Electric Love {Minsung}

Chapter 51: Save Us

As soon as all the teens were secured, the army began interrogations. Minho, who they guessed to be the leader of the group, was the first to be taken from his cell. As he walked, handcuffed, out of the room he wished Jisung was with him, then felt bad for thinking such a thing. No. Anyplace but here.

He was escorted down the hallway by two Peruvian military police who he tried to reboot but was unable to with the RESAT sucking out most of his power—though he did get one of them to trip. At least, he thought he did. He might have just been clumsy.

He was brought to the interrogation room—a small, rectangular cell with a two-way mirror on one wall. In the center of the room was a square, wooden table with two chairs facing each other. The chair closest to the door was already occupied, and as he entered he could see the back of a man's head, or at least the Elgen helmet he was wearing, the ones the Elgens always wore around him.

The soldiers walked Minho to the empty chair, which faced the mirror. One of the soldiers pulled out the chair while the other unlocked Minho's cuffs.

"Thanks," he said. He rubbed his wrists, which were already sore from the cuffs.

The seated man looked at her for a moment, then said softly, "Please have a seat."

Minho looked up in surprise, the man was Korean. The government must have flown out an interpreter to ensure an unambiguous conversation. Minho glanced at the two soldiers flanking him, then slowly sat down. The two soldiers left the room. The man seated in front of him looked young and, under different circumstances, he might have thought he was kind of hot. There was a pad of lined paper in front of him with a pen. The last time Minho had sat down with an adult like this was during his faculty interview for varsity dance.

For a moment the man just stared at him, as if sizing him up. Then, to his surprise, he smiled at him. "Welcome," he said. He put out his hand, but Minho didn't take it. He hneeld it out for a few seconds, then cocked his head and put his hand back in his lap.

"My name is Junmyeon," he said. "What is your name?"

Minho thought he sounded too pleasant for what he was doing. Minho just pursed his lips and stared at him. After a full minute of silence, he said, "Your name?"

"You already know who I am," Minho said. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be wearing that helmet."

"Maybe I don't," the man said. "I would like a clear answer for the record."

"I'm not a toy," he said. Minho turned his head away from him.

"I don't think you're a toy. I'm just trying to develop a . . . rapport."

Minho didn't respond. The man looked at him for a moment, then said, "You're not going to talk to me?"

He didn't answer.

"Could you please tell me where you're from?" He shifted in his chair. When Minho didn't answer he said, "I am guessing that you're from South Korea perhaps somewhere in the west."

"Why do you keep asking me things you already know?"

The man looked at him for a moment, then stood up and walked over to Minho's side and crouched down next to him. He spoke softly, just above a whisper. "You know that you're being watched and recorded. I am not going to hurt you. But if you don't cooperate with me, then they'll just get someone else who will make you cooperate—someone with more . . . forceful methods. Perhaps one of the Elgen's people."

Minho still didn't look at him. "So it's the good cop, bad cop routine," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"It's on every cop show. One of you plays the nice cop who acts like he cares about me, while the other plays the bad cop who wants to bust my chops, so I confide to the good cop."