CHAPTER ONE 



I’ve always been told that I was extraordinary.

On the day of my birth, onlookers declared that the heaven’s opened up and God himself peeked from the clouds at my ethereal magnificence, and that when I opened my mouth, instead of the sharp trill of newborns, the silky, soaring voice of an angel erupted from my throat.

I was acknowledged, even among the angelic Exceptionals, as the dazzling little girl that could sing the moon down from the sky.

You know what that kind of unnecessary adoration does to you? It drives you ing crazy, or at least that’s the case for me. I didn’t crave, or desire, any form of praise from strangers, but it seemed that no one seemed no one around me gave a damn.

I guess I couldn’t blame them. After all, aren’t Exceptionals supposed to be treated with the utmost care? Aren’t we supposed to be gently handled and praised like the fragile little angels we are? We’re supposed to be sweet and submissive, constantly tending to our Alpha mates, because, from birth, we are practically their slaves. 

How messed up is that?

Even so, I suppose there are many that would gladly take my place. I’ve never seen anyone jealous of me, oh no. Afterall, Exceptionals do not have such tainted emotions. I am only envied and admired and praised to the point where I want to vomit. I think I’d rather have someone slap me in the face.

All I want is to be free; to be free to make my own choices and to decide my own future. I want to find people who actually understand me, and love me for who I am, not what I’m expected to be. All this suffocating attention …

It makes me not want to be alive.


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“Han Eunji, please come to the office,” a high, sickeningly sweet voice very nearly sang over the intercom. I glanced up from my books just long enough to roll my eyes behind my hands. Mrs. Laura was our secretary, and she liked her job very much, cheerfully announcing over the intercom day and night with her disgustingly syrupy voice about random crap that wasn’t even remotely necessary.

And I seemed to be the only one who had a problem with this. 

“Shut the up!” I groaned, wanting to rip my hair out my head. Thankfully, Haeri, my goody two shoes best friend, did it for me, although not to the intensity of which I’d hoped.

“Eunji, don’t curse!” she hastily whispered, terrified. Trembling, she quickly glanced around the room, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that no one had noticed. She then turned back to me fearfully. “It’s against the rules! You wouldn’t want to get in trouble.”

I scoffed. Oh right, because Exceptionals weren’t allowed to curse, or even speak without being spoken to for that matter. Wouldn’t want a rude Exceptional slave now would we? That would be scandalous.

“What’s the worst they can do to me? Make me wash dishes? Clean the dorms? Give a time-out?” I snapped back. “They aren’t even allowed to raise their voice at me and act mad. They have to act innocent and sweet at all times, like they don’t even have a temper. Why should I be afraid of them?”

Again, she reached over and quickly tugged on my hair, her big fearful eyes scanning the room. We were in music class at the moment, and thankfully (at least in her opinion) everyone was too concentrated on their music to pay us any attention. I rolled my eyes when she turned back and shushed me.

I was keeping my voice down just for her, but apparently it wasn’t enough. In my opinion, she should just be grateful I wasn’t flipping tables and , because that was something that seemed unquestionably necessary to do at the moment.

“Eunji, why don’t you understand? We can’t be disrespectful. It’s wrong! What would you do if they called your parents? It would be dreadful and so disappointing!” she whispered back, voice slightly frustrated from my disobedience. I very nearly laughed aloud thinking that this was probably the closest she ever felt to rage. Did she honestly think I cared? “You have to fix this sort of behavior soon.  We’re almost 18 after all, and we have to be good to our Alphas. If you don’t fix this soon, you’ll never be a good mother!”

I stared at her. “And what if I don’t want to be a mother?” I argued. “What if I don’t want to become an Alpha’s mate? What if I hate children? What am I supposed to do then?”

She gaped at me. “E-Eunji! Never declare such things!” she stuttered. Her already huge eyes grew wider than ever in astonishment. “It’s our duties to become mothers and mates!”

“So you only want to become a mother and a mate because it’s your duty?” I argued back. “You’re not doing it because you whole-heartedly desire too?”

“Of course I desire too!” she cried back. Some of the other Exceptionals started glancing our way. I glared back at them, but they just blinked back blankly. Haeri followed my glare, and very nearly squeaked in terror, hastily smiling sweetly and assuring them that everything was fine while I pretended to vomit in the background.

Apparently they didn’t notice because they simply angelically smiled back and went back to their instruments like nothing had happened. Haeri let out a sigh of relief, and faced me again.

She confusedly wrinkled her brows at me like I was crazy, which, in her opinion, I probably was.
 
“Eunji, I want to understand you, I desperately do, but everything you do, think, and say, it just-“she paused, trying to find the right words. “Bewilders me,” she finally concluded. “No matter what I do, I don’t I’ll ever be able to understand you. I’m very sorry, but it’s the truth.”

I sighed slightly, looking down. “That makes two of us Haeri, that makes two of us.” I glanced longingly out the window. If only I knew what lies beyond this suffocating homeland. Then perhaps I could run away from this beautiful hell and be free. “I don’t understand myself either.”

Haeri followed my gaze out the window, and her confused look grew even more concerned. She opened to say something but the sound of Mrs. Laura announcement of, “Han Eunji will you please come to the office, right at this moment” interrupted her.  She hastily closed and reached over to quickly help me pack up my flute.

“You should go, before they come get you,” she said, gently nudging me towards the door. “I’ll wait for you after class.”
 
“Thanks, Haeri. I’m sorry if I made you angry.”

“It’s fine. It was my fault for getting irritated at you when all you were doing was confiding in me your insecurities. I’m sure it’s just a phase and you’ll be just fine.”

I bit my lip slightly, again glancing out the window. If only you were right…

If only

Picking up my now perfectly packed flute, I made my way out the door. “Goodbye Eunji~” a beautifully harmonized choir of voices sang to me as I stepped out. I turned around and saw the 20 glittering eyes of my Exceptional classmates that had been in the classroom with me. So much attention and unnecessary kindness…was I the only one who thought it was creepy?

“Goodbye everyone,” I sang back as I forced a smile, which, knowing me, was probably stunning. They all let out a tinkling laugh and turned back to their instruments. I glanced quickly at an Exceptional near me. Her eyes were shining, clear and free of worry. The flowing, smooth way she strummed her guitar showed that she was completely at peace. I bet she was ready to become a mother at this very second. If she was, and so was Haeri, and probably the rest of the Exceptional student body, then why wasn’t I?  

I sighed deeply and slowly made my way to the office, feeling like I had the world on my shoulders. The whole way there, I only one had one thing on my mind.

Why was I so different from everybody else?




Kai POV
I glanced slightly from my sketching to check on Chanyeol. Although the tall guy was the same age as me, I constantly felt the need to check up on him. Who knew what kind of havoc that guy would cause? The last time I’d left him unattended, he had burned down our entire stock of salt pork and we had to live off cabbages for 3 weeks. By the time it was over, I couldn’t even look at the color green without feeling a little green myself.

At the moment, he appeared to be horsing around with Zelo, a cute, bunny-like (but surprisingly tall) kid who got banished because of his ability to communicate with dead people. He could get them to haunt anyone he wanted and could even get them to kill someone on occasion. He had scared the living crap out of the people of the Alpha homeland and had a big bounty over his head.

If only the Alphas had taken the time to actually get to know him. Then they would’ve found out that underneath the terrifying power, he was a very normal, fun-loving kid. 

“Chanyeol, you doing okay, man?” I yelled, waving my hand crazily to get his attention. “You have your power under control?” 

He grinned happily at me. “About as much as it always is, bro, which is hardly at all,” he answered back. At the moment, he had Zelo in a chokehold facedown on the ground. I didn’t even feel the need to roll my eyes at their rough play. It was totally normal. I knew that Chanyeol wouldn’t dare hurt him. “How about you, man? Do you feel the need to need to teleport somewhere out of the blue? Like soviet Russia or something? How much is YOUR power under control?”

I grinned back. “About as much as a Hazard’s power CAN be controlled, which is hardly at all.”

“I know right?”

“Totally.”  

Laughing, Chanyeol got up, releasing Zelo from his chokehold, causing the poor kid to flounder around in the sand like a dying magikarp. After a few minutes, the kid stood up and cursed about how he was going to “get ghosts to haunt Chanyeol forever,” and how he was going to “regret this” which Chanyeol didn’t even take the time to scoff at. He knew Zelo would never use his power against him.

Passing by a tent on his way to me, he quickly opened the flap and yelled at the top of his lungs. “Myungsoo! G-Dragon Hyung! Amber! Krystal! Wake up! We have a big day today!”

Loud replies and groans of
“Will you go away?”
“God you’re so annoying.”
“Can’t you see we’re trying to sleep?”
And
“whaaaa?” (Amber)
filled the air, along with many irritated kicks directed towards Chanyeol.

Chanyeol just chuckled and dodged while making his way towards me.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Big day?”
“You’ll see soon enough(;”




A couple minutes later, all of the gang was gathered around the fire (courtesy of Chanyeol) and clearly wasn’t too pleased about it. I glanced at the girls of the group, Amber (18) and Krystal (17), who looked like they would very much rather still be asleep.

Amber had the power of telling the future, which wouldn’t have been considered hazardous at all if not for the fact that she could only read bad futures. While she was in the Alpha camp, she had constantly terrified the people around her by blurting out and ranting about horrible futures while having seizures and foaming on the ground. They banished her after she accidentally scared an Exceptional to death during a particularly long vision. (That vision had ironically been that the Exceptional was going to die from fright.) Since then, Amber had gotten her powers basically under control, but like the rest of us, she couldn’t fully manage it.

Krystal on the other hand, had the power to cause the illusion of pain beyond the mortal imagination. All she had to do was look at someone and wish to cause them pain and they would suddenly be screaming and writhing all over the ground. If held in the illusion long enough, the pain could actually slay somebody. It didn’t help that Krystal also had an nasty temper as well, causing her to use her powers way more than necessary. Among us, her power was the most controllable but it was so hazardous that the Alpha homeland banished her immediately; a fact that she was bitter towards to this day.

Myungsoo (21) on the other hand, was a shape shifter, but with a twist. He couldn’t change when he shifted, and when he did, he became the most shockingly excellent killer that walked the face of the planet. There was no particular creature he changed into. Instead, he simply changed into the worst fear of the person nearest to him. It was ironic how such an easy-going, funny guy could have such a hazardous power.

Chanyeol sometimes jokes around about how Myungsoo’s shifting period is like his man-period because indeed, the shifting did seem to occur once a month. He actually started the joke a few months after Myungsoo joined us; back when we didn’t know him that well and admittedly avoided him a bit. We found out that day that, thankfully, Myungsoo had a good sense of humor or else Chanyeol probably would’ve ended up in serious pain for God knows how long.

The two have been good friends ever since and Myungsoo is now one of the family; although we are still admittedly terrified of his power.

Last but definitely not least, we had G-Dragon; our leader, our hyung, our sunbae. Out of all of us, he was definitely the most irregular, which was saying a lot considering how strange the rest of us were.

G-Dragon (25) wasn’t actually a Hazard at all. In fact, at one point, he had been a very revered member of the Alpha community. He had the power to shape-shift into a dragon, but unlike Myungsoo, once shifted, he was completely in control of his actions, making him highly respected for his strong power.

He once told us that he had a little brother who had a similar power as him, named Kris, who apparently still lived in the Alpha community. We don’t know much about him except that he had something to do with G-Dragon hyung’s banishment. He doesn’t like to talk about it, so we don’t force him, although we’re all really curious.

In fact, we don’t know much about how he was banished in the first place. All we know is that it had something to do with the girl he loved. She had been a Hazard, and he of course, was an Alpha, and Alphas aren’t allowed to fall in love with Hazards. It was considered betrayal. Because of this, he had been banished from the community. BANISHED, because of love. He had lost everything, his family, his home, his reputation and money because of her, and she in turn had been taken away. Where? None of us are really sure. BUT, we do know that GD would do anything to find her.

Her name was Mira, and she was beautiful. We know because of a little black and white picture he keeps of her in his pocket.
 

Sometimes on really quiet nights, when he thinks everyone is asleep, he’ll sneak out alone and just lay in the open for hours, gazing up at the moon and sky with the picture next to him. After a while of this, he would start talking happily about his life; about us and the fun things we do; to the picture like his beautiful Mira was actually there beside him listening to every word.

Eventually though, he would finally snap out of it and inevitably realize that she wasn’t actually there and would then scream and yell and throw the picture around, stomping on it while cursing bloody murder until he woke the rest of us up.

And then we would know what had just happened and would help him snap out of it. We would help him understand that she was probably long dead by now for there was no reason why they would take the time to keep her alive, and he would scream and rage back at us that we were wrong.

But of course, after a while he’d realize we were correct and would give up, crying like he had lost her yet again, because in his heart, he had. He always kept the photo though, no matter how much pain in cost him. No matter how many times he stomped and ripped it apart, he would always find some way to patch it back up and bring it to life again. None of us, not even Krystal, liked to complain about GD’s occasional crazy moments. We know he can’t help it.

We are all Hazards and we all have bad pasts. That’s why we stick together, because we all know what it feels like to be thrown away like we’re trash. That’s why we hate Alphas and Exceptionals. Both of them are obliviously content in their happy little bubble. They throw us around like we’re a waste of space. They think they’re the good guys because they don’t kill us right away when they find out we’re Hazards, but banish us instead. And then if we survive the first year, they put a bounty over our heads and get trackers to track us down.

And then they kill us.

I guess it makes them feel better about themselves or something to not kill us right away, which was pretty disgusting in my opinion.
 

And WE were the bad guys? Pssh, yeah right.

Suddenly, Chanyeol’s loud yell interrupted my thoughts. Frowning, I looked up to find him grinning down at me goofily, like it was I who just unnecessarily yelled.

“Earth to Kai? Hellloooooo?” he said, rapping my head like a door. “Did you hear what I just said?”

I stared at him. I must have completely blanked out there, because I had no idea at all. “Umm no? What’d you say?”

I glanced around at the other members. They were all grinning and looking happy. Amber and Krystal had their heads leaning close to each other and were laughing and whispering about something. Myungsoo had out a sheet of paper and appeared to be happily listing some things, and even GD hyung, who was constantly serious, had a slight hint of a smile on his face.

Chanyeol chuckled slightly at my bewildered expression.

“I said we’re going to go ransack the Exceptional homeland…tonight! Let’s go have some fun!”






A/N
Ayooo, so there’s the first chapter.
I hoped you enjoyed reading that as I had writing it. Did you like it so far? Do you find it interesting? Stay tuned for more! I’m currently on summer break so an update is probably not that far off in the future.

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KEURE OOLF NAEGA OOLF…AWOOOOO