Jay led Junhui and Minghao to one of the meeting rooms.

She gestured for them to sit down and followed suit.

She didn’t say anything causing Minghao to squirm under her gaze. Junhui stared back unblinkingly.

She finally turned to them and said, "Based on my observation, you are both fairly trained in martial arts or some form of fighting. However,"

Junhui in his breath.

She looked at him and smiled, "However, I am willing to take you on my team, Junhui."

Junhui let out a sigh of relief and let his body relax from his tense position.

"Um," spoke Minghao. "What about me?"

She frowned slightly. "Unfortunately, I will not be taking you."

"What? Why?" he exclaimed in protest, jumping up. "You just said we were both good in fighting."

Her frown deepened. "I did say that, but I can tell that you really don’t think much about joining the team. You are only doing so because Junhui is doing it."

"And?" he questioned.

"And I am not willing to bring you on if that is your only reason. I have been extremely lenient lately on why people could join and I started thinking I should be more stringent. Do you even know what we do?" Her voice was chilly and stern. They both knew that she was being extremely serious.

Minghao shrugged his shoulders, sitting back down. "I don't. But why does that matter?"

“You are essentially putting your life at risk when you join. Are you willing to put your life in danger at something you don’t even know?”

Minghao looked at her with a nonchalant look. “What if I am?’

“Junhui is more important to you than your own life?” she asked in surprise.

Minghao glanced at Junhui who did not seem affected at any of the conservation, almost as if he’s heard this more than once.

“Maybe not more than important, but at least just as important.”

She sighed and pushed a photograph to him. "Do you see anything out of the ordinary?"

Minghao picked up the photo and peered at it. It was a picture of a man, slumped against a wall. His head was on his shoulder like he was sleeping. It looked normal except for the fact that he looked very dark. Specifically, his skin looked dark, like splotches of black and gray riddled his body.

"It's a guy with some kind of weird skin condition," he answered, pushing the photo back.

"What about this?" she asked, pushing another photo to him.

Minghao looked at him and made a face of confusion and horror. It did not look human. The thing's face had large bulges covering the entirety of it like something had an extremely bad allergic reaction. Its body was shaped like a lizard with a long tail and two front arms with it standing on its hind legs. Its arms were long and lanky and looked like it had thorns covering them.

He flipped it over in disgust. "I have no clue," he answered.

She slid the photo back to her silently.

"That thing you saw in the picture is called a nibra.”

“Are you really going to tell him?”

Junhui suddenly spoke up, interrupting Jay.

She frowned. “I have a feeling that it will be hard to persuade him otherwise. If he knows, then maybe it’ll change his mind.” She paused and looked at him pointedly. “I am actually surprised that you haven’t told him all this time.”

Junhui looked away momentarily before turning back. He blankly looked at her and told her instead. “I doubt you’ll change his mind, but you can try.”

She returned her attention to Minghao and continued, “Nibras are monsters that can kill a human in the matter of seconds. It's a dangerous thing that transforms from humans themselves. They are humans that are consumed by their own grief and negative emotions, so much that it destroys them and turns them into a nibra. The first picture you saw is someone who will turn into a nibra. The second, as you already know, is a fully transitioned nibra."

"And you kill those things, I'm assuming," Minghao suggested.

She stonily looked at him. "We kill both."

"Both?" he echoed.

She sighed and closed her eyes briefly. "You must understand. I am not doing this because I don't think you're not fit for this or anything. I'm doing this because anybody who joins is putting their lives at risk. But I am not willing to put anybody at risk if they are not sure about joining. And that is where you lie."

Minghao was quiet until he spoke up again. "No, I still want to do it."

She narrowed her eyes. "Did you not understand anything I just said?"

The boy frowned. "I did! I just..." He looked away. He didn't know how to explain it.

But she did not accept such a flimsical answer. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I will not allow you to join. It's unfortunate but-"

"Wait."

Junhui, who had been quietly watching the exchange, interrupted quietly.

She looked at him expectantly.

"Minghao... he might act like this, but he's a good guy. I can vouch for his skills. He had trained along side with me for as long as I can remember. His behavior might indicate a naive decision, but..."

Jay sighed, throwing her hand to her forehead and rubbing it. "Fine."

Minghao's eyes lit up.

"But I need to know what your living conditions are."

"Why?" Minghao asked suspiciously. "And why didn't you ask Junhui?"

She sighed. "I need to know if you ran away from home or something like that. If you are to join, you are essentially living with possibility of getting gravely injured. That being said, we try and limit much contact from home because of the secrecy of what we do. And we are not sure if your involvement with us will cause them problems or worries. And the reason why I didn't ask Junui because I already know that is parents allowed him to come. And seeing how they used to be in the Tigers, they, too, know the circumstances surrounding us."

Minghao shook his head. "I moved out a long time ago."

Junhui nodded solemnly. "He basically lives with me."

She icily stared him down before closing her eyes in defeat. "Alright. However, I will be giving you a trial period," she insisted, opening her eyes to look at Minghao. "If you manage to keep up with the training for a month and provide me a satisfactory answer to why you want to join by the end, I will consider you."

Minghao opened his mouth to protest, but she quickly shut him down. "There will be no arguing. This is the only way I will take you in."

He closed his mouth and nodded.

She nodded back and stood up. "Then let's go."

"Go where?" Minghao asked, standing up as well with Junhui following suit.

She glanced back at them and smiled tiredly. "Where else? Home."

She took them both back to the manor through the portal with her grabbing one boy in each hand. She could tell that they were stunned but continued regardless.

Minghao let out a low whistle. “Big place you got.”

She laughed softly. “Could you imagine I used to live here alone?”

“Used to?” Minghao repeated.

She didn’t reply as she opened the front door and showed them in.

They were met with a wide-eyed boy sitting on the couch, stuffing his mouth with popcorn. Two other dark-haired boys were sitting next to him, both turning their heads when they heard the front door open.

Minghao and Junhui stared at the three boys while they stared back. Only Jay casually walked to the refrigerator and pulled out some water to drink. Pouring herself a glass a water, she muffled a yawn with her hand. It seemed she was about to walk off when the boy with the stuffed mouth started to half mumble and half shout.

“Soonyoung!” one of the boys next to his shouted. “Don’t talk with your mouth full. You’re getting popcorn all over the floor.”

The boy looked at the other apologetically, chewing as fast as he could.

Jay looked at them amusedly.

“Sorry, Jisoo,” he finally managed to say, “But Jay! Who are these people?”

She pointed at each one. “Wen Junhui. Xu Minghao.”

“Are they are going to join?” the other boy who hadn’t spoken finally asked.

She shrugged. “Depends.”

The two newcomers could tell that the three boys were getting annoyed, although varied by the person, by her lack of explanation and nonchalant attitude.

“Oh ho,” Soonyoung muttered. “So, that’s how it’s going to be.”

The girl raised and eyebrow, a smirk crossing her face. “And what are going to do about it?”

Soonyoung stood up, putting his hands up in a fighting stance. “We shall fight to the death!”

“The only one dying today is you,” she replied as she slowly grinned.

Jisoo rolled his eyes and whacked Soonyoung in the stomach, causing him to double over and look at Jisoo pitifully. “Stop it. Both of you.”

The other boy also snickered a little and looked at Jay. “Yeah, Jay. Stop it. Look at them. They look so confused. The least you can do is introduce us to each other.”

Jay blinked, her gaze falling on the two newcomers before letting out a hearty laugh. “You’re right, Wonwoo. I’m teasing you guys too much.”

She nodded towards the other couches in the room. “Sit down. I’m going to call the others.”

Minghao and Junhui looked at each, a bit bewildered and finally did what she asked.

When everyone gathered, she formally introduced them to the rest of the group.

“This is Wen Junhui. He will be joining the group. His parents used to be in the White Tigers a long time ago. Their son has decided he would like to join my faction.”

“He wanted to join your faction?” Jihoon snorted out in disbelief.

Jay returned his retort with a laugh. “Right? Couldn’t believe it either.”

Junhui made a small bow. “It is a pleasure to meet all of you. I look forward to working with you all.”

“Can you even fight?” Jihoon asked, narrowing his eyes.

Junhui did not back down. “Would you like to see for yourself?”

“Now, now. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to beat each other black and blue.” She then turned to the other male. “And this is Xu Minghao. He’s not officially joining the group. At least not yet. I’m putting him on a trial run before I decide.”

“Trial run?” Seungcheol murmured thoughtfully.

She nodded. “I’m being more...strict on who can join.” She noticed the looks on the other’s faces and rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry. I’m not talking about you guys. You guys are already part of the team. I don’t plan on kicking you guys out anytime soon. Unfortunately, you are stuck with me until you decide you want to leave.”

“What made you change your mind?” Wonwoo asked, biting his lip.

“We do dangerous things. I might have had good reasons for the rest of you, but I can’t let someone who just simply arbitrarily wants to.”

They all looked at Minghao who only stared back, not willing to back down.

“Anyways. I suppose first order of business is officiating Junhui.”

She looked over to the said boy. She walked over and leaned over, placing her face near his. He was a bit confused. Once he realized the impending danger, he suddenly put his hands on her shoulders and roughly pushed her back.

“What are you doing?”

Minghao had asked it instead of Junhui, jumping up in surprise and anger.

Junhui, on the other hand, merely stared at Jay in surprise.

The others merely stared at the scene, never seen it play out this way.

Jay was a bit shocked, but soon was unsuccessfully trying to suppress a smile. She raised her hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright. Sorry.”

She reached over and put her hand out.

Junhui stared at it before hesitantly taking it.

She grinned and before he could react, she brought it to her lips, whispered a few words, and kissed the tips of his fingers. The air around grew cold like brief tingles of winds, the kind that brought goosebumps.

Junhui immediately retracted his hand. He felt odd, weirdly at peace but there was also a prickling feeling where she had kissed his fingers.

“Welcome to the team,” she said with a laugh.

She looked at Minghao who blinked back.

He shot out his hands. “Do your worst.”

She rolled her eyes. “For you,” she took his hands and shook them. “All I can say is good luck.”

Minghao looked down at his hands and slowly put them after she released them. “No kiss?”

She laughed. “That’s not until you officially join.” She paused. “Unless you want one.”

Minghao stared at her in bewilderment until he burst out laughing. “Nah. Not until I prove every single one of you wrong.”

Jay smiled at him and leaned forward. “Good luck with that,” she murmured in his ear. “I assure you this won’t be as easy as you think.”

Minghao smirked. “We’ll see about that.”

She shrugged and turned to the face the entire group. “Then I suppose all I have to say is welcome to the Azure Dragons. I hope the next month will treat you all kindly.”

A shorter chapter, but we're moving things right along.