we the cursed, nct dream ✔

part fifty-nine

⇉ the one with a story.

(note: y'all this is so long my bad)

part fifty-nine

"How much time?"

"Not much." Livi places her hands on her hips as she surveys the heavy metal door leading from this staircase landing onto the fifth floor entrance. "We have to get in and get out fast, in case the meeting ends early." Then she holds up a camera. "But we also have to get some footage for Juno." Livi breathes in deeply before wrapping her fingers around the door handle. Then she pulls, expecting resistance, but it gives way easily.

Even after everything with Reina, this isn't over. They've discovered who was behind the horror, but why? Why had she done what she did in the first place? Often, the why was much more difficult and unsettling to answer than the who or what.

"Should we be worried that it isn't locked?" Renjun asks.

"It's three in the morning," Mark says. "Of course they didn't bother locking it."

"What do you think the admin meeting is about?" Jisung asks.

"Reina, maybe?" Jaemin guesses.

"Actually, it didn't seem to me like they cared that much about Reina. Obviously they wanted her caught, but..." Jeno trails off, struggling to articulate his thoughts. "It's almost like-

"Like this has happened before," Renjun finishes, and Jeno nods.

Chenle snorts. "It didn't look like they were expending that much effort to find the killer in the first place."

This conversation takes place as the seven of them trudge along the floor's main hallway. There are rooms everywhere, but when they try some of the ones that aren't locked, they appear to just be simple bedrooms, presumably where the teachers sleep. Livi presses record on the camera. "I just feel it in my bones that we'll find something here."

"Let's hope so." Jaemin opens another random door and closes it quickly. "These are all just dorms."

Then the group comes upon another set of doors at the very end of the hallway. They're heavy and appear to be made of some kind of heavy pure metal, some complicated-looking locks arranged in the center. The seven of them exchange glances.

"There should be something here that gives us a clue as to how to open it." Renjun glances around the hallway, like a key will magically materialize. "Let's look around."

"Or..." Jisung simply walks over to the imposing doors and gives them a firm push. They swing wide open. Everybody turns to stare at him in disbelief.

Renjun purses his lips. "Why is everything open?"

Jeno shrugs, pushing past the rest to enter inside. "Let's just count ourselves lucky." None of them quite know what to expect as they head in through the door, but what they do find still causes them to stop in their tracks.

The large space looks like a state-of-the-art research laboratory. There are machines and devices and glass and beakers and substances in containers everywhere; most of the technology is uncommon and therefore unidentifiable, and various workstations and tables and chairs litter the area. An uncountable number of screens are spread along the walls, displaying information that makes zero sense to the seven teenagers right now, and a large television drones quietly in the background, set to a local news channel. The entire place looks expensive and serious.

"I feel like I'm on the set of a dystopian movie," Jaemin breathes out, the first one to speak.

Livi's mouth hangs open. "Is anybody else slightly disturbed?"