- Huh? you can't be serious - the director responded - Anyway; I'll pay Han a visit once this is all over.
- Forgive us, director - said Chae Gun, bowing - We thought that...
- You're not here to believe or have ideas about anything - she responded - only to save me the fatigue of constant wetwork.
- We understand, ma'am - Seo Jin stammered stupidly.
- Now do your job and take her away - he said pointing to Soo Young - while you were wasting your time this idiot tried to kill me.
- Wait, I thought I had explained it, it wasn't me, it was...
- Possession? it can be, but it's still your hands that grabbed my neck.
- No, no, no... wait, wait, I can fix it, I'm still useful, I, I... - the subordinate shook her head while held and subdued by the bodyguards.
- We will continue soon, but for now I will give you your reward. You're going to be very comfortable for a long time.
Raon made a sign with her chin, to which the escorts nodded and took their new prisoner. Soo Younng was struggling, both physically and mentally with her captors, without any success:
- Where are you taking me, huh? Where are you taking me?
- It was 20 years ago or so. You must remember those stories the good doctor told us about this place's basement.
Soo Young's eyes widened, and she cried involuntarily, a result of her old conditioning:
- No, please, not there! No, let me go! Let me go, I beg you...! – she screeched.
Soon the escorts hurried away with a junior who wriggled like a fly larva trying to escape the stomp of a shoe; she growled and screamed almost like a scared little girl while taken down the hallway, Raon herself coming out of there, because she had to take the actress somewhere else.
As the director walked through the hallways, she reviewed everything that had happened so far, trying not to let a single detail escape her memory. Once the double was put inside the interrogation room, she would return her office to finish things and make the final decision as to where the captured civilians would be relocated.
It was completely sudden, she just woke up breathing heavily, without knowing where she was; once the heaviness in her chest disappeared, she looked around, seeing herself sitting on a bench with a fragile backrest, in the middle of a cubic white room covered by smooth, larhe tiles. Didn't know how long she'd been asleep, but realizing she was definitely no longer in the emergency wing, six more people being in front of her, scared, bewildered, concerned, ones she recognized instantly; Min Guk and Ji Na, the makeup artists, the secretary, Mr. Bae himself, who pointed a trembling finger at her in disbelief. Also there were both Young-ho, who stared at her doubtfully, and Hee-hong, who seemed to have cried profusely for a long time, giving her a distrustful glare:
- You... you, but... – Mr. Bae stammered.
- Director Bae... - Mari smiled calmly - You're alive...are you all okay?
The man seemed to be about to respond, but he leaned back, his jaw dropping as he pointed above the actress's head; it was there that the latter observed in more detail, realizing everyone she knew was handcuffed just like her, and realizing she herself was tied up:
- You, you again! – Bae exclaimed in terror – What the hell's going on here?!
Mari struggled in her chair with the ropes tied to her neck, wrists, abdomen and ankles; looking back, she was startled, because almost stuck to her, to her right, was the face of Raon, who placed a hand on her opposite shoulder while smiling with amusement at the bewilderment of her hostages. It was at that moment the actress remembered what happened before she lost consciousness; the memories, the humiliation, feeling she was dying more than once, and that syringe;
- It's okay... – Mari exclaimed, smiling forcedly at his people – We'll be safe, okay? We'll all be fine.
- But why are you lying, Kang Ma-ri? You don't know that for sure. As far as I know, I control the situation...
- You. Raon, you… -she added, turning resentfully - why did you do it? what do you gain with this?
The director had removed her hand from her, and stood up to go forward, freezing with her gaze each and every one of the humans who were before her, in a single line, completely at her mercy:
- A contribution like the one you made for us deserved a break, don't you think?
- Mari - Young-ho called - What does that mean?
- Where we are? How long was I asleep? – the actress asked to Raon.
- A couple of days, more or less; you were really tired.
- They interrogated me - Hee-hong complained - I...I have a double, just like you, this is absurd.
Young-ho and the others looked at the director with resentment, finally understanding how she tricked them, sitting on the cold floor, too tired, hungry and scared to do anything but stay still:
- After reviewing the forensic evidence, and interrogating my friend here, I conclude there was a confusion with you.
- I don't get any of this - said Bae - what do you want?
- Kang Ma-Ri didn't have the answers I expected, and you guys aren't helping me much either.
- Help you in what? – Young-ho asked.
- You're not accomplices of the attackers, that's for sure, but how did you get in? Just spit it.
- And how are we going to know that? – he responded – There was a mirage, and those...and those monsters appeared.
- Which laboratory? – Ji Na said – We already told the other guys, we don't know any of those.
Soon the director turned to someone else, as if speaking to the sky or the ceiling, and a loudspeaker was activated:
– Sister, what you have for me? – the director asked. - Perhaps...our guy? Did he have something useful to tell us, a clue, something we might care about?
Raon smiled contemptuously at Young-ho, but soon looked up waiting for the answer:
- Nothing relevant; he was just running away and hiding during the incident.
- And what about this one? – she said, pointing at Bae - she seems to be old enough to know something.
- Not quite so - S-1 said - besides admitting he's the one who made those movies about you. They found him hidden in a box, doesn't know anything else. He says the attackers left him for dead.
- Are you telling me this old man's been mocking my life for all those years?
- Oh, no, no, I didn't mean it - Bae pleaded - I never imagined you were real, please don't hurt me!
- Shut up! - Raon responded - You got something else from the others? Your double, what about her?
- She claims to have seen the source of the anomaly; she stated it was a person who created it.
- And did you contrast that in some way?
- She recognized the individual yesterday, as one of the male attackers, both in photos and in-person. According to her testimony, it was one of ours who killed him.
- And why no one wrote that down before?! – she asked, glaring at her bodyguards.
- The brat wants to fool us, it's obvious - said Chae Gun.
- No... I told them the truth - Hee-hong said.
Raon focused her attention on her:
- Huh, are you sure? Do not dare lie to me, or you will suffer.
- I'm sure... - she said and pointed at Seo Jin - I saw you, it was you.
- But what the hell are you talking about? – he responded – That's not true...you're crazy.
- You killed the guy who came out of nowhere and made the air go weird.
- And what else did he do? - Raon asked.
- There were a lights, he brought the others, the armed people.
- Don't listen to her! I found nothing there!
- Silence! - Raon shouted, smacking him - And the security system? – she asked her twin.
- The cameras and storage devices were fried, possibly due to the phenomenon - S-1 responded - No record could be retrieved.
- What a dilemma...good thing's Soo Young can help us with that. Chae Gun, do me the favor…
- Don't do it, leave her alone! – shouted Mari.
The bodyguard approached Hee-hong and, faced with her insane resistance, had to hug her from behind and lift her up while ignoring the pleas of the others, kicking Mr. Bae to the floor as he tried to take the actress back.
The director rested her hands on the chair:
- I wonder, what will we do with our other guests now? – Raon asked the actress.
Mari felt a chill run down her spine, but she swallowed and begged, shaking her head:
- Look, I swear you again, don't harm them, tell me what you want and I will help you.
Through the microphones installed in the interrogation room, S-1 listened attentively, looking from the glass in front of her how her sister stood in front of the actress, whose body began to tremble, while making a gesture with her arm, pointing at Young-ho and Bae:
- I guess these two here are of no use to us anymore.
- Why, Raon?! They are innocent! Kill me, I beg you, kill me instead! – Mari cried.
- You were a little bolder back there – she responded coldly - I must give you this lesson.
The actress saw what the director was referring to; one of the escorts approached Bae with something in one hand, a syringe with an amber liquid inside:
- Mari... - said Young-ho - forgive me... I thought you did something horrible.
Bae got the injection in the neck.
- It's okay - she replied - I don't blame you, all this is confusing, and strange.
Then it was the actor's turn:
- I'm also sorry for doubting you were the woman I knew.
- Don't worry, you'll be fine, we'll all be fine, okay? We will get out of this...
- I should've protected you from them. – he said, with the liquid already in his vein.
Trying to distract him from seeing the director fall stiff on the floor, the actress said:
- No, do not say that. None of us could have done anything.
- I'll do the right thing... I won't let... - he said, starting to feel bad - let them get away with it!
Young-ho stood up, glaring at Raon with hatred, and ran towards her with the intention of knocking her down, to which Chae Gun stood still and smiled, lowering the syringe, stepping back together with Seo Jin to watch the scene. They would soon see how, in an instant, the director vanished to immediately appear to him from behind; he fell face down on the ground, and believing the director was gone, confused, he went and tried to untie Mari, all while her enemy was right behind him, mockery in her expression. The escorts smiled with bloodlust when her boss tapped his shoulder with a finger and whispered in his ear, already weak from the waist down:
- I would never bother fighting you head on. Now you'll know why.
Next thing he noticed was being thrown against the wall by a slight movement of Raon's arm and falling down, completely in pain and struggling to stand as the director approached, step by step, clenching her fists in expectation of losing herself in rage:
- You have no idea how much I've been holding back since I saw your miserable face again.
- Please stop, it's not who you think...don't know why you hated him so much, but it's not him.
Mari whimpered, and then collapsed.
- Behold this, you vermin! – she shouted back – It's the time to end.
Raon reached into her coat and pulled out a 9mm, raking it angrily before pointing it at the actor, who stumbled pathetically, both from the injection and from his broken ribs; Hee-hong had also begun to cry desperately, begging and trying to struggle in vain with her captor:
- No…! – Mari screamed.
Just as she was going to pull the trigger, Raon's pulse began to tremble; then, her hand was unable to move a single millimeter, while she saw that her entire body going upright against her own will. Mari and Hee-hong looked as the escorts were not even able to go to the aid of their superior, since at the same time they'd been planted on their knees, as if gravity was crushing them downwards the more they resisted such a force. The door opened and S-1 entered at a firm and fast pace, passing both actresses to get at her sister's side carrying that peculiar dead look:
- This is out of line, Raon - she stated - Stop it now.
- How dare you…intervene?
- Because I'm your sister. And I won't let you break your own rules, or harm these people anymore...
- Let me go...you will pay...for disobeying me...
- I will do that, but not because I am your slave. First you need to regain your sanity.
S-1 made the weapon fly from Raon's hand, and lifting it into the air made it rotate at increasing speed until turning into a dark sand which fell to the floor, and then, without moving an inch, she caused everyone's restraints to vibrate at tremendous frequencies as to disintegrate them into misshapen pieces. Once all this was done, she released the director and her henchmen from her invisible grip, and without waiting for anyone to react, she walked back to the place she came from, without elaborating.
Mari stared at Young-ho, who was completely stiff by that point, but still breathing. Before S-1 quitted entirely, the actress called to her:
- Wait!
The twin stopped, without looking at her:
- You...were the one who brought me here, right?
S-1 replied nothing.
– I… I really appreciate…you saved my life...and now Young-ho's. Thank you...
S-1 glanced at the actor from the corner of the eye, smiling comfortingly before continuing on her way and leaving. The secretary turned to Hee-hong, who was sat, and ran towards her, worried:
- Miss Jin, are you okay?
The girl slapped the assistant's hand away, turning to one side. Young-ho grunted in pain, so Mari quickly approached him and Mr. Bae, who was also unconscious:
- Young-ho! – she exclaimed, touching his face - Please, wake up...
He reacted with an agitated move:
- No...don't touch...I'm fine...I'm fine mom - he mumbled senselessly.
- He needs a doctor.
Mari looked at Raon with resentment
- Do you blame me? - the director retorted - Blame yourselves for getting in my way.
- You're a…
- They'll soon take care of him. And this friend of yours is coming with me anyway...
Seeing Chae Gun had recovered from paralysis and was preparing to take Hee-hong again, Mari stood up from the chair and placed herself in front of her co-star, fists clenched and legs shaking:
- You're not going to take anyone, you hear? I won't let you.
- Get out, you're going to hurt yourself.
- You'll have to kill me before you touch her!
- Will you insist on that? Don't be ridiculous... - Raon replied, fed up.
Seo Jin rushed behind Mari and grabbed her shoulders while his colleague got Hee-hong out:
- I wanted to see good in you. But you're monsters, demons…
- Are you surprised? You never got the difficult part; good people always die when it gets tough.
Raon turned around and Chae Gun followed her lead. Once they left the room, the speaker was reactivated and the twin spoke:
- Medical help is on the way Kang Ma-ri. When they finish, we'll accommodate all in a barrack.
Mari said nothing, rather focusing on comforting Young-ho and Mr. Bae as both slept soundly, already beginning to snore; she wanted to believe this was a good sign they would be fine. She didn't know how to lay them down properly, starting to feel the old man's torso and abdomen to see if he was in good condition:
- Wait – said a new voice - Let me help, you may do that this other way…
The actress turned around and saw a young woman with magenta hair tied up in a long braid, leading a troop of, she assumed, health workers in green overall suits, all carrying different implements and instruments. Seo Jin watched from a corner, back rested and lighting a cigarette:
- Sorry if I scared you - she said - Let me introduce myself, I'm Dr. Yoo Ah Ra.
The young woman began to examine Young-ho, gently palpating, measuring signs with graceful agility, radiating an aura that felt comforting:
- It's a pleasure. Thank you for helping me – the actress said tilting her head.
- No big deal, just doing my job - she answered candidly - By the way, I saw that you've already met our director.
- You're an "Awoken One" too, aren't you? – Mari responded – although…you feel different…from the others…from Raon.
- You know how we call ourselves too. Interesting. - Ah Ra replied - But about feeling different, well, it's not quite like that. We're both from the same generation, and we were all raised together.
- Why do they follow someone... like her? – the actress said – I still don't get it, there must be a pretty big reason for all of you...doing such a thing.
Both Ah Ra and Seo Jin turned pale, and the guys in suits looked at each other:
- Hey... you haven't told me your name - the doctor then said - With who... do I have the pleasure?
- Oh yes, I forgot, I'm Kang Ma-ri. By the way, I'd like to know, how did she become the director?
- I'm not allowed to tell that to a prisoner; sorry. I'll just say that...it wasn't easy or pretty for anyone.
-And what about…the Executive Board? – she muttered -What happened… with them?
- The truth is... it's a complicated matter. And it will be best for all of you to rest for the moment.
- It's fine I understand it. Again, thanks for helping us.
- You're welcome Kang Ma-ri; honestly, I'm glad you're in good health now.
- Sure...and don't worry, you can just call me Ma-ri, no problem.
Ah Ra nodded with a smile, and the employees murmured among themselves, while, from the anteroom, the vice-director leaned and looked down thoughtfully in the direction of the console, knowing that there was a lot of history behind the questions that Mari made, in addition to many promises to keep. Meanwhile, the actress' colleagues got treated, vital signs taken, and in the end all were assisted to leave the place by Ah Ra and her personnel, who had to carry the two men.