King Suho was sitting on his throne, Sehun the prince and Jaesun the advisor standing on his sides. The rest of EXO and the four transformers were also in the row, standing straight with stern faces, as if they were new decorations placed in the throne room to accompany the king. Even Baekhyun and Chanyeol's bright smiles had gone out of the window.


After staying in that position for quite awhile, two men dressed in black rushed into the throne room and knelt on one knee in front of the throne.


"Your Majesty," they greeted the king, keeping their heads down.


"Yunho-ssi, Changmin-ssi," Suho greeted his secret agents. "We weren't expecting you. What brings you here? Have you found something new?"


"Yes, I'm afraid so, Your Highness," Yunho said. "As you have trusted us for the position, we are on the lead for the mission to find Jaejun's hiding place, and we are here to report the progress."


"Have you found where it is?" Suho widened his eyes, but tried to keep his voice calm.


"We haven't found the exact place but we did find their trails," Changmin replied, "and also a young lady as a witness, namely Park Yura."


Chanyeol's expressionless face broke into a terrified one as he widened his eyes in horror. "That's my sister's name!"


Everyone turned their heads towards Chanyeol and Changmin raised his head to see the boy. "Yes, she has your face too. We have her with us in our headquarters."


"Please don't hurt her," Chanyeol begged. "I have no idea how she could get herself into this."


"Don't worry, young man. We won't hurt your sister because she is our asset," Yunho smiled softly at the panicking boy. "I can tell that she is a brave and smart young lady."


Chanyeol threw his head back and covered his face with his hands, sighing in relief. "What did she do?"


"She followed one of Kim Jaejun's friend to their secret hiding place, disguising as a beggar. According to her story, she almost reached there, but one of the guards there spotted her and chased her away. She was almost killed but she ran pretty fast and fortunately we met on the way. She was lucky that she didn't get shot. There were quite a lot of guards there, although it wasn’t yet the exact place."


"Why did she have to do that?" Chanyeol bit his finger and muttered under his breath.


"What does your sister have to do with Jun and his firends, Chanyeol-ah?" Suho asked all of a sudden, surprising the tall boy.


"Ah, umm... I don't know, I'm not really sure either," Chanyeol frowned. "But she has known them for years, because I had been friends with them since we were kids until last summer."


Changmin and Yunho got up from their kneeling position and stared at each other.


“Friends?” they narrowed their eyes in suspicion.


“He’s no longer friends with them. Right, Channie?” Baekhyun defended his giant boyfriend.


“Yes,” Chanyeol nodded vigorously, but the top agents didn’t seem to believe him.


“Don’t worry about him,” Suho said calmly. “He’s part of us now. So what else did you find?”


Brushing the previous topic off hesitantly, Yunho said again, “We found out that they have started some kind of project involving many people. From Park Yura’s witness we know that they brought about fifty people, all men, in a truck to their place that night. She saw those men getting into that truck without any fights.


Yesterday we went to SMWTC and returned earlier today. We got quite a lot of information there, and the latest case reported is that many trainees and soldiers have been missing lately. Their number was reducing gradually and there were no trails left. They have tightened the security, yet this morning they found out some EXO-M’s soldiers were gone.”


“What?? My boys are gone too?” Kris freaked out slightly, but Luhan calmed him by patting his back. The prince himself looked upset; he had some friends in the army.


"Thank goodness you've called our men back," Suho looked up at his brother and smiled softly. "It's never a mistake to trust you to handle these matters."


"Yes, thank you, hyung," Jaesun bowed his head and smiled to himself, making a mental note to thank his wife later for assuring him to do it.


“Those men in the truck... They must be the soldiers, don’t you think so?” Suho furrowed his eyebrows and rubbed his chin.


“Yes, that’s what we believe,” Changmin said, “but we haven’t found a strong evidence to prove that. The lady saw them far away from SMWTC, near an abandoned house. If they really are the soldiers, they had probably been brought from the training center to a temporary place first before they were brought to the real place after everything was safe for them. It’s safer for them all, for their master plan, especially for the head of the plan. With that, they could divert our attention. Even if we could prove that the abandoned house was really the place where they kept the soldiers, it would still be only a temporary place and we could be too late for anything that is the master plan.”


“But I think it’s safe to say that the place where Park Yura got caught stalking was almost there. Have we mentioned about what she heard that night?” Yunho asked carefully.


“No, not yet. What did she hear?” Suho asked rather impatiently.


Yunho and Changmin looked around, as if they were afraid that someone else would hear what they were going to say. There were only two guards standing on both sides of the entrance, which was quite far away from where the two agents were standing. After Suho asked the guards to stay outside, Yunho and Changmin stepped closer to the throne, causing the king and the others to lean forward instinctively.


“She heard screams,” Changmin said with wide eyes, like telling a ghost story to five-year-olds, “manly screams in the distance. The truck entered a gate, and behind that gate there was a dark road leading to a big building. From afar she could see that it was dim outside but bright inside, and through the windows could be seen blinding lights glowing inside as the screams broke out in the air.”


“Oh my god, I can’t hear this anymore,” Baekhyun covered his ears and hid behind Chanyeol.


“I need to talk to her later,” Chanyeol muttered to himself.


“They used those guys as experiments,” Bomi said suddenly, turning heads towards her. “I imagined the place and now I can see those blurry images flashing in my mind.”


“Please tell us more,” said the short king. He let Yunho and Changmin stay there to see how the girl’s power work because those two had already known much about EXO and their powers, although they didn’t know most of the twelve personally.


Bomi closed her eyes and kept talking about what she saw in her mind.


“I see a man sitting on a seat, his arms and ankles locked to that seat. He is blindfolded. No, not only one, but many seats like that. I can see lots of guys lining up, maybe waiting for their turns to sit there? Behind that row of seats there’s a giant tube, I guess it’s filled with some kind of liquid. There’s something floating inside it... Oh, it must be the tree’s heart! It’s emitting dark smoke. I saw that big guy steal it from the tree long ago, when I was still a lamb. But it isn't supposed to produce black smoke, is it?”


“I knew it! He would use it and harm it too!” the boys exclaimed furiously.


“Shhhh, calm down and let her finish it,” Kris shushed the others and focused back on the blonde girl.


“The tube has some big cables and hoses connecting it to the seats. There’s a man... Standing behind a desk that looks like the one in the control room that we came to earlier. He looks evil, I don’t like him. There’s another guy, he says something to the first guy, and the latter pulls something that looks like a switch on that desk. The round thingy that looks like helmets above the seats move down until they cover half of the blindfolded men’s heads. The tube behind them glows, really bright, and the heart trembles inside the tube. Ohh, the tube is filled with lightning now! Some of those guys start to shout, it looks like the tube’s sending something to their heads? It looks really terrifying!”


Bomi paused to gulp down the lump in . She was slightly shuddering, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. Everyone waited impatiently yet worriedly for her to continue. Lulu approached her and circled her arm around the other’s shoulders, slightly shaking her to calm her down.


“That evil guy on the control desk pushes some more switches up and the screams get louder... Some masked men come to those screaming guys and shove hoses into their mouths by force, and they.. They- Aish, I can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry.”


Bomi opened her eyes and buried her face on Lulu’s shoulder as the ginger hugged her tightly.


“Sshhh, it’s okay, you did great,” Lulu whispered and her buddy’s back soothingly. "That's a great improvement of your power."


Everyone had turned stiff because of the vision. Their minds were so chaotic that they had no words left to say.


“It is crime what they’re doing to those people,” Yunho said matter of factly, being the first one to break the silence. "They need to be arrested."


"But, is it for real? I mean, are you sure it's not just hallucination?" the other agent asked carefully so it wouldn't hurt the girl.


"Yes," Bomi nodded slowly, "I can only see what actually happens, not illusions or hallucination. If it comes to illusions then it's Lulu's job."


"So what do we do now? Should we go to that place and attack them? Chanyeol's sister can show us the way," Luhan said and balled his fist, sparks of anger lit up his doe eyes. "We have to do something to safe our friends in the army."


"We don't know what's in there though, it's not safe for us all to go," Kris said immediately, secretly imagining his baby deer being devoured by those evil wolves. He winced and shook his head hard.


"We need strategies," Yunho said. "Changmin and I were planning to go back there to see the situation first, actually. Although it would risk our lives but someone have to go in there first to make way for you all, the guardians."


"We'll go with you," suddenly Monggu stepped forward, dragging Jjanggu behind him, startling everyone in the room. "We are EXO's spies too, and although we are inexperienced, we have more special abilities that you don't have."


"Yes, but Lulu and Bomi should stay here with the others," Jjanggu added as he patted Bomi's head.


"Why though? I want to go too, we can help!" Bomi protested and Lulu also nodded with unhappy face.


"It's not safe, Bomi-yah," Monggu said softly. "We can't risk your safety."


"But it's not safe for you too," Lulu shot back sharply.


"It's not safe for all of you four," said the small king.


"It is safe for no one but something needs to be done," Jaesun said. "I think they can do it, like Monggu said, they have their special abilities. Moreover, they can be invisible too, and that will help a lot for a spy."


"Yeah, trust us, we can do it," Jjanggu nodded and smiled to assure the king.


Suho bit his lip and kept shifting his gaze between the two former horses and his two secret agents.


"Yunho-ssi, Changmin-ssi, will it be okay if they go with you?" he finally asked, causing Monggu and Jjanggu to grin from ear to ear.


"Yes, that wouldn't be a problem, I guess," Changmin smiled at the two boys. "We've heard how they tried to stop Jun. They're really brave, it would be nice to work with them."


"Don't worry about their safety, Your Majesty. We'll take care of them," Yunho added.


Suho took a deep breath before he hesitantly nodded and gave them the permission. "Okay then, you two can go."


"Awesome!" Monggu and Jjanggu high-fived and hugged each other joyfully.


"Then what about us? We are just as strong as them," Lulu said before transforming into a grown up version of herself. "If it's about size, we can be as big as them. You know we can fight too."


"You can help here. Furthermore, Bomi needs to stay here so she can watch over us and tell you guys about our condition at the same time," Jjanggu countered.


Bomi held her crystal ball and another Bomi appeared next to her, holding the same crystal ball. "I can leave this one here, she will tell you guys about our condition there."


"Right," the other Bomi beamed at them. "I also have a crystal ball here and I'm able to use my power. Moreover, I can communicate with real Bomi through our minds, she can tell me what to do."


This time, Monggu and Jjanggu had no more reasons to stop the girls from going with them.


"So?" Lulu raised her eyebrows, waiting for the final decision.


"Alright, they can go too," Suho said, and the two girls jumped and clapped their hands happily.


"But you four, please behave and don't cause trouble for Yunho-ssi and Changmin-ssi. Understood?" the king demanded, getting excited nods from the four teens.


"So when are you two going to go back there?" Suho asked the agents.


"Tonight, Your Highness," Yunho replied.


"Very well then. Kids, you better go with them now," Suho said.


Lulu made a duplicate of herself to stay with the others too before Yunho and Changmin took four of them out of the throne room.


Halfway to the exit, Suho called out and said, "Please remember that it's full moon tonight. We haven't tried it out but... Just, please be more careful and come back as soon as possible."


"We will."


Not long after they had gone away, a loud sound of a bell echoed troughout the castle. It was the giant bell on top of the watchtower; the bell that hadn't been rung for decades. No one expected it to be rung anyways, because it was only for a bad sign.


But then the people of EXO-K had already been told the meaning of that bell this time.


The guards on the other smaller towers around who heard the bell also rang their own bells there until everyone in the kingdom could hear the sign. Everyone went out of their houses and made their way towards the castle quietly.


Fortunately EXO-K wasn't a huge kingdom with a problem with birth control, so the huge almighty castle could keep most of them in.


A guard rushed into the throne room and knelt in front of Suho. That was what they had been waiting for.


"Pardon me, Your Majesty. The soldiers from SMWTC have returned and the rest of the army are on standby now. We have made sure that all areas are secured. Everyone is waiting outside the castle."


"Take them all to the arena. Take the other path I told you earlier, don't go through the maze," the king commanded. "We'll go after everyone is seated there securely."


And of course it wasn't something that could be done instantly in a short time, remembering that it was the whole kingdom that the guards had to lead to EXO's underground training arena. But it turned out that everyone could cooperate with them well.


EXO, all dressed in white, entered the arena and stood in the middle in a row. They had small clip-on microphones attached to the collars of their shirts so everyone would be able to hear them talk later. They flew their gazes around the place. It was literally a human ocean.


"Jongdae oppa!" A girl sitting at the middle section shouted loudly, pulling attention from everyone around her, even EXO too. Chen looked up and squinted at the girl waving at him, couldn't really see the face clearly. But then he recognized her as his neighbor, his childhood best friend. He beamed and waved back at her.


It made him realize how much he missed his family and friends out there.


"Let's greet them, okay guys?" Suho said to the other members.


"Yes, let's make it good," the boys grinned and gave him thumbs up. It could be seen clearly that they were nervous but they tried hard to cover it with their blinding smiles. It was their "debut" day, they had to give good impressions.


The whole place became silent after the king cleared his throat.


"Hello everyone, thank you for fulfilling my request to come here," Suho said kindly. Some middle-aged women cooed at how nice their king acted and looked that day.


"Pardon me for not telling you a clear reason to come. Now please let us introduce ourselves first," Suho said again.


He counted one to three and the group said in unison, "We are one! Hello everyone, we are EXO!"


The audience applauded them and cheered for them. They thought those twelve males were going to perform something fun.


The twelve guardians introduced themselves one by one, bowing politely and flashed their brightest smiles.


"Hello everyone, I'm Sehun, your prince and EXO's maknae," Sehun bowed and beamed at the audience. Everyone screamed for him; it was their first time in the last ten years seeing their cold prince smiling that bright. Could it be because of the cute boy standing next to him, whose hand was in his firm grip?


"Hello, I'm Luhan, EXO-M's prince," Luhan bowed and waved at the sea of humans.


"And Sehun's partner," Chanyeol remarked and giggled, causing the royal couple to widen their eyes, yet their lips formed shy smiles.


It seemed like the audience got it wrong; they thought partner meant boyfriend, not as in "partner to work together" like what Chanyeol meant, because they started going "awww~" and stared at the couple like proud parents.


Sehun and Luhan's faces were deep red. They looked down to avoid eye contact, afraid that their faces would look more similar to tomatoes if they did so. Luhan nudged Baekhyun, who was standing next to him, to continue the introduction and get all the attention off of Sehun and him.


By the time they had finished their introduction, some teenagers had already picked their own favorite members.


"Isn't Kyungsoo hyung cute?" A boy, part of the audience, said to his friend while cupping his own face in his hands. "Look at those pororo eyes and squishy cheeks, so adorable."


"No, I think Xiumin hyung is cuter," the boy's friend shook his head and pointed at Xiumin down there. "He reminds me of a hamster, and look how he acts, so cute! I don't know, I feel like Kyungsoo hyung keeps something big inside that small body, like he can choke you to death while smiling innocently."


"That's nonsense," the boy rolled his eyes and focused back on Kyungsoo, smiling dreamily.


Suddenly two middle-aged women rushed down on the arena and ran towards the group. The guards were about to stop them when two of the twelve also ran to the two sisters.


"Mom!" Chen and Kyungsoo shouted and jumped at their mothers. They hugged tightly and even shed some tears.


The rest of the group were a bit stunned, but then their hearts became warm at the sight.


Suho looked up at the audience and said kindly, "Before we start, if you are these boys' family or friends, you may come down here to see them."


A moment later, Kyungsoo's father, Kai's foster parents, Chanyeol's mother and Chen's friends also joined them and shared hugs with the boys. Chanyeol's sister wasn't there, since she was in EXO's headquarters.


At the scene, Baekhyun averted his gaze, feeling somewhat hurt that no one came to see him.


Noticing the sad puppy next to him, Luhan nudged him and whispered, "You have us." Those three words was enough to bring back the smile to Baekhyun's face.


The parents returned back to their seats and the group sat down on the twelve chairs in the middle of the arena.


"Let's not waste any time," Suho began, "we are here to show you something. Maybe you will not like what you're going to see, but as the king of EXO-K, I kindly ask you not to judge us carelessly in a bad way. This is not a magic show, by the way. Thank you."


Although puzzled, the audience applauded them to show their support. They loved their king anyways.


"Today we're bringing out twelve males whom from now on you should call The Guardians, because that's what we are," Kris said. "We are different; special in a good way, so please don't be offended, we will use what we have to do goods and protect you all."


The curiosity began to rise in the air, making everyone even more nervous. Protect from what?


"Don't be nervous, guys!" Chanyeol attempted to break the ice. "We're showing you something cool today!"


He clapped his hands and cheered, followed by everyone in that huge place.


To begin it with, Chen and Baekhyun stood up and stepped forward. Everyone set their eyes on the two boys, full of anticipation.


“Don’t be scared, everyone! This will be cool,” Chen grinned as he started to make a big lightning ball. He threw it up high in the air and Baekhyun quickly shot it with many colors of light before the lightning ball exploded like colorful firecrackers. Despite the loud thunderous sound, the audience watched in awe and gave a huge applause for that.


“Wait, there will be more! Our showcase has just begun!” Baekhyun said loudly in a cute manner, showing off his bright personality that had gotten him some admirers at the beginning of the show. Chen sat back down on his seat and Xiumin took over his place to stand next to Baekhyun.


Loud gasps could be heard when Xiumin started to make an ice crystal ball, floating between his hands. He sent it up, higher and higher in the air, as it got even bigger every second.


After it had become really big, floating high in the air, Baekhyun shot it with his light, and the transparent crystal ball turned into a shining colorful one, spinning slowly like a disco ball. Baekhyun made the room a bit darker, so the colors from the giant disco ball could be seen clearer.


The audience gave a standing applause for that. Kids were screaming excitedly, tugging on their parents' hands, pointing at the big ball, staring at it with sparkling wide eyes. Some fathers lifted their children to their shoulders, so the kids could reach their smalls hands up higher towards the shining crystal ball.


"How do you like it, guy