Hypersystem [3/3] [for SHINeeEXO14]
one | two | part three
They keep the funeral private and intimate.
The entire family thanks both Jaebum and Mark for looking after Jinyoung. Jinyoung's sister keeps herself in Mark's arms too long but nobody has the heart to interrupt. Jinyoung mother sits beside Jaebum and tells him all the times Jinyoung called home to boast about his best friend.
Jaebum breaks down for the first time and lets Youngjae pull him to somewhere more private.
Everything that Jia wants to say she condenses into a simple, "Take all the time you need. We're here for you."
Jackson is keeping a close eye on Mark. Apparently Mark hasn't been able to fall asleep for two days now and Jackson is ready and willing to force a sleeping pill down his throat.
Jaebum watches them all with a small sense of relief. Jinyoung didn't suffer through his illness alone, and now it's all over.
Now, people - especially Mark - can hurt, rest, and move on.
Nobody hears from Jaebum for weeks.
Every once in a while someone goes to a hill that overlooks the landscape's mask of city lights where they find a man crouched on his knees like he's contemplating a problem larger than the whole world.
Things start to feel normal again a month after. Jaebum calls each member of his team to his office and asks them for updates on every single aspect of their lives, not just on their projects.
He institutes a new policy: no more overtime, no more working on weekends. Everyone is required to spend time with family and friends.
The last person he calls on is Youngjae. They share a soft silence before Jaebum asks him about Suzy, and Youngjae, surprised, admits that he's going to ask her out at the end of the day. Jaebum encourages him, Youngjae says that he's so nervous he put on three different kinds of cologne and will most likely add more over the course of the day.
But work is still work. "I want you to drop everything you're working on that's not related to hypersystem technology."
Youngjae nods slowly. "There aren't much of those, anyway. Lately I've been working on practically nothing else. Any particular field you want me to look into?"
"Bambam's team already has a lead on teleportation. The Dutch are working on faster-than-light communication. What can you bring to the table?"
"I can keep looking at the higher-dimensions theory. I think I'm the only one who's thought of that right now."
"Good."
"Only that…" Youngjae looks unsure. "I was reviewing my math a week or so ago and I think I got something wrong."
Jaebum raises his eyebrows.
"For some reason my math doesn't balance out anymore." Youngjae scratches the back of his head. "I still used the same equations. Only now when I apply them to a fresh reading of the hypersystem I'm arriving at completely different results. Even Suzy has no idea why."
"How different are the results?"
"Really tiny. Practically insignificant compared to the totality. We could probably ignore the difference except for the fact that we know there shouldn't have been a change at all since we used the same tools."
"What change? In layman's terms, remember I'm not a physicist."
Youngjae nods. This is a dynamic he's more familiar with. "It's like there's been an increase in the overall intelligence in the higher dimensions. A tiny increase: microscopic to the billionth degree, maybe even smaller. I can't even quantify it, I just know that my equations don't balance out anymore and I had to adjust for this change."
"Like there's another mind there that wasn't there before?"
Youngjae snorts. "Don't let Hanbin hear you say that."
"Well, keep working on it. By this time next year I want you to have mapped out the higher dimensions. Find something tangible. Turn it into a science of its own. Until you can isolate and identify the individual intelligences up there. Pull Namjoon and Taehyun into it if you have to."
"You got it, hyung."
After all, why should a mind die just because its shell is broken? When just out of reach are the higher dimensions, where minds can survive without needing shells for protection?
Jinyoung is out there somewhere. And Jaebum will keep his promise.
Wherever Jinyoung goes, Jaebum will find him and bring him home.
one | two | part three
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