CHAPTER 15

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The last thing Jeno remembers after agreeing with Jaemin was that he was knocked unconscious with a metal pot.

"It's a secret, the base location." He remembers Jaemin explaining, "You can't know anything about its whereabouts so I'm taking some special measures."

And then, clang.

Thus Jeno when finally woke up with his head throbbing painfully at the site of injury, he was greeted with the most innocent looking man's face instead of some rowdy fellow.

"Oh, he's up!" The man said cheerfully, his red mullet dancing along with his movements, causing Jeno to almost coo at him. The man had a narrow frame, only his shoulders jutting out with a tall height.

"Do I chop him up now?" The man asked.

Ok, maybe he was not that cute and innocent.

"Don't be ridiculous Jungwoo, he's on our side." A man groaned, his features prim like glass and roses, "Good morning, Lee Jeno." He said, turning to the brunette.

Jeno nodded fervently, finding himself seated in a large white sofa situated in the middle of a large glass room at least 20 storeys into the sky.

The sunlight hit him like a shovel, the rays feeling like javelins to the pupils. He pushed himself up to sit straight, almost tripping as he soon realised his feet were tied up.

Like he could run away from two NCT members.

"Is this necessary?" Jeno asked the man whose name he supposed was Jungwoo. The said man turned to him grinning, "Yes, it's so that you can't run away."

He huffed, "It's not like you two can't stop me from running away." The red haired shook his head, "It's not that we can't stop you from running, it's just to prevent me from killing you under the pretence that you tried to escape."

"Taeyong, you know." Jungwoo put his hands out in exasperation, "He doesn't want me to kill you and knows enough that I would murder you with a false reason." He smiled sweetly.

What a sweetheart, the sadist.

"And Doyoung over there," He pointed to the man sitting right in front of him, "He is here to stop me from choking you." Jungwoo giggled.

Doyoung sat elegantly on the sofa, the sunlight bending down his sharp features, glorifying his already beautiful face with abstract shadows.He gave them a vague look, as though he was completely bored by them.

He didn't really seem to even look at how Jungwoo was literally salivating at the thought of ripping his neck, hence Jeno was not completely sure if this Doyoung person was doing a good job in subduing the sadist

While he was being too engrossed with trying to scoot away from Jungwoo, Jeno failed to notice another presence enter the room until a light breath next to him made him jerk abruptly, causing the new man to laugh.

"My, my. I won't kill you, relax."

The speaker's sleek black shirt was that of cotton thread, his shoulder poking out sharply under them. His eyes were deep brown and glowed as he spoke, "Hello, Jeno. Congrats on not being killed within the first ten minutes."

Lee Jeno grimaced.

All this man said was just one sentence with a simple meaning and could easily be passed of as a joke or a congratulatory message. But he knew that it was much more than that.

It was a grand show, a reminder as to who is in power.

He was not a fool, no he never was. He knew that getting involved with NCT would lead to only two choices, either death or a life supporting them. And as he chose the second option, it was obvious that his life was NCT's.

For all the people in this room, another murder is not something new. They could twist Jeno's neck at this very moment and sit for tea afterwards while his blood soaked their shoes into a dark colour.

The fact that Jeno was standing in the room right now was the proof needed to show his submission to NCT. He remains alive only because he has promised to work with them and to never go against them and it was sealed the minute he agreed with Jaemin.

This promise was not something of word or letter but that of the very breath of air that keeps his heart going. It was what kept him alive and is what will stop him from being squashed like an insect.

A promise filled with daggers, keeping him in his place.

"I'm Johnny, Taeyong asked me to escort you to his office for a small briefing." He informed, sittiing down beside him, "But before that, we can always have a nice chat."

Jeno was hesitant but he didn't show it, "Oh, what do you want to talk about?" He asked, getting a response as, "Well, you could tell me about the Vritra, like the back story at least." He gave a nerve wracking smile, "After all, it's rare to see Indian mythology in NstateT."

Jeno hummed, trying not to show his dilemma is revisiting the old memories. He never usually thought about it in the fear of it coming back to him but now, he was already dragged into a whole mess because of it.

So why not mention it anyway? An otiose.

Mention the Vritra anyway?

"The Vritra," Jeno began, getting everyone's attention, including Doyoung who sat in the corner, "Is a myth of the Vedic era, at the time of Manu Shasthra, 100 CE." He gave the factual information first, "He is an asura, basically a demon that is susceptible to death."

"Vritra is described to be a huge serpent with black scales and copper eyes that gleam, and is said to be created to defeat Indra, the god of Thunder and War. As Indra is supposed to bring rain and water, Vritra stops all water flow by blocking the seas."

Doyoung spoke to him, "So a giant snake that is very petty, huh." He laughed to himself, getting a similar laugh from the other two. "Ah, you continue." He told Jeno who nodded.

"With all water gone, the people suffered greatly. Hence, Vritra is also called the Drought Asura," He said, "And when Indra finally noticed this, he knew he had to kill the Serpent. So he descended from Heaven on his ten headed elephant, Airavati, to engage in a cosmic war."

"But the Serpent was far too powerful, way too empowered by hatred, and thus resulted in it swallowing Indra himself. It later took all other gods to convince Vritra to spit him out only on one condition."

"To never kill Vritra with a substance belonging to Air, water, fire or land."

"Then how is he to kill him?" Jungwoo pouted when Jeno replied, "With foam, a substance belonging the neither air nor water."

"And of course with the aid of the Moon and Night god Soma, the fire god Agni and the wind god Varuna." He said, "With their help, Indra stroke the Serpent, killing it all together." He ended.

"Clever." Johnny commented, "A wonderful story I wish we could debate more about but sadly, I need to take you to Taeyong now." He got up, walking alongside him as he took him outside the room after freeing from the ropes.

"You know, Jeno." He started, "You truly looked like a son of the Vritra when you explained the story, so regal and pristine." He winked, "I think you should behave more like that if you want to convince Taeyong that you're going be useful."

Jeno nodded, agreeing with the other.

He had come here as the lineage to the Vritra, so he must behave in the way he was taught to back then, "Thank you, Johnny." He said as he straightened his back, pulled out his stoic face.

"Ooh, I like this." He leaned in to hug Jeni softly, his nose near the other's ear, "I like you a lot Jeno. I really hope you come out alive. Good luck."

And then, he was pushed into the office of Lee Taeyong.

Leader of NCT.

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I'm literally brainstorming on how to even end this book in like just 40 chapters.

I chose too much of a complex story.

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