Project Rain

It was a night like any other. Dark and cold. You could see a storm on the horizon if you looked up at the cloud-stuffed sky. Jihoon was walking to his usual nighttime haunt, the Diner on exit 15 that was adequately named ‘The Diner’. They served breakfast, lunch and dinner, but Jihoon only came in for Dinner. Today he was coming in for more than just dinner however. He had received a message from an… acquaintance telling him to come to the diner, apparently they had something to say that they thought he might want to hear. Jihoon looked at the bright, neon yellow ‘OPEN’ sign on the front door of the diner. He sighed and pushed open the doors, triggering the bell attached to the door.

“Hey Jihoon! The usual?” Hyori, one of the servers asks Jihoon. Jihoon knew Hyori quite well. She was the first person he met when he first came here. Hyori was a little older than him. She had tan skin, amber eyes, and thick lips that were always covered with nude lipstick. She smiled at him, awaiting his answer.

“Yes please.” Jihoon answered, sitting down at the counter.

“Okay. Jihoon wants the usual!” Hyori shouts to the cook. She turns to Jihoon. “So what’s been up with you kid? You didn’t come in yesterday.” She remarks.

“I was watching the broadcast on TV.” Jihoon says. “I’m assuming you saw it too.”

“Stray kids all over the country? Yeah, I saw it.” The broadcast was basically a video of an army of teenagers all dressed in black invading and taking over the city center. The army was headed by 8 boys dressed in more colorful clothing. The boys seemed to be asking the kids of the country to rebel against the adults. They were encouraging an uprising. An uprising against a system that had oppressed the people of this country for so long, a system that kept corrupt, power hungry people in charge. People like Jihoon’s father. Ever since he had first watched the broadcast, thoughts of his father had been invading his mind. He hadn’t slept last night, he was too afraid. Everytime he thought of his father it felt like he was watching him, waiting. “You know that attack actually happened a while back. Like three weeks ago.” Hyori brings Jihoon out of his thoughts.

“Really?”

“Yep those kids are occupying the city center right now. Can you believe it?”

“No. No I really can’t.” Jihoon said quietly. Occupying the city center? Did they really overpower the police? It was clear that the attack occurred during some sort of parade, seeing as there were a bunch of cars slowly driving through the street, listening to a group of men in fancy suits speak at a podium. If it was a parade, or an assembly of some kind, then the rich residents of the city center would’ve had their guard down, but still. An army of teenagers really overpowered the police? How.. interesting.

“Hyori, has my acquaintance arrived yet.?” Jihoon had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he had forgotten what he had come here for.

“Acquaintance?” Hyori looked at Jihoon, confused for a moment.

“Yes. My acquaintance.” Jihoon said, putting emphasis on the word ‘acquaintance’.

“Ooooh your acquaintance.” Hyori gasps in realization. “I don’t think that he’s-” The front door bell rings. Jihoon turns, only to be met with his acquaintance, smirking at him as he walks through the door. The acquaintance saunters over to the counter, sitting down right next to Jihoon.

“Hello Hyori.” Nickhun says, turning to Hyori.

“Nickhun. Hi. Um I- What would you like?”

“What my friend here is having.” Nickhun smiles and looks at Jihoon. Hyori nods and quickly scurries into the kitchen. She was scared of Nickhun. Everyone was scared of Nickhun. He was a known assassin. He killed for money. Nickhun worked for Jihoon’s father sometimes. He was his highest paying customer. Jihoon knew that Nickhun could tell his father where he was at any point in time. Even so, Nickhun had valuable information that Jihoon needed. It’s not like he could ever escape Nickhun anyway. He had the ability to find anyone, anywhere in the world with nothing but a picture, and he could go anywhere whenever he wanted at the drop of a hat. He wasn’t bound by the laws of space. Nickhun wasn’t bound by any laws.

“So Nickhun.” Jihoon begins. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I’ve got news for you. Concerning someone very important to you.”

“Who?”

“Your little sister.” Nickhun said casually. Jihoon tensed at that. Nickhun had news about Jisoo? His younger sister that he hadn’t seen in over ten years? He clutched the heart shaped locket around his neck.

“What is it? What’s going on with her?” Jihoon tried to be calm, but he couldn’t help it. If Jisoo was hurt…

“Calm down Jihoon, calm down. She’s not hurt or anything. At least, not yet.”

“Not yet? What is that supposed to mean Nickhun?”

“I’m assuming you’ve seen the broadcast of the uprising.”

“I have, but what does that have to do with Jisoo?”

“Well if you just let me speak then I’ll tell you.” Nickhun huffs. Hyori walks out of the kitchen with two black, medium-sized food trays balanced on the palm of each hand.

“Here you go.” She says, smiling. She places a tray on the counter and takes the plates off. She does the same with the other tray. It seems like she’s hurrying, probably trying to avoid Nickhun.

“Thank you Hyori.” Jihoon says as she hands him a fork.

“Thanks riri.” Nickhun says as Hyori hands him a fork.

“You're welcome.” She replies, walking back into the kitchen. Jihoon watches Nickhun take a bite of his food.

“Nickhun.” Jihoon says anxiously. “Jisoo?”

“Oh yeah, her.” He puts his fork down. “A little birdy told me that she and her gang of gal pals were sent to kill Bang Chan.”

“Bang Chan? Who the hell is that?”

“Um, the guy that staged the uprising a little while back. He was on the broadcast. Purple jacket, black pants, blonde hair.” Jihoon remembered him. It seemed like he was the one leading the army of teenagers. He was the one who spoke at the end of the broadcast.

“Stray kids all over the country?” Jihoon asked.

“Yeah him. They were gonna kill him, but... ” Nickhun stopped for a moment and looked at Jihoon. He laughed. “Wow, you are tense buddy! Didn’t I tell you to calm down?”

“Nickhun, stop joking around. I need to know if she’s okay.”

“She’s fine, for now.”

“What do you-”

“Shut up and let me talk Jihoon, cause I could leave at any time, and then you won’t know what’s up with lil sis.”

“Okay, Okay, I-I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. As I was saying. They were told to kill Bang Chan, but it turns out they had different plans.”

“Different plans?”

“They joined him. They betrayed the institution. They betrayed your father.” Nickhun pointed at Jihoon.

“Wait what?” Jihoon was shocked. When they were kids, Jisoo was always completely loyal to their father. She obeyed him no matter what. It was clear that the relationship between Jisoo and their father had suffered in the time that Jihoon had been gone.

“Yep. You better believe it. Jisoo’s in big trouble with your father.” Nickhun smiled.

“How exactly do you know all of this?” Jihoon asks. This didn’t sound like the Jisoo he used to know and Nickhun seemed way too happy about this entire situation.

“Like I said, a little birdy told me.” Nickhun said, dismissively. “Anyway your sister made your father so upset, that he threw a hissy fit and commissioned someone to kill her.” Nickhun takes another bite of his food.

“What!” Jihoon was livid now. He wanted to ask how their father could do such a thing, but knowing him, he probably never even cared about Jisoo anyway. She trusted him, even after what he did to her, to both of them. “How do you know this?” Jihoon asked, much more angry now.

“Do you really wanna know why? Cause I don’t think you’re gonna like why.

“Nickhun.”

“If you really must know, how I know, that your father paid someone to kill your sister-” Nickhun looked around.

“Tell me.” Jihoon deadpanned.

“It’s because I’m ‘someone’.” Nickhun smirked. Jihoon’s eyes widened.

“You’re going to kill her?”

“What’d I just say Rain?” Jihoon scoffed. No one had called him ‘Rain’ in over ten years. No one had called him that since, since the experiments. The name “Rain’ came from ‘Project Rain’, which was a series of experiments that were done on him. His father was at the head of the project. Jihoon was a guinea pig, a weapon. His own father didn’t see him as a human being and it took him six years to realize. ‘Project Rain’ had begun when Jihoon was eight, he had run away from home at fourteen. The experiments had given him his abilities. He could make anyone see whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He could infiltrate peoples’ minds and create illusions. He only used his abilities in emergencies since using them gave him flashbacks and nightmares. Nickhun, ‘Project Space’, had gotten his abilities from the same series of experiments. His sister, who was referred to as ‘Project Ghost’, probably had special abilities too. Jihoon didn’t actually know, since they had started experimenting on Jisoo after Jihoon had already left.

“How much is he paying you?” Jihoon asked.

“50,000 dollars. 50,000 to find and kill one girl! I mean, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse!” Nickhun exclaimed, suddenly very excited.

“Nickhun-”

“I mean, imagine what I could do with 50,000 dollars! Your sister probably won’t even be hard to kill! Sure she can turn invisible and walk through walls or whatever but she’s still just a nineteen-year-old girl!” Jisoo is nineteen now? Wow, she was all grown up! And she did have abilities. Of course she did, who was Jihoon kidding.

“Nickhun.” Jihoon said, getting Nickhun’s attention. “Why are you telling me this? You know I’m not just gonna let you kill her, right?”

“Oh I’m aware. I’m telling you, Rain, because I wanna see how far you’re willing to go. I wanna see how far you’re willing to go to make sure that your sister’s blood stays in her veins. Let’s see how devoted Rain is to his little sister.” Nickhun was taunting him, mocking him, that much was clear. Jihoon’s blood was boiling, but he had to keep his cool.

“What’s stopping me from killing you right now, and showing you just how devoted I am to Jisoo.” Jihoon asked, looking Nickhun in the eye.

“Well, two things. One, there are too many people in this diner for you to commit murder right here. If you did, you would just be drawing attention to yourself and alerting your father to your location. Two, you know damn well that I could just teleport out of here and reappear right behind your sister's back with a knife.” Nickhun grabbed the heart-shaped locket that was hanging around Jihoon’s neck. He opened it slowly and looked at the picture for a moment. It was a picture of Jihoon and Jisoo, from back when they were kids. He still remembers the day Jisoo gave him the locket.

“Do you promise that you’ll never take it off?” Jisoo had asked.

“Yes. I promise.” Jihoon had replied, hanging the locket around his neck. “I’ll never take it off.”

“Then I won’t ever take mine off either!” Jisoo had said, smiling. Jisoo had the brightest smile that Jihoon had ever seen. He missed it. He hadn’t seen it in over ten years.

“Wow, Jihoon, sentimental.” Nickhun says, bringing him back to reality. Jihoon immediately snatches the locket out of Nickhun’s hands, looking at the picture. Jisoo looked so cute in this picture, he wondered what she looked like now, probably similar right? Or maybe she looked completely different.

“Gosh Jihoon, no need to get upset.” Nickhun said. “There’s no use in being ruled by emotions.”

“You’re ruled by money.” Jihoon says, bitterly.

“Money is the god I serve to survive, Jihoon, I won’t apologize.” Nickhun smirks, then he grabs a knife from behind the counter and slits his finger. He then reaches over and smears blood onto Jisoo’s face. “I am sorry for having to kill your sister though.”

“You don’t seem sorry.”

“Maybe it’s because of the money. It really speaks to me, you know? There’s a connection.”

“You’re insane.” Jihoon says, clutching the locket.

“I’m insanely wealthy! Anyway Jihoon, I’ve gotta go, but hopefully I’ll see you in two months.”

“Two months?”

“Yep. She has to be dead in two months. Hopefully I’ll see you at the crime scene, Rain.” Jihoon didn’t respond. “What? Cat got your tongue?” Nickhun asked. Jihoon glared at him and he laughed.

“Well it has been fun Jihoon. Toodles!” Nickhun waved and disappeared. Jihoon sighed and looked at the locket. He tried to wipe the blood off of Jisoo’s face, but it had dried. He knew that he had to get to Jisoo before Nickhun did. This uprising, this rebellion would be the perfect time to reunite with her, especially considering what side she is now on. He had to save her. He would show Nickhun just how devoted he was to his little sister.