Sehun didn’t speak until Luhan fully closed the door.

          “What’s going on with you lately?” Sehun asked, when it clicked shut.

          “Hm? What do you mean?”

          Sehun didn’t reply. He simply stared at Luhan.

          Luhan exhaled, knowing that if he didn’t say something, Sehun would just continue staring in silence. In truth, he had a feeling why Sehun wanted to talk separately. “I just wanted tteokguk. Can I not want to eat something?”

          Again, Sehun didn’t reply.

          “It—just—damn it, I don’t know. You wouldn’t understand what I’m feeling—just—never mind. It’s nothing,” Luhan said, waving off Sehun as if shooing him away. “Leave—”

          “Jinah isn’t Haneul.”

          Luhan froze.

          “She really isn’t.”

          Luhan cracked a weak grin. “What are you talking about? I never—”

          “You’ve been drinking a lot of peach soda lately.”

          Luhan was still. Too still.

          “You never even said the word ‘tteokguk’ for two years,” Sehun went on. “Do you know how much Baekhyun’s been suppressing himself? He didn’t even eat it at the markets, not even when Chanyeol offered when they went out late at night without you.”

          No response.

           “I also heard you’ve been telling Jinah to stop swearing.”

          Luhan didn’t move.

          “Can you stop telling yourself that you’re being nice to her because she’s like Haneul? Seriously,” Sehun ran his hand through his hair, an action he rarely does. For once, his voice was not monotonous. He still sounded tired, though: “They have nothing in common. I mean, they’re both kind of lazy sometimes and they both like books, and neither of them like dresses and both are a pain in the sometimes—but Haneul laughed at all your jokes and she cooked on time daily, tteokguk on special days. Jinah outsmarts everyone—especially you, by the way—and only cooks when she wants to, which is more often than we all expect from her. She told you to go buy your own tteokguk, even. Haneul fell in love with service, Jinah’s in love with knowledge. What do you see in Jinah that you saw in Haneul?”

          Luhan remained silent. He stopped breathing, blinking, moving, everything. Those two names mentioned together immobilized him, especially the latter. Her name hadn’t been spoken for ages. Sehun saying it so bluntly made the wounds resurface. Inside him, something burned unpleasantly, but there was no fire. He felt like he was getting strangled, but he wasn’t. So what was this sensation?

          “Luhan, what do you see in Jinah that you see in Haneul?” Sehun repeated, emphasizing his words more precisely. His voice was still calm. However, when his friend gave no reply, let alone a response of some sort, Sehun exhaled in exasperation. “Haneul was a Caritatis, Jinah’s a Callidum. Haneul never swore after we told her about abilities, Jinah still does. Haneul was fascinated by wind, Jinah gets sick from it. Jinah’s here, Haneul isn’t. What do they have in common?”

          “Nothing,” Luhan finally said. His voice was hoarse. “I thought there was something—jack, Baek thought so too—but now I see nothing in common. That’s the problem.”

          “And why is that a problem?” Sehun sighed. He wasn’t much of a therapist, and talking really wasn’t his thing, but his piled-up annoyance was too great to just ignore again. For once, words flowed out of him naturally. “Isn’t it a good thing that they’re not alike?”

          “No, it isn’t.”

          Sehun sighed for the third time. He really didn’t like talking. “Why?”

          “Because! What the do I do with this?!” Luhan cried, harshly grabbing his own shirt, the fistful of cloth on top of where his heart was. He felt trapped and suffocated. He didn’t know what to do and that annoyed him so much. “It goes insane! I don’t know what to do! I think I’m happy for one second, then I’m pissed off at the world, and Sehun—Sehun, it burns in here. What the am I supposed to do?! How do I deal with it when I don’t ing know what’s wrong with me? After Jinah came, everything got screwed up—but I don’t want her to leave. Nothing makes sense! At first, I was nice to her because—”

          “You liked her. And I daresay, you still do.”

          Luhan looked furious. His lips were pursed, he was frowning, and his fists were clenched, but he did not utter a single word.

          Sehun sighed, shaking his head. “You’re such a . Just what did the Sixth Gen see in you, I really don’t know…” He glanced at Luhan, who was completely still and mute. Sehun tapped Luhan’s shin with his foot, saying, “Tomorrow’s our interview. Sort it out before then.”

          Others would have seen Sehun’s last gesture before leaving the room to be incredibly rude to their gang leader, but Luhan knew better. It wasn’t an action out of disrespect, but affection. Sehun was strange like that—Luhan was strange like that. Though Sehun is nicknamed to be their Emotionless Demon, Luhan knew Sehun’s consideration for others exceeded far beyond the gang’s imagination.

          It made Luhan feel guilty.

          He sighed as he sat down on his bed, and then shoved his fingers through his hair in frustration. Never had he felt this way before—why now? No, there must have been a first of everything—the first time he felt happy, the first time he felt angry, the first time he felt sad—even more complicated emotions, like confused, like fear, like ambition—so why couldn’t he deal with this new emotion?

          Deep down, Luhan knew. Subconsciously, Luhan knew. But he also knew he wasn’t ready to acknowledge and take responsibility for it yet

“So… do I ever get to stop attending these interviews?” Jinah moved her feet towards the top end of the shoe to give the back of her ankles some breathing space and rest from the pain. The stay at 4MINUTE & SISTAR was longer than expected, and they had to rush over, resulting in painful feet.

          They were currently on standby at the studio, waiting for the makeup artists to finish the touch-up on Cheonsa during this five-minute commercial break. Another woman with a headset refilled her water and straightened her dress.

           “I’m actually done with the interviewer. For life,” Jinah commented. Ever since her first interview, Jinah refused to call Cheonsa by her name; she was merely ‘the interviewer.’

          “I mean, if you don’t want to get paid,” Kris said.

          Aheun leaned in towards Jinah and asked her, “How do we get paid?”

          “With a stupid poll,” Jinah told Aheun. Then, back to Kris, she asked “Is that our only source of income?”

          “Or we could steal from Basic Gangs,” Kai reminded her, “that’s a whole lot easier and faster. If you didn’t ban us from doing that.”

          Jinah rolled her eyes. “As if that’s an acceptable thing to do.”

          “Oh? And the annual Ranking is acceptable?”

          Jinah frowned. “Annual Ranking?”

          “Hol’up, we’re going on…”

          “And now, gentlemen and ladies! You’re back with Nation News, G&P corner featuring your favourite Gang for the last three months, the Top Gang who took on another Prix—Wolf!” Cheonsa introduced.

          “That’s our cue!” Kris said, pushing Luhan and Suho to the front.

          As soon as they were in the camera’s range, both were all smiles, followed by the other gang members. Even Xiumin didn’t have his usual bitter expression.

          “Welcome, Wolf!” Cheonsa greeted them, her white teeth glittering and her red lipstick flawless, her cleavage as eye-catching as ever.

          Suho grinned at her. “Hello. Thanks for having us again.”

          “Oh, not a problem! Well, how’s the gang doing? Any updates?”

          “We’re continuing training to ensure that we’re in top shape!” Suho exclaimed. “And, you know, the Rave and the usual.”

          “Of course, of course. And Jinah, looking good as always! How have you been doing?”

          Jinah forced herself to smile. “Well, thank you.”

          “Good, good! And Suho-sshi, we’ve heard that you took on a new Prix after about three months!” Cheonsa said. “What’s going on?”

          “One of our gang members, Xiumin, found his sister, who was a Top Candidate at Pacem! We went through with a sibling contract, and once it was approved, we brought Aheun over.”

          “Exciting! Kim Aheun, how are you feeling? Do you like the Gang?”

          “Hello, Cheonsa-sshi—I am feeling very well, all thanks to the Gang members. Yes, I do like the Gang very much.”

          Aheun was very natural. She had a perfectly angled smile, her hands neatly folded on top of her lap, her neck tilt just right and her eyes crinkling just enough for the cute and innocent look, her hand covering just enough mouth to retain her grace while ensuring a sense of child-like shyness was present. Her answers were almost textbook-like, fully answering the questions without a pint of nervousness—unlike Jinah, who still failed to maintain a perfect pokerface, her facial expression showing her distaste and shock every time. Just like at Jinah’s first interview, Cheonsa passively drilled in aggressive questions regarding her dwelling, comparing with other dwellings, especially Callidum. However, Aheun was collected and polite, her elegance present with every word and action.

          “Do you ever feel uncomfortable with Jinah? Hs there been any issues with her?”

          Aheun’s smile remained unchanged. “Absolutely not. Jinah has been a brilliant mentor, and she has helped me adjust into the Gang’s culture and the base enviornment. I appreciate her very much and would not be this comfortable with her.”

          “Do you ever find yourself comparing to Jinah? I mean, I hate to ask you this, as it makes me uncomfortable, and probably you too—really, sorry to ask this, but…” Cheonsa took this time to do her little girly laugh, the laugh she did whenever she was about to say something provocative and risky, “you know, the whole Pure-Half-Prix rivalry?”

          “Of course, I absolutely understand,” Aheun started. “Jinah is an amazing person and role model, so of course I feel a little doubtful of myself at times…”

          Aheun retained her manner with a light-hearted chuckle, but Jinah sensed—or rather, saw—or perhaps she felt so—an aura change. An undisguisable ripple, something like a frail liquid droplet falling far, far, down, and something ominous arising, like sinister, despairing echoes of—oh, what was this? Jinah felt like she had to stop the droplet from hitting the surface, wherever—however low it was down.

          “—however, because she is always willing to help, rather than something as vile as envy, she sets an example of something I want to follow. Thus, Jinah has a very positive—”

          “If it’s something you’re sorry about asking, should you really ask it?” Jinah cut in, unaware that Aheun was in the middle of explaining, though it should have been obvious as it has been several seconds since Cheonsa finished her question.

          All the Wolf members turned their eyes towards Jinah. Aheun finally broke her eye contact with Cheonsa to turn to Jinah as well. Cheonsa was in shock that she was interrupted, as her opinion of the gang would make drastic changes to their income. She chuckled awkwardly before saying, “Pardon me?”

          Suho was still grinning. He muttered through his teeth, “What are you doing, Jinah?”

          Jinah’s frown remained on her face as she didn’t back down from the interviewer’s gaze. “The most recent question. If you’re sorry about asking it, and you hate asking it, and you know it is a question that causes discomfort, why are you asking it? I just—” Jinah let out a short, curt laugh “—I just—don’t really understand why you did ask.”

          Cheonsa let out a small chuckle again. “It’s just a routine question we always ask… I’m sorry, did that bother you?”

          “Yes,” Jinah replied in a heartbeat with a small nod. “I would prefer it if you could please refrain from inquiring things that make both parties uncomfortable.”

          Cheonsa laughed again. “I see, a Callidum holds to their pride very well! I understand, Jinah, I will be sure to refrain from inquiring things that make both parties uncomfortable.” She smiled tightly. “If there anything else you would like to say, Jinah of Callidum?”

          Jinah thought about it for a second. The only thing that was in her head was: “I’m doing well mom, dad… I love you guys… I think!”

          The awkward silence that followed made Jinah feel endlessly grateful for her thick makeup.

          “Well, then,” Cheonsa drawled, probably intentionally to linger the embarrassment. A slight smile danced on her face. “Back to Aheun, then! Aheun,” Cheonsa tilted her head slightly to face Aheun, “let us continue our conversation, before we were—ah—paused…”

          Jinah could tell Cheonsa was really enjoying this.

          “Pure-Half-Rivalry,” Aheun said kindly.

          “Right, yes—so there are times you compare yourself to Jinah? Do you find yourself feeling inferior?”

          Jinah heard a scoff, and the dull thump that followed. It was guaranteed to be Xiumin and D.O.

          “I find Jinah to be an excellent person to look to for advice,” Aheun said calmly, skillfully maneuvering her way in the conversation. “It’s less of a competition, but more like a support network!”

          “Right, that sounds—pleasant!” Cheonsa exclaimed, a certain strain present in her voice. It was clear she was looking for a slip-up. “But I imagine the transition to have been difficult and very new for everyone. Has there been any significantly disgruntled members, or heated arguments?”

          “Oh, not at all!” Aheun said, as if Xiumin and Jinah didn’t yell at each other at least once every other day. “Things are peaceful. I guess no one coming to steal from you is a solid benefit of being a Prix for a Top Gang, even if it’s a Half Prix.”

          Jinah stared at Aheun in awe. The casual tone, steady voice, graceful smile—and even a light self-depricating joke. Her aura was calm but solid, and she was, especially in the lighting, stunningly beautiful. Aheun was perfect.

          Cheonsa laughed, visibly disappointed. “Well, that seems to be the end of my questions! Viewers, you may vote their name up in caps to the number below –” Cheonsa pointed below her, and Jinah frowned at the ridiculous and empty gesture “– if you think they should be the best gang for this round! To participate on an online poll and for more information, visit ‘nation news’ dot ‘co’ dot ‘k’ ‘r’ slash ‘g’ dash ‘p’ dash ‘corner’ (nationnews.co.kr/g-p-corner). Thank you, Wolf! Next, we’ll be having Cougar and Claw in about an hour. Stay tuned!”

          “Thank you!” Aheun beamed, waving at the camera.

          The gang members looked to each other, slightly confused—then followed suit.

-----------------------------------------

A/N:

Update!! In just one day!! I know, crazy!!! I thought you guys deserved more than just one chapter. I'm still so amazed on how many people stick with this story after SEVEN (7) YEARS IN THE MAKING. Some of you are hella OGs... and of course, grateful for those who are new too!! Welcome ❤

Thank you so much for your continued support. I will never forget this site thanks to you guys (':

Just out of curiosity - when did you guys start reading WTG? Let me know when you comment! I'm curious to see if majority of the readers are recent (2020) or hella OG (2013) or somewhere in between? LOL

Edit: font wtf LOL

Edit2: a section doubled up - thank you @BubuBaek_Na9 !!

-deardeerhan