Note from author:

Sorry guys, like TRULY SORRY. I just moved to a different country so my life in the past month had been… like a wild roller coaster ride, so please forgive me for my lateness. (Puppy eyes insert here) Okay, enough with the whining, this is probably the worst chapter I’d written so far and I just don’t know how to fix it to make it better. But still, I hope you’ll enjoy it and I guarantee you that the next chapter will be better. Please leave your comments if some parts confuse you and… just basically leave comments on anything.

 

Hyung: Literally means “older brother”, used by males

Oppa: Literally means “older brother”, used by females

Kingka: the most handsome guy in the school

Jjang: means someone that is the best at something. In my case, I am talking about fighting jjangs.

Il-Jjang: means “First Jjang”, it means the best fighter in the school

Ee-Jjang: means “Second Jjang”, it means the second best fighter in the school

Sam-Jjang: means “Third Jjang”, it means the third best fighter in the school.

Sii-Jjang: means “Fourth Jjang”, it means the fourth best fighter in the school

Hyung-nim: Respectful way of calling someone in the higher level than them and in my case, I use it to call the gang leaders.

 

Element Colors:

Fire- Red

Water- Blue

Earth- Green

Air- Purple

Spirit- Silver

 

 

Highlighted Text Like This: Thoughts going on inside M’s mind.

*Text in This* -- Actions or sounds

Text like this: Thoughts going on in other people’s life

Text like this: Mind conversations, telepathy

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Chapter 9 Recap:

See hyung, you do. Every one of us does. And that's how ed up we are. That's also the reason why we are they only ones who can do this. We are ruthless because we know the price we have to pay and we will carry the burden with us all the way until our last breath, that’s why people fear us so much. They know that we won’t hesitate to do anything to them if they offend us. And… that’s why we are here. Mir finishes up wretchedly as we arrive at the entrance of the small alley next to Starbucks. His usual cheerfulness gone. Even Joon, the one who usually scolds Mir didn't say anything. Because what the maknae said is true. So very true...

 

 

“Let’s do this and go home.” I declare as I get off my bike and disappear into the alley.

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“Shall we start?” The impatient maknae asks.

 

“Let me set the game first.” The oldest said with a smirk. “Or else where’s the fun?”

 

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“I sent Goo Jum the message already. He should know his character in the game by now.” Seungho opens his eyes and scans his gang mates scattered around him.

 

*Chuckle*

“So the ‘prey’ is on the run.” G.O smirks evilly as he sits up from the laying position on his bike.

 

“The ‘predators’ are coming after him.” Joon continues after him and starts stretching his long legs.

 

“And the game begins.” Thunder concludes.

 

“Rawr~ <3” Mir claws the air in front of him before his lips lustily.

 

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Damn, the alley has too many intersecting alleys. It’ll take extreme luck and speed to find Goo Jum.

 

Right now I am running in full speed, going deeper into the alleyway. I’m letting my sharpened senses guide me to where my prey is. I allow my ESP to flow through my whole body thus I have super senses of smell, hearing, taste, sight and touch, also stronger muscles and extra boost on my legs so I can run as fast as my bike. Currently, I am in my ‘hunting mode’, this is my favorite mode so far. I finally get to release myself after restraining my ESP every day.

 

Goo Jum uses the new Calvin Klein limited addition perfume so his smell lingers in the path he took, however, the sewage smell of the alley erased most of the smell and I am only able to get this far because my nose is as sharp as a dog’s. So now I am stuck at a ‘X’ intersection.

 

Damn I pause in front of the intersection, and take a deep sniff.

Eek, gag, eww, gross!! The sewage smell is too strong and because of my super smell, it’s 10x stronger to me... x;x But I don’t want to lose to Mir. So I guess I’ll have to release my powers.

 

I took a deep breath and calm my mind. Each element ESP corresponds to their element, meaning ‘Earth’ users’ ESP increases when they are surrounded by the Earth and ‘Water’ users’ ESP increased when  they are near water. So, on the contrary whenever a Phantom is not in an environment that suits their element then their ESP also decreases. Like ‘Air’ users’ ESP decreases when they are in a tunnel where the air is limited. So for ‘Spirit’, the element that they correspond to is actually the ‘Spirit’ user, in other words, me. Therefore to increase my ESP, I have to calm myself first, if I let my feelings go wild then so will my powers.

 

After cooling my mind, I enter a state of absolute calmness then I slowly unlock the other ¼ of my powers. 11 years ago, my father placed a seal on me that locked away ½ of my full powers. So ever since I were 6, I’d only been using an half of my full power, but as I grow older, my power gets stronger and stronger too. Therefore 2 years ago, the ESP that I can once yield with ease started to go out of control, so I had no choice but to seal another ¼ of my ESP away by myself and only use it if it’s an emergency. Now whenever I unleash my half power, I get extreme headaches for the following day since the ESP is simple too much for my yet-matured body to handle so it puts a lot of strain on my mind.

 

My ESP slowly begins to rise and the air around me starts to flow in a circular motion around my body. Then all at once, I throw my ESP out there like a wave and create a huge ESP cover on top of the whole Myeongdong.

!

Damn!

Hyung!

My mind!

W… MBLAQ shouts angrily in my mind after my power hits them. My power should have knocked the entire Phantoms in the area down and the Marroks should experience small migraines because suddenly being attack by this huge amount of ESP is harmful to the brain.

 

Everyone’s mind under my ESP cover is accessible to me now, meaning I now have the power to control, invade and erase a thousand people’s mind if I want to.

There’re people who are drunk, there’re people who think that the prize of the clothes are too expensive, there’re people who lost their way and there’re people who are tired from walking all day. All of their thoughts are coming into my head, it’s normally impossible to access that many people’s mind all at once. Heck it’s even impossible for a normal Phantom to access more than 2 marroks’ mind all at once, needless to say a Phantom’s. It usually takes years of training but it’s possible for me even at my half power. Now imagine what I can do with my full power, since I am already very strong while only using ¼ of my powers on my daily basis.

 

Arggg… I need to get this under control or else my mind will freaking explode! I clutch my hair on both side of my temple and kneel down on the floor. My teeth’s clenching and my whole body’s shaking.

 

Subconsciously, I felt all of MBLAQ’s falls when I released my power. Some of them aren’t prepared for it so they couldn’t stop in time, therefore they fell face first. Now they are all getting up and swearing at me. But their minds’ also show concern.

 

W, are you alright? Seungho telepaths me. He’s the only one that stopped in time for my ESP wave. But he still stumbled so I can still feel that he is pissed at me.

 

Now Joon and G.O are coming over from my north. Seungho is the nearest towards me so after estimating their speed, he’ll be the first one to arrive. Then Mir and Thunder, who are faster than Joon and G.O. There are currently a thousand and fifty-two people in Myeongdong including 46 of the Black Scorpions and one of the thousands is Goo Jum.

 

Damn it, my mind is getting too much information. I. Can’t. Progress. It. Fast. Enough.

 

“Ahhhhhhh!!!!” I yell, pain layers my voice and it echoes in the alley. My eyes slowly black out. I can’t feel/see/hear anything except the ongoing voices inside my head. It’s like a zoo, a circus and a super-fast internet that keeps downloading information into my brain.

 

“W, I’m here. Hang in there.” Someone said as he/she puts a hand on my shoulder.

Ahh I see, it’s Seungho. His mind is the closest to me, right now he is feeling genuine concern towards, and any sign of his anger is gone. That’s good, Seungho is one of the strongest members in my gang so it’s scary if he gets mad-

 

DAMMIT! I CAN’T CONCENTRATE! My mind is slipping…

 

W! CONCENTRATE! Think of Goo Jum. Seungho’s voice booms in my head.

 

Goo Jum, Goo Jum, Goo Jum… That’s right I need to find him. I need to ‘item’ that he stole. Where is Goo Jum?...

 

Damn it, just a little bit more. He is at-

 

, mind slipping…

 

Boss! Hang in there! We are in our game, remember? Mir said as he arrives in the scene.

 

Game, Game Game… Right, the ‘Hunt’ game that we created whenever we are ordered to assassinate someone. It’s very fun. That’s why we are truly frightening, we are famous for toying with our targets before killing them…

 

Hyungnim! If you don’t get it together, I’ll take over Black Scorpions and change the training program that you came up with to my own personal program! Joon and G.O finally arrive.

 

…God dammit no one can change MY training program!

 

That did the work, I finally got my concentration back. Thanks to G.O’s snide comment. I’ll remember to train him extra hard when it’s our next workout as a thank you gift.

 

Okay, deep breath. Concentrate. Goo Jum is…west from us. Straight west. Can’t miss him. He is running out of breath and my power shocked him just now so he’ll stay there for a while.

 

I snap my head up. Everyone is standing around me, only Seungho is kneeling down.

 

“West, he’s west from us.” I manage to choke out as I take several more deep breaths to slowly release my ESP cover on top of Myeongdong.

 

“Boss, you are still as reckless as ever. Don’t let your powers go stray again!” Thunder complains.

 

*Rolls eyes*

“Next time that happens. I will really take over the training program and change it to mine.” G.O retorts.

 

“You touch my training program and I will freaking dissect you then throw your bones to feed the dogs.” I glare at him after finally locking ¼ of my ESP away again and going back to my normal power.

 

The guys wince, and awe at my response, because they know I can do it.

 

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Goo Jum is sitting on the wet and dirty floor inside the alley. His heart is pounding like crazy and he is panting like a dog. But both of his hands are clenching to the stolen ‘item’ in front of his chest. Now that I have it, I will never give it back. It’s mine! Mine! He then laughs crazily like a madman.

 

What is yours? The voice rings loudly in his mind.

 

Goo Jum gasps then struggles to stand up.

 

Oh please do stay, I wanted to have a nice chat with you for a long time. The voice says again.

 

He then starts running.

 

Uh uh uh~ Once the prey is caught, it can’t run away anymore. You are breaking the rules. Tsk tsk. A playful but menacing voice rings in his head.

 

He continues to run, left, right, left…

 

Stop running already; the stupid maknae is right. You can’t ever escape now that we found you. Another deep and threatening voice speaks up.

 

Goo Jum stumbles and fall again when a shadow passes right in front of him.

“No..” He strangles out a word before turning on his heels and running back to the direction where he comes from.

 

*Yawn* this game is getting boring. The prey’s too weak.A different voice speaks up but now it sounds like it is very close to him.

 

Goo Jum stops in his tracks, sweats pouring down his face. He cowardly scans the area around him then shrinks until his back touches a wall.

 

Boo! A voice whispers next to his ear,a high-pitched shriek follows after and the sound of footsteps running away from the shadow at the corner.

Hahahahaha….Oh is that shoe converse? That’s the latest edition! I’ve been waiting for it to come out… ouch, no need to hit me. You shouldn’t do that! A girly male voice shouts.

 

“WHERE A-ARE YOU?!” He shouted into the cold air. Then from his right, a brown force of ESP crashes into him. Knocking Goo Jum right into the walls, leaving a hole at the area his body crashes into.

 

Enough of this, give us the ‘item’ that you stole.A cold, emotionless voice speaks up with authority.

 

Damn, just like hyung to go all out.  The second voice speaks again.

 

Seungho, you are such a joy killer. But let’s get down to business now. The first voice declares.

 

“NO! It’s mine and I’ll never give it to you!” Goo Jum shouts as he gets up and runs away again.

 

Ah, I don’t like persistence preys. Yeah they kill the fun. Let’s end this then. Several voices start talking.

 

Then suddenly, a fireball flies right pass Goo Jum’s face then circles around him. Making him stop in his tracks. The heat emerging from the fireball is no joke. It could melt iron at that heat. He stays where he is, not daring to move one step. For fear that the fireball will come at him.

 

“Hey where are you looking at? The user is right here.” A voice murmurs.

 

Goo Jum slowly looks up and in front of him, is a young man leaning against the wall, with one of his feet lifted against it. He looks like any other guy except with slightly more handsome features and a flying ball of fire floating right above his stretched right hand. Red colored ESP is glowing from his hand.

 

“Rawr, I’ve got you now.” Mir scratches the air in front of him like a cat. The fireball also changes its form into a big fire claw floating in midair and scratches the air in front of it while following Mir’s hand motion. He then lets out a scary chuckle.

 

But a bubble of water unexpectedly appears above the fire claw and pops, extinguishing the fire and drenching Mir as it falls down like raindrops.

 

*poof*

“HYUNG! What did I do to you now? Why my fire?!” Mir barks like a lost puppy in the rain. His hair and clothes are all wet but one snap of his fingers, fire appears all around his body and disappears after a second. By then, the clothes that are wet a second before are dry again.

 

“Nothing, you just annoyed me with your sorry fire tricks.” Joon replies then lowers his outstretched arm that had blue ESP glowing from it during the water attack.

 

Boys Seungho calls their attentions back because while they are bickering like Min hyung and Baby Jun, Goo Jum is trying to escape. But Joon immediately builds a water barrier blocking his escape route.

 

“We didn’t forget about you yet.” Joon says menacing while glaring at him.

 

“Hah, it’s only water. Who can’t get through a barrier made of WATER?” Goo Jum sneers as he runs toward the water wall.

 

Joon narrows his eyes,

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He warns but it’s too late. Goo Jum already dives into the water wall.

 

What? How? Why can’t I get out of the water?? Goo Jum panics as he desperately tries to get some air. But the water keeps pouring into his already-filled lungs.

 

I told you, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. My water doesn’t let anyone go that easily. Once it caught you, you can never escape from it. It’ll stick onto you like glue. Joon smirks satisfyingly.

 

Joon, let him go. I whisper firmly in his mind.

 

Che. Joon reluctantly snaps his fingers that lights a tiny blue spark. Then the water wall surrounding Goo Jum evaporates and he falls helplessly on the ground gasping for air.

 

Unfortunately, the other members aren’t done with you yet so I can’t kill you right now. Joon murmurs darkly in Goo Jum’s mind.

 

*cough* *cough*

“W-who are you people?” He chokes out.

 

“Oh how wonderful, this guy doesn’t know us.” Thunder laughs in the shadow.

 

“That’s….wow. He must have only been a pawn if he doesn’t know US…Hey you, who is your boss?” G.O asks and he walks out from the darkness that’s surrounding him.

 

“Heh like I’d tell you.” Goo Jum scoffs with pretend bravery.

 

“Oh? Is that so?” G.O raises his eyebrows then smiles sweetly.

“I wonder if this will change your mind.”

 

The ground beneath Goo Jum suddenly begins to tumble and the soil beneath him starts to sink in. Then slowly his body up till his waist gets buried under thick layers of soil. While that is happening, some parts of the Earth disperse itself from the ground and form the shape of a cone with the sharp edges pointing toward Goo Jum’s neck.

The tip of the cone is as sharp as a lion’s tooth. Goo Jum swallows thickly as he examines the sharpness of the rocks.

 

I watch in humor as G.O performs his little tricks, after all, Earth is like the mother of all the elements but once you get it mad. It becomes the devil you wish you’ll never meet. G.O is the smartest member in the Black Scorpion (excluding me) as well as MBLAQ, but whereas he’s intelligent and is my helper when I design the training programs, he’s also deadly when he fights.

 

Exactly what you expect from the mother of MBLAQ…

 

“So, did you change your mind yet?” G.O asks quietly as green colored ESP emerges from his open hand.

 

“N-never.” Goo Jum pathetically whimpers and trembles in fear.

 

“Ohh. I guess we have a resolved prey in our hand. Saying that to us when you are one step away from hell’s gate. Haha, if only you were working for us instead of your cowardly boss.” G.O laughs amusingly as he slowly closes his hand. The floating cone-shaped rocks slowly close in on Goo Jum’s neck too, but when the sharp tips are 1 cm away from tearing his neck. A voice interrupts G.O.

 

“My turn now.” Thunder declares as he steps out from the shadow in the corner. For all this time, Goo Jum is only shaking in terror but he lets out a breath of relief when Thunder interrupts G.O.

 

But the fun didn’t end yet… I smirk wittily in the thickest shadow.

 

“Che, I guess my fun ends here. Sorry I couldn’t entertain you any further for your last hour, or maybe even less than that.” G.O winks at the poor guy whose body is still half way in the ground before disappearing back into the darkness again.

 

As quickly as that happens, the air around Goo Jum starts to build up its speed. Soon after, there are 3 tiny tornados floating next to him. But as the leaves fly into the typhoons, they are instantly cut down into tiny pieces.

 

“So, shall we begin the fun?” Thunder cackles evilly as he appears in front of Goo Jum but vanishes in a blink of the eyes with Wind element’s super extra speed. His laughter is heard from every direction. Then, in a snap, his face is right in front of Goo Jum’s with their noses touching. Goo Jum lets out a bloody scream and falls backward only to get slash by the tornado behind him. He then lets out another painful scream.

 

The typhoons around Goo Jum start to crowd in, getting closer and closer to him. Soon, tiny cuts begin to appear on his face and his clothes are getting torn from the whirlwind. He could only stay absolutely still hoping that this will end soon where his back is screaming at him in pain.

 

“NOT FAIR! Thunder got to hurt him, but I didn’t do anything yet!” Mir complains at the side.

 

“Shut up, you got the chance to go first. It’s whoever found the prey first that starts but you broke the rules.” Joon slaps the back of Mir’s head.

 

*pout*

“Fine, but Boss was the one that said I can go first. You idiot.” Mir sticks his tongue out at the older guy.

 

“Why you little-”

 

*Laughs*

A loud disturbing laugh suddenly fills the air, disrupting Joon’s comeback. All of them look at the source of the laughter. Goo Jum is laying on the ground with cuts all over his body and a deep, ugly slash at his back with blood oozing out.

 

“The five guardians of Death: Fire that can burn through everything. Endless water that sticks to you like glue. Earth that traps you and overwhelms you. Air that travels at the same speed of sound.” Goo Jum chants softly like he’s in a trance while looking at each member when saying their elements, then lastly he looks at the direction where the Brown ESP shot from that hit him earlier. Shadows blocking his view from the guy he is looking at.

 

“And last of all, the mutant with the ESP that’s the color of mud.” He spats out with disgust.

“To what do I owe the honors for the main force of the Emp.’s E.E.T. MBLAQ coming to me personally?” He says sarcastically.

 

The mutant…

 

MBLAQ stiffens at the last comment and I clench my hands. Tension suddenly fills the air. Seungho just stays perfectly still, but as I probe his mind, it is filled with memories from his past, memories from his childhood, memories of his growth…

 

And memories that should have stayed in the past. Anger courses through my body.

 

“It seems like you forgot someone” I airily whisper. As I step out of the shadows.

 

Uh-oh, the boss is mad.

The guy’s digging his own grave.

Damn playtime’s over.

He should’ve stepped out earlier. Chorused MBLAQ’s voices in my mind.

 

Goo Jum gapes at me with his mouth hanging wide open.

“……” he can’t even sputter a single word. All hope is lost in his eyes.

 

Slowly I make my way towards him, my hoodies still draw over my head shadowing half of my face. The man on the floor crawls up to a sitting position and backs away despite the blood pouring out from his back. For he knows that the real evil has descended upon him, and his fate is hanging just around the corners of this damned, dark alley. There’s no place to run anymore since the hunt has just ended. The big bad wolves have finally trapped the scrawny little rabbit in the game of death.