The room they entered was small; in it was barely enough space for the table at its center and two chairs facing each other. On the table sat a device Sooha assumed was the infamous lie detector.
Damien pulled out a chair and gestured silently. Sooha sat without protest.
Stress coiled in his chest. One wrong word, one wrong impression, and he could be denied entry...or worse. He wasn't even sure how these procedures worked. Life had once been handed to him on a silver platter… before Syntrum, that is.
Back then, Sooha never had to think about how things were for "normal" citizens, never had to imagine what hooks and crannies they had to crawl through just to function in this strict city-state.
It was different from the informal, everyone-for-themselves lifestyle that they had at Site 76.
Damien moved behind him, adjusting the sensor pads of the lie detector.
The cold metal against his skin triggered memories he didn't want: sterile labs, strapped wrists, and clinical eyes that studied him not as a boy but as a genetic miracle.
A child reduced to his ability's potential...nothing more.
Damien took the seat across from him. He noticed the unease in Sooha's body, but the reason for it never crossed his mind.
Clearing his throat, Damien pulled out a notepad, hoping to get Sooha's attention.
"We should begin with your time in Syntrum," he said, fixing Sooha with his usual cold stare.
Sooha's stomach twisted at the mention. He hated recalling anything about it. He wanted it forgotten… erased. He had no reason to think of that place during the years he spent with Luke at Site 76.
But now, his thoughts drifted to Luke, to his broken body lying in the freezers by the cemetery.
Sooha clenched his fists beneath the table. He had to get out of this wretched building and give him a proper burial.
"The first two years were a total blur. I remember them conducting exams on me daily. When I wasn't in the labs, I was with tutors and in the books. They thought that by expanding my knowledge of chemistry, physics, biology, anything related to molecules and genes, really… their ultimate goal was for me to alter and reverse mutations."
He paused, thinking about the fact that this was never how his life was meant to be.
"At fourteen, three years after I was taken, I had already reached a level of knowledge that university students had, and yet I was showing no signs of progress towards their goals." He adjusted his posture, almost as if bracing himself.
"They had the calmer, non-aggressive F and D-ranking mutants locked in holding cells, chained like beasts for experiments. They would cry and weep, and the scientists would leave me with them for hours, hoping I would…"
He paused again, gulping as his eyes welled with tears.
"Reverse their mutations. Restore their consciousness." Sooha started crying at this point, his vision completely blurred.
"It was hell on earth, Damien." He looked at the man with his teal eyes, then tried to calm himself.
"But it didn't last forever. At a certain point, they gave up on me. I was fifteen when they released me as a 'failed prodigy'. I was honestly lucky they even left me alive. After that, I got a job at a hospital with the knowledge I had, and even though I hated that city with all my heart, I couldn't just leave. I would be mutant meat within hours out there alone without my ability."
A certain rage replaced the sadness in Sooha's eyes.
"That's when I met Luke. He was the child of a security officer at the hospital. He would spend the day there after school because his father worked twelve-hour shifts. He had no mother or anyone else at home, so he stayed in the lab. He would watch me work for hours… kinda impressed that we were the same age."
The anger faded, replaced with softness.
Sooha paused, recollecting himself and straightening up.
"Two years later, when I was almost eighteen, something shifted. I believe the fall of Syntrum happened because they actively hunted mutants for research, while other states left them alone unless they attacked or ransacked fields. It all happened so fast, explosions, fires everywhere, it was like hell on earth, and Damien, it was organized, it wasn't just an animal attack."
He stopped, his hands fidgeting with his fingers.
"I was getting ready to leave the laboratory when Luke, who was now employed as security there, grabbed me by the hand and told me to follow him. I did. We escaped through underground sewers, following a group of people. With them, we reached Site 76 as refugees. I was admitted to work in the army clinic, and Luke was accepted into the military."
He was growing tired of talking, but saying it all to someone who knew him before everything fell apart was oddly calming.
"The next four years, I worked as a medic there. They were peaceful. And I had Luke… we started dating about half a year after arriving at Site 76 because we had no one else but each other, people are distant there."
Damien shifted in his chair, either uninterested in or simply uncomfortable hearing about Sooha's love life.
"I see. That's a lot to live through at your age," Damien said rather softly, "It's not how it should've been."
"I'll inform your mother of your return. I could also send a letter to Councillor Lee's residence, and Yuna should receive it through their staff. I don't have her direct contact."
He rose slowly from his seat.
"You've passed the interview."
The mention of Yuna's father, the man who, alongside the rest of the Council, including Sooha's mother and Damien's father, had sold him to Syntrum... made Sooha's stomach turn.
The fact that those people were still in power after ten years—and now so close again- was suffocating.
"…Sure. Let her know her failure came home. As for Yuna, I'll contact her myself when I'm ready," Sooha replied, the disgust in his voice sharp and unmistakable.