When Baekhyun returns the next day, he finds his trainer sitting in the exact same spot, looking just as concentrated as he was yesterday.

"Were you here all night?" He asks, setting down his things on his own table. Once again, Chanyeol doesn't respond. Baekhyun stands there awkwardly, wondering what he should do, until something catches in his throat and he coughs.

"Oh. Baekhyun, you're here." Chanyeol says, setting down his papers once more. Now that Baekhyun can get a better view of his face, he can see that fatigue is lining his trainer's eyes. He hasn't even eaten his dinner from last night.

"You haven't eaten your dinner." Baekhyun points out.

"My medication is more important." Chanyeol replies hastily, and that's when Baekhyun notices a bottle of pills at the side. Not knowing what to say, silence hangs in the air for a while.

"Uh ... What do I do today?" He asks awkwardly.

"Sorry ... I'm just thinking ... Give me a few minutes." The taller sinks back into his chair, grabbing his papers again and resuming his concentrated posture. Not wanting to stand there and waste his time, Baekhyun would sit down and continue reading through the book again, but watching how his trainer had pulled an all-nighter and working so hard despite having no sleep, Baekhyun really can't just sit there and pretend that not sleeping and not eating is healthy.

Instead, he rushes out of the room to the elevator, down a few floors, out of the elevator and to the cafeteria.

"Uh ... a cup of coffee and two burgers, please." Baekhyun says. "I'd like to take it to my Professor, who's not here."

"Anything ordered elsewhere or brought outside of the cafeteria will come with a cost." The cafeteria lady explains, noticing his trainee badge.

"Oh." Baekhyun falters. "I don't have money on me right now."

"You can give me your membership card, and I'll just take money out of there."

"I don't think I have any money in there." Baekhyun mumbles, but takes his wallet out of his pocket anyway. "But I promise I'll pay you back."

"That's fine dear, it'll automatically pay once you get your first paycheck." The lady smiles gently, takes his card, then taps it.

"Oh! Uh ... Can you get an extra bottle of water and energy drink please? And also pasta." Baekhyun adds. Really, that's much less than what he would eat if he skipped dinner, so he's really not sure if that's enough for his professor. Holding the bags in his hands and the card in his mouth, Baekhyun rushes back to room 530.

Upon returning, Chanyeol doesn't look up nor acknowledge him. Baekhyun sets his card down from his teeth, then gathers up the food and walks over to his professor's desk, then sets it down.

"Here you go!" Baekhyun huffs, watching as Chanyeol looks up, eyes blinking in surprise.

"What's all this ..."

"You didn't really eat dinner last night ... I doubt you ate lunch yesterday either." Baekhyun gestures to his food. "Eat!"

"It's fine, I need to finish this."

"I paid for it ..." Baekhyun says. "Really, I don't know how much money they took off my account -"

"I'll pay you back -"

"I don't believe in wasting food."

"Then you eat it."

"I'm full."

Silence.

"What are the higher ups going to think of me if you fainted or died of starvation one day? I'm innocent." Baekhyun continues. Chanyeol stares at him in disbelief.

"Fine." Chanyeol replies eventually, grabbing a burger before he settles down in his seat again, about to take up the papers. Baekhyun lets out his breath, summons up his courage and walks up to Chanyeol, holding his wrist and pulling him off his seat.

"...?" Chanyeol's eyes are wide and surprised, burger in his mouth as Baekhyun pulls him off until he's standing up.

"Take a break." Baekhyun says, pulling him to the centre of the room where there's a large space dividing both their desks. Then he pulls down his trainer, letting him sit cross-legged on the floor. "It's more efficient, if you take breaks more often."

"..." Chanyeol seems to be speechless, and Baekhyun is grateful the older is letting him take control of the situation. The smaller takes the bags of food and sets it down between Chanyeol's legs where he had formed a small space inside his long legs, then moves towards the back of his professor. The taller then stiffens when Baekhyun grabs his shoulders with his hands.

"What are you -"

"Relax." Baekhyun says softly, kneeling in a more comfortable position as he massages his professor's shoulders slowly. "I'm just loosening you up. Tell me to stop when you've finished eating."

Closing his eyes, Baekhyun remembers how he does this to his parents whenever they've both worked too hard and too late at night. A sudden pang of pain hits his heart - he misses home.

All is silent as he works on stretching Chanyeol's back and massaging his muscles, and Chanyeol eats quietly and patiently. Honestly, Baekhyun wishes Chanyeol was his parents, but really, this is all he can do that can help him remember how it used to be like when he was back home.

After a while, Baekhyun opens his eyes, and stops when he finds that Chanyeol has finished his food and is now sitting there, still and quiet as a statue.

"Oh. I thought I told you to tell me to stop when you've finished." Baekhyun says as he moves over to the front and collects the bags of rubbish. The older catches his arm.

"I'll do it." He says, as if attempting to make up for everything Baekhyun had done.

"It's okay." Baekhyun shakes his head and moves his hand away from Chanyeol's grip, feeling warm inside. "It's my job anyway."

"Hey, I'll pay you back." Chanyeol calls as he watches the younger move over to the rubbish bin.

"Don't worry about it, just train me well." Baekhyun throws his head back and smiles.

For lunch, Baekhyun leaves room 530, promising that once he returns, he'll make Chanyeol eat. The moment he closes the door, however, someone jumps on him.

Yelping, Baekhyun turns around to see who the culprit is, and finds Dara laughing.

"Are thirty years old people supposed to act like this?" Baekhyun mutters, but smiles when Dara links her arm through his, leaning close so she can whisper to him.

"How's your trainer? Who is he/she?"

"Some guy named Park Chanyeol." Baekhyun says, watching when Dara's eyes widen.

"Park Chanyeol's one of the two people that entered EX'ACT early! Over here, we call him one of the the Two Legends."

"Yeah ... but he doesn't seem like it."

"Are you sure you got him?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure sure?"

"...Yeah."

"Are you sure sure sure?"

"Yes."

"He's actually the youngest one though, Baekhyun." Dara whispers, eyes still wide with amazement. "He came when he was only eighteen."

"... As if." Baekhyun mumbles, blinking.

"Really. He was one of the first ones here." Dara squeals. "You have to introduce me to him!"

"Uh, sure." Baekhyun says, blinking once again. "He says he's a slow learner though."

"No way. He's a genius, probably the biggest genius after Freqse. There's no way he could've entered EX'ACT so quickly and early if he was a slow learner."

"How do you know so much about everything?"

"I have connections." Dara grins. "After all, I've been dying to get into EX'ACT, I'd kill to be one of them."

"You'll get it, I'm sure." Baekhyun smiles widely.

"Us two have to, okay?" Dara smiles back, squeezing his hand. "We have to get in together."

"Yeah."

Holding his and his professor's lunches, Baekhyun takes Dara back to Room 530.

"How'd you get a gem like him?" Dara hisses, looking very excited.

"I don't know, I didn't even put Researching in my preferences and I got it..."

"Researching was my first preference, what the fuck!" Dara shouts-whispers. "I actually wanted either Zhang Yixing or Park Chanyeol, because they're the legends of EX'ACT!"

"Oh, I don't know ... maybe something happened to our preferences .." Baekhyun mumbles, not wanting to confuse himself even more as he opens the door and enters.

"Here's your lunch, Professor." Baekhyun chirps as he pushes the bag towards his professor, and when Chanyeol looks up, he pulls Dara close to him.

"Also, this is Dara, a friend of mine." Baekhyun says. "She's been wanting to meet you for a long time."

Chanyeol's expression is blank, and then he blinks and stands up immediately, pasting on that warm smile as he stretches out his hand for Dara to take. Dara is jittery as she shakes it, and then retreats it, lips still wide.

"Okay, I think you should go back to your trainer." Chanyeol chuckles, and both he and Baekhyun watch as Dara bows respectfully, whispers a "Bye!" to Baekhyun, and hurries out.

Baekhyun frowns, watching the exchange, finding that Chanyeol wasn't as childish and immature as he was the first time he met Baekhyun (or really, the second time). Now he's acting all serious and cool and oppa-like. Does he have an interest in Dara?

"Baekhyun." Chanyeol calls calmly as he picks up his bottle of pills, takes out one, popping it into his mouth. "I hope you are aware that no one is allowed in this room except you and I." He picks up his glass of water and drinks it.

"... But the delivery man ..." Baekhyun points out. Chanyeol freezes for a second, then sighs.

"Okay, but he's not one of us. You get what I mean."

"Why?" Baekhyun grins slyly. "Is she too pretty for this room?"

"..."

"You're single, aren't you?" Baekhyun smiles as he grabs the bags of their lunches again and gestures for Chanyeol to walk over so they can both sit together on the floor.

"Bit of an age gap, I'd say ... Nine years?" Baekhyun mutters to himself. "But still all right. Not bad."

"I don't know what to do with you." Chanyeol sighs as he walks over and ruffles Baekhyun's hair, then takes a seat next to him.

When Chanyeol holds his box of rice, he jerks.

"Oh shit, I'm supposed to be looking over the new data that came out yesterday." Chanyeol is about to stand, but Baekhyun holds him down and shakes his head.

"Ten minutes, okay?" Baekhyun negotiates, cheeks bulging and full. As if to emphasize his point, he sets down his box and holds up ten of his fingers, smiling for emphasis and charm.

"Fine." Chanyeol sighs once more, crossing his long legs.

"Just relax." Baekhyun continues once he swallows. "I find that it's my relaxing moments that give me most energy and most motivation to continue the hard and tedious work."

"You make it sound like I'm tired of my work." His professor raises his eyebrow.

"If you do too much, surely you'll lose the love in it ..." Baekhyun says. "Especially at the expense of your own health. Take care of yourself, Professor."

Speechless, Chanyeol watches the younger as he takes another spoonful of his rice. Who even eats rice with spoons?

"Call me Chanyeol."

"I'd rather call you hyung than Chanyeol."

"Then call me hyung."

"Professor Chanyeol, can you tell me what Monsters look like?" Baekhyun slams him down right away.

"Well." Chanyeol chews on his food thoughtfully. "Monsters ... are probably the cruelest things I've ever met."

"Huh?" Baekhyun blinks, watching as Chanyeol's expression turns dark, for the first ever time.

"They kill ruthlessly, without even knowing, or caring, who they're killing. Like beasts ... they touch innocents, harm them, force everyone else to misunderstand them ..." Baekhyun doesn't fail to notice the way his professor is gripping his box, as if he'll break it at any moment.

"... I meant how to identify them." He says gently, bravely reaching out to let his hand land on the older's shoulder. When his professor jerks and looks up, those large eyes blinking away the dark pain and grief and hatred, Baekhyun smiles at him.

"We're here to bring peace, aren't we, Professor?" Baekhyun says as he lets his thumb trail over the bone of his professor's shoulder. "There'll be justice for everyone."

"Not everyone wants peace." Chanyeol mumbles. "You'll find, in this lab, there are people with more sinister intentions than you think."

"You'll tell me how to identify Monsters, won't you?" Baekhyun changes the subject as he stands up, places his box on Chanyeol's table, then reaches out his hand. "After all, I have to be as knowledgeable as I can so that I can pass all the tests and become a staff member like you!"

"Okay." Chanyeol is back to his friendly, warmhearted self as he accepts his trainee's hand and lets himself be pulled up by the younger. "... Can you give me a more specific question?"

"Oh. What do they look like?" Baekhyun stands opposite to Chanyeol as the older takes his seat again. Even though there must be some of them that have had interacted with Monsters before, especially the older ones that used to live outside of SQUAOII, somehow no one can remember the outer features of a Monster. The people in the area he grew up in all believe Monsters look like huge, wild beasts, but they weren't ever clear on what exactly they looked like - with scales? With fur? With feathers?

"Well, they look just like you and me, really." Chanyeol responds casually, as if that isn't a shock. Baekhyun blinks, mouth dropping open in absolute shock.

"How can they? How are they? ..."

"Get your chair here and we'll talk." Chanyeol instructs, sitting up straighter so he's leaning closer to the table, and to Baekhyun. Immediately, the younger flies across the room, grabs his chair, and flies back.

"They're the descendants of the human species, just like we are, Baekhyun." Chanyeol explains. "So it's pretty obvious they'll look just like us."

"But the stories made it sound like they were much more powerful than us ..." Baekhyun whispers. "I thought, at the very least, they'd be larger."

"Maybe that's why so many of us died." Chanyeol's voice is soft. "Because we really trusted them."

Wordless, Baekhyun watches his professor, finding it so interesting yet saddening how he would speak about Monsters with such hatred, yet can also talk about them with such gentleness. Maybe ... he once had a special relationship with one.

"So you or me could be a Monster?" Baekhyun asks instead, as a joke, smiling playfully.

"Unfortunately, no." Chanyeol's grin is back and he reaches out to poke the younger on the nose. "Monsters are bad at brainwork - you can say they're stupid."

"... Oh."

"They're really bad at academic things - hence why this system requires so much testing, because they want to ensure that no Monster is among them."

"I could've been a Monster." Baekhyun mutters to himself. "It takes me hella long to learn things."

"You're first in everything though, aren't you?" Baekhyun jerks up, blinking.

"How'd you know my place? Even I don't know ..."

"Of course I have a right to know."

"You're not lying to make me feel better, are you?" Chanyeol grins secretively.

"Anyway, no way they could've gotten in with all the strict testing. Also, there's this distinct feature between Lucky Ones and Monsters. Can you guess what it is?"

"I've never seen a Monster though." Baekhyun shoots back, frowning.

"Is there a distinct feature that all Lucky Ones have?" Baekhyun's frown deepens. "Come on, you aren't first for nothing."

"... I know." Baekhyun clicks his fingers, grinning as he crosses his leg over the other. "Hair and eyes."

"Right you are!" Chanyeol's hand turns into a gun and he mock-shoots at Baekhyun. "Clever boy. Lucky Ones all have black hair and dark brown eyes."

"Are you saying Monsters are different?"

"Usually yes." Chanyeol replies smoothly. "Their hair colour varies, as with their eyes. So they can have green hair and black eyes. It's rare to find someone with black hair, rare to find someone with dark brown eyes like we all do, and even rarer to find someone with both."

"So it's highly unlikely any of us will be Monsters?"

"Exactly." Chanyeol nods, and Baekhyun finds that he really likes the way his professor is teaching him - with such engagement, treating him like such an equal, as if they're holding a casual conversation. Somehow, this way, learning is much easier. "I'm only assuming it is possible, considering Monsters can have hair and eye colours ranging from everything to everything. However, there is a catch."

Baekhyun leans in closer, eager, surprised and happy he's able to take this all in so easily. And then something catches his eye.

"What's that?" He asks, pointing to his professor's neck, where a thin chain hangs around it, a small black stone in the middle.

"Oh. It's like a friendship bracelet." Chanyeol grins. "I share this with someone."

"Oh." Baekhyun falters, wondering if 40 year old men still do that. Frowning thoughtfully, Baekhyun continues to stare at it, wondering what it can mean.

"Anyway, Monsters look exactly like Lucky Ones before puberty." Chanyeol says. "Black hair, brown eyes. You wouldn't be able to tell one from the other. When Monsters mature, however, their hair changes and so do their eyes, and then they possess powers to destroy."

Baekhyun's lips form an 'O'.

"They usually 'Mature' at nine years old. Early maturers are six years old, and late is twelve years old. So really, all Monsters now should have different coloured hair and different coloured eyes, if they were in this Lab."

"That's so cool ... I wonder how that'll look like." Baekhyun whispers, eyes wide with wonder. "I'm sure it'll look really pretty."

"... They're our enemies."

"Enemies can still look pretty." Baekhyun replies. "Besides, we've hurt a lot of their kind too." When silence answers him, Baekhyun licks his lips awkwardly.

"I'm just saying ... that I'm sure they also have their own problems." Baekhyun continues quickly. "Not that they're right, but not that we're right either ... I don't know, there is no right or wrong in war ..."

"I think you're the very first person, in my twenty four years at EX'ACT, that has ever said that." Chanyeol says softly. "To try and consider things from a Monster's point of view."

"That's not bad, is it?" Baekhyun whispers. Chanyeol ruffles his hair again, as if that itself is enough of an answer.

After another long night of studying, Baekhyun is forced to wake up two hours earlier than usual to attend a little meeting with the other trainees. Rubbing his eyes, Baekhyun blinks sleepily, still in his pajamas as he watches Dara come over with her uniform ready, looking bright and awake.

Taking their seats in a classroom-like room, Baekhyun rests his head on his hands as he stares at the front and waits for whoever that is supposed to speak to them. Eventually, a middle-aged man walks in, standing at the front and starts speaking to them.

"Before I go into the rules of EX'ACT Lab, you should all know that only two of you can be actual staff at our lab." Trying not to yawn, Baekhyun blinks instead. "Every week, you will be tested on Fridays on all the areas, and also General Knowledge on the Monsters. By the end of the day, your scores will be totaled up and you will be ranked. At the end of your trainee period, all your scores will once again be added up and the top two scorers shall be chosen as professional staff at our Lab. Now let's go onto the rules ..."

After that, Baekhyun drifts off, eyes closing and brain turning off. In the end, Dara shakes him awake and he immediately stands up, rubbing his eyes.

"What'd I miss?" He mumbles, yawning once more.

"Nothing much." She responds. "Except right now we're going to have one of those General Knowledge tests."

"Huh?" Baekhyun blinks once more as Dara grabs his wrist and drags him. By the time they enter one of those testing rooms, Baekhyun is wide awake.

"How the hell could we have studied for that?" Baekhyun hisses, worried. "I don't know anything ..."

"I already knew this would happen, so I studied." Dara grins. "But you'll be fine!"

Baekhyun is taken to his seat and he sits down, biting his lip. They never mentioned anything, and now he's going to be behind. That's so unfair.

Taking a deep breath, Baekhyun accepts the piece of paper and closes his eyes, waiting for the examiner to say "start". When he does, Baekhyun opens his eyes and looks down.

Name a distinct physical feature of a Monster.

I know this. Baekhyun thinks to himself, heart racing in excitement.

Name the year the MAMA war started.

I know this. Baekhyun nearly smiles. He finds that for the rest of the test, he knows just about everything about Monsters and the MAMA war, not because he researched it, but mostly because of the talk he had with Chanyeol.

"How'd it go?" Dara asks once they're out and Baekhyun heaves a huge sigh of relief.

"It went okay. What about you?"

"Great! I think there were one or two questions I didn't know though." Dara says. "Where're you going now?"

"Uh ... to wash up."

"Meet you at breakfast then!"

"It's okay ... I'm going straight to work." Baekhyun replies distractedly as he rushes back into his bedroom.

Maybe I won't do well ... Because people seemed to have done well on their test ... This is going to set me back ... I'll just have to work harder ... Thoughts like these run through Baekhyun's mind as he showers and brushes his teeth and changes his clothes. Somehow, the desire to stay has strengthened, especially now there is one face in his mind that is motivating him to work harder. And this is something that he really has to admit, is that he really really likes Professor Chanyeol's presence, and the way warmth seems to seep into his heart whenever he is met with Chanyeol's gentle touches.

Putting on the white coat over himself, Baekhyun stares at the mirror and prepares to set off. He'll skip breakfast, because he doesn't want to waste a minute doing something useless when he can spend it at room 530 and study, and accompany his professor.

He arrives, un-fashionably late, and finds his professor, for the first time, taking care of himself and eating breakfast.

"Sorry I'm late." He mumbles, heart racing from the adrenalin as he strides over to his table to set down his bag of things.

"You're early." His professor replies. "You're supposed to have a break to eat breakfast after your test."

"Glad to see you're eating something, Professor." Baekhyun smiles instead, about to take a seat at his designated place.

"I only did it because I guessed a student of mine would have skipped." His professor grins kindly. "Now come and eat with me."

Speechless, Baekhyun walks over, disbelief in his expression and shock on his lips. When he walks over, he finds four burgers laying on the table, with two drinks - one bottle of water, and another energy drink. It's a little endearing, realising that his professor had noticed the food he usually eats, in this one short week they've met.

"Now eat up." Chanyeol instructs, mock-strictly. "My treat."

The younger sits across his professor on the seat that has already been prepared for him.

"Professor ..." He mumbles, taking a burger and unwrapping it slowly, as if distracted.

"Hm?"

"Do you think if I don't become an official staff here ... Do you think I'll still be able to see you?" His heart is racing and his cheeks are slowly turning hotter but really, all he's focusing on is the answer from the man sitting before him.

"It's possible, but quite rare." His professor's smooth, deep voice replies, sounding sort of like a calm shore that he had always heard about, but never seen. "I'll probs be on some mission by that time, so I won't have time to see you. And that'll be the only reason why I'll be outside in the first place. Why?"

Silence answers and Baekhyun takes a bite of his burger.

"I prepared you well, I'm sure." Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Chanyeol stand up. "You'll be fine." Then Baekhyun feels that warm, gentle, kind, and caring gesture of Chanyeol's hand ruffling his hair, and he unconsciously closes his eyes, as if to savour that warmth and security. "Now eat up, I want you performing at the best of your ability today!"

"Mm!" Baekhyun yells into his bread, taking a deep unstable breath to push away the shakiness of his limbs and the tremble of his heart, wanting to disregard any thought of what this feeling might be.

Later in the day, a messenger pulls him out of room 530 (figuratively) and back into the classroom-like room that they were first in.

"I got third." Dara says a matter-of-factly.

"That's so good!" Baekhyun whispers, stretching his neck to peek over. "I'll be happy if I got 5th."

"3rd is not enough to get us top two, and neither is 5th, Baekhyun." Dara hisses. "You have to be more ambitious than that."

"Oh ... okay ..." Baekhyun mumbles, looking up as the examiner passes him his paper. Bowing slightly, he takes it, trying to tell himself that it's okay and he can always try harder for the other tests, but when he turns to look at his score, his jaw drops open.

Rank: 1/10

Score: 100%

"What'd you get?" Dara's voice floats into his head. Baekhyun doesn't stop her when the older takes the paper from him, and he's too shocked to take note of her reaction.

"... Wow Baekhyun, this is great!" Her awed tone of voice replies him. "You're definitely going to be the final two!"

"..." Baekhyun is still shocked, hearing Dara's "Teach me your ways!" at the back of his mind. Immediately after they are excused, Baekhyun runs, ignoring Dara's calls out to him. The joy only fills him now as he clutches his result in his hands and tears through the hallways, feeling his heart racing excitedly. Barging into Room 530, the place that has somehow become his new home, Baekhyun announces "I'm first."

"Good job, little one." His professor smiles at him as he pops a pill in his mouth, then drinks a glass of water. "As expected of my student."

His heart is beating so hard in his chest, and Baekhyun can feel joy genuinely radiating out of himself, like rays of light. Chanyeol stands, walks over to him until they're a metre apart, and Baekhyun continues watching his professor, watches his handsome face wrinkle as he smiles.

"How should I reward you?" Maybe his professor is asking him this because he's staring too hard, too eagerly. Baekhyun blinks, eyes darting down like deer caught in the headlights, and immediately he steps back, blinking to snap himself out of it.

"N-Nothing!" Baekhyun replies, and dares to look up again.

"Then why are you here?"

"I just ... ... ... wanted you to know." His voice is genuine and so is his heart, so he decides to say it this time with more confidence. "I just wanted you to know. Thank you, Professor."

Chanyeol looks at him, with such gentleness, he realises. And it's very heartwarming.

"I still have to reward you somehow, won't I?" His professor tilts his head like a child. "Come on, help me out here. It's my first time having a trainee."

Somehow, that adds to this jittery feeling in his heart, for being Chanyeol's first student. And it fills him with happiness until his cheeks flush with pride for making Chanyeol proud.

"Want me to treat you? Or give you something?" The fact that Chanyeol is so eager to be a great professor is also endearing. Really though, he doesn't want any of that.

"I want you to correct your sleeping and eating habits!" Baekhyun chirps, smiling at how clever he is. He watches the smile on his professor's face fade a little, can see the conflict trying to burst beneath the seams of his professor's closed lips, and he smiles even wider, amused.

"That's ..."

"Please?" He surprises himself with that word, surprises himself even more when his bottom lip pokes out a little in the natural pout that he does to everyone he's closest with, and most comfortable with. His professor is finding a place in his comfort zone, so fast he can't process it.

"Okay." Chanyeol replies gruffly, reaching out to ruffle Baekhyun's hair again. "Oh, I'm going to regret this..."

"Hehe." Baekhyun grins widely, cheeks truly flushing with pride and happiness.

The next day, they are given a day of rest, like all trainees do once a week. Dara seems to want to use this to the best of her ability, dragging him around to show to him places that he's sure he wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for her. About halfway through the day, Dara has showed him around five floors of things, from where the inner shopping malls are to the quietest libraries.

"Tell me how you know everything again?" Baekhyun pants after Dara had dragged him running to Floor 39, a floor purely made to construct a garden inside. They sit down on a bench made of half a tree trunk, and Baekhyun admires the scenery around him.

"My oppa goes here." She responds, grinning widely. "He tells me everything about it."

"There's no one here though ..." Baekhyun says as he looks around, finding this place empty. "Are you sure we're supposed to be here?"

"Of course!" Dara points to a sign not far away. "See?" Trusting his friend, Baekhyun nods, and instead smiles excitedly as he nudges Dara and faces her.

"Look at this!" He says, grabbing the gummy teeth and putting it over his real teeth, then smiles at his friend. Dara laughs.

"You're so childish." She says. "I swear you weren't like this before."

"That's because I'm close enough to you now." Baekhyun grins, tasting the sweetness of the candy in his mouth.

"How's Chanyeol-oppa?" Dara whispers, eyes bright. "Does he mention me?"

"Nope." Baekhyun shakes his head cheerfully. "He probably likes you though."

"You think so? How come?"

"Because noona is pretty." Baekhyun grins widely. "And smart. With a nice personality."

"Oh, stop it you." Dara smiles back.

"You two are my favourite people in this entire Lab." The younger confesses. "I think it'd be nice if you got together."

"You're so sweet, Baekhyun." She laughs. "C'mon, I'll take you to another place." Baekhyun lets himself be dragged back into the elevator, this time watching with curiosity as his friend presses onto a button.

"Highest floor?" He asks, confused.

"Hm?" She says as the elevator doors close. "Get ready for a ride. It'll be fast."

Baekhyun hardly has time to register that before zoom! up the elevator they go. It's strange because he always believed that going up at that speed would kill them, or at the very least they would bounce up to the ceiling of the elevator and then die, yet when the doors open, he realises his feet are still planted on the ground.

Dizzy, Baekhyun stumbles out and crumbles onto the floor, clutching his head. Blinking the dizziness out of his eyes, Baekhyun forces himself to stand up, looking around the silent, white hallways.

"Noona ... are you okay?" Baekhyun asks as he tears his eyes away from the blindingly white walls, but when he turns back, it's silent. No one's there.

"Noona?" He reaches outwards, touching the metal of the doors, but it's closed, and Dara's not here. Baekhyun tries to think back on just where Dara had went, but he realises it was too much of a blur to him.

Maybe she got ... teleported somewhere else? He jokes with himself, deciding to walk around in case he can find her somewhere on this floor. This floor looks like all the other working floors he had been on, except this time it's completely empty. For some reason though, this silence calms him, and even as he continues looking around and doesn't find his friend, he isn't scared nor afraid to be lost.

After a while, however, he walks past a room and hears whispers. Finally finding someone on the floor, Baekhyun stops, about to knock and walk in, but he stops when he hears someone else talk.

"Doesn't seem to have anything special." The voice says, and Baekhyun decides then to wait for them to finish their conversation before interrupting. "We've tried so many things."

What are they talking about?

"It won't talk." The first voice responds.

"Hm ... Do you think an inch is enough?" Baekhyun dares to peek in, finding two staff, wearing the same coat as him, standing next to each other. There is no one else, and the room looks like a typical laboratory that he's seen in pictures. "What if we need more to determine their true strength?"

The first man holds something up. Baekhyun peeks closer, watching as the thing he's holding is moved towards the light. It takes a while to register, but Baekhyun's not stupid.

Hand slapped over his mouth, Baekhyun turns away from the scene and stumbles away, trying not to puke. Once again, the world is spinning before him, except this time he's the reason why.

But this time, before he can wait for the dizziness to go away, someone grabs him harshly and pulls him in. Coughing, Baekhyun is about to speak, but someone covers his lips with their hand. Heart racing, Baekhyun looks up, watching the person who had grabbed him and recognising him straight away as the other Legend of EX'ACT - Zhang Yixing.

"Shh." His voice is soft, his gaze pointed and focused along the hallways, and before Baekhyun can blink, the older man had twisted him around and held him by the shoulders, this time that same pointed and focused gaze glaring into his eyes. "Say you accidentally pressed the wrong button."

"Wha -" Baekhyun is harshly interrupted with a slap to his cheek. Silenced and shocked, Baekhyun clutches his cheek, tears welling up in his eyes as a physical reaction to the immense pain as he stares up at Zhang Yixing.

"Didn't I tell you not to go up to this floor?" The older man shouts. "Didn't you hear the man from yesterday tell you, clearly, not to go onto this floor?" Yixing is staring down at him, hard and intense, and Baekhyun can only nod meekly even though he has no idea what Yixing is talking about.

"I ... I pressed the wrong button accidentally ..." He mumbles, tears falling out of his eyes, crying out of shock and pain. "I ... I'm sorry ..."

"This floor is dangerous, Byun Baekhyun!" Yixing shouts again. "Something could've happened to us, all of us, if you did the wrong thing!"

"I'm sorry ..." Baekhyun is choking in his tears now, Yixing's slap still stinging on his cheek. And when he looks up, Yixing swings his arm high again. He recoils immediately, attempting to curl into himself.

"Doctor Yixing." One of the voices before voices out this time, but Baekhyun's still too afraid to move. "What is the problem here?"

"I found out my student loitered at the wrong place." Yixing replies calmly. "Just in time too. Or else I don't know what would've happened." Silence answers him for a while.

"How far did he venture, Doctor Yixing?"

"Not far, fortunately." Baekhyun now dares to peek, still clutching his cheek that is burning. "I caught him right here." Blinking the tears from his eyes, Baekhyun turns and finds the door of the elevator to be right next to him.

"I'll deal with you when we go back." Yixing threatens dangerously, and Baekhyun bites his lip and looks down, afraid.

"Uh, Doctor Yixing, it's quite all right -"

"No it's not. I will treat my inferiors with strictness, just as I expect you will." Silence. "I apologise in behalf of my student, and for causing a ruckus." Once again, there is silence, until Baekhyun hears rushed and respectful exits as the two leave. Baekhyun yelps when the older staff member grabs him violently by the wrist and pulls him towards the elevator, then inside it. Once again, Baekhyun is not prepared for the fast feeling of the elevator going down, and this time his heart flies out of his chest at the freefall feeling. The doors open and Baekhyun would've collapsed if it weren't for Yixing's tight grip on his arm. He doesn't notice where they are or where they're going, and then he's pushed inside a room, the door closing soundly behind him.

His sniffs are the only sound in the air.

"Are you okay?" Yixing asks gruffly, hand reaching out, but Baekhyun moves away, automatically afraid. There's a silence, and Baekhyun doesn't know why he's crying so hard, or why he's so shocked. Is it because he thought he felt safe with Yixing, but Yixing only betrayed that trust?

"You know you weren't supposed to be there, right?" Sniffs. "Did you listen to yesterday's announcement or not?"

"..." A little ashamed, Baekhyun shakes his head.

"Look ..." Baekhyun's hands are still covering his face, as if he's afraid he'll get hurt again. "I'm sorry. For doing that to you. But you would've had worse consequences if I didn't do that in front of them. In fact, that's the lightest punishment you can get away with, being up there by yourself. That place is forbidden." Once again, Baekhyun doesn't answer.

"I'm ... really sorry." There it is, the gentleness that Baekhyun thought this man had, the gentleness that finally shows itself after all the previous harshness. "Where does it hurt?"

"I-I-I-I'll excuse myself n-now." Baekhyun stutters as he lets his hands fall by his sides, cursing internally at how the amount of crying has done to his speech. "I-I-If you d-don't m-mind."

"Let me take a look at it." Yixing reaches out, and once again out of instinct, Baekhyun recoils. Instead, the older takes him by the wrist, much gentler this time, and pulls him to the couch behind a corner of this room - his office, it seems. The touch, compared to how violent it had been before, so violent Baekhyun's sure it would cause a bruise, is so different this touch feels like a feather on his skin.

"Tilt your chin up." Yixing commands when Baekhyun is seated on the couch. Reluctantly, Baekhyun does. The older is so close to his face and yet Baekhyun looks sideways, embarrassed at how sticky his face feels and how his swollen eyes are. Cold fingers touch the numb skin of his burning cheek, such that a tingling feeling spreads and Baekhyun shudders at the feeling.

"It's quite red." Yixing comments. "I'll get some ointment." His hand falls by his side and he walks away, and then Baekhyun summons up the courage to speak.

"S-Sorry for the inconvenience, sir." He whispers, standing up immediately. "And thank you f-for helping." He's about to rush out, but the older man grabs him by his wrist again.

"Stay." The man's voice is overbearing, and Baekhyun feels obliged to remain frozen where he is. Then the older man is back, his intense gaze burning through Baekhyun as he bends down, the ointment smeared onto his fingers as he presses them against Baekhyun's cheek.

Almost like magic, the discomfort and burn that the slap gave him immediately begins to fade away. Blinking in shock, Baekhyun can only stare at Zhang Yixing who's spreading the magical product all over his cheek and feeling the pain melt away as the cold fingers touch his skin.

"Where else did I hurt you?" Unconsciously, Baekhyun is trusting this man, and he holds out his wrist, staring at the redness that Yixing's fingers had gave him. The older man takes it, so gently this time that Baekhyun holds his breath, and once more, the healing feeling of the ointment spreads across his skin like water.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Zhang Yixing is back to his strict self as he gestures with his chin to the couch, and feeling no choice, Baekhyun sits back onto it. The younger watches as the staff of EX'ACT screws back on the cap and places it back where it came from.

"I ... uh ..." Baekhyun's cheeks light up in embarrassment. "I fell asleep when they were telling us the rules." Silence answers, and when Baekhyun dares look up, the almost glare of Yixing's expression forces him to duck back down again.

"Then my friend took me around the Lab today because she knows a lot of things and ... showed me around all the cool places and ..." It's just so confusing! Everything happened so fast that Baekhyun can't quite grab what had happened. "She was taking me somewhere else on the elevator but it went up too fast and now I'm not really sure where she wanted us to go ... And she just disappeared ... I feel like it really was a mistake, getting up there."

"How so?"

"Because ... Noona knows everything and I'm sure she would've remembered not to go to the top floor." Baekhyun finishes with a whisper, afraid he'll trigger Yixing's wrath again.

"..." Yixing's face is dark, his gaze once again intense to the point that it can shoot daggers, and Baekhyun inwardly prays he hasn't done anything detrimental. In the end, however, the older sighs.

"Don't go up there again." He says in an almost defeated tone. "It's dangerous up there."

"I'm sorry ..." Baekhyun whispers guiltily, heart racing. He would never have wanted to hurt anyone, especially Dara and Professor Chanyeol ...

"It's not that." Yixing responds impatiently. "It would've been dangerous for you."

"Huh?"

"They're dangerous men." Yixing's voice is low. "If they spot an outsider there, they would've dealt with you right on the spot."

"... But ... why?" Baekhyun can hardly breathe. He didn't commit a crime, did he?

"What they do is top secret, which no one knows except for the people who are working on it." The older replies. "Which is why you must not tell anyone about this."

Silence.

"Why are you helping me?" Baekhyun asks timidly. Even though his voice is soft, once it breaks the silence it's loud. "You're part of that top secret project, aren't you?"

Zhang Yixing stares at him for a while. Zhang Yixing stares at him for so long that Baekhyun's afraid he'll have changed his mind about helping him.

"Maybe one day you'll understand." He responds. "You may go -"

"Can you tell me the reason why they were ... holding a piece of meat ...?" Once again Baekhyun sounds timid, but he is brave. "It's not ... human meat, is it?"

"Go." Yixing says forcefully.

"O-Oh." Flinching, Baekhyun immediately stands, rubbing his wrist that has already healed from the magical water-like ointment, and he bows deeply before rushing towards the door. Still, the strange aura that surrounds Yixing forces Baekhyun to turn around eventually, and he turns back, feeling as if he needs to say something to bridge the distance between them.

"Thank you so much, Doctor Yixing." He says softly, smiling genuinely, even though he's still afraid of this mysterious man. It's strange, because even though Yixing has such a hard gaze, and such a deep frown, his eyes can look so soft, and his touch so gentle, giving off the same warmth as Chanyeol does.