the staircase.  You could have injured your head,” Sooyoung says.

So, he was at the staircase.  Where the hell is he now?  He looks around and he knows immediately that he is on a bench at the side of the hallway.  He is leaning against the cold wall.  That makes him feel slightly better actually.

“I’m tired, Sooyoung,” he means it.  He doesn’t realise how exhausted he has been until he says that very word.

“So…going home?” Sooyoung could be asking, but Jonghyun knows better that it is more like an instruction.  He nods.

“I’ll take you home,” Sooyoung says and she rounds her arm across his shoulder and she is terrified of how thin he is.


Like Batman and Robin, a hero will always have at least a sidekick.  However, it is better to have sidekicks stronger than the hero, but are also nothing without the hero.  That way, they will always need each other.


Jonghyun never fancies the idea of walking beside Sooyoung because God knows how embarrassing it is when a girl is taller than him.  But, this time he will have to let her walk him home, because he doesn’t know where he will end up walking alone.  When he gets to his apartment, he just let himself collapses on the couch.

“You have to explain to me, Jonghyun,” Sooyoung says.  Her eyes are boring into his and Jonghyun wants to look away.

“What?” he asks.

“Well, something is very wrong with you,” Sooyoung says.

“I was drunk, okay?  On a bottle of vodka,” he lies.

“I know you don’t take alcohol,” she says.

“What if I did take it?” Jonghyun still goes with the same reason.

“I know you didn’t,” she says through gritted teeth.

“Jeez, Sooyoung.  I can never lie to you.  Okay.  I stayed up the whole night,” Jonghyun says.

“Yes, Jonghyun.  And Yoseob says it has been for three days straight.  Are you trying to kill yourself?” she seems angry.

“I want to write, when the idea is pouring like Nevada Waterfall,” he states.

“You can always wait for another day, Jonghyun.  You don’t even have a due date for that,” Sooyoung talks some sense into him.

“Oh, you don’t know Sooyoung.  I do have a due date.  And I can never finish my story after that,” Jonghyun says.

“When?  Two months from now?  One month from now?” Sooyoung is frustrated, maybe because her friend doesn’t know how to take care of himself.

“That’s the problem.  Even I don’t know the due date.  It can be anytime from now.”

+++++

The day when Jonghyun decides to give up, it is really meant for him to give up.  He shuts down his laptop, so as his system.


A hero only gives up when he exhales his last breath.  A hero gives up when he closes his eyes for the last time.  A hero gives up when his brain is no longer functioning.

+++++

It is a story of a guy, who was so devastated after the tragic death of his mother.  If only he could ease her pain, he would do it, but he can’t because he was only a small boy, a normal human.   But, on the day he realised all the story that he wrote will come to reality, he smiled again.  He knew it was out of his power to avoid death (to him it was sort of like destined), but he wanted to ease the pain for those who were going to die.  He had friends, all doctor, engineer, lawyer, teacher and entrepreneur.  They did all the jobs, and he wrote it down.  He wrote a story of a teacher who raise funds at school for those with terminal disease, a story of a lawyer who discuss the right for organ transplanting, an engineer who invents machines to save lives, an entrepreneur who is so rich and oftentimes donates for those who need and a doctor who saves lives and eases the pain of passing.  But the guy who wrote had a father who wanted him to be part of the job, not the one who wrote it down.  He was sorry that he couldn’t fulfil that.  He was really sorry.

That book is written in a series.  Jonghyun had it done in series, because the story is long and it touches to the deepest of their heart.  Jonghyun must be so sure that it won’t get rejected and it is true.  The first book of the series which he had sent it to the publisher got accepted, and he was not there to celebrate it.

All this while, they thought when he slept in class, he was dealing with the rejection of his draft.  All this while, they thought the headache was because he stayed up very late at night finishing another draft of book.  But, Jonghyun wasn’t lying, was he?  He really was rejected and he did stay up to finish his draft.  He wasn’t lying.  It is only the fact that he didn’t tell them the truth about how he is fighting for his life.  He is gone, but they are proud of him, because he wrote the whole series in a few months not like Eddie in Limitless, who took powerful pills, but when he was in so much pain.

He gave the honour to send the draft of the second book of the series to Luna.  Luna cries her heart out.  She should have known when they were having the conversation.  He said he won’t be able to fulfil his father’s dream no matter how hard he tries.  ‘But now I’m thinking, I won’t be able to do it no matter how hard I try, will I?’  She should have known.

Jonghyun gave the honour to send the draft of the third book of the series to Yoseob.  Yoseob promises to himself that he will not disappoint his friend.  He is angry with himself because he should have known when Jonghyun agreed Legolas is perfect because he is immortal.  ‘He is, because he can live long.’  He should have known.

Gyuri is given the honour to send the draft of the third book of the series.  Gyuri accepts the honour but she is the worst of them to handle the lost.  She tells herself that she should have known when Jonghyun talked about the sponge with her.  ‘Some sponges can have moulds grow on them, and so do some brains.’  She should have known.

The draft of the fourth book of the series is now under Seunghyun’s responsibility.  Seunghyun knows that how much he wants to curse, it won’t bring Jonghyun back.  He can’t believe he was oblivious.  He should have known when he asked Jonghyun what the story is about.  ‘You’ll know, Seunghyun.  One day.’  He should have known.

When Sooyoung is given the responsibility to send the draft of the fifth book, her knees become weak and she sinks to the ground.  She should have known when Jonghyun talked about the due date for the draft.  ‘Even I don’t know the due date.  It can be anytime from now.’  She should have known.

Jonghyun is still a good son.  He gave the honour to send the draft of the final book of the series to his father.  He is proud and sad at the same time.

To Luna, Yoseob, Gyuri, Seunghyun and Sooyoung.

This is our story.

To Dad.

I am sorry.

__________

heaDeVil^23

Mood: Lazy. And happy, because this time, it is all my biases again.