~Chapter 22~

The New Clan Member

Joon’s POV~

            “Cheers!” We yell as we clang our bowls of liquor together. Whoever this “White Masked Hero” is, he must be someone of great importance. If not, why would Jong Kook hyungnim be happy enough to celebrate? I never heard of him before, but rumors from the servants include him always showing up when citizens are in danger and when monsters attack the surrounding villages, bringing some peace to the land. Apparently, he enters without notice, flying in like some sort of bird and leaving without saying a thing. He is definitely a mysterious fellow.

            I look at his body from head to toe. Although his…everything is covered, I can tell that he isn’t too weak and with his stature, I can tell that he has very great martial arts. Don’t ask me how; I just have an eye for these things. His dark hair is tied up with a white cloth and looks neat. His whole body is clean and his clothing is spotless. This must mean he is very aware of his surroundings. Even before when we were battling, he didn’t let anyone’s blood splatter on his clothing and didn’t break a sweat afterward. Not to mention that he did not kill one opponent…Who is this kid and why hasn’t he shown up before?

            He and I lock eyes and for a strange moment, it was as if something clicked, but I don’t know what. He bows his head slightly and from the curl of his eye, I can tell he was smiling. I bow back out of politeness and take a sip of my drink. I look over at Key who is simply drinking and also gazing at the new clan member. Does he find this fellow interesting as well? I slip over to the seat beside him and refill my bowl, hoping for him to start a conversation. “He’s something, isn’t he?” Key finally says after a good minute or two of me being there. “Isn’t he, Jonghyun hyung?”

            “Indeed…Don’t you think he…looks very similar to someone?” Jonghyun asks. Are they seriously having a conversation as if I wasn’t here? But who do they mean? You can’t even see his face. How can he look like…

            “You don’t mean–”

            “Oh hello there Joon hyung, I didn’t see you!” Jonghyun says, cutting me off.

            “Hey, about the new clan member–”

            “Whoa!” Thunder yells as he avoids a bite from the newcomer’s wolf. “Calm down! I was just curious!”

            “Thunder, apologize to him. His face is covered, meaning he obviously doesn’t want anyone to see it. Why do you have to start problems for?” Onew says.

            “But–”

            “It’s fine.” The White Masked Hero says in a deep, raspy voice. “Even if he tried, he wouldn’t be able to reveal my face.” Whispers fill up the whole room. How cocky can this guy be?

            “Want to bet?” Thunder stands up and straightens out his glove.

            “We are all a family here, stop creating problems.” Naeun places her hand on Thunder’s shoulder and he swipes it too with his normal hand.

            “Oh, we’re just having a little fun!” Thunder dashes at the White Masked Hero, who bends backward, avoiding his attack while still sitting on his chair. This kid is flexible. He sits up and raises his hand up. “You’re accepting defeat?”

            “No, I just think it would be more fun if we take this outside.” He runs out and waves his hand at Thunder who dashes toward him. Once again he bends over, this time his head is nearly touching the ground. He raises one of his legs up and kicks Thunder back and regains his standing position by doing a flip. “By the way, you asked if I want to bet. I do. Winner gets to have the loser do his chores for the whole month!” Thunder charges him at full speed and nearly grabs onto the face covering, but misses, since the White Masked Hero turned his head. He grabs onto Thunder’s hand and spins him, making his hand get locked behind his back. Thunder kicks his leg back and once again the hero avoids it by a hair. He grabs Thunder’s other hand and locks them both.

            Suddenly, a high pitched laughter echoes through the whole area. A woman in full red glides into the scene along with five more girls, in purple. “What a great show. Is this what the righteous clan does on their free time?”

            “Madame Red, I don’t remember inviting you to join us.” Jong Kook hyungnim says in a sarcastic tone. Madame Red? Isn’t she the wife of the clan leader for the Lunar Shadow clan?

            “I didn’t realize that I needed to be invited here. We’re great friends Kookie; do we really need to be so cold toward each other?”

            “If I’m not mistaken, you are here to start problems.”

            “Oh? Problems? I take it as our bonding time.” She smiles and whips out her hand and her long, red sleeve flies toward Naeun. With great speed, Onew shoots his arrow at the cloth and stops it from hitting her face. Surprisingly, the arrow did not pierce the cloth and yet falls onto the ground with a lame clink. One by one the clan members take out their weapons and prepare for any sudden attacks. “Oh that wasn’t nice! I just wanted to caress your face! How rude!” Once again she pulls her hand back and whips her sleeve, this time Mir catches it with his sword, now tangled with the red cloth.

            “What do you want Madame Red?” I say.

            “Oh? Joonnie? The Peacekeepers told me about you. You better watch your back. They don’t like little vermin roaming around unsupervised.” She clicks her tongue. So Key was right, the Peacekeepers are part of this.

            “You’re the only vermin here. Be gone or else my Black Crescent would gladly send you out.” Onew says, holding out his black bow.

            “Try me.” Madame Red smirks and her servants spin in front of her. They all fling their long sleeves at Onew who shoots them all down with his arrows. My Onew may be quick with his shots, but his arrows are no match for the sleeves’ material. I wonder what it’s made out of. If we find out, maybe we can make different clothing for our members in case of sneak attacks. At least the clothing can save their lives. Maybe if I get close enough, I can tell…

            Onew tries to shoot again but Jong Kook hyungnim places his hand on his shoulder. I look over and see him nodding at the White Masked Hero. In his hand is his spear, well-known for its great power and ability to cut through any material. The girls attack at once and before the sleeves touch anyone, the White Masked Hero wraps it around his spear and cuts it by simply pulling back his weapon. The girls fall back and Madame Red flies up, whipping her red sleeve at him. Once again he catches the sleeve, but her grip is so strong, that the cloth is tightly wrapped around the spear, making him unable to pull it back. To her purple servants, the sleeves are merely their weapon, but to Madame Red, the sleeves are an extension of her, making them as dangerous and as alive as her hands.

            I can see the flexing of the hero’s arm and his attempt to pull back his weapon. Using this chance, Thunder charges Madame Red with his poisoned hand. She releases the hero’s spear and Mir’s sword, wrapping it around Thunder’s neck, choking him. The hero’s wolf leaps forward and jumps right onto Madame Red and his master swings his double-ended spear, cutting off a piece of her sleeve. Mir grabs onto the cloth around Thunder’s neck and pulls it off in haste since Thunder can’t untangle the cloth with one hand. Thunder chokes terribly and rubs his marked neck. Onew runs forward and points his arrow right at Madame Red’s face. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Nearly a second before Onew releases his arrow, Jong Kook hyungnim orders for us to release her.

            “You have a feisty group of young heroes here. I’m bored; I’m not going to play with you anymore!” She huffs and leaves along with her sleeveless minions.

            “Are you okay?” Mir asks Thunder who is still rubbing his neck.

            “Yeah.”

            “Thanks for trying to help us. You’re not as bad as you seem to be.”

            “Shut up,” Thunder says and rushes into his room, closing the door with a bang. He must feel embarrassed. That kiddo has never liked it when he loses. I thought after he was threatened and used by the dark clans he would change, but he still is stubborn and secretly trying to help, as always.

            “Key, do you think you can figure out what this is made out of?” Jong Kook hyungnim passes the cut up sleeves to Key.

            “Most likely,” Key nods. “It will take a few days though. I bet it’s very complicated.”

            “If the clothing of everyone from the dark clans is made from this material, how can we defeat them if they cover themselves from head to toe? What if our weapons can’t hurt them?” Jonghyun says.

            “Can I get a small piece?” I ask and Key passes me a small fragment. I toss it into the torch and immediately, it catches on fire. “Not that special. If anything, I think it catches on fire pretty easily.”

            “If we want to protect ourselves, we have to create a better armor then them for our clan members. If we use the same material, they would know how to easily defeat us.” Kai points out.

            “Then Kai, how about you and Key work on the armor while everyone else prepares for the great battle?” Jong Kook hyungnim pats Kai’s back. “And young hero, how about you work with them too? We need to make sure our weapons can at least pierce their clothing. Since the old man sent you here, I’m assuming you have a few things up your sleeves.” The White Masked Hero nods and ruffles his wolf’s fur. “Joon, Minho, and Jonghyun, you three are on duty tonight and you may have as many heroes to help out as possible. I will talk tactics with the clan leader. The other heroes will continue training the servants and new heroes. Is everything clear?”

            “Yes!” The clan members reply and we all head to our own destinations.

            “Aww! Why does the new clan member get such an awesome task and I’m here guarding the clan with you two?” Jonghyun whines.

            “You’re just bitter that he gets to be with Key and you don’t.” I scoff. A blush appears on his cheeks as he turns around, hiding his flushed face. “Minho, what do you think of the new kid?”

            “Who? The White Masked Hero?”

            “Yeah.”

            “I don’t know. He’s…strange.”

            “I don’t strange can cut it,” Jonghyun says. “He suddenly appears with his awesome weapon and cocky attitude. Whenever he talks, it has to do with plans or fighting, nothing friendly. Not to mention that he was sent here by Jong Kook hyungnim’s old friend. He must be something…I wonder what he’s like personally.”

            “So, what do you want him to be?” I ask Minho.

            “Let’s get back to work.” Minho says and returns to his post.

Taemin’s POV~

            I may seem calm on the outside, but on the inside, I am screaming with joy! Do you understand how happy I am to be back in the clan!? Yes, it holds lots of bad memories, but I get to be with my hyungs and friends again! Part of me is a bit sad that they haven’t caught on that I am Taemin, but part of me is also grateful that they can’t. Since they don’t know who I am, no one can be the boss of me! Hehe I am an independent individual.

            I try to clear my throat and cough a few times. My internal organs are almost fully healed, so my throat is constantly uncomfortable and itchy, like how it’s like when you have a scab on your cut. “Are you okay? You’re not getting sick, are you?” Kai asks.

            “Sorry, am I bothering you?”

            “No, it’s just that you have been coughing randomly and we were just worried,” Key hyung says. Worried!? Aww they are very nice. I am a new member and yet they already care for me. I’m so glad I am back! I used to think that Key hyung was mean, and then I thought he was alright, and now he’s so awesome because he’s openly nice to me! “But seriously, if you’re going to get sick, don’t get the rest of the clan sick. You can’t start problems the minute you come.” I take it back! Humph! Once a meanie always a meanie. “Sorry, that sounded kind of rude. I didn’t mean to say it that way. I have a hard time choosing nice words to say.”

            “It’s okay.” Okay, he’s not bipolar or anything, right?

            “Did you find anything wrong about the material yet?” Kai asks as he dips a piece red armor into the cold water, cooling it off.

            “I’m not sure. It’s very strange. If you look at it in the light, you can see that it’s weaved in with some strange material, but I can’t tell what it is yet.”

            “May I see?” Key hyung passes a piece to Kai who rubs his thumb over it. “Isn’t it a little sticky?” I touch the cloth as well and indeed, it was. It’s very light and flexible and yet, it is also sticky, but not enough to actually get tangled by itself. “Normally, when things are light, it takes a lot of strength to throw, not to mention a long sleeve…How did those girls simply fight with it without using too much strength..?”

            “Hey, what happened to your hand?” Key hyung asks me and points at my dirty gloves with specs of blood.

            “Nothing too bad,” I reply. “I got it when Madame Red wrapped the sleeve around my spear and hand. I don’t know. When she was pulling on it, the cloth was cutting me and it sure stung when I tried to pull on it as well. I guess that because I was wearing my glove, it didn’t hurt me too badly. Can I get a piece?” Key hyung gives me one and I pinch both ends with my fingers and pull on it hard. Immediately, a sharp pain shocks me into dropping the cloth. I pull back my hand to see that my thumbs and index finger are bleeding through my gloves.

            “Are you okay?” Kai asks.

            “Just a minor cut. I wonder how Thunder hyung is then. He got choked by her sleeve when he tried to help…I’ll be right back; I’m going to go check on him.”

            Knock. Knock. “May I come in?” No reply. “If you’re not going to answer I’m going to barge in!” I kick the door and look around, only to see Mir with his glowing hands around Thunder’s neck. Wait, glowing hands!? I close the door and look at them. Thunder’s face is scrunched up while Mir is sweating as his glowing hands heal Thunder’s injured neck. I step behind Mir and summon the power of Kai’s bead that is still inside of me and give off some power to him. In no time, Thunder’s neck is fully healed.

            “Thank you,” Mir says. “I thought the poison was going to affect me too. Luckily you gave me some energy to defeat it.”

            “You’re a monster too?” Thunder asks.

            “Who? Me?” I point at myself and they both nod. “No, I just have a few things up my sleeve.”

            “When Jong Kook hyungnim said you were special, he was right. Welcome to the clan newbie,” Thunder smiles.            

            “You’re calling me a newbie? You barely joined the clan yourself!”

            “How do you know? Did you ask around?”

            “Nope, I just know things.” I do the victory sign.

            “What’s that supposed to mean?” Mir mimics my victory signs. “Two? Two what?”

            “Don’t worry about it,” I chuckle. “Take care of yourself you two. I’m going back to work now!~” I salute them with another victory sign and leave his room. I hope I didn’t start a new trend…