Knowing that it was practically impossible to return through the back door without getting into enormous trouble with their mother, the boys decided to enter through their bedroom windows. BaekHyun watched as ChanYeol landed safely onto his windowsill before he retrieved back to the side of the house where his chamber was located.

           Taking a few steps backwards for extra momentum, BaekHyun horizontally aligned himself with the ample storage room in his backyard. On a count of three, he bolted straight towards the wall of his house. With only a few centimeters left before colliding into the building, BaekHyun finally leaped up sideways onto the wall with extremely accurate timing—allowing his strong legs to spring him up onto the tree beside his room. He landed gracefully onto the substantial branch—slightly crouching down to maintain his balance. At last, BaekHyun took his finale jump—touching down flawlessly onto his windowsill. To mere humans, this was a difficult task—maybe even impossible—but to someone as miraculous as BaekHyun, it was a piece of cake. 

            BaekHyun smirked confidently to himself as he shut the window closed—feeling accomplished that he had successfully snuck out without getting caught. Unfortunately, as he spun around, he came face-to-face with his mother’s furious gaze.

            “A-AH! Omeoni! Y-You scared me!” BaekHyun gasped as he placed a hand over his jolting heart. “Uhm… What are you doing in my room? Do you need me to help you with something? Cooking? Dishes? Laundry?” he asked, plastering on an innocent artificial smile hoping that his mother would fall for his cuteness and soften up. 

            However, that did not cut it for Mrs. Nara. She knew her son inside out—especially BaekHyun since he was always the one out causing chaos and trouble.  

            “No thank you, my LOVELY son, I don’t need any help,” she played along with BaekHyun’s phony acting—mimicking his overly shrill tone—as she roughly tugged at his ear.

            “Owwwh, umma! Let goooo!”

           “Where on earth have you been, Baek?! Min has been waiting for you since dinner and has been refusing to eat until you come home! You’re always thinking about yourself and never about others. When will you ever—aish, never mind, I’ll deal with you later—go downstairs and see the poor girl first!”  

           “I don’t want to,” BaekHyun stubbornly refused—knowing exactly how uncomfortable things were going to turn out between he and the girl. 

           “Listen to me, BaekHyun. Go down there and see her. She has been waiting hours for you; the least you could do is say hi and ask how she’s doing. I’m not asking you to accept her right away, but you have to at least give it a cha—”

           “How many times do I have to tell you Omeoni? I don’t like her. I don’t like anyone. Please stop trying to set me up with people I have no interest in.”

           “Look, we can reason about this later okay? For now, just go down—“

           “I SAID I DON’T WANT TO SEE HER!” BaekHyun argued—unintentionally raising his voice at his mother.

           “BAEKHYUN! DON’T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!” Nara stormed right back at her disrespectful son. “YOU NEVER LISTEN—EVER. AND YOUR STUBBORN OVER-THE-LINE ATTITUDE IS WHAT BROUGHT YOUR BROTHER KRIS TO—“

           “HOW THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING WE’RE TALKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW?” he shot back as his mother landed on an extremely touchy subject. “I CAN’T DO WHAT I WANT TO DO ANYMORE BECAUSE YOU AND DAD ARE TOO BUSY CARING ABOUT YOUR OWN DAMN DREAMS AND GOALS INSTEAD OF MINE. DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT HOW—“

           “BAEKHYUN! What your father and I choose to do is for your own sake. Don’t give me crap on how we always—“

           “You know what? Forget it. I don’t want to argue with you anymore. You’ll never understand,” he whispered bitterly.

           Before Nara could utter another syllable, BaekHyun slid back open his window and hopped out in the darkness—leaving his mother behind in vexatious silence. Nara sighed as she retrieved back downstairs. As soon as Min came into view, Nara forced herself to paste on a smile over her distressed complexion so the girl wouldn’t worry.

           “Mrs. Kang! Are you all right? I heard you two arguing upstairs…” Min asked with concern as she placed a comforting hand onto Nara’s arm.

           “Ani, ani. BaekHyun’s just… Not in a very good mood right now. Mianhae Min, but is it all right if you come back another day to visit him? I’m so sorry…”

           “Of course! It’s totally fine Mrs. Kang. I’ll see you next week then!” she chimed understandingly as she picked up her belongings and began heading towards the front door with Nara right behind her.

           “Alright. Good night Min. Take care.”

           As soon as the door shut, Nara slumped down onto one of the dining chairs in complete trouble and puzzlement.

           “What am I going to do with you BaekHyun…?”

           He ran as fast as his nimble legs could possibly allow him to, speeding across the forest trees so quickly that everything that passed by him was all just a black blur. But no matter how fleet he was, or how far he went, the full glowing moon would continue to follow him, never leaving his side—similar to how his parents continued to restrain him within their confining cage.

           BaekHyun continued to run until his legs and lungs were scorching in pain. He finally allowed himself to stop—leaning against a large tree to catch his breath. His heart began to twinge as he remembered the unfortunate events that occurred on the day his closest brother, Kris, had passed away.

           It had been a little over a year ago. BaekHyun had secretly ditched practice and gone out exploring in the acre of woods nearby his house—completely ignoring his parents’ and brothers’ warnings about the first invasion of the Lycanthropes. From a distance, he could hear his father howling to him—signaling him to come back home. Outside, practically everything was dangerous at the moment, but BaekHyun refused to come home and face his servitude training. Therefore, he continued to walk, promising himself that he would return within in hour.

           “Wouldn’t hurt to get some fresh air right?” BaekHyun thought as he inhaled in the refreshing moist air.

           However, he soon began to hear shuffles within the bushes and trees surrounding him. Those small meaningless sounds soon expanded into heavy panting and growling, and before he knew it, BaekHyun was completely surrounded by Lycanthropes.

           Underestimating the hyena-like creatures, BaekHyun quickly shifted to his wolf form and began charging at them—completely oblivious to their true powers. The split second he rammed into one, the rest of the Lycanthropes pounced on him. Obviously outnumbered and still an amateur in dueling, BaekHyun was undoubtedly losing. His flesh gradually began ripping apart as the Lycanthropes’ pronged teeth sunk deeper into it. Soon, BaekHyun was slowly losing insight on his surroundings. The last thing he could remember before he knocked out was the image of his brother, Kris, hovering over him.

            It was only until BaekHyun was completely healed and recovered that he had found out that Kris had died in battle. Without their parents’ permission and approval, Kris had willingly left the house into the danger zone to save his brother. Weak and unprepared—just like BaekHyun—Kris was severely injured and was not in the proper condition or environment for healing. And ever since that tragic day, BaekHyun privily had been unable to forgive himself for being the main cause of his brother’s death.

            BaekHyun quickly shook the awful memory out of his head as his heartbeat returned to its normal pace. He turned around and began to make his way back home.

            A low snarl suddenly rang out from behind him. BaekHyun dared to look back. Standing before him was a creature much larger than he. Its masculine wolf-life figure was excruciatingly familiar. The thing slightly moved away from the shadows—exposing its long snout and sticky fur. With its mouth was wide open, the thing was salivating like there was no tomorrow. It was all too recognizable. BaekHyun’s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach when he realized that he once again was face-to-face with a deadly Lycanthrope. 

Hoped y'all liked chapter 2! I will be elaborating more on Lycanthropes in future chapters, so do not fear if you aren't too clear on what they are right now! JUST KEEP IN MIND THAT THEY ARE EEEEVILLLLL!!!! >8( Anyways, please leave me a comment and subscribe if you liked what you read! :3 Thank you ! ^^ <3