“Alliance…” Soeun repeated the word with obvious contempt that she did not bother hiding.  She wanted to laugh at her own face.  Ever since she stepped into this nonsensical realm, these creatures came to her one by one to prey on her sense of humanity.  Did she looked like someone who was easy and without any dignity – someone to be stomped all over, and then to be left alone like an orphan, whimpering and begging for mercy at the feet of the devil?

            “Uh huh…Alliance.”  Hyuna nodded excitedly.

            ‘Yoon Jinyi…Song Jaerim…and now this lunatic.’  She secretly sneered.  It was unquestionable in her mind that Hyuna had probably made the exact, same proposition to other candidates before her given the latter’s attention-seeking tendency.  Though, it was not difficult to know reality, she asked with undisguised distain in her voice, “Why me?”

            Ironically, for someone who seemed to have a grand plan mapped out and probably had sold it to others many times before, this one simple question had caught her off-guard.  However, her lips slowly curved upward and her two hazel orbs shone even more.  “Because I can kill you without hesitation.”

            This time Soeun really laughed, albeit an unmistakable bitter echo.  This was beyond ludicrous.  She had been trapped between the claws of a ferocious mythical creature, and then been through death and back again.  Now, was she supposed to cower back in fear at the words of an attention-seeking lunatic?  Sure, this copper hair lunatic had an aptitude for magic, but it was not like she could harm anyone before the selection process.  Based on Hyuna’s mention of Battle Royale, she assumed that bloodshed would be inevitable.

            “Hey!  Stop laughing!”  Hyuna pouted, clearly upset by Soeun’s reaction to her proposal.  She slammed her hands on the table.  “You’re weird, you know?  Don’t you know it’s a great honour to work with the Great Hyuna?”

            She deliberately laughed even harder upon seeing the copper hair girl fumed.  Was she not afraid that she might offend the wrong person?  No, she was not afraid at all, at least not of the candidates.  She realized that no matter which ever way she chose to play her cards, death would still just be right around the corner.  However, she was not planning to wait around until death knocked on her door, especially not in a place where she would merely be thrown aside upon death like trash on the New York streets.

            Every man for himself.

            Unless she decided to welcome death with open arms, she had to join the game now.  Thankfully, the person sitting opposite of her seemed the straight-forward kind and the kind who would shamelessly see anyone as her best friend as long as he or she paid some attention to her.  Of course, Soeun was not a fool and thus, had considered the possibility that it was all an act.  Despite everything, she needed a lead to get started.  She smiled coolly, crossed arms, and leaned back – something she learned from her short time living as Lee Boyoung.  “Alliance?  Sure.”

            Hyuna clapped her hands, leaned forward, and gave the raven hair girl two thumbs up.  “Good cho—”

           “On one condition:  tell me about the candidates, the selection process, everything you know about this place, and leave nothing out.”  She announced.  No superfluous embellishment in her tone.

            “Rude.”  Hyuna clicked her tongue.  Her eyes darted at the raven hair girl as if the latter was the school’s biggest tattle-tale.  Then she leaned in, an eerie spark twinkled in her eyes.  Deliberately pulled the corners of her lips even further upward in a grin that bared most of her upper teeth, she told Soeun in a dangerously low tone, “Good!  The more of a pretentious high class b*tch you are, the more thrill I’ll get when I finally get to slice you up.”

            Soeun clenched up a fist under the table.  She would not allow herself to tremble in fear under the bimbo’s threat.  Though, she had a feeling that this was actually not a threat, but a mere statement of truth.  There was no hesitation in her opponent’s eyes.  ‘Another psychopath.’ She noted.  She kept her face as dispassionate as possible.  “Sure, if you ever get the chance.” She responded coolly.  “So deal?”

            “Deal!”  Hyuna swiftly snapped her fingers.  Then, she leaned back in her seat.  The murderous disposition that was hovering about her moments ago immediately dispersed.  “Now, where should I start…?”

            Soeun inwardly sighed in relief.

            “The selection process?  Or the candidates?”  She seemed to be giving serious consideration on the order.  Then finally, she decided.  “The selection process…no candidate knows much about it, save for one!”  At this, she frowned and started chewing her thumb nail.  “This is the only problem with Cathy!  She doesn’t know anything about the selection process!  Doesn’t know, doesn’t know, doesn’t know…why doesn’t she know?!”  The woman was fidgeting like she was on drugs.  If this was Alice in Wonderland, then she was, no doubt, the Mad Hatter being upset that he couldn’t find his precious tea set.

            The under skin of Soeun’s right eye twitched.  She wondered how many of the other candidates have chosen to deal with this insane bimbo like her right now.  Surely the other candidates before her would have already brought up these topics.  She cautiously reminded the copper hair girl, “The candidates…the one that knows.  What about her?”

            Hyuna stopped fidgeting.  Then, she nodded happily as if she just saw her best friend.  “Right!  Even with Cathy’s incompetency, she did tell me that Krystal was one of the only two remaining candidates from the first selection process.”

            ‘Krystal…’ She tried to pin a face to the name, but it was an impossible task.  She had only seen all the candidates briefly during that one time she was at the dining hall.  There was a problem, she realized; the problem was that it would not help her much if she didn’t know who was who.  Maybe she should have stuck it through and did some networking.

            “Cathy mentioned thirteen contestants, so where are all the res—”

            “Wait.  Let’s go back to Krystal and the other candidate.  Who are they?  Better yet describe how they—” She paused suddenly and realized that the Lee Boyoung persona in her might have went too far when she saw Hyuna’s darkened face.  Her voice became a whisper, “Look like…”

            “Oh my, aren’t you a demanding one?”  Hyuna looked at the raven hair girl up and down, displeased.  “That’s why I never liked bookworms.”

            “It’s not going to be an easy alliance.”  Soeun stated, holding firm on her ground.  Feeling dry, she swallowed down her saliva.

            Hyuna gave Soeun a long stare before gritting her teeth reluctantly.  “Fine.”

            Something was not settling well in the raven hair girl’s stomach.

            Hyuna pulled out a set of photos from the pocket of her jacket.  She spread the photos on the table.  “These are the candidates…and this cold looking b*tch here is Krystal Jung.  32B-22-33.”

            Soeun’s eyes became widened in shock.  “H-hey, I don’t need to know her sizes.”

            Hyuna clicked her tongue in annoyance.  She leaned in and mocked her, “Leave nothing out.”

            Soeun became flustered.  If she was not desperate for information, she would have just got up and left a long time ago.

            “You don’t know what you’re missing.”  Hyuna criticized.  “Knowing the sizes would make you that much closer in crafting the perfect death for them.”

            ‘What twisted reasoning.’ Soeun thought.  Though, she was not about to be the one to inform the crazy that.  “Hold on a sec, you’ve been telling me all this, assuming that some of us will die from thr selection process.  It might not be true.  Maybe most candidates from the first group went home.”  There was still a gleam of hope in her.

            “That’s impossible.”  Hyuna responded flatly.  “Why would anyone leave paradise?”

            Chills settled through her.  ‘Paradise…this loon really thinks this place is paradise.’  She couldn’t believe her ears.  She wondered if any of the other candidates thought that as well.  She cleared .  “So what about Krystal Jung?”

            “She’s a mute, just like your low-class crow.”  She sneered.  “But she’s from the first selection process for sure.  Cathy wouldn’t lie to me.”

            Soeun began to wonder who the master was and who the slave was in this loon’s relationship with her maid.

            “Now, the other candidate is quite a mystery.  Cathy said she went missing shortly after the first selection process came to a halt.  But I bet she’s dead, just like the rest.”  She then proudly praised herself.  “I’m smart, right?  I bet you wouldn’t have been able to figure out all that on your own.”

            Soeun smirked at this, but it seemed that the copper hair girl took it as a genuine smile, acknowledging her own brilliance.

            “So, that’s basically the selection process – all shall die except for one to take the title.”

            “That’s just your assumption.”

            “Then why don’t you just go ahead and believe that God exists?”  Hyuna gritted her teeth.

            “That…doesn’t make sense.”  Soeun pointed out the flaw in the other girl’s comeback.

            “You don’t make sense!”  Hyuna countered defensively.  She looked at Soeun in disbelief.  “Why would you say the Great Hyuna a liar?”

            “I didn’t—”

            “You assumed.”  She glared at the raven hair girl as if her best friend had just betrayed her.

            “Well…this is awkward.”  More than awkward, it was ridiculous.  She felt as if she was the bad guy initializing a break up on the poor girl’s birthday.  She tried to gear the topic back to relevance.  “So, what about the rest of the candidates?”

            “I bet Krystal is a sloth.”  Hyuna suddenly said.

            “What?”

            “You know.  The seven deadly sins.  I’ve already told you about.”

            “So, you’re saying she’s here because she has committed the sin of sloth?”

            “Yea, she never seems to care about anything.”

            Soeun smiled awkwardly in response.  ‘Or maybe, it’s a waste of time to care about you lot.’

            “Im Jin-ah,” She pointed to a photo of another beautiful girl with long, silky raven hair.  Her features were perfect, with a hint of aloofness.  “She’s another sloth.  She seems to be from a well-off family.  However, rumour has it that she has killed off her entire family because she couldn’t keep up with expectations.  She’s always dozing off.”  Then she continued with the rest of the candidates.  “Moon Chaewon is another sloth, but she’s a greedy one.  That b*tch always whines about not having enough of this or not enough of that, but she has never made an effort to actually get what she wants.”

            ‘So this Moon Chaewon thinks there’s free lunch in this world.’  Soeun thought.  A sense of bitterness lingered at the pit of her stomach.

            “Victoria Song,” She pointed to a different picture.  The photo was of a woman with an alluring pairs of lips and cat-like eyes, “She’s greedy too.  But she’s not lazy like Chaewon eonni.  I think she’s a famous con-artist, swindling people from all walks of life without discrimination.  Quite heroic, don’t you think?”

            Soeun tried to recall any big time con-artist she had learned through the news recently, but none came to mind, let alone a unique name like Victoria Song.

            “Lee Hyeri,” She smiled at the name, “She’s a total glutton.  She’s my best friend here…So when the selection process begins, you will have to put her down in my stead.”

            “Best friend?”  Soeun was surprised that friendship was possible in such a place.  However, more than ever, she was surprised that someone could actually get along with this psychotic bi-polar woman.

            “Don’t worry, when the time comes, I’ll let you know the perfect way to strike her down.”  She smiled sadly before moving on.  “Next, we have Baek Jinhee…she’s lust, always being so touchy with my Damien.  I also don’t like how she always sticks so close to Jinyi eonni.”  She pouted.

            Soeun wanted to roll her eyes at this.  Was it possible for any of the candidates to truly love Song Jaerim and not merely out of her instinct to survive?  Then again, she thought that Song Jaerim probably didn’t care about it at all.  Her mind flashed to Jaerim’s last words said to Gina.

            “I have never questioned your love as an act.  It’s just not enough.”

            ‘What more did he wanted?’  She thought sarcastically.

            “But she’s still not as annoying as you at least.”

            Soeun rolled her eyes.  ‘Annoying?  Likewise.’

            “Oh, this one in thick glasses is Jung Eunji.  She might look like a nerd, but she’s a total angry nerd.  Apparently she got bullied throughout high school.  Then, on her graduation day, she bombed her tormentor’s house.  Wrath, that’s her alright.”  Hyuna seemed impressed.  “And this one next to her is Son Naeun, apparently they’re classmates.  However, they don’t seem all that close.  Anyways, she’s one jealous b*tch, messing up her rival’s face with a hot blade before pushing her down seven flights of stairs.”

            Soeun couldn’t help but interrupted, “They told you that?”

            “No, but Cathy did.”  Hyuna responded brightly.

            “Right.  Of course, it’s Cathy.”  Soeun mumbled sarcastically underneath.

            Then, Hyuna moved on to the next photo.  “Go Ara.  She’s like a combination of Eunji and Naeun, but an upgraded version.  She’s definitely not someone to be trifled with easily.  When the time comes, you take care of her.”

            “Hey, are you trying to assign the most difficult ones to me?”  Soeun questioned.

            Hyuna shook her head innocently.  “No, Hyeri is easy to get rid of.  And Ara eonni…Well, I’ve just assigned you two!”  She stomped her foot on the ground childishly.

            “The ones that you don’t have the guts to deal with.”  Soeun remarked.

            “Oh, I just can’t wait to try my knives on you!”  Hyuna pouted in frustration.

            Soeun counted her fingers.  “Aside from the missing candidate, you’ve just talked about nine, what about the rest?”

            “Son Ga-in.”  She mentioned the name with spite.

            Soeun recalled who Ga-in was due to the latter’s outlandish punk-rock style.  Even though the candidates cannot hurt each other, Hyuna seemed to relent to Ga-in during that one time she witnessed in the dining hall.

            “She didn’t need to commit a sin to get here,” Hyuna became strangely serious, but the loath in her voice was still evident, “Because she is an abomination – a creature that fits here rightly by birth.  She is half-human and half-vampire.”

            “What?”  Soeun wanted to laugh.  Although she had already encountered a werewolf, this was still unbelievable to her.  “Vampires actually exist too?”

            “You better watch out for her.”  The copper hair girl warned.  “She’s not full human like us, so the normal candidate limits such as ‘harm to another candidate would become self-inflicted’ does not apply to her.”

            Soeun still had her doubts.  Frankly, her first impression of Son Ga-in was much better than that of Kim Hyuna.  “If she can harm us, then why isn’t she doing anything right now?”

            “Obviously, she’s waiting for the selection process to commence to make the wins official.”  Hyuna leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms.

            “Wait, this still doesn’t make any sense.  If she’s half-vampire, then why hold this selection process at all?  It is pretty much decided that she will win.”  She said evenly, trying to prevent any hint of desperation from slipping.  “What’s the point of this alliance?”

            “You take care of her.”  Hyuna decided.

            Soeun realized that this lunatic was not all that wacked after all.  She scoffed, “Ha ha, very funny.”

            “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way by then.”  She winked.  “You just need to execute my plan exactly.”

            “And I supposed to trust that you will find a way?”

            “I’m an alchemist!” Hyuna proudly announced.

            “Alchemist?”

            “Uh huh.”  She nodded.

            The corners of Soeun’s lips twitched.  Something did not settle well with her after all.  ‘Blood…’  She got up from her seat and walked over to the door way as she recalled.

            The blood stain from her cut was still there, untouched.

            Soeun suddenly just got this crazy idea that she should not have trusted this lunatic with her blood.  “The X-Acto blade.”  She sprung around and looked at the copper hair girl.  Her face was paled and her lips were drained out of red.

            “What?”  Hyuna asked innocently.

            “Don’t what me!”  The madness overtook her in an instant as she rushed up to the other girl and held her down in her seat.  “Give me the X-Acto blade!”

            “What should I?”  Hyuna struggled to free herself.

            “Give it!”  She demanded.

            “No!”  Hyuna shouted and with every ounce of her strength, she pushed Soeun to the ground.

            Strangely enough, Soeun did not feel any pain from the fall.

            “Ow!”  Hyuna winced in pain.  She glared at Soeun.  “What a b*tch!”

            Soeun stared dumbly at the copper hair girl.

            Hyuna sneered.  “You really think that I would waste my precious ingredients on you?  No, I’ll use the most old-fashioned, painful method for a prude like you instead – cutting you up slowly, piece by piece.”

             ‘At least I will stand a chance against her as long as she won’t use any dirty trick against me.’  She thought numbly as she cast her eyes to the ground.  Perhaps she was shocked at her own lack of self-control just a moment ago.  This whole place was a specialty asylum that would turn any sane one into an insane.

            Suddenly, Hyuna’s stomach growled.  “Man, I’m starved!”

            “What about you?”  Soeun asked.

            Hyuna stopped just by the door and turned to give her a blank look.

            “What sin did you commit?”

            “Me?”  She raised her arms and sprung around once.  “As a faithful follower of the Great Lucifer…pride, of course!”

            “Pride…”  Soeun gave a small chuckle.  She nodded.  She doubted the alchemist’s assessment of her own self was impartial in any way.  She thought Hyuna had committed vainglory at best.  More so, she began to doubt her own sanity, and yet, she could really care less.  She smiled confidently and held out her hand.  “So, alliance on?”

            A quick slash sound drummed Soeun’s ears before she realized that Hyuna had assaulted her hand with the X-Acto blade.  Her eyes could not even blink from the shock.

            Hyuna’s hand was dripping blood as she stared at the girl in front of her with indifference.  Then, she smiled and responded enthusiastically, “Okie!”  With that, she hopped joyfully out of the room.

            “Lunatic.”  Soeun muttered.

***

            To say that her mind was mentally drained would be an understatement.  If she wanted to start making use of her networking skills in order to gain some sort of edge within all this madness, she should be following Kim Hyuna’s blood trail to the dining hall now.  However, she could care less at the moment.  She just wanted a good night sleep and hoped this gloomy emptiness in her would soon be dispelled.

            Tap, tap, tap…

            Soeun’s head instinctively shoot up.

            Tap, tap, tap…

            It was the tapping of a pair of high heels, she realized.  She stood still, wary that making even the slightest of movements would alarm the owner of the heel tapping.

            She checked her time stone a couple of minutes ago and it was still bright red, so she knew that her safety was not questionable unless…she ran into Song Jaerim again, then she wouldn’t be so sure that her life would still be intact.  After all, he was the only one who could ignore whatever the time stone dictated as this vast, evil land was within his sole control.  ‘But he doesn’t wear high heels.’  She tried to amuse herself, and then she realized that she must have lost her mind for doing so.

            When an outline of a person finally came to view, she recognized immediately that it was Son Ga-in – the rumoured half-vampire.

            “You’re not heading to the dining hall?”  Ga-in asked, seemingly out of causal concern for a neighbour.

            Soeun shook her head.  She was slightly taken aback at how normal Ga-in seemed, aside from her eccentric fashion sense and pale skin.  ‘Yea, Yoon Jinyi seemed so normal too.’  She recalled bitterly.

            “Okay, suit yourself.”  Ga-in shrugged and was about to head down the dimly-lighted grand hallway again when her face scowled up at the bloody smell that was still lingering in the air.  She muttered, “Crazy b*tch.”

            Soeun caught that and realized that the rumoured half-vampire’s insult was referring to Hyuna.  She wanted to ask the punk-rock woman if she was really a half-vampire, but decided to hold her question for now.  She was not ready to deal with the potential consequences.

            Ga-in looked over her shoulder when she realized that Soeun was not moving an inch.  “You shouldn’t keep loitering in the hallway for too long.  Think of a destination and keep moving.”  She advised before disappearing down the grand hallway.

            Soeun suddenly wanted to cry, but her tears refused to fall out, and so she kept walking until she reached her room.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Note:  Phew!  Finally an update on this story.  Sorry for the wait.  Hopefully this chapter is not a mentally-draining read.  It was definitely a mentally-draining write for me.  Since I was writing a more light-hearted story recently, I had a bit of trouble getting into the characters of this story...especially Hyuna.  Hyuna troubled me the most here in this chapter.  Soeun is a very close second...haha...I know, I just focused on these two characters here in this chapter.  So, in conclusion, both characters troubled me.  Then, Judas Priest's music saved me.  I deliberately listened to heavy metal for the first time just so that I could get into the mood of this story again.  So that goes to show me, try not to keep a story hanging for too long next time.

Sorry about missing Jaerim's presence here.  Yes, I remember that he's a main character too.  It's just that I need this chapter to set the background, character dynamics, and build up the plot (yes, even though this story is totally experimental, but it still has a plot).  *sigh* if you really miss Jaerim's presence and his interaction with Soeun so much, then read other romance-centric stories about them.  There are a ton of good ones.

Btw, here are the candidates...