44 — OPEN YOUR EYES

it's the seventh sense.

—

eunsang never really did like being impeccably useless.

especially regarding junho's case, he'd pour his whole heart out for it. unfortunately his limited set of decisions disables him to do what he wants, and he was not sure which move he'd strike that could end up to junho's guarantee of safety. because of that he decided to ask— or so he could say— the professionals, and hopefully after that he'll be able to help.

after the first set of subjects, he quickly meets up with seungyoun, wooseok, and seungwoo who were apparently hanging out at the school's garden, enjoying the familiar scenery. eunsang heads towards seungyoun. "seungyoun-ah, i hate being useless. i want to help."

seungyoun raises an eyebrow. "help on what, kid?"

"documents, files, publication, anything!" eunsang lifts his hands high in desperation. "something that could help us find junho, anything productive. my hands are getting itchy for not being able to do anything."

seungyoun pauses for a moment before he turns to seungwoo. "hyung, remember that stupid conspiracy i made in which i had you as the object of trial for like, a few hours or so?"

wooseok crosses his arms. "you mean the kamar taj project?"

seungyoun scrunches his forehead. "did we really call it that?"

"well, you said you were inspired by doctor strange, so it's most likely so." seungwoo shrugs. "and yes, i do remember. a few hours of me not being able to move an inch because you told me so. the worse part of it all is that you did not discover anything new."

"hey, we did discover something! we discovered that i don't have the power. but i have a feeling, a small hint of hope that probably he does." he points at eunsang dramatically. "come over here, magic boy."

wooseok groans as he gets up from where he was sitting. "i'm leaving, your high range of stupidity is gradually lowering my iq."

"watch out, wooseok-ah! i'll show you that there's actual sense coming out from my mouth!" seungyoun exclaims before he turns his head back to eunsang. "holy god, please let me be right. i can't let that kid's ego towering me like i'm sort of an useless elf." he glances at seungwoo. "stay there, don't move, you'll be my lab rat again."

seungwoo sighs hopelessly but did not elaborate. he leans against the big tree, following seungyoun's command by keeping as minimum moves as possible.

"what is this about again?" eunsang asks. "what's the kamar taj project? what's this power you're on about and why do you suspect that i have it?"

"seungyoun has been trying to develop this power for a while, though not long after that he gave up." seungwoo explains shortly. "it's the power to not only look into someone's thoughts, but also into the deeper part of their minds— through their darkest secrets and memories they are dying to erase, those were things seungyoun is targeting at."

"unfortunately i've never been able to do so. the only things that i could read of someone's mind is their occurring thoughts and the things correlated with them. if it's a secret that they haven't been thinking about for a while.. it's quite hard for me to read them." he looks up at eunsang. "luckily we have you here who manages to break the boundaries and basically make history unto the x1 system, so i have a feeling you'd be able to do this too.."

eunsang was quite hesitant by the sudden hypothesis, but he proceeds to sit next to seungwoo anyway. he flinches. "uh.. so what should i do now?"

"alright, you guys sit face-to-face, and i feel like it's better to cross your legs so you can have a smallest gap as possible between each other." seungyoun instructs confidently as if he had done this thousands of times. "seungwoo hyung, stop thinking about how much of a lunatic i am. trust me, i'm aware of it."

seungwoo sighs. "i was doing it on purpose so at least you'd know how i am responding to this."

"this'll work, trust me. alright, eunsang-ah," seungyoun puts his hand on the boy's lap. "now i want you to close your eyes, and don't focus on anything other than my voice and what I command you to do. okay?"

eunsang nods before he proceeds to close his eyes.

"how do you usually activate your powers, eunsang-ah?"

"i use the technique yohan-hyung told me, the one where i get in depth with a certain word as i wish for it to happen."

"alright, so i guess that might work." seungyoun says, making a very spontaneous conclusion. "now you close your eyes, and try to focus on seungwoo-hyung. maybe think of his face, or simply repeat the name 'han seungwoo' countlessly; i don't care which method you wish to choose as long as it is resonates seungwoo hyung."

eunsang nods, his eyes still sealed shut. slowly he has his mind form the words out of the pitch darkness.

HAN..

SEUNG..

WOO..

it was a different feeling than his usual chants, because for some reason he starts to hear different, inaudible voices appearing into his head that wasn't him. following seungyoun's instruction, he tries to stay in tact with seungyoun's voice. "seungyoun-hyung?" he mutters without losing focus of what he had to thought about at the first place which is seungwoo hyung.

"yes? you're alright?" seungyoun's voice reverbs but fortunately it's still clear enough for eunsang to hear.

"i think i'm diving in deep."

"that means it's working." seungyoun replies with a tint of excitement. "don't go against it, eunsang! try to keep focus on your work but don't lose yourself in the process. don't lose me in the process."

eunsang hesitantly follows his instructions again. he lets the voices engulf him, exploring the widths of it section by section until it gradually appeals like a bunch of people talking sense. his surroundings that were pitch black because of his eyes sealed shut suddenly saturates into magnetic colors. series of memories scatters in sight, images getting clearer if he focuses of one bit of it. what he sees is pretty much as expected: they were bits of seungwoo's life, memories he had kept throughout his 20 years of living. eunsang felt like he was diving into a black hole, because the more personal the memories were, the easier it was for him to get sucked in. he sees them all clearly: seungwoo getting captured in the middle of the night, seungwoo getting tested by a dozen or so scientists, his screams of pain..

"that's enough!" eunsang cries out to himself. he didn't bare to watch those terrible scenes again.

"eunsang-ah, why did you open your eyes?" a faint voice appears.

what? eunsang fumes. "i didn't."

the sudden change of focus made his thoughts unstable, automatically breaking the memory lane he was in as he had his attention parted for something else. he feels like his consciousness was zapped back into his own body— it happened really fast to the point he loses his grip and fell sideways towards the ground. seungwoo deliberately loses his balance too but seungyoun was fast enough to catch him from falling. the boy cringes when he sees eunsang trampled on the ground. "ah sorry, i wasn't looking."

eunsang was terribly dizzy, but he tried to avoid it by getting up into his feet real quick, trying to gather his thoughts. he squints his eyes. "seungyoun-hyung, did i really open my eyes through the process?"

seungyoun turns to him. "you? boy, your eyes suddenly flutter open after seungwoo yelled for it to stop! i was so scared because there was so many things happening, i didn't know which one of you to focus on."

"seungwoo screamed for it to stop..?" eunsang tilts his head. "really? because i remember vaguely that i was the one screaming."

"and i was the one who felt my eyes opening." seungwoo raises his hand lightly. "it was quite strange because the moment i opened my eyes somehow i was greeted by the sight of myself screaming.. i was also remembered my body to be lighter than usual.. well that was until i blacked out and returned back to my usual state."

seungwoo and eunsang both exchange surprised glances, but getting the chills after realizing what might had happened. seungyoun's mouth drops open. "oh my god, did guys just switch bodies for a split second?"

-

ughhhh sk's police are still all over the x1 votes rigging situation like pls just stop making my boys feel bad about themselves they all deserve their spot in x1 :(

200 votes for next chap~