Chapter II "House of Snakes"   

   "It's weird, is it you or me? I'm not sure but something's wrong." ~ iKON 'Today' 

He is staring now. Simply peering at its matte charcoal skin is so realistic he swore he could just reach out and touch its smooth and metallic skin. It was mesmerizing for some reason, it was so beautiful that Jungkook wondered what paradise it came from. He wondered what person carved the scales in persist detail onto a block of black metal to get a perfect scale and have the patience to multiply that same scale all throughout its thin, spineless body.

"Mr. Jeon, tell me the name of the enzyme being used in this lab that will change the course of the reaction?" Jungkook's words were imminently stuck on his throat. A new semester might mean a fresh start with a set of new classes, but being stuck in a full year of Biology, they started with a lab right off the bat on the first day of class.

 Jungkook didn't answer, he knew how Dr. Kwon worked and she will simply ask another student before she rounds back to him and ridicules him. It always worked that way, there was never any breaks given to students because it is in fact, College.

"Ms. Park?" Jungkook directed his vision downwards onto his desk, showing he was ashamed of himself. Sooyoung didn't hesitate, she peered at him and answered with full confidence. The answer was obviously correct but for some reason Dr. Kwon was not satisfied with such an answer. It was correct though, as far as Jungkook's knowledge extended.

"There is no enzyme that will change the reaction though." A voice caught him off guard. He took notice of that kid that bumped into him earlier that day. He was friends with the L.A girl. Dr. Kwon shot him an intrigued smile, encouraging him to keep talking. "Ms. Park is correct about the enzyme, but it won't change the course of the reaction. The temperature will be too hot in this reaction, causing the enzyme to denature before it creates a vast amount of product. Therefore the answer is none, because no enzyme will change the course of the reaction." Jungkook sigh heavily, he wanted to slap himself then and there. Of course, the kinetic energy would be too high.

"Mr. Goo is indeed correct. Mr. Jeon, you seemed to be a little distracted. Is the heat is enough to denature your train of thought?" Dr. Kwon taunted him, she was a wise and older woman, but her words could hit a student deep. He has been so distracted and he could have sworn it's that dam new girl and her stupid snake.

Ocean. In the slight moment that Mr. Goo turned around to glance at him he caught sight of his eyes. Even for a guy, he was completely mesmerized by the color, it was a deep blue that seems to have the depth of the ocean itself. His iris held sea colors and it was like someone painted every aspect of the ocean into his pupil. They were so calming, Jungkook could just see the waves crashing onto the golden shore in mid spring, when the air is fresh and the smell of sea salt was so sweet.

"You've been very distracted today, is everything okay?" Sooyoung woke him up from his dream. He nodded, slight discomfort rising from the pit of his stomach as he only stared at his lunch. He couldn't tell her he has been distracted by the set of auburn eyes, a charcoal snake only he could see and a new found pair of ocean eyes.

"Sorry, I've been having this weird feeling. But I'm fine, it's nothing to worry about." He assured her everything was fine, but it wasn't. He was going mad, that was the only explanation he could give.

'Okay, I'll let it slide.' Jungkook looked up, hearing her speak but she was simply staring at her kimbap. She acted like her words were not even directed at him, as if she wasn't even talking to him and he found it so unlike her. He heard her voice, so why wasn't she looking at him waiting for his response like how she normally would.

"Let what slide?" He asked, and almost instantly, she stopped chewing the food in . Her line of vision rose as she send him this look as if he had just said something shocking. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion as she chews her food a bit slower now, not fully grasping the situation.

"I didn't say anything." She simply spoke as a look of fear washed over her very slightly. She was thinking it, she never really said it out loud. He pondered hardly on why he heard her voice, but she says she didn't say anything.

"I must have heard wrong then." For some reason, Jungkook took notice of the many times he has heard wrong. This wasn't the first time he thought he heard someone speak while he stared at their closed mouth. He was just going mad, and he knew his sanity was slowly slipping ever since he started having those nightmares.

His breath was stuck in his throat, he meet the new kid’s eyes and there was no longer an ocean. Mr. Goo's iris was no longer the painted image created by the pure ocean, they were simply dark and brown now. It was impossible, he couldn't have imagined all of it. It was like the auburn eyes in the L.A. girl. Mr. Goo's eyes were like the spitting image of the coral reef. The turquoise color that shone from the green pigmented organisms in the water, the light and clear shades of blue as if the water was so pure and clean. They were truly something beautiful.

The snake seemed to stop bothering him, but it wasn't like the creature was demanding his ultimate attention. Its pure presence, the simple sight of the creature was enough to pick his curiosity. It almost felt like the thing was taunting him, but he knew it wasn't. Its presence begun to feel numb and Jungkook no longer paid much attention to the charcoal creature. Well, it wasn’t like he saw much of it throughout the rest of the day.

"As a new student, you're not making the best impression by being late." The professor spoke, his words reaching past the music blasting through Jungkook's earbuds. He looked up and froze as he barely rose his line of view. She stood there, board pressed strongly against her hip as her cheeks were fleshed tone, she rushed to get here. The heat from the working muscles caused her cheeks to be strained with a warm tone.

"I'm truly sorry. I came from Mr. Stoch's room so he told me to just tell you I'm in charge of the puzzle cube project in order to be excused." Even she wasn't so convinced as to why those words were supposed to let her off the hook. She was late because her engineering teacher held her back a bit and Jungkook could tell she was also very unhappy about being late.

"You are? Next class, tell Mr. Stoch that I expect the cube to be amazing. You may take your seat." Dumbfounded and completely speechless, the L.A. girl found herself scanning the rows of the room to try and find an empty seat. Jungkook tried to catch her eyes, to try and get a glimpse of those burning auburn eyes and all he saw were brown coco orbs. He wanted to prove that he wasn't crazy for seeing that color embroiled in her eyes but as the snake slithered off of her arm, he knew he was going crazy to a certain extend.

Although Jungkook went through the regular routine, all he could do was think of the L.A. girl. He didn’t want to admit it out loud, but he wanted to see her eyes again. And throughout the day, he never had the luck to bump into her again. He ate with Yugyeom, and although the boy wanted to know all the details about Sooyoung's new single status, his head wasn't in the right place. He felt quite stupid, he's always wanted Sooyoung and now that he has the chance, he no longer has the interest to try and go for her. It's all because of the L.A. girl and her dam snake.

"By the way, the new transfer student seems to be quite popular." His head shot up imminently as Yugyeom was thrown back at his outburst. He was eager to know how much Yugyeom knows about them. He always seems to know the good details on every person in campus that is worthy of his time. "Woah, chill. He's actually really cool. He agreed to help me with my calculus homework in the future." Jungkook felt his heart ease, Yugyeom was talking about Mr. Goo the kid who completely made a fool of him during biology.

"He seems like the nerdy type, and you don't hang with nerds as I recall you saying." A wicked smiled danced on his face, lighting up his whole countenance. Yugyeom pressed his hand against his heart, pretending to be hurt. Jungkook laughed it off as he placed a piece of kimchi in his mouth.

"Okay, but in my defense, I said that when you were trying to get me to pay attention to Eunhee and you didn't understand she was a stalker. I had nothing against her nerdy ways, it's just that she was a stalker." Yugyeom tried to get Jungkook to understand his reasons for not paying attention to such a girl, but as Jungkook nodded sarcastically, he gave up. "But Junhoe is cool, you should meet him, he works at the bubble tea shop near campus." Jungkook simply nodded, taking a big gulp of his soda and not feeling too interested in meeting the said Junhoe. 

"You sure you don't want me to drive you home?" Yugyeom asked, leaning against his car as his arms crossed. He knew his best friend enough to catch on and spot a little critter biting his neck, something was bothering him.

"Yeah, I need to stop somewhere either way." Jungkook spoke, his voice slightly slurred as a mixture of exhaustion and bitter liquor where inside his stomach at the moment. Yugyeom nodded, understanding that he needed time to think and he should not be the block that clogs that moment.

"Well, be careful, I don’t want someone to attack you.” Yugyeom’s voice was drowning in concern and worry. Jungkook was caught off guard, not knowing where such a warning came from.

“Why would someone do that?” Jungkook asked, his slightly slurred words filled with curiosity and doubt. He looked at Yugyeom, seeing the boy sigh heavily as he looked around with raised brows.

“There has been some attacks, abnormal attacks. Since this morning, they found another person with a stab wound and an abnormal amount of blood drainage. I don’t want that to be you.” Yugyeom laced an arm around Jungkook's shoulders, hugging him slightly and riffling his hair. The small gesture showcasing how much Yugyeom cared about him and would be in great pain and guilt if something happened to him. Jungkook nodded, feeling his slight high from his shots of soju reducing as Yugyeom's sober voice told him goodbye.

Sooyoung was single. The most beautiful and talented girl he was ever loved was finally able to date him. He could try and hold her hand without guilt, he could hug her without the shadow of her boyfriend towering over him. He should be smiling right now, trying to come up with a plan to win Sooyoung's heart over, a heart that he's been wanting for so long.

But what was stopping him?

A slick smile appeared on his lips as he remembered the pure image of those eyes. The fire burning the leaves in autumn as the world was engulfed with burn orange and caramel yellow. Her eyes were something else and that snake was truly a fixation of his imagination. It just had to be. So he planned it, tomorrow he will see that girl's eyes and her friend's eyes and not see a charcoal snake curled around her arm, because it was all in his mind. He will see a normal world and he could finally be able to go after Sooyoung with no worries.

“Why have they been attacking the city, huh?’ A loud grunt was released into the air as metal was soon being deformed. A large amount of mass was thrown in to a trash can. Jungkook felt his heart drop so fast that his cold feet almost stepped on it. He felt fear boil from his stomach and embrace his body all at once at the sound of the voices.

“I don’t know. We have little control of how the nocturne children get here. We’re trying the best that we can but our forces are too spread out.” At the sound of the voice, Jungkook felt his safety reflexes kick in and his body was pressed against the wall. He was slowly falling down, fear causing all of his drunken senses to be sobered up like a cold shower.

“They must be fledglings, it’s not smart of them to come to this world, to hunt and let alone hunt in a city so highly populated like this. How much information do you have wolf?” Silence, time was taken into a tight grasp by intensity. Jungkook was shaking, fear was eating him away as he didn’t want to see who those voices belonged to, he didn’t even want to hear them

He knew there were two men, a younger one who seemed to be the member question everything. And the second voice, the weird voice that sounded like it belonged to a large man who sounded like he salivated too much.
 

“They have been attacking people who are drunk and all alone. They use stab wounds to cover up their trail but from the amount of blood being drained from the victim’s body and the amount of people that have died, I can assure you they are only two attackers.” A snake hiss echoed as the sound of a knife carving a quick hole in the wall made Jungkook’s skin turn. He didn’t know what was happening but his heart was racing as his lungs were desperately trying hard to grasp air.

“Two fledgling children of the night, I can’t wait to rip them apart with my blade. How many members of your pack are here because we were sent with five but I have a feeling that number changed, didn’t it?” That voice, that mellow and quiet voice that he heard before was now more aggressive and wicked than before. The L.A girl. His palms begun to sweat and his head spun, his brain throbbing.

“Yes, a new pack arrived yesterday, they came from Japan. Apparently the Japanese Coalition has intentions of moving here, my pack is now at twelve members spread throughout the country.” The voice continued, he spoke without fear and Jungkook swore he was panting like a dog. He wanted to laugh, the way he sounded, the way he breathed and how he talked about a pack, Jungkook almost assumed he was truly a wolf.

But his spine curved in fear that something big was breaking out. He had to be hallucinating, he had to be dreaming or something. Maybe he passed out drunk on the street and is dreaming about this entire conversation. A Coalition, coming here? That was ridiculous.

“Send one of your wolves to the academy, tell them that Nimbus is moving her team. As for the nocturne children, we’ll track their patterns, figure out where they will strike again and then we’ll be back with a plan. Now go wolf, be careful.” A soft groan was heard and Jungkook felt his heart sink when he heard it. It as a loud and strong howl echoing under the moon, there are no wolves in Seoul. The next thing he knew, he saw a flashing light, it was tinted in turquoise.

He didn’t know where it came from or why he saw it. He felt a hot breath down his neck as he felt an itching burn in his neck. It was like a light sting on his skin the moment that light disappeared from his sight. He was too drunk, he knew that feeling and it was like he was scratched. He needed to get out.

“Twelve werewolves in Korea, don’t you think that the darkness will catch onto something?” The girl spoke, the girl with the fire eyes that was driving him insane. She was there, and Jungkook was not drunk enough to simply stand up and go make sure for himself.

He was in a dream, in a very realistic drunk dream. Sure, the smell of rotting garbage made his stomach turn and nose prick with pain. The cold night was biting at his skin and making him shiver. But it was all a dream. There was no such thing as werewolves or even wolves in Seoul. Everything was fine.

“I know, that’s why we need to have the Academy deal with Nimbus, we need to hunt down the nocturne children before they take any more human blood and we can’t focus on her.” Jungkook tried to stand up, feeling a little bit of life back into his senses.

Everything felt so unrealistic. There were no werewolves in Korea. What did they mean by nocturne children taking human blood? The world he knew was in black and white, only humans and animals. There was no room for supernatural things, and that’s just it. He was going nuts, he wasn’t thinking straight. He just needed to go back home, sleep and wake up to find everything was back to that normal frame it was always at.