After arriving at the mall, Maejin took N into every shop to search for his new clothes. At first, N wasn't sure of what he wanted exactly, and was also a bit worried. The mall was local, which meant that not only humans, but the Mythnal were very common to find shopping around. If a higher-up saw a "master" buying clothes for her "slave," then they would inform the other higher-ups. And from what he gathered, Maejin's father was one of those people. He mentioned this to her, but she brushed it off.

"It's fine. As long as we don't say anything, they won't think I'm getting them for you."

After about half and hour, N started to calm down and began to pick out clothing he liked, most of it colored black. By the time they finished, it was 11 am. After stopping at the food court to get a quick bite for lunch, they headed back to the estate. Maejin went to the storage area and found an extra suitcase to put N's clothes in. After getting everything packed and ready to go, they met up with Hongbin and Ken outside.

"Ready to go?" Hongbin asked.

"I've been  ready since I got the letter!" Maejin smiled.

Ken glanced at Hongbin. "Where are your parents?"

"Work." Hongbin scowled. "The left early this morning and told Inhye to tell us that they love us and are proud of us."

"If they did love us, they would have come see us off." Maejin rolled her eyes. "But I guess money's more important to them than family."

"It's work, Jin." Hongbin said. "It's not like they can just up and leave."

"Father's the head of the company." Maejin retorted. "It wouldn't be the end of the world to take time off to come see us."

"She's got a point, Hongbin." Ken said.

Hongbin sighed. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Anyways, let's go." Maejin headed over to the limo. "Mimi and Ravi are going to meet us at the train station."

..........

They arrived at the train station about twenty minutes before departure. After arriving, Maejin spotted Eunmi and Ravi watiting for them by one of the carts and she led the others over.

"Mimi!" She called.

Eunmi looked over and grinned once she spotted Maejin. "MaeMae!"

The two embraced while Ken and Ravi high-fived each other.

Eunmi squealed. "I can't believe it's finally happening! I'm so excited!"

"Yeah. Me, too." Maejin said.

Eunmi noticed N, who stood a little behind Maejin. "So, this must be your...accompanier."

Maejin nodded. "Yup, this is N." She motioned for N to step up. "N, this is my best friend, Eunmi."

Eunmi waved to N, grinning. "Hi! It's nice to meet you!" She gestured to Ravi. "This is my accompanier, Ravi!"

"Accompanier?" N tilted his head.

"Yup!" Eunmi giggled. "You guys are 'accompanying' us at Mythnal, so you're our 'accompaniers'!"

Maejin laughed at N's shocked expression.

"She's like me." Maejin explained. "She sees Ravi as more of a friend than a...you know..."

"Oh." N looked at Ravi, then at Eunmi. "Then...why did you..?"

"I took him when I saw how horrible they were treating him." Eunmi replied. "It felt more like I was saving him than acutally taking him as a slave."

N's eyes widened and he look at Maejin. She smiled. "That's how I felt, too." She said before glancing at her watch. "It's almost one. Let's hurry and get on."

After putting their things in the luggage compartment, Hongbin and Ken had to go to a travel with high rated students, Hongbin being highly known and prasied. That left Maejin, N, Eunmi, and Ravi by themselves in the last empty compartment, clear in the back of the train. In the compartment, Maejin and N sat on one side while Eunmi and Ravi sat on the other. 

"I'm so glad there's no one else here." Eunmi said. "That way, N and Ravi can relax."

Right after she said that, the compartment door slid open and N And Ravi, startled, jumped up from the seats to stand. Two boys entered the compartment. One was tall with reddish brown hair and big ears. The other one was shorter and had black hair. Behind them were two other boys, one with white-blonde hair and the other with dark brown hair, both with a collar around their neck. Both collars were black, while the blonde haired boy's looked like a belt and the brown haired boy's was spiked. 

"There room for us in here?" The tall boy asked.

Eunmi nodded, moving to sit on Maejin's side. "Sure. Go ahead."

The black haired boy smiled. "Thanks."

The two sat down, exchanged glances to each other, then looked at the girls. "We've got a question." The tall boy said.

"Okay." Maejin said. "Shoot."

"What are your feelings about slavery?" The black haired boy asked.

Maejin tilted her head. "Huh?"

"Slavery." The tall boy repeated. "What do you feel about it?"

"The truth?" Maejin asked. The boys nodded. "Well, to be quite honest...I hate it."

The boys' faces went blank. The blinked a few times before the tall one resonded. "You hate it?"

"Yeah." Maejin nodded at N. "I just went to the Choosing yesterday. I was forced to by my father. If I didn't, he wouldn't have let me go to the academy."

"So he made you get a slave?" The black haired boy asked.

Maejin nodded. "Yup. And my brother, too."

Eunmi smiled at Ravi. "I hate it, too. But I wasn't forced. I just happened to be at the Choosing with family and decided to take Ravi when I saw how he was being treated."

"So, you both hate slavery?" The tall boy asked.

Maejin nodded. "Yup. Feel free to judge. We don't care."

The two boys looked at each other, then at the two boys who had been behind them, before taking a deep breath.

"What a relief!" The black haired boy sighed. "We don't have to put up an act!"

The blonde haired boy smiled, clapping quickly like a seal, before going over to sit by the window beside the tall boy. The other boy sat down beside the black haired boy.

Maejin felt utterly confused. "Uh...what?"

The black haired boy smiled. "We hate slavery, too!"

"And like you, we were forced to get slaves by our parents!" The tall boy added.

Maejin couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Seriously?"

The black haired boy nodded. "Yup!" He pointed to himself. "My name's Baekhyun!"

The tall boy raised his hand. "Chanyeol!"

Ravi, by then, had moved to sit beside Eunmi. N gave Maejin a questioning look. She nodded, lettting him sit beside her.

Baekhyun gestured to the boy sitting beside him. "This is my slave, Chen." Chen gave a slight wave as Baekhyun pointed over to the over boy. "And that's Kai, Chanyeol's slave." Kai waved happily to them.

"They're brothers!" Chanyeol stated."

Eunmi gasped. "Really?"

Chen nodded. "Yeah, Kai's my younger brother."

Maejin still couldn't believe what was going on. She and Eunmi had actually found others like them. They wouldn't be completely alone at the academy.

"How old are you, Kai?" Eunmi asked.

Kai held up one finger, then six. 

"Sixteen?" Maejin wondered why he didn't just say it.

Kai nodded then pointed to his throat and made an "X" sign with his hands.

"You can't speak?" Eunmi asked.

Kai nodded.

"Kai's a mute." Chanyeol explained.

Eunnmi gasped. "He is? How long has he been?"

"Four years." Chen answered, his expression darkening. "There was an incident and Kai's vocal chords got severly damaged during it."

"Oh, that's so sad." Eunmi look at Kai sadly. "I'm so sorry."

Kai nodded, giving her a small smile.

"Good thing it wasn't his legs, though." Chanyeol said. "Kai's an amazing dancer!"

"Really?" This peaked Maejin's interest. She loved dance. "What styles?"

"Jazz and ballet." Chen replied.

"You dance, too?" Baekhyun asked.

Maejin nodded. "I know jazz and ballet, too." Kai perked up at her comment. "As well as ballroom."

"Cool!" Chaneyol grinned. "You'll have to show us later."

Maejin smiled. "Sure thing."

They all talked the entire trip, curious to get to know each other. During it, Maejin couldn't help but feel releaved having met them. While she didn't care about a reputation, she had hoped to make other friends. And now she had.

Now I'm definitely going to love being at Mythnal Academy.