Hyomin knocked the door to Yongguk’s room. It was half past 10 at night and she was bored. She had not seen Yongguk for a few days because he had been busy occupying the study room; a room where only the chosen ones were allowed to be inside. Knowing that he was back in his own room, she quickly made her way to visit him.

Despite the knocks, the door was not opened. Impatiently, Hyomin pushed the door open only to see Yongguk sitting while staring at a piece of paper. She moved nearer to him and noticed he was drawing.

“Yah Yongguk, I was calling for you. Didn’t you hear?” Hyomin called out.

“Hmph.” That was the only sound that Yongguk could come up with as a respond. Hyomin was beginning to lose patience. It had been months since Yongguk started acting aloof, especially to her. Previously, he was all clingy onto her and made sure she was there every night for him. However, everything changed.

“Yongguk! What’s wrong with you?!” Hyomin shouted frustratingly. She shot up and slammed her fist on the desk causing the stationery to drop noisily. Tears began to swell her eyes but she refused to give in to her emotions.

“Hyomin, will you stop all this?” Yongguk finally spoke. His voice was calm and tender despite the uproar Hyomin just made. He felt sorry for her. Hearing his loving voice, Hyomin calmed down a bit. She hugged his shoulder and kissed his head. Yongguk didn’t back away from the touch. He let her fingers ran through his spine, around his neck and kissed him all over. It was not because he disliked her. He was just beginning to understand what love actually meant to him. Unfortunately, that love was not towards her.

Hyomin pushed Yongguk's hand away and sat on his lap. She was not paying attention to what he was writing and drawing. She was interested in him, and that was it. She playfully caressed his cheeks, lips and wrapped her arms around his thick neck. Yongguk, on the other hand, maintained a straight poker face. While Hyomin was doing her things on him, his mind was only towards the drawing. Intricately, he drew the symbol.

Time passed real slowly and without realising, an hour and half was gone. He put down his pen and was satisfied by his little masterpiece. Hyomin was still sitting on his lap but she had fallen asleep. He did a small stretching with his left arm while his right was used to support her. His body ached due to the amount of work he had put in the past few days. He needed coffee.

Carefully he slid his arms under Hyomin and carried her towards his bed. He was gentle as ever so as not to wake her up. He placed her on his bed and covered her with his blanket. She stirred a little but still remained asleep. He took a last quick look at her sleeping face. Yes, he began to know what love is. Sadly, Hyomin was not the one who taught him love. With a last quick glance, he then walked out of the room. There was only one name that kept ringing in his mind.

After sleeping for a few hours on Yongguk’s comfortable king-size bed, Hyomin tossed to the right and woke up. Groggily, she stretched her arms hoping Yongguk was beside her. Nope, he wasn’t there. She opened her eyes and searched his room. Nope, there was no sign of him. Maybe he left early, Hyomin assured herself. She crawled out of his bed and walked over to his desk. She picked up the piece of paper that Yongguk was dwelling on the whole night. She looked at the drawing.

“What is this?” Hyomin scrutinized the image thoroughly. She was looking at the symbol when something else caught her attention. Underneath the many sheets of paper used as sketch, she noticed one sheet that was different than the rest. The paper was filled with words.

Curiously, she read out, “Kim Lyorin?” It’s a girl’s name, her brain responded and instantly her fists tightened. That name had definitely etched itself in her memory.

*************

School had been weighing the EXO guys and Lyorin as they kept themselves occupied with homework, assignments and projects. After the encounter with BAP months ago, nothing happened. No trouble or fights. It was strangely peaceful which made the guys extra wary. Lyorin recalled what Yongguk had promised to her, that he would never ever hurt her. She was surprised he kept his promise till now. BAP members weren’t that bad after all. But if they weren’t the bad guys, then who could it be? Every story needed a villain at least.

EXO guys had it easy all these while but they weren’t aware of the problems BAP members were facing, with failing missions and mysterious intruders with powers appearing to hunt them down. Yongguk was particularly stressed up knowing that his powers and the clan’s strength were weakening with every failed mission. They tried as they might to come up with possible theories to uncover the mystery. BAP, BTOB and EXO were the only ones with powers. Maybe there was another clan out there, yet to discover.

*************

“What is it Yongguk? What do you want to show me?” Mr Kim asked the BAP’s leader while resting on the sofa in BAP’s living room. He reached the residence just a while ago, and was already welcomed by a very eager Yongguk.

“Mr Kim, look. Do you by any chance know anything about this symbol?” Yongguk showed him the drawing he had done for the past week. Mr Kim immediately snatched the paper from him and stared in disbelief.

“Where did you get this?” Mr Kim asked in a serious tone.

“I drew it.” Yongguk responded in confusion. Mr Kim let out a sigh and shook his head.

“Yongguk, where have you seen this?” Mr Kim asked. Yongguk was a little hesitant to answer. However, without waiting for his reply, Mr Kim explained further. “Yongguk, this symbol is important. There is a prophecy in the Book of Fate which states something pertaining to the clans’ unification. And it is believed that the child possessing this symbol, be it a tattoo on him or a physical thing that he owns, then he is the rightful person that could help in unifying the clans. Let me ask you, what do you see this symbol as?”

“Hmm, a sun?” Yongguk answered.

 “Okay good, so you see this as a sun. Seek the sun for it shines as the brightest Star.” Mr Kim stated. Yongguk tried to comprehend what Mr Kim had just said. “Yongguk, whatever it is, this person with this symbol is the key. I don’t know how you manage to come up with such a symbol, but I’m assuming you have seen it somewhere; on someone. This person holds the greatest secret within our fraternity. If I must say, this child is the only reason our clans have existed for so long.”

“What kind of secret does she hold?”

“I see that you saw this symbol on a girl.” Mr Kim stood up and paced around the room. He managed to catch Yongguk’s little mistake, but he wasn’t angry or upset. “I’m not angry, Yongguk. In fact, whoever this girl is, she is our responsibility. We need to protect her. Do you want to see the clans settle all the differences and be united?” He looked at Yongguk, who was deep in thought. As much as they hated each other’s guts to no end, they had to admit that when the clans stood separately, they weren’t as strong as they used to be in the past generations before the split. BAP had failed missions, BTOB lost their Star (or at least what the BAP members believed) and EXO, being the youngest clan had yet to master their powers well.

“Then, the mysterious people that kept appearing whenever we carry our missions, who are they?” Yongguk asked.

“I’ve been doing my research and I have yet to uncover the identity of these people.” Mr Kim frowned. “I could only think of one reason as to why they keep hindering our missions; they want us to go weak.”

“Are you saying they might be an unknown clan out there with powers just like us? But, they don’t possess the Book of Fate, how?”

 “Truthfully, it’s impossible for anyone to have special abilities other than the clans vowed under the Book of Fate. However if you remember, as long as the clan masters’ bloodline – “ Mr Kim stopped. “My gr-great grandfather –“ He managed to stutter nervously. “Don’t tell me –“

“His disappearance could have meant something.” Yongguk understood Mr Kim’s thoughts. “Because as you said, as long as the clans’ masters followed closely in maintaining the bloodline of the clan, then the powers of the clans could never be infiltrated out to the common society.”

Mr Kim turned pale. Throughout the 56 years of his life, he had never once thought about his great-grandfather’s disappearance. “It can’t be.” He muttered softly.

“It could be, he is the betrayer?” Yongguk rashly concluded.

“Yongguk! You do not speak of your past clan masters in that manner. You can’t accuse him of doing such acts unless –“

“Unless there is proof?” Yongguk cut in. “Mr Kim, how can we possibly retrieve proof when this happened years ago? If your great-grandfather, our clan master, really did betray the clan and tainted the bloodline to another unknown group of people we aren’t even aware of, then I believe, this group of people has already mastered the powers. Worst, they could be even stronger than us.”

As much as Mr Kim wanted to refute Yongguk’s claim, a part of him seemed to agree. There could be a reason as to why his great grandfather disappeared out of a sudden. If he really did betray the clan and used his power to create his own clan, then something needed to be done. Suddenly, “The girl –“ Mr Kim blurted. “Yongguk, the girl. You need to make sure she is well protected.. She could bring about the possibility of unifying the separated clans and be stronger as before. I hate to say this Yongguk, but I’m sure you are aware of this. We aren’t as strong. So, we need to get her. Where is she? Bring her here. “

Yongguk looked down, “I can’t Mr Kim. I can’t.” Mr Kim gave him a puzzled look, “because she belongs to EXO.” With wide eyes and a gaping mouth, Mr Kim slumped in to his seat in utter shocked.

To be continued...