Treasures of The Damned

23. Don't Read This Message

Briar did as she was told, taking Yeosang to the first aid station. She hadn't been inside yet, so was scared to see what she would find. She pressed her lips together and slowly opened the door for both of them.

While she had to cringe back for a moment at the smell of burnt oil, Yeosang walked into the building and to where his friend was laying.

Soon, Briar was able to follow him in, taking smaller and more shallow breaths. Now that she was able to see Wooyoung clearly, she saw just what Hongjoong had done to him.

She started by looking down at her legs, making a mental note of everything. Both of his legs, the skin was ripped open. You could see all of the wires and the metal connecting everything to work together. Briar slowly reached her hand out and touched the fake skin hanging off Wooyoung's leg.

Moving up to his hips, nothing seemed wrong there but there were multiple shallow scratches as if Hongjoong was trying to open the skin grafting there but he couldn't. Briar took a deep breath before she slowly turned her eyes up to Wooyoung's open stomach.

There, his entire stomach was ripped open. Briar's eyes flash the side as she remembered Hongjoong standing over Wooyoung, his hand on his spine. Looking down at Wooyoung's mangled body, she could see everything that Hongjoong did. After a few moments, she turned away, not wanting to see the body anymore.

Yeosang turned to her, wrapping a careful arm around her shoulders. "You saw this happen?" He asked softly, watching the young girl in his arms. Briar slowly nodded her head.

"Well...kind of..." She muttered softly, hugging herself tightly but leaning into Yeosang. "Yunho let me come with them...but I was hidden behind him, because of Hongjoong." She explained softly.

Yeosang nodded his head softly, before slowly chuckling. "So Yunho was gatekeeping you from Hongjoong?"

Briar blinked at him, looking confused. "Am I missing something here?"

"You're too young to understand."

"It's 2122, Uncle. What does that even mean?"

"You're not gonna girl boss your way out of this situation, Briar. Hongjoong is too strong."

"What are you saying??" Briar huffed, running her fingers through her hair.

"Don't worry about it. They're phrases I grew up with." He muttered back.

"Uncle Yeosang-...you've gotta stop being a Z-er and free up."

"What?" Now it was Yeosang's turn to look confused. "You're not making any sense."

"Neither are you."

"Glad we came to this agreement." Yeosang and Briar both nodded before they turned back to Wooyoung's body. "Can you fix him? You said you were learning about technology, right?"

Briar paused, slowly walking forward and examining everything. "I don't know...you guys...are complicated. Different types of metal in each joint, all these wires connecting everything so that you run correctly and without glitches..." She paused, reaching forward and starting to examine everything. "Not to mention I have no clue where to find your eyes or anything like that. The voice boxes-"

Yeosang quickly cut her off at that. "Any old voice box would do. As long as it works without wiring. Remember? Our souls are connected to that."

Briar glanced up at him and nodded her head. "That's true. But other than that, the skin. I'd need some sort of something...or a way to create the skin grafting in your skin tones. That would be too hard..." She shook her head and sighed ever so softly.

"I might be able to, Uncle. But like I said...I don't know..." She whispered. "I wouldn't know where to get the parts or anything like that."

Yeosang thought for a few moments before his eyes quite literally lit up with an idea. "Oh! We could go to the back office! They keep all the important files in there, including where they bought all the parts for us. It might be easier to find everything there?"

Briar slowly nodded his head softly and pressed her lips together, before looking at Wooyoung one more time. She watched as Yeosang walked forward and slowly closed Wooyoung's eyelids. He sighed softly and pressed a little kiss to Wooyoung's forehead. "Rest well, my friend. Soon..." He whispered, pressing his lips together as he followed Briar out of the First Aid building and lead her to the main stage.

Once they were in there, he opened a small hidden door that was under the stage, before letting her crawl inside.

"What's this?" She asked him as she sat down on one of the two chairs inside the hidden compartment, watching as Yeosang followed her in and sat down on the other chair.

"It's the office. I think..." He paused for a few moments. "I always see someone climb down here every morning before the park opens. None of the other members have seen them before, but they're usually talking to each other in the few minutes where we're not evil and don't have to perform." He explained softly.

Briar slowly nodded her head as she started to boot up the monitor in front of her. She pressed her lips together as she thought to herself for a few moments. "Uncle Sangie?"

"Yes, Briar?" He asked, typing something into one of the keyboards and watching as cameras all around the theme park turned on, showing them everything.

They could see Logan, in the basement of the charging station. She wondered vaguely how he got there, but then she saw silver hair leaving the frame from the corner of her eyes, and nodded her head. Looking through the cameras, she also found Hongjoong, sitting on the bench she'd been held on by her father. The purple lights of the ceiling made him look tired as he stared at San's body.

"San died too?" Yeosang spoke up after a few moments.

"You're all dead..."

"I mean his animatronic body, Briar."

"Yeah- I told you that, but you wanted to go see Wooyoung's..."

"I'm glad that we went to Wooyoung's. If Hongjoong was there at San's-"

"There's no telling if he would have destroyed me."

Yeosang said nothing but slowly nodded his head, before pausing. "Wait, where'd he go?"

Briar turned back to the monitor in front of Yeosang, blinking with wide eyes. "What...?" In the 30 seconds neither of them was looking, Hongjoong had disappeared. And he wasn't in any of the cameras around that area.