4th Chapter - First Days

I was so excited to return to that pub that I couldn’t sleep or focus on my lesson. And the worst was I had my reasons to return there. I wanted to see ‘King’, to know more about him. He was so mysterious, but he had showed me such a nice side of him some days before. I couldn’t help but look forward to see him again.

As soon as I finished school, I changed my clothes and hurried to go. All streets seemed brighter and nicer just by the thought of going.

“I came back”, I said loudly on the entrance. Some unknown guy greeted me, and accompanied me to a room.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m Sungmin.” He said, smiling. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ji Eun.”

When we reached there I saw where he had taken me: to a games room. I saw everybody together playing cards, ping-pong, billiard, etc.

“Ji Eun! Come here!” Xiah called me, excited. I smiled until my eyes noticed ‘King’, who was next to him, looking deeply at me. “Come play with me. You’ll be my partner.”

I approached them, but Micky didn’t let me sit. “I’ll be Xiah’s partner, you’ll be King’s partner, so sit next to him.”

“Yah! But I wanted Ji Eun to be my pa- Aigo!” Xiah yelled, massaging his leg. I smiled, somehow thankful to Yoochun.

“So, what are we playing?” I asked King. He just shrugged and showed me his cards.

We were sitting so close that I could sense his breath on my right arm. It bothered me a bit but I didn’t know why.

“We should play this card.” I showed him mine.

“No, I think this one is better.” He said, and took another card from me, touching my arm slightly in the process. We embarrassedly looked at each other, but decided to ignore it. In the end, we were the winners, what made Xiah look upset.

“I’m sure you cheated. You saw our cards, right?”

“We didn’t.” I said, and looked at King. “Right?”

King looked at me and Xiah, unsure of what to say. “Of course. You shouldn’t blame us for your lack of talent, Xiah.”

I noticed how everybody looked at him right after he said so. Xiah was the most surprised one, with his mouth wide open, while Micky was just smiling. King was not that sociable with his own friends, I guessed.

“Should we play it again?” I laughed and suggested, trying to cool down the environment. He seemed to be a bit embarrassed but I didn’t want him to stop playing.

“No.” King held my wrist and made me stand “Come with me.”

I followed him, feeling all eyes behind focused on me. He led me to his office, and offered me a seat.

“I think we should discuss things now.” King said, sitting down.

“Hmm”, I nodded, with my mouth shut. My lips were closed in a tiny line.

King gave me some papers and a pen to sign. As my eyes seemed to show my interrogation, he told me it was a contract of joining the secret society. “I added all the legal clauses. If you want anything to be added, tell me right now.”

I started reading it. All the clauses were about the duties of a member and the protection of our mandatory secret, so there wasn’t anything surprising. But when I read the last sentence my hand started trembling – it was “this secret has to be protected even after death. If any of our members die, it will be considered a sacrifice over a better future.”

“You… This… Are you serious?”

“What?” King approached my seat, going around our table. “Ah, that. It’s our best rule.”

“How can someone be just a sacrifice?”

“These are our rules. One death is equivalent to a sacrifice, there’s no looking back or revenge attempt. When we get our goals, everything will be paid off. If you are too sensible then you can give up now.”

Grabbing my pen, I immediately signed my name. “Here is it. There’s no giving up now.”

King sighed. “You… are too decided.”

“You need enthusiastic members like me, right?” I smiled.

“No”, he said, with a sad smile. “I need members who don’t die.”

I couldn’t find any answer to that.

“You sure know how to sing, Hero!” Eun Min clapped. He sat near her, and put an arm on top of her shoulders, and that’s how I found them. I looked at King, and King looked at me, and both of us thought that wasn’t going to be good.

“Well, you’re a pretty fan.” He smiled and caressed her hair.

They were interrupted by our presence in the room, and awkwardly stood up.

“Oh... King… Hyungnim… Do you need anything?” Hero asked.

“You’re older than me, actually. Just call me by the name.” King’s lips delineated a little smile, but unfortunately Hero didn’t seem to notice as he bowed and apologized. It seemed that everything King said would seem as a reprimand.

A little bit later Eun Mi grabbed me by the arm and told me, enthusiastically. “Ji Eun ah!”

“Shh. My name’s now Mia!”

“Ji Eun ah!” I sigh