Chapter Seventy-Three
 
Nicole was determined to execute the instruction given by that mysterious lady.  She understood that the decision would do no good to them, but she couldn’t bring herself to watch Kyuhyun becoming a mutant and did nothing to save him when she had the ability to!
 
The chocolates… They might be harmful to them in some ways, but definitely not going to kill them right? She had been fine all these while after that woman forced the chocolate into . She believed the outcome of the chocolates wouldn’t be as bad as losing their lives.
 
Nicole sincerely hoped that everyone would forgive her for it.
 
The door to her room flew open suddenly, surprising the hunter who was still staring at the tin of chocolates in her hand. Nichole dropped the tin in shocked and averted her attention to the door.
 
“Ti… Tiffany…” Words stuttered out of . Nicole couldn’t explain the panic which had come over her when she witnessed an indifferent Tiffany standing by her door.
 
Seungyeon and Jiyoung were both standing behind Tiffany, flashing an apologetic look at her. They had tried to stop Tiffany when they sensed the danger evoking in the aura surrounding her, but none of them actually dared to pull her back for they were scared of her.
 
Tiffany was going to question Nicole when she noticed a tin on the ground with a few chocolates ball rolled out from its cover. Her query was immediately dismissed. They had answered the question she was going to ask.
 
“Nicole, I’ll be waiting outside your dormitory.” Her stern voice implied no rejection. “I’m expecting you to come outside with that within five minutes.”
 
As soon as Tiffany was gone from the room, Seungyeon and Jiyoung finally found back their voices and approached Nicole daringly.
 
“Nicole, what is Tiffany talking about?”
 
Tiffany’s words sent nothing but confusion to Seungyeon and Jiyoung, but Nicole knew clearly that she was referring to.
 
“Um… this is a secret between the both of us! Anyway, I’ll talk to you guys later! I’m sure you won’t want to keep Tiffany waiting, right?” Nicole said as she scooped the fallen chocolates back into the tin. She made sure none was left on the ground, only then she brought the tin of chocolates with her and ran out of the room.
 
“Hey!” Jiyoung yelled at the disappearing figure. “You should have left some chocolates for us at least!”
 
*
 
Tension was in the air.
 
The library had always been a quiet place, but it was somehow quieter than the usual days that Nicole started to feel pain in her ears because of the reverberation reflecting from all corners. They were clearly in an air-conditioned space, but sweats were constantly forming around Nicole’s forehead until they gathered and rolled down her cheeks.
 
A droplet of her sweats had reached the bottom of her jaw. It dripped right onto her leather jacket, producing a soft noise that sounded unusually loud in her ears.
 
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing, Nicole?” As if on cue, Tiffany finally talked after silent ten minutes. Nicole didn’t dare to lift up her head and look at Tiffany in her eyes. She kept her gaze on the table, examining the lines and scratches on the surface as though they were the most interesting stuffs in this world.
 
Then, she heard a heavy sigh, followed by the movement of the chair.
 
“Nicole, look at me.”
 
Nicole wouldn’t move. She was too afraid to even lift a finger.
 
Obviously, Tiffany wasn’t going to drag this any longer and waste the whole of her afternoon away like this.
 
She announced blatantly, “I’ve killed Kyuhyun.”
 
Three simple words were more than enough to make Nicole shifted her gaze onto her.
 
“Wha… What did you say?” Nicole couldn’t believe her ears. She thought she heard Tiffany saying something… impossible? Could it be her ears were injured from the reverberation that it caused her to hear her words wrongly?
 
“He became a mutant out of the sudden after I send him back to his room. I had to kill him.” Tiffany explained indifferently, as if killing the I.T. genius meant nothing to her.
 
“It… can’t be! You’re lying!” Nicole wouldn’t believe Tiffany. “That woman said she would leave Kyuhyun alone if I––” It was too late. By the time Nicole realized what she had just spilled, Tiffany was already penetrating her with her hawk-like eyes.
 
“Woman huh?” Nicole was expecting a fury tornado from Tiffany, but much to her surprise, Tiffany’s reaction was very calm. “So it wasn’t a dream. Kyuhyun was really mutated during the trip.”
 
Nicole looked at Tiffany timidly, “Tiffany…”
 
“Do you even know what causes the mutation?” Tiffany held the tin in between them and knocked it against the table. “These chocolates! He said someone offered him a chocolate and he found himself turning into a mutant the next minute!”
 
Shocked, Nicole was utterly shocked by the news.
 
These chocolates… That woman forced one of these chocolates into too after she handed her the tin.
 
That means…!
 
“Ti… Tiffany…” Nicole vision was getting blurry, but she made no attempt to wipe off the tears that were blocking her view.
 
Tiffany was leaving with the tin of chocolates after giving Nicole a short lecture. She stopped in her tracks and spun around to look at Nicole when she heard her calling for her in a shaky voice. “Nicole?” She was surprised to find the hunter crying.
 
Was she that harsh that it frightened that girl?
 
“Tiffany… I… I…” Her body was shaking. She tried to clasp her hands together in order to stable herself, but it only made her trembling even obvious. “That woman… fed me the chocolates too!” Nicole couldn’t contain herself anymore and burst into tears.
 
Since the day she decided to become a hunter, she was already prepared to meet her death during a battle, but she didn’t expect this! She had never expected to be mutated and eventually lost her life in her comrades’ hands!
 
Tiffany couldn’t say anything. was opened, but she was lost for words upon the shocking news.
 
She can’t just let her friends die like this!
 
*
 
The hunters had no idea when the chocolates inside their bodies would be activated. After a short discussion (and comforting), Tiffany decided to send Nicole back to her dormitory and instructed her roommates to keep an eye on her. She didn’t tell them the truth yet because she didn’t want to alarm anyone. But that would also means she had to find the solution as fast as possible before the mutation starts.
 
Or else, they would be leave with no choice but to kill them.
 
Tiffany was back in her dormitory. The place was quiet. Sooyoung and Yoona were scheduled for a morning patrol, while Yuri called to the headmaster’s office for some sibling boding time––That was what Yuri said before she left in the morning.
 
The lonely hunter dropped herself on the couch which was facing the fireplace. The tin of chocolates was still in her hands. She gave up the thought of throwing it into the dustbin as she was afraid someone might pick it up and eat it.
 
But what should she do in order to get rid of it then?
 
While pondering, Tiffany’s gaze landed right on the fireplace before her. The fireplace was a little bit dusty due to the long negligence from the residents in this dormitory, but logs were still placed within it because Sooyoung said it looked prettier like this.
 
Tiffany glanced at the tin of chocolates in her hand before averting her gaze back to the fireplace.
 
The only way to get rid of this thing safely is to burn it away. As long as the chocolates turned into ash, no one would be able to eat it anymore.
 
Without further ado, Tiffany removed the lid and emptied the tin into the fireplace. She paused for awhile and checked out her surroundings. Everyone was still away from their activities, none of them should be back this early.
 
Tiffany held her hand over the fireplace.
 
“Fire.”
 
The fireplace was immediately lighted up with the glowing warmness. Tiffany watched in silence as the fire engulfed the chocolates in its burning flames. She could have leave now and let the chocolates turned into ashes on their owns, but nothing would be safer than to witness the scene took place with her eyes.
 
The entire foyer was filled with the crackling noises from the burning woods. Never once did Tiffany blinked nor moved her eyes away from the fireplace. She wanted to ensure nothing goes wrong with the process before she––
 
Sometimes Tiffany really hated how accurate her hunch was.
 
Loud sizzling noise covered the original crackling noise. Gone was the flames and thick smoke replaced its place. The changes took place so fast that even without blinking her eyes, Tiffany failed to witness the culprit which extinguish the fire.
 
Tiffany rushed to the front of the fireplace and waved her hands around, trying to disperse the smoke. As soon as the smoke was out of her sight, she noticed most of the chocolates were still intact from the fire. The fire only managed to burn away their wrappers before it was being put out by… water?!
 
The hunter picked up one of the logs and examined it. A huge part of the log was in darker shades of brown. Tiffany ran her fingers across the dark patch. The log was definitely wet. Tiffany could even see the water stain on her fingers after she removed her hand from the wood.
 
How the hell––
 
“It’s not very nice to waste resources.”
 
That voice!
 
Tiffany dropped the log in her hand and spun around. Up there, on the second floor of their dormitory, the familiar blonde was leaning against the railing, smiling at her.
 
“You!”
 
“I’ve been waiting very long for this.” The smile on her face grew wider. “Just the both of us alone in the same space.”
 
Her smile might look similar to the one she wore usually, but Tiffany could tell it was different. There was scheme written on her lips. It was intentional. It was… evil.
 
“I know there is something wrong with you!” Tiffany pulled out her blade and pointed it at the grinning blonde. “Jessica, I’ll make sure you never live to see the sun rise tomorrow!”
 
Jessica chortled at her words. “Make sure?” She snorted with a mocking tone. “I wouldn’t be so confident if I were you, Tiffany Hwang…”
 
The blonde disappeared from her vision out of the sudden.
 
“Or should I call you, Stephanie?”
 
She felt breathing on her ear and Jessica’s voice came in right after. Tiffany was utterly shocked to find Jessica standing behind her. She tried to direct her blade at her immediately, but it was too late.
 
Jessica snatched her weapon away from her and pinned her to the ground, pressing the edge of the blade on her neck.
 
“Jessica Jung!”
 
Tiffany could only clench her teeth and glared at smirking blonde. would be silt open if she tried to struggle her way out of Jessica’s holding.
 
“You have no idea how long have I waited for this.”
 

A/N: Scroll down for surprise x:

Chapter Seventy-Three (REAL)

Narsha kept her phone back into her pocket after sending the message to Nicole. She leaned back and rested her back against the rough surface of the small hill behind her body as she stared into the starry sky solemnly.

At the foot of the hill, Nickhun appeared with a bag of beers in his hand. He teleported to where Narsha was and sat down, taking out one of the beers from the bag and passed it to Narsha.

“Thanks.” Narsha said without looking at the guy. She pulled open its lid and poured the content into effortlessly.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in Yorea (the nearest town from Aurales’ headquarter) now?”

Nickhun didn’t say anything. He simply sat there and drank the beer in silent.

“Have you ever regretted?” Knowing Nickhun’s character, Narsha decided to drop the previous question and threw him with another one. “For doing all these things with us.”

Nickhun answered with a question instead, “Why did you asked?”

“You’re different from us.” She stated. “None of your family members are still around. You could have just leave and live a decent life instead of going through these tortures with us. You––” The rest of her sentence was drown in when Nickhun suddenly pulled her up from the ground and into his embrace.

“You must be kidding with me, Park Hyojin.” Narsha heard him whispered a name which she hadn’t heard for almost a century ever since the day they were forced to leave their village because of some misunderstanding. “Aren’t you my sister-in-law? Aren’t you my family?”

“But your brother––”

“I know he is dead for more than a century, but that doesn’t mean you are not his wife or my sister-in-law anymore.” Nickhun flashed a bitter smile at Narsha. “Hyung will hate me if I leave you alone and he will definitely be angry as well if he finds out you’re denying your identity.”

“Nickhun…”

Narsha tried to control those tears that were about to escape from her eyes, but failed terribly as they rolled down her cheek like a never-ending waterfall.

Nickhun sighed and wiped off those tears with his thumb.

“I don’t deserve to be his wife, Nickhun.” Narsha buried her face onto Nickhun’s shoulder and cried. “I’m stained with blood. I’ve taken far too many innocent lives that I don’t even know how I am supposed to face your brother anymore!”

“Hyojin noona…”

“But I think I worried too much Nickhun-ah.” Narsha pushed herself away from Nichkun and wiped off the remaining tears on her face with her sleeves roughly. “I bet I’ll never see him again even if I lose my life.”

Nickhun didn’t know what to say in order to comfort her.

“Your brother is the greatest man I’ve ever met and Heaven will definitely be the only place he’d go afterlife. As for me…” Narsha lowered her head and stared at her palms. “I will only go to Hell.” God would never accept someone like her who had taken so many innocent lives.

“Even if that’s the case, you’re not alone unnie.”

A voice rang from the bottom of the hill startled the two sorcerers who were on top of it. Narsha and Nickhun were about to check out the ‘intruder’ when a figure suddenly appeared right in front of them and squeezed herself in between them.

“Unnie,” That figure appeared to be Sunny who had just returned from Taeyeon’s house. Sunny circled her arm around Narsha’s shoulder and pulled their bodies closer together. “You’re not the only one who is stained with blood, all of us are. If God really forsake us, we will just go to Hell together.”

“Sunny…”

“C’mon unnie, how many years have it been? We’re always together since the day we left our village and that’s not going to change. At least I won’t let it change.”

Narsha scoffed and sighed right after. “Right.” She had to agree with Sunny. It is either they go together or they stay together. “How did you find us here anyway?” Narsha wiped her remaining tears away and asked. Sunny hadn’t return from Taeyeon’s house yet when she decided to come here.

“I was at the base.” Sunny retrieved her arm from Narsha’s shoulder and pulled her legs together. She rested her chin on her knees and hugged her legs tightly together. “And Jonghyun told me you are here so I came over. I wasn’t expecting Nickhun though.” Sunny turned to Nickhun who was engrossed with his can of beer. “By the way, how are you and that elite hunter? You said you’re going to charm her and make use of her for our operation. What is the progress now?”

There was an obvious jerk from Nickhun when Sunny asked the question. Feeling awkward, Nickhun scratched his face and turned away, avoiding Sunny’s gaze.

Sunny sighed and rolled her eyes at him. “It’s a failure I guess?”

“She found out your identity?” Narsha randomly asked as she sipped on her beer.

Nickhun let out a scoff and shook his head, “No, she doesn’t.” The girls raised their eyebrows at him with curiosity. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do this anymore.” He sounded helpless for some reason.

“What?” Narsha shot up from her seat. “Why? What’s wrong?” She was surprised to see a dejected Nickhun. She couldn’t remember the last time she saw Nickhun acting like this for the past hundred years.

“Nothing.” A self-deprecating smirk was formed on his face as he poured the beer into his mouth.

“You like that girl.” It was a statement, not a question.

Nickhun scoffed before bringing the beer to his mouth for a sip again. “I can never hide any secrets from you, Soonkyu.”

“Shut up!” Sunny slapped Nickhun hard on his arm. “It’s Sunny!”

“WAIT WAIT WAIT!” The only confused one, Narsha, stood up and directed her finger at Nickhun. “You fell in love with that hunter?!” Nickhun nodded nonchalantly, as if the topic wasn’t concerning him. “Why didn’t you tell me about it?!!”

Nickhun shrugged, “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m not going to see her anymore.”

“WHAT? WHY?”

Sunny grimaced and covered her ears. “Unnie, stop shouting! I’m turning deaf!”

“Oops!” Narsha stuck out her tongue at Sunny playfully. She went behind the duo and plopped herself down next to Nickhun. “Yah, why aren’t you seeing her anymore?”

Sunny rested her head on her bent knees again and looked her fellow companions. She decided to listen instead of commenting.

“You said you like her, didn’t you?” Narsha nudged Nickhun when she saw him being irresponsive. “Yah! Answer me!”

Nickhun finished the last sip of his beer and threw the empty can into the darkness before them. He sighed, “What’s the point of seeing her if I’m going to hurt her eventually?”

“We can always request the Princess to spare her like what Taeyeon did!”

Nickhun shook his head and lied down, tucking his arms under his head.

“Nickhun, what’s wrong with you?” Narsha swore she wanted to kick Nickhun down the hill this very second.

“Unnie, it’s not about the Princess.” Sunny said suddenly, drawing Narsha’s attention to her. “Imagine how will that hunter feel if she found out Nickhun is a sorcerer and not to mention, one of the people who mutate the humans?” Sunny sat straight up and stretched her back. “Even if the Princess spares her, do you think she will still love Nickhun the same way as before when she finds out we mutated everyone including her comrades? She’s going to hate him.”

“True…” She hadn’t thought that far, but Sunny’s conclusion instantly reminded her the core of the problem. “I guess it is fate that love is never meant for us.” She lost her husband, Taeyeon was betrayed by her love one and here, they had Nickhun falling in love with someone who he shouldn’t have fallen in love with.

“I guess so…” Sunny’s thoughts went far. A particular girl appeared in her mind and she took all of her positive thoughts away.

A century ago, Sunny watched her cried in her sleep when they heard her sister was banished from the village. A century ago, Sunny swore to herself that she was going to protect her loved ones for her and stopped her from crying anymore. A century ago, Sunny left a letter on her table and sneaked out of the village with Taeyeon in order to chase after her banished sister. A century later, she was now sitting on the hill under the lonely moon with her sister and her sister’s brother-in-law, drinking beer and watching the in-laws pouring their sorrows to one another.

Sunny could only hide herself behind a fake smile.

Perhaps Hyomin had already forgotten her.

“OH CRAPS!” Narsha exclaimed out of the sudden, pulling Sunny back from her thoughts. “Yah Nickhun! I told that Nicole to share the Tranz with everyone in Aurales, what if that hunter of yours eat it too?”

Nickhun merely took a glance at Narsha before pulling his gaze back to the sky again. “It doesn’t matter right? As long as we don’t activate her Tranz.”

Narsha stood up and kicked Nickhun on his calf, “Are you dumb? The Princess is ultimately the one who is going to activate the mass mutation! You better think of a way to remove the Tranz from her before anything happens!”

*

Nicole was almost done with the chocolates. There were only two groups of hunters left and she was currently heading towards one of them – the one with lesser people.

She stood in front of their door nervously after pressing the doorbell. The thing about his particular group, one could be considered as an angel, while the other one was a devil. There is nothing to be worried about if it was the angel who opened the door, but… if the devil was the one who opened the door––

“What do you want?”

Luck wasn’t on her side. Nicole gasped in silent when she saw the tomboyish girl behind the door.

“Um… Kyuhyun oppa and I had just returned from our trip to the Satron’s headquarters and I’ve bought some chocolates on our way back. ” Nicole showed Amber the two small boxes in her hands. “One is for you and one is for Victoria unnie. I’ve written the name on the boxes.” Nicole tried to put on the widest smile as she secretly hoped that Amber would accept it without questioning her.

Fortunately for her, Amber took the chocolates without saying anything, except that the way she took them was rough and impolite.

“Anything else?” Amber questioned irritably when she saw Nicole still standing outside their door.

Nicole gulped inwardly, “Not… Nothing!” Hopefully Amber would pass the chocolates to Victoria. “I… I will go now!” Nicole bowed to her slightly and ran away hurriedly before Amber decided to release her wrath on her.

“Chocolates?” Amber looked at the two boxes in her hand and scoffed. “What a waste of time.” She threw them into the trash can without a second thought.

*

“This is the last one.” Nicole mumbled to herself as she stared the five small boxes in her hands. “There shouldn’t be a problem for this one…”

“Hey Nicole! What’s up?”

Someone tapped on her shoulder and when Nicole looked up, she found Sooyoung standing in front of her.

“He… Hey…” Nicole greeted Sooyoung nervously.

“Looking for Yuri or Yoona?” Sooyoung asked. “They are not in the house.” Everyone had gone out since morning, leaving only her and Jessica in the dormitory.

“Uh… Actually, I um… I’m looking for you!”

Sooyoung pointed at herself with surprise. “Me?”

“Uh…” Nicole let out a nervous laugh. “No actually, I um… I was just uh… looking for any one of you.”

“Yeah?”

“These!” Nicole shoved the five boxes into Sooyoung’s hands. “I bought them on the way back from Satron headquarters! I wanted to share it with all of you! Please share them with the others on my behalf! I got to go, bye!” Nicole never gave Sooyoung a chance to say anything and ran off with empty hands.

“Okay…?” Sooyoung looked at the five boxes in her hand. “Oh cool! She even wrote our names on the boxes.” Sooyoung closed the door behind her and paced into the foyer.

She picked up one of the boxes and dropped the chocolate on her palm.

“Sooyoung!” A scream startled her just when she was about to throw the chocolate into . Sooyoung turned towards the source of the voice and found Jessica on the second floor looking at her with a stern look on her face. “What are you doing?”

“Huh?” Sooyoung held up the chocolate and waved it at Jessica. “Nicole bought us some chocolates! You want?”

“Hold on! I’m coming, don’t eat first––”

“Eww!” Sooyoung failed to hear her as she threw the chocolate into as soon as she finished her sentence. “This chocolate tastes so awful!” Sooyoung stuck out her tongue and coughed dramatically.

“Sooyoung!”

Jessica had already reached the first floor by then. She approached Sooyoung hastily and patted on her back, in hopes of smoothening her. “Where’s the chocolate?” Jessica asked anxiously when she couldn’t find the chocolate in her hands.

“Uh… I ate it?”

“What?” Jessica unleashed her anger on her. “I told you to wait for me, didn’t I? Why didn’t you listen to me?!”

Sooyoung cowered in fears. Boohoo! What had she done wrong? Why was Jessica raging at her out of the sudden?

Jessica knew she had gone a little bit too far. She tried her best to control her temper and continued to say, “Give me the rest of the chocolates.” She extended her arm to Sooyoung, gesturing the hunter to pass the rest of the chocolates to her.

Not wanting to experience another round of HellSica, Sooyoung quickly handed the can of chocolates to Jessica obediently.

As soon as Jessica got the four boxes in her hand, she spun around and ran upstairs without saying another word. Sooyoung saw it and decided to follow her. She followed Jessica all the way till their rooftop and saw Jessica throwing the chocolates along with their containers into the forest outside their dormitory.

“YAH JESSICA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Sooyoung exclaimed in shock, but she was already too late to save the chocolates from flying into the forest before them.

Jessica looked at her innocently and shrugged, “You said it tastes awful. So let’s not torture the others and get rid of it.”

“But… But… But…!”

How is she going to explain to Nicole if she finds out about the chocolates?

Sooyoung face-palmed herself literally.

Hopefully she doesn’t ask!

A/N: So yeah, in case you still don't get it, Happy April Fools' Day x: (The first half of this page was a prank chapter ㅋㅋㅋ)