ZELO’s POV

Strolling down the streets in my chic new outfit, I aimed for the club that I’d like to call my own. Not that I was the owner, but I was practically the king there. The champion. The undefeated. I would usually go there to see if anyone would dare take a dance battle with me – and so would I today. Today, I will go back into the character of the Great King, the dancing saint!

Even if my clothes were dark from head to toe, I obviously stood out from the crowd. I slogged smoothly across the floor in little dance moves, aiming for the bar, people taking one step back as I passed them. I leaned over the bar table, bro- the bartender who was keeping a couple of girls company, whereupon I placed myself with my elbows on the tabletop, looking out into the room. The light from the stage blinked teasingly and tried to convince me to go on stage, but I wasn’t going up there tonight. I scouted around to see if there were any newcomers to battle. None of these are worth battling, I stated and sighed as I watched the dance floor carefully.

     “Can’t you at least perform then?” the bartender asked as he leaned closer to me, supporting his upper body on his elbows like I did, also keeping an eye on every person on the dance floor. I shook my head lightly. “You’re just going to sit around here, not doing anything? You’re not even old enough to be drinking your brains out!” he chuckled.

     “Then find me a decent opponent to battle me,” I smirked back and laughed childish.

He sighed despairingly. “Fine! Fine. Then just stand there looking dumbfounded in this cool club consisting of lights, sweating people, girls and bottles everywhere,” he laughed, returning to his work.

In that exact moment, a guy around my height walked through the door. He looked very manly, cool. He acted as if he owned the place. I grimaced by the sight. He should at least know that I was actually “the man” around here. The club owner, Mr. Lee, sort of my manager if you could say that, as well as a couple of guards quickly got to him. I smirked, believing that they would kick him out. But instead, Mr. Lee clapped happily in his hands, bowing politely and greeting the guy. My mind slowly wandered to a distant place for a moment, and as it returned and I looked in the direction of the door again, both Mr. Lee, the guards and the guy were gone.

     “Someone interesting??” The bartender had returned to me and had the biggest grin on his face, hoping for the best. He loved watching me battle other guys, gaining some sort of reputation for both the club and him, as I would usually spend the time hanging out with him whenever I didn’t battle.

      “There’s something about him…” I answered a bit absent, still scouting around for them. “If he wants to battle me, then he’ll definitely come forward.” The bartender pouted and returned to his job once again. As I was about to join the people dancing, I felt a tight handgrip on my shoulder. As I turned around, Mr. Lee’s face was right in front of mine.

     “I want you to meet someone.” He had a big smile on his face as he took one step to the side, showing a shadow of a man behind him. “This is Bang Yong Guk. He’s a rapper,” he blinked at me, as if I was interested in a rapper. Sure, I could battle him or something, but that’s not what I came there for. That guy was probably just a part of some business anyway.

The shadow moved and slowly turned into a real-life man. And as I had expected, that man was none other than the guy from earlier trying to somehow showcase his swag. Mr. Lee now had a tight grip on both his and my shoulder, standing in between like some awkward parent introducing a little boy and a girl to each other. Or like an awkward best friend who would just do it for the awkwardness to his own amusement.

     “This here,” he gave my shoulder a slap, “is Ju-“

     “Zelo,” I interrupted, cutting him off before he could say my real name. The guy, apparently called Bang Yong Guk, took a step closer to me and looked me straight in the eyes. At first he looked a bit strict, still playing it cool, but after a short moment, his eyes started flickering around, not even daring to look at me anymore. I snorted tauntingly without taking my eyes off of him, making sure I noticed his every movement. So he knows his place, huh? I smiled for myself, satisfied.

      “I’ll leave you two.” Mr. Lee finally let go of our shoulders and disappeared into the backroom, leaving Yong Guk and I all alone. I could see the bartender looking at me with big, bright eyes – still hoping for something exciting to happen.

     “Ya...” He didn’t react in any way. “YA!” His eyes quickly met mine. “Are you just going to stand there?” I looked at him from head to toe, examining him. He was cute as he stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Without further do, I walked away from him, giving him a small pad on the back of his shoulder before I aimed for the door, giving up on my little search for an opponent.

A quite short update, but I hope it’s ok. I’ll do better next time, hwaiting! ^_^ Meanwhile, you can soon enjoy chapter 5, which I can reveal, contains a little hint on our evil masterplan >:D