SO I NOTICED MY PICTURE OF EDWARD FROM CHAPTER THREE IS ACTING WEIRD SO HERE HE IS AGAIN BELOW

 

*

Gunwoo had a dreamy, fascinated expression on his face as he, and along with everyone else stared at Bang. Pointing the spontaneous sword at Gunwoo’s throat, Bang tried to look as comfortable and strong as possible…but on the inside, he was freaking out.

What the hell is this all about? Do I look cool? Should I swing? Bang wondered to himself as the silence went on. Kai moved barely an inch, still debating if he should jump in and wipe out this Bang guy himself. However, right when Kai was about to lunge for Bang, Gunwoo stretched his arm out and stopped Kai from moving. “I don’t need your help.” Gunwoo said.

“So…you’re a LOCK too?” Gunwoo said to Bang.

“Get away from Insoo.” Bang replied angrily.

“How rude to ignore my question.”

“Fine, I’ll make you move.” Bang said, running at Gunwoo. Hyo Shin and Zelo came running behind Bang, not to fight Gunwoo though, but to stop Bang before he got himself killed. Gunwoo and Bang struck swords with one another and Kai pounced behind Bang to hold off Zelo and Hyo Shin. The force behind Gunwoo and Bang’s blades caused a large wave of pressure to sweep across the junkyard, shattering more windows and even causing some cars to roll off. Gunwoo was intrigued a she continued to swing away. Bang.…surprisingly continued to do the same, while defending himself. Each time the blades met, another wave of pressur ereupted and crashed through the junkyard.

“Gunwoo, why would you want to hurt your brother?” Bang shouted, while battling Gunwoo.

“No one by that name lives here.” Gunwoo responded, kicking Bang in the chest. Bang fell backwards but whipped himself back up to strike at Gunwoo again. Gunwoo swung harder the next time, sending a stream of dark energy at Bang. Bang shielded himself with his sword, which shinned a brilliant white color as the attack smashed into it. Bang shouted and shoved Gunwoo’s attack away from him. Quickly, Bang swung his sword downward and created a cross of light that came charging for Gunwoo. Gunwoo jumped off the ground to avoid the cross attack but right away, the cross followed Gunwoo upward even faster and struck him. Engulfed in the bright white cross attack, Gunwoo strained as he fell on his back. Bang took a second to decide if he should run at Gunwoo or Insoo. However, the second Bang took was too long because before he could go in either direction, Kai was already right beside him about to swing. Zelo jumped in front of Bang and clashed swords with Kai. Bang jumped backwards and realized he was standing right in front of Insoo now.

“Oh pal, tell me you aren’t dead.” Bang bent down to check for Insoo’s pulse.

                Shocked and still intrigued, Gunwoo stayed laying on the floor for a minute or so. Gunwoo finally got to his feet when he felt Hyo Shin coming for him. Turning on his heel, Gunwoo blocked the sword attack from Hyo Shin just in time.

“You missed your chance, Hyo Shin. I won’t let my guard down again.” Gunwoo mocked.

“GRAVITY PULSE” Hyo Shin said, shoving his free palm at Gunwoo. With Hyo Shin’s ed palm, a tunnel of gravity blasted over Gunwoo, sending him backwards into a brick wall. Gunwoo was still off his game from being caught off by Bang and struggled a bit to pull himself up after Hyo Shin’s gravity attack.

                Zelo and Kai continued to slash at one another.

“Serpents!” Kai shouted, sending his trio of serpents at Zelo. The three snakes moved at high speed like ghosts, seeping in and out of the ground they all stood on. Zelo tried to slash at them but it was no use, the snakes were faster than the last time he had encountered them. The snakes swarmed around Zelo then, he tried to run up the back of one, but it whipped him off and the other two wrapped around his body then, squeezing the life out of him. Zelo was caught, unable to move his arms or legs. The snakes squeezed tighter and tighter, causing Zelo to growl in pain, flashing his fangs in frustration.

                “Sunmi, watch out.” Jay yelled, hopping away from the girl then. Sunmi was caught off guard by a sudden attack from Himchan. Himchan sent several jagged streams of lightning over at Sunmi. The streams of lightning ripped through the ground as they charged for Sunmi. Sunmi staggered backwards as the lightning surrounded her and closed in on her. Himchan smirked, watching his attack succeed.

                Jay was about to zip down and attack Himchan himself, but before he got the chance, Minho was right in front of him. Minho swung his sword down with all his might. Jay wasn’t as prepared for Minho as he would have liked and could barely block the sudden attack. Jay went spiraling back to the ground, landing messily. Jay looked up to defend against any other attack from Minho, but…Minho was gone.

“What the hell?” Jay muttered.

“PYRO PITCH.” Jonghyun suddenly yelled. Jay was hit from behind with a heavy ball of energized fire from Jonghyun’s weapon.

                Taemin moved swiftly around the three battles going on and scooped up Insoo’s body, taking him somewhere safer. Bang yelled in frustration as Taemin disappeared with his pal’s lifeless body. Bang looked back at Dasom’s body then. Bang was going to check on Dasom, but Key beat him there and got her body out of the area as well.

“Come back.” Bang exclaimed, waving his sword around randomly. “Dammit, this makes no sense.” Bang pulled at his hair with his free hand, feeling helpless and strong at the same time.

                “RECTANGLE.” Henry summoned a three dimensional rectangle around Zelo’s body that was able to push the serpents off. Zelo smiled, protected inside Henry’s rectangle defense. Henry landed on top of the rectangle barrier he had just summoned and pointed at Kai with the tip of his sword. “We can handle you ourselves.” Henry said, smiling brightly.

“We?” Kai questioned.

“You’re finished!” Daehyun said as he fell from above Kai’s body. Kai looked up and at the last second avoided Daehyun and his 300lb sword. Daehyun landed heavily, creating a massive crater in the ground. Kai just barely dodged Daehyun. Losing his balance and nerve for a moment, Kai tripped over his own feet and fell on his .

“Serpe-“ Kai tried to say, but it was too late.

“AQUA PILLAR” Youngjae created a small blue circle around Kai’s body that shot up suddenly. A dark blue pillar of energy sprang up from the circle and Kai immediately had to hold his breath as he realized the energy pillar was made from energized water and was drowning him. Daehyun, Youngjae, Zelo and Henry surrounded the pillar and nodded at one another.

“Nice decoy, Zelo.” Daehyun gave a thumbs up.

“Thanks.” Zelo returned it.

“I give him about four minutes before my water becomes too much for him.” Youngjae took a good look at Kai’s floating body inside the pillar.

“Can’t believe I just worked with you losers.” Henry was wide eyed as he stared at the three boys.

“Hey! We’re the ones who should be shocked we worked with someone like you.” Daehyun yelled.

“You should feel honored.” Henry jabbed.

“More like ashamed.” Youngjae and Daehyun said at the same time. Kai continued to float in the pillar of energized water, unable to breathe or attack.

“SHOOT!” Edward’s voice stopped the boys from bickering then. One of Edward’s arrows came flying past them and stabbed into Youngjae’s pillar. The water pillar that Kai was trapped in suddenly exploded into a large pillar of rigid ice. Now, Kai definitely wasn’t going anywhere.

“Nice one, Uncle.” Henry said when Edward landed beside the group of boys.

“A little teamwork never hurt anyone.” Edward nodded to all of them.

“Look out!” Zelo exclaimed just then. The rest of them tensed and looked over to see the three spirit serpents come ghosting out from the ground around the ice capture. The first serpent shot a waterfall of blue energy out of its mouth. Daehyun jumped in front of Zelo and Youngjae, blocking the attack with his impenetrable sword.

“How is he still able to summon his freaking snakes?” Daehyun shouted out from behind his sword.

“He’s stronger than I thought.” Edward smirked. The two snakes wrapped around the ice capture and squeezed once, shattering it totally, along with the aqua pillar Youngjae had created. Kai exhaled deeply and gave a dark look down on the gang as he landed on the head of one of his spirit snakes. The trio of snakes all hissed and snapped at the boys below. Kai his sword out at them, completely soaked and annoyed.

“Damn you.” Kai said barely above a whisper.

“Anyone got a plan B?” Zelo asked, eyeing Henry and Edward first, then Daehyun and Youngjae.

                Bang looked to his right and saw Gunwoo still fighting Hyo Shin. To Bang’s left, Himchan was battling the short haired girl. Further in the background was Jonghyun and Minho teaming up against Jay and then just a few feet in front of Bang was Kai against the others. All anyone was doing was fighting and that irritated Bang to no end. Didn’t the so called ‘good guys’ see what was really important? Saving Insoo and the Dasom from this evil thing possessing Gunwoo and terrorizing the junkyard (soon the whole city)? Bang just wanted to help his friend, Insoo and any other innocent people he could, if that meant fighting then so be it…but in that moment, seeing everyone battling just seemed so stupid to him. Especially when Insoo could be dead! Bang yelled, as he looked from one fight to the next.

Immediately after sticking his blade into the ground, beams up brilliant white lights started to shoot up from out of the ground all over the junkyard. The beams of light burned hot with pure spirit energy and made everyone stop their brawling. Bang yelled again and the beams all exploded at once, covering the entire junkyard in a massive outburst of raw pressure and energy. If everyone in the yard didn’t already feel drained and weakened, they certainly did after whatever trick Bang had just pulled. Jay and Sunmi pounced away from their fights and stood beside one another. Kai swept over to Gunwoo and stood by him as well.

                Edward placed himself in front of Daehyun, Youngjae, Zelo and Henry. Hyo Shin back flipped away from his fight with Gunwoo and landed next to Himchan. Jonghyun and Minho ended up right beside Onew (who hadn’t really been doing anything). Deeper in the junkyard, away from all the action, Key and Taemin met up with their unconscious humans and wondered what the hell was going on.

“Whoa.” Taemin said.

“You felt that too, right?” Key asked the stunned boy.

                Bang panted as he leaned on his sword for support. “Just give me…my friend.” Bang lost his balance and fell backwards. Kai tried to move in for an attack but Gunwoo grabbed his wrist to stop him. In the blink of an eye, Zelo and Hyo Shin were right behind Bang. Zelo caught Bang before he could fall and Hyo Shin just stood there, ready to attack Gunwoo or Kai if they made a move. Suddenly, Gunwoo started clapping.

“What a brilliant display that was.” Gunwoo said in mock astonishment. Hyo Shin gritted his teeth, wanting to destroy Razzo right where he stood, but knowing that it was best for his team to retreat. Not only that, Razzo’s new body seemed to be working better than alright for him and Hyo Shin didn’t predict him leaving it any time soon, which meant they couldn’t kill him…yet.

“You’re a bunch of punks! C’mon, round three or whatever.” Jay yelled, getting into a battle stance. Sunmi grabbed his wrist, without saying anything.

“Round nothing.” Gunwoo said, walking gently over to Sunmi and Jay. Kai followed behind slowly. “We’ll be leaving now.” Gunwoo said to everyone. Youngjae and Daehyun exchanged looks, immediately thinking about where Gunwoo and his crew were going to go next. Another junkyard? A top secret hideout? A freaking graveyard?

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Hyo Shin said. “Not until you leave that boy’s body, you coward.” He went on yelling, clearly conflicted. Part of Hyo Shin wanted to rip the evil being apart right then and there but there was a stronger part that knew he just couldn’t…because of several more complicated reasons. For starters, Gunwoo the college graduate, brother of Insoo, son of a loving mother and father, was innocent.

                Gunwoo stood in front of the fired up Jay and grinned darkly. “Like I said, we’ll be leaving now. But rest assured that we will be on the hunt for the final three Zodiac Stones.” Gunwoo pointed at Bang’s weak body. “You take good care of that boy, Hyo Shin.” He said. “I like him.” Gunwoo laughed grimly, summoning a large plume of fast moving black fog to swirl around his team. After the fast moving fog had cleared, Gunwoo, Kai, Sunmi and Jay were gone completely.

                Taemin and Key darted back then, bringing Insoo and Dasom with them respectively. Both humans were still unconscious, bruised and worn out looking.

“What do we do about them?” Henry asked, flicking Insoo’s forehead playfully.

“Don’t touch them.” Bang suddenly roared to life and stalked towards Henry like some kind of zombie.

“Whoa, I thought he was out cold.” Minho widened his eyes.

“I thought I would be back home in my bed by now.” Jonghyun retorted.

“Ugh, so typical.” Himchan sneered under his breath.

“What did you say, Himchannie?” Jonghyun asked, dashing over to the blonde. Himchan shifted uncomfortably when Jonghyun swung his arm around his neck like they were old pals. Himchan cursed lightly, wishing Jonghyun would just let go. Himchan did have a certain distaste for Jonghyun because of his habitual laziness. Jonghyun on the other hand, just loved getting on Himchan’s bad side and making it all worse.

“Get off me.” Himchan said through tight lips.

“When will you admit that you really like me?”

“In your dreams.” Himchan shot back.

“You’ve been in my dreams several times, buddy.” Jonghyun winked, still teasing the stony Himchan. Himchan flailed ever harder, trying to break free from Jonghyun. Onew gagged and Key dropped his jaw, shocked.

                “Move.” Bang said, grabbing Henry’s collar. Henry actually had a hard time getting out of Bang’s grasp at first. “Hey, get the hell off me, you dope.” He shoved Bang backwards a little.

“Don’t touch my friends. None of you.” Bang was all out of breath as he stood in front of Insoo and Dasom like a mother wolf, ready to defend her young at any second. Bang’s sword had already faded away and he was just holding up his fists, as if that was going to do something against the small army of LOCKS and the one KEY in front of him. “I’ll take you all on.” Bang panted.

“This guy has moxie, I like him.” Minho laughed a good hearty laugh, clapping a little.

“Did you just say moxie? Who says that?” Daehyun questioned.

“People with large vocabularies. Try reading a book sometime.” Key snapped.

“We do read books. My favorite one is HOW TO KICK YOUR 101” Youngjae fired back at Key.

“What level is that? Elementary?” Onew chimed in.

“Nice one.” Key said, raising his hand for a high five with Onew. Onew gave Key an irritated expression and turned from his hanging hand.

“You know I don’t like Skinship.”

“A high five is not Skinship, you prude.” Key yelled, feeling offended.

                “Just leave.” Bang shouted suddenly, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Leave us alone now. Whatever you’ve all gotten my friend and his brother tangled up in…it and it isn’t fair.” Bang went on accusing them all.

“This punk has a lot of nerve.” Daehyun said.

“Do you have any idea how dumb you sound right now?” Henry asked Bang. “Gosh, no wonder Sooyoung broke up with you.” He sighed.

“She must love dumb guys if she left me for you then.” Bang had enough strength to go another round with Henry.

“Bang, stop arguing. You’re really weak right now.” Zelo said calmly. Bang stayed silent for a moment, feeling like he was going to drop to the floor. Jonghyun exhaled and took off his shirt. Daehyun and Youngjae shielded their eyes from Jonghyun’s chocolate abs.

“What the hell, man?” Youngjae exclaimed.

“Why are you always getting ?” Daehyun said just as loudly.

“Shirtless isn’t .” Jonghyun said casually, folding his shirt up into a comfortable pillow and then resting on the hood of a car that actually was in good condition. Probably belonged to the owner of the yard, Jonghyun assumed as he laid down.

“You’re seriously going to sleep right now?” Himchan said, getting more and more fed up with the slothful Jonghyun.

“I’m going to rest my eyes, lay off the yelling please.” Jonghyun was already half asleep.

“Unbelievable.” Himchan shook his head.

“They’re innocent. Gunwoo is innocent. The whole damn city is…” Bang tried to talk some more then.

“Bang, chill out.” Zelo walked over to steady Bang as he stumbled some more.

“We know they’re all innocent, Bang.” Hyo Shin said. Finally, Bang fell to one knee from exhaustion. Bang knew whatever the hell he had done with that sword had really drained him. Quickly, Edward walked over to Insoo and Dasom and started preparing for something.

“What are you…doing?” Bang said quietly.

“I’m going to heal your friends and then erase their memories. You know, since I’m a KEY and Hyo Shin isn’t and that’s why he’s so jealous of me.” Edward nodded.

“Hey! Don’t spread such nonsense.” Hyo Shin shouted at Edward.

“We don’t need you two to start bickering too.” Zelo sighed, face palming himself.

“That’s right, Uncle. Tell them how it is!” Henry cheered.

“Can’t we all just get along?” Taemin muttered with an embarrassed expression. Youngjae saw Bang’s eyes starting to close and figured it would be a good time to talk about the elephant in the room. “And what about his memories? I mean…is he a LOCK too?” Youngjae spoke quickly, a little worried Bang would wake all the way up and start fighting with him too.

“Clearly he is a LOCK. However, he’s like one I’ve never seen before.” Edward spoke while healing up Dasom.

“How so?” Onew asked.

“Well, typically all LOCKS need a KEY to unlock their powers for them the first time or so. But, as you all so, Bang did it all on his own and battled against Razzo without even getting a single scratch on him.”

“Psh, he isn’t so special.” Henry crossed his arms.

“I smell some jealousy in the air.” Daehyun started sniffing the air around him.

“Idiot.” Henry mumbled.

“So are you going to wipe his memories out or what?” Onew asked.

“We can’t. He’s so strong and he’s a LOCK too. We can train him to help us out…I mean, we’ll need all the help we can get against Razzo and his team.” Zelo argued his point.

“This Bang guy…he’s a hot head.” Hyo Shin was still doubtful about having Bang as an ally.

“So is Daehyun.” Zelo countered.

“No way. Take it back!” Daehyun yelled.

“I don’t know, Zelo.” Hyo Shin started shaking his head lightly. Edward moved on to healing Insoo’s wounds next.

“Zelo is right about one thing, Hyo Shin. This boy is strong.” Edward had to speak up a little over the sound of Jonghyun’s snoring.

“Shut up over there!” Daehyun shouted.

“Yes, please. One day pass to the nudist beach.” Jonghyun spoke in his deep sleep.

“Gross.” Youngjae gawked.

“They’re not that bad.” Key shrugged.

“How would you know?” Minho wondered. Key blushed, ignoring the question.

“Obviously, Razzo is interested in the boy. If we don’t keep him close to us, then I’m positive Razzo will get ahold of him.” Edward finished what he had been saying.

“You think he’ll change bodies?” Himchan asked.

“Yes.” Edward answered right away.

“Fine. Please heal him, Edward. But leave his memories the way they are.” Hyo Shin had an unsure look on his face. Zelo, on the other hand, was bright as a bulb with a wide smile on his face. Hyo Shin took a long look at Bang…remembering what it had been like for him when Razzo had set his sights on him five years ago. Hyo Shin didn’t want that to happen to Bang, or anyone for that matter.

“I’ve erased their memories.” Edward said, backing away from the two humans. “I was able to see where they live while I was in their heads. I’ll have my boys get them home safely.” Edward spoke briefly as Minho scooped up Dasom and passed her to Onew. Minho then picked up Insoo and held the heavier boy himself.

“Wake up, Jonghyun, we’re leaving.” Key ran over to shake Jonghyun up.

“So soon?” Jonghyun joked. Henry gave a long, indifferent look towards Bang before turning to walk away with Minho and Onew, who were right behind Key and Jonghyun. Taemin and Zelo smiled at one another before Taemin went to catch up with his older members.

“Well, I guess that’s that.” Edward was just about to leave when Hyo Shin called out to him.

“Thanks for the help.” Hyo Shin said. Edward didn’t bother looking back or stopping and instead just waved casually at the group. Hyo Shin watched Zelo pick Bang off the ground.

“Zelo, Himchan, make sure he gets home right away.” Hyo Shin started leaving the yard then with Daehyun and Youngjae right on his heels.

“Hyo Shin, can we stop for burgers?” Daehyun asked nicely.

“Hell no.” Hyo Shin snapped.

“Aww, please, we can use Youngjae’s money.” Daehyun tried again.

“Hell no.” Youngjae was the one to snap that time.

                Sunmi, Jay and Kai stood at different corners of the room, watching as Razzo stared at his new reflection in a mirror. “I’m handsome.” Razzo said through Gunwoo’s lips.

“Average.” Sunmi said quietly.

“Nowhere near as good looking as me.” Jay blew Sunmi a kiss, which she shot down with her imaginary machine gun. Gunwoo his heels and faced his henchmen.

“That was an exciting encounter, wasn’t it?” Gunwoo looked both amused and serious. Kai hesitated before answering the lingering question Gunwoo had just asked.

“That boy…” Kai started off.

“He’s something, isn’t he?” Gunwoo clapped his hands together once and a crazed look crossed his face. Kai and Sunmi exchanged looks, guessing the same thing. Most likely, Gunwoo was becoming fascinated with Bang and would want to switch bodies. Kai on the other hand didn’t want that at all, he just wanted to quickly find the final Z Stones, get Razzo into the Unseen Paradise and get Kyungsoo back from Razzo’s clutches. At this point, Bang and all those other annoying LOCKS were nothing but roadblocks in Kai’s way.

“All those LOCKS are going to ruin everything for us. How the hell are we supposed to track down the last three Z Stones with them all in our business?” Kai went on, getting more fed up as he spoke.

“Feisty.” Sunmi raised an eyebrow at Kai.

“I’ll kill them all. Leave it to me.” Jay laughed, plopping on a lavish white leather coach.

“This isn’t a joke.” Kai scolded.

“I wasn’t kidding.” Jay retorted at Kai. Gunwoo leaned against the wall and stuck his hands in his back pockets casually, upsetting Kai even more. Why wasn’t anyone as flared up as he was? Did they all want to continue to be linked to one another? Fighting for evil? Hurting and killing innocent people? Kai wasn’t sure.

“All of you hush up.” Gunwoo said calmly.

“Do you at least have a plan for dealing with them? They aren’t going to let us freely drain the city until we find the holders.” Kai explained even further.

“Don’t you think I know that, Kai? I don’t need nor did I ever ask for your advice…or assistance. You are free to leave my side whenever you please. The sooner the better.” Gunwoo said, staring deep into Kai’s hurt eyes. “I know you think that when I make it to Paradise, you’ll get your precious buddy back…but I haven’t made up my mind yet.” Gunwoo shrugged, pushing himself off the wall.

“You bastard!” Kai screamed.

“Go. All of you. Start draining this city until you find the last three Zodiac Stones.” Gunwoo started towards the exit.

“You make it sound so easy.” Sunmi said, still thinking about Hyo Shin and company.

“If Hyo Shin and his small army stand in your way…kill them. Or worse, expose them. They won’t stay once they’ve been exposed.” Gunwoo explained.

“Killing them sounds more fun.” Jay grinned.

“Just make sure you don’t kill…the special one.” Gunwoo whispered the last three words and as he reached the exit of their hideout. Kai stood in silence, shaking from anger and totally oblivious to whatever Razzo and the other two were still talking about.

        Sunmi was just about to take a nap in her quarters when Jay’s sudden question stopped her in her tracks.

“Where are you going anyway, big guy?” Jay asked Razzo. Without turning around, Gunwoo answered.

“I’m going home. Back to my loving mother and little brother.”

“You’re going to pretend to be this guy? That’s kind of sick.” Sunmi said. Not only was did Sunmi find it gross that Razzo was going to go on pretending to be the real Gunwoo…she thought it was a total waste of time. When Razzo could be out looking for the Z Stones, he would actually be chilling at home playing video games with Insoo and eating home cooked meals? It just didn’t make much sense to her.

“Gunwoo isn’t completely gone, is he?” Kai said. Gunwoo narrowed his eyes on Kai as if he wanted to choke him out right then and there.

“Oh snap. You’re not in full control, Razzo?” Jay asked next.

“Thank you, Kai. I was planning on getting to that matter but you’ve done it for me.” Gunwoo said.

“My pleasure.” Kai said, a little shaken up.

“Someone explain what the hell this all means?” Sunmi took a seat, rolling her eyes. Gunwoo exhaled a heavy breath before answering Sunmi.

“It’s very draining more me to use this boy’s body full time. With that being said, I have to let him take over every once in a while. However, I still have full control. I own him. I’ll be in touch. Get to work.” Gunwoo walked out on them. Kai dropped his head to hide the tears welling up in his eyes.

“Aww, somebody got their feelings hurt.” Jay laughed.

“Shut the hell up!” Kai roared over at Jay.

“Jeez, don’t get mad at me just because Razzo hates you the most.”

“I said shut the hell up.”

“You’re nothing but a pest to him. I mean, why the heck would you voluntarily follow him around like a lost puppy? To be honest…I think you’re a little obsessed with him.” Jay stabbed the words at Kai.

“And you’re just a freaking psychopath.” Kai countered with his own low blow. Jay flung himself off the couch and towards Kai, ready for a fight.

“Don’t ever call me that!” Jay yelled.

 Kai ran at Jay as well, shouting. Sunmi appeared in between both boys with the most irritated expression possible.

“Grow up already.” Sunmi shoved both boys in the chest, creating even more distance between all three of them. Kai held back whatever he was about to say and just stalked out on them.

“Hey, I was just telling it like I see it.” Jay laughed a little and grabbed a set of car keys on the desk beside him.

“You’re a jackass.” Sunmi said flatly. Jay blew Sunmi another kiss as he left the room as well. Alone, Sunmi once again wondered what would happen if she just…left. The girl sat lightly on the couch and sighed to herself, realizing starting a new life or even returning to her old one was probably even more difficult than just staying with Razzo until the day he inevitably his henchmen or the day she finally died. Eventually, Sunmi fell asleep with a thin, worried frown on her face.

               Bang had been tossing and turning for about an hour, forcing himself to stay asleep for longer and longer. It was the weekend and Bang just wanted to sleep in. Snoring lightly, he suddenly remembered something…many things then. Like a flood, all his memories of what had happened in the junkyard came ramming to the forefront of his mind. Bang leapt up from his sleep and panted harshly, making eye contact with the uninvited guests in his room. After Bang woke up…they all just stared at one another. Bang looked at Zelo who was sitting crisscross on the floor and then up at Himchan and Hyo Shin who were both leaning beside one another on the wall. Then there was Daehyun, who sat informally in Bang’s computer chair with Jongup standing next to him. Youngjae was sitting on the frame at the end of Bang’s bed. Bang and Youngjae made eye contact last and Youngjae just waved casually, not showing any real motive in his expression. Bang cleared his throat and everyone around him just waited.

“What the hell are you doing in my room!?” Bang suddenly shouted, jumping to his feet in the center of his bed. Bang shoved his finger down at the all the intruders, all flared up and confused. Nobody answered Bang right away. Bang bit his lips in frustration.

“Don’t just look at me like I’m dumb! Answer the question. How’d you get in my house?” Bang yelled again, looking from face to face…finally Bang saw himself in the mirror on the wall.

“Ahhhhhh!!!” Daehyun and Youngjae shouted at the same time, shielding their eyes. Jongup closed his eyes lightly and Himchan slapped his palm over his face. Hyo Shin turned his head away from Bang’s body.

“You’re .” Zelo pointed at Bang. Bang went red with humiliation as he saw that his boxers had gotten tangled up in the sheets of his bed and he was now standing in front of the gang in nothing but socks and a small muscle shirt . Bang pulled down the shirt as far as he could to cover himself.

“You erts!” Bang said, running into his bathroom and slamming the door behind him.

“You just flashed us! How are we the erts?” Youngjae exclaimed, still shielding his whole face.

“I’m going to be sick.” Himchan said quietly.

“Is it safe to look?” Daehyun asked, tugging on Jongup’s shirt.

“Hm? I was asleep.” Jongup answered, opening his eyes again.

About ten minutes later, Bang came stepping from the bathroom in some basic looking jeans and button down shirt that Zelo had handed him from the dresser. Bang watched the gang with both embarrassed and cautious eyes. His memories of Zelo, Hyo Shin and the whole junkyard fight were still intact and so naturally, Bang was unsure of how comfortable he could be around the group of guys. Standing on the opposite wall from Himchan and Hyo Shin, Bang folded his arms and waited for someone to explain.

“Thanks for putting on pants this time.” Hyo Shin said, breaking the uncomfortable silence in an even more uncomfortable way.

“Agh! Don’t remind us.” Daehyun pretended to stab his own eyes out. Bang was about to ask what the group was doing in his house again…but stopped short when he remembered something more important. His friends and family. Were Insoo, Gunwoo and Dasom alright? What about Uko? Was she home?

“Insoo!” Bang said all of a sudden, unable of formulating an actual sentence. Bang was about to breeze right out of the room and head for Insoo’s house in the time it took for Hyo Shin to answer him.

“Insoo is doing just fine. So is that girl.” Hyo Shin assured, pulling himself off the wall to get a better look into Bang’s stressed eyes.

“How do you know for sure?” Bang questioned, starting to look around for his phone. Youngjae actually had Bang’s phone and was having a good time playing some puzzle game.

“Give me my phone.” Bang said.

“How much did you pay for this? I know a guy…if you want to sell it. Of course, I’d get forty percent.” Youngjae said, showing some of his conman tendencies.

“What? Shut up, just give it to me.” Bang snapped and snatched his cell phone from Youngjae.

“No messages.” Youngjae told him.

“I need to go see Insoo.” Bang thought out loud. “All of you, I don’t know how you got in here…well, actually I’m sure you probably used your weird powers but anyway, just get out.” Bang said, rushing to put on his shoes.

“Insoo and the girl were healed by Edward last night. Also, their memories of the events were completely wiped clean so when you eventually see them again, make sure to keep the cat in the bag.” Hyo Shin said sternly.

“Healed?” Bang stopped what he was doing.

“That’s right. They’re good as new, Bang.” Zelo nodded from the center of the floor.

“And like I said, their memories of the events are gone. So don’t say anything about it to them, ever.” Hyo Shin went on speaking to Bang like he was his father. Bang didn’t like being ordered around. Rolling his eyes, Bang stopped putting on his shoes and faced Hyo Shin head on. Zelo was a little nervous about what Bang was going to do and stood in between the two of them.

“By the way, your little sister and mom let us in.” Daehyun said, making Bang look away from Hyo Shin and over to him.

“They were on their way out for the day and happily let us in…now that I think about it, we could have been serial killers and they just let us in.” Youngjae added on.

“Uko knows me though, she knows I’m not a serial killer.” Zelo pointed out.

“That woman isn’t my mom.” Bang corrected them.

“She laughed a lot when we told her we were your friends.” Jongup looked perplexed when he spoke then.

“Whatever. What’s the reason you came here anyway? To erase my memories? I won’t let you.” Bang warned with a serious face.

“That isn’t the reason, so shut up.” Himchan finally said something.

“Hey! You can’t tell me to shut up in my own house.” Bang pointed over at Himchan’s smug face.

“You can’t tell me what to say with my own mouth.” Himchan countered quickly.

“Both of you, shut up.” Hyo Shin groaned, rubbing at his forehead.

“Tell me why you came here. To tell me Insoo and Dasom are okay? Thanks for that, but I’d rather see it for myself so…” Bang once again, started putting on his shoes. “And what about…Gunwoo?” Bang froze before tying the first shoe. The question sort of lingered in the air as each guy waited for another to answer it. Finally, Zelo said something as he stole the second shoe before Bang could put it on. Bang held out his palm, motioning for Zelo to hand it over.

“Don’t you want to know…what you are? What we are?” Zelo asked carefully. Bang pulled his hand back and took a long sigh. Indeed Bang did want to know what the hell he and the others were. Summoning swords out of thin air and creating glaciers wasn’t something you saw every day…or month…or lifetime. So how? As much as Bang wanted answers about that, he still felt pressed to see his friend, Insoo for himself.

The group migrated down to Bang’s dining room…only after Bang had called his annoying step-mom to double check how long she would be out for the day exactly. Daehyun helped himself to some leftover chicken he saw in Bang’s fridge and sugar cookies in the freezer. Standing in front of the oven, Daehyun watched the sugar cookies start to rise. “Ah, smells great.” Daehyun said, walking over to his large plate of crispy chicken sitting on the counter. Youngjae and Jongup tried to reach for the chicken and Daehyun slapped both their hands away at the same time, growling like a protective animal.

“You jerk, this isn’t even your chicken! Or your kitchen!” Youngjae whined.

“Finders keepers.” Daehyun smirked, grabbing a chicken leg for himself.

Bang sat at the head of his dining table while Hyo Shin sat a little stiffly at the other end. Himchan was still occupying a wall, looking less angry, but more bored. Zelo took a seat right beside his Uncle, smiling casually.  Daehyun ate peacefully in the kitchen with Youngjae and Jongup on both sides of him. “Jongup, look for hot sauce.” Daehyun nudged Jongup.

“We don’t have any.” Bang said apathetically.

“What kind of home doesn’t have hot sauce?” Daehyun looked genuinely hurt.

Bang narrowed his eyes at Daehyun, wishing he would choke on a chicken wing. “Your house is bigger than I would have guessed. What does your dad do?” Youngjae asked, tilting his head to the side. Bang ignored both of them and focused his attention on Hyo Shin fully.

“LOCKS and KEYS. All of us in this room are LOCKS and Edward is a KEY.” Hyo Shin said formally. “All humans have the ability to become LOCKS…well, forty percent of human have the ability. You see, it’s not something unnatural. A LOCKS power comes from the spirit, the soul, the heart, the mind, all of the above.” Hyo Shin went on speaking while Jongup and Himchan looked particularly bored like they had heard the story over a hundred times. “We were all just average humans once, but became LOCKS after unlocking the power that was stored up inside our spirits, allowing it to manifest into our blades and be transferred out into our…powers.” Hyo Shin stopped talking for a moment, almost like he was trying to catch up with himself, deciding what he did and didn’t want to say. Zelo looked eagerly over to Bang and then back to his Uncle, waiting for him to go on before Bang got mad again and kicked them all out.

                “The first ever LOCK became over two hundred years ago. He unlocked his LOCK powers after long meditation and communication with the spirits. Now, he and his three sons are the rulers of Paradise.” Hyo Shin paused again, already knowing what question Bang was going to have.

“Wait, two hundred years ago…and now they rule Paradise?” Bang raised an eyebrow. “How they hell did they live that long?” He questioned.

“They’re immortal. They achieved that a rank that some believe is even higher than KEY.” Zelo said quickly.

“Immortal?” Bang couldn’t believe how much deeper this who fiasco was going. First, he thinks Zelo and his Uncle are just weirdoes, then spies, then mutants and now possibly immortals.

“Well, immortals is a big word in this case. Nobody really knows if they are in fact immortal or…just not ageing anymore. Either way, yes, they’ve been alive for a very long time.” Hyo Shin clarified what Zelo had just blurted out.

“Either way it’s freaking crazy.” Bang said. Hyo Shin cleared his throat and went on speaking a bit faster than before.

“Paradise was created by the first ever LOCK and his three sons after they traveled the world and saw how LOCKS were using their abilities to bring havoc upon one another. The LOCK world has always been right in front of your face Bang…we’re everywhere, but our world has always remained unseen and secret. The first LOCK and his sons were displeased as they migrated all over the world, seeing LOCKS caught up in wars with one another, committing crimes with their abilities, involving innocent unknowing humans and getting away with it all. The first LOCK hated what LOCKS had become…villains, killers, criminals, tyrants in both their own secret world and even spilling over into the human’s world.”

                “So, what did he do?” Bang asked.

“He and his sons had all achieved the level of KEY and sought out hundreds of likeminded KEYS who were influential and strong and they eventually formed a…government. This new government wanted to bring peace and order to the LOCK world and keep it from becoming a mess in the human world as well. So, they traveled the world all over again and enlisted thousands of other likeminded, peaceful and power LOCKS/KEYS who were just as ready to put an end to the chaos in their world as they were.” Hyo Shin stopped when he heard Daehyun pouring himself a glass of milk to go with his freshly baked sugar cookies.

“Those are my sister’s cookies, you know.” Bang told him in an annoyed tone.

“She doesn’t need them. She’ll get cavities.” Daehyun fired back, shrugging. Hyo Shin scooted away from the table to slap Daehyun in the back of the head.

“Ouch! Did I really deserve that?” Daehyun groaned.

“Yes.” Everyone in the room agreed at once.

                Zelo saw the confused and agitated expression on Bang’s face and picked up the story where his Uncle had left off. Zelo moved through the boring parts a bit quicker than his Uncle however. “Paradise was created by all the members of the new government combining their powers and consulting with ancients Gods and Spirits. As a result of all that tough work, they created Paradise, a whole separate dimension from the one we are in right now. In a way, it’s a totally different world that remains invisible to our eyes.” Zelo sounded like he was telling some action/adventure movie plot as he spoke with his hands and cheesed through the explanation.

“Wait, so it’s not a place?” Bang felt stupid asking the question and Youngjae laughed a little under his breath

 “No. It really is a different dimension entirely, and it hangs just above this one…unseen and protected by an impenetrable defense created by the power of the Zodiac Stones.” Hyo Shin took his seat again as he answered Bang. “The gateway between this world and Paradise can only be accessed from their side and at their will.” Hyo Shin said.

Bang held up his hand for Hyo Shin to stop and he scooted away from the table, trying to understand some things about the story that were still foggy to him. “Wait, so if it’s impossible to get to Paradise, what the hell is this Razzo freak talking about?” Bang asked, like a confused student sitting in on a lecture.

“There is a loophole in the system though.” Himchan spoke up then. “Every five years the gateway begins to open up on its own and the only way to stop it is to reseal it with the power of the Zodiac Stones…which also get scattered across the earth every time they reseal the gateway.” Himchan had an expression as if he knew how dumb it all sounded. Bang sat still, still having a hard time piecing it all together.

“Basically you have to find all twelve stones to reseal the gateway before Paradise comes collapsing onto earth, destroying it with all its raw, spiritual, supernatural power. However, it’s a never ending cycle because once the twelve stones use their power to reseal the gateway, they end up shooting all over the earth again. And then we only get another five years to find them all over again and stop Paradise from crashing all over again…get it now?” Youngjae said thoughtfully, honestly wanting Bang to catch on.

                “I think so.” Bang nodded slowly. “So that’s why Razzo wants them? To stop Paradise from crashing on earth and destroying it?” He wondered out loud.

“No, no, no! That would make Razzo the good guy, you moron!” Daehyun had cookies and milk flying out of his mouth as he yelled at Bang.

“Razzo wants to find the last three stones as well as the other nine so that he can himself open the gateway to Paradise and allow it to crash on earth, bringing chaos to both worlds. In that kind of destruction…Razzo’s demonic powers would be stronger than ever and he could do major damage to humans and LOCKS.” Hyo Shin was serious as he tried to reject a mental image of Razzo ruling the earth.

“Who has the other nine stones?” Bang asked.

“I have five and Edward only has four…because he .” Hyo Shin was proud to say.

“So you’re in charge of finding them?” Bang pointed at Hyo Shin with a suspicious expression. Hyo Shin was a whacko, Bang couldn’t picture him being in charge of such a huge task.

“Yes, both Edward and I are in charge of finding the Zodiac Stones this time around. We have both been employed by Paradise for quite some time now, but this is our first time Stone Hunting since Paradise was created hundreds of years ago.” Hyo Shin sat back in his chair and waited for Bang to look impressed…but he didn’t. “Did I mention I have five and Edward only has four?” He added again.

“That’s why you came to the city? To find the last three? Are you going to kill people just like Razzo is planning on doing?” Bang questioned them all, making sure everyone saw how serious he was.

“No, we aren’t going to kill anyone, dummy.” Himchan rolled his eyes.

“We actually came here because…we had an incident that caused us to have to move.” Hyo Shin answered hesitantly looking over at Zelo. “Anyway, we weren’t planning on staying long…not until we found out the last three Stones were in fact in the city.”

                Bang was starting to understand all the fuss over the Zodiac Stones then. The only way to stop Paradise from crashing onto earth and wiping into pieces was to reseal the gateway with the twelve stones every five years. The dumb part was that every five years, the Zodiac Stones decided to play a wicked game of hide and seek all over the world. Hyo Shin and Edward are the ones who get the job of finding the Stones this time around and have to move a lot because of that. They were forced to move from their last station and come to his city after an…incident and now it just so happens that the last three stones are right under their noses and Razzo plans on finding them first so that he can allow Paradise to crash down and as a result, he can become stronger than ever.

                “So are you all from Paradise?” Bang asked, finding it hard to believe Daehyun could ever be from earth.

“No. Edward and I are employed by them though.” Hyo Shin explained briefly. Bang could tell he didn’t want to spend so much time on that subject.

“That explains all the money.” Bang muttered. “What about the rest of you guys? How’d you get tangled up in this if the LOCK world is supposed to be so secret?” Bang asked, pointing at Zelo and then Himchan particularly. Himchan looked unsure about if he was even allowed to answer the question. Hyo Shin stayed quiet for a while as well, tapping his fingers on the top of the table. Bang looked over at Jongup and Youngjae, they both had uncomfortable looks on their faces, like they were ready to be embarrassed. Daehyun went on dunking his cookies, clearly trying to hide the tense look on his face as well. Zelo was just about to answer his mouth to speak but Bang cut him off.

“I guess that isn’t so important right now.” Bang said. Himchan sighed a nearly silent sigh of relief and Hyo Shin just nodded in agreement with Bang. “What about me? Why are you telling me all of this top secret stuff? I mean, just yesterday you wanted to erase my memories of ever meeting you…so?” Bang asked the question almost in a mocking voice.

                Hyo Shin and Zelo exchanged glances before Hyo Shin gave a perplexed look at Bang.

“You do remember what happened yesterday at the junkyard, right?” He asked Bang.

“Of course.” Bang said right away, thinking it was a dumb question.

“Then…you remember what you did.” Zelo said that time.

“Yeah, but…it doesn’t mean anything does it?” Bang asked without looking at anyone directly. Bang didn’t understand what the hell he had done yesterday with that random sword and light show he created. However, he was smart enough to put two and two together and realize the only reason Hyo Shin was telling him everything was because they planned on keeping him in the loop from now on. But after everything he had seen, Bang wasn’t totally positive that was what he wanted. Really, he just wanted Razzo to be killed and for his friends and family to be safe…he wanted all of that without actually having to do any work himself.

“You’re a LOCK! Which means you can help protect the city from Razzo with us.” Youngjae said.

“So wipe that dumb look off your face. What are you? Scared?” Daehyun said after drinking the last of his milk. “Oh wait…you are scared, huh?” He widened his eyes.

“No. I’m not scared of anything…I just don’t think…” Bang didn’t know how to articulate any of what he was feeling or thinking and he wasn’t even sure he wanted to. Mostly, he just wanted to have his memories erased at this point now that he knew Hyo Shin and the others actually expected him to help them stop Razzo. Yes, Bang wanted Razzo taken down and the world to be safe…but he just didn’t see himself being the one to do any of that. It all just seemed so much bigger than Bang, like something he could only ever dream or read about. Bang couldn’t picture himself wholeheartedly stepping into a position where so many other people would be depending on him. Insoo, Dasom, Gunwoo, Uko and the rest of the city…the whole freaking world would be Bang’s to protect and defend along with the other guys.

 Bang sat in silence for a bit, trying to think of a cool way to say he wanted to be taken out of the equation altogether. Swaying from side to side, Bang started to hate himself a bit…he felt like such a coward for what he was thinking to say. It really wasn’t that Bang was afraid of fighting or getting hurt or even dying…really he was just terrified of being needed, depended on, and having a purpose to his life. For six months all Bang did was drift far, far away from the people he was once close to, becoming less and less important to their lives…and now, their lives were about to literally depend on him if he said yes and joined Hyo Shin’s crew. Bang had grown so comfortable not being crucial to anyone or anything that the thought of being someone’s last hope or only chance sent chills down his spine.

“Bang!” Zelo said, snapping his fingers to snap Bang out of his thoughts. When Bang looked up and saw everyone’s impatient expressions, he nearly gagged. Daehyun and Youngjae jumped at Bang’s sudden jerking. Zelo got up and walked over to his buddy patting him on the back. Bang quickly got up and excused himself, walking crookedly.

“Where are you going?” Himchan snapped.

“Calm down, Himchan.” Zelo said, mentally praying Bang didn’t turn them down and ask to have his memories erased. In such a short time, Zelo had grown to feel closer to Bang than anyone he had met since being taken in by his Uncle.

“I’m going to the restroom. Wait.” Bang said all shakily as he walked into the hallway. Jongup, Daehyun, Youngjae and Himchan all looked from one another and then over to Hyo Shin. Zelo plopped in his chair and sighed, already expecting to lose his new friend.

“Maybe he just has diarrhea.” Jongup suggested cheerfully.

“He’s going to say no.” Daehyun shrugged, tossing his dishes in the sink.

“Don’t say that!” Zelo shouted.

“We should have just had Edward erase his memories when he passed out last night.” Youngjae almost looked sorry to say it as he met Zelo’s hurt eyes.

“He may be a LOCK, but he is NOT one of us.” Himchan said with a tough sense of finality to his voice. Even Jongup nodded in agreement with Himchan, despite being in a daydream for most of the conversation. Zelo shook his head at them all, wanting to argue them all to death about how they were wrong about Bang, but he knew…as always, they wouldn’t listen nor would they care.

“I think Himchan is right, Zelo. Doesn’t seem like your pal is cut out for this.” Hyo Shin tried to sugar coat his ‘I told you so’ face as much as he could when he looked to his upset nephew. Daehyun opened the pantry door and started pulling our ingredients for egg rolls. “Yeah, I don’t even think he wants to be cut out for this.” Daehyun said as he made his way around the kitchen, preparing another meal for himself.

“Would you stop eating, you fatass!?” Youngjae finally yelled.

 

Dasom was at work earlier than usual that morning because no matter how hard she had tried all night, she couldn’t fall asleep comfortably and just ended up tossing all night having dark, foggy nightmares that she couldn’t even fully make out. Dasom had never been the type to have nightmares and when she did, she never made big fusses about them. But all day while Dasom worked at her mother’s boutique, she felt a heaviness around her entire body, almost as if she had woken up from being buried six feet under. As the boutique’s assistant manager, Dasom had a lot to get done and the store was particularly busy that Saturday morning. Flitting around with a sweet but fake smile, Dasom tried to make sure every customer left happy and most of all…bought something. When Dasom finally had a moment to herself in the break room, she sat down on the long, red sofa a reached for a magazine. Dasom leaned back and started flipping rapidly through the pages, trying to find where she had left off days ago. Dasom screamed when she saw every single page of the magazine was blank white and stained with bright, fresh looking blood. Dasom tossed the magazine all the way across the room and sat icily still for a long moment. “What the hell…” Dasom got up and hesitantly picked up the magazine again. However, this time when she flipped through the pages…nothing was out of the ordinary at all. “I should’ve gotten more sleep.” Dasom cracked a smile to herself, which faded almost instantly.

                Across the street from Dasom’s place of work was a small, family owned bakery. Key and Taemin sat at the outdoor seating setup with dark, obnoxious shades on. The shades were actually very necessary since they had built in binoculars and allowed the boys to watch over Dasom from far away, making sure she was safe and showed no signs of damage after the previous night. Taemin looked up from his banana nut muffin and started darting his head left and right, wondering where Dasom had vanished to so quickly. “Key, where did she go? I lost her.” Taemin said, tugging on Key’s arm. Key sat with his legs crossed and head pointed straight at the boutique window. Key bit the tip of his finger as he stared in the window, totally lost in all the fashion the store had to offer, even if it was all women’s wear.

“$55.99 for that dress? Hmm, that’s actually a bargain.” Key said all intrigued.

“Key, did you see where the girl went? She was there one minute and gone the next.” Taemin tapped Key on the shoulder repeatedly, bugging him but not really getting his attention in the slightest.

“$40.00 for that hang bag? But it looks so cheap and knockoff-ish.” Key cringed at some of the prices and gleamed at others. Whether it was men or women’s clothing, Key couldn’t help but get excited about a good sale.

“Key!” Taemin pinched his friend.

“Dammit, Taemin, what do you want? Another muffin? I told you to just pretend there was a hair in your first one so they’d give you another for free. But no, you were too noble and honest for that.” Key started pinching Taemin all over as he snapped at him.

“I don’t care about another muffin, you scammer.” Taemin said, slapping Key’s hands away.

“Then what is it?”

“The girl is gone. What happened to her? She’s nowhere in the store.”

“Oh. She went on break.”

“How do you know?”

“I watched her clock out. Looks like you’re the one who’s not paying attention.”

“Not true!”

“Totally true.”

“You’re the one staring at clothes you can’t even wear.” Taemin countered. A young teen couple beside them laughed and scooted further from them. Key flashed a proud smile at the nosy couple and tossed his arms outward like he was above to take flight. “Fashion and style has no gender, my friend.” Key announced so everyone could hear him.

“Stop making a scene, please.” Taemin slumped down in his seat.

“You started it.” Key shrugged and looked back in the store window with his binocular shades. “Oh my God that lady is about to buy a dress half her size…someone should stop her.” Key slapped his hand over his mouth dramatically. “Her hips…are going to wreck that dress.” He said a quiet prayer for the dress.

                Minho was in Insoo’s backyard. Yes, that’s right, in Insoo’s backyard…hiding as Insoo’s mom watered some plants quickly and then flitted back inside to finish watching her dramas. Minho stepped from behind the wall and placed his phone back up to his ear. “Jonghyun, you still there?” Minho said, snooping around the backyard some more to make sure no sign of foul play was at hand. Edward had instructed Minho and Jonghyun to keep an eye on Insoo’s house, which in a roundabout way meant babysitting the guy…and Gunwoo. Minho wasn’t really frightened by Razzo, however, it did sort of creep him out in a way to know that the possessed boy was just casually relaxing with his family inside the home. Minho went on with his conversation as he began to exit the backyard.

“Everything looks good over here, Jonghyun. How are things on your side?” Minho said, skillfully leaving the backyard without a sound and walking down the street to a shiny black sports car parked on the curb. “Jonghyun, answer me. It’s rude to let one person do all the talking. Did you see anything strange on the street?” Minho asked, annoyed at Jonghyun’s total lack of response. Finally, Minho got to the passenger side of the convertible and saw clearly why Jonghyun wasn’t answering him. “You have got to be kidding me.” Minho ended the call and slid his phone into his blazer pocket. “Whoa, that girl has a killer body!” Minho yelled specifically loud into the car. Jonghyun jolted awake and started looking around the hot girl Minho had screamed about.

“Huh? Where is she? What age group?” Jonghyun slicked his hair back and flexed a bit.

“Unbelievable.” Minho said, getting into the passenger seat.

“You liar.” Jonghyun moaned.

“You sloth.” Minho retorted with an amused smirk on his lips.

“Hey, let’s go get some food really fast.” Jonghyun suddenly suggested, already starting up the car. Minho flashed an unsure expression, eyeing Gunwoo’s house from far away.

“We aren’t supposed to leave for at least another hour.”

“It won’t even take us an hour, besides, nothing is going to happen while we’re gone. Trust me.” Jonghyun accelerated then, speeding down the street, in a rush to get back before Edward called and asked for an update.

                Bang had left Hyo Shin, Zelo and the others in his kitchen nearly thirty minutes ago. Once Bang got into the downstairs bathroom, he leaned over the toilet, feeling nauseous. However, Bang couldn’t throw up and the longer he was in the bathroom, the more he started to think some fresh air was all he needed. So, like a self-respecting young adult…he snuck out of the bathroom window and ran away from his own house, leaving the others there without a clue. Bang initially planned on going to his local bar to get a drink and clear his head, but nearly halfway there, he realized he had left his wallet (and fake ID) back in his bedroom and even though he had snuck out somewhat easily, he doubted he could get back inside just as simply. Bang changed directions with a passion when he remembered there was somewhere much more important he needed to get to. Heading to Insoo’s house, Bang tried to mentally prepare himself for anything as he got closer and closer to Insoo’s neighborhood. Mentally preparing himself was a lot easier in theory than practice, however. Once Bang got to Insoo’s front door, he took several minutes to think about what the hell he was getting himself into all over again. Maybe it was best to just turn around, go back to his own home and ask Hyo Shin to try erasing his memories again. Bang turned away from Insoo’s front door and was about to leave, but on impulse, he turned right back around and readied himself to ring the doorbell.

“Hello, Yongguk.” Someone said. Bang turned around hastily and quietly gasped when he saw Gunwoo standing in front of him with a pair of shears in his hands.

“Gunwoo…” Bang said after a pause of blank thought. In the second it took for Gunwoo to reply back, Bang pictured him stabbing the shears right through his chest, or summoning a sword and starting another fight like the one in the junkyard. What the hell was Gunwoo even doing here? Oh right, he lived here…

                “Long time no see, buddy.” Gunwoo said, tossing the shears in a small toolbox on the porch. Gunwoo approached Bang with a kind smile and gave him a quick manly hug. Bang was frozen in awe, completely taken aback by the 180degree switch he was looking at. Of course, Bang knew that Gunwoo was possessed by this Razzo freak and that the Gunwoo at the junkyard hadn’t been the real deal…but still, Bang felt more than uncomfortable. Bang and Gunwoo hadn’t ever even been that close and only hung out once or twice the couple times Gunwoo came to visit from grad school on holiday, so it was difficult for Bang to decipher Gunwoo’s real self from an act. If it was Razzo in control at that moment, Bang wouldn’t have known anyway.

“Are you here to see Insoo?” Gunwoo asked, walking around Bang to get to his front door. Bang didn’t respond, he just stared wide eyed at Gunwoo with traces of fear and anger darting on and off his face.

“Goodness, buddy, you look live you’ve just seen a ghost.” Gunwoo laughed and the way the bright sun hit his face made Bang ease up just a little. There was no way Razzo could have forced niceness so well just then, Bang figured. Both boys laughed together before Gunwoo opened the door, and invited Bang in. Once inside, Bang could hear the sounds of Insoo’s mother watching a drama and smell whatever sweet meal she was cooking up so early. Smiling to himself, Bang felt so much more calm inside a house that wasn’t filled with a bunch of superpower boys trying to get him to join their team.

“Smells good.” Bang commented.

“Yeah, she’s getting an early start today. It’s almost finished, as a matter of fact.” Gunwoo said, kicking off his shoes carelessly. “Hey, Yongguk, you wanna stay at eat with us?” He asked, playfully hitting Bang’s shoulder.

“Bang…” Bang said, tilting his head a little.

“Bang what?” Gunwoo was confused.

“Bang…my name. Don’t you remember? That’s what everyone calls me.”

“Oh, right.” Gunwoo looked like he honestly didn’t remember and stayed silent for a second as he rubbed at the back of his head. Bang narrowed his eyes at Gunwoo, wondering if memory loss was a side effect to the possession.

                “So, you’re alive.” Insoo said, coming down the stairs quickly. Insoo skipped the last two stairs and eyed Bang like he was a half stranger.

“Yes.” Bang replied awkwardly. Inside, Bang was sighing the biggest sigh of relief imaginable. Insoo was in fact, alright. It was mind blowing to Bang how normal his friend looked standing before him when just the previous night he had been all battered and bruised. The three boys smiled casually between one another and Bang decided that one quick meal couldn’t hurt.

                Himchan and Youngjae sat at Bang’s dining room table as Daehyun started whipping up some sub sandwiches only after he finished the egg rolls he had just eaten all by himself. Cheerfully singing to himself, Daehyun moved around the entire kitchen like it was his own, pulling lettuce from here and roast beef from here. “Ah, I hope there is cola.” Daehyun bit his lip, almost afraid to look in the fridge again and see no cola.

“You have some nerve, you fatass.” Youngjae said, resting his head in his palm. Himchan nodded in agreement. Hyo Shin was also at the table, looking spaced out and not especially interested in anything that was going on at the moment. Hyo Shin wondered if he had made a right choice by reaching out to Bang. It appeared as if Bang didn’t want to accept the offer to join them and protect the city from Razzo, but did that really mean that it was wrong to offer? Hyo Shin had a gut feeling that Bang was special…he had had that feeling since the first time he pointed a blade at the kid’s throat. However, Hyo Shin also had a feeling in the further pit of his gut that Bang was some sort of trouble…like there was something off or unpredictable about the kid. Finally, snapping out of his own thoughts, Hyo Shin looked up to see the mess Daehyun was making. Hyo Shin was just about to get up and slap Daehun again when Jongup and Zelo reentered the room looking perplexed and worried respectively.

                “He’s gone.” Zelo said in a rushed voice. “Did you hear me?” He said even faster. Youngjae and Himchan didn’t even bother looking over at the anxious blonde giraffe. Daehyun went on making a seven foot sandwich, totally focused on the precious food.

“Are you talking about Bang?” Hyo Shin asked Zelo.

“Yes, we looked all over the house for him. Didn’t you notice how long he’d been gone?” Zelo said.

“Of course we did.” Himchan cut in. “We even noticed when he snuck out right after leaving the table.”

“What?” Zelo walked over to Himchan, wanting more explanation.

“We knew that he was gone from the second he left. Unlike you, we can sense the spirit pressure of other LOCKS.” Himchan said.

“But only LOCKS that you are familiar with. Bang’s pressure is still new to us. How could you tell so easily?” Zelo still didn’t understand and was getting a little flared up as he questioned Himchan.

“Who do you think you're yelling at?” Himchan said, cutting Zelo a look of warning.

“I just…”

“How we knew doesn’t really matter, don’t you think?” Himchan said it nicer that time, not really wanting to be too hard on Zelo.

“Jongup, did you know too?” Zelo turned around and gave Jongup and exasperated expression. Jongup tossed a thumbs up at Zelo and nodded right away.

“Then why’d you search the whole house with me?”

“For moral support.” Jongup smiled and gave Zelo a pointless hug.

“So dumb…” Youngjae laughed under his breath.

“Why didn’t you guys say anything to me when Bang left?” Zelo asked them all as he went along with Jongup’s hug.

“To be honest, we figured you sensed it as well.” Hyo Shin admitted.

“Also, he’s been gone for over an hour now.” Zelo pointed at the time on the kitchen stove. Himchan gasped when he realized the time…

“My dramas…I missed them.” Himchan hid the letdown look on his face from everyone. “It was the series finale…” He got up to look for a television around Bang’s home.

“Yes, it has been a while.” Hyo Shin stood up then.

“We should look for him, right?” Zelo was halfway to the front door when he asked and Himchan was already searching the neat and tidy living room for a television remote.

“I suppose.” Hyo Shin said, motioning to Jongup and Youngjae.

“I was just about to get comfortable.” Youngjae got up from the table lazily.

“But…I can’t leave until I eat this beauty.” Daehyun protested, hovering over his sandwich protectively.

“Daehyun, I’m going to slap you.” Hyo Shin growled.

                Before Daehyun would run and before Hyo Shin could hit the greedy boy, a cellphone ringing made everyone stop. It was Hyo Shin’s phone. “Edward…” Hyo Shin, accepting the call. Jongup and Youngjae waited curiously as Hyo Shin made a series of annoyed, amused, twisted, angry and unreadable expressions during the call. Zelo sighed and took a seat at the table again, wishing they could walk and talk at the same time. Zelo really wanted to find Bang before any trouble did. In the living room, Himchan tried to catch the encore presentation of his drama finale and in the kitchen, Daehyun rummaged around for a bag or container big enough for his sub sandwich.

“Wait, you want to what? Have a dinner? With all of us…like together?” Hyo Shin’s eye brows were all the way raised when he repeated what Edward had suggested. “Are you drunk right now, Edward?” Hyo Shin wondered in a slightly lower tone. Daehyun and Youngjae’s eyes bulged at the idea of having dinner with the other group of LOCKS.

“Heck no.” Youngjae said blatantly.

“I’d rather shoot myself.” Daehyun shouted, cringing when he thought about sharing food with that many people…especially people he didn’t really like. Especially Onew. “Say no, Hyo Shin. You have to.” Daehyun added on, racing to the other side of the counter to stare at Hyo Shin like a hawk. Jongup looked out of the loop as he sat down beside Zelo.

“This is hardly the time for a family dinner.” Zelo commented, pulling at one of his curls.

“What makes you suggest this all of a sudden, Edward?” Hyo Shin was skeptical of the invite. Because Edward had been such a help the previous day, Hyo Shin didn’t want to reject him to harshly, but really, he didn’t want to spend much more unnecessary time with the guy, whether good food was involved or not. Himchan came back into the kitchen then, looking displeased and irritated at missing his dramas.

“What’s wrong? Miss your sappy romantic soap opera?” Youngjae teased.

“There’s several more encore showings over the weekend.” Himchan answered.

“So you admit it’s a sappy romantic soap opera?”

“What? No it’s not. That’s not what I meant…just be quiet.” Himchan went a little red, leaning on a wall again.

“Forgot the drama! Edward is inviting us over to his place for dinner…with those guys!” Daehyun yelled.

                On the other end of the phone, Edward sat in a blue leather loveseat in his lavish family room. Henry and Onew tried with all their might to snatch the phone from Edward’s hand, but he grabbed Onew’s face with his feet and held him in place.

“Ew, get your feet off my face!” Onew pleaded. Henry tried to sneak up behind his Uncle and take the cell phone, but Edward moved too fast for him and Henry was trapped in a headlock before he knew it.

“Uncle, we hate them! Don’t invite them here.” Henry yelled. Edward laughed when Daehyun yelled that he hated them as well.

“We hate you more!” Onew exclaimed, still trying to get his face free of Edward’s feet.

“Oh, shut up, you two.” Edward laughed at how worked up his boys were getting. “Hyo Shin, just come over, there are no strings attached, no funny business. I’ll have Onew cook some really good stuff. You can even have Daehyun and Hyori whip up something special.” Edward was being genuine. Typically, when he acted nice to Hyo Shin, it was just so that he could end up humiliating him in the long run. However, this time, Edward just wanted to discuss a lot of things with the two groups and didn’t feel like driving almost an hour to Hyo Shin’s place while his boys fought the whole way.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. You know our boys hate each other.” Hyo Shin said.

“True. But good food makes everyone a little easier to get along with, don’t you think?”

“Not really.” Hyo Shin knew he was being difficult, but he didn’t care, he wanted to see how serious Edward was being.

“Hyo Shin, Hyo Shin, Hyo Shin…” Edward smiled ruefully, still keeping Henry in a headlock and Onew in a foot lock.

“You’ve never invited me or my boys to your home before.” Hyo Shin pointed out.

“First time for everything.” Edward made sure to sound especially friendly that time. Ugh, it made him a little sick to be so nice to Hyo Shin…he knew Hyo Shin would blackmail it with him somehow someway in the future.

“Uncle, he said no! Just leave it at that.” Henry groaned from inside the headlock.

“Your feet are so strong, this is weird.” Onew struggled.

                Youngjae and Daehyun were shouting all their protests on the other end. At one point they got so loud that Hyo Shin tossed a random loaf of bread at Youngjae’s face. Daehyun laughed out loud but then got hit with a spatula on the back of the head.

“Uncle, Hyo Shin, we can’t go to dinner. We’ve got to look for Bang.” Zelo said. Hyo Shin nodded absentmindedly at Zelo and interrupted whatever Edward was getting ready to say on the other end of the phone.

“Edward, we actually have other things to…”

“Look, Hyo Shin, I know this may be burdensome for you all, but you know we have many things to discuss after last night. Although we may not all enjoy one another’s company, this is something that needs to happen sooner than later. Razzo is here in the city and so are all twelve Zodiac Stones…we need a plan.” Edward spoke firmly all of a sudden, hoping his grim tone would sort of intimidate Hyo Shin into just agreeing already. Truthfully, Edward had always been able to tolerate Hyo Shin more than the other way around, and he even thought his group of boys wasn’t all bad, so he didn’t have much problem inviting them over at all…as long as they didn’t break anything or touch his good wine. Plus, there were really pressing matters to discuss as a unit.

“Stop being annoying and just say yes already, you fool.” Edward suddenly snapped.

“Don’t blame me for not wanting to spend my evening with a jerk like you.” Hyo Shin snapped right back.

“Aren’t I inviting you to my beautiful home for dinner? How am I a jerk? Don’t be stupid.”

“Now you’re calling me stupid? Wow, this is the crapiest dinner invite I’ve ever heard.”

“Just be here at seven or I’ll break your arms. Bring all your boys, including the new one.” Edward said quickly, ready to end the conversation.

“You want me to bring Bang too?” Hyo Shin asked.

“Of course.” Edward rolled his eyes and released Onew from his foot restraint. Onew fell backwards on his and groaned while rubbing the sides of his face. Henry finally wrestled his way out of the headlock and circled around the loveseat, trying his hardest to snatch the phone from his Uncle. Edward giggled to himself as he switched the phone from one hand to another and even tossed it in the air a couple of times for dramatic effect.

“No, no, no, no, no don’t bring that loser over here! He’ll cause me to go crazy.” Henry dropped to his knees to plead. Edward just patted his little blonde head like he was a yappy pup.

“Crazier than you already are?” Onew asked sarcastically.

“Shut up or I’ll hug you real hard.” Henry pointed at Onew with a devilsh grin. “I know how much you just love Skinship.” Henry made good on his threat and tackled Onew in a rolling bear hug.

“Ew, ew, ew, get off!” Onew cried.

“Really? You’ll be here? Good.” Edward stood up with a satisfied look on his face.

“Say it ain’t so.” Onew groaned as Henry pulled away from him.

“If Bang comes over, I’ll kill myself.” Henry threatened.

“Okay, I’m hanging up now. See you then.” Edward hung up and smiled at the two brats.

“Get your shoes on, we’re going out for groceries.” Edward snapped his fingers for them to rush and went to grab his coat. In unison, Henry and Onew dropped their heads and sighed.

                “I can’t believe you just agreed to that.” Daehyun fell to the floor as if he had been shot.

“Get off the damn floor, Daehyun. All of you, clean this up, we’re leaving.” Hyo Shin said just before walking out of the kitchen. Himchan was right on Hyo Shin’s heels, leaving the mess to the younger boys with a teasing smile. Youngjae and Zelo started cleaning up Daehyun’s mess with frustrated expressions.

“You might as well share that sandwich now.” Zelo muttered.

“Yeah, cut me a piece.” Youngjae stopped cleaning to say.

“No way! If I don’t have time to eat it, then no one does.” Daehyun pouted, shoving the whole sub into the kitchen trashcan.

“Daehyun!” All three of them shouted.

“Five second rule…” Jongup said with a shrug.

                Bang walked slowly after he left Insoo’s house. “Can’t believe I just had lunch with a demon.” Bang said, rubbing his full stomach. Reflecting on the lunch, Bang had a weird smile on his face, he felt like he shouldn’t be smiling, but in truth, it was a good meal with good company and it had gotten his mind off the offer Hyo Shin brought to him earlier. Insoo had caught up with Bang on a lot of things and their fading friendship was sparked up again. Gunwoo shared hilarious stories from his time at Grad School and their mother’s cooking was impeccable. Bang even got to learn more about Insoo’s dad, who he had never seen too much of since the two became friends. Apparently, their father was a pediatrician who was doing charity work in Africa at the time and wouldn’t be back for at least a couple more months. After saying his goodbyes to the three at Insoo’s house, Bang mentally slapped himself for not doing a little more snooping on Gunwoo. It wasn’t as if Bang knew what to snoop for, but still, he felt like cracking jokes and eating lunch with him wasn’t exactly the best move. Bang waited at an intersection when his phone started vibrating in his back pocket. He sighed and figured it was most likely Zelo calling him…even though he had never given him his number. Pulling the phone from his pocket, Bang was ready to make up some lie about where he had been for the last hour and a half. But the person calling wasn’t Zelo. The number was from some faraway place, Bang could tell because the zip code was so unfamiliar. Bang started across the intersection, wondering if the call was even worth answering. Most likely, it was a mistake that the person was calling him from wherever they lived. Bang slid the phone back in his pocket as he got halfway across the intersection.

                Bang stiffened when he felt a heaviness run all over his body, followed by the chills. Once he made it to the other side of the intersection, he saw the person who had caused the sudden goose bumps. Further down the street to the left…there was Kai. Bang and Kai locked eyes with one another and Kai just smirked, walking coolly into an alleyway behind him. Bang didn’t really think before he went running after Kai. There was a split second while Bang was running that he thought this could be a trap or a trick, but he consciously decided that he didn’t care and was going to confront the guy who had posed as a student at his school and been a part of the attack on Insoo and Dasom, and most likely the possession of Gunwoo.

                The music was loud and vulgar. The lights were all dim neon colors. Inside the sleazy strip club, Jay sat in a round chair facing the main stage where ten female strippers danced for him. After throwing down two thousand dollars in cash, Jay had gotten the owner to kick out every other guy so that he could have a private party with just the girls and him. As soon as the owner had kicked everyone out, Jay stabbed him and threw his body out back by the dumpsters, quickly going back inside for his fun. With a glass of alcohol next to him, Jay cheesed as the strippers got more and more . Jay took out his wallet and flung a heavy stack of fifty dollar bills outward, making them rain all over the strippers. As the strippers lazily picked up the money, Jay prepared for something.

“So, what do you do for a living, big spender?” One of the ten strippers asked with a flirtatious grin. Jay tossed the grin right back, but the stripper froze, feeling like there was a dangerous vibe to the way he grinned.

“I do bad things.” Jay said.

“Like what?” The stripper sounded guarded all of a sudden.

“Like kill people.”

“What?”

“I kill people. Best job ever.” Jay said in a low voice that was almost a grumble. The stripper threw the money in Jay’s face and started trying to convince the others to leave with her. “I’m over this.” Jay stood up and kicked over the small table that was beside him. “SUMMON.” Jay summoned his sword and aimed it at the group of half-dressed girls.  Jay’s sword began to glow and then a foggy gray stream of energy emitted from it and filled the room. Razzo had passed on his technique of testing people foe Zodiac Stones to Kai, Sunmi and Jay. As the strippers went weak and began to hit the floor, Jay sighed.

“Wow, some of you are actually pretty.” Jay kept sending the gray foggy energy from his sword and the strippers continued to slip closer and closer to death. Just like when Razzo had drained Bang to the point of almost killing him, Jay now did the same. If any of these girls was the holder of a Zodiac Stones, then the stone would flee their body before they completely died…if not, they would just die. Still draining the strippers, Jay walked over to the pole and did a little dance by himself. “Should I take off my clothes?” Jay joked as the girls got closer to dying.

                After leaving Bang’s house, Himchan and Hyo Shin had split up from the rest of the group. Zelo, Daehyun, Youngjae and Jongup went in search of Bang. The group of four walked through a small park where people were jogging, playing sports, having picnics or just laying casually in the grass. While Jongup played with a group of small children at the jungle gym, Zelo power walked through the park, giving everyone and everything a long hard look to see if Bang was around. Daehyun and Youngjae were only a few steps behind Zelo, barely even trying to search.

“Ugh, can’t we stop looking already, it’s been fifteen minutes.” Daehyun groaned.

“You have to be kidding, right?” Zelo said, turning around to face the pair.

“No, really. Maybe Bang just ran away for good.” Daehyun said. Really, Daehyun didn’t believe that, but he hoped maybe Zelo would.

“Not a chance.” Zelo said quickly.

“This is boring though.” Daehyun went on complaining.

“Well, the longer we look for Bang, the longer we can avoid going to dinner at Edward’s place.” Youngjae pointed out with a content expression. He really didn’t want to spend the day looking for Bang, but he wanted to hang out with Edward’s crew even less.

“Good point.” Daehyun nodded, feeling the same way as Youngjae all of a sudden.

“Alright, so let’s keep looking. We should check the high school after this.” Zelo started speed walking again, Youngjae jogged to catch up with him. Daehyun turned around and spotted how far back Jongup was.

“Jongup, let’s go.” Daehyun shouted at his friend. Jongup said his goodbyes to the children and slid down the slide one more time before running to catch up with Daehyun.

                About an hour before locking eyes with Bang, Kai had done something really sinister. “Yes, her name is Sooyoung. Make sure you don’t hurt her too bad…” Kai said into the phone just before leaving. Kai knew what he was organizing was horrible and wrong, but he knew he had to keep Bang out of the equation. Razzo was fascinated with Bang and Kai had a suspicion that Bang was going to ruin everything for Razzo…and himself. All Kai wanted was for Razzo to get his stupid stones so that he could have Kyungsoo back, and Bang stood in the way of that because he was strong, possibly strong enough to stop Razzo entirely. As much as Kai hated going out of his way so much to aid Razzo, he tried to think of it as a favor to Kyungsoo instead. Kai would do anything to get his best friend back from the clutches of Razzo’s darkness. Having Bang’s ex-girlfriend attacked while she comfortably overseas was just the tip of the iceberg of how far Kai was willing to go.

                Bang had followed Kai’s pressure all the way to a creepy, run down looking home in the middle of an uninhabited, uncared for neighborhood. Once inside the home, Bang walked carefully around the creaky floors, waiting for Kai to show himself. “I know you’re in here.” Bang called out.

“Stop playing around!” Bang could feel the same power from the previous night welling up in him.

“This is far from a game to me.” Kai suddenly said, appearing right behind Bang. Before Bang could turn around, Kai kicked him in the back, sending him flying into the dusty TV set up against the wall. Coughing, Bang pulled himself off the floor of the abandoned house and yelled in anger.

“So, it’s a fight you want.” Bang said.

“Actually no. I want to talk.”

“Too late for talking, you bastard.” Bang caught even himself off guard when the lights swirling in his palm transformed into the sword he had wielded from the junkyard fight before. Holding his sword out, Bang readied himself for Kai. With a fake smirk of confidence on his face, Kai also summoned some light into his palm. “SUMMON!” Kai said, calling his sword forth. In a flash, both boys dashed at one another and began to clash swords. The back and forth of swinging blades of almost too fast for a normal human eye to see clearly. Kai laughed lightly to himself, both annoyed and impressed with Bang’s skill.

“For a beginner, you’re not half bad.” Kai said, blocking a heavy swing from Bang.

“Don’t compliment me.” Bang said through gritted teeth. Kai lost his footing for a second and was nearly cut by Bang. Jumping backwards, Kai made some distance between himself and Bang.

“Had enough already?” Bang boasted.

“Cocky son of a…” Kai pounced in the air, spiraling above Bang’s head. “Serpents, dance!” Kai summoned the three large spirit snakes from his blade and like a rushing waterfall, the snakes fell onto Bang, consuming him in a flood of dark blue spiritual energy. “You fight well for a beginner, but you’re still miles behind me.” Kai said, landing behind Bang. Kai started to approach Bang’s body, unsure if he wanted to just finish him off right away or test him some more.

                “I’m sick of your voice.” Bang said, flipping himself up and turning on one heel, swinging at the same time. A curved wave of bright white light came hurling at Kai. Kai jumped to his left and dodged the attack easily.

“Pitiful.” Kai laughed and rushed Bang.

“Really?” Bang asked, lunging backwards. Kai’s eyes bulged when he saw the curve attack coming toward him from far above like a boomerang. Kai was hit hard and went spinning backwards. Bang breathed a quick relieved sigh when the attack sent Kai flying out of the rusty front window of the abandoned home. Kai rolled over on the unkempt front lawn and picked a couple shards of glass from his neck.

“Cheap trick…” Kai could barely finish what he was about to say as about ten more of the white curve attacks came soaring out of the window straight for him. Shielding himself, Kai withstood most of the attack, getting several cuts and slices along his body. When the curve attacks stopped Bang ran for the window and leaped out, landing just a few feet from the cut up Kai.

“Why were you posing as a student at my school? Answer me.” Bang demanded.

“Do you really think you’re in a position to interrogate me?”

“Well, since I’m whooping your …I say yes.”

“GO!” Kai yelled, calling on his serpents again. Suddenly, one of the serpents came ghosting out from under Bang’s feet, hurling him up in the air like a beach ball. As Bang flailed in the air, the second and third serpent rammed themselves into opposite sides of Bang. Attacked harshly from both sides, Bang’s limp body slammed back to the lawn, landing in the same shattered glass from Kai fall.

                The three serpents went swiftly back to Kai, swirling around him as if they were toy cars controlled by Kai’s spirit. “You know what, I take back what I saw about you fighting well.” Kai commented.

“Screw you.” Bang spit out some blood.

“You know, the reason I brought you here really was to talk. I have a proposition for you.” Kai sounded reasonable and mellow when he spoke, but still wore such a hard face Bang didn’t know how to respond with words, so he just attacked again. ing his sword out, Bang fired a laser thin beam of white light from the tip of his sword. Kai was able to avoid to beam just by tilting his head to the left.

“That was rude.” Kai sighed, brushing off his shoulder. “Like, I said…I have an offer for you. And it’s in your best interest that you accept what I’m offering you.” Kai began walking up to Bang’s body but he stopped short when he sensed the beam coming for him from behind.

“That same trick won’t get me twice.” Kai stepped aside and the beam collided with Bang, sending a large plume of energy and smoke over the lawn. Bang coughed and spit more blood after being hit with his own attack. Bang was more shocked that his body was able to take so much damage than he was about Kai predicting his tactic. Bang struggled to stand on both his feet as the smoke cleared. Kai watched Bang steady himself with his sword and thought about how he couldn’t allow this guy to join up with Hyo Shin…he was special, too special. Special enough to ruin everything Razzo had planned.

“Listen to me. Don’t help Hyo Shin…let them erase your memories. Go back to living your normal pathetic life and in return, I’ll make sure that you and no one you care about gets hurt by Razzo or my allies.” Kai said, realizing he may as well speak fast before Bang passed out.

“What?” Bang said weakly.

“Decline Hyo Shin’s offer to join them and everyone you care about will be safe from Razzo. I promise.” Kai didn’t understand where Bang’s look of hesitation was coming from, he was offering him a great deal here. “Why would you fight to protect the city when I’m telling you now that you could live a normal life and still have your family safe? All you have to do is reject Hyo Shin’s team.” Kai was starting to sound a bit desperate as Bang took longer and longer to just say yes…which was the obvious answer.

“Answer me!” Kai yelled, losing his temper. The serpents hissed in frustration along with their master. Bang looked up at Kai slyly and even had the nerve to laugh in his face. Kai fumed and took two steps closer to Bang.

“What the hell are you laughing at?”

“You.” Bang was fast to answer that time. “Do you actually think I would trust anything that comes out of your mouth? You’re aligned with Razzo…which means you’re just as evil as him.” Bang was totally serious now, making sure he slapped Kai in the face with every word he said.

“No I’m not…” Kai whispered to himself.

“Anyone that works with Razzo isn’t capable of making promises or being trusted. So like I said before, screw you.” Bang yelled and took on a battle stance, ready for round two or three or whatever it was. Kai bit his lip, shaking his head moderately as he processed that fact that Bang was turning down his offer. Part of Kai thought Bang was a total moron for saying no, but the other part though he was really cool…that of course, was the old Kai. Also the old Kai was the part that secretly wished he could be aligned with someone as headstrong and brave as Bang.

“If you make an enemy out of me, I’ll hurt them…the ones you care most about.” Kai felt disgusted with himself as he spoke the words. This person wasn’t him. He wasn’t evil. However, how else could a person protect and save someone they loved without…evil, badness and deceit? Was it even possible? Kai felt a woozy feeling in the pit of his stomach as he spoke the threat to Bang, knowing in the back of his mind that he had already followed up on it. “So just say yes already and save them all.” Kai’s voice shook with guilt when he spoke that time.

“Saying no to your offer doesn’t mean I’m going to work with Hyo Shin, it just means I could never put the lives of people I care about in your hands.” Bang said simply, making Kai feel like the lowest piece of crap on the entire earth.

“You should have answered that…unknown call.” Kai didn’t even have the nerve to look at Bang when he said it.

“What?”

“The call you got a while ago from the unknown number. You should have picked up.”

“Do you work for my cell company or something?” Bang asked. Kai’s twisted, unamused expression stayed the same when he didn’t answer. Bang pulled his phone from his pocket and quickly redialed the number that had called earlier. Unsure of what to expect, Bang hoped this was just some dumb trick to distract him.

“Hello?” A boy answered. He sounded young.

“Hello…you called me…” Bang said doubtfully.

“Oh, is this Yongguk? Bang? It’s you, right?” The young boy asked again.

“Yeah…” Bang was getting a familiar vibe from the boy’s voice. “Who are you?” Bang asked.

“It’s me, Momoru. You remember me, right? Sooyoung’s younger brother.” The boy was starting to sound rushed and worked up. Bang could tell there was something he needed to get off his chest.

“Momoru. Yes, I remember you well. What’s going…” Bang couldn’t finish before Momoru cut him off frantically.

“Bang, I calling everyone my sister knows to tell them about her accident and that…”

“Accident?” Bang nearly screamed into the phone.

“Yes, my sister was mugged earlier today and was roughed up a lot. She’s in the hospital recovering right now.” Momoru reception was starting to get bad and Bang had to struggle to both hear and stay conscious. “I’m calling you because even though you live far away, you should know.” Momoru said.

“Who did this?” Bang was asking Kai, but Momoru answered.

“No suspects so far…but the police know it was planned.”

“Planned?” Bang stared at Kai for a the remainer of the call, feeling more hatred for a person than he had ever felt in his life.

“Yes, it was planned by someone who knew my sister’s schedule well. I’m going back to the hospital right now. Do you want me to tell her anything for you?”

“You’re breaking up, Momoru.” Bang said in a detached, unfeeling voice.

“What? I didn’t hear you, Bang. The reception is horrible.”

“Take care of your sister, Momoru.” Bang hung up the phone then, dropping to his knees.

“Now do you see…what we’re capable of?” Kai said, hiding all the sympathy in his voice.

“I’m literally going to rip your throat out.” Bang said in low grumble. Kai started to see thin currents of energy and pressure welling up around Bang.

“I deserve to die…not yet though, I can’t.” Kai said it more to himself than Bang and commanded his three serpents to charge at the kneeling Bang in front of them. Bang didn’t even fight back as the serpents crashed into his body, once again overwhelming him in their dark blue spirit energy. Bang laid on the ground, defeated and wide eyed. Sooyoung was hurt. It was Kai’s fault. Those were the only two things Bang kept thinking about. Bang stayed on the ground for nearly an hour, weak from both the fight and the crushing realization about Sooyoung being mugged. Bang literally had to picture himself murdering Kai just to find the strength the pull himself off the ground. Standing on two feet again, Bang spit out some more blood and started walking…with purpose this time.

 

“Bang is a big boy, Zelo, he can find his way home on his own. All four of you need to get over to Edwards’ place now.” Hyo Shin hung up on his nephew before the whining and protesting started up. Slipping the phone back into his pocket, Hyo Shin walked up to Edward’s front door with Himchan quietly at his side, holding the largest Americano coffee he could buy from the café on the way. Himchan was slightly more chipper than usual since he had been able to go home with Hyo Shin and record his dramas before they headed over to Edward’s house for dinner. Even though Himchan would have to deal with annoying Jonghyun and the others, he had his caffeine and his dramas so it wouldn’t be so awful. Zelo’s little sister, Hyori had wanted to attend the dinner, but ended up going to some silly pizza parlor with Uko and her step-mother. Even though Hyo Shin didn’t like Zelo or Hyori getting too close to people in the cities they visited, he hadn’t seen Hyori so excited and carefree in a while and couldn’t bring himself to say no.

 Hyo Shin knocked once and seconds later Jonghyun answered the door shirtless with a pair of cutoff denim shorts on.

“Hi.” Jonghyun smiled wide as he showed the world his perfect chocolate abs.

“How are you, Jonghyun?” Hyo Shin nodded as Jonghyun moved to invite them in.

“Pretty good. I just woke up from a nap but I’m tired again.” Jonghyun yawned.

“What else is new…” Himchan said while biting on his straw.

“Himchan, buddy! I’m so glad you could make it.” Jonghyun gave a sarcastic wink at Himchan. Really, he was just happy he’d get to tease and annoy Himchan all night. “Did you get that Americano from the café two streets down? A lot of the workers there love me. Next time, tell them you know me and they’ll give you a discount.” Jonghyun wrapped his bare arm around Himchan, making Himchan edge away.

“People…like you?” Himchan questioned. Hyo Shin and Jonghyun laughed lightly. Edward, Onew and Henry walked up to the group then. Onew and Henry had blatant frowns on their face. Hyo Shin looked from their sour faces over to Edward’s pleasant one.

“Welcome.” Edward said, clapping his hands together once.

“So, how long you staying?” Henry blurted out.

“We have boxes if you want to take your food to go?” Onew added on. Edward took a step behind both boys and slapped them on the back of the head.

“Nice place.” Hyo Shin commented.

“Where is everyone else?” Taemin asked as he came into view from the living room.

“On their way.” Hyo Shin smiled and Taemin did the same. There was a couple seconds of awkward silence before Henry finally spoke.

“Is Bang coming?” He asked with a bite to his voice.

“What about Daehyun?” Onew also sounded peeved.

“Maybe and yes.” Hyo Shin said as Edward led them towards the kitchen.

                Just about half an hour later, Jongup, Daehyun and Youngjae arrived at Edward’s place…without Zelo or Bang. Youngjae explained casually that Zelo wanted to keep looking for Bang and as annoyed as Hyo Shin was, he decided to let it go for the night. With all six of Edward’s boys and four of Hyo Shin’s together…there was complete and utter chaos in the fancy kitchen. Daehyun and Onew continuously bickered over who was more annoying between the two of them, what to cook, what to eat, how to eat well, who could eat more and who knew more about good food in general. Neither boy was a chef or even wanted to be one…they just had such passions for food that it caused issues between them. While Daehyun and Onew argued over food, Jonghyun made it his mission to politely disturb Himchan as much as possible by sitting his shirtless body right next to him and talking his ear off like they were best friends. Himchan sipped his extra huge Americano, both ignoring and snapping at Jonghyun.

“Sell them!” Youngjae shouted, pointing his finger at Key and his trendy outfit.

“Never!” Key shouted back, looking all offended in the face.

“Because you know the value is low, right?” Youngjae laughed.

“My clothes are worth a fortune, so shut up.” Key slammed his hands on the kitchen island like he was a lawyer in a court room.

“I know money when I see it…and when I look at you, I don’t see it.” Youngjae said nonchalantly, turning his back on Key as if he was just a lower class street kid.

“You punk! Let’s see your wallet then. Since you know money so well.” Key demanded.

“Money brings the bad out of people.” Jongup said, entering their argument.

“That’s easy for a broke person to say.” Henry obnoxiously laughed, throwing his hands and legs up.

“I’m not broken. Am I?” Jongup wondered.

“Pull your wallet out then, Mr. Money Bags.” Key raised an eye brow as he mocked Youngjae.

“Sorry, I don’t take orders from people with negative zero taste in fashion.” Youngjae countered, flipping his hair as his inner diva flowed out.

“This room isn’t big enough for both of their egos.” Minho commented from the sidelines.

“Did you…just insult…my sense…of…fashion?” Key could barely even speak as he turned a hilarious red color.

“If the shoe fits.” Youngjae instigated even more.

“Aaaahhh!” Key shouted, leaping over the counter at Youngjae. While the two wrestled on the floor, Jonghyun went on messing with Himchan.

“Hey, Himchannie, yesterday at the gym, I realized that I could do this.” Jonghyun started making his chest muscles move up and down. Himchan lost his cool composure, spitting out his gulp of Americano coffee and nearly choking afterwards.

“You weirdo! Why must you always be half dressed?” Himchan shouted, sliding his chair far from Jonghyun.

“Clothes are a prison sometimes. Himchan…take off your clothes.” Jonghyun said calmly with a creepish grin.

“Are you crazy?! Stop messing with me already, go hug Onew or something.” Himchan begged, losing his usual cool guy appearance. Jonghyun was probably the only one skilled enough to shake Himchan up that way.

“Nice idea.” Jonghyun hopped up to go give Onew a big shirtless hug.

                Daehyun and Onew were having a tug of war over a plate of raw chicken in the meantime.

“We’re going to have it fried, Onew. Give me the damn plate.” Daehyun snatched the plate away.

“No freaking way. I want grilled chicken, so get your greedy hands off.” Onew slid the plate back his way.

“Fried.”

“Grilled”

“Fried.”

“Grilled.” Onew snatched the plate just as Jonghyun grabbed him up in a shirtless back hug.

“My dear friend, I’m sleepy.” Jonghyun said softly in Onew’s ear. Onew let go of the plate and started struggling for his life.

“JONGHUN! Let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go, this is so gross, I’m going to kill you.” Onew flung himself all around, unable to break free of Jonghyun’s cute hug.

“He hates Skinship so much! Yes, hug him harder, Jonghyun!” Henry went on laughing obnoxiously, swirling in his chair and jerking his head all the way back to let out louder, harder cackles. Onew went running around the kitchen with Jonghyun on his back.

“Don’t step on them.” Minho exclaimed when Onew hopped over Youngjae and Key wrestling on the floor. Daehyun took his chance to start frying up the raw chicken. Jongup took a dish towel and started fanning Himchan, who was all red and uncomfortable. Minho dived to the floor to try and break up the wrestling match and Onew just kept running around Jonghyun on his back while Henry went on laughing like a hyena.

“Fry, baby, fry!” Daehyun sang as he dropped chicken in the hot oil.

                Meanwhile, Taemin sat on the floor of the living room, completely focused on his video game like a good kid. Hyo Shin and Edward sat in opposite loveseats, peacefully watching Taemin navigate through his game. Taemin dropped the controller when he cleared the level.

Congratulations, you’ve cleared lever fourteen. The game spoke to Taemin.

“Fighting.” The three in the living room said at the same time.

                Dasom continued to doze off as she sat at the work desk in her room. With a brand new sketch book in front of her, Dasom drifted further and further into a light sleep…which turned deep fairly quickly. Dasom fell into a nightmare right away.

Sitting in front of a large, royal looking vanity, Dasom watched as Gunwoo walked over to her with a diamond necklace in his hands.

“You didn’t have to get me anything, Gunwoo.” Dasom said, smiling girlishly.

“It’s our anniversary.” Gunwoo commented as he moved Dasom’s hair to one side and began putting on the necklace. Dasom closed her eyes when Gunwoo started kissing her neck…but screamed when he whispered something brutal in her ear. Dasom opened her eyes to see Gunwoo now applying a wire around her neck.

“What are you doing?” Dasom watched as Gunwoo tightened the wire and started strangling her, cutting in the process. The wire started to slice into Dasom’s throat, causing red to seep out heavily.

                Dasom screamed herself awake and shoved her office chair far from her desk.

“Whoa there.” Dasom’s mother said as she stopped Dasom from rolling right into the wall. “Honey, are you okay?” The mother put both hands on her daughter’s shoulders, looking into her eyes worriedly. Dasom took five long, deep breaths before she smiled pleasantly at her mother.

“Mom, sorry I scared you.”

“You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Bad dream.” Dasom stood up and looked at herself in the mirror…making sure her neck was okay really.

“You sure that’s all it was?” The mother asked.

“Yeah, it was actually pretty silly.” Dasom lied.

“If you say so. Anyway, get your coat, we're going out for dinner.” The mother turned to leave then but stopped to give her daughter one more wary look.

“Mom, I’ll be right down I promise I’m alright.” Dasom faked an ever bigger smile until her mom was out of the room completely. Once she was alone, Dasom slapped her palm over , shut the door and started hyperventilating.

                Insoo’s mother wanted to take her two sons out to the batting cages (even though it had always been their dad who liked baseball). The woman honked the horn of Gunwoo’s luxury car, rushing them to hurry up and join her. “Slow pokes.” The woman pouted from the passenger seat. Inside the house, Insoo came down the stairs a bit drearily. With his jacket in one hand and iPod in the other, Insoo looked around for his brother once he was at the foot of the staircase.

“Gunwoo? Are you ready to go?” Insoo asked, slinging the jacket over his shoulder.

“Just about.” Gunwoo was in front of the mirror right beside the family room, fixing his hair so it looked all manly and suave and effortless. “I need a new look.” Gunwoo said, staring at his reflection like it was someone he didn’t really recognize. Insoo strolled over to his brother with a small laugh.

“Plastic surgery?” Insoo joked.

“Nothing that serious.” Gunwoo laughed with his brother, but…his reflection didn’t. Insoo wasn’t sure if he was just seeing things but he could have bet his life that he saw the reflection stay totally stone faced as Gunwoo laughed. Insoo rubbed his eyes and looked again to see nothing out of the ordinary. Insoo sighed and figured he must’ve just been tired and a little loopy.

“Let’s go before mom steals my car and never comes back.” Gunwoo said, walking away from the mirror with Insoo.  Even with Gunwoo out of the house completely, the reflection remained.

                Edward was at one end of his large, new dining room table and Hyo Shin was at the other end. The two of them sat in annoyed silence as the two clans of boys argued on and on and on, not even paying much attention to all the food in front of them. Hyo Shin yawned and was just about to give Zelo another call when a biscuit hit him in the face.

“Okay, who the hell threw that at me?” Hyo Shin demanded hilariously.

“It was me.” Daehyun admitted with his head down. “Can I have it back…it looks good.” He asked in fake innocence.

“Why the hell would you throw a biscuit at me?” Hyo Shin ate the biscuit himself.

“I was aiming for Onew’s huge head.” Daehyun groaned.

“At least my head is filled with some common sense.” Onew yelled across the table. Edward rolled his eyes as the two boys started another loud mouthed argument.

“Alright, shut up everyone.” Edward kept his collected expression as he shouted at them all. Both groups of boys stopped their bickering long enough for Edward to go on speaking.

“We have some serious things to talk about tonight.” Edward went on, making eye contact with everyone around him.

“Without Zelo?” Himchan asked after taking a sip of hot black coffee he had recently made for himself before taking a seat. Himchan didn’t really care if they had the conversation without Zelo, it was his own fault for missing it and quite frankly, he felt like Zelo got babied too much. Really, Himchan was only asking to see if anyone even noticed that the blonde giraffe still hadn’t showed up.

“Yes, without him.” Hyo Shin answered Himchan’s question, mentally scolding Zelo for being so disobedient. Hyo Shin took a quick sip of some wine as Edward moved the topic along.

“Hyo Shin, my friend…have you gotten anywhere with Bang?” Edward asked. All heads and eyes went to Hyo Shin, waiting to see just what he would say. However, Hyo Shin didn’t get the opportunity to speak before Henry’s phone went off loudly.

“Same unknown number. What the heck is this about?” Henry looked frustrated as he declined the call from the number for the ninth time that day.

“Maybe if you answered it, they would stop calling you.” Minho pointed out the obvious.

“Can I be excused?” Henry asked his Uncle.

“Hurry.” Edward said.

Henry redialed the number as he walked out of the dining room and into the upstairs hallway. “Hey, who are you and why do you keep calling me?” Henry asked politely enough. Right away, Henry recognized Momoru’s voice and expected some type of negative news. He was right. As Momoru told Henry the same facts about Sooyoung’s mugging, Henry clutched the stair railing and yelled for Momoru to speak clearer, faster and hand the phone over to Sooyoung. Henry wanted to jump on a plane right then, but he would have to stop shaking and cursing the mugger so much first. Anger and concern surged through Henry’s body as he started to clumsily look for the passport in his room. Downstairs, Edward and Minho were both on their feet, about to go check on Henry’s and all his commotion. While nobody was looking at him, Youngjae whispered over to Hyo Shin. “Are you going to tell them Bang ran away?” Hyo Shin put his wine down so he could slap Youngjae on the back of the head, but the loud sounds coming from the front room stopped everyone in place. Like the small army they were, everyone dashed from the dining room table to the front door to see Zelo supporting a beaten up and defeated looking Bang in the doorway.

“Whoa.” Jonghyun said, seeing how Bang had clearly been on the losing end of a fight.

“Speak of the devil…” Onew muttered.

“And he will appear.” Key finished the sentence for him. Hyo Shin took one or two big strides over to his nephew and Bang, demanding to know what had happened just by the look on his face.

“I found him like this.” Zelo said. Bang broke off of Zelo and nearly toppled over on his own, but surprisingly, Daehyun caught him before he fell.

“Dude, who did you fight?” Daehyun asked.

“I’m going to kill him.” Bang said just before passing out right there in Daehyun’s arms.

“Can I let him fall now?” Daehyun asked after an awkward moment dragged by.

 

 

Well, that’s it for chapter FOUR!! I know it took a long time for this update but I didn’t have as much free time for this chapter. Anyway, I’ll try to get chapter five up quicker and once again, THANKS FOR READING AND ALL THAT GOOD STUFF!

OMG Kai was so bad in this chapter, right?!