Mari was left speechless by what she had just heard, wondering what kind of living being could endure total anesthesia like that; she was beginning to think that, perhaps, the Raon she knew as a role in the filming had been surpassed a long time ago by this one, and that really scared her. She was no longer so sure that she could understand her well, not enough to prevent her from taking out her current displeasure on her or on Young-ho and the others. What changed? So that her counterpart not only did not return home, but became master and controller of the same group of people responsible for making her whole life a never ending torment?
Soo Young got up but out of fear she remained just sitting, hugging her legs while her eyes carefully watched her superior's, waiting for the next move; She still couldn't believe Raon managed to cheat her death like that, and thus the latter would respond unexpectedly:
- Still can't believe it? – she mocked – You do know that we are not ordinary superhumans, right?
- I know that, ma'am - she responded - but... I still have a hard time assimilating it.
- All of our mind's potential was released as a result of the experiments. You just need to unlock it.
- But we are all different. To you. To the vice-director. Despite our individual ability…we never…
- Controlling your mind also allows you to control the body. It has been your mistake not to cultivate that relation enough.
- So...after waking me up and talking, you breathed again...and the stale air made you dizzy.
- You got it quickly. I see you're still useful so, now that you're done with your tantrum, I want you to do something else for me.
- What...what do you...need from me...?
The guards entered the place in disbelief when they saw that everything was under control; behind them was Mari, who also saw that whole scene, while the sergeant approached the director:
- Director Kim, are you... - said the sergeant.
Before finishing, she received a slap from the aforementioned woman, leaving the actress and the subordinate cold:
- You worthless despicable thing! Tell your men to get out of my sight. Get out, if you don't want me to "fire" you.
- Copied, ma'am - he said, rubbing his cheek - Alright, gentlemen! Stand down, it's all over!
- Sir, yes sir! – the others responded in unison.
As he left, the actress soon she felt the invisible force on her, beong quickly attracted to where the director and Soo Young were. Raon stood before her in a defiant pose, arms crossed, with her uniform intact except for some dirt:
- You didn't try to escape after all…just as I expected.
- Huh?
Raon then nodded to the actress for Soo Young to pay her attention
- This is what I wanted to talk to you about...
The latter fixated on the actress with quite a bit of curiosity and perplexity, because precisely that part of her previous experience had not been a hallucination, but a true memory of a double just in front of her, making her rub her eyes to make sure it was completely real:
- And who are you?
- Hello Soo Young – she responded aprehensively - My name is Kang Ma-ri...it's a long story
As she did with everyone when meeting them first time, Soo Young immediately went to sense the actress's aura. In fact, the fear Mari's face hid came like a hurricane, but beyond that, she perceived discomfort, anxiety, nostalgia and a sadness that made her reconsider the manners to speak next:
- I'm sorry for what I just did, Mari, and I understand if you don't feel comfortable with all this.
- I need you to apply your technique with her – Raon interrupted – Right now.
- I see - she responded somberly - But... I feel that... all this... is wrong... very wrong.
- That's quite obvious, don't you guess - Raon replied sarcastically.
- I don't know why...I did what I did...it was like I was trapped...in my own body...
- Well, this is your chance to improve that power of yours. And redeem yourself too.
- You must listen to me, Raon - she exclaimed urgently - I saw it, I felt it, that... thing, it's too powerful...
The director twitched inside when Soo Young dared to address her, but decided to take a more reflective path upon hearing about this vision of a supposedly hostile entity, for the third time, so she let herself think about those words a little, and after a few seconds she replied:
- We'll discuss your...little scene later. Just do what I tell you...
The subordinate saw that glow of hostility in the brown irises and energy field of her superior, so, not seeing herself with better options, she only responded, even with fearful concern:
- Yes, very good, I will. Please Ma-ri, sit here. I'm going to start…
Mari abided and sat on a metal cot that was nearby, after which Soo Young stood in front of her, reluctantly extending a hand, planting an open palm on her forehead; upon making contact, the actress leaned back slightly, nervous, but time passed, and she didn't feel anything strange. The actress felt a sudden lightness in her body and she calmed down immediately, more intrigued by what she was doing than anything else, reminding her of videos she had once seen about televangelists laying hands on people to perform supposed exorcisms on them, which she found funny and silly. But when it came to this place, and the supposedly impossible things she had been experiencing until now, the actress no longer knew what else to expect from these beings, who were supposed to only exist in the imagination of some creative department.
- You feel your body relax... - said Soo Young - I am transmitting calm to your third eye... it sees that my intention is not to harm you, your inner self will open to me, and give me permission to learn from you...
- Why do you tell her that? – Raon said – Hurry up.
Soo Young moved closer to Mari's ear:
- And now, go rest. – she whispered.
The actress didn't even notice. No sign prepared her for when, from one moment to the next, her sight stopped seeing, and her other senses stopped perceiving the real world; maybe a minute passed, maybe two, until she, as she regained the notion of her surroundings, saw herself much further away from that reality that she'd just left. Mari now found herself in the middle of a new place that stretched infinitely; how did she know, she didn't know, she could simply contemplate the endless blue sky, the occasional gray clouds and the endless meadow of green grass, sweet flowers and plush multicolored butterflies, all the while a padded sun looked at her, smiling.
- What is this place? – Mari asked, amused – Hello sun…hello flowers... – she greeted happily.
She immediately lowered her eyes and began to walk around the place calmly, breathing deeply, following a random path from which to find a world dominated by greenery, rainbow-trunked trees, woolly bugs, puffer rabbits emerging from their burrows.
- This feels...beautiful. It is...like home.
There was no one else, nothing except something that glowed at a distance:
- Hey, what's that?
Raon set out to imitate the modified techinque in its entirety and be there too like the last time, so she placed her hand directly on the top of the actress' head, and in a matter of brief moments, she found herself facing a completely different vision from that of the clinical and gloomy environment:
- Ugh, just what I needed...silly idol. - she said – Soo Young, where are you?
She went deeper and deeper into the plain until finding a peculiar phenomenon, a kind of luminous white globe that hummed floating over a bed of branches from which several bushes full of fat red fruits emerged. The director approached, and that was when she saw that several diffuse silhouettes were forming inside:
- Director, wait, you shouldn't go any closer. You could damage her brain.
She felt Soo Young's presence from behind; a second mental image was also arriving in the area; Soon, a familiar figure quickly came around the strange growth to meet them both:
- Kim Raon! It's you! – exclaimed the actress.
- Huh, there you are - she responded
- Where are we? How?
- I put you in a meditative state of lucid dreaming – Soo Young replied.
- Ah, that's why she can be here - Raon added.
- That's right, ma'am. An improvement to my original technique as you will see.
- You say I'm dreaming? – the actress asked.
- It's more than that. Right now you're internalized into your own mind.
- How is it possible... to see the mind? Why am I…in this place?
- In short, your imagination builds a perceptual abstraction of your subconscious.
- Huh...
- And this here represents a node towards your memory center - Said Raon.
- We will see what your soul keeps, extracting it from the inside out, directly to your conscious.
- And that way...you will confirm...if my version of what happened...is true... - Mari ended.
The actress suddenly felt her strength failing, she closed her eyes tightly as she was struck by a headache:
- Please, Raon. Make it stop.
- Soon, once I have what I want - she responded indifferently.
- The fact that three minds get into the same brain causes such effects – Soo Young added.
- I know you didn't invite me - Raon retorted - but I'm not going to let you go on your own again.
The subaltern did not respond to that, and extended her hand towards the luminous phenomenon, causing the static to begin to disappear and make way for what the two Awoken Ones had come to look for; this time there were no spots, only silhouettes that became clearer, going slower and slower until they were stabilized. The three then began to see the orb projecting coherent images, as if it were a kind of live recording, or a kind of video slide in the form of circular multicolored light screens; Raon perceived the same things the artist would have perceived throughout her past. Even the fragments of what the host brain had considered unnecessary were visible, like the first time Mari's eyes looked at the light, or the first time she raised her hands towards her mother; trifles, unimportant matters, quite ordinary childhood, small problems.
- Tell me Soo Young, are these false memories or not?
- There are emotionally distorted areas, trying to fill gaps where the parietal stopped storing.
- Expected. Specific sections with unimportant details.
- Nothing I've been able to peek on in advance feels intentionally forged or distorted.
- I'll see to that.
Using the movement of her eyes from right to left, Soo Young advanced the panels at an exponential speed until, much sooner than later, all contemplated Mari's studies at her college's theater school, the first scenes of her acting career and her first ad performances as well:
- You can't be serious... - Raon said, smirking.
But the expression quickly disappeared from her face; after watching Mari being an extra or a secondary character, she got to the part where the actress took the role as Raon for the first time; the director remembered all too well, she was just 18 at that time, and was a few months away from graduating high school, the moment she finally put her grand plan into motion, those days in which she stabbed her lifelong tormentors on the back.
- This is an insult… - she muttered - They made it look as if it was easy.... Can you go faster?!
- Apologies, director - Soo Young answered - but if I search faster, it could burn up her neurons.
- Huh, whatever...
Before her appeared a slow-motion version, a meager theatricalization of the exact movements she made in the fight within the Phase-Alpha Nursery, when she exacted vengeance upon her creator and the so-named captain Hwan, when she put an end to Shadehand and…to that accursed guy. The way she humiliated him both physically and mentally up until leaving the limping shell on the floor was simply an ectasic release for her hatred, and just like in her own experience of the event, he remained arrogant and mocking until the last moment. What ridiculed that whole environment, and made her blood boil, were the microphones, wires, rails and cameras around the actors, clearly visible on the periphery; Raon let out a contemptuous laugh, all while Soo Young just observed.
- I look at this pantomime, and it's as if all of it was a joke. Whoever did this...may he be damned.
Mari smiled wistfully, amidst her discomfort, since she saw her childhood, how she worked hard for her dreams and her scenes with Young-ho from back then, but soon elated as she heard her say that last phrase, not out of pity, but fearing her counterpart would misinterpret and attack her. Raon took a deep breath in frustration, watching reenacted moments of when she left her step-parents behind, when she last saw "her" say goodbye. Soo Young passed the scenes in between, kdrama and ad performances, getting to the second movie they made about her boss, and the latter saw how this one was a silly imitation of the events that took place when she found and reunited with S-1.
While passing scenes, Raon saw his counterpart's participation in advertisements for perfumes and other cosmetic products; there came a moment when she was almost unable to contain her laughter, covering her mouth as she looked at all that, as if she'd done it herself. Such absurd sequences alleviated others that generated more bilious moods, those from other series and films that the actress recorded where, according to her perception, Mari just sought to be pretentious, to throw flowers at herself and gain publicity. She couldn't believe how stupid her own face looked in such superfluous antics, but what made her start laughing off was the moment she started scrolling through memories where Mari dressed up in bizarre outfits, at fashion weeks in Italy; she was amused and angry at the same time.
- It can't be possible - she laughed - It look so ridiculous, I can't.
- Well, ma'am - Soo Young said, uncomfortably - I'll scroll pass those, there we go. Definitely not the Kim Ra-on on the photo.
- But of course it's not - she replied, still laughing a little - surely…this…he wasn't "terrified" by this…
As Raon laughed, the actress stopped feeling the headache completely. In fact, it seemed that even though she didn't see where the joke was, she had a euphoric feeling trying to burst out from her heart, which felt light, moved, and that was what allowed her to talk:
- Stop laughing, it's not funny - she retorted - What's up with you then?
The director regained quite a bit of composure, finally subsiding her temper:
- What are you talking about?
- You say you don't like people making fun of your past, and you do it with others'...
Soo Young knew she was right, but she let the director herself answer:
- Is it not obvious? You're an idol, a jester doing pirouettes, your job is to make people laugh - then she changed to a somber tone - My life was no joke.
- That's what you say, but... didn't you go to an idol contest when you were 19? Don't you remember that anymore?
At the mention of that, Raon returned to her usual, reckless seriousness:
- That was different – she said, avoiding Mari's gaze – it was part of plan B, just a convenience.
Mari stopped feeling upset and smiled at the memory, which she could see in front of her eyes now that she thought about it:
- I know how I felt those days. I didn't talk much with Kim Sarang, but those scenes...
- Another cheap imitation?
- We lived them as if they were part of our lives. We were left to act naturally, and that felt good.
- Why would I care about that?
- Didn't you feel good doing it? After all, that really happened to you.
- Feel good for what?
- Go there with your best friend Ae Moon, and sing while she cheered you?
Raon didn't reply, and rather clenched her jaw while giving her back to Mari as the latter continued:
- Maybe if you had chosen that path...and...I don't know, forget all bad things, move on...
- Forget? – the director growled – And leave all remaining enemies alive after what they did to me?!
Raon passed subsequent memories in one fell swoop, once and for all reviewing the events that brought Mari directly into her clutches; unfortunately, as she progressed, she didn't find clues to explain the enigma, corroborating that the actress was just that, a mere human. She observed her last movements, Hee-hong's animosity, Young-ho, "that guy's" double, handing her a coffee, the dressing room, the lightwaves coming out the set, the place changing into the lab, bursts, fear, bodies, brutality, and Sigurd looking for "Kim Ra-on". She could see the photo, and in fact she was never taken such, much less one where she seemed to be so happy as of recently; with everything the actress had told her, the coat, an outfit the same as hers, and that short text on the back.
Lastly, she saw the scenes of her being taken away and saved by Hae Jun, being picked up by S-1, who had really confused her when she saw her, then details of the retrieval she already knew, so she went on to review anything she had missed before. She got distracted by the actress, trembling and caressing herself, on the verge of crying as she wanted to pass those painful moments, and with the mental sky now covered in clouds, she dared to answer the rhetorical question of her counterpart:
- You're not the only one here who's been hurt.
- Wait, what did you say? – Raon turned around – Are you comparing yourself to me? You who had it all served on the dish?
- No, that's not true, and I don't; I know it's not at the level of what you suffered, but I get you.
- You can't possibly get anything!
- And what about her? - Mari said pointing at Soo Young - and the other children they hurt?
- They all know what I think about them. However, I offered them vengeance, power they never had before. That's all they care for, a bargain I secured, and they know what happens if they don't abide.
At that moment, everything stopped; the director only stared at her, and with a single gesture caused a hurricane to erase all that mental space with a stroke of a pen. The orb pulsed in multicolored lights until the entire image and memory projections cast their last distorted images before everything disappeared.
Mari woke up as if she had experienced the worst nightmare; she felt a lurch in her stomach, a pressure in her lungs, and in desperation she gave in to the impulse to vomit bloody bile, falling from the chair. Her brain was overwhelmed, feeling primal terror as Raon violently lifted Soo Young up with her telekinesis while speaking to her only:
- You let your emotions distort your judgment. You let those uncontrolled feelings take over you.
- And it is you who says it? Look at yourself.
- I can see why you talk so much nonsense; your comfortable life, and now you already believe yourself to be the greatest victim. You know nothing of martyrdom, punishment, suffering or pain.
- You are the same; seeing yourself in me hurts you, but you're wrong, I'm not weak...you're not going to...trample me, nor the people I care for. Ever.
- We'll see about that. Soo Young, we're done here, now you will help me with the others.
- No, don't you dare...
Mari never saw what hit her; a syringe drawn from a nearby table full of tools was unexpectedly injected by the director's hand into her jugular. This caused her to fade away, everything spinning around her into nothingness as she was picked up by Raon before touching the floor:
- Rest easy, Kang Ma-ri. This is not finished yet.
After a long absence, both Seo Jin and Chae Gun arrive practically running near their superior, who upon seeing them is furious, hiding her most bestial murderous desires behind a dull expression:
- Ma'am, we came as fast as...
Raon punches Chae Gun in the liver, and with her other hand she grabs him by the nape:
- Where were you two?!
- We were called – said Seo Jin – to Overseer Han's office.
-And why wasn't I informed?
The director threw Chae Gun at Seo Jin, who stopped him by the shoulders and shook him off:
- They informed us of a possible threat against you – said Chae Gun – but we had to keep it secret.
- It's true; unauthorized individual detected on HQ perimeter, we were sent to capture him.
-And where is that supposed infiltrator now?
- That's the thing - said Seo Jin, seeing his companion - as we got closer, the guy...disappeared.