The merciless eyes of Kang Jaesuk, now known as Durus, turned into slits as he scanned the huge office.

It was the cleanest, most organized room he had been in for a long time now. Just by the sight of the properly positioned furniture and the stack of papers neatly placed on the desk made him want to trash the room so badly.

Everything is perfect. Too perfect.

“How are things?”

His steely gaze snapped to the man. He almost forgot his true purpose inside this hellhole. He took a step forward and folded his humongous arms in front of his iron chest. “Good,” he said in his deep, rough voice. “All we need is your signal.”

With his back to Durus, the mysterious man behind the desk swayed in his leather rolling chair. “Then you shall go forth with your plans whenever you are comfortable to do so,” he said. “I have already taken care of the little things.”

Durus nodded once. “I will come back for you once I'm finished,” he said, walking over to the door. “I shall take my leave.”

Just when he was about to exit the room, the man called out to him.

“Do not forget what we agreed on, Durus. Be reminded that after you are done with your business, you are officially my possession. Do not attempt to run away,” the other said in an eerily calm voice, “for that would be a big mistake.”

Durus squeezed the doorknob, staring hard at the carpeted floor. With a deep breath, he nodded understandingly before leaving the office.

- - -

“Watch where you’re going, will you?” Hyerin snapped, picking up her books from the floor and setting it down on her desk.

The boy she bumped into sneered, merely giving her a glance as he made his way to his seat. “You watch where you’re going,” he snapped back, glaring. “Punk.”

Hyerin shook her head and sat down, dropping her bag beside her desk. Lately, she's been in a foul mood, and it wasn’t just because of the tiring training they had to do at M-LX for weeks. The boys were gaining a lot of attention from students, like how Agent M predicted. As the days went by, they became stronger, stealthier and more attractive even, receiving much praise from the people around them. They were the talk of everyone at school and somehow, Hyerin was brought into it as well. Seeing that some of the boys were almost always around her everyday, there were many unnecessary talks spreading around campus.

And she didn’t like it. Not one bit.

Her reputation as a normal student in Yeongnam was long gone. People kept asking her about the boys and how she managed to be friends with the popular crowd all of a sudden. If she could have just one day of peace, it would definitely be appreciated.

Sighing, she opened her textbook, highlighting important keywords that were sure to pop up in their test next week.

In the meantime at the back of the classroom, a group of girls glared daggers at the back of Hyerin’s head, not pleased with what was happening lately.

“How did she manage to get so close to them all, though?” one girl asked the other.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. She doesn’t seem special at all.”

Hyeseul, the leader of the pact, folded her arms. “It's too early to tell, but there’s got to be something about her. They wouldn’t be around her so much if she wasn’t anything special,” she said.

“So are we going to do anything about it?”

“Of course! What, do you want the boys to get hogged by that girl?”

Hyeseul and her little minions were the typical group of girls who always kept themselves up to date with the most popular boys and girls in their school. It was nothing healthy and beneficial for them; they did it because of the mere fact that they weren’t famous or pretty or smart at all. They had nothing better to do. They were nobodies, but like worshipping celebrities, they worshipped those who they thought were the kings and queens of Yeongnam High.

They were anything but nice. They’re snarky, sneaky and would not be afraid to pick a fight to protect themselves, their beliefs and their obsessions. They were certainly feared, but also ridiculed.

“Should we make a move now?” another girl asked.

“No,” Hyeseul said, tucking a stray brown lock of hair behind her ear. “We’re just going to give her a little warning. Just to keep her away."

“Wow, Hyeseul,” Hara, her best friend, said. “This is a first. Usually you’d pounce on her by now. Especially since Kai is involved.”

“Yeah,” one said.

“Kai was just a little fling but still,” she said, twirling a strand around her finger. “I want to take things slowly. We don’t know anything about her yet. We should be careful.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t even have any friends,” Hara said. “Maybe she sells pot to the boys. Maybe that’s why they talk to her.”

“Hara, shut up!” Hyeseul ordered. “First of all, they do not do those kind of things. They don’t even smoke cigarettes. God, Hara, why are you such an idiot?” she sneered. The other girl bowed her head from embarrassment.

“Anyway, I’ll tell you guys what our plan is the next time we see her with them again. But for now, let’s just leave everything the way it is.”

---

“What are you doing?” Hyerin demanded, holding her tray as she stared at the six boys sitting at her usual lunch table.

“What? Can’t we sit wherever we want to?” Sehun asked while Luhan, Chanyeol, and Tao nodded. Baekhyun and Chen shook their heads at the others’ ridiculousness.

Seeing that there was no use in arguing, Hyerin sighed and set down her tray before  sitting down between Chanyeol and Tao.

“So what is this about? Haven't you heard the rumors? You guys are just adding fuel to the fire,” she mumbled, eyeing Baekhyun and Tao who were usually in their own worlds during breaks like these.

“We just wanted to spend time with our little source of strength of course! We miss you!” Chanyeol cooed, poking her sides.

“It’s only been a day, Chanyeol," she deadpanned, slapping his finger away.

“Wait, what do you mean rumors spreading around?” Sehun asked, sipping from a small box of orange juice.

“Like you haven’t heard. Gossip about me hanging out with you guys,” she said, mixing her bowl of jajangmyeon.

“What kind of gossip?” Luhan asked, taking his bean sprouts and transferring it to Baekhyun’s plate.

“Seriously, you wouldn’t want to know.” She shook her head. “But enough about that. Can we please talk about something else?”

“Let’s talk about you!” Chanyeol suggested, pointing his chopsticks at her.

“Uh, no thanks. Let’s talk about you guys,” she suggested. “Although we’ve all been training for almost a month now, I don’t know much about any of you.”

The boys looked around at each other.

“Then let’s start with the people not here!” Sehun suggested, shrugging. “Let’s start with Lay. Lay is your childhood friend right?”

Hyerin nodded.

“Right. Well as you may already know, his family owns the Bistro Café now, which is pretty much doing well. And as you also already know, he’s in a dance crew with Kai and me. We’re all good friends.”

“Does he still like antiques?” she asked out of curiosity.

“Obsessed.”

“Next is Xiumin,” Chanyeol said. “He’s really outgoing, obviously, and is street smart. He knows all the hot spots in Seoul like the back of his hand. His family isn’t that well off, and he has two brothers. He’s a social butterfly, though. He’s practically friends with everybody.”

“So I've heard,” Hyerin said before taking a bite.

“Then there’s Suho. By the way, he can’t make it today since he’s busy with council stuff,” Chen said. “Anyway, the president is a nice guy. He’s easy-going despite having a hectic schedule. There’s a lot of pressure on him though. Regarding his family, that is. But I’m in no place to tell you about that,” he said. “Oh, and you know he’s roomies with Kai, right?”

“Yeah.” Hyerin nodded. “How did that happen?”

“Kai and Suho’s family are really close and when one of them wanted to move out of their house, the other asked if he can stay with the other so yeah.” Chanyeol shrugged. “I think you know Kai right? Baseball player, dancer, major playboy, all that stuff?”

“Yup.”

“Next is D.O.,” Tao spoke up, pushing his empty plate away. “He’s very competitive and as you probably already know, he’s a big time boxer for Yeongnam. He’s all tough and manly but really, he’s lacking in the muscle department.” He rolled his eyes. “Oh, and he’s a brat sometimes.”

“Tell me about it!” Hyerin exclaimed. “He’s so immature and annoying!”

“Oh, don’t worry about him. He’s just really like that.” Chanyeol waved a hand to dismiss it. “But he’s a nice guy once you get to know him.”

“My ,” she muttered under her breath. Tao snickered.

“Let’s head on to Wufan,” Chanyeol started, casually propping his arm on Hyerin's shoulder. “He’s the star of the swimming team, but back in middle school he used to play other sports. I just don't remember what,” he said, placing a finger under his chin. “But anyway, he’s the big brother. He’s really level-headed.”

Thinking about it, Hyerin thought he was one of the most normal out of the boys. Although he’s slightly a jerk. “Mhm.”

“And then there’s me!” Chanyeol beamed. “I’m the amazing captain of our basketball team, Park Chanyeol!”

“And that’s it?”

He grinned. “Yep.”

“Hey, Baekhyun, you should talk.” Luhan nudged the boy beside him who was quietly picking on his food.

Baekhyun looked up, meeting eyes with Hyerin.

She always wondered about Baekhyun’s personality and attitude. The first time they met, he was loud and snappy, but lately, he was just always standing in the sidelines.

“I’m Byun Baekhyun,” he started, sounding as if this was the last thing he wanted to do. “I paint stuff and sing in a band." He shrugged, adjusting his glasses. “That’s all.”

Hyerin nodded, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “So have you adapted to your power yet?” she asked just for the heck of it.

Baekhyun looked a little startled, but answered anyway. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I have.”

Hyerin offered a small smile, hoping that in a way that could make up for their argument at the clock tower before.

He nodded, turning back to his food.

“I’m Huang ZiTao as you already know,” Tao said. “I do all kinds of martial arts. I’ve been trained at an early age by my father and his gang. And if you’re wondering, we’re nowhere near rich at all,” he said, leaning back on his chair.

“You know my name,” Luhan said, clasping his hands together. “I paint and I dance. And hey, you know lots of stuff about me by now, Hyerin,” he grinned at her playfully, “right?”

Hyerin nodded and sighed exasperatedly. “Oh, I sure do.”

“Kim Jongdae,” Chen mumbled. “That’s my real name.”

“I know. Why don’t you use that name, though?”

“Long story,” he sighed. “Well anyway, I’m the secretary of the student council, and I’ve received Tae Kwon Do lessons as a kid ‘till middle school. Explains that first night we encountered each other.”

“Ah,” she mumbled. “Okay.”

“And last and most definitely not the least, Oh Sehun here!” The boy grinned. “Your resident boy-next-door and ideal son-in-law!” he said, bringing up a peace sign beside his face as an attempt to look cute.

“Please don’t do that.” Hyerin cringed, earning a few laughs from the others.

“So what about you? I really want to know more about you, Hyerin!” Chanyeol pouted, clinging onto her arm like a little boy.

“Yeah, you should open up to us more,” Luhan said.

Chen nodded encouragingly while Baekhyun looked at her expectantly. She leaned in on her seat, thinking of what to say.

“Well, you all know that Agent M is my dad. I have a brother, Kim Jonghyun, and he lives alone-”

“Did you say Kim Jonghyun?” Sehun asked, eyes practically bulging out.

“Uh, yeah.”

“As in the Kim Jonghyun? Kim Jonghyun the famous model?”

Hyerin nodded.

“Oh my god, that’s so awesome!” Sehun exclaimed, jumping in his seat.

“Right.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I’ve been trained to fight since I was a little kid by my mom and I won’t lie, she taught me pretty well.” She shrugged.

“We can all say that.” Sehun glared, remembering the first day of their training.

“Then where’s your mom?” Luhan asked. “Is she living with you guys?”

Hyerin looked up from her bowl. She didn’t know how to break it to them, but she didn’t want to be an object of pity at the same time. But then again, there was also no use in keeping it a secret.

“Oh,” she shrugged nonchalantly, “She passed away when I was fourteen. That’s why I moved in with my dad.”

The table went quiet.

“Oh,” Sehun shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I’m sorry about that.”

“No, it’s fine,” she said, trying to sound casual about the matter. She really didn’t want to make it a big deal. “It was a long time ago.”

“Well, she must’ve been a really great woman,” Luhan offered.

“She was.”

“Yeah, and we should applaud her for raising someone as awesome as you,” Sehun said, winking at her playfully. She smiled in return.

---

“Oh, Kim Hyerin!”

Hyerin, who was peacefully making her way towards her next class, turned around to see who was calling her. It was her gym teacher.

“Yes, Mr. Im?” she asked, turning around completely to face the man.

Mr. Im walked over to her. “I’m in a hurry so if you would be so kind as to bring these boxes to the senior department, I would appreciate that,” he said, lifting the two weighty baggage to show her.

Hyerin raised a brow. “Can’t you ask staff to do that for you, Mr. Im? I’m also heading towards my next class and I don’t want to be late,” she said as an excuse.

“Oh, it’s fine! I’ll just give you a pass so that your next teacher will know,” he said, taking out a pad from his pocket and writing rapidly on it. He ripped the piece of paper and handed it to her. “Here you go.”

Hyerin unwillingly took it as Mr. Im gave the boxes to her. “There! Now I need to go. Take care of those and thanks!” he said, jogging to the other side of the hallway.

Great. More unnecessary stuff to be troubled with. Hyerin struggled under the weight of the two boxes as she made her way down the stairs.

It took her about fifteen minutes to arrive at the senior department which was at the other side of the campus. Entering the building, she tried to walk faster since she was already very late to her class.

Hyerin started to climb up the stairs, staying at the right side of the staircase since some students were hurriedly going down at the same time.

“Hyerin?”

Hyerin tilted her head from behind the box to see who it was that called her name.

“Kris?” she said, slightly surprised to run into the boy of all people.

“What are you doing here with all that?” he questioned, stopping in the middle of the stairway.

“Dude, c’mon! You’re blocking our way!” a senior with his friends behind the tall boy exclaimed.

Kris quirked an eyebrow, slowly turning around to face the boy. “What?”

Seeing that it was Kris, his eyes widened, bowing 90 degrees before stuttering, “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was you. We’ll j-just go to the other stairway.” He pushed his friends back up to the second floor.

“No, wait,” Hyerin called out, putting the boxes down. She pulled Kris aside side to give way. “You can just go,” she said, gesturing for them to go down the stairs. Although still hesitant, the students obliged.

Once they passed the two, Hyerin glared at Kris. “Really? You’re that rude?” She folded her arms.

The swimmer snorted. “I wouldn’t be if they asked politely,” he said. “Wouldn’t you be doing the same thing if that happened to you?”

“No. I would let them pass like a normal person. Oh, wait. Right, you’re an .” she said, picking up the two heavy boxes.

“Says the girl who's not?"

Hyerin scoffed in response and made her way up the stairs.

Kris sighed, watching the girl leave. He ran a hand through his hair frustratingly. “Hyerin,” he called, climbing back up. Once he caught up to her, he took one of the boxes she was carrying.

Hyerin’s eyes widened and stared at the boy beside her. At one point, he looked slightly troubled, but almost instantly, his face changed to its natural intimidating state.

“What are you doing?” she asked. He didn’t answer.

“I’m asking you a question. When people ask you questions, you respond,” she said, glowering at the lad.

Kris sighed, looking straight ahead. “I’m carrying a box.”

“And may I ask why?”

Kris looked at the girl for a split second before turning away again. “Because you’re having trouble carrying it.”

"You know what? I’m asking a simple question and you give me a sarcastic answer. Actually now that I think about it, I don’t want help from you.” She reached over to his box. “Just give that to me-”

“Just think of it as me, making it up to you for not being the best teammate out there,” he said, pushing her hand away.

Hyerin stopped walking. “Correct me if I’m wrong but is this an indirect apology?”

Kris continued along the hallway without looking back. “Don’t think about such things. Now tell me, where do these boxes go?”

Hyerin rolled her eyes playfully. He was just too prideful to admit it, but she knew it was his way to apologize for the way he acted towards her for the past several weeks. They rarely talked, but when they did, it was always brief or led to unpleasant things.

“So does this mean you’re going to stop being such an to me?”

“Do you always assume things like this?” he questioned, looking back at her. “Now where do these boxes go? I’m asking you a question. When people ask you questions, you respond,” he said, repeating her words from earlier.

A smile played along her lips as she nodded her head towards the janitor’s closet. “There.”

Seeing that the door was already open, he unhesitatingly walked inside. Hyerin followed suit. She flicked the light switch on and closed the door with her foot.

“Let’s just put these down here,” she said, placing the box beside a bag full of soccer balls.

“Why are you the one bringing these here? Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” Kris asked, dusting his blazer.

“Mr. Im asked me to do it. He said he was in a hurry.” She shrugged, checking her watch. “I’m thirty minutes late by now. Why aren’t you in class?”

“Teacher couldn't make it and the substitute hasn't come so everyone snuck to basketball court to watch practice. I don’t like basketball,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”

Hyerin nodded, twisting the doorknob. When she tried pulling it open though, it wouldn’t budge. Frowning, she tried again. It didn’t open.

“Huh. That’s funny. It won’t budge,” she said, pulling the door as hard as she can.

“I’m not surprised to see that you aren’t able to do something as simple as opening a door. Move,” he said, twisting the knob.

With all his might, he pulled and tried to open the door but to no avail. “What the hell,” he muttered under his breath, resorting to kicking the door.

“,” she hissed. “Are we stuck here?”

Kris gave one last kick before giving up and leaning back wearily against an old wooden table. “Looks like it,” he breathed.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” she exclaimed, rapping on the door furiously. “Is somebody out there!? Open the door!” she called out.

“It’s impossible. Classes are ongoing and we’re in a dead end hall. The only way this door will open is when the janitor comes back.”

“Open the door, damn it!” she yelled, wearily taking a few steps back. “How the heck is the door broken? Shouldn’t you know about this?”

“Obviously no. I’m a student, not a janitor,” he deadpanned, folding his arms.

“How can you be so calm at a time like this? There’s gotta be a way out," she said, scanning her surroundings. The whole time, Kris looked on as if he were staring at an idiot.

At the very end of the room, Hyerin spotted a small rectangular window. “Here! I think we’ll both fit through here.”

“Absurd. My pinky finger won’t even fit in there,” he said, standing up from his leaning position and walking over to the girl.

Hyerin unlocked the safety and slid the glass window open with much difficulty. Cool air blasted inside the closet as Hyerin poked her head out of the window. She looked down, only to see that they were almost forty feet up from the ground.

“Goddamit,” she cursed.

Kris looked out the window after Hyerin backed away, who was now yelling profanities. At the spur of the moment, he had an idea.

“Hyerin.”

“What?” the frustrated one sneered.

“You want to fly out of here?” he asked.

“Of course I–what?”

Kris smirked, turning to look at her. Hyerin’s jaw dropped. His power was flight.

“But you haven’t even adapted to your power yet,” she said, crossing her arms.

“That was a few days ago. It just so happens that I finally got it yesterday,” he said. “Now do you want to get out of here or not?”

“Are you out of your mind?” she questioned. “How are you so sure you can do it again? And can you even fly while carrying someone?”

He shrugged, leaning back against the window. “I’ll take my chances.”

“You’re trying to get us killed!”

“I’m trying to get us out of this hellhole,” he retorted. “So will you go with me or not?”

“But-”

“Fine, I’ll just go by myself. Have fun choking on dust,” he said, propping himself up at the mouth of the window.

“Wait!” she called out, heading towards Kris. “Okay, okay, fine. I’ll go with you. But how am I so sure you’re not going to drop me or anything?” she asked, still a bit reluctant.

“Simple.” He shrugged. “Just trust me.”

Hyerin looked down on the ground, sighing. What were the odds that they would fall, right?

“People will see us outside,” she murmured.

“They’re all in class. And trust me, if ever anyone sees us, they’d probably think it was their imagination,” he reasoned, looking at her expectantly. “Why? Are you scared?”

Hyerin scoffed. “I’m not scared. I just don’t wanna die or cause trouble,” she said. “Now let’s get this over with.”

Hyerin climbed up to the mouth of the window where Kris was already sitting. She looked down and saw that the coast was clear.

“We better do it quick before anyone comes out,” Kris said, offering his hand. “Ready?”

“Yeah.”

Without further ado, he pulled her to him. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around the boy’s neck and his hands found its way to the back of her thighs and the small of her back.

“Just wondering though, how do you will yourself to fly?” she asked. “Think happy thoughts like Peter Pan with the pixie dust and all that crap?”

The corner of his mouth twitched upward. “That’s something you shouldn’t be wondering about,” he said before jumping out of the window.

“!” she screamed, feeling her stomach drop for a split second.

Holding on tightly as she can, she tried to fight her doubts and resorted to trusting Kris. He was the only person she had at the moment, and she didn’t want to make him feel belittled by not believing in him.

“You can open your eyes now,” he said dryly. Hyerin didn’t even realize she had her eyes closed shut.

Slowly, they fluttered open.              

Looking down, she saw that instead of falling to the ground, they were going up. They were flying.

“Oh my god,” she whispered, looking at Kris. “We’re flying.”

Kris smiled slightly. “Technically, I’m the one who’s flying, but yes. Yes we are.”

“Wow,” she breathed. “I can’t believe it. You’re using your power. How do you do that?”

“Happy thoughts?” He smirked, finally arriving at the rooftop. Kris carefully set her down on the ground.

Hyerin ran a hand through her hair and leaned back against the railing. “Wow. We wouldn’t be able to get out of there if it weren’t for you,” she said. “Thanks for getting us out of there, Kris.”

The boy nodded once, looking at her with the same sincerity. “Thanks for trusting me.”