Chapter five: A new chance

“So,” Soonyoungs tilted his head slightly, “You’re going to join in a run? And that’s one of the highlights of the entire year… How does that work? What’s so awesome about that? Everyone can ru-…”

For what felt like the thousandth time Seungkwan sighed as he readied himself to explain everything to Soonyoung. Again. “It’s not a simple run. That’s childsplay.” He pinched his nose bridge with his fingers as he thought of the right words to use. “Besides the recordholder is Jihoon.” He nudged towards the short man in the corner of the room.

At the mention of that name Soonyoung suddenly gave Seungkwan his full attention. “Eh? So you are saying that Jihoon can run really fast… He’s so awesome isn’t he?”   

“IT’S NOT RUNNING!” Seungkwan finally snapped at the alpha. In his anger he missed Seokmin urging Chan to hand over the stakes of their bet, which the younger handed over whilst scowling deeply.

“I told you he would snap within five minutes,” Seokmin grinned widely at an annoyed Chan.

“I had hopes in him controlling himself longer while Hansol was watching…” He grumbled as he stared at the alpha who was currently talking with Wonwoo and not paying attention to the angry omega scolding Soonyoung. “Of course he isn’t paying attention now… Well that explains my loss.” He shrugged defeat.

“You’re no fun…” Seokmin complained playfully as he let the coins drop into his pocket with a nice cling.

There was a slight knock on the door, followed by Jeonghan poking his head inside the building. “Seungkwan are you ready yet? We’re starting in half an hour and I need all the participants to be on standby.” He called to the blonde currently nagging Soonyoung before changing his attention towards the other omega in the room. “Jihoon?”

“Hmm…” Jihoon who had been eating quietly in the corner turned around with stuffed cheeks.

“Are you going to precede over the run or what?” Jeonghan asked in a manner which suggested that he already knew the answer.

His mouth still full of food Jihoon mumbled something incomprehensible back, his mind obviously still occupied with the meat skewer he was currently devouring.

“Pardon?” Jeonghan asked, one of his eyebrows raised in a silent reprimand.

After quickly chewing and swallowing Jihoon tried again. “I thought you’d do it like last year. I will go to the main square to oversee the last preparations for tonight.”

Jeonghan nodded in understanding albeit with a little concern written on his face. Seokmin not reading the mood right took the opportunity, “We promise that we won’t blow up anything when you can’t see the resu- “

Five heads instantly snapped in his direction as Seokmin slowly processed what he just said. “I probably shouldn’t have s-“

Before he could finish Jihoon stood next to him and covered his mouth in a desperate attempt at saving the situation. However Jeonghan was already on full alert and if anything his actions drew more suspicion. Jeonghans eyes scanned the room and everyone in it, sending death glares to every single one of them. “I should’ve known that you’d have more accomplishes… But I didn’t expect you to join in as well.” He pointed towards Seungkwan, who tried to sport his best innocent face, before snapping back to a guilty looking Seokmin and Jihoon. “We’re not done yet.” He angrily exclaimed while glaring at the brothers.

At that point there was no salvaging the situation anymore and Jihoon decided only one action could save their asses. “Every man for themselves!” He screamed before gracefully bolting underneath Jeonghans arms as he tried to capture the shorter man. One moment later he reached the door and ran out while smirking at the others one last time.

“Well…” Soonyoung started. “I don’t know what this is about? But my date just ran out of the door?” Without saying another word he started walking outside. Leaving a gaping Jeonghan behind as he escaped the room. Grinning smugly to himself as made his way through the snow, following the fresh footprints left behind by Jihoon. “That went surprisingly well.” He mumbled to himself as the first screams of terror from Seokmin filled the cold winter afternoon.

---

“Congratulations on winning the race thingy Seungkwan.” Soonyoung extended his hand in order to congratulate the omega only to receive a glare in return.

“As I’ve told you so many times…” Seungkwan started tiredly, “It’s not just a race.”

“You had to be faster than the other guys reaching the goal.” Soonyoung countered matter of factly. “Thus it’s a race.”

With a grown of frustration Seungkwan spun around before glaring at the older again. “Yo-”

A laughing Jeonghan intercepted, cutting Seungkwan off before the nagging could start. “I would give up if I were you Seungkwan. You’re not winning this fight. Technically speaking Soonyoung is right. It’s a race. It just contains a few more elements than your normal race.” He winked at his younger friend. “I believe Hansol is still waiting on you to congratulate you. Shouldn’t you hurry?” Before Jeonghan had even finished his sentence Seungkwan ran off in the direction of the aforementioned alpha causing the two men that were left behind to laugh.

The race actually was more of a trial of someone’s overall abilities instead of a race. It was a way to determine the pack members with the highest skills. Running was a part of it, just like climbing, fighting, swimming in the ice, weapon use such as bows and the blow darts that still gave Soonyoung a chill when thinking about it. Seeing it had made it more clear why it was such a big thing to the Grenhillians. It also had put Seungkwan in another light for the alpha. So far he had never seen Seungkwan really use his skills. And now that he had he hoped that he would never upset the man too much.

The most frightening thing however was that the most powerful pack members didn’t join the run. As Seungkwan had mentioned before, Jihoon was the record holder, he wasn’t the leader of the pack for nothing and looks really did betray you when judging Jihoon. Same for Jeonghan… Jihoon was the recordholder but if not for Jihoon, Jeonghan would’ve won more than once.

Once a packmember was fifteen they were eligible to take part in the race. They’d have to be nominated by at least ten others before they could join. There were some preliminaries and in the end ten people would face off against each other. Jeonghan had won right away in the year he turned fifteen. The year thereafter Jihoon had joined for the first time. It had been the start of his five year win streak before he became the pack leader. As the leader of the pack he’d gotten other responsibilities to deal with during Yule, thus making it difficult for him to join in.

“Where’s Jihoon?” Jeonghan asked managing to grasp Soonyoungs attention.  

The alpha turned around in response his eyes searching for the familiar small frame of Jihoon. The last time he had spotted the leader of the Grenhil pack he’d announced Seungkwan as the winner of the ‘race’. “No idea…” The alpha mumbled while still focussing on the crowd that populated the cities main plaza. The mob of black hair that he was searching for had disappeared without him noticing and it stung for some strange reason.

Jeonghan saw the alphas face starting to drop, “He’ll pop up again soon enough.” He gave Soonyoung two pats on his shoulder, “And if not we’ll know where he was soon enough. Because I fear that Seokmin has disappeared on me as well…”

---

Chanyeol and Baekhyun stat themselves down on a vacant bench at the edge of the plaza. After their initial decision to enjoy the day and maybe learn a thing or two in the process they’d roamed around the city. In the end they’d been swept away together with the crowd that was watching some sort of race. One familiar face had been taking part in the race. An omega with a roundish face and blonde hair drew their attention. Boo Seungkwan. One of the Grenhillians that they’d seen at their trial. Following the crowd they soon learned that it wasn’t just a race. The stranger from before had been right in one thing, they really knew nothing of Grenhil.

“How…” Baekhyun muttered while thinking about the omega hitting ten targets with bow and arrow, before proceeding to do the same thing with blow darts. All with a speed and accuracy that Baekhyun had only barely witnessed in his live. The only persons he knew that were capable of such feats were solely focussed on training that one skill. And none of them had been omegas like himself. “I don’t understand it…”

His companion shuffled his feet nervously. It had dealt his own pride as an alpha a big hit. Until now he hadn’t really thought about how and why they’d been captured. Yes, he knew that Jihoon had some skills. After seeing Kim Mingyu he’d thought that they’d been captured by a squad of alphas. He’d seen his fair share of alphas and betas during their trip to Old Grenhil. The assumption that those were responsible for the attack was logical. In all the packs he’d known alphas and betas made up the fighting forces, while omegas would do other chores, housework, sewing. Whatever easy tasks existed. Someone like Baekhyun was actually abnormal in their own pack. The omega simply had such a natural talent for military strategies that he’d joined their war councils a few times. Those few times had turned into more times and before they’d known it Baekhyun had become one of the Exodus Twelve.

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyuns soft voice demanded his attention.

“Mm?”

“Would I’ve been able to do that as well?”

The question was asked with such genuine childlike curiosity that Chanyeol was taken a back for a bit while considering it. He let his head fall back and stared at the clouds above them, the sky was already starting to turn colour as the long midwinter night would soon arrive. Thinking back to his own childhood of continuous training with the other young alphas of the pack. Alpha, beta and omega had gotten entirely different educations in his pack, with omegas getting the least… The different natures had ruled almost the entirety of normal everyday life. He looked back down again and instead stared at a few Grenhilian children that were playing in front of them. For the first time he noticed that they all played together. Not alphas playing with alphas, or betas with betas. And he wondered how he’d missed that all this time.

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asked again and the alpha realized that he’d left the question unanswered.

His eyes shifted towards the omega next to him and they instantly softened. “If you’d wanted to I believe that you could’ve done anything.” He stated firmly, “Just like you joined the Exodus Twelve despite being an omega.”

A smile blossomed on Baekhyuns face upon hearing those words before he turned more serious again. “That man was right. We know so little of Grenhil… Fighting an unknown enemy is always dangerous.” Chanyeol nodded. “And fighting an unknown enemy is exactly what our pack is planning  on doing.”

---

Jeonghan chuckled lightly as he watched the children dance around one of the bonfires on the square. All of the buildings surrounding the plaza had torches mounted to their walls to provide extra light, whilst the plaza itself was filled with bonfires and fires used for cooking. The scent of a variety of dishes was starting to fill the air making his mouth water. His duties had ended. The last formalities would be for Jihoon to handle. Opening the feast and the dance later tonight. All was still quiet and well, he thought as he let his thoughts drift away. And they instantly drifted towards a certain someone.

With as much force as he could muster he shook his head. Trying to rid his mind of unwanted thoughts and feelings. The weight of the disappointment still hadn’t faded in the slightest. Jeonghan had hoped that not thinking about the man and drowning in work would help him sort his feelings out. Well he’d thought wrong. Oh boy was he wrong.  Just looking at Hansol and Seungkwan fawning over each other pulled at his feelings. And not in a good way.

He let a sigh escape his lips and tried to focus on the celebrating people again. Two people perched on a bench on the other side of the huge marketplace caught his eye. “Won’t you look at that.” He mumbled to no one in particular as he stood up and started walking in the pairs direction.

“So you’ve finally decided that sitting and moping around wouldn’t benefit you either?” Two pairs of eyes quickly focussed on him, both filled with dislike and distrust. “May I?” He asked and immediately sat down next to a certain red haired man.

“No.” The man glared at him.

Jeonghan just grinned mischievously at the other. “I didn’t really care but thanks for answering anyways.” He leaned backwards while his eyes travelled between all the different people and activities in front of him.

“What do you need?” The red haired man burst out in frustration, not breaking the glare that he had been sending towards Jeonghan.

The blonde omega turned towards him. “Well dear mister Byun Baekhyun,” He started, “I wanted to flee from my own thoughts for a bit and spotted you two. I figured I might as well ask if you’ve finally started learning about my pack yet.”

Baekhyun raised his eyebrow at the first bit but then he gathered his courage to speak the truth. He leaned forward, his elbows perched on his knees while he leaned his head on his hands. A sigh managed to slip out first before he actually began talking. “I hate to admit it, but you were right. We were foolish, not even bothering to learn about this pack. Even now I’m sure that we’ve only just started scratching the surface.”

Next to him Chanyeol continued, “I underestimated that other omega that often walks with you. Just like I underestimated Wooz- I mean Jihoon.”

Jeonghan chuckled, “You’re missing the point.” He drew a large circle in the air with his arm as he continued, “Not just Jihoon, Seungkwan or even I myself know how to defend ourselves. All of our pack knows. It’s basic education and it has always been ever since the founding of our pack.”

“Do you mean that every omega learns to fight?” Baekhyun looked at him with curiousity.

“I said all of us, didn’t I? Our pack was founded by omegas that ran away from their homes. That escaped the hierarchy and the suppression that came with it.” Jeonghan explained. “Without alphas nor betas around they needed to protect themselves. It led to the creation of our own fighting style, of specialised weaponry. Alphas and betas normally have stronger physiques, whilst omegas are more frail and delicate. However we’re also more nimble, we’re swift and severely underestimated by the ones that only know the original hierarchy. Fighting in close distance is normally a disadvantage for omegas. From far away it doesn’t matter. If I can hit you with an arrow before you can even spot me, I win.”

“Playing to the strengths of omegas…” Baekhyun mumbled. “Attacking swiftly and unseen.”

“Please tell Jihoon about that strength discrepancy.” Chanyeol sulked. “I don’t think he got the memo.”

“I think you didn’t.” Jeonghan countered, “We’re not as strong, as in muscular. There is a difference with being strong and fighting to your own strengths. I can use your strength against you. I can dance around my opponent while waiting for my chance.”

Baekhyun suddenly thought of something. “But wait, you’re founded by omegas because they fled. Why are you led by an alpha now?”

A bit taken aback by the sudden question Jeonghan raised his eyebrows. “Are we? Have you truly figured out who our leader is? Have you even figured out yet what I do?” He fired the question right back at the other omega before chuckling one more time. “You’ve started understanding, but you’re far from knowing anything about our pack. Like you said, you’ve only scratched the surface.”

With those words the blonde Grenhillian omega stood up, waved and started walking away.

---

Jihoon sat down next to Soonyoung with a loud sigh. “Done.”

The other smiled at him and ruffled his hair. “Good job today.” Soonyoung grinned while a mildly annoyed Jihoon put his hair back in place, a little smile playing around his lips. After Jihoon felt satisfied with his hair again he stretched his limps out, earning him a few cracks as his sore body relaxed.

“I’m starving.” He exclaimed while hungrily staring at all the plates of food that were going around the tables. Another chuckle from Soonyoung followed as he grabbed the other a plate.

“Anything in specific that you want to eat?” He asked the hungry man next to him.

“I’m fine with whatever you’re having.” Jihoon answered, “You’ll still ask for a bite of whatever I eat anyways.”

The alpha raised his hands up in denial while Jihoo