"Take a look kid, see what it did, you fucking mistake," the doctor shouted, pulling Beomgyu up by his neck, for his standard uniform blue shirt lay torn on the floor. Tears streamed down Beomgyu's face as he helplessly obeyed the doctor's every word. The grasp moved from his shirt to his hair, yanking his head back to face the mirror hanging on the padded white wall.

The stark contrast between the glass to the piercing white made the boy squeeze his stinging eyes shut. Beomgyu's legs gave out at the sight, and he crumbled in the doctor's grip.

"Look at it," the older yelled, aggressively pulling the boy back up.

Beomgyu's eyes felt like they were on fire, as a burning sensation crawled out from beneath them, spreading across his face.

The doctor pried his eyes open, forcing him to catch a glimpse of himself.

His face was cracked, breaks in his skin crept from his chest to his collarbone, like vines of poisonous ivy. The burning feeling spreading like wildfire across his body.

"Look at yourself." 

The doctor's screaming made Beomgyu's ears ring. 

"You monster, why is your skin doing this? What did you do to the serums, huh?"

"N-nothing," Beomgyu stuttered out. It was true, whatever they had pumped into his bloodstream, he had not tampered with.

Beomgyu watched in horror as a dark black liquid seeped from the cracks. "What have you done to me?" he cried, shaking as his fingers gingerly touched the cracks on his face. In time, his tears turned black too, streaming like waterfalls. He fell to his knees against the tiled floor, body shaking. The cracking of his skin became more and more audible, like the snapping of bones. The sickening noise troubling him further.

"Ten years, you worthless dog," the doctor said, kicking Beomgyu harshly, making him double over in pain. "Ten years for this to happen. You obviously did something, now what the hell was it?"

The latter shook his head, mumbling "no" over and over again, one hand grasping his stomach, the other—his face. The inky black blood-like fluid dripped onto the floor beneath him. He slowly changed his position to face the doctor behind him. Moving onto his knees, head between his hands.

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't do anything, I promise," Beomgyu pleaded, rubbing his hands together above his head.

"So are you saying I'm the problem here?" The doctor threw his head back, a gasp escaping his crooked lips in disbelief. His eyes travelled to the boy on the ground—his experiment of ten long years.

"N-no, I just," Beomgyu fell over each word in an attempt to prove his innocence. "Doctor Choi I didn't, no. I mean-" 

His cries were cut short by another kick to his gut. Followed by another and another. From his shin to his head. The agony soared.

"You fucking worthless piece of shit, I wasted so much time and money on you!" Choi yelled, letting his anger take over.

Beomgyu groaned in pain, trying to assist his aching body as well as trying to protect it. He could feel a mix of bile and blood build up in his mouth. Coughing it out as Choi's foot connected with his ribs again. Blood flowed from his nose and forehead. Purple bruises flourishing on his broken body.

"Please, doctor Choi, I'll do better," Beomgyu managed to croak out, his throat hoarse from crying and hacking up blood.

The beating stopped, and he managed to get back onto his knees. He reached up and latched onto Choi's lab coat, "Please don't-t kill me, you can try again."

Choi stared him down, his small beady eyes piercing Beomgyu's own. "Why shouldn't I?" he laughed, kneeing the latter to make him let go. "You see Beomgyu, you're nothing but a number here, even in the real world. CB03, that's all you are, nothing more, nothing less," he spoke, an evil undertone lurking.

"You could die in the most horrendous way possible, and no one would give an absolute fuck. You failed the experiment, and that leaves you worthless to me. I don't need you anymore, so why should I keep you alive?"

Choi let his words hang brooding in the air. Beomgyu lay helpless on the tiles in a pool of black and heinous amounts of blood. An agonizing haze washed over him, his vision blurring, his body becoming numb. It was all too much for him to handle at this point. So with one final plea to be spared, Beomgyu surrendered his consciousness and fell into oblivion.

Choi sighed at his unconscious subject who lay at his feet before spinning on his heels, leaving the room and locking the door behind him. He pulled a phone from his crimson-stained lab coat, and after dialing a number, held it to his ear.

"Yes, nurse Lee, please transfer CB03 to a new room. Clean him up, and prepare an overdose of anesthetic."