Hyo Shin had gotten up at the crack of dawn to start his day…with Edward. Neither man was particularly thrilled about it, but there were a lot more leads to follow up on and they figured that if they wanted something done right, they might as well do it themselves. Hyo Shin figured his boys would mostly goof off and neglect the task and Edward had a gut feeling his boys would go out of their way to come up with every excuse they could think of in order to get out of the assignment. Poor, innocent Taemin would probably be the only one to actually do it. And even he wouldn’t enjoy it.  Hyo Shin was supposed to meet up with Edward at his place, but apparently Edward wasn’t there and instead picked Hyo Shin up almost an hour early, looking a bit nervous and red faced. As Edward drove his luxury car in near silence, Hyo Shin read through the stack of papers on his lap, trying to figure out which lead was closest to where they currently were.

“Well?” Edward groaned.

“Well, what?” Hyo Shin retorted.

“Where the hell are we going next? Does it really take an hour to pick someone from that list?”

“It can if you keep pissing me off.” Hyo Shin started moving intentionally slow.

“Oh, don’t be immature.”

“You’re the one nagging. And your breath stinks too, did you brush?” Hyo Shin went back to filing through the papers with a little sneer on his lips. Edward jerked the wheel to the right suddenly and Hyo Shin’s head hit the window. Hyo Shin yelled out in frustration and fought back the urge to pull his rival’s hair. “I’ll kill you.” Hyo Shin warned, shaking his head back and forth.

“Then I’ll crash the car and we’ll both die.” Edward pointed out, stopping at a red light in the residential area. “And I bet you don’t want to die a .” He added.

“A ?” Hyo Shin exclaimed, turning red immediately with both irritation and embarrassment.

“Just kidding…unless you really are one.” Edward teased.

“None of your business.” Hyo Shin had completely stopped looking through the pages for another lead.

“That means yes.” Edward laughed to himself, cutting off a smaller car that was driving way under the speed limit.

“Just shut up and drive.” Hyo Shin cussed under his breath, still wondering if he could attack Edward while he drove and avoid vehicular manslaughter.

                Finally, Hyo Shin had decided on the next lead for them to check out. A middle-aged blonde woman who worked at a car lot…as a janitor. She didn’t sound very impressive on paper but Edward had personally added her to the list himself so they made the time for her. “No, turn left here.” Hyo Shin sighed when Edward started taking the directions into his own hands.

“I know a short cut.” Edward hushed him up.

“You don’t even live over this way.”

“Do you love arguing with me? Is that what it is?”

“I don’t love anything about you.”
“The feeling is mutual.” Edward laughed small, still going whichever way he pleased. The men rode in silence for about twenty minutes, both thinking about the same things…in their own ways. Razzo. Hyo Shin was having bothersome memories of when Razzo had attempted to possess his body five years prior in Japan. Luckily, Hyo Shin had been strong enough to fend off Razzo’s advances back then, however, as a side effect, he had a small chill that constantly ran through him whenever he even thought of Razzo. It was almost as if a part of Razzo really had found a way inside of Hyo Shin…but he really, really didn’t want to accept or even talk about that. Hyo Shin’s brows furrowed when he recalled the bad news Zelo and Bang had brought to him the previous night. Once again, Razzo and his crew had attacked innocent people in the city. And once again, both Hyo Shin and Edward’s camp were more than a few steps behind on the defensive side. Hyo Shin sighed to himself when he started to wonder if seeking out this family of supposed extinct witches was actually a waste of time. Maybe the best tactic would’ve just been to seek out Razzo’s flunkies…kill them, and then the big guy himself.

                Edward checked his phone when the text tone sounded. Henry had sent him a text letting him know he was back in the city. Edward nodded in response to the text, but felt no urgency to reply right away. Slowing at a stop sign, Edward started to think about the other three Zodiac Stones. If those holders of them were really in the city like Gunwoo stated…that was bad, but also good. Bad because that meant they were close to Razzo, but it also meant they were close to the good guys and could be extracted. However, whether it was Razzo or even some hobo on the streets who found the holders really didn’t matter. There would still be a fight, a struggle, a war and most likely deaths. Some time passed before the two men came to their senses and realized they’d been at the stop sign for a while.

“Pay attention, Edward.” Hyo Shin said calmly.

“Okay, sorry.” Edward responded politely, not even noticing how kind they had just spoken to one another.

“You know I was serious about your bad breath, right?” Hyo Shin broke the good moment.

“I will crash this car, Hyo Shin.”

“Did your lady friend cook lots of onions and garlic?” Hyo Shin reclined in his seat slightly, feeling like he was safer if Edward couldn’t meet his gaze in the mirrors.

“Mind your business.”

“What was she like? Where’d you meet her? You usually date younger girls. Was she a college girl?” Hyo Shin asked, making a hand motion to gesture something about size.

“We are not talking about this.” Edward rolled his eyes.

“That means she was ugly.” Hyo Shin laughed, turning up loud country music to drown out Edward’s yelling.

                After his slap to the face, Bang had stalked through the hall, ignoring all the jokes and insults from his peers. The more he stalked away, his confusion turned to humiliation and then finally anger. “She’s a psycho.” Bang declared walking into his homeroom class and plopping into his seat. Gently, he rubbed his face and tried to picture some kind of crazed hell banshee that was possessing that petite girl to be so freaking crazy. Maybe Razzo had a sister that was living inside her too? Bang doubted it but still, what else was he supposed to think when this girl was calling him a child killer and hopping onto his back like an escaped primate? “Your face is red, Bang.” The homeroom teacher said, as he slid into his desk with a fresh cup of strong smelling coffee.

“Oh, yeah…I got bit by a bug.” Bang grinned a gummy smile as he lied.

“Really? Because everyone in the teacher’s lounge says you got the wind slapped out of you.” The teacher rose an eye brow as he sipped away at his coffee. Bang huffed and buried his head as some loud, joking students started showing up next. “What a great way to start my day.” Bang moaned.

                “Did you rename the folder so it won’t be obvious?” Youngjae asked Daehyun as they walked down a wide school hall with one another.

“Of course I did? You think I’m stupid? I take my special movies very seriously.” Daehyun smirked.

“What did you name the folder?” Youngjae paused, expecting a stupid answer.

“Daehyun’s Peaceful Time” Daehyun said with a proudness in his voice.

“Oh boy…” Youngjae couldn’t even begin to go into detail about how dumb Daehyun was. Daehyun was going to ask something to his best friend, but suddenly tripped over something in the middle of the floor and fell, just barely catching himself. “What the heck?” Daehyun’s eyes bulged from shock and then narrowed to annoyance when he spotted what it was that caused his fall.

“Jongup, what are you doing in the middle of the floor? Wait…do I even want to know?” Youngjae crossed his arms and stared down at Jongup, who was sprawled out all dramatically in the middle of the floor like he was a human X. “You idiot, Jongup! Is this payback for me accidentally using your toothbrush this morning? If you were that mad, you should’ve just said so.” Daehyun rolled up his sleeves and pulled up Jongup forcefully. “Get up so I can punch you in the gut.” Daehyun steadied the boy so he could get a good punch going.

“Daehyun, shut up.” Youngjae said, stepping in between the boys.

“If you’re going to hit me, aim for the heart. It’s already broken anyway.” Jongup solemnly said, sniffling as if he had been crying.

“Okay, sounds good to me.” Daehyun threw some practice punches first.

“Jongup, speak clearly. What are you talking about?” Youngjae was both puzzled and aggravated.

“My heart feels like someone poured hot sauce all over it.” Jongup grabbed at his chest like he was about to have a heart attack.

“Does that mean you’re like…?” Daehyun made a twisted face.

“Jongup, we seriously have no idea what you’re talking about.” Youngjae said.

“My girlfriend is gone with the wind.” Jongup admitted, spinning dramatically so that he could slumps down into a corner and hide his face.

“This boy…” Daehyun muttered.

“You have a girlfriend?” Youngjae squinted, scratching his head.

“Define girlfriend.” Jongup rose a finger and peeped.

“You first.” Youngjae replied. Jongup and the two other boys went into an empty classroom, sitting in random seats. Jongup took a long deep breath and sniffled another heap of snot up his runny, slightly red nose. “Okay, so what’s this about your girlfriend?” Youngjae asked, proceeding with caution so Jongup wouldn’t break into all the weird dramatics again.

“I was dating someone for a little bit. I knew Hyo Shin would be upset so I kept it a secret from everyone.” Jongup confessed. “How did you get a girlfriend when we’ve only been in this city for a couple weeks?” Daehyun yelled, feeling a ping of jealousy. Jongup looked over at Daehyun and replied softly. “I knew her from somewhere else and we kept in contact when I moved here.” Youngjae and Daehyun looked at each other with shocked expressions that carried slight traces of being impressed. “That’s not possible. How could someone like you pull off something like that?” Daehyun spoke with his hands, trying to add it all up right there on the spot.

“You don’t even seem like the boyfriend type.” Youngjae noted.

“Are these compliments?” Jongup asked with a serious face.

“So, you know you’ve got to dump this girl, right?” Daehyun blurted out. “We can’t get our lives mixed up with all these regular people.” He tried to calm his tone, not sure if Jongup would break out in waterworks next.

“That was my plan…well, actually I was just going to fake my own death.” Jongup revealed his plan easily. “Do you wanna see the blueprints I had?” He started going through his bag.

“Not even a little bit.” Daehyun shook his head as he dashed across to Jongup and snatched the pointless papers out of the boy’s hands. “I didn’t have anything written out anyway, haha” Jongup covered his mouth, laughing all embarrassed. “I swear you’re an alien from Neptune.” Daehyun frowned down on his aloof friend, wanting to both punch and hug him. Ew, Daehyun didn’t like feeling stuff like that. Youngjae scooted closer to both boys without getting up from his seat. “Wait…so what exactly happened to the girl?” Youngjae asked, leaning forward as he whispered.

“She’s going abroad.” Jongup peeped.

“Oh, how typical. What is this, a drama?” Daehyun groaned as he took a seat on top of the desk where Youngjae was seated.

“She probably just told you that so she could get you off her back.” Daehyun added nonchalantly.

“Is this supposed to make me feel better? I’ve never been in this situation, so I don’t know.” Jongup scrunched up his face, hoping that would hold back some of the tears. Although his relationship with Bora had mostly been shallow and one-sided, he had really liked her and felt genuinely sad that she was already out of his life. As he presented a note from his pocket, Jongup felt a quick bit of resentment for his new life for the first time in a very long time. Jongup wished he could go back to being normal and being able to have friends freely without wondering when he would have to vanish from their lives. Daehyun took the note from Jongup and started reading it. Youngjae read the note from over Daehyun’s shoulder and then took a long look at Jongup, feeling bad for the guy. It appeared that he indeed had been close with a girl for a while. This girl, Bora was apparently in a rush because her handwriting was both sloppy and incorrect in many places. In the note, Bora explained somewhat vaguely how she had gotten a great opportunity to study fashion and modeling in Italy with a group of other girls her age and it had all been made possible because of her older sister. Bora said it was a once in a life time opportunity and that she was definitely going to take it. Towards the end of the note, she thanked Jongup for being sweet to her and said goodbye. “Hm, I guess you weren’t lying.” Daehyun leapt from the desk and patted Jongup on the shoulder. “Don’t be too sad, there’s plenty of fish in the sky.” Daehyun said. “That’s not how the expression goes.” Youngjae corrected, standing up as well. “We won’t tell Hyo Shin about this Jongup.” He added.

“I should’ve never pursed it…” Jongup said emotionlessly.

“Eh, trust me, we’ve all wanted to have some normal back in our lives again. There’s nothing wrong with wanting that.” Youngjae smiled at his sad friend. Daehyun wasn’t listening as Youngjae and Jongup went on with their conversation. Staring at Jongup, Daehyun kept thinking about easily some people can surprise you. Jongup always seemed so cheerful and content with everything around him, so Daehyun was very taken aback to find out that not only had Jongup tried to salvage a little bit of a normal life again…but he was actually depressed because of it failing. Even hard-, loudmouth, aggressive Daehyun had to admit that it was unfortunate and that he did feel sad for Jongup. However, he did wish that Jongup and Zelo would realize that there really was no way out of this life. The sooner they realized that, the sooner they could stop hurting themselves and ruining things for everyone else. Youngjae and Jongup were halfway out of the room before Daehyun began to follow them, changing the subject to sports.

                Dasom fidgeted with her napkin as she sat across from Gunwoo in the fancy restaurant. Even during the morning hours, this particular restaurant was pretty busy and still served fresh, gourmet, critically acclaimed food. Dasom had wanted to visit it since it was built a week before Gunwoo had initially left for grad school, but the two of them never had the time. Both Dasom and Gunwoo promised the first time they ate there would be together. And so, there they were. Seated somewhat in the heart of the restaurant, the couple tried to be romantic and happy on this anniversary. Gunwoo ate happily, making satisfied expressions and sound effects at the taste of everything in front of him. In this moment, Razzo wasn’t in control…it was all Gunwoo. Razzo didn’t really need to control Gunwoo 24/7 and would sometimes just allow his powers to strengthen by taking a backseat in the boy’s body for a while. Gunwoo looked up from his food and noticed Dasom looking blankly at the food in front of her, playing around with the napkins and forks. “Are you still tired?” Gunwoo asked, reaching across the table for his girlfriend’s hand. Dasom jumped a little when Gunwoo touched her skin. Luckily, she was able to hide her discomfort with a pleasant smile. “Maybe a little. I got dressed so fast, I barely had time to really wake up.” Dasom said, beginning to eat her food. She fed herself some of the food and flashed another, brighter smile at Gunwoo, which made him light up.

                Dasom’s thoughts were all over the place as Gunwoo grinned and started talking about how jealous he felt of the guy’s at grad school who had their girlfriend’s right there with them. Gunwoo went on and on, telling Dasom about all the things at grad school that reminded him of her and how he got on everyone’s nerves because he never wanted to go out and preferred to stay in and study or check her SNS pages just to see her. Dasom nodded and commented at all the right times, encouraging Gunwoo…but truly, she wasn’t really on the same page with a lot of what he was saying. There was a long period of time while Gunwoo was away that he never even wrote back to Dasom or returned any of her text messages. It was as if he had been kidnapped. Dasom was able to put most of that behind her when Gunwoo returned that first day, but now her anxiety in relation to that was starting to come back because he was just so damn different. There was a total darkness and ominous feeling around Gunwoo. Really, it was like he had been drained of all the things that made him so perfect in her eyes. Heck, even Insoo had commented on it and he was the only one who knew Gunwoo as well as she did. It didn’t help that he had been showing up in all of her nightmares. Dasom could barely get a good night of sleep without seeing Gunwoo trying to harm her in her dreams. What was that all about? And the bigger question…what was she supposed to do? Could she really come out and ask Gunwoo why he had been acting like a different person and where all the character changes were coming from? What if it was something horrible or nothing at all? Dasom laughed at something Gunwoo said and then stopped short when she realized he hadn’t told a joke at all. Oops. Gunwoo didn’t seem to notice how little she was paying attention anyway, so she was in the clear. Suddenly, Dasom spotted the tan boy standing by the entrance again. It was her fourth time noticing this boy staring at her. The first couple of times, she had brushed it off and then after that, she had been too wrapped up in her own thoughts to care. However, now she was getting freaked out by the way he stared at her as well as Gunwoo. Did he know them? Did he have some connection to Gunwoo? Dasom gave the mysterious stranger a sidelong look and then tried to zone back into what Gunwoo was speaking about.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Gunwoo asked, looking into Dasom’s eyes like she was absolutely the only thing that mattered in that moment. Dasom hesitated for a moment, then decided to be honest with Gunwoo, since he at least seemed somewhat like his regular self today.

“Well, it’s just…that boy has been watching us this whole time.” Dasom said, moving a strand of hair from her face to get a clearer look at the guy. Gunwoo furrowed his brows and whipped his head to the side, immediately meeting Kai’s gaze. “Who? Him?” Gunwoo sounded mad, raising his voice a bit.

“Yes. Let’s call the manager and ask him to do something about it.” Dasom suggested.

“If he’s bothering you, then it’s my job to handle it.” Gunwoo said, getting up quickly.

“Gunwoo, what are you going to do?” Dasom gaped, dropping her fork on her plate. Gunwoo strolled over to where Kai was standing at the entrance and pulled him off to the side of the restaurant, away from where Dasom could see.

                Once alone with Gunwoo, Kai stiffened, thinking about the information he was planning on dropping on him about how he and Jay had made no advancement in finding the family of witches that were supposedly still living among them. However, Kai was shaken when he very quickly tuned in to the fact that Gunwoo was actually Gunwoo right then, not Razzo.

“You’re freaking my girlfriend out, so stop staring at us already.” Gunwoo said, sounding more violent and pissed off than anyone had ever heard him. Even when Razzo wasn’t directing him, there was still a ruthless, dark streak implanted into Gunwoo’s personality because of the possession. Kai stuttered for the right thing to say…usually once he was in Gunwoo’s presence, Razzo would take over. But that wasn’t really happening this time. “Sir…it’s me.” Kai said lowly.

“Sir? What the hell? You weirdo, get out of here already before I call the owner.” Gunwoo motioned violently for Kai to get out of his sight. Kai didn’t move quickly enough and Gunwoo shoved him hard, causing him to fall backwards on the sidewalk. “I said get lost!” Gunwoo pointed down at him as he roared the four words.

“Razzo.” Kai tried again but Gunwoo just rolled his sleeve up like he was about to swing this time. Kai quickly darted off, realizing Razzo was not coming out this time. Gunwoo watched Kai disappear, feeling like a tough guy for a split second and then totally wondering why he had overreacted like that. Dasom had watched the whole thing unfold from around the corner and quickly went back to her seat before Gunwoo spotted her. Breathing heavily, Dasom wondered how she could fake her through the rest of the date with a man she really didn’t know.

                Kai returned to the hideout cussing at the top of his lungs and shaking from head to toe with anger that stemmed from every emotion ranging from resentment to jealously, nostalgia and even rejection. Kai’s hate for Razzo was stronger than ever as he ripped through his own room at the hideout, looking for something specific that he had misplaced. Angry tears welled up in Kai’s eyes as he huffed and tossed some more of his things to the side in a beastly way. Kai’s only reason for serving a demented, twisted killing machine like Razzo was so that he could get his friend, Kyungsoo back when it was all over. Razzo knew that of course, and often waved the prize in front of Kai’s face as if he was some stupid little puppy who would always come back the next day to beg for the same treat. Even still, Razzo kept Kai close and Kai stayed close doing whatever he was told and sometimes more…but Razzo still treated him like crap. Really? It was too much for Razzo to sense Kai’s pressure and take control at the restaurant? He couldn’t even do that? Kai was sure that Razzo was probably laughing his evil off as Kai got roughed up by the real Gunwoo. Kai had nearly torn his whole room apart before he found the small photograph he was looking for. One of the last pictures Kai had with his friend, Kyungsoo…before he started to change for the worst. Kai and Kyungsoo had grown up together as best friends since the age of ten. Everything in their lives was normal and perfect and made sense. Even the hard times were bearable. However, it was almost impossible to process just how simply everything changed and began to spiral out of control when Kyungsoo’s parents were murdered on his fifteenth birthday. LOCKS had been the ones to take Kyungsoo’s parents and that was what caused Kyungsoo to develop an intense fascination as well as intense hate of the LOCKS. Kyungsoo felt they were a mistake created by the universe and should be wiped out. For a couple years, Kyungsoo’s whole personality and behavior changed…he became secluded, anti-social, obsessed and down-right mean as he spent every waking hour trying to find a way to locate the exact LOCKS that killed his parents. In Kyungsoo’s darkest time, Razzo showed himself, or at least revealed himself (since he had no physical form then either). Promising Kyungsoo all sorts of revenge for his parents, Razzo was able to possess the boy. The immediate power of Razzo taking over Kyungsoo’s body, forced his hidden LOCK abilities to manifest. Kyungsoo was even more disgusted when he discovered he was a LOCK himself. And because Kyungsoo’s physical body had been through so much, plus, his mental state wasn’t so good…Razzo’s darkness completely consumed him, simply making him that much more menacing and powerful. Razzo tried possessing Kai, but wasn’t able to do for reasons unknown to both sides. However, Razzo did see the potential in Kai and forced his LOCK powers to manifest as well. Since then, Kai had been following Razzo’s every step, waiting for the moment he finally gives the swallowed up Kyungsoo back to him. Staring at the photo of Kyungsoo and himself, Kai started to wonder, was he still just doing this all for Kyungsoo? Would Kyungsoo even approve of any of it? Kai sighed and fell onto his back, not caring how hard the fall was. A small smile crept over Kai’s face when he imagined the day he’d be able to betray Razzo and finally extinguish that horrible evil presence from the world. But not until Kyungsoo was back with him.

                Bang’s day at school wasn’t as laidback as he had expected when he woke up that morning. Kyungri was making good on her promise to pick on him all day by doing a variety of big and small things. Besides the early morning wake up slap Bang had received from the girl, she had also filled his locker with dirty socks from the boys’ soccer team, slipped a dozen raw eggs in his book bag and painted a banner that said “he’ll murder your dreams” and posted Bang’s picture on the side of it. The banner stretched from one end of the hall to the other. Bang snatched it down the second he entered the hall and cut a sharp eye at all the snickering students. “You think this is funny? This girl is crazy. Certifiable.” Bang told everyone as he stomped down the hallway.

“Everyone, hide your dreams, here comes Bang.” A short, four-eyed boy said. Bang huffed and shoulder checked the boy into a locker. “I wouldn’t touch your dreams. They’re probably all wet and sticky.” Bang said, causing an uproar of laughter towards the shorter boy. Turning the next corner with a vengeance, Bang peered every which way, hoping he’d spot Kyungri so he could throw the banner in her face and make her cry on purpose this time. No girl had ever gotten under his skin so much. If she had been a guy, Bang would’ve already rearranged her face and helped the doctor fix it just so he could do it again.  But Kyungri…obviously wasn’t a guy. She was a girl. A pretty one. A pretty girl with a bad, sneaky, cunning, brassy, slightly impressive attitude that Bang wished he could appreciate. However, that was impossible when she was spending her day trying to ruin him.

                Surprisingly, Kyungri didn’t pull any stunts at lunch and Bang was able to eat in peace…almost. Zelo ate with him and he did what he did best, talk and talk and chew with his mouth full and accidentally spit food onto Bang’s face. After their meal, the two boys rested under a tree and Bang suddenly wondered something. “How did Hyo Shin react when you told him about Razzo targeting the fashion show?” Bang asked, slapping Zelo’s shoulder.

“Uh…” Zelo thought aloud as he tapped his index finger on his chin cutely.

“Did he yell? Punch a wall? Throw a couch through a window?” Bang was still curious.

“Goodness no. Do you think my Uncle is on steroids or something?”

“No. Well…”

“He was really upset with himself because he feels like we aren’t going to be able to protect the city from Razzo and his goons.” Zelo started to recall how the conversation had went. “He called Edward and then lectured us all on being more alert and that whole witch family he’s trying to locate.” Zelo said.

“Jongup and I were alert enough to find Kai but they were still one step ahead of up.” Bang said, raising his upper lip and baring his teeth a bit.

“You looked like a dog when you made that face. I hate dogs.” Zelo said, sitting up, hoping he’d change the subject. Honestly, he didn’t feel like talking about such intense things right after eating…and while at school around normal people, which was the one place Zelo felt normal.

“What the hell can this witch clan do for us anyway?”

“Maybe they pull rabbits from their hats.” Zelo clapped at the idea.

“Focus!” Bang chopped the back of the boy’s neck.

“Well, I don’t know for sure. My uncle says that those women can find the Zodiac Stones really easy because they helped make them.” Zelo shrugged.

“So then why don’t they just let the witches find the Zodiac Stones every time they get scattered across the damn globe. I swear, where’s your common sense?” Bang shook his head, feeling so much smarter than everyone in that moment. Zelo chuckled at Bang’s raised nose. “Uhm, that family of witches has been in hiding for almost a millennium, plus, nobody even knows if they’re current decedents still practice magic. For all we know, they could just be basic people now. Lucky them.” Zelo looked a little sad on the last part. Bang angrily repositioned himself so that he was sitting cross-legged.

“Well if you ask me, it’s a waste of time looking for them. I don’t see why we can’t just kill Razzo and get this all over with.”

“Because Razzo is stronger than all of us and would probably rip our guts out with a smile on his face. If he even has a face…” Zelo said with a chipper tone.

“Still.” Bang said, actually getting a little freaked out by the visual Zelo painted for him. Bang wanted nothing less than to see more innocent people (especially the ones close to his heart) be harmed in any way because of this tribulation with Razzo…however, he couldn’t shake the feeling that both Hyo Shin’s camp and Edward’s camp were just sitting around waiting for something bad to happen so that they could then respond. Bang was still mentally kicking himself for not offing Kai when he’d faced him in the woods less than a day ago. Not only would that have provided Bang with some much needed revenge for how Kai had hurt Sooyoung, but it would have weakened Razzo’s whole operation just a little, which was better than nothing. “I just don’t like feeling like we’re doing nothing.” Bang commented, looking at all the students enjoying their lunch around him, Bang made sure to give all of them a good look up and down, thinking Kyungri could be mixed in within the masses. “I don’t want anyone to die but I’d like us to actually do…something.” Bang was now talking under his breath, not even sure if he was making sense to himself any longer.

“I get what you mean. But, we actually are doing something. Sometimes a good defense is the best offense.” Zelo said.

“Zelo, people are going to be killed by Razzo and his team. The best defense is to whoop .”

“Just think about if we really do find this witch family and they help us locate the last of the Zodiac Stones, then we’ll have to fight it out with Razzo. So, maybe you’ll get what you want after all.” Zelo looked at Bang a bit sideways, feeling slightly let down by the boy’s narrow thinking. Zelo wanted to reach a peaceful solution with as little bloodshed as possible but it seemed Bang was ready to spill the blood himself. Zelo had a brief moment where he wondered which one of them was thinking right and which was wrong. “Besides, the Zodiac Stones get scattered across the globe every time the space between Paradise and Earth is resealed. So, even if we wipe out Razzo, there will always be someone else who will want them for bad reasons. This will never be over.” That was the worst part to Zelo. It was never going to be over and he’d never get to just relax as a normal boy and do normal things like skateboard with his friends and invite people over. The bell sounded, signaling that lunch was over. Bang and Zelo walked back to the school building in pace with one another. “I guess you have a point.” Bang said more to himself than to Zelo.

                Bang was nearly steaming with frustration by the time the last bell rang. Just in the last two hours of school, Kyungri had found a way to get wet paint all over Bang’s locker as well as switch out his energy drink with cough syrup. Bang stopped in his tracks when he got outside the school building and saw the black haired girl standing in the middle of the parking lot chatting with a female friend. Bang rushed down the steps and towards Kyungri, ready to get some things off his chest. Kyungri notices him coming halfway through her words with the girl and turned to face him head on. The girl had courage, Bang had to give her at least that much credit.

“YOU!” They both exclaimed, pointing at one another harshly. “Have you come to beg for forgiveness already? You’re weaker than I would have guessed.” Kyungri shrugged and pointed her nose up at Bang. Slowly, she held out her hand as if she wanted him to kneel and kiss it.

“Are you kidding me? I’m not here to apologize to you, you she devil!” Bang growled.

“How dare you!” Kyungri flipped her hair all to one said, looking totally surprised as her jaw dropped and eyes widened. This was a totally different Bang than the stuttering klutz who had knocked her over at the fashion show as well as the one she had slapped in the halls earlier. “She devil? You have the nerve to call me that after you wrecked my beautiful dress and ruined my chances of winning that fashion show.” Kyungri faltered, resisting the urge to choke hold the muscular guy right there in the middle of the parking lot.

“You know damn well that was an accident! The more you remind me about it, the less I really give a damn. At this point, if I could, I’d do it again. And then I’d dance on the shreds of your dress.” Bang jabbed, making sure not a single bit of remorse was in his voice. A crowd of students started to form in a sloppy circle, watching the back and forth like some sort of verbal tennis match was being duked out.  Kyungri screamed at the top of her lungs and covered her ears, not able to believe how frustrating this Bang character had turned out to be. Usually when it came to men and women, Kyungri had this way of intimidating people naturally but for some reason Bang had her on her toes, making her way more unnerved than she liked to be.

“So you’re proud of killing my sweet, sweet baby? Where the hell are the cops to take this man away?”

“If they take me away, they’ll have to take you too! But you’ll go to a crazy house for being obsessed with a piece of fabric.” Bang yelled again. Kyungri gasped and jabbed her manicured finger in his chest. “That piece of fabric was my calling card to some actual popularity and opportunity, you oaf.”

“Well guess what…I don’t care. You lost any chance of getting my sympathy the moment you slapped me.” Bang grabbed the girl’s wrist, making her jump a little at his strong grip. “So, either stop messing with me or I’ll make sure to kill another one of your kids and the next one too.” Bang pulled her close so she heard every word. Kyungri shook herself loose and tried to think of a comeback. Bang was already stalking away when Kyungri finally thought of something to say.

“Dream killer!!!” She accused, stomping her feet. Bang roared and tried to go back for round two, but Zelo and Himchan were there to grab him, hold him back and eventually pull him out of the parking lot (with much struggle). The girl Kyungri had been talking to before laughed a little at her friend. “Kyungri, I’ve never seen you like this before. You’re so worked up.” The girl sounded a little scared to say it out loud. Kyungri screamed in frustration again, tying her hair in a bun. “Nobody gets me worked up, that was nothing. Child’s play. I’m not even worried about that oaf.” Kyungri lied, placing her hand over her chest to feel how fast her heart was beating. “I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.” Kyungri said, rushing off, shoving laughing students out of her way like a bulldozer…a pretty one of course.

                At Edward’s large home, Jonghyun sat at the dining table, surfing the net on his bright red laptop. Really, Jonghyun was supposed to be looking up and finalizing more leads for the witch hunt, but that got sort of boring after ten minutes. One thing lead to another and Jonghyun ended up on FantasyLady.Com. Looking over his shoulder and snickering every other minutes, Jonghyun watched the short clips of his ideal fantasy ladies doing y little teases and undressing slowly. “Maybe one of these girls is the one we’re looking for.” Jonghyun laughed, as he bookmarked the website. “Ahh, they have a whole category for nurses…and even teaches.” Jonghyun leaned even closer to his screen as he scrolled through all the different fantasies. “Ooo, she looks promising.” Jonghyun said out loud just as Minho walked in the kitchen. Jonghyun was alarmed by Minho’s sudden entrance and swift to close the tab, but of course, his computer lagged and froze for the first time in forever. “Of all the times…” Jonghyun bit his nails as Minho rummaged through the pantries to find a box of animal crackers he had hidden a few nights ago. “I thought for sure Henry would have found these.” Minho said, unscrewing the top with a happy kid’s smile on his fine face. Minho snacked on his crackers (specifically the giraffe shaped ones, he really liked the giraffe ones). “Want one?” Minho offered, holding out the jar. “Really, just one.” He clarified. Jonghyun jumped again, cussing at his frozen screen.

“Not hungry.” Jonghyun peeped.

“Are you dieting?” Minho tossed the pig shaped cracker at Jonghyun’s head. Jonghyun faked a laugh and opened his mouth for Minho to throw another.

“I said one. If you want it, you can eat it off the floor.”

“Okay, thanks.” Jonghyun nodded. Minho had a hearty laugh at how easy it was to tease Jonghyun today. “Why are you being weird? I was just kidding.” Minho said, starting to walk over to Jonghyun.

“I don’t know. Life’s weird sometimes.”

“What?” Minho was still laughing. Really, he was beginning to think Jonghyun was the one teasing him.

“I’m just so busy looking up all these boring leads for Edward.” Jonghyun said, hoping that would make Minho uninterested enough to leave and go back upstairs. It didn’t. Minho walked over to Jonghyun even faster and took a look at the computer screen despite how much Jonghyun tried to block his view. “ert.” Minho said flatly.

                Out for a simple walk together, Mayura and Patsy made their way through the local park. It was a bit busier than Mayura liked because of a soccer match or something bothersome. Kids kept bumping into the two women as they walked to a more serene area. Really, the mood wasn’t very serene at all since the two women had been bickering back and forth for most of the walk. First, it was about how Mayura didn’t seem very enthused to find a home of her own, then it was about how Kyungri had been extra rude lately and now it was back to Patsy’s least favorite topic…the issue that wasn’t really an issue about the passing along of their witch powers. “All I’m saying is that you should help Kyungri access the powers even if you have no intention of letting her practice.” Mayura restated, once they were away from everyone else in the park.

“Honestly, that doesn’t make sense.” Patsy frowned. “If I was to pass the power over to Kyungri, I’m positive she would practice.” Patsy said, rolling her eyes. Nobody brought out her sassy side as much as her older sister did.

“Who knows? Your daughter is such an unpredictable hurricane, she might hate the idea of being a witch and reject it all together.” Mayura ranted with her voice starting to make Patsy’s head more and more.

“So then what would even be the point in passing along the power if she might just say no?” Patsy asked with a fake stupidity in her tone. She was hoping to be so difficult that Mayura just gave up.

“It’s better than keeping it a secret from her.” Mayura objected. “Do you really think it’s right to keep something like this a secret from her forever. She comes from a family of witches! And in the LOCK world, we are like rare gems.” Mayura was getting angry at how hard she had to try to sway her sister. Did she really not realize that Kyungri was the family’s last hope of passing on their powers for quite some time? Who did Patsy think she was? Just because she didn’t want Kyungri to practice magic and be exposed to the world of LOCKS didn’t mean everyone else in the bloodline would agree. If Kyungri became too mature, her body wouldn’t even accept the magic power…it had to be done soon and since the magic power had already been very weak within the last few generations of the family, it was going to have to be forced onto Kyungri, as opposed to her just coming into it on her own.

“If you don’t pass it on to Kyungri, it will die out, Patsy.” Mayura stressed. “Our entire family will be weak…and normal.”

“Fine. It’s 2014, who even needs witches anymore? Not me.” Patsy walked faster.

“That’s ridiculous. We’ll see if you feel the same when another mass attack comes against our family and we have no powers to defend ourselves.” Mayura hissed, also walking faster.

“You still have magic. So pass it on to your own daughter…when you have one.” Patsy raised her voice a bit. “Why does it have to be my daughter?” Mayura bit her lip to hold back much of what she wanted to say. “We both know my magic isn’t as strong as it once was. And we both know how if we skip out on passing along the magic many more times, it’ll be gone from our bloodline forever.” Mayura shook her head as she grabbed her sister’s wrist. Patsy looked back at her older sister with no interest anywhere on her face. “Wow, you’re really scared of being human.” Patsy shook her wrist free and went on with her not so peaceful walk. Mayura purposely slowed her pace as she pulled a cell phone from her purse. “Hello? It’s me…I guess we’re going to have to take more dramatic measures.” Mayura stated in a suddenly calm and resigned voice. Hanging up the phone after a speedy, hushed conversation, Mayura went to catch up with her younger sibling, totally changing the subject to a reality show they had viewed the night before.

                Up in his spacious, comfortable room, Henry had another video chat with his girlfriend, Sooyoung. Henry kept stopping in the middle of their conversation to ask if she was feeling alright and repeat how glad he was that she was back home with her dad and brother. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you up and smiling, Sooyoung.” Henry cheesed at the camera in front of him and made a heart shape over his head like the cute little boy he wasn’t. Nobody could make Henry bust out in aegyo like his Sooyoung could (even though she never asked him to). Sooyoung laughed lightly and thanked him for always being so sweet.

“I just wish I could hop on a plane and come be with you again. This time, not under bad circumstances.” Henry sighed, sticking out his lower lip.

“Don’t stress about it, Henry. I know you would, if you could. But your Uncle needs you.” Sooyoung shook an encouraging fist at the camera, Henry didn’t look very encouraged though. When he had been forced to leave his normal life and join Edward’s mission, he had used the lie that his Uncle needed help starting a new business venture and Henry was supposed to be his business partner. Sometimes Henry really thought about throwing the lie out the window and just be real with Sooyoung…he wanted to tell her the entire truth. However, that would surely wreck whatever was left of their somewhat mild relationship for sure. Henry reminded Sooyoung of the time, which prompted her to take her pain medication. “You would’ve forgotten to take them if it wasn’t for me. Oh, Sooyoung, that makes me worry. I’m going to get gray hair and develop high blood pressure because of you.” Henry groaned, slapping his forehead because she was so careless.

“I would’ve remembered to take the pills if I was in any actual pain, Mr. Wannabe Doctor.” Sooyoung swallowed her pill and winked. Even though Sooyoung had definitely felt her relationship with Henry weakening lately, she couldn’t deny that him flying across the country on such short notice to be with her was extremely touching and it did make her want to try harder in their fading relationship. Henry blushed and did another heart shape with his hands. “What was that noise?” Henry suddenly asked. Sooyoung exhaled and explained that her father was home early from work.

“He’ll be upset if he sees I’m video chatting instead of resting.”

“Okay, I’ll text you later tonight, please rest and take your medicine on schedule.”

“Do you want me to overdose, Henry?” Sooyoung giggled as they signed off at the same time.

                Henry scooted back from his work desk and snatched his phone from the foot of his bed. “Taemin.” Henry said when he noticed a new photo message from the youngest LOCK on their team. “What does he want?” Henry muttered, opening the message. Henry had a both annoyed and amused expression on his face as he read the message that came along with Taemin’s picture. There was a photo of Taemin (clearly at a shopping center) he was posing in front of an advertisement for a new PC game that he really wanted. However, Edward had stopped buying him games for the rest of the month because his gaming addiction was just getting crazy. Taemin made a pouty face in the photo as begged Henry to buy it for him.

 Please, bro ~ you like me right? Taemin’s cute message didn’t faze Henry at all. In fact, he laughed with his head back. Henry could tolerate Taemin the most out of all his new allies, but still, he wouldn’t go as far as to call him a brother yet. For a long moment, Henry wondered if he’d ever get to that point where he looked as his team members as friends and even brothers. Really, he wasn’t opposed to the idea, it just wasn’t going to magically happen anytime soon. I’d rather buy a hamburger…go ask your real brothers Henry wrote back and lunged onto his bed to relax for a while.

Edward and Hyo Shin had been to about eight or nine different locations trying to find any real decedent of the witch family and so far…no luck. Hyo Shin was getting more and more frustrated with every dead end they came across. “What the hell did you guys even do yesterday? All these leads . I could’ve found better ones in my sleep with my hands tied.” Hyo Shin complained, throwing all the papers over his head into the backseat.

“Hey! Don’t litter in my car.” Edward reached over to choke his rival with one hand, Hyo Shin swatted away his hands furiously, causing a quick back and forth between the men on the open road. The vehicle jerked from left to right as they slapped away at one another like bratty girls.

“Is that the best you can do?” Edward exclaimed.

“You’re the one slapping me like a girl.” Hyo Shin countered, trying to bite Edward’s fingers. Suddenly, a siren sounded and both men dropped their jaws, realizing what was happening.

“Crap. I hate you.” Edward started to pull over his luxury car a few feet in front of the police car.

“Make sure you don’t slap the cop too.” Hyo Shin folded his arms and painted on an artificial grin for the officer that was approaching the window. The tall, light haired man with chiseled features leaned down and interrupted Edward’s comment to ask for license and registration. Edward very quickly realized he didn’t have his wallet on him…which meant, no license. Hyo Shin held back the list of cuss words and insults he wanted to spew at Edward’s face.

                “You have a great day, too, officer. And good luck with that blind date.” Edward waved as he drove away from the police car. “I can’t believe you did that.” Hyo Shin said. Edward punched the other guy in the shoulder and began to explain himself. “Hey, I worked hard to gain these abilities. I’d be a fool not to use them when I get in tight spots like that.” Edward spoke quickly, already heading back to that woman’s home, where he knew he left his wallet somewhere in the sheets.

“Just because you’re a KEY doesn’t mean you should break the law.” Hyo Shin badgered.

“Oh shut up, you know I didn’t do it on purpose.” Edward cut Hyo Shin a sidelong glare. When a LOCK reached KEY level, they gained a long list of abilities besides their own unique UNLOCK. They acquired the ability to heal, give strength to others, alter memories, and forcefully UNLOCK a LOCK’s power and even the ability of persuasion. Edward had tapped into his persuasion ability to talk his way out of the deep trouble the officer was about to land him in. Now, he and Hyo Shin were on his way to retrieve his wallet that had been forgotten at Patsy’s place. Edward really hoped she wasn’t home, since it would be nothing for him to break in and snatch his wallet and then be on his way again. The hardest part was explaining to Hyo Shin how he’d lost it in the sheets in the first place. Now he had to listen to Hyo Shin’s jokes the whole way back to the woman’s home.

                Minho had only called Jonghyun a gross ert for about two minutes before he pulled up a barstool and looked through the site with him. “Minho, what’s your type?” Jonghyun asked, raising an eyebrow. “What’s your fantasy?” He switched up the question, opening the category menu where you could select what kind of fantasy woman you wanted to see clips of.

“Athletic girls.” Minho shyly answered, scooting his stool a little closer. Not too long later, Onew came into the kitchen for chicken of course. And it didn’t take long for Onew to join the fantasy fun on the computer either.

“You do know how to delete your web history, right?” Onew asked out of the blue.

“Should I?” Jonghyun tilted his head to the side like a curious puppy. The three naughty boys jumped when Jonghyun’s phone suddenly vibrated with a photo message from Taemin.

“Ahh, Taemin. Good job ruining the moment.” Onew shook his head lightly. Jonghyun opened the message and saw a different pouty picture of Taemin standing in front of the advertisement for the game he wanted so badly. Jonghyun had to admit it looked like a fun game, but he didn’t care about that at the moment. He wanted to keep browsing through the seemingly endless list of fantasy women who were ready to dance for him.

“What is he saying?” Onew asked, moving his fingers over the mouse pad.

“Something about a game he wants and how Henry was mean to him.” Jonghyun said under his breath.

“Let me see the picture.” Minho said, taking the phone from Jonghyun’s hand. “Aw, he looks cute trying to be cute.” Minho laughed.

“That’s kind of the point.” Onew commented.

“He’s at the shopping center around the corner from that salon Key got banned from.” Minho was about to burst out laughing again when he remembered the scene of Key being kicked out by three large, sassy women with curling irons and spray bottles in their hands.

“Oh, let me see.” Jonghyun was amused as he took the phone back and maximized the picture. Minho pointed at the enlarged photo to show the exact spot the women tossed Key on his .

“It happened right here. See, that’s the very spot his landed, haha” Minho was laughing as if the whole thing was happening before his eyes all over again. Jonghyun and Onew were just about to join in with the laughter but Jonghyun stopped short when he noticed a certain something lingering behind Taemin in the photo. “Wait a minute…” Jonghyun narrowed his eyes and expanded the picture as much as he could.

“What are you looking for?” Onew asked.

“No way…” Jonghyun moved Onew’s hand off the mouse pad of his laptop and immediately opened several of the sites he had been looking on while he was doing his research on the witch hunt. “There it is again, and again, and there too.” Jonghyun pointed at a strange deformed crescent shape symbol that was on many of the sites involving his leads. All of the possible descendants had a tattoo that looked something like it, but not really identical to it. However, Jonghyun directed Onew and Minho’s direction to the photo of Taemin at the shopping center again and this time, he pointed specifically at the back of a woman standing directly behind Taemin. The woman wasn’t facing the camera, but the back of her neck was and Jonghyun could see the tattoo there. This one…was identical to the one on the sites before him.

“That tattoo on her neck is directly linked to the one’s those witches are supposed to have.” Jonghyun’s voice rose as he realized that he was really onto something here.

“Huh?” Minho asked, not following completely.

“All the other leads we found had similar tattoos but they weren’t anything as identical to the one that lady has. Her tattoo looks exactly the same as the one in this picture.” Jonghyun immediately started to call Taemin from his phone, hoping he was still at the shopping center and still somewhere near that particular woman.

“You really think she could be someone from that family of witches?” Minho sounded only half convinced. Onew pursed his lips, thinking it was a bit too convenient to be true. Taemin answered the phone happily, thinking Jonghyun was about to tell him he’d buy him the game right away.

“Cash or credit?” Taemin asked with a wide grin on his face.

“I’m not buying you that game because you wouldn’t help me shave the other day.” Jonghyun quickly popped the boy’s bubble.

“Jonghyun, please! You know it was wrong to ask me to help you shave such a sensitive spot.” Taemin pleaded.

“A real friend would have done it.” Jonghyun replied with an even tone. Before Taemin could think of a comeback, Jonghyun launched into an explanation of his call. With all his words rushed and running together as one, Jonghyun explained how he needed Taemin to not lose track of that woman, even if he had to secretly follow her home. In the meantime, Jonghyun and the others would try to get in contact with Edward as soon as possible so he could confirm if she was from the witch family or not. Taemin couldn’t mask the disappointment in his voice (especially since he was standing right next to the register as other boy’s got their dads and moms to buy the game for them.)

“Okay.” Taemin agreed to follow the woman home, spotting her looking around a jewelry shop with another lady that appeared to be her sister. “If I do a good job, you’ll buy me the game, right?” Taemin snuck in the question, crossing his fingers and his legs. Jonghyun hung up the phone then. Taemin slumped down and watched with envious eyes as another little kid got the game he wanted.

“Enjoy the game….” Taemin said, hugging the cardboard advertisement from behind. “Soon we’ll be together.” He said, freaking out a small group of kids watching from behind. With his excellent skills in stealth, Taemin tailed the two women as they went from one boring perfume shop to another and then to a few boring dress stores.

                The sun was almost completely clocked out for the day and dusk was beginning to take over. Youngjae was dressed to go out and meet up with Himchan, Zelo, Daehyun and Bang…however, he couldn’t really go yet since he had to wait for Jongup to finish getting dressed, and Jongup was moving at the pace of an iceberg. “Are you almost ready?” Youngjae said, walking right into Jongup’s room without knocking. Youngjae heard the water running so he went into the bathroom, covering half his face in case Jongup just happened to be . “Jongup, Himchan said he would pay for us, we need to move fast before he changes his mind.” Youngjae stopped in his tracks and clenched his jaw when he saw Jongup sitting fully dressed in his shower as the water ran all over him.

“You weirdo! What the hell are you doing?”

“Just thinking about how girls are a lot like water…you just can’t keep them from flowing.” Jongup tried to sound all poetic as he reached out and caught several drops of water in his hands.

“You look like a serial killer or a stalker. Both actually. Get up and let’s go eat before Hyo Shin comes home and makes us train.” Youngjae slapped the drops of water from Jongup’s hand and turned the water off. “C’mon.” He started trying to pull Jongup from the shower. Jongup refused to budge on his own and just let Youngjae pull him across the floor like a sack of dead weight. Youngjae dropped Jongup on his bedroom floor and started throwing dry clothes at him. Jongup was too depressed to lift a finger and just let all the dry clothes pile on top of him. “Jongup, I’m going to strangle you! Get up, get up, I really wanna go spend Himchan’s money.” Youngjae complained, falling to his knees to unbury Jongup.

                Bang walked through the crispy night air with Zelo, Himchan and Daehyun. They were on their way to a small buffet located just a few blocks from the school. The food there wasn’t all that great, but Himchan was paying so of course everyone wanted to take advantage of that (even Bang, who had been very shocked when he had gotten the invite from Daehyun over the phone). Daehyun stressed to Bang that he was only inviting him because anyone who brought more than three people with them got a coupon book for future visits to be half off. However, Himchan had taken the phone halfway through the conversation and told Bang that they did have some serious things to discuss. Eh, Bang wasn’t super excited about that part, but he understood it for the most part. Bang did have to question why the boys would have serious conversations about Razzo without Hyo Shin and Edward around though. Those were the guys who made all the final decisions about everything so it only made sense to Bang that they would be there for all the serious conversations…but hey, free food was in the picture so he was going to try not to question it as much as he could. Who knows, maybe that had just been Himchan’s way of justifying why he’d invited Bang out with them. Bang and the guys were taken to their booth inside the buffet and right away heard a familiar voice call out to them. Daehyun and Himchan jerked their heads in the direction of the voice. Zelo stopped dialing Youngjae’s number on his cell phone so he could turn to identify the voice as well. Bang rolled his eyes when he saw Key sitting at a booth, waving to them with a bunch of takeout boxes in front of him and a small grin. “I feel like I keep running into you guys everywhere. Please be honest…you want to be friends with me, right?” Key asked, trying to sound discreet on the last part. Bang and Himchan were both about to deny when a tall, pretty girl with black hair suddenly came and sat in the cushioned seat in front of Key. “Okay, I’m back from the restroom, so when can we set up a fitting?” Kyungri asked, flipping her hair and taking out a notepad. “I’m so glad I ran into you here. You’re like, my new muse.” Kyungri went on, complimenting Key as he faked a bashful smile and fanned himself.

“You know, I’ve been a muse to many people.” Key bragged.

“YOU!” Bang shouted, startling a couple people.

“Oh no.” Zelo peeped, eyeing the two enemies nervously. Himchan sighed and rested his arm around Daehyun’s shoulders. “Well, Daehyun, you might want to make yourself a plate as fast as you can…” Himchan said calmly.

“Because we won’t be welcome here for long.” Zelo finished Himchan’s thought for him and Daehyun took off like a bullet towards the food lineups. Moving like he was in a timed race for his life, Daehyun loaded up five plates with food and ate off of them while he started asking employees for to go bags as well. “Hurry, please! My hunger pains depend on it.” Daehyun said, lightly shoving one of the male workers back into the kitchen area. There was no way he was going to get kicked out of this buffet before getting his money’s worth of food…technically it was Himchan’s money but same difference.

                Kyungri stood up and pointed at Bang as if she was some queen declaring war upon him (which she sort of was). “Oh, so you’re following me around town now? Just so you know, I’m not like most girls, I don’t find stalking y.” Kyungri said, making Key laugh out loud.

“What’s going on?” Key asked between his giggles.

“Why would I ever stalk someone I wish was never born?” Bang retorted. Kyungri gasped and held in a frustrated scream. “You know, I’m actually not afraid to fight a boy. I took karate for 2 weeks.” Kyungri struck a fighting pose and Key started clapping at the show the two were putting on.

“Only two weeks? Hm, did they kick you out for being a total psycho banshee?” Bang wondered, taking a step closer to her. Kyungri closed the gap between them and they stood practically nose to nose. Heat and electricity seemed to course over both of their body’s as their hearts began to beat fast and hard in a strangely pleasing way. Bang looked deep into Kyungri’s eyes and saw not a trace of fear, in fact, he saw so much passion and tenacity that it almost made him want to like this girl. Maybe in another world he could. But in this one, there was no possible way. Kyungri kept her strong gaze on Bang, secretly hoping he’d crack first and give her a chance to catch her breath. For some reason, being so close to Bang’s face made Kyungri feel really dizzy. Guys didn’t typically make Kyungri feel that way and she wasn’t sure what to make of it…really, she didn’t like the feeling very much. “You have ugly skin.” Kyungri said, raising one brow. Bang exhaled and blew a bit of Kyungri’s hair to the right. “Split ends…” He said with a crooked, devilish smile. Kyungri narrowed her eyes and he did the same in return, starting to look much more relaxed than her. Key snuck up from his seat and went to stand beside Zelo. “What’s the story with these two? Are they exes?” Key asked.

“They are more like star-crossed enemies.” Zelo corrected Key, pulling anxiously at his big curls. Key nodded with his big, amused smile. “Key, how do you even know her?” Zelo though to ask the diva.

“I just met her when I came here to pick up food for the guys at home. She said I was her muse and that she wanted to sketch me. You know, people tell me that everywhere I go.” Once again, Key bragged and fanned himself…waiting for someone to drop a compliment on him. It never came.

“Are you sure it’s not just the people in your head who tell you that?” Himchan said just below a whisper.

“Hey!” Key fired back.

                Kyungri and Bang were still locked in their stare down in the meantime. “Got any more insults? Hit me with your best shot.” Bang told her, showing a gummy smile that only egged the girl on.

“I’d rather just hit you in the face!” Kyungri yelled, striking another karate pose, which caused her to accidentally slap an elderly man in the side of the face. The elderly man fell over and started yelling about young people and their disrespect. “Oh my god!” Kyungri gasped and covered , turning red as customers and employees rushed to check on the man.

“Well, that was rude.” Bang looked at Kyungri with a teasing expression. And only five minutes later, Bang, Kyungri, Zelo, Himchan, Daehyun and Key were all kicked out of the buffet and labeled as future people to decline service to. Daehyun was on the verge of tears because the manager had taken all of his to go bags and dinner plates away just as he was shooed from the building with the others. “I hate you all, you’re all bad people and karma will get you back.” Daehyun thundered at the buffet workers with tears in his eyes. “I’m hungry!” He shouted one more time before falling on his right there in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Get off the damn ground, Daehyun.” Himchan pretended he didn’t know the boy when two schoolgirls walked by laughing.

“No. I’m so hungry I don’t even have the strength.” Daehyun rolled over and played dead.

“From now on, I do not know you.” Himchan told the greedy boy. Zelo went to stoop next to Daehyun, poking him like he was some kind of test subject. “Are you dead yet? Are you dead yet? Are you dead yet?” Zelo poked away. Bang and Kyungri kept up their faceoff while Key watched with wide, entertained eyes. "Round two?” Key winked at Himchan.

“Oh my gosh, I was planning on coming here next week. Now I can’t because of you, you giant oaf.” Kyungri blamed Bang with her hands firmly on her hips. Zelo snickered a little because she suddenly looked like a mom about to hand out whippings. “Because of me?” Bang repeated the pretty girl like she had just spoken a totally new language.

“Yes, because of you.” She hissed.

“You started all of that mess.” Bang alleged, pondering if he had to reenact the whole scene for Kyungri. However, even if he did, she would still deny it all…she was so stubborn.

“Yeah right, that was all your fault.” Kyungri shot back.

“Don’t you remember calling me a stalker?”

“You are!”

“Lies!” Bang exclaimed, not deterring Kyungri at all.

“Oh, I love that song.” Key whispered softly.

“Key, please walk with me towards the park around the corner from here. I’ll sketch you there if it’s alright.” Kyungri linked arms with Key and cut Bang one more dangerous glare before walking off with the cheerful diva, Key. “Okay, make sure you capture my jawline.” Key stressed. Zelo had to literally pick Daehyun off the ground and hold onto him like an oversized toddler when a couple joggers started coming down the sidewalk. “What now?” Zelo asked, looking to Himchan’s bothered expression. “I’m honestly still hungry too.” He added, rubbing his stomach with his free hand. Himchan rolled his eyes and looked over to Bang. “You’re really good at making a mess of things.” He said, instantly making Bang even angrier with his detached, cold tone of voice. Bang still wasn’t used to or even close enough to Himchan yet so he was still easily set off by the guy’s sharp attitude and blunt insults. Himchan motioned for Zelo to follow him as he pulled out his wallet to recount how much money he had to take care of the blonde, beanstalk boy. Zelo darted to follow behind Himchan with a panicky look on his young face. “He’s just mad because he’s missing a lot of dramas on TV right now…just come with us, we’ll eat somewhere else.” Zelo pulled Bang’s wrist lightly, directing him to follow all the way behind him so Himchan wouldn’t even notice. Bang rolled his eyes at how annoying this entire night was turning out to be. Being in his room, sleeping comfortably in his bed with his flask sounded like heaven at the moment. Another melodramatic eye roll came from Bang when he realized they were headed in the same direction that Kyungri and Key had went in. Bang took a deep breath, already preparing a bunch of new insults in case he and the onyx haired girl crossed paths again.

                Gunwoo and Dasom had spent the whole day together, much to Dasom’s discomfort. After their morning meal, they had gone to a couple’s pottery class and made personalized vases for one another. It had been really thoughtful and romantic and under normal circumstances Dasom would have enjoyed it a lot. Plus, it was absolutely something Gunwoo would’ve done for her. But…Dasom found herself having to almost painfully force smiles and laughs the entire time because all she could really think about was how Gunwoo had roughed up and boarder line assaulted the strange boy outside of the restaurant. Really, she should have just kept shut about it and the boy would’ve never left with the bruise or two Dasom was sure he had. Gunwoo was lively and flirty at the pottery class and that carried on when they went to an aquarium afterwards. Gunwoo was spending a lot of money on this anniversary date and Dasom felt slightly bad because she didn’t want any of it. What she really wanted to gather up the courage to finally talk to Gunwoo about how opposite of himself he’d been since coming back home from grad school. The couple left the aquarium and went to a fancy clothing store afterwards so that they could pick out outfits for a club Gunwoo wanted to take her to. Dasom loved to shop and Gunwoo seemed more than pleased to buy her whatever she wanted. Dasom wasn’t really into clubs and Gunwoo knew that…or at least she thought he knew that. Did he come back with amnesia too?

                Gunwoo and Dasom pulled up to the club and a valet greeted them. Sitting in the passenger seat, Dasom mentally thanked goodness that the date was almost over, even though this portion at the club would probably be the toughest to fake her way through. As the girl looked up at the moon hanging heavily close in the dark, starless sky, she started to wonder how she’d fake getting her groove on in the club. “Just a moment, man.” Gunwoo said, getting out of the car. Gunwoo apparently knew the promoter of the club and didn’t want his car parked just yet. “I’ll be right back, I just wanna make sure we’re on the VIP list.” Gunwoo said, blowing a kiss to Dasom from the front of the car. Quickly, he disappeared through the doors of the club. Dasom waited with her eyes wide open and skeptical for about ten minutes, and then she started to ponder the idea of telling Gunwoo she wasn’t feeling well and wanted to call it a night. Technically it wouldn’t be a lie. Somehow, before Dasom even knew it, she was asleep in the car. Dasom couldn’t seem to force herself awake when she realized she was in another nightmare. Standing in the middle of the bright, sweaty, crowded and overwhelming dance floor, Dasom whipped her whole body from left to right, looking desperately for someone. “Help me!” Dasom screamed, still spinning wildly around. Dasom started to cry uncontrollably and the people around her didn’t seem to care in the slightest. Dasom’s head felt like it was seconds from exploding from the loud bass of the music and the heat within the building. “Please come save me!” Dasom screamed again, sinking down to her knees. Dasom spotted a pair of legs moving briskly towards her. Even through all the tears, she could tell whose legs they were. “Help me…Insoo.” Dasom was out of breath and on the verge of fainting. The pair of legs stopped in front of Dasom and she was almost too terrified to look up. “Insoo, come save me.” She whispered as Gunwoo kneeled down and clasped his hand around her neck. With a bland, indifferent expression on his face, Gunwoo began to choke Dasom in the middle of the dance floor.

                Dasom was finally able to scream herself awake and immediately started battling with the car and her seat belt. With a force even she didn’t know she possessed, the girl busted out of the passenger seat and fell to her weak knees. The guys and girls waiting in line outside the club cut Dasom some comical stares, assuming she was just drunk or a . “Looks like she’s had one hell of a night.” A red haired boy pointed and laughed with his group of buff, meathead friends. Dasom started running, wanting nothing more than to be gone with Gunwoo came back to the car. There was no way she could face him after such a nightmare. Dasom knew exactly where she was going as she crossed the intersection without using the crosswalk or waiting for all the cars to make a total stop.

                Jay had only recently got back to the hideout and was intrigued when he saw Sunmi waiting for him right outside his personal quarters. “Do I get a welcome home kiss?” Jay rose one eye brow and tapped the side of his cheek, knowing damn well Sunmi wouldn’t be placing any bit of her lips there. Sunmi leveled her bored gaze at Jay and sighed once before speaking.

“I just wanted to remind you that you have this whole city as your playground. You’re free to do whatever bloody, vicious games you want. All I ask is that you stay away from my sister, Bora. I won’t stand in your way when it comes to anything else except for her.” Sunmi spoke in her usual, controlled, monotone voice that still sounded so y to Jay. Smiling with one side of his mouth, he nodded, mentally noting that he would never not be attracted to this girl. “And I also ask that you don’t tell Kai or Razzo about her.” Sunmi’s collected posture broke a bit when she made the request.

“Well, well, well…” Jay began.

“Or else.” Sunmi cut in.

“Excuse me?” Jay laughed, shaking his head as if he didn’t understand a word she had just said to him. Was she really about to threaten him? Did she know nothing about him? Jay didn’t like anyone. Not one single person in the world had his admiration, love or care. Even people that he had fun with, like Sunmi, were not safe from him. Jay never hesitated to kill anyone who stood against him. If you weren’t with him, then you were against him and even if you were with him, he still might kill you just for the fun of it. Jay himself couldn’t tell you how and exactly when he’d become a killing obsessed, womanizer with a hobby of cutting people up and then trying to put them back together. The reason being his partial amnesia. Jay knew his name was Jay and he knew a few other tidbits about his past but most of it was a blur, a very large and unimportant blur if you asked him. To him, it was both Ludacris and dangerous for Sunmi to be threatening him. Truly, Jay saw it as a challenge. Sunmi must’ve thought he was a wimp and that she was somehow in a position to feel safe around him. That wasn’t the case. “Sunmi, do you honestly think I won’t kill…” Jay was once again cut off by the short haired woman in front of him.

“Hyorin.” Sunmi said the name like it was some fine china. Jay clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes at Sunmi. In the back of her mind, Sunmi knew that by saying that name, she was marking herself as a definite enemy of Jay’s and it made her blood run seriously cold. “You know that name. If you do anything to Bora, it’ll be that other woman’s last day on earth.” Sunmi flashed away and reappeared in her own quarters, panting with her hand clenched to her chest. Jay was so much scarier than Razzo in so many ways and Sunmi had just pissed him off more than she ever had before. Sitting in the middle of the floor, Sunmi pulled her knees to her chest and wondered if maybe just having with Jay would’ve been more effective. Probably not.

                Taemin watched the two women enter their home from across the street, on a random house’s roof. He slinked behind the chimney when the shorter of the woman suddenly turned around to dash to the mailbox. After he heard the faint sound of her front door closing, Taemin sprang from the rooftop down to the street and darted behind a large SUV parked beside the sidewalk. Taemin quickly sent Jonghyun a message saying he was going inside. Of course, Jonghyun hadn’t told him to do that initially, but Taemin was willing to go the extra mile for that new video game…plus, it wasn’t like he would get caught. Taemin didn’t typically brag on himself but he knew his stealth skills were the best among all the guys on his team and Hyo Shin’s. Taemin slid his phone into his back pocket and flung himself forward, making it to the side gate of the house in one movement. Next, he started running up the side of the home, making his way to one of the highest windows of the house, which he assumed was the attic window. He was right. Taking picked the lock and let himself in discreetly.

                Dasom’s felt like passing out right where she stood, but she could see her destination just up ahead. Gunwoo’s house. With all the energy she had left in her body, Dasom pushed herself to sprint up to the familiar home and ring the doorbell twice, not wanting to wake the lady of the house. Dasom was nearly curled up like a sleeping cat when Insoo answered the door in nothing but some loose fitting sweat pants. Dasom only had the strength to reach out one of her arms to him. Insoo moved at record speed, scooping the girl off the ground and hugging her. Insoo’s heart broke to see a girl so precious to him appear to be so broken and strained. Insoo prayed this had nothing to do with Gunwoo as he helped the girl into the house, coming back to shut the door only after Dasom was restfully laying across the family room sofa with her heels off. After shutting the door, Insoo walked to the window right beside it and peered outward, not seeing anything or anyone out of the ordinary. When he heard Dasom rustling, he dashed to check on her. Gunwoo quietly stepped from behind the tree he’d been hiding under the entire time. Half Razzo and half Gunwoo, he clenched his fist. With his eyes glowing a scary red tint, he vanished with a quick blur of purple light.

                Himchan and his bunch of headaches rounded the corner and turned into the park to take a short cut towards the seafood eatery Zelo had looked up on his phone. None of them even knew it existed but were willing to give it a try…as long as they didn’t see Kyungri there too. Himchan tensed suddenly and the defensive yet violent vibe he gave off was quickly picked up on by Daehyun and Zelo. The two younger boys ran to stand on either side of Himchan. “You both sensed that, right?” Himchan asked, stepping forward to get a better look around them all.

“Yeah.” Daehyun and Zelo lied. Bang hadn’t felt anything, he walked closer to the rest of the group and waited for someone to explain what exactly the serious faces were about. “It’s coming from further up.” Himchan said, flashing away. Daehyun and Zelo mimicked his light speed jump. Bang just ran as fast as he could because he still wasn’t very good at that flashing thing they all seemed to do so effortlessly. Himchan and his two teammates reached the kid’s playground part of the park and gasped a little at the sight before them. Kyungri and Key were surrounded by four white cloaked figures wearing intricate, golden face masks. Key was standing in front of Kyungri, shielding her from whatever the four foes had in mind. “Uhm, Key, please tell me these weirdoes are friends of yours.” Kyungri whimpered, not even sure there were humans under those cloaks. “Just stay behind me.” Key commanded. “Who are you? Did Razzo send you?” Key yelled at the four figures before them…there was no response.

“Watch out!” Zelo shouted when one of the figures suddenly flashed behind Key and Kyungri, out their arm and fired a wild beam of yellow energy. Key thought quickly, grabbing Kyungri and rolling out of the range of the attack. Himchan, Daehyun and Zelo dashed forward then, fully ready to attack. Key stood his ground as one of the figures came at him full speed. “Kyungri, run somewhere.” Key told her, slightly shoving her without even turning around.

“What the hell is going on right now?” Kyungri asked with her words all shaky and jumbled.

“Run!” Key shouted even louder that time. Kyungri turned to run, not knowing where the heck she was supposed to go. The girl ran and hid behind a large bush located closer to the edge of the playground. Even though she had just met Key, she wasn’t the type of person to totally abandon him. The cloaked figure blasted another beam of yellow energy at Key, but he pounced up and back flipped out of the way, landing on a single metal rod that made up the monkey bar design. The cloaked fighter kept firing the beams and Key continued to flip from side to side, front to back in order to dodge the attacks and still land gracefully on the thin, narrow bars. Key finally jumped down in the gap between to bars, clung on tight and swung himself forward with all his might, kicking the enemy hard in the chest. The cloaked figure flew backwards and landed roughly on their back.

                Himchan’s opponent grabbed a handful of grass and caused it to glow a bright green color as it quickly turned into a handful of long glowing blades. The enemy fired the blades at Himchan as if bullets from a gun. Himchan dashed to the right, bobbing and weaving to avoid being hit by even one blade. When he thought it was over, the enemy grabbed a random soccer ball that had been on the floor and molded that into a glowing blade as well. The enemy fired the single blade at Himchan faster than the others. Himchan lunged himself onto the nearby seesaw and the blade collided with the opposite side as it went flying upward. Daehyun was busy with his own opponent that kept firing large clumps of pink slime from their palms. The slime nearly swallowed up anything it landed on. Daehyun jumped on a small merry go round and ran in place, using his momentum to duck and doge all the clumps of slime that came him way. When he had enough speed, he jumped off and landed on top of the jungle gym. “What are we supposed to do, Himchan?” Daehyun exclaimed, cartwheeling off the dodge another pink blast of gunk. “We can’t use our LOCK powers in front of that girl.” He pointed out. Zelo’s body crashed into the big slide suddenly. His opponent had sent him flying after a palm to the chest. “Ouch.” Zelo got up, rubbing his head.

“We don’t have a choice. We’ll just have to have Edward ease her memories later.” Key took the words right out of Himchan’s mouth as he went running at his foe. “SUMMON! UNLOCK!” Key summoned his sword into his hands and unlocked the next level of his LOCK abilities skillfully in the same second. The enemy before him fired another blast of yellow energy at Key and just as it was about to hit it’s mark, Key made his move. “VANISHING ACT: 1” Key called out. Right before the attack slammed into Key, his body dissolved into a flurry of black crows that flew outward in several directions, totally avoiding the attack. Confused and taken aback, the cloaked fighter watched as the birds began to surround them. The crows flew at impossible speeds and formed a black, fast moving haze around the villain. “REAPPEARING ACT: 2” Key’s voice was heard, even though he remained unseen. The fast moving black haze suddenly wrapped around the foe like a funnel and when it dispersed, Key was there, standing on top of the enemy’s shoulders with his sword drawn. “You’re done!” Key said, stabbing his sword downward through the fighter’s left shoulder! A battle cry came from the fighter and they were instantly brought to their knees. Key front flipped off the shoulder of his opponent and waited for them to either fight back, die or confess. In the meantime, Daehyun summoned his powers as well. “Key has the right idea…SUMMON, UNLOCK!” Daehyun summoned his sword and then unlocked his LOCK powers transforming his sword from its normal appearance, to its solid golden, three hundred pound form. The figure fired more of the pink gunk from their palms and Daehyun took off at top speed. The cloaked figure had a startles moment when Daehyun suddenly appeared to their right, swinging his heavy sword one good time. Daehyun’s sword made impact with the merry go round and it immediately went flying from out of the ground it was built in. The fling merry go round collided with the cloaked figure and they went flying across the park, landing at the stump of a large tree. “Put that in your pipe and smoke it.” Daehyun said, throwing some boxing punches out into the air like he had just won a televised match.

                “SUMMON, UNLOCK!” Zelo did his summon and unlock as well, turning into his half beast form while he somersaulted in the air. Landing on all fours, Zelo charged at his foe. The spirit lion formed around Zelo’s body and rammed into his enemy, causing them to flop across the sand box like a rag doll. Himchan had already summoned and unlocked his powers as well. The enemy before him jumped into the air with a handful of pebbles and once again, turned them into blades to fire downwards at him. Himchan smirked and jumped up to meet the blades head on. With his own sword drawn, Himchan slashed at the blades and used his sword’s special technique to draw out the raw energy of the blades, transferring it to his own blade and then sending it out in the form of jagged streams of electricity. The several streams of electricity smashed into the foe faster than lightening itself. There was an explosion when the impact was made and Kyungri screamed at the sound. As Himchan, Zelo, Daehyun and Key inspected their fallen enemies, Bang came running onto the scene…extremely late and out of breath.

“Hey, how about slowing down so I can catch up next time?” Bang said exasperatedly. “What the hell happened here?” He asked another question, still ignored by everyone doing their own thing. Bang suddenly saw Kyungri crouched down behind a bush, looking terrified. However, that wasn’t all he saw. There was a fifth cloaked figure hanging in the tree right above Kyungri, ready to strike. “Hey, banshee girl, get out of the way!” Bang shouted just as the foe leapt down to attack Kyungri. “SUMMON, UNLOCK!” Bang didn’t hesitate to summon his sword and unlock his second level of powers. With a battle roar, Bang slashed his sword downward and caused a geyser of pure white energy to spew outward. The massive wave of energy from Bang’s sword was more than enough to consume both the enemy and Kyungri, which caused Key to gasp from the sidelines. But just at the right moment, Bang swayed his sword to the right and commanded the wave of energy to twist into a drill shape that only aimed for the enemy. The energy drill made impact with the enemy and their body swirled around like some kind of rollercoaster cart. The cloaked fighter was tossed aside like road kill. Kyungri got to her feet and started to run, believing everyone around her was a threat all of a sudden. The four fallen figures got to their feet without warning and flashed forward to surround Kyungri again. Each of them placed a hand on the girl and before anything could be done from Bang and the others, a large plume of red smoke erupted from around the cloaked fighters and when it cleared…they were gone, along with Kyungri. Bang’s eyed bulged at the realization that the innocent, loudmouth girl had really just been taken. Himchan cussed and Daehyun punched the metal slide beside him out of frustration. Zelo pouted as he dropped to his . Key walked over to stand with them all and just stood speechless as well. After a few minutes, Key finally spoke. “What just happened?”

Well, that was chapter 7!

Hopefully, you guys enjoyed it as much as I did

The story is getting ready to get a lot more action packed, but to be honest, it’s been while since I’ve written action so bear with me if it’s weird or anything.

So, Kyungri has been kidnapped and I think we have a good idea of who the mastermind was.

The Bora/Jongup storyline got cut by me because it wasn’t really going anywhere and we have bigger plots to explore.

Please go ahead and leave comments letting me know what you think of the story

I’ll try to have the next one up as soon as possible.