victory [vik-t(ə-)rē] n. - success in a struggle or endeavor against odds or difficulties

“That went rather well, wouldn’t you agree?”

Mihyun happily clasped her hands together as she stood before the three boys. Their mixed expressions of anger and disbelief completely contrasted her own look of satisfaction.

“Are you crazy?!” Sehun exclaimed as he grabbed a hold of her chin to tilt her head upwards. He scowled and let out a short grunt when he saw the red line that traced her neck. “You said you wouldn’t get hurt!”

Mihyun opened to point out that she had actually said that he wouldn’t hurt her, not that she wouldn’t hurt herself, but the angry glint in Sehun’s eye made her hold her tongue. “It’s not too bad, and it worked, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, but at what cost?” Sehun muttered, taking the first aid kit Jaesuk had handed him.

“It’s just a little cut,” Mihyun protested, wincing when Sehun applied rubbing alcohol onto the injury.

“Stay still,” Sehun scolded as he blew gently on the wound. His eyes flashed with concern, and he glanced over at the girl’s face to see any signs of pain. “Does it still sting?”

She responded with a small smile and a shake of her head, “It’s all better now.”

At this point, the attention of the two was completely captivated by one another, and both Luhan and Jaesuk felt as if they were intruding on something rather intimate. After exchanging knowing glances and amused grins, the pair silently slid out of the room to leave the couple on their own. Their departure went completely unnoticed by the others, and the pair continued on as if there hadn’t been any outsider there in the first palce.

“Foolish girl,” Sehun muttered under his breath as he gently applied a plaster to her skin. He leaned back to examine his work, and nodded his head in approval. “What are you going to do now if that scars?”

“It won’t,” Mihyun shrugged in response. She stretched her arms up into the air and fell backwards onto her bed with a soft thump, a wide smile stretched across her face. “We’re free.”

Sehun opened his mouth to continue his scolding, but decided to let it go. After all, the girl had achieved something great, and he shouldn’t be one to rain on her parade any longer. In all honesty, he was proud. He knew it wasn’t easy for Mihyun to have stood up to her father the way she had, and he was proud that the girl had summoned enough confidence to do what she had done.

The girl let out another squeal of delight, and Sehun rolled his eyes affectionately at the girl’s childishness. He lied down beside her with his arms stretched behind his head, and teased, “We’re not all free yet, you know.”

“Don’t be such a spoiler, Sehun,” Mihyun whined as she nudged him with her elbow.

Sehun turned to Mihyun with an arched eyebrow, “Am I hearing correctly? Han Mihyun is actually whining? The Han Mihyun?”

He laughed aloud when Mihyun gave him another nudge, and reached over to ruffle the front of her hair affectionately.

A blanket of silence captured the two, and Mihyun her side to gaze at Sehun’s side profile, admiring the boy’s rugged features.

Sehun caught her stare out of the corner of his eye, and he propped his head up with his hand to return the gaze, “Am I really that handsome?”

“It can only get better from here, right Sehun?” Mihyun asked, pretending she hadn’t heard the boy’s earlier words.

Sehun stared at the girl’s face for a few seconds before he reached out to brush a stray strand of hair from her eyes. “I hope so.”

Kyungsoo bit down hard on his bottom lip as he traveled the hallways alone. All of the others had been called out to do work, while he was once again, left in the cage by himself. He was tired of being the only one who couldn’t bring anything to offer to help the rebellion turn its gears, so he decided that it was time to venture out on his own. He knew he was disobeying Jongin’s orders for him to stay in the cage, but he couldn’t help but become restless from simply reciting the same words over and over again.

He hated it.

He hated being the one who was left out.

He hated being the one who was useless.

He hated being stupid. He hated being dumb. He hated, he hated, he hated it.

He hated himself.

He knew the others saw him as a burden that they had to carry, even if they were too nice to say so. The others cared for him of course, he wasn’t dumb enough to say that they didn’t, but they would still probably appreciate him all so much more if he could actually be of use.

All Kyungsoo wanted was to be desired. All he wanted was to be needed.

Kyungsoo needed to be doing something, because sometimes, sometimes when he was stuck in that room all by himself, his thoughts took a hold of him; Kyungsoo had very ugly thoughts.

Sometimes he would sit in the corner with his knees pulled up to his chest and his face buried in his folded arms as he wallowed in his self pity. Other times, he would direct his anger at other people, sometimes even the ones he held dear to him.

He hated himself for thinking so, but often times, he couldn’t help but feel rather bitter towards Luhan. Kyungsoo loved Luhan, he really did, but he felt that it was unfair. It was unfair that Kyungsoo was the one everybody picked on for being stupid – at least he could speak, couldn’t he? He might stammer rather often, but at least he could articulate his words.

Luhan wasn’t even physically restricted from speaking – he just couldn’t. Kyungsoo didn’t exactly know why, for he never had the guts to ask, but what he did know was that the elder had endured events so traumatic that he eventually lost the will to speak. Either way, Kyungsoo saw it rather clearly – he could speak and Luhan couldn’t.

So why was he the one chosen to suffer?

It was an ugly thought, he knew. He knew he was a horrible person to question why he was the one treated badly and not the other boy; it wasn’t as if he was referring to a stranger or anything - Luhan was his beloved Hyung. It was an ugly thought, but it was still there, and it wouldn’t disappear as much as Kyungsoo willed it to.

He had bad thoughts, he knew, but all he could do was just hope and pray that they didn’t make him into a bad person.

He was just tired of being useless, tired of being stupid.

Kyungsoo grumbled unintelligibly under his breath as he kicked at the dirt scattered across the ground. He had been so eager to leave the cage that he had forgotten to bring his notepad and pencil along with him.

Even when he was trying to be useful he was stupid.

“W-Why ar-are y-y-you so d-dumb?” Kyungsoo questioned himself under his breath as he kicked at a rather large rock. He jumped in alarm when the rock slammed against a door to create the sound of a hollow thud, followed closely by a small creak.

Kyungsoo glanced up to see that the rock had hit the door to the private office of the Noye house, causing the unlocked door to open just the slightest bit. It was rather strange that the door was unlocked, for the door was often placed under intense security since it contained many of the most important documents.

Important documents.

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened in realization, and his heart began to double in its beats. If this room contained documents as important as it was made out to be, the map to the Noye house should most definitely reside somewhere within those four walls.

He could almost hear it.

He could almost hear the praise he would receive from the others if he was to return with something important as the map to the Noye house.

Kyungsoo glanced around to make sure nobody was around before he silently tip toed over to the slightly opened office. He peeked inside to make sure nobody occupied the room, and slipped carefully inside once he confirmed that it was empty. His heart was nearly beating out of his chest, and he glanced wildly around the room to search for the place that held the map.

When nothing obvious stuck out to him, he heaved a small, reluctant sigh, and made his way over to a corner cabinet to begin his search. He knew his time was rather limited, and that he would suffer dire punishments if he was caught.

There was a little voice in the back of his head nagging for him to leave while he still had the chance. Kyungsoo would have listened to it if it wasn’t for the other voice.

The louder voice.

The stronger voice.

The voice that told him to keep going.

The voice that told him that he could finally gain his acceptance among the others if he were to do something worthy.  It was a voice Kyungsoo had heard many times before – back when he would be rolled up into the corner of a room. It was the voice that gave Kyungsoo bad thoughts, the voice that would always remind Kyungsoo of his worthlessness. Now that the voice was finally giving him a chance to redeem himself, Kyungsoo couldn’t back down.

He wouldn’t.

Kyungsoo moved from cabinet to cabinet, desperately searching for the single piece of paper that would allow him to redeem his worthiness. A single piece of paper, that was all he needed – and he couldn’t even find that.

He fell to the ground, bitterly chuckling under his breath. He was so stupid that he couldn’t even find a damned piece of paper. Of course.

Kyungsoo shook his head and clenched his fist. He couldn’t give up now. The chance to enter a room that was normally so carefu