𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐆𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄

3; 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣

"the mangas aren't weird!" minghao almost shouts. "besides, i can afford the shoes if i was in pledis mafia. the pay is 5x better. it's not me, it's seventeen that's causing the problem."

"yeah, the pay here is getting low because you're scaring away the clients." junhui quipped. minghao scoffs.

"okay, you guys done?" seokmin asked. "so, what do we do?"

"maybe we should talk to them." mingyu's statement earns nods and words of agreement, then the six turn around. soonyoung disables his ability on the four orphans, then suddenly—

chan runs to seungcheol, arms open. he embraces the plump-lipped boy, and seungcheol had time to react, since the distance that chan travelled was pretty far. he didn't know if chan has an ability, so for safety, he uses his own. if chan has something up his sleeve, it won't work because chan would just go straight through seungcheol.

but chan got a hold of seungcheol. jeonghan smirked, seeing that chan was telling the truth all along. the plump-lipped boy looked surprised, and it told jeonghan one thing. chan's ability was working.

chan was now hugging the taller, face buried in his chest. what was he up to? why was he hugging a supposed-to-be enemy? why wasn't chan going through seungcheol's body?

"seungcheol, why aren't you using your ability?! that going through objects shit?! i thought it worked on humans!"

"i'm using my ability, dumbass!" seungcheol stares at the small boy hugging him. "what the heck is this?!"

"aw, did he just want a hug—oh. wait. if you're using your ability, then..." soonyoung trails off, looking at his feet to think. the others, instead of thinking, looks at all the other orphans. it was suspicious as hell. their knowledge about abilities, this weird phenomenon where seungcheol's ability is not working, and chan just casually hugging their leader.

why wasn't seungcheol's ability working?

"you got tricked!" jeonghan cackles, while jihoon uses his ability to raise a kitchen knife nearby. he sends it to seungcheol in a fast pace, which seungcheol saw. he barely dodged it. in result, he gets a slit on his throat, but it wasn't as deep as jihoon wanted it to be. jihoon curses under his breath, while seungcheol wiped off the blood that dripped from the new cut.

"so you guys are ability users, huh?" minghao asks, pulling out his nunchucks from his back pocket. junhui was whispering, calling the red demon so she would be ready when he needs her. seokmin already had a katana on hand, while seungcheol was flabbergasted.

"don't attack them. soonyoung, control them, don't let them move. as for this kid," seungcheol looks down, to see chan relying on seungcheol. chan's legs were jelly and he can't handle his weight, his eyes only showed the sclera.

"he used his ability for the first time in awhile. he lost all his energy." seungcheol murmured, sweeping the orphan's feet off the floor. seokmin gushed at the leader's actions.

"criminal x organization president trope? oh shit. i love it." seokmin drew his katana. seungcheol glared at seokmin, before his gaze drops to the boy he's carrying. "aya, aya. calm down, leader-nim."

seungcheol had seen so many abilities and skills, ones where it includes color, creativity, using other beings, earthly elements and morphing. but he didn't expect to be so amazed to see such a boring ability. that boring ability may not include earthly elements or splashes of colors, but its power is unmatched. anyone with abilities will lose to chan. seungcheol chuckled in disbelief. and he thought he was the most powerful one.

"but what's his ability though?"

"negating abilities," the orphan with cat eyes answered. it was wonwoo. "we only found out about it now, to be honest."

"oh, you're not mute?" mingyu scratched his scalp, watching the stoic boy. "why are you guys here? are you sure that you're from the orphanage? why do you guys have abilities, who are your parents? why did you guys attack us?"

"we are here to rob clothes and food, since we don't have money. yes, we are from the orphanage and we just escaped. we have abilities, of course, we found that out early in our teenage years. we're orphans, we also ask ourselves who our parents are, or were. we attacked you so we can try to get away from here." wonwoo answered suit, making mingyu nod. "and, i just spoke. i'm clearly not mute."

"what should we do with them?" seokmin asks, discarding his katana for awhile. "we can't hold them captive, let them go for evil organizations to prey on, or accept them here as orphans."

"i think i just fell in love." seungcheol blinks, and for that, he earns funny looks from his members. up to this day, they don't know why he's the leader. "how about we keep 'em as employees?"

"what?! you said you don't want more members?!" mingyu objects, turning to face seungcheol. seungcheol ignored mingyu. "yah! don't ignore me, gums!"

"hello, we're seventeen armed forces, we're a supernatural crime division and we fight supernatural crimes. we're all ability users. would you like to take a chance and earn a place in the force?" seungcheol states. "we're trying to give you a chance, you know."