I’m lost.

“Look around,” Sunggyu ordered. “Tell me what you see.” It was the morning after his triumph, and I was too exhausted to see anything. After we’d left the showers, I tried to follow Sunggyu to his dorm. I wanted to stay overnight to defend him, but he beat me back and locked me out.

In the darkness after curfew, I sat on the floor by my door, listening for movement outside on the balcony. I knew there was a chance that Jungyeop would send someone to dispose of Sunggyu. I imagined finding his room empty the next morning. I envisioned his stripped bed—and then his lifeless body laid out on an autopsy table.

The moment my door unlocked, I headed straight for his dorm. His things were still there, but Sunggyu was not. I searched for almost twenty minutes before I found him, standing on the sixth-floor balcony, peering into the cafeteria. His back was still facing me when he spoke.

“How did you know it was me?” I asked.

“The limp,” he replied, his eyes still scanning the cafeteria. “What do you see in there?” The way Sunggyu said it, I assumed something important had changed. So I studied the scene and realized Seungyeon was missing. Otherwise, it was no different from any other morning.

The Wolves occupied two tables in front of the unlit rankings screen. The Androids were scattered randomly around the large room, most with their heads buried in books. It was too early in the semester to officially label the Ghosts, but I already knew which of the students were likely to disappear.

Sunggyu’s question worried me. He’d been out of the Suites for almost a week, and he still didn’t know what I’d figured out after a few hours upstairs. He’d vanquished Seungyeon and anointed himself Dux, but even if the title had been official, Sunggyu didn’t have what it took to keep the crown. I wanted to tell him everything, but I couldn’t. Not there—with everyone watching and at least one person listening.

“There are three groups here.” I pointed to the Wolves’ tables. “Those are the top twelve students—the elite. They run the place. Numbers thirteen through fifty are what I call Androids. They’re smart, but not quite smart enough. The bottom six students are Ghosts. They don’t have what it takes to survive. They’ll be expelled before the semester ends.” I carefully enunciated each syllable of the word expelled so he’d know exactly what it meant.

“Sounds brutal,” Sunggyu said.

“Our headmaster believes in the law of the jungle.”

“That’s what you see here?” he asked. “A jungle?” Sunggyu took a step forward, into the cafeteria. Someone must have been waiting for him to make his entrance because the moment Sunggyu crossed the threshold, a bright light enveloped him as if he’d activated an invisible trip wire. I stumbled forward, ready to fight, certain he’d fallen into a trap. But when my eyes adjusted, I could see he was safe. Safer than I could have ever imagined.

The screen was lit. Jungyeop had announced new rankings three weeks ahead of schedule. As far as I could tell, he’d made only one change to the list. There were still two Duxes—Sunggyu and me. Seungyeon’s name wasn’t up there at all. Every student in the cafeteria was staring at Sunggyu. He accepted their lack of applause with a grin and a humble bow. Then he continued his foray across the room. Whatever plans he’d made, the news hadn’t changed them.

As Sunggyu approached their table, the elite Wolves slid apart, offering him Seungyeon’s old spot in the center. He walked right past them, through the light cast by the rankings screen. Then he took a seat at an Android table. I hurried to join him. “You’re a Dux now,” I whispered. “You need to sit with the top students.”

“Says who?” Sunggyu responded.

“You’re going to have to keep an eye on them,” I told him. “They’re dangerous.”

“Which makes them predictable. Look, Flick, yesterday was great, but I’m not in the market for a boyfriend or a bodyguard right now. I’ve got work to do. If you want to hang around, that’s fine by me. But please don’t interfere.” I sat down, but it felt like I’d been knocked off my feet.

“Hey you!” Sunggyu called out cheerfully to a girl sitting at the end of the table. “Come over and say hi.” The girl slid down into the seat across from us. I couldn’t introduce her because I’d never bothered to learn her name. But I did feel a bit sorry for her. She was quivering like a chambermaid who’d been hauled before a new master.

“I’m Sunggyu. This is Flick. What’s your name?”

“Yena.” She answered reluctantly, as though even her name might cause offense.

“Nice to meet you, Yena. How long have you been here?” Nice to meet you?! How was Sunggyu asking that in such a situation?!

“This is my third semester.”

“What’s your major?”

“Technology.”

Sunggyu glanced up at the rankings. “You’re number thirty-two. Why so low?” The girl hesitated. “You can tell me,” Sunggyu assured her.

“My instructors say I’m too meek. I don’t mind stealing from big corporations, but I don’t like robbing the little guys.”

“And what are you good at?”

“My specialty is hacking Facebook. I have their source code.”

“Impressive,” Sunggyu said. “Thanks for the chat. I’ll let you get back to your breakfast. Mind asking the guy at the end of the table to slide over here for a moment?”

“Are you planning to interview everyone?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” Sunggyu replied. “How am I supposed to lead people I don’t know?”

“Then you really should start with them,” I said, pointing to the Wolves’ table.

“Are you kidding?” Sunggyu snorted. “They’re the least interesting people here.”

I grabbed him and pulled him closer until I could whisper in his ear. “You can’t save all the outcasts.”

When I released him, he was furious. “Is that what you think I’m trying to do?”

The Wolves were watching as I rose from my stool. I could feel their eyes follow me across the cafeteria. I made it through the door and around the corner. Only when I was out of sight did I start to stagger. My father would never be punished. My brother would not be avenged. I’d hoped I’d be able to destroy the academy. But when Sunggyu arrived, I’d abandoned that mission too.

I had given up everything to save a boy with no interest in a boyfriend or a bodyguard. A boy who no longer had any interest in me.

I reached my room, and when I closed the door, a shadow slipped out of the bathroom. Seungyeon wore a plain black dress with long sleeves. Without makeup, her pale face was the grayish white of a wraith. “Here for my head?” I asked as I lay down on my bed. At that point, I might have let her take it.

“Mr. Jungyeop gave him my title, didn’t he?” Seungyeon entire body was twitching. She tried crossing her arms, but she couldn’t hide it.

“You broke the rules, Seungyeon,” I explained with a sigh. “You attacked Sunggyu before the Immunity Phase was over. Sunggyu won the fight, and he earned the Dux title.”

“Earned it?” Seungyeon seethed. “Do you have any idea what I’ve had to do to stay Dux?”

“Yes,” I reminded her. “You did it to me.”

“I earned my title. I deserved it. What has he ever done?”

“You knew how the game worked, Seungyeon. You knew from the start that Jungyeop doesn’t play fair.”

“Don’t blame this on Mr. Jungyeop. This isn’t his fault. It’s yours. That boy wouldn’t be here at the academy if it weren’t for you.”

“And I have a feeling Sunggyu’s just as angry about that as you are.”

“Oh, please. The little mutt’s still in love with you. He kept you in the locker room showers for a while, didn’t he? Well, Mr. Jungyeop may have given Sunggyu my title, but I’m not going to let him have you too. I’m going to tell him everything.”

I shrugged. “Go right ahead. He already knows.”

Seungyeon knelt down by my bed and put a trembling hand on my chest. “He knows we were a couple. But the devil’s always in the details, isn’t it? I’m going to tell him things that he’ll never be able to get out of his head. I’ll even draw a few pictures if I have to. But from now on, every time he looks at you, he’s going to see the two of us together.”

I picked up her hand and threw it back at her. “I see defeat hasn’t changed you. You’re still a real , Seungyeon.”

“Defeat? Who said the game’s over? Mr. Jungyeop understands that I haven’t been myself lately. He’s giving me another chance.”

“Is that what he told you?”

“No, but he had the doctors increase my medication.”

“Medication? You never told me that you’re on medication. Is it for . . .”

“I’m not crazy!” Seungyeon was shaking so hard that I reached out to steady her. “The pills just help me focus. So think of what I’ll be able to do now that they’re giving me three a day instead of just one.”

I remembered my father’s warning. “I think you should stop taking them. I’ve never seen anyone shake like this before.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized they weren’t true. I’d seen Soul shake too.

“Save your advice, Flick.”

“I’m serious, Seungyeon. A bunch of pills aren’t going to help you take back the title.”

Her lips were so dry that they cracked when she smiled. “Maybe. But if it ever looks like I’m going to lose, you better bet I’ll make sure that nobody else gets to win.”

AN: Hey guys!

I put in a small filler chapter to show how everyone is adjusting to the changes that are happening at Woollim. With Sunggyu's arrival, a LOT of things are going to be different.

You can kind of tell from how Woohyun seems to think in the way that everyone else does (that the Wolves are dangerous, that you have to stick to the social standings, that you have to listen to everything) - Sunggyu can see that because Woohyun is doing that, he is letting the people like Jungyeop win. (Woohyun is trying to play the game that can't be won, but Sunggyu is refusing to play it, which is why he wins - DUX)

Sunggyu is the bringer of change, and will play a great role in the remaining chapters. 

School is starting on Monday for me, so this might be my last hurrah before TT TT I DUN WANNA GO BACK TT TT (Maybe Sunday night?)

But yeah... Hope you guys enjoy, and see you next time XD