xxxix. Infinite Shades of Brown

The fight had come to an anti-climatic end. Sunggyu showed up, bringing his so-called “reinforcements” from Denmark – where he apparently was – with him, and turned the tide of the battle. No lives were lost on either side. The injuries were too numerous to count, but you weren’t counting anyway. All that mattered – really – is that it was over, even if momentarily. Even if, at the current point in time, a pack of female werewolves you had never seen before, along with Daeryong and Soryong, were in the living room downstairs, enjoying a small snack before the big reveal.

Three days after the fact, after the cease-fire was forced upon the hunters by the new werewolves in town, after Jiyeon finally got out of bed as healthy as ever, her tenacity on par with your own, the secrets of the entire plot would be divulged to you. But, currently, circumstances had you staring up at a palate of camel brown. Or, maybe bronze. Or, maybe some other deviation of brown you didn’t know the name of. And it was whilst you were pondering the existential life of the color of brown and its closely related relatives when the door to the room opened slowly.

You pushed yourself up from Sungjong’s bed – where Jiyeon had been resting up until this point. Breaking your awkward eye contact with the color brown, you came face to face with a deeper shade of brown. Another one you couldn’t describe. It was just brown.

It was just Kim Sunggyu, who was anything but “just.”

He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb, closing the door behind himself, effectively drowning out the symphony of sound that echoed from downstairs, “Hey, if you don’t come down soon, all the food’ll be gone. Our guests are currently raiding the kitchen.”

“I’ll be there soon. Jiyeon has me waiting while she gets some scissors to even my hair out. Something about being presentable for new people.” You leaned back again, melting into the covers of her bed, musing out loud, “She’s taking awhile though.”

“Mind if I join you while you wait?” He unsurely propositioned, as they he wouldn’t be accepted.

You shook your head, allowing him to sink onto the bed bedside you, stomach up.

You watched him, like it was the most fascinating thing you had ever seen. Like if you spared a blink, he’d disappear as though he were merely a fantastical fairytale. Like you had nothing else to look at but that unknown color of brown, because you didn’t.

“You got a haircut,” you noted, for no particular reason at all, “You pull it off pretty well.”

“Thanks. So did you,” he shrugged, hoodie rising up on his stomach, eyes gesturing to the cut of your bob, jagged in some places, seemingly even in others, “apparently.”

“I thought it was time for a change,” you joked, eyes falling to his hands that laid upon his stomach, your own twitching on yours, “what do you think?”

“I think I like it.” He commented, smiling as though smiling to himself, smiling a smile just for you, just for that moment, “Short and sweet; it suits you.”

And then, you were there. In a moment that suited the two of you, hair cut in the face of a new era, facing one another as you both remained perpendicular to the springs beneath you, blinking every so often, lasting only for a few seconds – short and sweet.

“Honestly,” he began slowly, filling up the silence with words he neither thought about nor kept track of, the desire to get it all out causing him to get nothing out at all, “I told Jiyeon to hold off for awhile earlier downstairs so that I could talk to you alone even for just a bit. But, then I kind of just stood outside the door for a good five minutes. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say right now. Should I apologize? Should I thank you? Should I just say nothing at all? I made this entire encounter so much more complicated than it had to be. Than it even is.”

You lifted your hands to your eyes, blinking fervently, not saying a word.

“Hyunjoo,” he said. “Hyunjoo,” he said again.

You didn’t respond, masking your eyes as though they were the windows to your quivering soul, just like they say – whoever “they” are. But, you couldn’t stop the noise that came tumbling out of your throat, a crack in your disguise letting it through.

“Hey, Hyunjoo, why are you crying?” He questioned.

You your side, facing away from him, tossed, tattered, and in-tangible tears soaking your palms.

He reached out for you, but his hand fell short onto the mattress.

“Hyunjoo.” He called, watching your back.

He still didn’t know what to say or do. He could say anything he wanted. He could do whatever he wanted. He had bought himself time for the sake of it. But, what is it that he wanted? He didn’t know how to phrase it simply and concisely. So, he didn’t say it at all.

Staring up at the ceiling, he chose his scapegoat carefully, the frayed ends of your hair tickling at the tips of his outstretched fingers, “I like it. I like it, Hyunjoo. So, don’t cry. Please, don’t cry.”

And time passed by just like that, with his repetition of these words over and over again.

Because he couldn’t confess anything yet, he had to settle on that one, parallel phrase of: I like it.

With a much tidier appearance, you sat patiently on the couch, squished between Sungjong and Hoya. Listening intently, not saying a word, you forced yourself to commit everything you now heard to memory, even if you had to burn a few files in the process to fit everything into the folds of your gray matter. Even if some details were left sticking out in nooks and crannies here and there, you, at the very least, would have a grasp of their meaning. And, from the current expressions on the faces of the werewolves you knew standing all around you, crowding together on the left side of the living room – minus Sunggyu – they had dedicated themselves to this very same task.

“I’m sure this is all very confusing for everyone,” a woman with long, straight brown hair spoke up, everything from her ordered tone of voice to her squared shoulders to her hands which gathered together in front of her screamed polite, “so I propose we begin with introductions.”

She turned to Sunggyu, who stood by her side, looking for approval. He noticed her glance. An invisible message rendered visible only in the distance between their eyes passed from him to her.  He nodded, and she smiled.

Bowing respectfully, causing awkward clearing of throats to echo across the living room of Sunggyu’s pack’s home, she introduced herself, “You all may call me Seohyun. I am a member of the Seo House, represented by Delegate Kwon Yuri at the Council of the Elites presently housed in Denmark. I am currently first in line to inherit the Seo House from my mother in the event of her death.”

Already, there were terms you had never heard before as well as main ideas you couldn’t even begin to understand. The reason for the latter is that another woman stepped in, taking up the task of explaining Seohyun’s words almost immediately – as though her words had to be actively re-explained on multiple occasions.

“You can’t just leave ‘em out in the cold like that, Seohyun. You have to explain the entire system, from the top all the way to the bottom, you get me?” A woman with disheveled hair leaned forward in the lounge chair Sunggyu typically sat in, making herself right at home as she sat with her feet on the cushion, crossing her legs into an uncomfortable position you couldn’t understand the attraction of.

Seohyun immediately bowed again on reflex, proving your previous deduction about this situation occurring more than once in a blue moon, “I apologize. I have the tendency to summarize concisely without paying much attention to detail.” At the very least, it was a flaw she was aware of.

“It’s fine, Seohyun.” Sunggyu assured her with a steady hand on her shoulder before looking over his own at the woman who stood silently at the entrance of the kitchen, “Perhaps Hyoyeon would better explain everything.”

The woman, now identifiable by the name Hyoyeon, uncrossed her arms immediately, taking up the task without a single complaint, the reason why only made known to you once she began to speak, “So, here’s the deal, in as little words as supernaturally possible. You all know the Elites, the group your previous mayor was in cahoots with. Though I can promise you it was an alliance we were more than thankful to be rid of. Anyway, there’re three levels of power within the group itself. There are the, wait, do you mind if I start from the bottom up instead, Sooyoung?”

Hyoyeon looked to the woman in Sunggyu’s chair, who waved in the air dismissively, not caring how she went about it as long as she herself didn’t have to do it. Hyoyeon took her impassiveness as a firm “no” and began again, “There are House members at the bottom of the food chain, separated by their respective Houses. The Houses themselves are made up of families of purebred werewolves: such as the Seo’s, the Im’s, the Kwon’s, the Cha’s, and, in the past, the Hwang’s as well. There is one ruling family within each House, decided upon when each House first comes into existence. Seohyun is a member of the Seo House’s ruling family. As the line of succession presently stands, if her mother dies, she is to rule in her steed.

“Her mother, as the Ambassador of the Seo House, acts for the benefit of their entire House. Simultaneously, she works alongside the chosen Delegate from the Kwon House: the first House of beastly origin represented within the Elites at its forming over eighty years ago. This Delegate represents the interests of the Houses under him or her, all previously mentioned, at the main Council of the Elites – which has, for the past fourty years, been housed in Denmark’s capital of Copenhagen.”

She paused momentarily, taking steps forward, considering her next words to be paramount to understanding the conflict currently underway within Springfield, “Now, pay close attention, okay? Imagine this entire system three times over. Imagine the reality of three separate factions, three separate Delegates with each one representing a different group of interests. Obviously, turmoil exists between the three, as power struggles historically take place whether the people, the House members in this particular case, desire it or not. These factions are, if you haven’t figured it out by now, those of the Werewolves, the Hunters, and the Humans.”

You had, but it helped to hear it out loud. It made it all the easier to comprehend. It gave unwanted meaning to the meaningless battle just three days ago.

“Lastly, between the Delegates on the top of the food chain and the Houses members at the bottom, there lays another group called the Enforcers. They are an independent body made up of House members from each faction. Their ranks range from EN10 to EN00, the lower the number, the more vital the Enforcer is to aiding in the Elite’s goal of a peaceful balance between Humans, Hunters, and Werewolves alike. I, Kim Hyoyeon, as a member of the Enforcers, rank EN02, act in order to preserve this balance.”

She flipped her long, blonde fringe, removing her hair from her face, before continuing, “As a member of this pseudo-police force within the Elites, if there are groups of House members from the Hunter faction rallying together in order to unjustifiably overthrow a settled group of werewolves, such as the packs of impure werewolf Woo Jiho and House member Kim Sunggyu, I act in order to quell the unsanctioned upset. As an Enforcer, I must remain impartial to the interests of all sides and move to action only when the natural order of things is disrupted. Thus, for this reason, for the conservation of the werewolf race in the face of dissident Hunter groups upsetting the balance of hunters across many different, faraway regions, the five of us came to Springfield with members of our respective Houses to put an end to the conflict.”

Hyoyeon stopped there, finished and yet not breathless in the least. She receded to the entrance of the kitchen again right after, expressionless and silent as though she had never moved from her spot. The reason she hadn’t objected to doing so in the first place? She apparently had the tendency to ramble once she opened to speak – quite useful when it came to this particular situation.

“That’s about it,” a woman who looked lively in her place, standing by the window, smiling wide, head tilted ever so slightly, concluded. She didn’t have to, but she found it necessary to as the room was engulfed by an unbreakable silence. Because no one knew what to immediately respond with, she continued the introductions stalled for the sake of providing some sense of clarity to the past eleven months of your, and everyone else’s, life, “My name is Im Yoona. I am a member of the Im House. My family originally hails from northern France.”

“The name’s Choi Sooyoung,” the woman with disheveled hair chimed in, “and I’m the Rank EN03 Enforcer that saved the asses of the cucumber,” she pointed forward at Kyung enthusiastically, “the mannequin,” then Myungsoo, “and that other guy,” and lastly, Woohyun – who seemed to take offense to not receiving a defining nickname from the laid-back Enforcer.

The only woman who had yet to introduce herself had been in the kitchen, searching for a poisonous kind of sustenance she would never find, forcing Sooyoung to introduce her herself, “And the shorty in the kitchen is Kim Taeyeon. Elite Enforcer Rank EN00. She’s her own little mini can of whoop- with the fury of a woman scorned and the liver of a pen-tailed treeshrew. Which is, like,” she paused, eyes rolling back and her eyelashes fluttering as she attempted to figure out a way to explain the unknown animal to everyone, coming up with seemingly nothing until Yoona filled in the gap – as though they had had this conversation before.

“Like a mouse.” Yoona provided with a less than enthused expression on her face. In fact, it seemed as though she was the pen-tailed treeshrew’s number one anti-fan.

“Yeah,” Sooyoung immediately agreed, remembering instantaneously, “like a mouse! A mouse that, after being constantly drunk for years, eventually just stopped being drunk altogether. Pretty amazing, ey?”

“The most amazing,” Yoona humored her; her following laugh so sarcastic you sympathetically nodded her way reflexively.

Sunggyu stifled a laugh, fitting in with them, with the right side of the room, better than you could have ever imagined. Then again, you didn’t think you could ever manage to imagine this situation in the first place, even after everything that’s happened to you. There they were, female werewolves, right there in front of you. There they were, causing so many pheromones to fill the space between them and the others you felt lightheaded. The between the left and the right side of the living room was suffocating. And yet, everyone remained natural, making you out to be the crazy one who couldn’t stop coughing up your own liver – which you imagined was not nearly as tolerant to second-hand, pheromone-caused drunkenness as a pen-tailed treeshrew’s.

“You alright?” Hoya’s hand made its way onto your back, patting down upon your shoulder blade.

You nodded, standing up quickly in order to evacuate the scene, to escape a bit farther from the situation, via the arched entrance to the foyer. Myungsoo eyed you, as well as everyone else whose eyes you thankfully couldn’t see behind you, as you took your place at his side under the archway. You ignored his inquisitive stare and cleared you throat before awkwardly stuttering out, “I’m Song Hyunjoo, a member of the Soon-to-Need-Resuscitation House, rank Oh-God-Can-No-One-Else-Smell-That?”

Your words were enough to issue smiles and laughter all around, even from the male werewolves who had yet to say a single thing this entire time. They didn’t seem to take your plight all to seriously though, as the introductions began again, the left side of the room mingling with the right with ease thanks to your unintended icebreaker. Everyone’s names hummed against your ears, sounding like distant buzzing to your dazed mind. There was something about Hyoyeon’s explanation that had you thinking. Thinking thoughts. Thoughts that were as unreadable as the unlabeled brown that spread across the ceiling above you, right over your head.

Hyoyeon had called Sunggyu as such: House member Kim Sunggyu.

The most obvious question was what came to your mind first, quite obviously.

What had Sunggyu done in Denmark in order to receive the reinforcements that now stood before you?

And, was it ultimately worth it?

With trembling hands, Sungyeol opened up the little blue book in his hands and a long piece of paper slipped from between the pages. He bent over to where it had fallen, right under the red suitcase by his side. The red hunk of plastic was quite literally his life on wheels, and it’d go wherever he chose to steer it. And he’d change its heading tomorrow, at six in the morning, in a seat written on that long piece of paper he picked up, his fingers rhythmically plucking at the ends of it.

He had everything he needed: his life, his passport, and his plane ticket.

He had chosen to no longer treat the entire thing like a secret that needed to be kept. With his bedroom door wide open, with his intent quite clear from what he held and what he stood by, he was willing to explain it all to anyone who entered. He anticipated opposition in the form of cursing and yelling. He didn’t expect who walked through his door then, an unfamiliar face that caused it all to become an unfamiliar situation.

A female werewolf, one of the many Sunggyu had brought to Springfield to help them, stood at the threshold of his room.

She was beautiful. The kind of beautiful a person would chance a second glance at if they were walking by her. A kind of beauty to be remembered not for its name or details but for that first and second glance, defined by the seconds in which its there before proceeded by the seconds in which its not. A kind of beauty rooted in the phenomena of longing after its long gone.

He noted her hair – chestnut brown waves with bangs that hugged her eyelids – and her eyes – a darker brown.

He remembered her actions: saving Sungjong from being overrun by hunters and saving P.O from himself.

He knew everything he needed to within milliseconds, the stunning nature of her beauty forgotten by the time she finally spoke, greeting him, “Well hello there, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. Where are you heading off to?”

Sungyeol resigned himself to conversing with the stranger, finding that being inquired upon by an unknown left him confident and condescending.

“I know we just met and all,” he paused, allowing her to fill in the blank that was her name.

“Taeyeon,” she supplied, following his pace with ease.

“Taeyeon,” he repeated without changing his tone, “but I don’t think where I’m going has anything to do with you.”

“True,” she shrugged, leaning upon the frame of his door, “though, if I may give you one piece of advice?”

He diverted his eyes, not protesting to the idea. So, she spoke her mind, watching him attentively, because she figured she should take advantage of the seconds in which he was there, before he passed her by, “Life is too short, especially for our kind, to live it with regrets. Do what you can, while you can.”

With his body oriented forward, with his head turned just slightly towards her, with parted lips and an unshaking stare, he didn’t say a word. Why should he? A stranger’s words of wisdom are naturally arrogant and self-absorbed. Even if he took her advice and tucked it away, dedicating a small cluster of neurons to remembering it and another to forgetting her in the seconds after, he felt neither compelled nor obligated to say a single thing in response.

She, in turn, didn’t attempt to search for an answer that didn’t exist at this moment: this span of mere seconds, brief and unmemorable.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for.” She raised her index and middle finger up, pressing both to her temple, before, as though she were casting him off, as though wishing him luck on his journey whatever it may be, she saluted him.

And then, she was gone.

And then, the next day, so was he. 

A/N:

I updated so fast guys! I'm so proud of both myself (for finishing so quickly) and you guys! Why? Well, we've reached the 1 year mark, the 700 subscriber mark, and the over 100 upvote mark for Illusory! Not only that, but also the 800 subscriber mark for Springfield! Oh my goodness, why are you guys so nice to me? Scratch that, it doesn't matter. Just having so much support f0r such a long period of time is great. Just great. Just the greatest. I may never be featured or read by more than you guys reading this right now, at this very moment, but you know what? I don't need anymore than this: your attention for a span of twenty to thirty minutes every time I update. I'm like that typical female character in a manga who loves it when Senpai notices me. Okay, excuse me before I ramble on and become over emotional. No one wants to see or read that. Love you, guys. 

Did you understand Hyoyeon's Explanation?
I edited that thing multiple times to make it simple to grasp.
Maybe I can draw a diagram if you're super confused
and you want to see my awful artistic skills.

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