It was dead silent in the abandoned school’s library. No one had any words. An air of depression loomed over the room. The day was draining as they seven BtoB boys had just given all they had in their performance. They poured in their heart and souls. They gave one-hundred ten percent. However…

            When Mr. Hong had announced that Vixx would be performing in Seoul, both the Beast and BtoB members were saddened. They congratulated the Vixx members as a show of good sportsmanship; after all, the six kingkas had an amazing song. Hell, their entire performance was a sight to behold. They knew Vixx worked for it just as hard as they did. Losing to them was not what upset the boys. No, what made the room so solemn was the news Minhyuk had broken to everyone mere minutes ago.

            The Vixx boys were Reis. Just as the BtoB members were ready to forgive and forget, something like this came up. They were afraid of Vixx’s power. They were sad, knowing their battle was inevitable; but worst of all they were worried about either losing the chance to reconcile with Vixx or losing their shadows.

            “So what do we do?” Kikwang finally broke the silence. “We can’t just let Vixx win, can we?”  

            “But how are we supposed to stop them?” Sungjae asked, nervously. “Do we kill them before they do Beast in?”

            “No!” Eunkwang yelled. He stomach was in knots from the information he was received. “I… I couldn’t kill Hakyeon, even after the cruel way he treated me.”

            “And I don’t wanna hurt Ravi,” Peniel interjected.

           “Ugh,” Sungjae groaned as Yoseob rubbed his shoulder. “We can’t just leave them alone though.” He ushered to the book in Dongwoon’s hands. “You know what the book says; a black-winged Rei will stop at nothing to kill a demon unless we stop them.”

            “I’m not killing Hakyeon!” Eunkwang argued again.

            Changsub leaned back, placing his palms against his face. “Why couldn’t Vixx have been an easier creature to deal with, like unicorns or elves?”

            “Yeah,” Hyunseung added. “Ken would look great as an elf.”

            “Like it or not, they’re Reis,” Yoseob remarked in an unusually serious tone. “And if we don’t stop them, they’ll take us all down.”

            “Don’t you think there’s a way we can reason with them?” Peniel argued. “Rei’s or not, they’re still Vixx. Ravi’s a good guy. He helped me before, and if his hair change was any indication, I’m pretty sure that was after becoming a rei.”

            “I agree with Peniel,” Minhyuk added. “When I fought I battled with Hyuk, I could still sense his compassionate side. He wasn’t fighting to be the bad guy, he didn’t want to hurt me; he just felt like he had to.”

            “There has to be a way we can stop Vixx without hurting them,” Hyunseung mumbled. “I don’t think Ken is a bad guy.”

            “I know Ken isn’t a bad guy,” Changsub yelled. “There has to be some way to end this without hurting them.”

            “But what if there isn’t” Kikwang chimed in. “I hate the idea of killing just as much as you do, but I’m not going watch my brothers die because we let Vixx off the hook.”

            Hyunsik sighed laying his head on the table before him.

            “I’m not killing Hakyeon!” Eunkwang yelled. “But I won’t let Doojoon die either. We’ll find a way to stop them without hurting them, we have to!”

            Doojoon nodded, “Despite what Vixx has done to bully you I know that deep down they’re good people. And if Hakyeon’s friendship means this much to Eunkwang, I’ll do whatever I can to help him.”

            “But what if there’s no solution,” Sungjae argued. “If you’re not willing to kill to protect him, you’ll lose Doojoon.”

            “I’M NOT LOSING ANYONE!” The leader screamed, silencing the library. He took a deep breath. “I’ll find a way, no matter what.”

            All eyes were now on Ilhoon and Junhyung. The room was divided and neither of them had said a word towards either side. Neither of them was fond of the idea of killing but Ilhoon was willing to do anything to keep Junhyung by his side.

            “Ilhoon?” Junhyung asked, quietly placing his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I trust your judgement, lil bro.”

            Ilhoon took a deep breath before looking up over his team. Everyone was eagerly awaiting his response.

             “There’s no doubt,” he began, “that Vixx has done some pretty nasty stuff to us, and plotting to kill our shadows is by far the worst. I’ve spent most of my high school life hating those six, wanting nothing more than to destroy them, and now, in order to save my brother, the brother I thought I’d never see again, I’ve been given to task of possibly killing my enemy…” He chuckled lightly. “Who would hesitate at that opportunity…?”

            Eunkwang, Doojoon, Peniel, Minhyuk, Dongwoon, Changsub and Hyunseung’s heads sunk at these words.

            “However…” Everyone instantly perked back up. “I saw something today that gave me a new view of those six. I saw their performance… When they’re acting as kingkas, sure, Vixx may come off as cruel, annoying, mean, etcetera. But on that stage today, I saw the real Vixx.”

            “They had passion, focus, rhythm, soul, skills, and even heart. It makes me feel… I feel that deep down, the Vixx members are just like us. They may act like jerks but they live for their music. And from what everyone has told me, from Peniel defending Ravi, Minhyuk believing in Hyuk’s game, Changsub’s weird desire to befriend Ken, and Eunkwang’s childhood friendship with N… I think… I believe there really is a true, genuine side to Vixx… so that’s why…”

            Everyone sat up as Ilhoon paused.

            “I don’t want to kill them.”

            Junhyung nodded as Peniel and Changsub cheered, hugging the younger boy.

            Hyunsik let out a sigh of relief, “Thanks goodness. I don’t think I could live with the guilt of actually killing someone.”

            Kikwang placed his hands behind his head, “Yeah, me neither. I guess searching for a peaceful solution is more my style anyway.”

            Sungjae looked up at Peniel as Yoseob rubbed his back, “… I probably would not have been able to go through with it anyway. It’d hurt Peniel too much.”

            Yoseob laughed, “Thank goodness. I was becoming afraid of your dark side.”

            “Well, now that that’s settled,” Dongwoon interrupted. “How do we deal with this? I doubt the Vixx boys will be willing to have a simple chit-chat with us. To them, we’re demons, monsters to be eliminated.”

             “We can’t confront them in public,” Hyunsik added. “And if we do it in private, they’ll probably try to attack us.”

            “We shouldn’t let them know that we know what they are,” Doojoon commented. “If they know we’re aware, they’ll be on their guard around us, and probably try to speed up their attack. Let’s research Reis for now, and hopefully we’ll find a way to stop them without hurting them.”

            Everyone nodded in agreement with Doojoon as he continued.  “Just try and lay low at school Monday. There’s no reason to confront Vixx unless absolutely necessary.”

            Changsub chuckled lightly, “Good thing we lost, then. No one ever really bothers with the losers.”

            Monday morning was bustling with activity when the BtoB boys entered the Cube High grounds. Posters and banners filled the hall and many people were debating amongst themselves.

             “What the…” Ilhoon mumbled, scanning over the mass of people congregating in the halls.

             “Look it’s them!” A voice rang out and everyone turned toward the seven boys.

            A roar of applause went up causing the boys to flinch from confusion.

             “Yeah, BtoB!” One voice called.

             “BtoB forever!”

             “Notice me, Sunbae!”

            Hyunsik chuckled awkwardly, “What’s this about, we lost.”

             “Yeah,” Sungjae yelled. “Shouldn’t you all be swarming Vixx?”

            “Oh we are,” another girl stepped forward. Her uniform blazer was open revealing a white t-shirt with Vixx’s logo. “Well, at least half of us are.”

            “Btob is better!” A male stepped forward. His blazer was tied around his waist revealing a light blue t-shirt with BtoB’s logo on it.

            “Where are those shirts coming from?” Changsub asked.

             “The queenkas printed them,” the girl answered. “They’re on sale for 20000 won.”

             “I think there’s a copyright law being violated somewhere.” Changsub muttered.

             ‘You never copyrighted it.’ Hyunseung responded.

             “Can someone please explain what’s going on here?” Ilhoon asked loudly.

             “Allow me.” The seven boys turned their heads as a young queenka approached from an adjacent hallway. “But first, please come with me.”

            The seven shrugged before following Hyeri, the large group of fans not too far behind.

             “Ok Hyeri, what’s going on?” Ilhoon asked during their walk. “We lost so shouldn’t people go back to ignoring us.”

            Hyeri chuckled, “Under normal circumstances, yes, but this is different. Despite Mr. Hong’s decision, the school was divided. Half of us agreed with Vixx’s win, including yours truly, but the other half claim that your music was better. Videos of Friday’s performances have gone viral.”

             “Seriously,” Changsub asked. “People really liked it that much?”

             “Definitely,” She quickly pulled out her phone, pulling up a popular streaming site. “You should see some of these comments. ‘Sign both groups to a record label now,’ ‘I can’t believe this is at a high school. Why can’t my school have shows like this?’ And the ever popular, ‘Who’s the blonde one? He’s cute.’”

             ‘They think you’re cute,’ Junhyung chuckled.

            “I’m cute?” Ilhoon repeated.

             “Hey, I’m blonde too,” Hyunsik pouted. “Maybe I’m the blonde one they’re talking about.”

            Hyeri rolled her eyes, “Anyway, when you wade through the various inevitable flame wars to find comments actually significant to the videos, you’ll find a pretty common query, mainly, ‘Why aren’t BtoB kingkas?’”

            The seven boys paused a second to think before Hyeri continued. “Now, obviously, we can’t make both groups kingkas.”

             “Why not?” Peniel asked.

             “Because you’d have to get along,” Hyeri replied, “And even though things hav