I Am: NOT

9. I Am: Not Myself

"Woojin hyung - " Seungmin stopped when he saw so many people. "What...?"

"Hi," Woojin greeted him. "Sorry, you must be startled. Please sit down. They are kind of related to what I need to explain to you."

"Of course..." Seungmin replied slowly and exchanged glances with Hyunjin and Jeongin. Hyunjin looked skeptical while Jeongin just seemed curious.

"Okay..." Woojin exhaled, "So, you saw that file titled 'Human Experiment Record - Failures and Analysis', right?"

Seungmin nodded. Chan gasped.

"Not all of the humans in our city are born naturally. Some of us are actually manufactured. I found that out because your parents' deaths are so unnatural." Woojin said, "Did you see how they died?"

"I don't think so. I was too little back then." Seungmin replied.

"Your dad looked like robots running out of battery. Your mum - how do I explain it? She suddenly bleed to death when her health records are completely perfect and there weren't any poison or harmful chemicals detected." Woojin continued, "What's more, their bodies were discarded so quickly. Mum said they couldn't even have a small funeral, save for a proper one."

Seungmin remained silent, while Hyunjin challenged, "Why are you keeping it to yourself for so long? And why are you leaving Seungmin alone so frequently? You're supposed to be his subsitute parent!"

"Hey..." Changbin interrupted, "You think this is something that can be told casually? I am not talking about how it is a dark past - it's something that we are forbidden to talk about."

"Say," Minho said, "What about we tell you how corrupted this place is?"

"What do you mean by corrupted?" Jeongin asked.

"They say this place is the best place anyone would ask for," Felix finally talked, "But in reality it's really not. We are all manipulated in some ways - we are not ourselves."