The room stayed silent after Damien stepped away from the crystal.
Too silent.
Not normal silence either.
This was the kind that appeared after something shattered people’s expectations without warning.
Several eyes remained locked onto Damien.
Some confused.
Some cautious.
Some openly disturbed.
Adrian especially looked irritated.
Not loud irritated.
Quiet irritated.
The dangerous kind.
He leaned back into the couch again, forcing a relaxed posture even though the twitch in his jaw betrayed him completely.
“There’s no way that was real,” he muttered.
Ria glanced briefly toward him.
“You seem very emotionally invested in circles.”
Adrian scoffed.
“You saw it too. Four? Five? Then suddenly back to two? That thing malfunctioned.”
“Maybe,” Ria replied calmly.
But she didn’t sound convinced.
Not even slightly.
At the center of the room, Dr.
Frost remained still.
Yet Damien noticed something important.
For the first time since meeting him…
His composure had shifted.
Barely.
Almost impossible to notice.
But it was there.
The faint narrowing of his eyes.
The slight tension in his shoulders.
A microscopic pause before breathing.
Like Damien’s result had genuinely surprised him.
And if someone like Dr.
Frost was surprised…
That probably wasn’t good.
Or maybe it was very good.
Damien honestly couldn’t tell anymore.
Dr.
Frost looked down at his transparent tablet one final time.
Then with a smooth movement, he shut the display off completely.
The floating data vanished instantly.
He raised his head slowly and looked around the room.
“All right,” he said calmly.
His voice immediately pulled everyone’s attention back toward him.
“Now that this is over with…”
He paused briefly.
“…it’s time you know what you are here for.”
Nobody interrupted him.
The atmosphere in the room tightened almost instantly.
Even the mechanical hum of the underground facility outside suddenly felt distant now.
Dr.
Frost walked slowly around the black crystal sphere as he spoke.
“As many of you must have guessed by now…”
A faint smirk touched his lips.
“…this is a secret base of the so-called ‘terrorist group’ Verdancy.”
The sarcasm in his voice was obvious.
A few people exchanged glances immediately.
One girl near the back frowned.
“You say that like it’s not true.”
Dr.
Frost looked toward her casually.
“Truth is usually written by whoever owns the largest number of satellites.”
The girl blinked.
“…That didn’t answer my question.”
“No,” Dr.
Frost replied lightly, “it didn’t.”
Several people looked even more uneasy now.
One guy with short black hair folded his arms tightly.
“So what?” he asked.
“You’re recruiting us or something?”
“Something like that.”
“And if we say no?”
That question hung heavily in the room.
Dr.
Then smiled.
Not kindly.
Not threateningly either.
Just honestly.
“If you decide to stay here,” he said calmly, “you will learn more about what this organization truly entails in due time.”
His silver eyes moved across the room slowly.
“But unfortunately…”
The smile faded slightly.
“…it does not mean you can simply leave.”
Several expressions changed instantly.
The room’s tension spiked hard.
“What?” someone snapped immediately.
A blond man stood halfway from his seat.
“You serious right now?”
Dr.
Frost didn’t even look bothered.
“You already know the location of one of Verdancy’s underground facilities,” he said.
“That creates obvious complications.”
“That’s insane,” another woman said sharply.
“You brought us here!”
“Yes.”
“And now you’re saying we can’t leave?”
“Correct.”
The woman stared at him like she wanted to throw something.
Adrian leaned forward slightly.
“And if we try anyway?”
Dr.
Frost answered instantly.
“You will either be terminated permanently…”
The room froze.
“…or have your memories of the past week erased before returning to your somehow normal lives.”
Silence.
Complete silence.
Even the angry woman stopped speaking.
Because everyone in the room could tell something important.
Dr.
Frost wasn’t bluffing.
Not even a little.
Damien observed the reactions quietly.
Fear.
Anger.
Suspicion.
Most people naturally reacted to being cornered.
But strangely…
Damien himself didn’t feel trapped yet.
Confused, yes.
Curious, definitely.
But not trapped.
Not until he understood what this was actually about.
Beside him, Ria exhaled softly.
“Well,” she muttered, “that escalated quickly.”
Damien glanced at her.
“You seem calm.”
“I’m deciding whether panicking would improve the situation.”
“And?”
“It wouldn’t.”
Fair enough.
The blond man who stood earlier pointed angrily toward Dr.
Frost.
“You can’t seriously expect us to trust a terrorist organization.”
Dr.
Frost tilted his head slightly.
“And yet,” he said calmly, “all of you came willingly.”
Nobody answered that.
Because he was right.
Every single person in this room had chosen to come here.
No one had been dragged underground.
Curiosity brought them.
Which honestly made the situation even stranger.
Dr.
Frost continued walking slowly around the room.
“But,” he said, “I have a feeling no one will be leaving after you hear what I have to say.”
Adrian snorted quietly.
“Yes.”
The answer came instantly.
Without hesitation.
Without ego.
Just certainty.
And somehow that made it heavier.
Dr.
Frost stopped beside the crystal sphere again.
Then he looked directly at everyone.
“You must have realized by now,” he said slowly, “that you are not normal when compared to others.”
The room went still again.
This time differently.
Not tension.
Recognition.
Because every person here had probably noticed it at some point in life.
Dr.
Frost continued.
“Your extremely good looks.”
Several people frowned awkwardly at that.
One guy muttered, “That’s a weird way to start this speech.”
Dr.
Frost ignored him.
“Your heightened physical prowess.”
Damien’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Your indestructible durability.”
That line hit harder.
Especially for Damien.
Images flashed briefly through his mind.
Falling from that building at nine years old.
Walking away untouched.
Never getting sick.
Never really getting hurt.
Until Dr.
Frost.
“And your abnormally high IQs,” Dr.
Frost continued, “along with enhanced learning and comprehension abilities.”
A woman near the wall crossed her arms.
“So what?” she asked.
“Genetic advantages exist.”
Dr.
Frost smiled slightly.
“Not like this.”
He pointed casually around the room.
“You are sixteen individuals gathered from completely different backgrounds, cities, countries, and lives.”
His eyes sharpened faintly.
“And yet every single one of you displays the exact same impossible patterns.”
Nobody spoke now.
Because suddenly…
A lot of things started connecting.
Too many things.
The ease of learning.
The strange durability.
The unnatural physical perfection.
The feeling of always being slightly separated from normal people without understanding why.
Even Adrian looked less arrogant now.
More thoughtful.
More cautious.
Dr.
Frost let the silence build intentionally.
Then finally—
He smiled.
Not like a scientist.
Not like a terrorist.
Like a man about to reveal something he had waited years to say.
“Basically,” he said calmly,
“…you are beyond human.”
He paused.
The room held its breath.
Then Dr.
Frost spoke the final words slowly.
“What I call…”
A faint gleam appeared in his silver eyes.
“…Superhuman.”