TEST SUBJECT 312 || JJK

𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

a/n: this is the most I've posted in months 🤯

[ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ]

Without much of a direction in my head, I wandered aimlessly trying to spot any of the familiar metal boxes but I quickly realised that the majority of the house had been raided and I'd wasted too long back at the lake.

Just as I was about to give in, I spotted a small door which I could only assume would lead to a basement. Eagerly, I reached out and turned the brass knob knowing rightly that no one would have explored down here yet. What I didn't expect was for the door to stay sealed shut.

Using my shoulder as extra force, I heaved against the door handle but, unfortunately, I couldn't hear the click of a lock and the door refused to move. I huffed, almost as if I were trying to make the inanimate object know that it had disappointed me. One last attempt remained fruitless and I had to leave that mysterious doorway alone despite my frustration.

"Hayeon! Are you doing okay?" Hoseok asked, strolling into the room lazily. He was lucky; he didn't have to stress of running around like some sort of headless chicken trying to find these blasted tokens.

"I can't find anything," I admitted, shrugging resignedly. The boy hummed, ruffling his hair before speaking again.

"I'm not really supposed to help you but I know that there's a box, upstairs, that no one has been able to open. It's in the medical bay, if you want to try and crack the code."

"Thank you," I moaned gratefully, instantly heading towards the stairs. Although, I couldn't help but wonder what was so different about this box that it had managed to stump the others so irrevocably.

With a spring in my step, I sprinted down the hallway and avidly reached out to open the door. Unlike the last time, the room was opened for me and the sight was almost daunting.

I hadn't been in this room since arriving but it was, quite obviously, home to both Jin and Namjoon's crafts. This homemade laboratory was so strange considering I hadn't stepped foot in a place of science since leaving MediHeal. In some way, it was comforting to be surrounded by the familiar tools and sights that I'd grown accustomed to in my time as a scientist but, also, the memory of the abuse that I'd witnessed back at the laboratory was too scarring to make me fond of the place. Preferably, I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible.

The metal box was sat out in the open, papers strewn around it messily. Whoever had tried to open this box prior to me had certainly given the box a good beating, the metal dented immensely but, luckily for me, it had remained glued stuck with a large industrial lock. Peering down, I quickly realised that it was the type of lock that required four numbers.

At first, I tried spinning the number dials randomly in hopes for a bout of luck to kick in but, as I expected, fortune was not in my favour.

With a bit more panic as I realised that time was quickly slipping out from my fingers, I snatched up one of the papers that had been carelessly thrown. As soon as I read the first line, I realised exactly what Hoseok expected me to do.

Equations. Algebra. Basically, everything I hated.

Trying to calm myself with a shaky breath, I reached out for a pen and chewed the end slightly as I squinted down at the jumble of numbers and signs. For a while, it all seemed like one large blur and for that time I sat analysing, I appeared to come down from my adrenaline high as my hands shook, my handwriting sprawling over the page.

It felt like forever before I managed to figure out the answer, the entirety of my page covered in the black ink from my working out. Hastily, I scanned my work until I was reassured with the answer and stood up, reaching out for the box.