|| House Of Memories ||

|| Chapter 14: House Of Memories ||

'It's loud,' He drowsily noted with heavy eyelids as the muffled sounds of people conversing and rushing around reached his ears. Slowly, he opened his eyelids and was immediately met with his reflection in the tall ornate mirror in front of him. However, it wasn't his usual appearance - it was him when he turned fourteen years old. He was still tall and athletic-looking but he wasn't as muscular as his twenty-four-year-old self.

His sharp monolid eyes were more droopy now and his irises were a lighter shade of charcoal. His skin was pale and porcelain smooth while his raven-coloured hair was slightly longer. He noticed that he was dressed in a formal suit - a white long-sleeved buttoned-up shirt with a dark grey sleeveless vest over it, a red tie, black trousers, polished leather loafers and a black blazer.

His dark-red dyed hair was styled to the side, showing off the small golden earrings that dangled from his ears. Silently, he stared at his reflection, furrowing his brows in confusion. However, he tore his gaze away from the mirror when he heard heavy raindrops patter against the window next to him. "It's raining..." He uttered in disbelief, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of the dark clouds looming in the sky. 

He didn't even flinch when lightning flashed outside, causing the room to light up as a loud rumble followed seconds later. Out of nowhere, he heard a heavy yet slow knock against the open bedroom door. He didn't look over his shoulder, he looked at the owner through the mirror's reflection. A tall man, who was impeccably dressed in a familiar tailored maroon suit, stood by the door. 

His short pitch black hair was gelled back while a few strands of his bangs dangled over his forehead, showing off his sharp cat-like charcoal-coloured irises. There was a look of impatience and bitterness on his face, his eyes slightly glaring at him. Siwoo could hear the faint ticking of his watch in the air, hinting that time was urgently passing by. "Come on, Siwoo," The older man - his father, Kim Juhyuk - called out, the tone of his voice revealed a hint of annoyance, "We can't be late for today's event." 

"Understood," He responded with an inaudible sigh, his shoulders slumping forward as he reluctantly turned around and approached him. The clicks of his polished shoes echoed throughout the room whenever they made contact with the marble floor. With each step he took, it felt like his mind was getting fuzzy and heavy but he snapped out of it when his father harshly grabbed his bicep, pulling him out of the room and dragging him down to the entrance hall. 

It wasn't long before they were inside a black limo; he and Juhyuk sitting in the back seat while a security guard sat in the driver's seat and another guard in the front passenger seat. The car ride was eerily silent, no one spoke a word to each other. Soon, the sleek black limo pulled up to the grand entrance of a familiar vintage mansion. As his stomach churned with uneasiness and his throat tightened, he couldn't help but tug slightly at his stiff collar.

He stopped his actions when Juhyuk sent him a cold yet displeased glare from the corner of his eye. The driver opened his door while the other guard opened Juhyuk's door. Reluctantly, he stepped out of the car as the guard held an umbrella over his head. His polished shoes clicked against the cobblestone driveway as he and his father got escorted to the mansion's front entrance. Once they entered the foyer, Juhyuk shooed the guards away while Siwoo tensed up at the sight of the mansion's interior. 

The crystal chandeliers that hung from the ceilings cast a warm gentle glow over the marble floors while intricate tapestries and portraits adorned the walls. The air was thick with the scent of aged wood and polished brass, mingling with the faint aroma of rain that seeped through the cracks of the windows. The sound of chatter and clinking glasses were heard as they mingled with the soft strains of classical music that drifted from a distant room. 

When he felt his father's presence next to him, he glanced at him and was met with cold eyes that told him to behave. Without another glance, Juhyuk gestured for him to follow him before he guided him through the crowd of elegantly dressed guests. Siwoo was occasionally introduced to some of his father's colleagues and acquaintances. Every time this happened, it felt like every handshake and forced smile was a facade for both parties. 

As they wandered into the main ballroom, Siwoo's eyes widened at the sight before him. The room was adorned with lavish decorations, vintage furnishings, and a sprawling dance floor illuminated by candlelight. It was like stepping back in time to an era of extravagance and sophistication. However, several worker drones were putting the decorations and furniture into place. In the middle of the room, a shadowy-looking man dressed in a suit with a top hat had their back facing them. 

They were completely oblivious to the young girl and familiar worker drone standing in the corner of the room. "James!" His father called out to the man with a charismatic smile, catching almost everyone's attention. The said man turned around with a raised brow before breaking into a wide smile upon seeing him. "Ah, Juhyuk," James returned the greeting as he approached them, stretching his arm out to them, "You're quite early." Juhyuk chuckled at his words and gave him a handshake as a formal greeting. However, James spotted Siwoo behind him and stared at him.

"He just turned fourteen, right?" He asked, glancing at Juhyuk with a raised brow. "Yes," Juhyuk confirmed with a smug smile, "He turned fourteen a few weeks ago." With a hum, James looked back at Siwoo and inspected his facial features. "You look more like Juhyuk whenever you get older," He noted with a satisfied smirk and held his chin with his thumb and index finger, "It's good to have an attractive face like your father." 

"Haha," Juhyuk chuckled at his words and wrapped his arm around Siwoo's shoulders, causing him to tense up, "He got most of my genes, after all." Both were unaware of the dark yet icy cold gleam inside Siwoo's eyes as he clenched his jaw, extremely displeased. As the two older men conversed, Juhyuk removed his arm from his shoulder. However, James mentioned as he stared down at Siwoo from the corner of his eyes, "Ah, I almost forgot that your son will be my son-in-law in a few years."

Immediately, Siwoo's brow twitched in annoyance and a vein popped out from the side of his nape as he clenched his jaw tighter. "That would only happen when we merge the two companies, remember?" Juhyuk reminded him with a slightly strained chuckle, sending James an annoyed smile. "Of course, of course," James hummed, feeling satisfied that his taunting irked him a bit. "Then," He added before gesturing towards the duo standing a few meters away from them, "We should properly introduce them to each other."

Siwoo almost lost his stoic composure when he made eye contact with a young girl. Even though she was wearing short heels, she was still almost a foot shorter than him. From his perspective, she was just a silhouette with two white orbs for eyes. From what he could make out of her appearance, she had a slim build and was relatively tall for a thirteen-year-old girl. (I don't know the true age of Tessa in the past so I went with 13). She was wearing a short dress with short sleeves, heeled shoes, and a large bow on her head. 

She tensed up when she made direct eye contact with him and grew flustered, covering her face with her hands. "Go on," Juhyuk teased him with a friendly smile, slowly shoving him towards her direction, "Go introduce yourself to your fiance." Completely forgetting the composed facade that he always held around his father, he sent him a nasty scowl and cursed him under his breath, causing Juhyuk to be taken aback slightly. With a loud click of his tongue, Siwoo dusted off his blazer and approached her with a displeased expression. 

Once he was in front of her, he held his hand out to her. "I'm Kim Siwoo," He bluntly introduced himself to her, looking extremely annoyed and unwilling to exactly do this, "I'm your fiance. Nice to meet you." Speechless, she stared up at him with her mouth agape. "I'm... Tessa James Elliot...." She slowly told him before going into a daze. While she was staring at him in utter bewilderment, he noticed the familiar face of the worker drone next to her. 'J?' He owlishly blinked at her when he recognised her and his gaze flickered over her attire, as well as the confused expression she had. 

"Pfft...!" A small laugh unconsciously escaped his lips when he realized that she was dressed in a maid outfit. "Haha... pfft... Seriously... Haha.." He continued laughing before he covered his lips and looked to the opposite side, his shoulders trembling slightly as he tried to regain his composure. "Why... W-What's so funny?" Tessa queried with a startled yet slightly offended expression. "Ahem... Hmm," He cleared his throat and regained composure when he felt his father's burning glare drill holes into the back of his head. 

"My apologies," He apologized with an amused smile and turned to look at her again. "I just thought that maid outfit fit that worker drone very well," He admitted, stifling the laughter that wanted to escape him again. She flinched when he gently took her hand and brought it closer to his hips. Her eyes widened when she felt soft warm lips touch her knuckles before they were pulled away from them. "I hope you can forgive me for my rudeness," He mentioned as he looked at her through his lashes, his eyes gleaming with mischief and amusement.

However, her attention was torn from him when she spotted a familiar face approaching them. "N!" She excitedly squealed and unconsciously pushed the ravenette to the side so that she could cup the drone's face. Bewildered, Siwoo watched how she easily picked the male drone up and spun him around, earning a muffled scream from him. He noticed that N was slightly shorter than him and he was dressed in a butler's uniform. "Hi, Tessa," He greeted her with a sheepish grin, his voice slightly muffled from how she squished his cheeks together. 

Suddenly, N noticed something on the glass and he frowned in discomfort. This caused Siwoo to glance where he was looking and saw the message 'When u about 2 frikken die, speak out loud - ID: DarkXWolf17' smudged on the glass. For a split second, his dark irises flashed a bright sunset colour as he recognised that tone in writing. "Oh, who did you bring with-" Tessa excitedly asked before a displeased frown appeared on her face, "-you?" Seeing that she was distracted, Siwoo tapped her on the shoulder, gaining her attention.

"I'll be leaving now," He mentioned to her with a strained smile before glancing at N, who was staring at him with wide eyes, "Try to stay healthy, especially with this kind of weather, Mrs Elliot." She realized that she had completely forgotten about his existence and was about to give him excuses, however, he turned away before she could. As he walked away, he passed a hunched-over female drone with silver hair styled into two straight-down twin tails with a hairband on each lower end. She had large golden eyes and was dressed in a maid outfit - a large black bow with a maid crown that resembled J's was attached to the back of her head. 

A chill ran down his spine when he made eye contact with that drone, feeling uneasy and unnerved by it. "You seem to have picked up a strange one," He mentioned to Tessa as he glanced at her over his shoulder and tilted his head towards the older woman approaching them, "Try not to get in trouble." Without another word, he sent the yellow-eyed drone a cold glare before leaving the ballroom. 

He tried his best to dodge any guests that tried to approach him and entered a quiet corridor of the mansion. As he walked through the empty hallways that were adorned with vintage paintings and statues, he could hear the rainfall grow heavier and heavier. Out of nowhere, he heard a faint meow and paused in his tracks. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder and spotted a pure white Siberian cat, staring at him with its sharp sunset-coloured eyes. A flash of lightning lit the hallway up, revealing a winged woman's shadow underneath the feline.

He couldn't move from his spot, his gaze pinned onto the feline as it leisurely approached him. As soon as it was next to his feet, it raised its paw and gently patted his shin. A yellow see-through chatbox appeared above the feline's head, causing his eyes to widen in surprise and shock. 'Notice: User is trapped inside old memories,' The chatbox wrote for him and added, 'Warning: An Unknown program is attempting to hack Absolute Ellipse XX's system to corrupt User's mind.'

"An unknown program..." He mumbled, furrowing his brows and crouched down, picking up the feline. "I had a feeling that this wasn't real," He admitted in a hushed tone and stared into the cat's eyes as it dangled in the air, "So, how did you get in here Ellipse? I'm pretty sure that you're still recovering from your punishment." At the mention of punishment, the feline's tail puffed up and its ears flattened against its head while a low growl escaped its mouth. "Don't get angry at me," He snapped at her with a disapproving scowl and sighed, "It's only your fault that you got punished."

Carefully, he carried her like a baby and looked around. "So," He hummed and looked down at the feline, "Where are we going?" The chatbox didn't pop up to answer him, however, small red arrows appeared on the floor, leading to somewhere. His lips curled into an uncomfortable frown and cautiously followed the arrows. It wasn't long before he arrived in front of a large indoor gate that had 'restricted' written on it - the gate was blocking off any access to the library. 

Without warning, he tossed the cat over the gate before grabbing the top of it with his hands, gripping it tighter. He hopped on his heels a few times before hoisting himself up, forcing his legs to go diagonally upward as he skillfully jumped over the gate. Easily, he landed on his feet with a small huff and pushed his hair out of his eyes. Cautiously, he moved around the malfunctioning worker drone statues and peeked around a bookshelf. He covered his face with his forearm when the windows suddenly ripped open, forcing rain and harsh wind to enter the room.

Once the wind settled, he lowered his arm with squinted eyes and spotted N with a raven sitting on his forearm. The raven opened its eyes, revealing a familiar purple triangular symbol flickering in its eyesocket. "Sorry," The crow apologized and Siwoo recognized that voice from anywhere - it was Uzi. "Where were we-" The raven asked as N stared horrified at the sight before him, lifting his arm into the air for her to see. "Oh..." She trailed off when she saw the gory yet hauntingly disturbing scene in front of her. 

Siwoo took that as his chance to step out from behind the bookshelf with Ellipse's cat form in his arms. "Looks like you finally got into his memories," His unexpectedly young voice startled them both, causing them to turn to face him with wide eyes. Uzi's raven tilted her head at his appearance, she was a bit dumbfounded that his face was a combination of cute and handsome at the same time. "I don't like it," She blurted out, flapping her wings at him, "This version of you is making me so uncomfortable right now!"

He rolled his eyes at her words and looked at V, who was standing still and stiff as a board on top of the basement's entrance. "Ugh..." He gagged slightly when he saw the corpse behind her, resembling a demon that was crucified against the wall with organic matter around it. "Okay, N," Uzi sighed and tilted her head at him, reminding him, "I can pull you out any-" N immediately interjected with a scared yet desperate voice, clutching his chest with his other hand, "Now, now please!"

"Any time..." She ended her previous sentence while sending him a disapproving glare, warning him, "But you'll never get these memories back, dude." Siwoo nodded, approaching them. "She has a point," He agreed with her, ignoring how the wooden floor creaked beneath his polished shoes. As he stood beside N, the drone dreaded the thought of going closer to the horrifying scene in front of him.

Noticing that he was wasting time, Uzi nipped his eye with her beak and wrapped her claws around his finger. She flapped her wings as she forced him to approach the scene. The ravenette followed them closely behind, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. "They're that important?" N asked in a confused yet scared voice, glancing at the raven with furrowed brows. "To you!" She answered him in a slightly angered tone, glaring at him before looking to the side as she added, "And, like... me."

"Why?" He questioned, expressing his confusion with his free hand as he felt a bit frustrated at her vague answers, "Who are you?" She seemed flustered at his question and flapped her wings as she tried to find answers. "You two just hang out a lot," Siwoo revealed from beside N, startling them since they forgot he was present. "Shut up," Uzi scolded him from how embarrassed she felt at his words. "Repression door!" She gestured to the door underneath V's feet with her wing, trying to change the subject.

N frowned and glanced at V, whose eyes were repeatedly flashing 'ERROR: 606' in a bright golden light. Hesitantly, he leaned back with an uncertain expression. When he looked at Uzi for a solution, she sent him a shrug of her wings. Relentingly, he rolled his eyes and took a deep breath before kneeling in front of V. Carefully, he pushed her to the side, causing a loud screeching sound to be heard. He cringed at the sound and released her once the basement door - which was hidden by the rug - was in complete view.

Vigorously, his panicked gaze flickered between V and the door, making sure that she didn't awaken. Once he made sure that she was still asleep, he cautiously removed the rug, revealing the basement door that was clearly locked. "The key..." Uzi muttered as she and N rolled their eyes in annoyance at the inconvenience. "Ugh," N groaned before looking up at Uzi when she sat on top of his head, "J has it." 

All of them froze when a faint maniacal laughter escaped from next to them, their eyes widened in terror. Wariful, all of them turned to look at V, whose eyes were still flashing the error message. However, when lightning lit up the room, they saw the large maniacal grin on her lips, stretching widely towards her ears. Their gazes landed on the large claw-like hand that replaced V's right hand. Uzi's raven got so scared that it suddenly laid an egg on top of N's head before it rolled down to the floor. 

They immediately decided to go look for J and Tessa. As N and Uzi sneaked up to the second floor, the ravenette was about to follow them, however, a rough hand wrapped itself around his bicep and pulled him into a room. Almost instantly, he knew that it was his father. Infuriated, he shoved his hand off him and stepped back, creating some distance between them. 

"Where the hell have you been?!" He roared at Siwoo with fury burning in his eyes, veins popped out of his throat and forehead from how infuriated he was, "Do you have any fucking idea how important today is?!" Siwoo didn't even flinch at how loud his voice was as it bounced off the walls, catching some guests' attention. Fortunately, the guests ignored the muffled outbursts behind them and continued their conversations. "Do you know how you have embarrassed me in front of your future in-laws tonight because you were gone?!" He screamed, taking a step towards him with tightly clenched fists. 

"I just left to get some fresh air," Siwoo calmly sneered at him, straightening his posture as his eyes gleamed with pure resentment, "Why are you making such a big deal of me being gone for a few minutes?" His father's patience finally snapped and he slammed his fist against the window, shattering it completely. "A big deal?" He repeated in a low yet angered voice before gritting his teeth, glaring at his son with hatred and betrayal, "I'm this close to getting closer to my goal so why do you keep fucking it up?!" 

"Wow," Siwoo taunted with a wide triumph smirk as he looked at his distressed father with pure sadistic glee in his eyes, "You finally lost your mind..." His father's shoulders tensed up when he noticed the sharp vampire-like teeth peeking out from under his lips while his sadistic eyes were a bright shade of sunset colour. "Wha-" Before he could say anything, a loud hiss was heard across the air as a long sword-bladed stringer whipped towards his throat, severing his head from his shoulders. 

Crimson blood gushed out of the decapitated body, splattering across the walls, paintings, and carpeted floor. The body staggered a bit as the nerves reacted in shock before slumping to the ground with a heavy thud. It twitched a few times while the severed head rolled towards Siwoo's feet. His father's fear-stricken eyes made direct eye contact with his sunset-coloured irises, blood seeped through his nose and parted lips. He could see his blood splattered across Siwoo's front side, especially his face and chest. The mechanical sword-blade tail returned to his lower back, staining the floor below him with his father's blood. 

"What a shame that this isn't real," Siwoo sighed in disappointment and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well," He added, tilting his head with a completely innocent smile as he peered down at him, raising his polished shoe and hovering it over his father's decapitated head, "Might as well enjoy it to the fullest, right?" Not even a moment later, he slammed his foot down onto the severed head, crushing its skull completely. Brain matter and broken skull pieces dripped outwards as he repeatedly smashed it with his heel. 

His ears perked up when he heard a ruckus above him, hinting that N and Uzi found Tessa and J. With a careless motion, he cleaned his bloodied face with his sleeve and casually exited the room. He hummed a tune as he closed the door behind him before rushing upstairs to where they were. On the way up, he coincidentally ran into N and Uzi. "What happened to you?" Uzi's raven asked with wide eyes when she saw his bloodied form. "Just finished experiencing a thing that I really wanted to do," He answered her with a childish grin before pushing them towards the library, "But that's a story for later, so let's go!" 

As they entered the library again, they noticed that the organic matter spread further than before. Carefully, they peeked around the bookshelf and noticed the red arrowed symbol on the door. When they heard mechanical noises getting closer, they hurriedly rushed to the basement door. N slipped a few times and Uzi tossed him the key when he leapt for the door. He quickly inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it, causing the door to click open.

However, before he could open it, Cyn's Eldricht form appeared from beneath the door, exclaiming, "Jump scare!" Its claw grabbed Uzi's raven, "Grab." It hurled the raven towards the open window, causing it to slam into the wall before rolling down the windowsill. "DarkXWolf17, no!" N cried out in horror as he watched the raven disappear. He looked at Siwoo for a solution, only to find out that a claw had him pinned up against a bookshelf. 

A tentacle wrapped itself around N's ankles and he immediately started struggling against it as it slowly pulled him towards the basement door. As he turned around while screaming, Cyn's Eldricht form suddenly started malfunctioning with a purple hue. It short-circuited before turning on again, only this time, its eye was purple. "We're in," Uzi's proud voice escaped the security camera, causing N to send her a wide smile of joy and relief. Alas, Uzi's moment ended when she spotted V's silent figure at the window frame due to the lightning flashing outside.

"And J's useless, surprise," She sarcastically added with a sassy expression before dragging both N and Siwoo into the basement, slamming the door closed to prevent V from following them. A loud grunt escaped the two men when Uzi harshly dropped them onto the floor. As they got to their feet, they and Uzi flinched when dust dropped from above them as V tried to enter the basement. "Is V... okay?" N hesitantly asked with a small worried frown, glancing at the possessed monstrosity next to him. 

Uzi raised a brow at his question, wordlessly gesturing for him to elaborate. Siwoo held back a chuckle as he clutched his side in pain before releasing an inaudible groan. "Like, in the future," N added with an embarrassed expression, his eyes filled with genuine concern and worry. "Unfortunately," Uzi bitterly reassured him as she rolled her eye at him before facing him, "Now, let's see what that yellow creep was up-" Her eye widened in bewilderment and surprise when she spotted the scene behind N, "Oh..." Confused, N stared at her for a second before following her gaze and his eyes widened in horror.

"Wonderful..." Siwoo sarcastically mumbled with a disgusted expression as he stared at the scene in front of him. The entire room was filled with dismembered Worker Drone corpses that were clearly experimented on by Cyn. "So..." Uzi dragged on as she used the flashlight to illuminate the corpses and landed on a decapitated body that resembled N, "That's a pretty... uh... metal origin story..." N was completely terrified at the sight of seeing his own decapitated corpse strapped to a chair. 

"Not dealing with this great, to be immediately honest...!" He admitted with a petrified expression and unconsciously clung onto the ravenette's sleeve, trembling as his gaze never left the corpse. He took a moment to repress his emotions and deeply inhaling before exhaling, "...Okay, it's gone." He sent them a small smile as he regained some composure. "All right," Siwoo hummed and gently shook his hands off his sleeve, "Let's get out of here." 

However, before they could leave, the ground started shaking with a loud rumble erupting everywhere, startling them. After a few seconds, the ground stopped shaking but the security camera was hanging, showing that Uzi got kicked out of their memories due to an outer interference. In the real world, Uzi was dealing with a dilemma - Doll had entered her room to stop her from saving N and V's memories. 

Concerned, Uzi stole a glance towards the trio, who were leaning against each other as they were in a coma. Both V and N had a large 'X' across their eyes while Siwoo's eyes were closed, appearing as if he was sleeping. Meanwhile, back in the memory world, N looked a bit creeped out that the security camera lay limp from the bird cage. "Uhh... Ghost buddy...?" He called out to the still camera and poked it, "You okay?"

"Better than ever, 'buddy'," Eldricht Cyn stated when it suddenly regained control over the Solver form again and grabbed N with her claw, tossing him into the chair where his corpse was, "Let's reset these memories one more time." Before Siwoo could intervene, a claw snatched him and pressed him down against the floor. He thrashed against it, but, his teenage body wasn't strong enough to push it away. It also didn't help that he couldn't summon his wings or stringer to assist him due to some error code appearing. 

Above them, Siwoo could hear the muffled screams of the guests as they were either being hunted down or massacred by the Solver's possessed worker drones. In the corner of his eye, he watched how Eldritch Cyn struggled to pick up some tools with her claw to wipe N's memories. "Son of a-" The Solver impatiently cursed, getting frustrated at its lack of hands, "Come on... Solver of the absolute fabric, get a grip..." 

Finally, she barely picked up a tool before watching it drop back onto the metal table. "Tantrum," She bluntly yet childishly stated and hurled the table to the side, narrowing her camera eye while looking around for a solution. "Brain blast," She added as her eye widened in realization and turned around to look up at the closed basement door, "Oh, V. Could use some help in here."

N and the ravenette watched how one of her tentacles unlocked and opened the door, causing a loud creak to be heard. "You've got to be kidding me..." Siwoo mumbled under his breath at this situation and glared at the Solver with pure annoyance. "This is the program that bastard used instead of Ellipse's one?" He grumbled, attempting to taunt it to buy some time for Uzi to return. It was successful when Eldritch Cyn coldly glared down at him after hearing Ellipse's name. 

"Don't talk about her," Cyn sneered at him and squeezed him tighter with her claw, threatening to break his ribcage and limbs from how strong her grip was. "Urgh... Don't tell me... that you're jealous... of her...?" He taunted her again, his gaze pinned on the open basement door as V crept in like an animal. He was oblivious to how strange golden-black code-like markings crept up his neck before fading into his skin. Neither of the trio was aware that they were slowly getting corrupted by the Solver in the real world as Uzi had been fighting with Doll over the cockroach. 

He coughed out blood when the Solver hurled him against the wall and he slid down to the floor with an agonizing grunt. He winced when a tentacle wrapped itself around his injured body and held him captive, covering his mouth to prevent his taunts from leaving him. A cold yet irked glint was seen in his glaring eyes as he watched Cyn order V to pick up the tools. A muffled scoff escaped his lips when V started struggling to pick up the tools with her claws, much to Cyn's frustration.

"Grab it. Just grab it," Cyn demanded as she repeatedly slammed the security camera against a closet, infuriated that the possessed V couldn't pick it up. "GRAB IT!" She yelled in rage when her patience snapped and she turned around, grabbing V's head with her claw as she fiercely glared at her, "Intimidating glare." A sweat drop dripped down V's face at her actions. "Whoa, Cyn!" N shakily called out to her, catching both their attention and he attempted to flatter her, "For an eldritch... uh... monster thingy-"

"The Solver of the Absolute Fabric, the void, the exponential end!" Eldritch Cyn maniacally corrects him, narrowing her annoyed eyes at him. Awkwardly, N stared at her before glancing at V with a crooked smile. "...Peep this...?" He awkwardly asked as he used his teeth to grab V's cracked glasses from his vest and leaned forward to put them back over her eyes. Owlishly, V blinked as she regained consciousness and looked down at the table.

Carefully, she stared at the scalpel in her claws and skillfully spun it before looking back at N with bewilderment. "I got you," N reassured her with a strained smile, his eyes filled with understanding and sorrow. A sudden sadness erupted inside her chest as she furrowed her brows, her gaze flickering between the scalpel and N. "...Gol... den..." V slowly stuttered out, her gaze focused on N. Everyone seemed surprised that she was suddenly talking and Siwoo raised his head with hope blooming inside his chest.

"... Retrievers have..." V added with a frown, her claws trembling around the scalpel. "Gentle mouths, dude," N finished her sentence for her as he started feeling emotional, his lips trembling. Out of nowhere, Cyn grabbed V with her claw and held her up against the ceiling, earning a yelp from her. "Cute: false. Gross: true," Cyn sarcastically stated with a slightly disdain look before innocently 'smiling' down at N, holding some tools with her tentacles, "Let's just delete your OS's, then." Siwoo lowered his head in defeat when the tentacles prepared to hurl tools into his body to wipe his existence.

"Goodbye, 'buddy'," Cyn said to N with a deadpanned look and lifted the hammer into the air, "Execute." V regained consciousness at that moment and realized the situation. "N!" She called out to him in fear and horror, stretching her clawed hand towards him. Swiftly, Cyn swung the hammer towards N's head while her tentacles hurled other tools towards Siwoo's captured body. Instinctively, N closed his eyes with a wince, preparing for the incoming pain. 

However, it never came. Quickly, he opened one eye, spotting the icicle spike hovering over his eye with the hammer almost touching it. "Wha-What-at i-is hap-pen-pen-pening?" Cyn started glitching out, losing control over her eldritch form before short-circuiting. The camera lowered itself when smoke leaked from it. Unexpectedly, Uzi regained control over Cyn's eldritch form again.

"U-Ugh, so-r-ry," She apologized in a glitchy manner before rolling her eyes in annoyance, "My freaking dad's strea-" She only realized that the hammer was moving towards N's face and she moved the ice pike away, stopping the hammer a few inches away from his head, "WHOA!" He closed his eyes for a second before peering them open, looking a bit offended and betrayed that she would lightly hit him. "Whoops!" She awkwardly chuckled, pulling the tools away from him and looked in V's direction.

Without a word, she released V from the claw and watched how she fell to the floor, coughing to get air into her burning lungs again. Immediately, N ripped his chains off him and rushed to V's side, helping her up. They smiled at each other for a second. Their ears perked up when they heard some shuffling to the side. "Uhh..." Uzi dragged out when she spotted the ravenette tied up with a tentacle and several tools mere inches away from taking his life from him. 

He sent her an irked yet impatient glare, silently demanding her to release him already. "Kinda forgot that you were here, haha," She awkwardly admitted as she released him. Meanwhile, N furrowed his brows when he started recalling his memories. Slowly, he turned over to look at the possessed eldritch form and the teenage version of the ravenette. "Uzi? Siwoo?" N called out to them, pointing between them with narrowed eyes. 

Uzi seemed glad and excited that he remembered before acting edgy, secretly feeling flustered, "Don't freaking doxx me!" The ravenette dusted his suit off with a huff and sent them a nod. "Thanks..." He thanked them with a genuine smile that appeared on N's lips as his eyes softened. Both of them got sheepish at the sudden gratitude, however, it got interrupted when V leapt at Siwoo.

"You little narc!" She sneered at him, grabbing him by the collar and he instinctively raised his arms into the air in a surrendering motion when she yelled, "Get out of my head!" Seconds later, everything glitched and they woke up with a gasp, regaining consciousness. Siwoo, N, and V glanced at each other with stiff expressions before relaxing and smiling. Their little moment was interrupted by Uzi's devilish chuckle as she turned around in her chair to face them.

N looked excited to know that her plan worked while Siwoo held his throbbing head with a crooked smile. V, however, was not pleased at all. An infuriated scowl was seen on her face and she wordlessly threatened Uzi with a chainsaw, causing Uzi to drop her mischievous smile almost instantly. Soon, they were outside the facility to search for Doll - only to meet a few unexpected people.