Among the eleven existing Infinite clans in the world, one of the smallest was located in Seoul, Korea. It was one of the only clans that still hadn’t lost a member in the Hunt. They had moved to Seoul about a hundred years ago and in that time they had found and killed around 50,000 Miracles.

Once they identified a Miracle, it was safe to assume that his family members were Miracles as well but they made sure to check every person they killed before they struck the death blow. The murder itself was very easy – the scouting and the identification were what took time. Once the Miracle died, the humans, assuming them to be one of their race, started a murder investigation. However, the Infinites had no fingerprints, and they killed in the dark, hypnotizing any witnesses. Thus, their jobs were clean.

The clan in Seoul, the Azma clan, had performed brilliantly despite their size.

The four members had human identities and they held their meetings in inconspicuous places, ensuring nothing they did in plain sight aroused any suspicion. They had to move around country to country, city to city, obtaining new identities since even though they resembled humans, they didn’t show any normal human attributes such as aging or illness. A few days in a new country resulted in change of their features, enough for them to blend in.

If you looked very closely into their eyes for a long time however, you would see something definitely inhuman about them. An Infinite could tell how old another Infinite was by looking into their eyes, but they weren’t sure if humans could do that too. Not wanting to take any risks, they usually isolated themselves from humans as much as possible without being suspicious, unless they had to get closer to a likely target.

They hadn’t really been confronted as being different by anyone till date. They surely had a different aura around them but their acquaintances supposed it was part of their personality and they were admired for it.

Like right now, when Sungjong’s eyes met with one of the waitresses at the café who was serving him, she blushed and smiled at him bashfully. Sungjong scoffed lightly and brushed his dark bangs carelessly. Once she was out of hearing range, he said, “Humans – they would make up any excuse to explain anything unusual around them. Girls in my school tell me I’m cool and ask me out on dates. I hate being in a school.”

“Well apparently you look too young to be in an office or a university. Remember the guy who tried to hit you when you showed him your 35-year old ID? So it’s school for you. No way out,” Dongwoo pointed out.

“Yes but the way the girls crowd around me -”

“I hope that won’t be your only contribution today - bragging about your popularity among the female human population,” Woohyun said tartly, picking up his coffee mug.

The four Infinites were sitting around a circular table in the less crowded part of the lavish café, a scrumptious spread of cakes, pastries, and coffee on the table in front of them. Infinites didn’t need food to sustain themselves; they generated energy within their bodies from infra-red rays.

“Mmmm,” Dongwoo said, stuffing cakes into his mouth.

He had grown to like human food, especially of the sweet kind so even though he had no use for it, he liked to consume food. All Infinites had to eat in front of humans as a part of their act but Dongwoo was the only one who had grown attached to food.

“I believe that won’t be the case. I intend for Sungjong to take on the next Hunt.”

All three of the Infinites looked at their leader, who was leaning back on his chair and hadn’t spoken a word till then.

Sunggyu was, to the bones, a leader.

He was strategic, charismatic, intelligent and powerful. He commanded respect not only in his clan, but in other clans all around the world as well. In fact, he was one of the leading Infinites who were in charge of the remaining of the race. His opinions were highly valued and he was a respected figure among the Infinites.

Now as the clan members stared at their unfaltering leader, they could feel the gravity behind his words. None of them knew about his decision beforehand – Sunggyu, as the leader, had the absolute power in the clan and his words were law.

For the Infinites, their clan leaders determined everything and he was the most important person in their lives. No matter what, their first duty was to protect the leader and obey all his commands. If an Infinite failed to listen to his leader’s order, he’d be immediately dismissed from the clan and would receive no help or communication from a fellow Infinite. A member who would be deemed a threat would be eliminated.

“Sungjong?” Dongwoo finally inquired nervously, even though he had heard it correctly the first time.

Sunggyu nodded gravely, looking into the eyes of each member. When he reached Sungjong, his piercing gaze lingered for a long time, until the clan member lowered his eyes and bowed slightly.

“I’ll be honored,” he said, raising his head to meet the leader’s eyes again, as was expected of him.

Sunggyu nodded. He brought the tips of his forefingers together to rest under his chin.

“We have a Trace – vague but still worth looking into. Ales believes that he had felt it in the house he had stayed in when he visited Seoul two months ago.”

“And he deemed it right to inform you only now?” Woohyun asked incredulously.

Ales was an Infinite from London.

The Infinites had their own mode of wireless communication which sufficed for most of their interactions but sometimes a member of one clan would come to pay their respect to another clan. It was a formality and Ales had been representing his clan in the UK, one of the biggest Infinite clans, when he had come to Seoul to visit them.

It seemed ridiculous that he had decided to share that he had felt a Trace – the presence of a Miracle – in the house he had stayed in two months after he had felt it. Originally, the Trace was the way for Infinites to identify Miracles but after the Great War, the Miracles’ Traces had diminished and now was virtually undetectable.

Sometimes however, especially when they were in close contact, and Infinite could vaguely feel a Trace on a Miracle but it wasn’t conclusive enough.

“Ales is a coward for sure. He was probably worried that he would be told to take on the Hunt. The word is he didn’t stick his neck out even once,” Dongwoo spat in a disgusted tone, shoveling down more cake down his throat as if to wash down the bad taste Ales’ cowardice had left there.

“Whatever the reason, we should proceed without delay.” Sunggyu extracted a small piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Sungjong, who bowed slightly before he took it from him. “The address,” Sunggyu explained. “I suppose I don’t have to go over the protocol with you.”

“I’m aware of it, Your Excellency,” Sungjong replied solemnly.

Woohyun, who had been looking antsy for some time, ventured cautiously, “Your Excellency, if I could voice my concern -”

The leader stopped him bluntly.

“No need. Your concern has been taken into account.” There was dismissiveness in Sunggyu’s voice and Woohyun bowed a little, shooting Dongwoo, who looked ready to speak, a warning look.

“That concludes our meeting today. Dongwoo, I look forward to news soon, good or bad. Woohyun, keep on the lookout. You,” He turned to look at Sungjong. “You will keep me informed of your progress.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

The three of them bowed respectfully but none of them got up from their seats. They looked at each other and then got to their feet at the same time. Sunggyu’s eyebrows rose at their sync.

“You two go on.” He nodded at Dongwoo and Woohyun, who left together without looking back. Sungjong, who was standing in front of Sunggyu, seemed unsure about what to do.

“Do you have any questions?”

“No, Your Excellency.”

Sunggyu turned his attention to his cell phone, ignoring the younger, who stood there for another twenty minutes before the leader nodded at him, which meant he was allowed to go.

He gave one last bow and walked out of the café. Once outside and out of Sunggyu’s sight, he breathed out deeply, rolling his shoulders and trying to get rid of the tension in his body. He hadn’t expected to come out of the meeting with such a big burden on his shoulder. Wondering what he should do first, he let his feet carry him to the main street. He turned a corner and found himself in a familiar deserted alleyway. He hadn’t noticed that he was scrunching up the paper he had received from Sunggyu in his fist. He quickly got it out from between his fingers and read the address. Once. Twice. Then he tore it apart into tiny pieces, scattering them everywhere.

“Littering is punishable, you know.”

“Woohyun!” he exclaimed, relieved that his friend was here just as he had expected him to be.

Sunggyu had definitely foreseen this meeting, which was why he had told Woohyun and Dongwoo to leave first. It wasn’t a direct order from the leader to not meet Sungjong, but Woohyun was sure he wouldn’t appreciate it. But he had to come and talk to his friend, especially when he was in such a difficult position.

They didn’t show affection for each other in front of Sunggyu but the leader somehow knew that they shared a deeper relationship and he didn’t actually approve of it.

“Are you okay?” Woohyun put a hand on the younger’s shoulder, gazing into his eyes worriedly.

Sungjong was the youngest of all the surviving Infinites. He was a lot younger than Woohyun yet he felt strangely attached to the youngest Infinite. He always looked out for him and felt a certain protectiveness over him, a sense of responsibility to always watch over him.

“I am fine. Where’s Dongwoo?”

Dongwoo was Woohyun’s partner. They had been partners even before the Great War and at present they lived together. When they first formed the Azma clan together with Sunggyu, their relationship had to be approved by the leader or else they would have had no choice but to break up or join another clan. Woohyun and Sunggyu had been close friends ever since they were young. After losing all his family and most of his friends in the Great War, Woohyun deemed it only right that he kept close to his only remaining friend.

Of course all Infinites were family but it just wasn’t the same – they were still strangers to some extent. Woohyun had grown up knowing Sunggyu so his affection for him was greater than any new relationship he could form with other Infinites.

“He went back. He’s in the Hunt, you know. And you heard Sunggyu, he wants news fast.”

“I hope he’s careful though. It would be no good if he rushes and makes a mistake,” Sungjong said, looking upset.

“He knows that very well, don’t worry.”

All of the Infinites knew not to be impulsive – a mistake in their part could be fatal and even though they would gladly sacrifice themselves for the cause, they were already very few in number and knew that lesser numbers would only hinder their cause.

“Are you sure you’re okay though?”

Woohyun took his hand and pulled him softly. They started walking towards the main road again, hand in hand.

Sungjong shrugged.

“It’s no big deal really. You have all done it so many times before.”

Even though Sungjong had killed several Miracles, he had never actually scouted out one. The process involved life threatening actions since they had to test the poisonous fluid on themselves – the only sure way to identify a Miracle. Maybe because Sungjong was the youngest – he was only a newborn at the time of the Great War - he had never been given a Hunt; this would be his very first.

“You’re great Sungjong and I don’t doubt you the least bit but it’s going to be your first and I can’t help but worry…”

“How did you feel during your first Hunt?”

Woohyun shook his head, rubbing the back of Sungjong’s hand with his fingers.

“It was a long time ago. But I sure was nervous. It’s life and death. And when you’ve lived for more than 2 million years, you get used to living and you don’t want to die.”

Sungjong pressed Woohyun’s hand lightly. He was aware of how his friend was feeling right now – just as anxious as him, maybe even more.

It wasn’t like he was afraid, he had been waiting for his first Hunt for a long time now. But he had so grown used to not being chosen that it was almost a shock. He couldn’t help but think that the reason for Sunggyu suddenly deciding that it was time for him to put his life at risk had something to do with the fact that he had offended the leader.

“He wants me to fail, doesn’t he? It’s an indirect punishment.”

Pressing his lips together, Woohyun tightened his grip on the younger.

“No, Sungjong, of course not. You hurt his pride and I’m sure he’s annoyed, but he would never want you to die. He loves you, remember?”

Sungjong wasn’t so sure about that.

True, only a week ago the leader had asked him to be his partner.

For the Infinites, it was a great honor to be asked by the leader of the clan to be their partner and it was the most honorable thing that could happen to an Infinite, aside from being chosen as a leader.

It was unthinkable to reject the leader but there was no actual rule against it. When Sungjong was first asked, he had run to Woohyun and asked him if there was any way around it. Woohyun was shocked that Sungjong would even think of rejecting the leader, but when the younger repeated that he was sure about his feelings, he had told him that he wouldn’t be breaking any rules if he rejected him.

So probably for the first time in the history of the Infinites, the leader of the clan was rejected. Sunggyu had been so shocked that he didn’t contact anyone for a week until yesterday, when he announced today’s meeting.

It didn’t take a lot of imagination to predict that Sunggyu’s announcement today was a result of his wrath against the younger.

When Sungjong didn’t say anything, Woohyun continued.

“You can always reconsider. I mean he’s probably a bit scary but that’s the leader’s charisma. I’m sure once you two become partners he’ll be tenderer towards you. He wouldn’t have asked you if he didn’t love you.”

Sighing, Sungjong shook his head morosely.

“I don’t think so. It didn’t feel like he loved me. What does he see in me anyway?”

Woohyun rolled his eyes, pushing the younger slightly with his body.

“Really, Sungjong? You have to be the most attractive Infinite in the world, as well as the most attractive human being.”

The younger Infinite stopped walking and turned sideways to look at his friend. There was sadness in his eyes that Woohyun hadn’t seen before.

“That’s it? My appearance is all I have?”

Woohyun looked shocked as he protested.

“No – I meant – I mean that’s the first thing that -”

“It’s okay. It’s not like you love me or anything, so it doesn’t matter. I don’t have the leader’s elegance, I don’t have Dongwoo’s agility, I don’t have your intelligence – I’m nothing! And the leader doesn’t love me either. I know it, that’s why I rejected him.”

Sungjong extricated his hand from Woohyun’s and sped up while the elder stood in the middle of the pavement, dumbfounded. He wasn’t sure what had caused Sungjong to suddenly burst forth like this but he wondered if it was the fact that he had finally been assigned a Hunt.

The Sungjong he knew wasn’t a coward and even if he was afraid, which was plausible of course, he wasn’t the kind to show it so easily. He couldn’t comprehend what had upset the younger so much.

As for Sunggyu, Woohyun thought with unease, he couldn't actually be planning silent revenge on Sungjong, could he?