In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back.

Charlie Brown

Jieun had the face of an innocent child despite being seventeen. She possesses the power of sounds and has a bat form, Baekhyun told them just a few minutes before the lesson started.

The moment she stepped onto the platform, all she did was clear and the target disappeared into the ground, giving her a score of 0.42 seconds. She stumbled backwards at the sight, her eyes widening in disbelief. Her whole body shook whilst incoherent murmurs vibrated from the rest of the class.

The deathly silence was suffocating. Most of them stared at the ground, knowing what was going to happen next.

“Congratulations Jieun, you are invited to join the monarch’s army,” Miss Song announced, breaking the horrendous silence which was probably best unbroken.

“You mean forced.” Luhan sneered quietly, earning a glare from Sunggyu.  

It was a trap. They all knew it, but nothing could be done. Soldiers came marching in armed and ready, almost as if they were waiting for this exact moment, taking the fragile girl away.

Huiyin shot Yixing a glance and he seemed to understand what she wanted.

“No,” he snapped. She bit her lip and ducked her head.

She couldn’t watch anymore.

No one could, apart from those who’d planned it all.

Their hearts dropped lower as the sound of marching became softer in the hallway. The fact that Jieun didn’t even bother to rebel against the army, made the two scientists realise just how powerful the monarch was.

*

Huiyin was fuming, her breathing heavy the moment she entered the house. It seemed as though she’d been holding her breath through the end of the class and through the trip back to their new home.

“How could they take a child just like that?!” she exclaimed in aggravation, throwing her arms about abruptly, almost hitting Chanyeol in her fit of rage. “Why didn’t anyone do something?!”

“No one could do anything. Even if anyone was to interfere, it wouldn’t be then,” Yixing replied calmly, sinking into the sofa casually. “If you’re going to live here, you’re going to need to understand how this place works; otherwise, the next person might be you.”

Chanyeol placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, but it was useless. The image of the young girl being dragged away kept replaying in her mind like a broken record.

*

By the end of the first week at the university, the three had settled in and had a grasp on their new lifestyle. But money was starting to become tight, with most of the money going towards rent and food, and the only choices they had left were to enter the month-end challenge or to downgrade their standard of living.

The month-end challenge was a series of battles with three people in each team. First prize would be 5400X. Second received 2400X and third, 1200X. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

When it came to lunch, Yixing had disappeared again.

“Why doesn’t he have lunch with us?” Baekhyun asked, his head scanning the noisy classroom to see if Yixing was hanging around with another group.

“I don’t know,” Huiyin mumbled, getting up from her seat. “I’ll go and get him. Maybe he’s one of those people who won’t tag along unless we send him an invitation.”

Baekhyun chuckled whilst Chanyeol stayed abnormally silent. Huiyin didn’t glance back.

*

Huiyin ran through the halls, searching everywhere for signs of Yixing. When she couldn’t find him inside, she dashed out of the building, heading towards the forest. Her gut feeling told her that he was fond of nature and its tranquillity and the forest was the most obvious place for someone to go to if they wished to be surrounded by nature. Her heart pounded in her chest as she was going too fast, but she didn’t want to stop. She wanted to find him.

Except the sight before her forced her to stop and hide. Her breath became caught in , causing her to cough, making her clamp a hand over so she wouldn’t be found. But she couldn’t turn away.

Yixing was surrounded by four girls and he was kissing them one by one.

She should’ve known that it would happen. After that day in the gym, he had taken Luhan’s title of the class’ Elite. He became popular with the girls around the school as well as the envy between the guys. He had so many people within the palm of his hand now and he also had no reason to eat with her and Chanyeol anymore.

For some reason, it didn’t feel right and it bothered Huiyin more that it should’ve. Maybe it was because she considered him as a friend (even though he may have never thought the same of her), or perhaps it was because they were living together and developed some sort of ‘bond’ between housemates; at least, that’s what she tried to convince herself.

Suddenly she felt someone grasp her arm, forcing her to turn right.

It was Luhan.

“What are you doing here?” he asked in a hushed whisper. His eyes were filled with worry and Huiyin felt her heart melt because someone was actually worried about her. Luhan was worried about her.

“I—I was going to ask Yixing to join us for lunch, but it seems like he’s got plans. I shouldn’t disturb him. I’m going back now.” Before Huiyin could make any move to leave, Luhan stopped her, carefully removing her thick-rimmed glasses.

A gentle grin surfaced his lips. “You look really pretty without these.”

She automatically made to take her glasses back. “Yixing said I have to wear these at all times.”

“Why are you listening to him?” Luhan asked as he lifted her chin, tilting her head back. “He can’t be so selfish to keep you for his own, especially since he’s such a playboy.”

“W—what?” she stuttered. “No, it’s nothing like that. I think you’ve got the wrong idea.”

“Then don’t wear them.”

“I—” she hesitated, Yixing’s words replaying in her head. You have the clear disadvantage as a girl. I advise you to look as hideous as possible when exiting that door. But she’s not obligated to listen to him— why should she have to listen to him? He didn’t care anyway. “Okay,” she finally said before leaving hastily for her next lesson.

Luhan threw a wink at Sunggyu around the corner, who had used mind control on the new girl. Sunggyu bowed his head slightly before disappearing.

*

When Huiyin and Luhan parted ways, Huiyin slowly made her way through the corridors, her head spinning with the earlier scene with Yixing; however, her new appearance caught the attention of many people.

In no time she’d become targeted.

*

When Yixing came back to the class alone, Chanyeol and Baekhyun furrowed their eyebrows.

“Where’s Huiyin?” Chanyeol asked with a breathless voice. Yixing only replied with a puzzled gaze.

“She went to look for you,” Baekhyun explained. “Didn’t you see her?”

Yixing shook his head, his own expression pulling into a frown.

“Yixing-ah, you should have joined me when I invited you,” Luhan sung, approaching the group. “Doing this kind of thing hurts me too.” He seemed serious, but there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice which irritated Chanyeol to his core.

“Where is she?” Chanyeol growled, grabbing Luhan’s collar, only to feel a force push him against the wall, causing him to yelp in pain.

“Don’t touch me!” Luhan exclaimed, adjusting his shirt before looking at Yixing straight in the eye. “Let’s discuss this after class,” the blonde said, taking his seat aggressively, watching the rest of his friends follow suit.

Yixing walked towards Chanyeol. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, feeling very bothered by Luhan’s words. This was all his fault. They wouldn’t be in this situation if only he had thought Luhan’s request through properly in the first place. The younger shook his head before exhaling loudly to relieve the anger inside of him.

“Nothing bad will happen to her, right? It can’t happen.”

Yixing nodded a little before taking his seat.

The lesson seemed to go on for an eternity. None of them could focus. Baekhyun who overheard everything got a rough idea of what was happening. He offered to help, but there really wasn’t much he could do. It wasn’t like he didn’t warn them about Luhan.

*

As soon as their class ended, Chanyeol rushed towards Luhan as if he was afraid the deer would run away.

“Calm down. As long as Yixing joins me, I’ll help you get her back.” Luhan grinned, packing his stuff into his bag. “You and Huiyin are also welcomed to join us; at your own risk, of course.”

“Please understand, if we had a choice, we wouldn’t have done this. I’m really sorry for this, really, I am,” Minseok explained, glancing at Chanyeol and Yixing through his bangs.

Yixing just nodded, agreeing to Luhan’s deal. “Where is she?”

The corners of Luhan’s lips curved into a sly smirk. “Don’t worry. I am a man of my words.”

*

Huiyin woke up from her slumber to find that her arms and legs were chained to the bed she was sleeping on. She blinked and tried to remember where she was or what she had been doing before she fell asleep, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t remember anything. Everything was so blurry in her mind and nothing made sense.

Panic consumed her. Her arms and legs tugged at her restraints, trying to release herself from the metal chains with no avail. She wondered briefly if she could use her powers to free herself, but was reminded of the gigantic hole she had caused in the gym only days earlier and she shuddered. What if she amputated her own limbs by accident?

Just as her wrists were starting to become raw with all the tugging, the sturdy metallic door swung open revealing none other than Yixing. She’d never felt so delighted to see him and more importantly, she felt safe in his presence.

“Oh God, thank goodness it’s you! Help me!” She gasped. Her lips naturally curved as he walked closer, but something didn’t feel right and her smile disappeared. His stoic expression was becoming clearer under the dim, amber lighting and his now lifeless eyes were intimidating her. “Y-Yixing?” she stuttered, unsure. The person in front of her felt almost like a stranger to her.

And instead of helping her like she’d asked of him, he climbed on top of her and dived in for her lips.