“What the ?!” their representative swore.

          Sungjong shot the short one a glare. “L’s poisoned, Jonghyun. There’s always next year. Retreat! We’re done!”

          Thorn glared and growled. Woohyun fought the urge to give Chanyeol a good punch to wipe the smirk off his face. The Announcer sighed. “Alright, Wolf’s victory! No upgrade or downgrade in rank, but your guts are appreciated for challenging for the first time in eighteen years, Thorn!” a lazy, feeble applause followed after. The people had expected something more – more blood. But no, it was just a skin fight with one guy poisoned. Other than the poison part, they saw skin fights everywhere.

          Suho smirked. Dongwoo’s nose was bleeding, his lips were swollen, arms, legs, and back were bruised. “I hope you learned your lesson, you useless trash.” Suho released him, dusted his hands off, and stretched and walked away, but he wasn’t done just yet. “Well, that wasn’t even a warm-up,” he said, clearly trying to get on Thorn’s nerves. “I’m still sleepy. Damn.” He even had the audacity to fake a yawn. “Can we go now? I think I’d like to sleep some more.”

          Dongwoo growled and got up to hit Suho in the face but Minho yanked him back from his collar. “Didn’t you hear Sungjong? Retreat.”

          Thorn fell back, embarrassed and ashamed. It only satisfied Wolf more and more.

          “Shin Jinah goes to Wolf!” The Announcer announced, and Seohyun cheered as Tiff lightly pushed Jinah towards the smirking Wolf. Tiff had a smile and yelled an encouragement sentence as Jinah stumbled: “You go girl!” Minjung waved at her while Jaein and Yooni glared, gritting their teeth. Jinah didn’t even fake-wave at them or wink or anything.

          Suho extended an arm to wrap it around Jinah’s shoulder but she pushed his chest away from her and walked right through the gang. She felt tired, exhausted. And it wasn’t just the black dress or the flats that were tight enough to blister her feet that made her feel this way. She looked back at Green, L – he was being hauled up by two of the members of Thorn. He was muttering nonsense. She looked away with a pained expression.

          Lay carefully approached her, letting her know of his presence before he walked alongside with her. He tried rubbing her far arm but thought better of it and withdrew. If she pushed Suho away, it was for a reason, and Lay was not the type to test that.

          Xiumin was very unhappy. In fact, so much that he stopped walking with the gang. “I’m going to request a sibling contract,” he said stiffly. And then he turned around, stomping towards the Announcer. The whole counsel was below the Announcer’s stand, observing every movement. That was where he was heading to request a sibling contract.

          Tao sighed as he backed up to follow Xiumin. “I’ll watch him – make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid,” he assured the members. Kris nodded him off as Tao jogged towards Xiumin.

          Suho nudged Chanyeol. “What’s up with her?” he asked, referring to Jinah.

          Chanyeol shrugged. “She probably thinks you’re too ugly.” And then he walked away.

          Suho was frozen on the spot, too appalled to react. It took him a minute to process that what Chanyeol had said was an insult – about his face, his gorgeous face. Then his senses came back as he yelled at him, “Hey! I’m not ugly!”

          Luhan came behind Jinah and lightly gripped her arm. She frowned and was about to tell him off or punch him, but he was faster. “You seem to hate the dress. Do you want to visit your dwelling before you come with us?”

          Jinah blinked. And then she understood what he had said, and that it would be beneficial to her. She had expected a smug comment, but it was a helpful offer. “Yeah, I do. Thanks.”

          Luhan looked back and Kai nodded, who had heard the little word exchange. Lay stayed back to tell the others to stop for a bit while Kai explained what was happening. Then the gang followed Luhan and Jinah.

          D.O sighed as they changed courses. “Did we really make a good decision?”

          Baekhyun smiled and shrugged. “Who knows? But most of us seem to approve of her, including Luhan, which is really rare and strange, and since we’re all too lazy for a release, might as well be on good terms with her.”

          “She seems so –” Chen paused. Then, he decided, “– sophisticated. A bit cold. Don’t get me wrong, Jinah seems pretty cool, but what do we do about Aheun? Aheun would be quite hurt, especially since Luhan seems to be interested in Jinah, and we all know about Aheun’s… you know, feelings. And if Xiumin’s applying for a sibling contract and it gets accepted – well, you know about the whole pure-Prix and half-Prix rivalry thing.”

          Sehun let out a small growl as he rubbed his neck. “How troublesome.”

          Jinah walked right into her dwelling and didn’t announce her entrance. The maidens and few rejected candidates watched her go. No one said a word until Luhan and the rest of the gang walked in. “Excuse us,” Luhan said with a sweet smile, and one girl collapsed on the ground, utterly surprised that such a handsome guy was in her dwelling. That was Berry. Berry was a hyperactive, random girl who couldn’t ever talk enough. She’d make a good Announcer – or not. Dwelling maidens hardly ever saw a guy, let alone a good-looking one around, so they were shocked too… and there was more than just one!

          It was only when Jinah slammed the door to her dwelling room shut that there was a real reaction. Berry gasped and nudged everyone around her. Jinah heard the squeals and fake giggles and enthusiastic greetings from the maidens. How pathetic, Jinah thought.

          Berry and others knocked on Jinah’s dorm, demanding an explanation for the sudden appearance of good-looking guys. None of them were allowed at the ceremony. Berry was a year younger, sixteen, so she wasn’t a real candidate yet. No one was angry, just a bit embarrassed. Most looked like a wasted mess with their stained makeup, wrecked hair, unprepared, so on, but when Jinah told them to shut up from behind the door, they backed off. They knew better than to anger Jinah. Two girls glared at the door while others whispered as they walked away from the door. Not that Jinah heard the comments – or cared.

          After awhile, Luhan let out a light chuckle. Sharp eyes, Suho. He knocked gently, a hand on the doorknob. “I’m going in.” He said it like a statement, not a question for permission.

          Jinah fell silent. Then, she replied with a growl, “Do what you want.” She knew better than to yell at a Top gang member, especially in a public place, and even more so in her own dwelling space. And sure enough, the arrogant bastard walked right into her dwelling room.

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Thorn is SHINee + Infinite. Gangs will have twelve members, I'm thinking.. because when they fight, it should be even, right? It might be too many characters to manage.. actually, it is.. but! I won't be using ALL twelve members of EVERY gang.. Probably not.. just a few. Like you don't know ALL of Thorn. Or, at least, not all weren't introduced. I think that'll be okay.. (*≧m≦*)

Oh, I got a new background for this story. Is it ok? I wanted a full black background but couldn't find one in the available websites.. or I didn't look to hard, haha. If you guys find/know a picture of a black background (good quality, pitch-black, no patterns/outlines/borders) on the usable sites, tell me please!

-Seohee