Chapter One-

Group of Seven

The afterlife is not what anyone expects it to be. It is actually just like the world of the living, there's crime, there's happy families, there are schools. That's where I currently was. I was sitting in the auditorium, waiting for my name to be called so I would be assisgned to a group and given a task. I went to a special school, one for those who wished to become Undertakers. The school was technically a college since it provided us with the specific education we needed for the job and since what grade you were in didn't really depend on your age. Undertakers are those who guide souls of those who had just died to the afterlife. Not really a pleasant job because of how surprisingly dangerous it was, but the job was definitely well respected.

Not every soul in the afterlife was born in the world of the living. Even though most were, there were still souls that were born in the afterlife. Those were the people who mainly wanted to become Undertakers, there were very few souls that were born in the world of the living that wished to take up the job. There were only about three sitting in the auditorium, and I was one of them.

The key thing to help differentiate those who were born in the afterlife and those who came to the afterlife were the eyes. Those who were born in the afterlife had normal colored eyes that ranged from brown to green to blue, but those who were born in the world of the living had white eyes with just a tint of grey to seperate the pupil. For some reason, when a person died and their soul came to the afterlife their eyes changed. I liked to believe that the whiteness symbolized our loss of life. Not that those who were born in the afterlife didn't have a life, the afterlife isn't actually the end of the road since all of our souls will eventually disintergrate into nothingness and blend into the Void, but those like myself had a life that we had lost and now are living life a new.

Being one of the very few born in the world of the living to come to this school, it was extremely difficult. I was always being looked at, being talked about, and I just hoped that the group I was going to be assigned with at our graduation weren't like that.

There were only a few students left that needed to be called up to the stage and I was begining to grow anxious. Maybe I'm not graduating with the others I began to think.

I listened intently as the dean started calling the list of names for the new group. "The last group, Cha Hakyeon, Jung Taekwoon, Lee Jaehwan, Kim Wonshik, Lee Hongbin, Han Sanghyunk, and Abigal Bern."

The crowd fell silent as I and the others that were called walked towards the stage. I bit my lip and looked at the ground as I walked. This was unheard of, a group of seven? It didn't happen. Every group that was made today was either a pair or a trio, ocassionally a fourth was thrown in, but there was nothing higher than that.

Once I was on the stage I glanced at the six boys who were in my group. They were all handsome in their own way, even the one with the big nose and the other with the tanned skin. I recognized one from one of my classes but I had never talked him. He didn't even talk to anyone, at least I talked to some people. I knew he was Taekwoon. There was only one other I regognized but I had only ever past by him in the hallways. Whenever he past by though the few girls that went to the school would giggle. I believed his name was Hongbin.

"Excuse me sir," the tanned skinned one began to ask. The dean turned to him and gave him a pointed look meaning to say to continue. "Why are we in a group of seven? Isn't that... not normal?"

The dean smirked. "Yes it is not normal Mr. Cha, however we on the school's board believed it was necessary. You see, all seven of you have the worst scores in the whole school. Your scores are set far off from the rest of the school's so we believed it would be best to put all seven of you together to see if you could improve."

Hakyeon's eyes widened and a blush seemed to form across his face. The students in the audience started to snicker and I turned my eyes back towards the ground. The dean then made some speech to us that he gave to the other groups, officially listing us as a team, and sent us back into the audience where we were instructed to sit together. I ended up sitting between the one that appeared to be the youngest, though he still seemed older than me, and the one that seemed like a jokester. I glanced up to my right when I felt someone staring at me and I met the eyes of the jokester who just smiled a bit and then looked away.

I looked away too and turned my attention to the dean on the stage as he began to say something else.

"I will now give you your first assignments." He cleared his throat. "All of you are to spend the day together at the appartments we have provided for you. Since you will all be living together from now until this day next year it is important to get to know each other. It is especially important that you all learn to trust each other and soon, since it is your teammates that you have to rely on if you get into danger on your mission. Tomorrow morning a slip will be slid under your door. That slip will be your first assignment and you are to report to the Gates as soon as you are ready to go out. Remember, your mission is to your soul here but you must try to survive the journey yourself. That is all, you are dismissed."

The whole auditorium broke into chatter at that point and several groups left right away. We had been instructed to bring any personal belongings and luggage with us to the auditorium this morning so everyone had suitcases with them. I only had one since I didn't really have many possesions.

My group made its way into the aisle where we stood around facing eachother. "Well," the tanned skin one started. "I'm Cha Hakyeon but you can call me N. It's nice to meet all of you."

The jokester next to him introduced himself as Kim Wonshik and told us to call him Ravi. The big nosed one was Lee Jaehwan, also known as Ken. The younger one was Han Sanghyuk who perfered just Hyuk. I introduced myself as Abigale since I perfered my full name and the one who I past by in the hallways was Hongbin. The silent one in my class was Jung Taekwoon who told us to call him Leo.

"So then," N said, taking on the role of the leader of our group naturally. "Let's go to our appartment I guess." Then we all left the auditorium together and I sighed to myself.

This is going to be a long year with them.

Hello~ I'm 2morrowsdecision. Thank you for reading this chapter of The Undertakers! I'm sorry to say that updates may be a little slow thanks to school but I will update whenever I can.

I know that this chapter was mainly background knowledge but the story will progress into more action and drama in later chapters. I don't know who I'm going to make Abigale's love interest yet so if  you have a preference please tell me in the comments. Please continue to read and enjoy this story :)