⠀⠀"Ah, he's finally awake," a voice grumbled. "Someone call the Doctor, subject X99 has awoken from the simulation."

⠀⠀Minseok let out a soft groan as he opened his eyes, only to close them again promptly from the bright white light directly over his face. He had multiple wires attached to his head, hands, and entire body in general, and he could feel several iron cuffs locking him into the hospital bed he was laying on. The plastic collar gripping at his neck didn't help the situation either. Every part of him ached, just like it had before, and he felt too weak and drained to struggle against his restrains. Even though the surrounding area seemed to be cold, he couldn't feel it working its normal magic.

⠀⠀There was the whoosh of an automatic door opening and the click-clack of heels against the floor. The Doctor must've arrived, Minseok thought dimly as hushed voices discussed about things he couldn't make sense of. He was probably only half-conscious, after all. The grumbly voice person seemed to leave, only for the presumed Doctor to take his place.

⠀⠀"Hello, dear," the Doctor said, her voice serene and calm. A smooth hand ran over Minseok's fingers, and he cracked open his eyes ever so slightly. The Doctor was incredibly pretty, though she seemed to be in her 30s, with a clean face and a genial smile that reminded Minseok of his mother. She had the aura of someone you could trust without hesitation. "You're Kim Minseok, correct?" A nod from the mentioned, and the Doctor broke into a grin. "Perfect."

⠀⠀"Wh-where am I?" Minseok croaked out, his voice awfully hoarse. Alarms were going off in his head, but one reassuring smile from the woman had all of his worries melt away in an instant.

⠀⠀"Somewhere safe."

⠀⠀He wasn't told much at all. He was in a laboratory with scientists that specialized in supernatural matter, giving the lab the name of SM Labs. Currently, he was in the medical ward. Questions ran through his head, but Minseok decided to ask, "Where's my sister?"

⠀⠀The Doctor's friendly smile faltered ever so slightly, but all she did was take Minseok's hands in her own. "Dear, I don't know."

⠀⠀Minseok opened his mouth to ask for the holophone to call his family, but the words didn't come out. Something was wrong—he couldn't remember what number to call. How had he gotten here anyways? He could barely remember how old he was, or when he was born—20, March 26, 2031—but no small details, like who his friends were, family names, or who his girlfriend was if he had one at all. This was concerning.

⠀⠀"I'll have someone give you your meal, then someone will walk you around, alright?" the Doctor said kindly before standing up and exiting the plain medical room.

⠀⠀Minseok felt that something was awfully wrong with the entire situation.

—•—

⠀⠀The meal that was given to him, plain oatmeal and a glass of water, was positively tasteless. He had been disconnected from all of the wires and unlocked from the cuffs, but the absences of certain memories was bugging him, like someone had snatched them right out of his head or hid them away far from his reach. It was infuriating, to be honest. Soon, he assumed he would have to go to sleep soon since a digital clock mounted to the wall showed that it was now 10:37PM.

⠀⠀The automatic door to the ward slid open, and in came a pale boy about his own height that looked around nineteen, his head bowed and hands folded together neatly. He wore a white t-shirt along with white sweatpants, and was completely barefoot. Minseok noticed that he also had a thick white, plastic collar with C21 engraved into it. A security guard-looking guy with a tranquilizer gun slung over his shoulder followed shortly behind and glared at Minseok.

⠀⠀"Subject C21 here is going to show you around and inform you about the rules here in SM. Listen to him, or higher officials will be informed and there will be consequences," the guard warned brashly before exiting the room, leaving the two boys alone. Minseok sat up from his bed and stared at the other male curiously.

⠀⠀"Hello," he said cautiously, leaning forward to get a closer look at the boy's face. The other male seemed to be awfully shy, and Minseok didn't want to frighten him. "I'm Kim Minseok. What about you?"

⠀⠀There was a moment of silence, and the boy glanced around him before taking a quiet deep breath and looking up, the tiniest glimmer of mischief and defiance glimmering in his eyes. Oh, no, Minseok thought—his assumptions had been wrong. This one seemed like a troublemaker didn't like troublemakers. "Around here, the big people call be C21. My name's Jongdae, though. Eighteen." The boy stuck out his hand for a shake, which Minseok just stared at. Jongdae pulled back his hand and shot Minseok a lopsided smile, though the smile seemed a bit forced and terse. "Alright, you're a cold guy. I get it," and the smile on Jongdae's face dropped completely. "Let's go."

⠀⠀When Jongdae physically hefted Minseok out of the bed, he realized that he was wearing the same clothes as the younger one. Also, his legs were positively asleep so the moment Jongdae let go of him, Minseok crumpled to the floor like a rag doll, barely managing to not smash his face into the ceramic floor by catching himself with his arms. Jongdae let out a quiet groan before hoisting Minseok up once more and supporting him until Minseok snapped that he was fine now. He couldn't help but note the familiar electric current that ran down his spine when Jongdae touched him, and it made him awfully wary, but he said nothing as Jongdae took his wrist and pulled him out of the medical ward.

⠀⠀The hallway he stepped into was heated, and Minseok's skin began to tingle and itch at an instant. He no longer felt nauseous when exposed to heat like when he was younger, but his body still ached a little and acted like the warmth was its kryptonite. Jongdae continued to pull him along, paying no mind to him until they stood in front of a white door reading, Project: EXO. At this point, Jongdae turned back and sent Minseok a fleeting smile.

⠀⠀"Time for you to meet the gang," he said cryptically before pushing the door open and quickly tugging Minseok inside.

⠀⠀Minseok was met with the sight of a large white room with one large window at the back of the room, along with two white dressers and nine white beds spread out all along the walls with a gray circular carpet laid in the center of the room. They're really trying hard with the monotone theme, huh, he thought dryly as he examined the four other boys that were staring right back at him from their spots on the carpet. One had silver-ish blue hair, another one has raven-black, one on the far right had dirty-blonde, and the final one was also blonde with the sides colored black. They all wore the same clothes like Minseok and Jongdae and had collars with engravings on their necks, much like Jongdae did—S01, D12, B04, and S94 respectively. The silver-blue haired one stood up, brows drawn together in confusion before pointing.

⠀⠀"Jongdae, did they bring another one?" he asked before leaning forward and staring at Minseok's collar. He mumbled, "X99? Why do they still need another one?"

⠀⠀"I'd appreciate it if you didn't stare at my neck and point," Minseok snapped, yanking his wrist away from Jongdae who glared sharply at him.

⠀⠀"Don't be nasty like that," he growled before sighing. "Anyways, as you know, I'm Jongdae. That's Junmyeon," he pointed at Silver-Blue haired, "Kyungsoo," he pointed at the square-jawed black haired guy, "Baekhyun," he pointed to Blondie, "and Sehun," he finally pointed at the final one who waved. "Guys, this is Kim Minseok. Play nice." Jongdae turned to Minseok. "There's three more of us, but two of them don't come back from testing until really late because they have stronger powers. The other one is just hard to control."

⠀⠀Minseok's head began to reel once he caught onto what Jongdae said. "I'm sorry, but powers?" he asked, disbelieving. The younger male made a face like he just saw the dumbest person in the world and Minseok began to glare unconsciously. It was genuine, intelligent question—how dare this boy have the nerve to stare at him like that?

⠀⠀"Yeah. Powers. As in, superpowers. I'd show off, but the big guys were rough today and we're tired," Jongdae shrugged before taking Minseok's wrist again, much to the latter's annoyance. "You'll become well-acquainted with everyone soon, but I need to show you everything else. C'mon."

⠀⠀He soon learned that the building had four floors, and they were on the third. "The fourth one is restricted," Jongdae explained when they stepped into an elevator and Minseok glanced curiously at the 4 button with a slot over it. "It's stupid, if you ask me," he huffed in irritation before pressing the button for the second floor. Minseok was shown the cafeteria and a garden with a variety of trees and flowers, though he found it odd that the garden was covered by a plastic dome. "It's so we don't break out of here and escape," Jongdae said with a large sigh once Minseok asked as he stared up forlornly at the top of the dome.

⠀⠀"Escape? From what?" Minseok questioned, his hands wrung together nervously. The entire monotone aesthetic was off-putting with the garden seeming to be the only splash of color in the entire building. Also, the way that Jongdae was talking about SM Labs made it seem like it was less scientific research lab and more illegal testing and jail for the subjects. Jongdae turned to him before shaking his head.

⠀⠀"You'll see tomorrow. I don't want to think about it more than I have to."

⠀⠀They exited the garden with a sense of uneasiness rolling down Minseok's back. Jongdae then hurriedly ushered him back to the elevator and pressed the 3 button, ignoring Minseok's question as to why they weren't going to the first floor. Once the elevator opened at the third floor, Jongdae was back to tugging Minseok through the door and into the bedroom harshly.

⠀⠀There were two new faces in the room now and they both turned to look at Minseok and Jongdae. Their white collars read K88 and L10. "Oh, silver hair is Jongin and sandy blonde is Yixing. They must've just come back," Jongdae said with a smile before breaking away from Minseok and running to tackle Yixing into a tight hug. Minseok slowly edged towards the nearest wall—the thought of meeting even more new people terrified him—but he was pulled into the group of seven boys by Sehun.

⠀⠀"You might as well get used to the hyungs because I think you're going to be here for a while," Sehun said with a tiny smile. Fucking hell, Minseok thought as he stared up at Sehun's towering height, how was he so tall? Minseok always wished he were taller so his appearance could match his personality for once in his life. And he addressed the other boys as hyung, so Minseok was also older than him, but was still at least 12 centimeters taller than him? Unbelievable.

⠀⠀He allowed himself get pulled into a spot next to Sehun on a bed and he wanted to crawl into a ball and hide when he realized that all eyes were on him. Minseok could feel his cheeks start to freeze—they never heated up like most people, but either way his stupidly puffy cheeks were red—and he anxiously played with his fingers. "Hi," he mumbled quietly, averting his eyes down to his small hands.

⠀⠀"How old are you?" Kyungsoo asked, seeming only the slightest bit curious in the latest arrival.

⠀⠀"20 years old," Minseok replied instantly. There was a loud collective gasp and Minseok looked around, befuddled. "What?"

⠀⠀"You're not 20!" Sehun argued adamantly. "You look so much younger than me, and I'm 16!"

⠀⠀16? Are you kidding me? Minseok thought with a silent groan. First, he's humiliatingly tall and now he's four years younger than him? Ugh.

⠀⠀"You're the oldest one of us, then," Junmyeon noted. How am I older than every single one of them? Minseok wondered with a frustrated mental sigh.

⠀⠀He was bombarded with questions, most of which he had no answers to. The only ones he could answer were, "What's your full name," "When's your birthday," and, "Do you have any siblings?" Any other questions were answered with a blank, cold stare.

⠀⠀"Where are we anyways?" Minseok asked with a tight frown. Baekhyun scoffed.

⠀⠀"SM Labs, hyung. Don't be stupid," he sneered, only to shrink when Minseok glared sharply at him. "Sorry, hyung," Baekhyun mumbled after Junmyeon had poked him in the arm.

⠀⠀"I mean, where is this place? What country is it? How did we get here?" Minseok asked, looking around at the group of younger males surrounding him. They all had confused looks on their faces, but Yixing was the first to answer.

⠀⠀"We're in Korea. Where in Korea, I don't know. None of us remember how we even got into this hellhole either. All I have is a feeling that I'm not from around here," Yixing sighed, looking awfully exhausted. He clutched Jongdae's hand like it was his life support which would've been cute if Yixing didn't have bags underneath his eyes and near sickly-pale skin.

⠀⠀"Yixing-hyung and I had a rough day. Sorry if we look a little too shabby for a proper first impression," Jongin said with a tired, lopsided smile. Minseok shrugged—whatever—and turned when he heard the sound of the door being pushed open. He felt weight leave the bed he was sitting on when Sehun jumped up at the sight of the new arrival.

⠀⠀He was extremely tall with pale skin and lanky limbs all around. Minseok could've sworn he saw muscles bulging in the guy's arms, however, so surely he wasn't scrawny at all. He had a youthful face with big brown eyes and plump lips, along with rather pointy looking ears. The most surprising part was probably his fiery red hair, though the boy in general did look quite ill.

⠀⠀Sehun ran and embraced the guy in a hug. Minseok began to sweat and his skin started to itch again. Did the temperature just go up by ten degrees? he wondered absentmindedly as Sehun chatted animatedly with the new guy.

⠀⠀"Oh, hyung! We have a new one! This is Kim Minseok! Minseok, this is Park Chanyeol-hyung!"

⠀⠀Park Chanyeol? The name was almost scarily familiar to Minseok.

⠀⠀"Kim. . . Kim Min—"

⠀⠀Chanyeol collapsed onto the floor and was out cold.

—•—
a/n: I knOW IM DOING THE REALLY CLICHE "they blacked out" EASY COP OUT BUT ISTG ITS GOING TO BE BETTER IM--

anyways, um, cONGRATS TO MY BOYS, MY CHILDREN, MY NUMBER ONES (soz @ bts, b.a.p, etc.) FOR BEING TRIPLE MILLION SELLERS!!!!!!! I've been with them since 2014 and I'm so proud :')

also, uh, how is the story so far??? I know it's too early to ask this but ah I wanna know if y'all like it or not rip ;;

aNYWAYS THANKS FOR READING LOVE YALL MWAH~ (cringe cringe I'm too cheesy smh)

p.s: if you're like me and u like bts and exo, how dead are u after suga's mixtape and lotto? me? deader than my future rip

okay that's all

I kid.

"A TO THE G TO U TO THE STD"

"LIPSTICK CHATEAU WINE COLOR"