Pre-Session 2 [Part 1]

"That was useless!" A man screamed as he slammed his palm against the table.

Y/N stopped in her track. Her heart stopped as her body filled with nerves.

"Sir, maybe she is using a different tactic," A young woman said. Her voice had a certain breathiness to it.

"He is right..." The voice that could only belong to Mr. James spoke. "She didn't give us anything"

Y/N swallowed, her body feeling heavy. She knocked on the doorframe with her knuckles, calling the attention of the three people. Her eyes landed on the young woman, who was none other than Irene.

A burning sensation made its way up her throat as she just stood there, no intention of walking in, no intention of making the man mad.

"I'm sorry," She said.

The man scoffed rudely. He folded his arms over his chest as his eyes bore onto the young woman's face.

"You failed miserably," He said.

"Dr. Song, with all due respect, you are being unreasonable," Mr. James said standing up from his seat.

Y/N's eyes wandered as she noticed a row of screens showing still images of the session she had a few minutes ago.

"She was put in a difficult position rather quickly" Mr. James intersected.

Y/N looked at Irene. Her friend turned her head away, not wanting to deal with the mess that had been made.

"You voted for her to be out there" The man answered.

"If it is such a problem, then don't pin me as a member," Y/N said, having enough of the circling her stomach was doing. "This was a trial and I failed."

Her voice was not shaking. Her body was controlled. Was she admitting she failed?

"No," Mr. James said. "We have at least one more session before he repeats his games. Give everyone a chance."

Y/N's eyebrows were knitted together as she blinked.

"This process takes time and this man sure has a lot of it" Mr. James continued.

A very distinctive gut feeling crawled up her system as something seemed to process itself in her brain. Y/N lifted her notepad, her eyes falling on a name. Hongjoong.

Suddenly, Irene cleared her throat. The surge of questions she was yet to ask began to form in her brain as everyone turned to her.

"We have a name" Irene announced, a little too stiff. "He gave us a name"

Her posture was high. Her shoulders locked in place as her chin was up ever so slightly. She was proud.

The men shared a look before turning their gaze to the woman standing by the door.

"He mentioned the first victim's boyfriend, Hongjoong. He also clarified that the woman's name might come from a flower" She said, a lump in her throat almost choking her words inward.

Dr. Song's eyes went wide as so did Mr. James'.

"Lily Lordford was the first victim," Mr. James said in disbelief.

Y/N frowned as she looked back at her friend. The latter sighed. Something was definitely badly adjusted.

"The timeline of the murders is wrong then," Dr. Song said as he neared a chair.

His face was full of shock. A certain sense of almost humiliation was presented in his expression. Maybe even regret his statements?

"Miss Y/L/N, we need you to please end your shift. Mrs. Kim will send you an email with police files of the victims." Mr. James said.

Y/N's eyes went wide. Did she really never read anything about the victims?

Irene stood up and rushed outside, holding onto the other woman's arm. Y/N clutched onto her notepad as she allowed herself to be dragged out.

"You owe me an explanation," Y/N said.

Irene groaned. "I know"

Irene dropped her bag on the coffee table as both ladies entered their apartment. Y/N closed the door softly behind her as her mind was still numb from the interview.

"I work as a review assistant," Irene said.

Y/N blinked as she looked back at her friend.

"What?"

"I work as a reviewing assistant for Dr. Song" Irene answered as she laid on the sofa. "I pass the man's notes onto a piece of paper and hope for the best"

Y/N knitted her eyebrows together, a 'fair enough' going through her mind. She sat on a chair and stared at the ceiling. A silence fell around the girls as both of them hesitated in talking.

"I really didn't know you were voted until you started talking with San," Irene said with a sigh.

"I didn't know you worked for the research faculty, so we're even," Y/N said.

Only then did a thought cross her mind.

"Did you apply for the main researcher spot?" Y/N asked out of genuine curiosity.

Irene scoffed. "I may be very curious on the human brain, but I'm not going to stare into a murderer's eyes and hope for the best"

Y/N's lips curled up ever so slightly.

"Have you called your mom yet?" Irene asked.

Y/N shot up with a loud gasp as she rushed to find her cellphone. She grabbed it as the tone rang. Almost.

"Hi, mom!" Y/N said, her heart beating a couple of miles a minute.

"Hey, sweetheart!" Her voice was weaker. "How was your first day?"

Y/N's smiled fell as her eyes lost focus.

"Good," She said. "How is everything with Aaron?"

"It's going great, I assure you," she said. The woman was lying through her teeth and Y/N knew it.

"How's my little brother?" She said.

"He was interned yesterday. He will be home by Monday"

"That's a week from now..." Y/N dragged on.

Her eyes landed on Irene who was now attentive to her words. Was it really going to be like this?

"He had an accident. He will be fine"

A silence fell on both lines. Seconds ticked by until her mom hanged up the call. Y/N sighed, letting her hand fall to her side. Tears welled up in her vision as everything turned blurry.

Irene stood up and gave her a tight hug as Y/N felt herself crumble. Was she really forced to see her mother fading away and her little brother dying? Did she need to see her step-father winning?

She sobbed as her chest was bombarded with emotions.

"It's going to be okay" Irene cooed. "Everything will be better tomorrow"

Curiosity had dug its way into Y/N's mind as she sat down next to Irene on the coach, the TV playing mindless re-runs of a drama to fill the space.

"Dr. Song is not Mingi's father" Irene began, going back to what Y/N had asked during class. "Mingi is his nephew"

Y/N nodded as she grabbed chips from Irene's bag.

"San has been in the facility for two years, but you know that already."

"Clearly so"

A teasing smile spread across Y/N's face as Irene glared at her.

"But I was put on reviewing duty for him when Dr. Anderson came around," Irene said. "The woman that came after the one in the video from Mr. James' class"

Y/N looked pleased enough.

"When did you apply?" She asked as she ate.

"A month ago" She answered. "But got accepted two weeks ago"

Y/N choked slightly.

"Dr. Anderson lasted less than a week!?" Y/N asked, her heart speeding up as her head filled with air.

"Not the shortest time" Irene sighed. "At least she kept herself together, unlike other scandals"

"Did someone try to sleep with Mr. Choi?"

"Worse. Get him out" Irene answered. "The worst part is that San stayed and called the guards."

Y/N blinked.

"He was completely unchained, isolated, with no guard to at least a few hallways away and he still remained sitting on his bed like he always does" Irene added as she stuffed her mouth with food.

The woman frowned as she paused.

"Why are you so formal?" Irene asked.

Y/N frowned. Irene chuckled.

"Even outside of the facility, you call him Mr. Choi"

Y/N rolled her eyes. "I don't know him and he may be older than me"

"He's younger than you think," Irene said.

Y/N frowned.

"He thinks you're over 21," Irene said.

Y/N paused and shrugged.

"He can build his own version of me, but I won't stop him. All I need to do is find a way to get him to talk." She answered.

"What if he figured you out first?" Irene asked placing the bag of chips down. "What if he won?"

Y/N sighed. "Then I accept my loss. This is not as personal, if anything, it is a job opportunity I will enjoy to the fullest"

Irene nodded. "Is it to get away from it all?"

Y/N looked up and held Irene's gaze. The latter nodded and turned to the TV.

"What will you do if you succeed?" Irene said, getting giddy. "Write a book?"

"Read my mind," Y/N said.

Irene laughed as Y/N chuckled. Maybe it was to get away from Mom...

Seconds passed by in silence as white noise fell between the two. Images appeared and disappeared. She really couldn't get the entire ordeal out of her brain. Ordeal. The Research Facility. The email.

Y/N jumped from the couch, a yelp living her lips as she rushed to her room. Irene screamed back in surprise as she cursed at her roommate for making such a fuss.

The bright screen almost blinded the woman as she checked her accounts. Dread made its way through her veins accompanied by disappointment. Was she expecting too much? Did she really keep her spot?

A small ding changed her mind as a set of three emails entered her inbox.

Victim Information

Testimonies

Letter

She sighed in relief.

"Y/N! You're missing the best part!" Irene called cutting out her train of thought.

"Coming!"

"It is arguable that maybe people can understand the minds of others just by asking certain questions. A study tried to prove this with the 36 questions to fall in love. Which is kind of a total failure"

Professor James spoke as he paced around the room. A certain feeling filled her chest as more than just one of her classmates was gone.

"You can never come to know someone unless more than one reaction is involved. That's why said questions have actions of sorts. But they will never give anyone, solely by using them, a certain feeling of trust, comfort, and attraction needed to fall in love"

The smell of oranges was back as a strand of shiny, silky, black hair made its way across her vision.

"Have you seen Mingi?" Irene asked in a whisper.

Y/NN broke away her attention to look around. Her eyes landing on every head she could see. No Mingi.

"No..." She trailed off.

"A certain amount of people do, however, believe in the questions method. It teaches you key things of someone's personality, opinions, and interests. Great place to start. But that's with attraction. Imagine trying to piece together the mind of someone you would call a madman or a psycho"

Y/N looked back, her stomach dropping slightly as she couldn't spot their rather noticeable friend.

"He texted or something?" Irene whispered, to which Y/N shook her head.

The girls could feel the growing worry as they turned back to the lesson.

"Your questions are going to be one-sided, even if you are the most subjective person in the world. Let me put it in simple, overly simplified wording: you are going to ask them about themselves but they don't know about you, making it a one interest interrogation and a one-sided relationship."

"Maybe he went to work with his uncle?" Irene said.

"Maybe he is just sick or something, we'll talk to him once we are out" Y/N answered.

She turned her gaze. Her heart dropped as every bit of her body froze. Mr. Choi's photo was up on the board. Peculiarly enough, his hair was the same red overlay with black.

"This man broke that convention by squeezing towards the interrogator for long enough, to make a one-sided attraction stunt. This effectively caused people to not try and reach out as the fear of knowing something about this man made them squirm"

Y/N could feel herself growing colder. His words seemed like an understatement next to what she had been through. His eyes-

That's it. His eyes.

Y/N could feel her breath hitching in her throat. She didn't follow his eyes? Did she take not of his points of reference?

His eyes were shaking.

Y/N's eyes went wide as she ripped a piece of paper and wrote down her entire idea in sloppy fast handwriting. Something about it seemed appropriate.

"Knowing this I want an answer. How do you find a way to squeeze information out of him?"

Y/N paused. How did you get that? How could you manage to get this guy to deliberately tell you something?

"He always tells you" Y/N mumbled.

Irene turned her head with a frown.

"He will respond to anything. You just need to read him to be able to see what answer to what question he gave you" She whispered. "But he plays the same game almost as if he was playing poker, he will take the money eventually"

"No one has an answer?" Mr. James said as he looked around.

Y/N was too engrossed in her thoughts. The image reflected on the board had that same deep stare.

Just one, rather strange thought went through her head:

Fuck you, Mr. Choi.