“Wait, what?” Jinah’s eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment. “What’s happening? What? What’s going on?”

          Liha, a quiet and studious Callidum girl, nudged her back gently. She was ranked sixteenth overall, one of the submissive Callidum girls. “You were sick when Miss Sun was explaining – a challenge is when two gangs fight for a candidate. The winner gets the candidate for a Prix and even upgrades their rank if it was a good fight. You know how there are mini-classifications with each general class, right? Well, if the victorious gang wins by a lot to a gang that’s ranked higher, then the loser gang downgrades and experiences ultimate humiliation. But don’t worry. I’m sure Wolf will win. You’re also very lucky. Wolf is a very high-rate first-class gang.”

          Jinah nodded numbly, only half-processing her words. She muttered a thanks to Liha.

          “Do you really want to challenge us?” Lay asked, a gentle smile on his sharp face.

          The tallest one nodded firmly. He was probably the leader. “Yeah. Why would we have challenged you otherwise? On whim?”

          No, he probably wasn’t the leader. He was too…blunt, careless.

          Sehun cracked his neck. Luhan had a sweet, mocking smile on his face. It was different from Lay’s smile – Luhan may have an angelic face but the malevolent glint in his eyes said otherwise. With Suho’s glares, he could’ve set something on fire. No, no – something was cold about his eyes. It wasn’t a burning, hateful glare, but more of a cold, icy, disgusted glare, like cold water. Baekhyun sighed, rubbing his neck. “Don’t say we didn’t warn you,” Baekhyun said.

          A green-haired guy smirked, cracking his knuckles. Jinah fought the urge to punch him. All gangsters did that – smirk with a cocky attitude. She had to get used to all the arrogance. “Us too. Don’t underestimate us.”

          “Don’t worry,” Luhan said in his bittersweet voice. “We will.”

          The green-haired one growled and lunged for Luhan, a fist out aiming for his face. Luhan didn’t do anything. Green smirked – there was a peculiar shine on his fingers that was made into a fist…was it glowing? “Like I said, don’t underestimate us.”

          Luhan side-stepped and grabbed a hold of Green’s mid-arm. “Like I said” – Luhan put his foot behind Green’s ankle and kicked inwards, causing Green to slip – “don’t worry” – he pushed Green down on the ground, his palm flat against Green’s chest – “we will.” His right hand was firmly on Green, his left foot on top of Green’s arm that was about to hit Luhan. He stared at the shiny thing on Green’s fingers. It was cold metal with green liquid dripping out from it. “Oh? What’s this?”

          Jinah sniffed the air, a strange scent flowing into her nose. “Hey, do you smell that?” she asked Liha.

          Liha shrugged. “I have a cold. My nose is plugged.”

          Jinah nudged the person next to her. “Hey, hey, can you smell that?”

          The two girls stared at her. The first girl had conditioned, lush brown hair with double-eyelids. She was hella pretty and skinny. She shook her head, “No – oh wait, I kind of do. Tiff, can you smell it too?”

          The girl next to her was a bit shorter with black hair, slightly wavy. She had a very innocent and small face. “You’re talking about that really weird smell that appeared out of nowhere, right?

          Jinah nodded. She racked her brain, trying to explain the smell. “It’s bitter and like, displeasing. Unnatural. Uh, kind of like, um –”

          “Toxic. It smells toxic,” the brunette concluded. “Tar leak maybe?”

          “Toxic…poison?” Tiff guessed.

          “Poison. Poison! .” Jinah stared at the shiny thing on Green’s fingers. It was covered in green liquid that was somewhat thick-looking. It was causing this reek. That little amount of poison…was that even legal? Someone could die!

          Just as Jinah was about to go back to her place, Tiff stopped her. “Hey, you’re Shin Jinah, right?”

          Jinah blinked at her. “Uh, yeah. I am.”

          “Whoa, actually?” The brunette smiled at her. Her teeth and skin were perfect. She looked very kind and innocent, too. “My name’s Seohyun. It’s nice to finally meet the famous Shin Jinah.”

          Jinah laughed uncomfortably. “If I’m known it’s in an infamous way. Not that great.”

          Tiff shook her head. “The boys love ya. I was with Thorn during the meet – they couldn’t get their eyes off of you. They like the rebellious spark in girls. Well, some. Not all. Most go to Pacem and Caritatis, but, you know. Who doesn’t mind a little fun?” she winked at Jinah.

          Seohyun was also tall, Jinah noted. “Totally. Who even gets six records of mischief? I don’t think I can get that even if I tried to.”

          Jinah let out an uncomfortable laugh again. “Thanks, but really, it’s ignominious. Nothing that admirable…”

          “My, you’re modest!” Tiffany giggled. Jinah tried to escape the conversation with these two pretty, immersed girls that saw her as a heroine and a role model, but she was tangled in it and couldn’t seem to extricate herself from it.

          Green grinned. “You like it? It’s poison.”

          Chanyeol winced and growled beastly. “Poison?” he yelled at Thorn, angrily walking towards them. Thorn was expressionless. He was nose to nose with the representative, who was, truthfully, quite short. “What the hell? You used poison on him? What are you – insane?!”

          Their representative shrugged. He had blonde hair with brown highlights. “That’s how much we value our Prixes. L doesn’t sit down. He will fight to his death, a fighting machine, and he’s not the only one. Poison isn’t illegal, is it, Announcer?”

          The Announcer shook his head. “Nope!” His smile, laugh, and enthusiasm seemed forced and fake now though.

          Luhan cocked an eyebrow at L, at his connected three rings. “That’s nice.”

          “You wish. I grazed your arm. Doesn’t it hurt like a ?”

          Luhan glanced at his arm. There was a cut, and it was turning into an ugly, pale colour. Dangerous. It did hurt. He felt a stinging pain but he had ignored it…until now. But he shrugged, his face quite passive. “Not really.” He pressed his hand down more and L had no air in him. His eyes bulged out as he made choking noises.

          “L!” a frail, glary-eyed dark black-magenta-haired boy said. He was so skinny – probably just as skinny if not skinnier than Yooni. “Woohyun, do something!”

          Woohyun was a tall, small-eyed but handsome boy who was watching Luhan and L go at it. He was also very fast and knew his blind spot well, for he stopped Chanyeol’s incoming punch from his side. Chanyeol growled so fiercely Jinah wondered if he was part animal or something. Of course that was impossible. This wasn’t fantasy, but Chanyeol was sure mad. His eyes were fierce too. “You little prick.”

          Woohyun smirked. “Okay.” He pushed Chanyeol back, who stumbled, and threw his arm back to land a hit. Chanyeol rolled to his side just in time to avoid the punch. He kicked Woohyun’s jaw. Woohyun groaned and shook his head, clearing his vision.

          Suho pushed a duck-mouthed boy back, hard. The frail and glary-eyed magenta-haired boy screamed out another name when the boy fell, “Dongwoo!”

          “Shut up, Sungjong!” Their representative snapped. This was an intense, public fight. They couldn’t afford to lose. No…they were going to win this and destroy Wolf’s arrogant pride and so-called gold-streak reputation. Wolf was nothing more than talk. Especially that blondie…

          L tried to punch Luhan from the side but Luhan stepped on the arm and L cried out in the abrupt, unexpected pain. “Don’t even think about it,” Luhan said, his eyes on the metal. It was a three- ring that was connected. The poison still dripped out, the green liquid that had spilled onto the ground sizzling. He pulled the connected ring out of L’s fingers and put it on his own hand. Suddenly, there was a jolt, a memory flashback. Luhan couldn’t help but flinch. He smiled uneasily. “Quiet tight, aren’t they?” He took the ring out, a little too quickly, slightly out of breath, but no one noticed. Instead, he faced it downwards. L paled. “I wonder what happens if this thing touches you?” the green liquid dropped onto L’s shirt and it quickly ate at the fabric. L didn’t say anything but he was drained of all color now. Luhan smiled again. “Wow, that’s some harsh poison you got here. Would I die if I got stabbed by this?”

          L swallowed hard. Luhan let his palm slack a bit so that L could breathe and speak, but not enough so that L could push Luhan back. “Maybe. Who knows.”

          He had guts. He had the audacity to be snappy and annoying even in his current situation. But audacity was a double-edged sword – in this case, it was disadvantageous to L. “Let’s try it out, hm?” Luhan pushed the sharp ring down onto L’s chest and he howled in agony. L could feel the poison permeate through his chest. When it was stabbed in like that, the poison – oh dear – his vision was beginning to blur…

          Jinah just stared at the two gangs, dumbfounded. Both gangs were willing to fight for her, a stranger. Heck, she wasn’t even proper! Was being different and being late and sleeping in and being rebellious when you’re not supposed to have merits like this? Like, okay, gangs fought on basically a weekly basis if not daily, but goodness! Wolf hadn’t had a Prix for twenty-two years, why not a twenty-third? And the Middle gang…what risk! Perhaps they were simply arrogant, but still… she didn’t deserve a Top gang either. But then again, who did? Minjung? Jaein? Liha? Xiumin’s sister – what was her name? – DE was a terrible time period. No one really deserved anything but bad karma.

          Luhan stood up, leaving L writhing and hallucinating. The smile was still on his delicate face. He glanced at Jinah, whose lips were slightly apart. Heart-shaped and full, they were painted with a light gloss. He couldn’t help but widen his smile. What was even more interesting what she had no reaction to it. She wasn’t squealing or blushing or anything. That meant her eyes were on the fight scene in general, not on him. He stepped back, where he stood next to Kai and D.O, neither of them were fighting. Kris sighed. He wasn’t involved in the fight either.

          Baekhyun was punching a tall and lanky boy with frog-eyes ruthlessly. “And – stay – down –” he said, each word with a punch to his face.

          Sungjong gasped, his hands on his mouth. “Sungyeol…” he muttered. Then anger boiled inside him. I need to train harder, Sungjong thought.

          Sehun kicked a guy in the face and then brushed his shoulders off like nothing had happened. His face was completely devoid from emotion, his lips a thin line without effort. He really, truly was expressionless. Then again, being expressionless was an expression, which means to be without expression at all was impossible because – stop, Jinah told herself mentally. Her mind enjoyed wandering off to endless cycle-scenarios and abstract theories like these.

          Now, Lay, Tao, Kai, Luhan, Sehun, Chen, Xiumin, D.O, and Kris weren’t fighting. Lay didn’t see a point in fighting, especially when Chanyeol was getting so vicious along with Suho and Baekhyun. Luhan and Sehun had finished up their opponent pretty well.

          Sungjong tugged on a tall, prince-seeming, good-looking, brown-haired boy’s shirt sleeve. He whined, “Minho, please! It’s enough, that’s enough…no more. There’s always next year!”

          Minho clenched his fist so tightly his knuckles went white. He didn’t release his fists as he muttered a single word, just barely audible by Sungjong, “Retreat.”

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So yeah! That's the face-off. Next chapter will be a little bit shorter, but still over 1000 words. Also, Jinah is about to go to their base~ Wow.. I'll explain the base's appearance in detail so you can imagine it properly!!:) How was this chapter? I didn't want to make it too bloody or violent.. just a little preview.. there will be enough fights in the future.. you guys haven't forgotten the "abilities" I foreshadowed, have you? kekeke ^^

Here's a ke ai/kawaii/kiyeowoon Luhan for you~~

he's too cute >u<

@mushrie: weeeeee~~ glad you like Minjung!! <33 gods I was a bit worried.. you know, maybe I was giving Jinah too much attention? but you guys seem to like her lots so yay!! ^^ thanks!~ huehue

@Nannna: waaaaaaaaaaah thank you thank you thank you jnegionoiengwe > 3 < I thought maybe the whole challenge thing was a bit cliched but glad you like it! happy that you like her, you're welcome but really, it's my pleasure, but still, thank you so much. and yoo, they released the trailer in June 18.. like, it's July now?!

@hae4eva: tyty! I thought maybe it was boring but you guys proved me wrong hehe, glad you liked it~

@ff_addict: haha thanks~ glad you like Jinah wendgoneoignio <333

Kyah~ ty for the subbies and comments! mwaah ❤ I love waking up to your lovely words *^-^*

-Seohee