First off, the place was crowded. There were people literally hanging onto the walls to get a good look at what was going on in the center.

                Second, whatever was happening in the center seemed to be the entire reason we were here, because Yongguk zoned in on it and started making his way through the crowd, towing me behind him.

                Third, everyone backed off of him. Almost like his intimidation was tangible. The basically made a path for us to walk through.

                We made our way to the front of the crowd and got a good look at what had gained everyone’s attention.

                A fight.

                Two guys were fighting like their lives depended on it. Which, they probably did.

                With a sigh, I looked away, not wanting to see the violence that was being executed and scanned the faces of the people in the crowd surrounding the two guys. There were a lot of people our age or younger, but that’s not what caught my eye. A group of older men stood off to the side in what looked like V.I.P area. They talked among themselves while they watched the fight, passing money among each other and shaking hands with each other like they were making deals.

                They were betting on these guys’ lives.

                I sneered in disgust and turned away, catching Yongguk staring at me.

                “I’m going to take it that you grew up in a pretty safe bubble. Perfectly protected from stuff like this.” He jerked his chin towards the fight.

                “Why are you even asking?” I grumbled, crossing my arms and looking away. “Not like you don’t already know.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him smirk and turn away.

                The fight ended rather brutally with one of the guys beating the other into unconsciousness. They had to get people to drag him off the mat. The crowd yelled and called out after both of the guys left through a back door.

                Two more guys were brought onto the mat not soon after.

                I in a surprised breath.

                “What?” Yongguk murmured, not even taking the time to turn and look at me.

                “They just keep bringing them out?” I asked, getting more and more irritated with this place as the people around us cheered louder and louder. “What happens to the ones that lose?”

                Yongguk shrugged. “If their injuries aren’t that bad, they survive.”

                “And if they are?”

                He didn’t answer.

                I frowned and glared up at him. “Why are we here?”

                Yongguk gazed at the two guys that were currently warming up for their fight and greeting the crowd. “Those two.”

                “They’re like us, aren’t they?” I turned to study the two guys. One of them had a kind face, and bright smile. He bounced around and waved to the crowd, show off his amiable charms that were clearly visible. He was much different than any of the guys I had met so far since this whole—um—adventure had started.  I could tell already.

                But the other guy.

                He gave me the same uneasy feeling—if not much more of a stronger one—as the rest of the guys had. I couldn’t explain it. He just gave off the air of intimidation.

                I would have betted on him.

                When the fight started between the two of them, at first they just circled each other, sending each other knowing smirks. One of them—the cute, friendly one—chuckled, lowering his head and shaking it as if something was funny. My heart lurched the same time the other guy did. He lunged forward to attack, but the friendly one easily side-stepped him, laughing with ease as he backed away from the fallen guy.

                “Oh come on! You can do better than that!” He taunted, nudging the guy with his foot. The other one smacked his foot away, making him laugh again.

                Once he’d gotten back to his feet, they started circling each other again. The crowd was beginning to grow restless, screaming curses down to the two of them to get on with it, but if either of them actually heard it, they didn’t let on. For a while, they just gazed at each other.

                Then, they both acted at the same time, clashing into each other. The force seemed to knock the people close to them back and onto the ground. I watched as the cute, friendly one was flipped onto the ground and pounded on for a couple moments. He kicked out from under the intimidating one and crawled away, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth and scowling. All evidence of laughter was gone. He was all business now.

                The intimidating one slowly stood up, allowing a smirk to spread across his face as he gazed over at the other. “What? Did that hurt? Sorry.”

                He didn’t sound sorry, though.

                Faster than anyone could actually catch with their eyes, the cute, friendly one had the other by the neck and was throwing him onto the ground. He pinned one of his hands down with his knee and started punching him repeatedly.

                I gasped and turned away, hiding my face in Yongguk’s jacket. “Why did we have to come and watch them fight?”

                “You’re going to have to get used to this, Anya.” He replied, but allowed me to hide away anyway.

                The crowd grew deafening. I took a peak and saw that the intimidating one had somehow gotten lose and was using his foot to shove the other back. He rolled over onto his hands and knees and spat out some blood before turning to glare at the other one.

                The crowd just continued to cheer each one on. All they wanted was a good show. It didn’t matter of the outcome.

                “This is sick.” I muttered, shaking my head.

                “This is life.” Yongguk muttered. “And it’s almost over.”

                The intimidating got to his feet and stormed over to the other one. He kicked him once, twice, three times in the stomach before leaning down and grabbing him by the neck. He slowly lifted the other to his feet and kneed him in the stomach. The cute, friendly one couldn’t even stand straight properly. The intimidating one shoved him back to the ground where his head hit rather hard. You could hear the thud even over the roar of the rowdy crowd.

                I let out a sound of protest, but Yongguk held me back from doing something.

                And for a good reason, I suppose.

                The intimidating one raised his hand up as he continued to glare down at the other. A ball of fire appeared, caressing his hand but not at all hurting him. The crowd loved it. He glanced around, almost as if asking for their approval, which they gave in less than a heartbeat. When he turned back to look at the other guy, he raised his hand just a slight bit higher. The crowd roared in eagerness.

                “Finish him!” a man to the right of man cried out.

`               “No!” I screamed, despite Yongguk’s warning looks.

                He caught my eye for half a second before turning back to the one still on the ground.

                “Get up.” He muttered, nudging him with his foot.

                The cute, friendly one slowly rose, coughing and struggling for breath. He lifted his head to glare up at the other, almost to show his defiance in any way he still could. He wasn’t able to make it to his feet.

                The intimidating one threw the ball of fire down, straight into the other’s face. The impact—not the actual danger of the fire—made the other fall back onto the ground. He stopped moving altogether.

                The crowd fell into a shocked silence.

                Then the room was filled with his laughter, soon followed by the laughter of the intimidating one’s. He helped him to his feet but they soon were doubled over from laughing so hard, leaning on each other for support.

                I stood there, dumbfounded. They both seemed alright. As if they hadn’t just fought each other and caused possible major injuries.

                An announcer stepped forward, grabbing onto both their arms and attempting to get them to focus, but they were laughing so hard that it seemed like such an impossible feat.

                “Winner: Luhan!” the announcer finally said with exasperation, raising the intimidating one’s hand up in the air as the crowd erupted in cheers. He dropped their arms and stepped away with a shake of his head as the two were lead away, still laughing.

                I turned to look at Yongguk, who was also chuckling slightly. “Did you know?”

                “That they were faking the whole fight? Nope, I had no idea.” Yongguk gestured for me to follow and we waded our way through the crowd and walked over to the back door where the fighters were led through. He stopped in front of a guy that was clearly guarding the door and cleared his throat. “We need to talk to someone back there.”

                The guard raised an eyebrow. “And I’m just supposed to let you through?”

                Yongguk paused as if to think about it. “Well, yeah.”

                The guard chuckled and stepped away, opening the door. “Alright, make it quick, Bang.”

                We walked through and started down the hall.

                “Does everyone know who you are?” I asked after a while.

                Yongguk shrugged. “It’s better to have connections.”

                “But aren’t you in hiding?”

                “Yeah, so?”

                “Wouldn’t it be better if no one know who you were?”

                He stopped walking to turn to me with a smirk. “I’m hiding in plain sight.”

                We stopped outside of one of the rooms. Yongguk turned and looked at me. “You’re going to go and talk to him. I’ll go and talk to the other guy.”

                “Which one is this?” I asked out of curiosity.

                “Luhan.”

                “The winner?” I crinkled up my nose. “Can I go talk to the other one?”

                “Nope, I called dibs.” And with that, Yongguk was already gone, leaving me alone. In front of the door. I let out and exasperated sigh and close my eyes for a moment. After collecting myself a bit, I knock a couple times.

                The door opens up and Luhan—the intimidating one—stands in front of me.

                Completely shirtless.

                I blinked, not expecting that and tried to stare at anywhere that wasn’t his body. I settled on the silver chain around his neck. “Uh—“

                “Ah, it’s you.” He said with a smug smile. “I was wondering if you would stop by or not.”

                I hesitated for a second before giving a small shrug. “Well, I’m here. And I need to talk to you.”

                He nodded, stepping back and allowing me into the room. I turned in time to see him starting to pull on a shirt. I caught sight of the bruises on his back that were most likely from the fight. My heart sank a bit at the fact that he was hurt.

                It didn’t make me like him any more however.

                He turned and leant against the table behind him, look at me with expectation.

                “I’ll go ahead and assume Bang sent you. What does he want?”