We strided across the corridor, passing through maids and guards, all of whom watched us passing through with a rather preventive attitude. Yoonjie was leading the row, followed by Yoseob, __________ and me. Hyunseung was walking leisurely behind me, but his hand was still placed on his belt, in which he hides his dagger and other weapons. I used to see him carrying a grenade without letting anyone know. Hyunseung is a dangerous vampire, and it is a great advantage of having him on our side. After the incident, he was still acting like nothing was wrong; but I knew him well enough to know that he was feeling guilty. That’s my advantage. I know everyone well enough, even to become one of them.

   “We are here.” Yoonjie announced as she stopped in front of a large wooden door. A maid appeared and used an ernormous key to open it. I stepped inside and inhaled deeply, enjoying the fade scent of roses inside the training room. I had been there for quite a long time to know everything about it. Yoonjie led us to another door that went inside the monitoring room, signaling to us for sitting down the red couch in a corner.

   “Mysterie.” She looked at __________ and waited until the latter’s eyes met hers. “As I was saying before, legal hunters are divided into five different classes. If you want to be promoted to a higher class, you need to improve your experience. Even though you are stronger than an E Class, you won’t be promoted if your experience level is low. Some of the hunters in this kingdom stay forever in D Class just because they don’t know how to use their power wisely. And unlike classes, the number of levels is boundless. This is a little tricky here,” Yoonjie took a pen and started to draw a diagram.” A person who joins the legal hunters for the first time will always be at Level One in experience, no matter which class they belong in. Gradually, they improve their experience level by joining in combats and hunting preys. You need to past twenty-one levels to be promoted to a higher class, starting from D Class. For example, if you were in D Class, you have to be in combats and hunt preys to add points to your experience level. Some times later, you reached the level of 21; and if you are strong enough, you will be promoted to a C Class. Then you have to be in combats and invent new tactics for quite a long time later until you finished another 21 levels, which means you have to be at least a Level Forty-two to reach B Class. In B Class, you have to repeat the same thing to become an A Class, which means you are now at least at Level Sixty-three. And there is a tiny rule here.” She chuckled, realizing that both Yoseob and Hyunseung had fallen asleep. “The minimum level to be in E Class is Level 127. When you are already in E Class, you can still improve your level, and this will decide your role in the thirteen knights. Yoseob-ssi became the leader of the knights after he reached Level 136. Your goal is to break his record before he can move onto the next level, Mysterie. The first twelve levels will be easy to gain, but things get more complicated after that. Now, can you please summarize what I’ve told you?” Yoonjie let out a small laughter.

   I froze. She was trying to challenge __________. I knew some B Class who can’t even remember the order of the classes, not to mention the levels. But I couldn’t speak up, since Yoseob and the Queen had given her the responsibility of training ___________. I looked aside and saw her biting her lips. But in contrast to everything I expected, she lifted her head and began to summarize everything Yoonjie said.

   “The experience level is another factor beside your strength that will decide whether you are going to be promoted to the next class or not. The number of levels is limitless. You will always stay at Level One as you began your career as a hunter. You need to past twenty-one levels before reaching the next class. This can be done by joining in combats and hunting preys. After you’ve reached A Class, which means your current level must be at least 63, you will have to train until you reach level 127 to be an E Class. The most experienced E Class knight is Yoseob-ssi here, and my mission is to break his record before he can move onto the next level. The first twelve levels are easy, but it will get tougher after that.”

   Wow. And I thought the Abraham Lincoln thing was too much for her.

   “Excellent work, Mysterie.” Yoonjie stretched and began clapping. “But things are easier said that done. I’ll call those two knights to join us with monitoring what you’ve got to show. Firstly, you will be shown the way into a center of a maze, and that’s your start position. Your mission is to get out of the maze before the clock stops. If it stops, you’ll be considered dead and you won’t gain any points. I’ll be controlling fake preys in the maze, and your mission is to kill as much of them as possible. Each killed gain ten points to your experience point. There will also be fellow vampires, and everytime you kill one of them, your experience point will be subtracted. Five, to be exact. You will pass Level One when you gain enough two hundred points in this practicing room, and your real weapon will be given at Level Five. Now you can only use this dagger. This is Level One training, hand-to-hand combat. Good luck!” Yoonjie handed __________ a silver dagger and pushed her outside of the monitoring room.

   “Hyunseung! Yoseob! Wake up!” I poked their cheeks and the way Yoseob opened his eyes was too fast to be the way a sleeping person would do. He pretended to stretch his arm, an old ghost of a mischevious smile flashes through his lips.

   “She is amazing, isn’t she?” He stood up and walked towards Yoonjie as she began to guide Mysterie to reach the center of the maze. Only Hyunseung seemed to be really asleep. The cut on his arm had just been steriled carelessly, and he seemed to be very stressed after the incident. For a moment, I didn’t want to wake him up since he looked so peaceful in his sleep. But on second thought, I remembered that he would kill me if I let __________ do anything without his observation.

   “Hyunseung! Wake up! Yah!” I bended my head down and began to call him louded, but all he did was mumbling something in his sleep. I decided to stare at him, hoping that my fierce stare will wake him up. But he didn’t, so I lowered my face closer and closer until…

   “Gah! What are you doing, you sick bastard?” Hyunseung suddenly opened his eyes and startled at the moment he saw my focusing eyes. He pushed my away violently, and I ended up hitting my back against the wall just like what happened in the shed. Hyunseung approached me and pointed his finger at my face, even though Yoseob and Yoonjie were gaping at us in shock.

   “Aren’t you enough with all the girls in the neighborhood? Or you are just so tired of girls surrounding you that you begin to follow guys like me? Can you do anything more stupid, huh? Answer me, Yong Junhyung!”

   “I was just trying to wake you up…” I stood up and tried to prove my innocence, but Hyunseung lifted his chin and walked towards the giggling Yoseob and Yoonjie. I followed him, but kept a safe distance. Hyunseung is the type of vampire that can stab anyone that annoys him. I looked at the monitoring screen and realized that ___________ had already reached the center of the maze. She was holding the dagger with her two hands in confusion. Yoonjie tapped on the table and four microphones appeared. She tucked her hair up her ear and spoke into the microphone:

   “Okay, Mysterie. Since this is your first time being in a training session, you will have some supporters to help you with combat skills. Junhyung-ssi and Hyunseung-ssi will take this job, as I control the machines and Yoseob-ssi will give the points.”

   “Why don’t you just let one of us do the grading and Yoseob will do the helping?” Hyunseung grumbled angrily as he got closed to me. Yoonjie let out a small laughter:

   “That’s easy. Yoseob-ssi is the top knight, and it will be too much of an advantage for Mysterie if I let him do the helping. Further more, neither of you will take grading her seriously. You two will all give her higher points than she deserves, and you both know the reasons why. But it will be a disadvantage if I grade her.” She smirked. “I never accept the fact that someone is better than me. Now, back to the main topic. Are you ready, Mysterie?”

   __________ looked like she was going to cry any moment soon, but she bit her lip and agreed. “I’m ready.” Her confident voice echoed back in the monitoring room, and we couldn’t help but smile.

   “That is a good attitude, but we also have to see how you deal with this. Novice’s training session, begin!” Yoonjie said and hit a red button. Four prey figures surrounded __________, and she took good care of them. But as she began to get out of the center, Yoonjie chuckled and pulled a lever on the controlling board. Oh, brother.

   “Wait, Mysterie!” Hyunseung shouted as she turned around and stabbed a vampire figure. Yoseob frowned and wrote on the grading paper. “Five points have been subtracted.” He announced, and __________ bit her lips nervously.

   “Relax, Mysterie.” I told her. “Just because your have the advantage of agility doesn’t mean you have to rely completely on it. Breathe slowly in order to slow everything down. I repeat, just be calm. We will guide you through the maze. Everything you have to do is to attack the preys. Remember to look clearly and make sure you are killing the right things.”

   “Okay, Junhyung-ssi.” __________ tightened her grip around the knife and walked towards the exit just like what Hyunseung told her. I threw him a secret glance and realized that he was too focused on ___________’s training to be mad at me. She was attacking some preys when some more popped behind her back.

   “Behind you!” I shouted, and ___________ turned back, but before she could do anything, she stepped on her own cage and tripped. The dagger flew into the air and pinned her sleeve against the floor, leaving a spine-chilling sound.

   “Ouch…” Hyunseung mumbled.

   “Lack of flexibility.” Yoseob shook his head and began to write again.

   “What do you think you are doing, you idiot?” Yoonjie thundered. “Stand up!”

   “I’m sorry…” __________ pulled the dagger away and continued with the training session. But the further she went, the clumsier she got. The hot-tempered Yoonjie kept on shouting and thundering while Yoseob was clearly disappointed. Hyunseung and I tried our best to guide her through the maze, but she was so confused that she kept running in the opposite direction.

   Twenty-five minutes later…

   “Time is up.” The computer’s cold voice resounded in the monitoring room. “Mission uncompleted. Would you like to start again?”

   “Oh God…” Hyunseung moaned and sank down the couch.

   “Again, Mysterie!” Yoonjie ordered as she the red button once again. “You cannot leave this room until you get a score above one hundred!”

   “But who will help her this time?” I raised a question.

   “No one!” Yoonjie thundered angrily. “If she can’t cooperate with you two, then she has to do it all alone! We are not going to leave this room until she learns how to pass this maze!”

♥

Author's words: Hey, as always, it's still dreamybaby here. This chapter is a little confusing, right? I couldn't find a way to express the difference so I left it there. Anyway, Mysterie's (or your ^^) explanation is much simpler than Yoonjie's, so you could try reading it again :) To people who have been reading this, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! I know that you probably like my work and don't want to subscribe for some reason, but I'm desperate for some support :( Please subscribe if you are still there, and comment so that I could improve this, okay? I love you all <3