I wanted to recoil, because I don’t somehow trust that CR. I have a bad feeling about her, especially that she always talks to me even if I don’t prefer to talk, calls me her ‘Oppa’ as if I’m her big brother and pops out of nowhere, like she’s a mushroom. I don’t know where Seungri met her specifically, because when he introduced her to us, he just said, “I met her on the way home!” and she hasn’t been sharing her life with us, unlike Seungri’s past girlfriends.

Top grabbed the upper part of my elbow when I was about to jump off the carriage. “Come on, GD. Are you planning to crap on her only time for these following weeks to be with a girl? Give her some space, man. She’s going to choke if you don’t.”

I turned back, and sighed. “I don’t really think I trust CR that much.” I admitted, and spared a glance at Seungri. “Sorry, Ri.”

“It’s okay.” He answered back, shrugging. “I don’t blame you, anyway. She’s mysterious.”

“Yeah.” Taeyang agreed before I could ask Seungri why he thinks CR is mysterious. Everyone looked at him, opting to find something interesting to whatever he’s going to say. “She always asks about GD’s life. It really sounds so fishy; especially that Seungri is her boyfriend, not GD. Anyway, I don’t give out too much information, just the usual favorites, and I don’t really think it helped, because she continues on pestering my personal quality time with myself.”

“Yeah.” Seungri sighed, crestfallen. “She always put GD as our topic every time we’re together.”

“I don’t think she likes GD.” Top muttered, quickly as if he’s contradicting Taeyang and Seungri’s statements just to save CR off the bat. “I was trained specially by my biological parents to see through human emotions. It runs in the family of Choi, passed out every generation. They use the weekends where we go back to our families to train me in sidetrack with the training by the institute. Anyway, her eyes and the way she talks about GD isn’t something intimate, nor beyond intimacy. It can’t be categorized as friendship either, but if I’m going to put it into words, the right term for it is… something that is familial?”

“That’s even way beyond possible.” Daesung chuckled, probably now interested in our topic. He doesn’t usually join in to our topics, and just do his own time daydreaming. “Isn’t Chaerin Jiyong’s only sibling?”

“But Chaerin is on the other side of our world. She’s way beyond the reach of monsters, and besides, humans besides the alive annual offering are not allowed to go inside the haunted house. It’s a golden rule.” I complained.

There was a moment of silence around us, too much silent that you can only hear the horse’s hooves clopping on the ground and when I thought the silence was going to last forever, Seungri suddenly exclaimed, “Eureka!”

Taeyang groaned. “Did you find out the main chemical to complete your fireproof pants?”

“No!” Seungri exclaimed, eagerly.

“Did you find out how the first camera in the world was captured?” Daesung asked.

Seungri shook his head and answered, equally as eager as before, “No!”

“What is it? And why did you shout “Eureka!”, just as whenever you find out something stupid?” I asked, complained even, because Seungri’s “Eureka!”s is not as interesting as Isaac Newton’s or Rene Descartes’. His “Eureka!”s are stupid enough that even a first grader would define it as such.

“CR, it can be a nickname. Look, Chaerin has two syllables, Chae and Rin.” Seungri said, lifting both of his index fingers from each hand up. “If you take out the first letter of each syllable, you’ll get c and r.” He put both of his index fingers together. “If you put it together, it’s CR!”

“That’s a good analysis.” I admit, nodding my head a little.

“But then, we can’t be too sure.” Taeyang suddenly said when the others were about to agree. “She might be a monster who’s undercover, or a spy from the other haunted houses. We can’t just give out our identity while we’re in a competition.”

The carriage suddenly stopped, and Top was the first one to stand. “Let’s ask sangjanim about this one more time to clarify things. Let’s go.”

He opened the half-door and jumped out, his springy legs giving him a satisfactory landing. We followed suit, not as elegant as his jump, but then not humiliating as a beginner. Top’s so good at these things, actions that use the legs the most. It’s his most profitable part of his body.

Top opened the old door made out of pure fine wood and capiz, slowly to avoid any wreckage whatsoever and when it was completely opened, the smell of familiarity calmed my nerves. It’s not something humans would easily approve to be a perfume, but it’s something that has helped us to calm after three months of being inside the haunted house and guard the town. It’s something we always yearn for three months.

We went inside in a single file with Top in the front and Daesung at the back. Monsters were flying everywhere. Some of them would travel around the building with a stainless tray and deliver out the papers needed to complete the process of classification; the others would carry a large crèche, holding at least five monster babies at a time with the same ability or family branch. It looked completely high tech inside but vintage on the outside. This is home.

We started to walk, and the single file became a boy band kind of walking. I looked up, suddenly curious of the ceiling and found that it was highly decorated by five colored stones namely, ruby, sapphire, emerald, topaz and opal. They were the same stones in our piercing, one color for each person. I wonder why they put the same stones in the ceiling.

I looked back just in time for us to get in the elevator, and I got in safely, but still in a deep thought about the stones. I mean why now? Why not put it before when we were still in training?

“Let’s put our thoughts on the meeting rather thinking about it here, shall we?” Top told me, waking me up in my reverie and I nodded.

But I still thought about the stones.

President Yang was smoking with his legs crossed and on the table, and he looks pissed, dark lines were visible beneath his eyes and the scar starting from the edge of his left eyebrow down to the right edge of his lips, crossing and marring his nose, looked like it was glaring at us. “Sit down.” He ordered, firm and strictly, and we quickly sat down to our corresponding seats. I inwardly pity myself for having the closest seat to his.

“What’s this I’m hearing from the daily town’s news, huh?” He asked, puffing out the smoke in his mouth from the . “About the VIP this year being close to you five?”

He turned to Seungri for the answer, and even though I like him being scolded at, I pity him mostly today. The president is smoking , and the drug might be responsible for his actions today. And we all know what drugs do to people.

“She’s innocent, Your Honor—I mean, sangjanim. She’s an exemption of the law, that’s why we’re not allowed or the house to kill her, and we don’t know how to let her out, especially that the mayor of the town believes she’s already dead and this is the first time we’ve dealt with this kind of problem.” Seungri answered, quickly and keeping his gaze directly and steady towards sangjanim only.

The president chuckled; smoke escaping out from his nose and agape mouth. “Then, we should quickly ‘dispose’ her if that’s the case. Innocent or not, she should be killed. Our world is only for ours, mes chers monstre. If we let humans in our world, it would be spoiled and poisoned by their viscous thoughts. It would be better if we prevent it than let it happen, no?”

“But sangjanim!” I suddenly blurt, out of the blue, and out of my own feelings. “T-This is wrong!”

“Why do you think, GD?” The president asked, softly and I felt fear spreading inside me.

“She’s…” My voice trailed off, and I felt my tongue backing out. The fear had already overpowered my body before I knew it, and my thoughts recoiled.

The president chuckled, amused, but it was a more different kind of amused, as if it was the kind of amused only mafia leaders would have. “Is it because you’re in love with her, my son?” He asked, and I felt I had drained the saliva I have when I gulped.

“Sangjanim,” Top quickly said, saving my life. “GD’s possible love for Sandara isn’t the main reason for sparing her since it only benefits GD in this case, and we all know that I want all of us to be fair and equal in that house. We still don’t know what may be the possible reason for sparing her, but at least we have established that the reason isn’t GD loving Dara, so without any possible reason in, I quote, ‘disposing’ her or sparing her, we shouldn’t take upon hideous and unreasonable actions.”

The president puffed a great amount of smoke. “You’re sales talking me again, eh?”

“It’s making your enemy’s mind run in circles, sir.” Top answered with courtesy, bowing his head slightly.

“Whatever you call that, it doesn’t matter. Listen, I want you five to give me reasons to why I would spare that girl, and plans on disposing her, in case your reasons are not reasonable enough. You got that?” The president pointed at us with his crooked index finger, and we nodded in unison. “Okay, skedaddle.”

We all stood up in unison, and exited the meeting room in such quickness that the president might think we’re scared of him, but in reality, we are. We really are. I can see Seungri’s aura turning purple from yellow, well that escalated quickly.

“I can’t believe that he wants her dead.” Daesung said once we’re out of earshot, and he sounded pretty sad.

“Well, we shouldn’t be thinking about that right here, it’s too dangerous.” Top said, placing a hand on Daesung’s shoulder. “Let’s check our rooms for the mails, at least that way it’ll cheer our spirits up.”

“I don’t know, Hyung.” Seungri pouted. “But I’ll still go.”

My room was the farthest. You need to use the elevator and go up to the fifth floor then walk towards the last door. Using your index finger, you draw a door between the last door and the door before it and that would be my room. It’s pretty convenient since I don’t want to be disturbed when I’m alone, but the inconvenience starts whenever the elevator would break and I have to climb five stories up.

I dove towards my bed, circling my arms around my pillow and nuzzle it. The smell last three months was still there, maybe because the room keeper doesn’t wash the sheets as regularly as the current trainees. I turned around to my front and stared at the ceiling. The old days seem to be coming through my mind, the days when I was still training to be a professional monster infiltrates my mind.

Then it happened again, as if I was in a time machine.

Flashback

I covered my eyes, but it was endless. My co-trainees still throw stones towards me, and it wasn’t just normal stones. It was the stoned named Watermelon, which cuts through your skin even the smallest contact, and to hold it, my co-trainees use tongs, which makes it worse when it’s thrown, because it cuts deeper that way. Monsters are afraid of watermelons, especially that our regenerating capabilities act slowly when it’s the reason of our wounds.

But their words hurt me the most. It’s about my father, who’ve died while I was still being classified and my mother, whom I never heard about before. I barely know anything when I was still a toddler, so I can’t recall where she went, or if she’s still alive.

“You’re an incomplete! Monsters need parents to classify what they are, and you don’t have one! Just be a vitiosus! You don’t belong to us!”

“I’m a praestabilis! I’m one!” I screamed, but it was more of a shriek because my throat had been cut by a watermelon.

I thought I was going to die, but then when I thought it was all over, that I’m going to meet my father already, the throwing of watermelons stopped. Slowly, I peered through my fingers and saw someone in front of me. It was the training school’s professor, Teddy Hyung.

“What are you doing throwing watermelons at him? Where’s your professor?” He asked in his utilitarian voice, and I felt the older students’ shudder from my spot.

“Tablo Hyung went back to the classroom to get us the plastic swords for sword fighting, so we played for a bit.” They answered in unison, as if they had practiced it for a very long time. Teddy Hyung placed his hands on his hips.

“So you call watermelon throwing a game? Jiyong is badly hurt!” He shouted, withdrawing the magazine tucked in his pants and slapped it on each the students’ head. I wince with every slap, feeling the pain from my spot since I once got that slap before.

“We’re practicing defense! This is a good way to practice defense, and if he’s the star student, it would’ve been easy for him to dodge the attack.” They reasoned out, and they were about to receive another round of magazine slapping when Tablo Hyung appeared. He was holding a big box in his arms, and when he saw us, he immediately asked, “What’s happening here?”

“You give detention and punishment to these stupid teenagers, Tablo. I’m just going to heal Jiyong’s wounds.” Teddy Hyung said, and pulled me away, leaving a puzzled Tablo Hyung behind.

“So, what are they telling you while they throw watermelons at you?” Teddy Hyung asked as he dab Hydrogen Peroxide on my wounds, and it had helped the wounds a little.

“They’re telling me that I’m vitiosus.” I answered, knitting my eyebrows in between. “Vitiosus monsters are defective ones right? They’re the ones not accepted into a training school because they don’t have the potential and capacity. If I’m one, then why I got accepted to YG?”

“Well, maybe they are pertaining to your family, Jiyong. You know very well that families are part of developing praestabilis monsters. They teach you the family techniques and ancestry powers every vacation. That’s a rule to keep the family power alive.” He said, finally stopping from dabbing Hydrogen Peroxide to my wounds and leaned on the backrest of the chair, crossing his arms. “And you don’t have your family to teach you. That would be hard for your final exam, since family power is part of the criteria. Do you know your family name?”

“I don’t really know.” I truthfully answered, frowning. “But there had been letters addressed to me every vacation. It says dragon and courage.”

“Dragon and courage, huh?” Teddy Hyung clicks his tongue and closes his eyes, humming as he thinks. “Dragon… dragon… courage… courage…”

“Kwon.” His eyes suddenly bolt open, and I saw fear, salutation even. “You’re Henry Kwon’s son. The Pioneer.”

“Pioneer?” I asked. I felt a soft tinge on my heart when I heard the name Henry, and my pulse started to quicken.

“Yeah. I’m a great fan of his. He had created almost everything you see in our world. But he died, disappeared like a bubble while he was conducting a new dangerous experiment. He said that it would bring us to peace, to eternal unity but he died before it was finished. An investigation was held, but they didn’t find the real killer.” Teddy Hyung said, and I saw the pain in his eyes. “It was devastating for all of us. Some even held a revolution, but they were given a death sentence. His name was never spoken again after that, but there are others who still secretly continue the experiment he had left, searching for clues The Pioneer had left.”

I saw her, standing by the entrance with my full real name written on a large piece of paper. It was the summer solstice, marking the start of our vacation for family training purposes and I had planned to search for the clues my father left, just what Teddy Hyung had said.

“Jiyong, baby.” She said between her sobs and hugged me. I held myself back, because she’s still a stranger even though her scent was intoxicating.

“Honey, this is me.” She broke the hug and held my cheeks with her hands. “Your mom.”

But I was too angry, at her and everyone. If she hadn’t left me alone, I would have had a better life. I wouldn’t have to endure the watermelon throwing. I wouldn’t have been so broken.

“Sorry,” I took her hands away from my face. “I don’t talk to strangers.” Then, I walked off to ride the bus to my father’s former office.

End of Flashback

Top’s Monster Dictionary

Vitiosus – Monsters who didn’t train under training schools. They work for the praetabilis monsters.

Praetabilis – Monsters who are trained by training schools.

Mes chers monstre – My dear monster

capiz – I can’t explain this in words, but Filipinos know this. It’s something you find from old doors and windows of an old Kubo. You can search it and images will appear. (It has no definition on the net.)

Watermelon - A type of stone that is harmful (It doesn't really cut your skin even the smallest contact. I just exaggerated it a bit.)

Author's Note: I do not smoke