Mr. Im, Luhan's calculus teacher, was babbling away, but Luhan could only hear Junmyeon's words ringing in his head. 

They know who we are, and they want to join us. 

 

Luhan couldn't tell what he felt about this mysterious hacker. Clearly they were skilled if Junmyeon couldn't get past them, although that night CBX discovered it was someone local, confirming the group's suspicions. 
 

 

Should he feel honored that someone of that caliber was willing to join them? Or fearful of what they truly wanted and how they found out about EXO?
 

 

Luhan knew one thing for sure. He wanted to know who this person was at any cost. 
 

 

"Mr. Lu?"
 

 

Luhan's attention snapped back from high tech to high school as Mr. Im called his name. "Yes sir?"
 

 

"Can you please solve this equation?"
 

 

Luhan looked at the board, and blurted out an answer after five seconds. Whispers began to circulate around the room as to how he could do such a difficult problem so fast. 
 

 

"Impressive, Luhan. Now show the steps."
 

 

Luhan almost snorted out loud. He had to deal with this crap his whole life, and he wasn't about to give in his last year. "Why do the steps matter?"
 

 

Mr. Im sighed and almost opened his mouth to say something for the thousandth time, but a voice interrupted him. 
 

 

"Because correct answers can often come from incorrect steps."
 

 

Luhan's eyes landed on the source of the voice. It was a sophomore, a rarity in this advanced of a class. She didn't look obviously nerdy and Luhan knew from instinct she was the Chinese transfer Sehun and Jongin were talking about the other day. 
 

 

"You should be careful before you finish the equation, or else you'll fail."
 

 

Luhan froze.
 

 

Be careful before you finish the job, or you'll get caught. 
 

 

That was the mantra of every hacker in EXO. 
 

 

Who was this girl?
 

 

"Very well said, Miss Jin." Mr. Im interrupted Luhan's thoughts again. "Now, we will continue..."
 

 

Luhan's eyes never left her for the rest of class. 
 

 

***
 

 

Encrypted group chat under name "E.X.O."
 

 

21:15
 

 

LH: Anyone have any info on the new Jin girl?
 

 

Kai: Her name is Taohua. She's a sophomore but really smart. She's a transfer from China. 
 

 

OSH: Why hyung?
 

 

LH: She's in my calculus class. 
 

 

BBH: I heard she's pretty from Jongin. 
 

 

Xiumin: Stop messing around.

 

Chen: He’s not. Jongin won’t shut up about her.

 

Kai: Hyung!

 

BBH: Come on, Jongin, it’s normal to have a crush. Just admit it.

 

Kai: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

 

Chen: Stop playing dumb.

 

Xiumin: Don’t make me say it again.

 

Luhan smirked at Minseok, his closest friend in EXO. Out of everyone, he respected him the most. He carried a wisdom with him that was rare, and Luhan knew he was someone you shut up and listened to. He was going to tell Minseok about this, and then ask about this whole Jongin thing, but first he had to go on a solo mission.

Opening his laptop, Luhan first did a simple search of her name. 

 

Nothing. 
 

 

Keyword correlation brought up nothing, nothing under their school's name, nothing in Chinese either. 
 

 

She was a ghost. 
 

 

Uncommon, certainly, but not unheard of. She was a transfer, after all. Luhan didn't know why he was so intrigued by her in the first place. Maybe she was just a distraction from the bigger problems in his life. 
 

The money, the mystery, and his past.

 

Luhan sighed, picking up his phone as he opened a private chat with Minseok.

 

LH: The reason why I asked is because I have a strange feeling about her.

 

Xiumin: What kind of strange feeling?

 

LH: Like she’s someone important.

 

Xiumin: Then she probably is. Is she a friend or an enemy?

 

LH: Both. I don’t know. I shouldn’t even care.

 

Xiumin: Feelings are usually right. Just don’t forget them, but don’t base all your decisions off of them at the same time.

Luhan knew Xiumin spoke the truth. Feelings were so important in a world of letters, numbers, codes, emotionless zeros and ones. But this was just different, like a code he’d never seen before.

 

LH: Another thing. Is this Jongin thing going to be a problem? It’s pretty obvious he likes her.

 

Xiumin: Well, it’s going to be a problem if she likes him. And I doubt that’s going to happen.

 

Luhan's phone buzzed again, this time from the group chat.

 

Junmyeon: I have a new update on the person, sent from a different number and under different encryption, but still local.

Luhan held his breath. 

 

They want to meet us at 16:00 tomorrow at our place.