EP. 5 [YERIN]

Nothing is out of place in Baekhyun's office. Papers are stacked neatly or tucked away into folders. Pens and pencils are lined up on his desk, which is as spotless as the rest of the room.

Everything is where it should be, like the police had never been there.

As Yerin's gaze studies the room, at it's eerie tidiness, she becomes wary of the officers who promised to find her brother. It's been less than a day since Baekhyun disappeared, and they're not finding him as quick as she foolishly hoped.

She knows how ridiculous it is to have such a high expectation, but it doesn't help the worry that eats away at her or how jittery she feels.

There's absolutely no trace of Baekhyun aside from the plaque bearing his name at the edge of his desk. She stares it, almost in a trance, until Dal walks around her to get to the camera that recorded everything they just saw.

She still can't wrap her mind around Hope. How seamlessly, within seconds, he appeared.

He had looked so realistic, Yerin is positive that if she had gotten a closer look, not that she ever would, she could've seen every pore lining his rectangular face.

"I found the problem."

Refocusing her attention onto Dal, who was now standing on top of the desk, he lifts a black wire that's been cut into two.

Yerin sucks in a shaky breath. They know for a surety that her brother did tamper with the camera before vanishing.

But why?

"They didn't even bother checking." Dal tucks the line back behind the camera and steps down from the desk, using the chair as a step stool.

All Yerin can do is sigh in response.

What is she going to tell her mom when she gets home?

Nothing would calm Sunhee much anyway, not unless Yerin brought Baekhyun himself home. Telling her what they found would certainly only make things worse.

Because if Dal's assumption held any sort of truth then Baekhyun wasn't going to come back until the situation is resolved. That is depending on exactly what it entailed.

If he's danger, if he's not okay, then how would he return home, if at all? Just what kind of people did he get involved with that this had happened in the first place?

Or, was it just the fact that he owned a well-established and renowned videogame company?

All these what-ifs are snowballing Yerin's emotions into a numbing sphere.

If she continued on like this, she would soon start hyperventilating, and that's the last thing she needed, especially not in front of Dal.

Perhaps it's all too much too soon, coming here when she knows she's not entirely ready, when her nerves are in a frenzy with all that's unanswered.

Still, she also knows doing absolutely nothing wouldn't cease these feelings either.

Dal is definitely right about one thing. They have to work together to find her brother.

If not them, then who?

"Maybe we can find something on his PC."

There's a soft click followed by a hum as Dal powers on Baekhyun's desktop computer. Once it's loaded completely, he opens up an IDE.

Lines up on lines of code fill the monitor. It's all nonsensical to Yerin. She doesn't understand it in the slightest.

"Um, what are we looking at?"

Dal clicks on certain tabs, presses various buttons, and as a result, another window pops up.

"I'm looking at a file that Baekhyun last made changes to."

Yerin nods as if she follows along, though she doesn't. She's not exactly sure what any of that actually means.

"See, right here," Dal trails off to point at a line highlighted in red. "This is just a part of the code that makes Hope function. This particular equation handles one of his emotion outputs."

For once, Yerin feels something else in the tense atmosphere. Utter confusion.

She blinks at the screen, searching for any sort of clue to help her grasp what Dal is saying. The only thing she notices is that the line right under the one he's pointing is almost an exact copy. There's a change in numbers, and it's colored in a translucent green.

Wait, red and green? She knows this.

One is wrong, the other is right.

"He switched the variables around... three minutes before he cut the camera." He finds this information with a right click on the mouse.

Dal stills in his spot, his eyes reading the code in awe several times. "Oh, shit."

"What?"

"He did it..." Dal pulls back to look at Yerin in disbelief. "He figured it out."

Yerin just blinks.

"Sorry, it's just that we've been struggling to debug the framework that controls Hope's most vital function, his emotions."

Dal bitterly smiles. "I'm disappointed he didn't share the good news before he left, but this does help shed light on why he left.

"Wherever he went, whatever he's doing, it has to be about this." He sounds so sure about it, Yerin immediately believes him.

A small amount of relief swarms her body, being one step closer to finding her brother.

Just as quick as it comes, the worry returns in tenfold. Despite having one answer, the rest of her questions remain without them.

Just where do they go from here?

One thing is certain, she isn't getting anywhere without Dal. He's knowledgeable about Baekhyun in a way she'll never be. But, she also knows her brother better than anyone else when it comes to the things he values. Together, they're the best team that can find Baekhyun the quickest.

Or, at the least, quick enough to bring him back home without so much as a scratch.

Yerin keeps the other nagging thoughts at bay, the ones that if she gave even just a fraction of her attention to would cause her to panic.

It doesn't help to think about the kind of danger he could be in. Just knowing that he might is enough to fuel the fire in her, motivating her to keep looking until Baekhyun was in sight.

"We have to find him, Yerin."

Her gaze meets Dal's equally determined stare.

"Without him, this company is nothing."

A shiver runs down her spine at his words. Because he's right.

With Baekhyun gone, who's running Nyctocosmos?