After the tense meeting with the headmaster concluded, the 18 boys and girl filed out of the stone office in an orderly fashion. The large wooden door slammed shut behind them, causing the girls to jump a bit. Not sure of what to do, Junyoung stepped in as the leader and addressed the girls.

He gave them a small smile, "Don't mind headmaster-nim. He's like that with everyone, it's his philosophy to instill fear into everything he sees."

"Does he have to wear that stupid mask every second also? Gosh, it makes him look gay. There were jewels on them. Jewels." Kira scoffed. "And I was the only one that he told off..." She muttered to herself.

Taehun's eyes widened and he gripped Kira's small arm. "He got mad at you!? What did you do this time, Kim Kira?" He hissed, just out of earshot of the rest of the people.

Yanking her arm out of his grasp, she spoke, "I just didn't have a perfect expression on my face like the rest of the goody-two-shoes girls here. I'm not a princess, and I don't plan on changing that just for him."

"Just... don't have that 'kill me now' face all the time, alright? It'll do you good around here because the elders and the sunbaenims don't take disrespect. And I can't be here to fight your battles all the time." Taehun sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Kira scoffed and crossed her arms. "Who said you had to? I'm fine by myself." With that, she trooped away from him to join the big group, Taehun following close behind.

While the siblings were talking, the group had made the decision to just have one large, collective tour of the castle grounds. Junyoung, being the leader of ZE:A, would be the tour guide for the nine girls. They started from the floor that they were at, the fourth floor.

Junyoung explained some of the history of the school and the castle while they were familiarizing themselves with the classrooms and locations of other places. "This castle was built around 500 CE, making this ol' place about fifteen hundred years old."

Mutters of amazement sounded through the girls. Yuet, always the curious one, blurted out a question that was on her mind. "Then why don't the walls rot and break when you kick 'em? Wait let me try!" She ran away, the rest of the group staring at her quizzically.

"Someone needs to tranquilize her." Jade said to herself, only to be heard by her mentor Kevin. He chuckled at her caustic humor.

Yuet came back, limping and with a sad expression plastered on her face. "Yup. This place is pretty sturdy."

"That's because the castle is maintained carefully by the supernatural royalties, due to our reputation as the most prestigious school available for the supernatural youth." Junyoung informed the group. "Anyways, continuing on, this castle was commissioned by the clergy of the Catholic Church to be a prison for monsters. Every witch, rabid animal, or person with special powers was sent here in exile."

"That's the reason that this school was built so far from Europe," Kevin continued. "The church officials went to great lengths to keep the so-called 'monsters' away from the innocent public. Even if they had to shoulder the cost of the three month journey to the castle, it was a sacrifice they had to make."

Byul, who was a studious girl, noticed a historical anachronism right away. "Excuse me, did you say 500 CE? Around that time, the population of Europe was, at best, in the very rudimentary stages of world exploration. They knew about the Silk Road and the spices available in China, but nobody in Europe even knew Korea existed until a good thousand years later."

Junyoung nodded, "That's true, if you just go by what they tell you in the history books. We supernaturals, we're rule breakers - what happened in the with castle went on completely behind the scenes. Only the pope and his absolute closest confidants knew about this prison in the distant land of 'Kor', as they called it."

"And why couldn't the public know? It's for their own safety, after all. It would shed some good light on the church clergy." Yukiko commented, folding her arms across her chest.

Kevin held a finger up, "Ah, the exact reason the public couldn't know was because of the innate human tendency to be curious. They knew the authorities were dealing with the dangerous freaks, but what exactly were those freaks capable of to be thrown harshly into a prison in a distant land? The pope's seemingly well-crafted plan shattered when word of this enigmatic prison for monsters reached one of the lower ranked church workers. This guy, whose name was Gerald, was well-read and could reason just as well as any of the other high-up fellows."

"However, he was impulsive. Jumped too quickly into a hunch that could be completely wrong, the elders said of him. So when he found out about the existence of the castle, he immediately thought 'These are people we are talking about. They didn't do anything wrong, yet they get treated like animals and are shipped off to their doom.'" Junyoung continued, taking the reins of the conversation from Kevin. "This person, he's actually pretty brave. See, the next week, after he asked around and used his sources to find about when the ships for the prisoners came, he boarded one of the ships that were destined for Kor."

"He spent the next three months in the barrage of the ship, conversing with and getting to know the supernatural people. Although there were a few bad seeds amongst the group, he realized that most of them were actually warm-hearted people. Unique, yes, but with good intentions nonetheless. He also learned of the various powers and types of supernatural people - witches, ghouls, ghosts, pyrokinetics, cambions, lamias, angles, undines, and unfortunately, demons. He didn't get along well with the demons of the group, which led to dire consequences, but we'll come back to that later."

"He arrived in Kor, incognito of course, and was overwhelmed at the blatant mistreatment of the inmates there. Sure, the European prisons at the time were harsh, but this was like nothing he had ever seen before. In addition to physical inflictments, such as whipping, lashing, and beatings, the overseers found a way to inflict mental and emotional pain."

The girls gasped collectively. Even the ZE:A guys, who had heard this story innumerable times in history class, were hooked onto Junyoung's words.

"How, you ask? By turning themselves on each other. They basically brainwashed the strongest mind manipulators, the brawniest ghouls, and the cleverest pixies into working for them. The overseers promised special treatment and a place on the first ship home if they completed the tasks that they gave them. Although they were smart, the years of confinement had weakened their minds and wills. They willingly toyed with the minds of their fellow inmates."

Junyoung took a short pause, and continued. "For example, if there was an female angel who was desperately missing her beloved, the mind-bender working for the overseers would first plant an image in her mind, a sliver of doubt that her boyfriend was dead. During the nights, he would then manipulate her dreams to produce grisly scenes of her beloved being slashed to death by a dagger. And then, the last stage - he would make her have shockingly real hallucinations in which she would imagine that she was holding her boyfriend's head in her lap, blood gushing out like a river from a wound near his heart."

"Let's just say that nights in Kor weren't peaceful. Most of the people would scream until their voices gave out or they collapsed in fatigue." Kevin added.

"And they couldn't commit suicide, either. There were no tools, they weren't allowed out, and communication between inmates was prohibited. 

Cristal was fascinated, and she probed Junyoung on. "How did the church worker fit in then?"

"Gerald? He crafted a scheme that allowed him to secretly kill off the overseers, one by one, from lowest rank all the way to the head person. Even though he swore not to murder without a cause, this time he had a legitimate reason. These supernatural people, they were his friends and he knew that they did no wrong. Unlike the overseers, Gerald had a heart."

"His plan worked, up until the head overseer grew extremely suspicious. After all, half of his staff had disappeared mysteriously, without a trace. Gerald knew that he had to act quickly. So one night, he stole the master key and unleashed every single inmate in the prison. Literally all hell broke loose. That night is known as Noche Triste, or the 'Night of Tears' in Spanish. Gerald was unfortunately killed in the battle by one of the demons who held a grudge against him, but the overseers were all eradicated and the supernaturals came to rule the castle."

"And, in Gerald's name, the supernaturals who came to be leaders turned the castle into a school for educating all young special beings."

Cherie whistled, impressed. "That is one impressive founding story." She commented sincerely.

After touring the third and second floor, the large group arrived at the ground floor containing the garden, entrance to the forest, and various classrooms.

Junyoung stopped in his tracks and everyone else halted also. "Now that you guys have about half of the castle, let's stop here so we can explain how the dorming, mentoring, and the castle boundaries work."

"You guys will be living in the south wing on the seventh floor, with four girls to a room I believe. Males live in the north wing, and there are absolutely no people of the opposite gender allowed in the bedrooms at any time. The living room is co-ed, but they really are strict about the bedrooms." Junyoung flipped his hair and warned the girls. "My roommate a couple of years ago brought this ditzy angel girl into our room, and the officials knew immediately. Some say he was expelled, but we know better. I still hear his voice floating around the room sometimes, and a classmate of mine said that she found a finger on the hiking trail with his ring on it. So beware, girls."

Dongjun continued for Junyoung, "Mentoring will be twice a week. We'll decide on a place to meet, and you better attend the meetings or else we'll be really sad." He pouted cutely for emphasis.

Kira smirked, "Missing a few wouldn't hurt you..." She said, just loud enough for Dongjun to hear.

"Oh c'mon, you know you'll want to see my beautiful face two times a week. Wait, you're not my mentee." He his heel and faced Nae Ya. "Nae Ya-ssi, you'll go to every meeting, right?"

She smild shyly, "Of course. You're doing this for me, right?" Dongjun nodded happily. *What connection does Dongjun have with Kim Kira?* Nae Ya thought pensively. She quickly shoved the thought to the back of her mind and continued smiling at Dongjun.

"Yah Kim Dongjun, you cut into my speech." Junyoung teased. "There are a few places in the castle that are off-limits to students. The first is the dungeons. They don't tell you where the entrance is, but there are always those few students who are too adventurous and actually find the entrance. Second is the forest. We'll go on walks or hikes on the trails occassionally, but going into the forest unaccompanied by an adult or at night is prohibited. The third place, which was banned pretty recently, is the big classroom on the sixth floor - Merlin's Room. Even though it's probably locked and sealed, Mr G personally called an assembly two years ago to tell us not even to stop and look at the room. And every year, he reminds us to steer clear of that room."

"Finally, the last place is the hut over near the stadium. They say that Mr G has a birdie watching the area around the hut 24/7."

Cherie seemed overwhelmed by the influx of information. "Why are there so many places banned? It seems like theres a lot of information they don't want us to see..." She mused.

"That's just the way it is. Don't question the natural order - it's better for you that way." Siwan wisely advised.

Junyoung clapped his hands once and pushed himself out of the seat. "Well! That's about it for the tour. I wish the nine of you luck in your years at Star Empire, and it was nice being your handsome tour guide for today." He took a cheesy bow that earned him a few slaps from s.

The group slowly dispersed, and the mentors asked around for their respective mentees. All except one.

Hyungshik looked baffled. "Y-yah everyone! Did you guys happen to see Areum?" He asked, in a panic.

Everyone shook their heads, the atmosphere slowly taking a drastic turn from jovial to bleak.

"That's weird, I think I've been counting eight girls ever since the beginning of the tour." Junyoung thought back.

Desperately, Hyungshik tried a last resort. "Please raise your hand if you have your mentor!"

Eight hands rose in the air. Hyungshik gulped. *It's my first day as a mentor and my mentee has vanished without a sight. Ottokhae?!?*

a/n Omg has Areum been kidnapped? I don't know... doesn't this whole school seem kind of fishy to you guys? (; So, about this chapter, sorry if it was a bit boring for you guys, I just had to provide some kind of back story. It's probably all historically wrong, since I don't listen in history class I was just going off of my intuition. More interactions with the students and your mentors to come in part 3! Even though it's really early in the story, feel free to speak up if you have a hunch about what's really going on in Star Empire ;3 Muah<3

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