"You really didn't have to do this," Yeri said to Jungkook nervously as he gently set her down on the nearest bed to the window, the school's nurse, Kim Taeyeon, hot on his heels. Jungkook dragged a nearby stool a little closer to the bed before sitting down, calmly watching as Taeyeon started treating Yeri.
He shook his head. "No, it's alright. I wanted to help you," he said, and she couldn't help but blush slightly at his statement. She knew it was perfectly innocent, but it still made her heart flutter to no end. Everything about him made her heart flutter, with a reason that was beyond her. It was a good thing she managed to hide her fluster well.
"Care to explain how this occurred?" Taeyeon voiced out, examining Yeri's injuries with trained eyes. Yeri proceeded to recount what was it that happened while she was in the washroom, and Taeyeon responded with an ashamed shake of the head. "That Yura girl, I swear. The chairman decided not to expel all of them the last time they've done something like this, deeming that they deserve a second chance, and look what happened," she muttered a few incoherent insults at the girls, seemingly disappointed.
Jungkook eyed the wound on Yeri's head with a frown, lips curving downwards some more as he took note of the blood trickling down from it. "You might get a concussion from that. Miss Kim, you should treat that wound first."
Taeyeon nodded in agreement, tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Thank you for pointing that out, Jeon. I didn't spot that earlier," she took a deep breath, bringing her palms together to emit a green glow. Slowly but surely, Yeri felt the severe injuries on her body eventually disappear, leaving only bruises, and the first degree burn on her wrist where Hyeri grabbed her.
Taeyeon observed her for one last round before sighing in relief, fixing her lab coat. "The rest of the wounds are just minor ones, so my healing doesn't quite work on them. They'll be healed in a couple of days, but I'll discharge you in half an hour. You still need quite a bit of rest, after all," she shook her head. "It was a good thing you managed to defend yourself before Minah blasted her charge at you. That wouldn't be a pretty sight," she grimaced, remembering the times when Jung Yein was rushed into the infirmary by a frantic Lee Mijoo, how she managed to heal her but she never really woke up, it was terrifying, especially for a doctor like her. She remembered watching Yura get away with it all with a smug grin, while she had to contain her anger by gritting her teeth. Things ended up being taken to the court, but Yura got away. She always did. Taeyeon didn't know what kind of upbringing Yura had to turn out like this after being kind for so long, but she didn't want to know. Ignorance is bliss, is it not?
"It's so odd," Taeyeon murmured. "Did you know that Yura was an absolute sweetheart in middle school? She gave flowers to everyone, gave chocolates to everyone on Valentine's Day, smiled at everyone genuinely. Even though people tended to stay away from her due to the fear of her magic, her kindness still managed to reel everyone in. Then, when she entered high school, everything seemed to have changed," she sighed sadly. "I know this because I've been a nurse since then, too."
Jungkook nodded solemnly. He remembered that Yura. She gave him candy on Children's Day with a sincere smile back when he was a 1st Year in middle school. He never really gave much thought about her, but he had to admit that her change of behavior was rather strange, and certainly suspicious. He pushed the thought aside. That wasn't important. Yeri mattered more at this moment.
Yeri lifted her head to look at him, managing a weak smile. "You should get going, Jungkook. You're already really late to class, I can't let you miss it."
He shook his head. "I'll stay. I already memorized everything in History from 1st to 3rd Year. There's nothing I haven't learned in History, anyways. Whenever we have History I always try to resist the urge to fall asleep. I did fall asleep once, but Miss Park didn't say anything, so you could assume I most likely earned her favor," he tousled his hair. "Plus, I wouldn't want to leave you alone here, Yerim."
She turned red rather quickly, looking to the side. "...Call me Yeri," she mumbled out, and Jungkook almost missed it.
"Mm. Alright." He bit his tongue, before carefully pronouncing her name. "Yeri."
It was enchanting, to hear her name escaping his lips, said in his caramel-like voice. It's warm, and comforting, and she wished he could say her name all day, envelop her in this state of bliss forevermore.
The moment was ruined when the sound of Jungkook's ringtone rang around the infirmary, startling the both of them. Both 1st Years turned red slightly, but Jungkook quickly turned away before she could catch a glimpse of his reddened cheeks. He swiftly picked up the call, bringing his phone to his ear. "Hello?"
"Black Hole, are you busy right now?"
Jungkook was surprised to hear the chairman speaking, but he remained unfazed, maintaining his impassive expression. Glancing at Yeri, he answered, "Yes, sir. I'm very busy at the moment."
His answer was met with silence. Jungkook was patient, though, so he silently tapped on his thigh with his right hand, listening to the ticking of the clock. Yeri fiddled with her fingers from time to time, staring at Jungkook through her lashes. He really was pretty. If he wasn't so intimidating due to his third seat status all the time, she knew that girls everywhere would be throwing themselves at his feet, not that many aren't doing so already. She quite liked admiring Jungkook and his appearance, in all honesty. 'He's an angel,' she thought, fighting a goofy grin.
When she noticed him glancing back at her, she immediately looked away, not wanting to get caught checking him out. Could anyone blame her, though? He's a wonder to the eyes.
Meanwhile, with Yeri not looking at him, Jungkook took the time to study Yeri instead, paid close attention to every detail, such as the curve of her nose or the rosy hue of her lips. 'She's an angel,' was his thought as he felt his own lips with his fingers, wondering how it would feel like to have her lips on his-
"There's an intruder on school grounds," Chairman Lee finally said to him, startling him out of his musings. Jungkook stiffened almost immediately, the action not going unnoticed to a certain Yeri. "A 1st Year who spotted the intruder reported he is currently in the southwest courtyard. Now, we don't know who it is and what he or she wants, but it's clear that they're a threat. It's alright. I'll try to contact Grim Reaper or Electro instead. Overtaker is onto the scene already, but I'd like to send someone else just in case," there was a long pause after the chairman's explanation. "...Is...Angel available? Perhaps-"
"She's on bedrest for the next half an hour," Jungkook cut him off sternly, surprising the chairman and even himself. Yeri glanced at him in confusion, and was about to ask him what they were talking about but chose to ignore him, not wanting to be a bother. "So no, she isn't. Ghostwalker is occupied as well."
"I see," there was yet another pause, followed by the muffled noise of conversing people, before the chairman spoke again. "I received a report from Solar. Something regarding Kim Yura?"
He nodded. "Yes."
"Alright then. Overtaker has just informed me that the intruder disappeared off her radar, but he has been identified as a male. Do be cautious, Black Hole, just in case he may still be around. It appears that the intruder was searching for someone," the announcement made Jungkook's blood run cold, but he didn't get to say anything else, as the call already ended.
Jungkook stared at his phone for a while, before being called out by Yeri. Hearing his name being called, he turned, facing her. "Hm?"
"What was that about?" Yeri gestured to his phone. Jungkook was hesitant, wondering if he should tell her the truth. After a while, he gave in, sighing.
"Apparently there is- I'm sorry, was an intruder in this school. Don't worry too much, since Joy and maybe Jongin and Sehun will handle it, but be on your guard, since none of us know whether the intruder is still here," he told her, and she reacted to the news with her jaw clenching. Before she could say anything else, Joy's voice rang in their heads, made possible due to her telepathy link.
"Who is in school right now?" she questioned, sounding frantic. This caused both Yeri and Jungkook to furrow their brows.
"Sehun here. I'm in class right now, 2-A," Sehun's voice chimed in telepathically.
"Yeri and I are in the infirmary," Jungkook informed Joy, nodding at the fellow 1st Year. Yeri nodded back.
"I'm in the library with Taemin," Jongin could be heard saying.
"In front of the bathrooms nearest to 1-B with Wheein. Busy," was Momo's brisk answer.
Joy spoke rapidly, words upon words upon words. "I was contacting Naeun, who was helping me track an intruder on the school grounds with her Predator ability. She just told me that the intruder is no longer on school grounds, but when I went to the place he was last spotted, which was the southwest courtyard...."
"Did you find anything?" Yeri questioned worriedly.
"Lots of blood. The 1st Year who spotted him, Jung Eunbi, called Eunha I think, was found battered on the ground. I'm rushing her to the infirmary with the help of Yugyeom, as we speak, so can anyone go back and check the said venue for me just in case he returned? My hands are full right now," she uttered between hurried breaths.
"I'm done with my project, anyways. I'll go. Hope you don't mind me bringing Taemin along," Jongin voiced out, much to the relief of Joy.
"Thank God," she breathed out. "Be careful, alright? And Jungkook, Yeri, is Miss Kim still there in the infirmary? If she is, tell her to stand by!" and with that, the link cut off, signaling the end of their communication.
Before Yeri could even react, Jungkook was fast to stand up from his chair, calling out for the nurse. "Nurse Kim!"
Taeyeon poked her head out from the book her nose was buried in. "What is it?"
"Joy and Yugyeom are bringing an injured student here. Just get ready. From Joy's description, it seems that she's heavily injured," he told her seriously, and Taeyeon immediately took her reading glasses off, moving to set up the bed meant for the patient. She continued working, not bothering to look at Jungkook. "Name of student?"
"Jung Eunbi, most know her as Eunha. She's in class 1-D," he answered. Yeri got out of the bed, standing up slowly as she frowned. "What do you think is happening?" she asked him.
Jungkook turned to her, mirroring her frown. "Yeri, you shouldn't be out of bed yet."
"Someone else is in a critical condition right now. I'll live, Jungkook," she waved him off nonchalantly, uncaring of her own wellbeing. Walking closer to him, she placed her hands at her hips, staring up at him. "Now answer my question."
Jungkook almost blushed at their close proximity, but remained unperturbed to save himself from embarrassment. "The intruder most probably attacked Eunha to keep her quiet, considering she was the one who spotted him. Seeing that it was too late, he maimed her and fled. It's the only plausible explanation anyways, is it not?"
Yeri leaned back, nodding slowly. "Yeah, I guess I agree."
Moments passed, and Jungkook and Yeri merely stood in comfortable silence. The only sounds that could be heard were the ticking of the clock and the soft clanging of Taeyeon's medical appliances as she sorted through them, most probably to prepare for Eunha's arrival.
Soon, the door was slammed open by Joy, who rushed in with Kim Yugyeom right behind her, the 1st Year carrying Eunha on his back. Taeyeon gasped at the amount of blood on her body, while Yugyeom grimaced at her reaction, looking away. "He obviously didn't show any mercy," he mumbled. Yeri remembered him. He was one of the students in her class, one of the students who went after Jisoo, which explained why she didn't completely remember him at first (she did start blanking out after Jisoo, after all).
"Place her on the bed, quick," and Yugyeom obliged. Taeyeon whipped out an intravenous drip feed, putting it in the injured student. With that settled, she brought her palms together again that day, biting her tongue as they glowed green. 'This isn't good,' she commented, furrowing her brows. 'Four broken ribs, internal hemorrhage at the stomach, broken ankle, concussion. To do this on such short notice, the only ability that could pull this off would be...'
Jungkook and Yeri walked over to Joy, who was assessing the scene with heavy breaths. "What actually happened?" he questioned her, grabbing her shoulder.
"She contacted the chairman at 12:41pm, who then told me. I was nearby, thankfully, so I arrived there rather quickly, around 12:45pm," she closed her eyes shut. "When I got there, she was already heavily injured, as you can tell. That means the intruder did this to her in four minutes, and managed to flee straight after," she laughed bitterly. "How in the world could he possibly-"
"Distortion," Jungkook cut her off, the same time Taeyeon thought the same. "It's one of the magics that are banned in the Decagon Games, due to how dangerous it truly is. Distortion was really only used for military purposes. In a way, it held a resemblance to the Rupture ability, in terms of effects. Distortion allows its user to practically 'distort' anything, be it a solid object, liquid, gas, or even a living being. If the user really felt like it, he would have mutilated Eunha-ssi completely. Distortion was a manufactured ability that was a part of the GOD Project, developed by SAINT back in 2001. The GOD Project involved at least 15 test subjects, though only four of them were successfully developed," he stated. "I learnt this while I was in the Institute."
Yeri frowned. "If the intruder really used Distortion to attack Eunha, then he must be-"
"One of the successfully developed test subjects," Yugyeom concluded, casually chiming in the conversation. The quartet processed this new information with discomfort.
"...That's really unsettling," Joy muttered, looking off to the side. "Weren't the test subjects under SAINT supposed to be sent to their respective homes?" she turned to Jungkook. "You'd know, right?"
He shook his head. "On the day that SAINT was attacked and eventually abolished, dad said that not all of the test subjects were found. Out of 1742, 1700 were found dead and 12 were missing in action, leaving only 30 test subjects that were relocated or returned. Out of 30, 28 of them lost their abilities, as most of them were failed test subjects."
"12 missing? Did your father mention who they were?" Joy continued pestering.
"Four of them should be the test subjects who succeeded in developing Distortion," Jungkook nodded, lost in his thoughts.
"Yeah, but do you know the names of the missing test subjects?" she specified, only for Yugyeom to make a face at her. "Test subjects had no identity in the lab, sunbae. Even you know this." he told her, and she replied with a sheepish 'my bad', rubbing her back.
"And even if I knew their names, I wouldn't tell you. That's classified information, sunbae," Jungkook told her, shaking his head.
"Oh, that reminds me," Joy looked to Yeri, raising an eyebrow. "Why are you two in the infirmary?"
"Yura tried to put her in a coma. Her and her girl gang got destroyed instead," was Jungkook's dry response, evoking a chuckle from Yeri. She looked down to the ground shyly. "I wouldn't say I destroyed them. I was just trying to defend myself."
"Ugh, Yura," Yugyeom rolled his eyes. "She's such a bitch."
"Wow, we totally didn't know that, Captain Obvious!" Joy said sharply.
Yugyeom glared at her. "I didn't ask for your opinion, Sergeant Sarcastic!"
"You don't always get what you want in life, Museum!" she stuck her tongue out mockingly.
"It's Yugyeom, not Museum! What the fuck is wrong with your ears-!"
"Oi, can you guys take this outside?" Taeyeon chimed in from her healing incantation, cracking one eye open to stare them down intimidatingly. Her height certainly broke the image, but she was still rather scary, no less. "I'm trying to save a life here. Yeri, you're discharged."
Jungkook swiftly caught Yeri by the hand and proceeded to drag her out of the infirmary (albeit gently), with Joy and Yugyeom following them from behind (of course, they're still arguing). When Jungkook opened the door to the infirmary, he was surprised to see Jongin, in all seriousness with Taemin behind him. Joy immediately stopped arguing with Yugyeom, pushing past Jungkook to get in Jongin's face. "Was he there?"
He shook his head. "No, but he did leave a message," he nodded to Taemin, who then took out his own phone and showed it to Joy, revealing the pavement of the courtyard Eunha was attacked in, with writings that were most likely written in blood.
"We'll be back," she read out, face turning sour after reading it. "Because that totally tells us everything," she said sarcastically.
Yeri squinted her eyes at the picture. "We?"
"So it's a group of people who are behind this," Jungkook mused, maintaining a face that was void of emotion. The group proceeded to exit the infirmary together. "I guess it could make sense, considering the only possible way Eunha was so quickly attacked was if the intruder utilized Distortion, and only four people can actually use it. Not to mention that they were most likely four of the missing test subjects on the day SAINT was abolished, meaning that there's a large possibility of them being behind all this-"
"Wait, Distortion?" Jongin paled as he said so, gaining the concern of everyone else.
Yeri frowned yet again that day. God, what an eventful first day. How is she not exhausted with all that has been happening? "Why? What is it-?"
"Jungkook, there's one more person who uses Distortion. He was one of the volunteers who wanted to lead the GOD Project, so he let SAINT play with his magic first to form Distortion, then they duplicated it on the test subjects. It only worked on four people, who were the test subjects you just mentioned. You could say that this guy was the original Distortion user, the-"
"Secretary of SAINT," Jungkook finished, blinking. "Yeah. I almost forgot about him. Good thinking, sunbae."
Jongin only seemed more nervous, fiddling with his own fingers, just like Yeri does when she's nervous. Taemin started growing worried. "Hey, Jong, is this about the stuff going on in Aestus....?"
"Huh? What's happening in Aestus?" Yeri asked in the midst of confusion, while Joy slapped a hand to her mouth. "Wait a minute..." the tower murmured, running her other hand through her jet black hair. "Could it be that the suspicious individual Soojung, Taehyung and Seulgi were sent to eliminate was..."
"God, I shouldn't even be apart of this," Yugyeom muttered, slowly walking back into the infirmary.
Jongin nodded to confirm her statement. "Yeah, I think so too. It would explain why they're having so much trouble in subduing him, but I do have faith in them."
"The heck is this about?" Yeri glanced between all of them, asking for answers.
"Subzero, Inferno, and Nullifier were sent to get rid of a threat in Aestus. I heard Rupture was sent there too," Jongin said briskly. She nodded, urging him to continue.
He took a deep breath. "The threat just so happened to be the Secretary of SAINT, the first user of Distortion. I'm sure they'll be fine, but I can't help but worry."
Yeri grinned mischievously. "Why, because your beloved sweetheart Jung Soojung may be in trouble, or because Taehyung and Yoongi might steal her away from you-?"
"Kindly shut up, Yeri."
---
Soojung grunted when she barely dodged an oncoming spike, clutching her bleeding side with gritted teeth. Seeing the ground beneath her shake, she froze and shattered it just in time before it could spike up and impale her.
She stared ahead to see Taehyung surfing through debris and objects, the room still in the state of zero gravity and all. "Oi, Kim, found the files yet?" she called out at him, only to be horrified when he started setting everything around him on fire. "Don't burn everything, you idiot!"
"For once, I agree with her," the man who was still yet to introduce himself stated, narrowing his eyes at Taehyung as he continuously fought with Yoongi, who has been on par with him so far. "Don't burn those files! They're just as important to me!"
"Wait, so if I burn them, will you leave us alone?" Taehyung questioned with a raised eyebrow, hands still aflame.
"Yes- NO!" the man opted to distort everything surrounding the 2nd Year, intending to impale him from all directions.
"Shit," Yoongi muttered with closed eyes, before waving his left hand to bring back gravity to the room. It worked, and the spikes fell before they could even pierce through Taehyung.
Soojung took this opportunity to induce the temperature of absolute zero into the room, freezing and immediately destroying any physical target it makes contact with (besides Taehyung and Yoongi, of course. They're exempted due to obvious reasons). The man cursed, choosing to distort the oncoming onslaught of freezing ice, redirecting it towards her. She shattered it with ease, made easier due to the weight of its own mass. Soon, all of them stood mere feet away from each other, the three students staring the man down.
"I'm sure you've been wondering who I am and exactly how your attacks just can't seem to get to me," he grinned again, malice in his tone. "I'm sure you'd know. My magic is well known as Distortion," he moved his hands randomly, twisting a few pieces of debris out of shape. "It allows me to, well, 'distort' whatever I choose to," he sent a condescending smile at Yoongi, who eyed him suspiciously. "Even your magic," the sudden revelation caused the SS-Class to widen his eyes considerably. Throughout the entire battle, he was wondering why in the world could he not use his Rupture to defeat the man, but now he wished he didn't know.
"Why are ours unaffected, then?" Soojung challenged, eyebrow raised.
"Simply because you're not worth the effort, darling," he said with a wane smile.
Yoongi creased his brows. 'Has the abilities of Distortion, most probably Clairvoyance Touch too, judging by the blue glow from his hands earlier. Can distort non-physical targets, which could only mean...' his lips parted. "Only the first test subject of the GOD Project could distort targets that are intangible, so the only conclusion is that you are-"
He nodded with a simper, clapping cheerfully. "Indeed, I am the Secretary of SAINT, Kim Jonghyun."
Soojung frowned. "SAINT is gone. You were supposed to be dead on March 5th of 2005."
"Explain how I'm here then?" he tilted his head at her.
She narrowed her eyes at him the same time Yoongi changed the course of gravity yet again, only this time it only applied to Jonghyun. This sent the man flying, cursing. Yoongi whipped his head to face Taehyung. "Now, kid!"
While the man was distracted, Taehyung seized the chance to ignite a firestorm, incinerating everything it meets. The conflagration of intense temperature moved towards the man, who narrowed his eyes and stretched his hand out, only to be shocked at how absolutely nothing changed.
"I remember Miss Park saying this to the class last week. It's a good thing I paid attention to her lecture," Taehyung mused, nonchalantly watching as the flames ate at Jonghyun, said man's eyes growing wider by the second. "Since you were the first test subject, SAINT was more experimental, which explained why you could distort non-matter. With more experimentation, came more failures. There is one thing you can't distort, Kim Jonghyun," the grin on the 2nd Year's face widened, eyes lighting up with delight. "And it's fire."
Jonghyun hissed as the flames licked at his skin, opening one eye to narrow them at Taehyung. "I suppose I have no choice but to completely remove your magic. I was playing nice; did you notice how I never bothered to mutilate any of you like I did with the staff here?!" despite the fire burning his hand, he waved it anyway, ready to release his magic. "Death will quite like you, Kim Taehyung-ssi. A kind farewell to you."
Except it wasn't Taehyung who felt pain, it was the blonde 3rd Year with a bleeding side.
Soojung coughed out blood as she keeled, feeling pain coming from the bones of her body; it hurt to breathe, she noticed, most probably due to her six broken ribs. Blood pooled around her feet as she kneeled down, clenching her fists tight.
"Fucking hell," Yoongi growled. Distortion was a target linked magic, in which the user merely has to have the target in mind rather having to aim a spell at them properly. There was no easy way to intercept it, thus placing them in a sticky situation.
'You know what?' Yoongi grabbed Taehyung's shoulder, the difference in height rather overwhelming but not setting him back. "Oi, kid. Listen here. You go get Subzero, the files, and get out of here, got it?" he stared at the boy dead in the eye, glancing at the files near Soojung's shaking body.
"Wait, what? Hyung, what about you?" he asked worriedly.
The SS-Class rolled his eyes. "I'm holding him back, of course. What else do you think I'd be doing? Sleep?"
He gaped. "You can't handle him on your own! Maybe you could, if you had Rupture, but-"
"Subzero is close to dead at this point, and you will too if you don't freaking leave," he interrupted sternly, eyes narrowed intensely. "I'm not going to risk having you guys die by my hands. Leave."
"But-"
"Go, you dumbass."
Taehyung swallowed, stepping back slowly. Taking the files in one hand, and Soojung's arm in the other, he slung her arm over his shoulder, supporting her weight. Looking over his shoulder, he gazed at Yoongi's back with darkened eyes, before turning around to leave.
"Wait," Soojung said through clenched teeth, urging him to stop. She reeled her hand back as it glowed white. Turning around, she glared at Jonghyun with all her might. "This is for you, you son of a bitch!" and with that, she froze everything in the room, shattering it at the same time. Yoongi merely stood in the midst of it all, staring the man down. With all objects and debris gone, this only left the floor and the walls for Jonghyun to distort.
Jonghyun sneered at her, ready to land his finishing blow. "Why, you little-" Only to feel the absence of his magic. He stared at his hands in confusion.
"What the-!"
Somewhere in the darkness of the room, right behind him specifically, a feminine voice called out at him.
"Not so fast, sir. I've got a bone to pick with you."
Yoongi merely stared at the figure behind Jonghyun with a smirk gracing his face, flexing his fingers at the feeling of his Rupture ability returning to him.
Kang Seulgi appeared from the shadows, landing an earth-shattering punch to the man's face.
------
[ A/N: YASSS BITCH BADASS SEULGI TO THE RESCUE. her magic is honestly awesome as hell and i look forward to exploring it more in future chapters :D that stuff aside, i apologize for the anti-climactic action scene. it's hard to write, i tell ya. especially when magic is involved. ]