Sunggyu had started work about a week back. The tasks were menial and not as vigorous as he expected. In fact, the majority of it was dusting and preparing meals. The Lees were good masters, with the exception of Mr. Lee on few occasions, letting Sunggyu's first week go by with ease. Despite this, he knew he had to keep the muscles he had obtained from the strenuous training he had to endure back in Carol for possible use in the future.

As Sunggyu was sweeping the floor of the dining room, he heard Mrs. Lee on her phone, talking in an angry tone to the person on the other end. He knew he shouldn't have started to eavesdrop, but his curiosity peaked with the mentioning of the Unholy class, a notorious topic among many of the guards and Holy families. Sunggyu hadn't heard much about the rebellious group other than they were trying to obtain enough power to overthrow the current government, which was lead by the most influential Holies.

"What do you mean there is a low risk? Is having Unholies as neighbors not a risk?!" Mrs. Lee shouted, obviously upset. The person on the other line seemed to have said something wrong, as she responded with an angry snarl immediately after. "They might come for my son! They might even come for my Transparent!" She nearly screamed.

Sunggyu felt his heartbeat quicken. Even if she only said it to prove a point, Mrs. Lee actually sounded like she cared about him, a Transparent that had stayed with them for a mere eight days. He realized that he had paused his sweeping to listen so he started up again, keeping his ears focused on the conversation.

"I want them removed as soon as possible, not only for the well-being of my family but also for the community. We do not need those criminals running around under our noses for any longer." She stated. Sunggyu briefly remembered the small talk Mr. and Mrs. Lee had in the car the day he was bought. She must have been referring to the Unholy's activity in the building a few streets down.

After sweeping the entire dining room and kitchen thoroughly, Sunggyu put the broom back into the cleaning supply storage, moving onto his next task, lunch. It was nearing nine in the morning, giving the Transparent enough time to shop for fresh ingredients to prepare into food. Sunggyu had done his grocery run twice before, allowing him to get comfortable with the process. The Lee's had set up a simple routine for him to follow; they started a thing called 'the money plate' which was literally a heap of money on a plate to pay for the supplies Sunggyu required for their meals. From there, Sunggyu would walk to the closest store to buy all he needed.

As a Transparent, it was mandatory to excel in many fields to ready themselves for the jobs their owners would give them later on down the path. Sunggyu, along with the other Transparents, learned how to cook and master the skill of memorizing countless recipes at a young age. They were only taught what was needed to be a successful slave; it was always about the master, not them, leading many of them to almost seem robotic, their emotions no longer with them. Sunggyu was no exception to that norm. In fact, he had learned how to read in his own free will solely for the purpose of better serving his future masters. Despite their nearly emotionless state, they still are humans after all, allowing them to feel the sensation of an emotion but not understanding it or what it means. Likewise, Transparents couldn't tell when their master is truly happy or not unless they say so.

Sunggyu arrived at the grocery store in record time. With the shopping list in his hand, he walked around the vegetable isle, grabbed only the finest quality crops he found, and placed them in a large, durable bag he had brought from home. He then moved on to the dairy and poultry section of the market before making his way to the seafood section, buying only what he needed. He had decided to make a light Pasta Verde with shrimp for lunch and pan roasted Cod Puttanesca for dinner.

Sunggyu had been crossing off ingredients on his list when he suddenly bumped into someone. Preparing to bow in apology, he looked up, meeting eyes with his roadblock. To his surprise, he recognized the man, who, in turn, seemed to recognize him back.

"Hello. You are Sunggyu, right?" The man asked. From what Sunggyu could remember from Carol, the taller man rarely ever uttered a word of apology, earning him twice the amount of demerits than the average Transparent. Sunggyu nodded, bowing. "Wow, you've changed."

"Are you Sungyeol?" The taller man nodded, probably happy to see another Transparent from his age group. Sunggyu was also pretty shocked at their meeting until he looked around. He quickly recognized a few faces in the moderately empty market. And then it came to him; there were only Transparents in the building. No wonder it was possible to bump into his old roommate.

They both spent a few seconds looking up and down at the other's appearance. Sungyeol didn't look very different; his hair was still overgrown but was now swept to the side nicely. He was also wearing a suit, much like Sunggyu's, but a lot less expensive. Sunggyu noticed a faint bruise on Sungyeol's exposed wrists; it was if he had been chained to something a little too tightly. The thought of that happening to Sunggyu made him shiver. The Lee's wouldn't do that to him, would they?

"Anyway, I have to get back to my house soon." Sungyeol said, realizing where the other was staring, slightly moving the cuffs of his sleeves down lower. Sunggyu made a sound in agreement and they both headed to the checkout lines. They chatted a while longer as they walked towards their new homes, which happened to be in the same direction. Sunggyu tried his best not to bring up the topic of his bruise, to which the taller Transparent seemed to be thankful for, before parting ways.

Sunggyu continued to walk back to the Lee's mansion in deep thought. They had somehow got onto the topic of the Unholy class. Apparently, Sungyeol's owner was a police expedition squad leader who was currently dealing with the recent sightings of the rebels. He said that the Unholies were trying to overthrow the government by making life hell for the Holy families. Sungyeol had mentioned that a few rebels were going around and killing Transparents in order to get to the government. Sunggyu decided that getting a few bruises from the Lee's mistreatment was not as bad as dying, making extra sure to lock the doors and windows before going to sleep that night.

As he neared the house, he caught sight of Mrs. Lee exiting out of the garden with a clump of sheal in her hand. She saw him and waved him over, he slightly bowed before jogging up to her.

"Hello, Sunggyu. I was hoping that after lunch you would be my hamster for my face cleaning experiment." She said hopefully.

"It would be my pleasure." Sunggyu answered, bowing as he opened the front door for her. She giggled and walked in, him following quickly behind to start readying the meal.

~~~~~~

Lunch ended successfully. The Lee's had enjoyed the fancy dish and couldn't wait for dinner. Howon had not stopped complimenting Sunggyu on his cooking skills until Mrs. Lee whisked the Transparent off to her fashion room. Sunggyu bowed to his young master multiple times as his mom practically dragged him up the stairs, leaving him standing in the kitchen dejectedly.

"Now, I'm just going to apply this cream I made from sheal to your face. Close your eyes." She directed and Sunggyu did as he was told. A few seconds later, a soft hand started to rub a cold substance onto his face. The cream itself didn't feel very good on his skin but the tenderness of her fingers made him fall into a sleepy state. "We have to leave it on for half an hour before you can go wash it off. In the meantime, you can continue your chores – but don't show anyone! I hope this works." She said excitedly.

After 30 minutes went by, the Transparent was called back to the fashion room after washing it off. Sunggyu had been careful to not let the other two residents see him during that time like Mrs. Lee had requested. He had been working in the kitchen making dinner, a sure place to hide from his masters. As Sunggyu began to wash his face of the mystery cream, he found that it had hardened into a facemask and was rather easy to peel off in long strips.

"Wow, your complexion is looking paler and just overall cleaner already." Mrs. Lee commented happily. "I'd say it works." She smiled, patting Sunggyu on the back as he stared at himself in the mirror. He could hardly recognize himself from his original appearance. How did Sungyeol manage to remember him? Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Howon entered shortly after.

"You just keep getting handsomer and handsomer every time I see you." Howon's eyes shrunk in size as a wide smile appeared on his face moments after laying his gaze on his Transparent. Mrs. Lee chuckled at her son's reaction, finding it humorous and special. "I was just wondering what you guys were up to, but I guess I know now." He said before waving and exiting the room.

"You've done a miracle." Mrs. Lee said after a while of silence. Sunggyu looked at her, confused. "I've never seen him smile so much in his life until you came along. For that, I thank you." She explained, clasping Sunggyu's hands in hers to show just how thankful she was for him. The Transparent felt a lump form in his throat. That had been the first time someone had ever told him he was wanted and not just needed for helping around the house.

~~~~~~

Sunggyu, remembering his mental note, made sure all the doors and windows were locked tightly before shuffling to bed. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep rather quickly, knowing that no Unholy could bring harm to him. About two hours in to the night, Sunggyu heard a rattling on the window in his room. Cautiously, his eyes snapped open, but made no sudden movements to look towards the sound.

The rattling stopped, instead turning into an earsplitting scraping on the glass. Sunggyu wanted to lift his head up and see who or what was responsible for the noise at the late hour but knew he shouldn't, as he had been forced to take self-defense classes and knew how to avoid sticky situations like this one. He listened closer to the scratching, despite wanting to cover his ears, and realized that the sounds had been organized into short scratches with a pause in between as if someone had been writing or drawing on the glass.

As quick as it started, it ended. The Transparent counted a minute before turning his head to the window, making sure the creator had left before he went to examine its work. As he had predicted, it hadn't been random marks that had been left, rather, it was what looked like an arrow and a single word. Sunggyu couldn't read the word in the darkened room so he decided to go to sleep and read it in the morning before work.

As soon as his alarm went off, Sunggyu slammed the snooze button and jumped out of bed, skidding to a stop at the window. It took a while for his eyes to wash away the sleep before adjusting to the daylight, making the Transparent annoyed. He examined the window immediately after his vision became clear.

There was a messy arrow pointing to the bronze latch that held the window in a locked position. Next to the arrow was a word that made Sunggyu's stomach tingle with excitement and fear.

Unlock

~~~~~~~~~~~~

So more information on the Unholy class and wow, Sunggyu is already facing their danger a week into his job? That has got to be scary hehehe~ Thank you to all my readers and I hope lots of you subscribe, comment, and upvote~ <3