Jeon Jeongguk
The pressure came crashing down on Monday. Individual training leading up to the fights started today, for two and a half weeks.
It was noticeable in the canteen too; those who ate together and laughed loudly were now sat in an eerie silence apart from their cutlery scraping against the metal bowls.
Our house sat at the same table, but it too was noticeably quieter. Even Taeyong had been reduced to nothing but a few words this morning.
Everybody was a threat at this very moment, but the biggest threat to us all had walked into the gym later in the day. He grabbed the attention of the mentors as well as ours with his extravagant entrance. I slowly stopped hitting a punching bag, attention diverted to the middle aged man who had walked in with two guards at his side.
"Pathetic," he uttered. "everybody gather. Now."
"And who exactly are you?" The mentor for House Busan questioned, he too glaring at him like the others.
"I'm General Choi Seunghyun. I was called specifically by his Majesty to help you train your houses, as you may have grown too attached to them to properly prepare them for their fate. And to be honest, I'm thankful he did; at this point we'll have a very boring show."
"Show?" Taeyong echoed.
"Why, yes. Did you not know?" He chuckled. "The final battles are going to be open-house events, and televised throughout the nation. Imagine dying in front of the whole country," he started to pace, heels clicking against the concrete floor. "there's 25 of you right now; split yourselves into 5 groups and begin to warm up. I will call you out two by two so I can see what you have."
"Sorry, Sir, But none of them are ready to fight. It's their first day." Jooheon spoke up.
"You out of anyone should know that practice makes perfect, Mr Lee. They have to start at one point," General Choi smirked. "I remember little you fighting kids roughly their age at 12, you can't tell me that this is too early for them, especially if they chose to be here."
A nerve was clearly hit - hell, it was aggressively punched - the atmosphere in the room grew thick and heavy. Jooheon, who usually showed a relaxed personality, was currently clenching his fists as if to control something bigger than him.
"If he snaps it's the end for that General." Yoongi whispered, and I nodded quickly, the two of us pretending to block each other's hits. Like everybody else, we took the opportunity to speak to each other.
"Mitozaki Akira and Jung Hyunsoo, you're up." The General announced, after at least 20 minutes of just watching us.
The aforementioned boy only grinned, his friends laughing. Akira, on the other hand, looked like a deer in headlights.
I had heard about him. He was mean and skilled, one of the ones who had been training their whole life to join the army, but took the lifetime opportunity of serving the King directly. I immediately wanted to punch the smile off his face.
"Sir, she's a girl." Jooheon immediately intervened, the other mentors looking as panic stricken as before.
"The only girl. She should know she'd have to fight boys at some point; let's go. We don't have all day," The General hissed. "and nobody intervenes. None of you have a guaranteed spot, so don't try to damage your chances."
The others too came to a gradual stop, turning to the front, where Akira and Hyunsoo prepared to fight.
For dragged out moments, they circled one another, and then he uttered something which caused her to dart forward at his face; landing a hit, before he grabbed her arm & violently twisted it behind her, forcing her down by pushing on the back of her knees.
Asshole, I thought.
He shape shifted into a Jaguar, and she formed a ring of fire around the two of them, giving him no choice but to return to his human state. As soon as that occurred he launched at her mercilessly, punching her square across the jaw which knocked her over. He kicked her. Again, and again.
My blood boiled, but I was defenceless. I couldn't bring myself to move, stunned at the amount of anger someone could have for another person they had just met for the first time.
A tiger jumped over the flames surrounding them, shifting back to human form before shielding Akira, blocking the next kick coming in her direction.
That was our mentor, looking the angriest I had ever seen him. He pulled harshly on Hyunsoo's ankle which forced him down, not even hesitating to get a couple punches in before the other mentors pulled him off the scumbag.
"Let go of me right now," all hands released Jooheon. He pulled Hyunsoo up by the collars. "you mess with someone your own size you absolute piece of-"
"Mr Lee!" General Choi cut him off. "That's enough."
He dropped Hyunsoo, the look of wrath replaced by unfathomable worry as he knelt beside Akira, who was barely moving.
I darted forward, helping him pull her to her feet. She was trembled violently, bleeding from her nose and mouth with forming bruises littered across her body.
"Thank you, Jeongguk. I'll take her to the infirmary." Jooheon replied quietly, taking Akira away.
"You," I turned around, General Choi pointing directly at me. "you're up."
I looked towards Yoongi and Taeyong, who both offered me a thumbs up. Before me, Hyunwoo spat a mouthful of blood. "You House Daegu people are all talk. Thinking you're the best just because you're being mentored by a top general; so let's see," he chuckled. "the cute girl's gone, you're next-"
His hand raised, punching his own cheek in the face. "What the-"
I repeated the action again, having total control of his limbs. I forced his legs to move, making him run into the nearest wall. The others watched amused, as I made Hyunsoo hit himself for me.
As this unfolded before me, I too chuckled, but was caught off guard when his hands clamped around my neck. I gasped desperately, hitting his arms.
"Not so clever now, are you, drip?" His eyes glowed green, an evil glimmer in them.
I aimed, kicking his leg. His strength faltered momentarily and I took advantage of this to concentrate again, forcing him to kneel before me.
"Goodnight." I spat at him, before landing a punch on his left eye, knocking him unconscious.
"Jeon Jeongguk, you never fail to amaze me," Jooheon smiled. "you really did that?"
"Yeah. I don't know; I never knew you could work telekinesis on a person." I shrugged.
The three of us hoovered our lunch the moment we got it, passing by the infirmary to check on Akira before the afternoon session. Jooheon was sat beside her bed, where she had been put to sleep to not feel the pain of her two newly fractured ribs.
He looked in her direction, moving a stray dark curl from her face. "Poor kid," He sighed. "but I'm glad you did it, although you should be careful. Jung Hyunsoo has a very powerful Root family, and he's ruthless."
"Well, he has a whole storm coming," Taeyong crossed his arms. "when he started hitting Akira I just wanted to-"
"Hit him twice as hard, but with like, a car." Yoongi said.
"I could relate to that," Our mentor nodded, laughing. "she'll be okay, she's strong. We should probably get going for the afternoon task."
"She's staying here alone? I could always, like, stay. Make sure she's okay and comfortable-" Taeyong blabbered.
"You tried, come on," I shook my head, leading him out of the room much to everybody's amusement.
The afternoon task was a mix of indoor target practice with daggers and bows & arrows, and sparring. Along with the mentors, and the General were Prince Taehyung and Jimin watching.
His gaze lingered on me for a second longer than it was meant to, and I felt like it was a reminder.
After I agreed to teach him how to swim, Prince Taehyung asked that we met nightly Monday through to Friday, starting today. I offered him a small nod, collecting my weapons and shooting arrows at targets scattered across the gym.
I lost sight of Yoongi; knowing full well that target practice wasn't his strength, I kept my distance to not pressure him further.
I wish I hadn't.
"Min Yoongi," General Choi barked. "tell me, can you not hit a single bullseye?"
Yoongi didn't respond, simply continuing to try. He became flustered, I noticed, hands slipping off the bow & arrow frequently.
"Everybody stop!" The General, and all activities came to a brisk halt.
He walked towards the Prince, yanking Jimin from his side. From his pocket he produced a blindfold and tied it around his eyes before moving him in front of a target. On top of Jimin's blonde hair, he placed a shiny red apple.
"Min Yoongi, shoot this apple for me," He said. "maybe you'll learn to hit the centre when it means keeping your boyfriend alive."
There was a silent but collective exclamation as the General exposed the two of them. "Oops." He said.
Stood before the target, Jimin was shaking, trying his best to remain still.
I was stood close enough to see tears brim Yoongi's eyes.
"Hey," I gripped his arm, whispering. "this isn't the time for tears. Focus and aim to the right."
"Jeon Jeongguk back away, you've been enough of a hero today."
I took my steps back, standing beside an equally fearful Taeyong.
Yoongi drew the arrow, and with a shaky breath & closed eyes, he released it. I forced my own shut, hearing only gasps upon impact.
When I opened them, Jimin had crumbled to the ground, hyperventilating. Above him, the arrow hit the apple so perfectly it went through it, and it just remained there.
Yoongi immediately rushed to Jimin, pulling him to his arms whilst uttering repeated apologies as Jimin clung to him tightly, sobbing. That's what I liked about him.
He never wanted to keep it a secret; if he was to die for being in love with Jimin, so be it. And clearly, vice versa.
However, Yoongi left later that evening, two beds in our dorm vacant now that he was gone and Akira was still in the infirmary.
I didn't stop him; I was happy for him. I was glad that he could go back home and just live his life, if the Dynasty allowed it.
I thought about this as I sat at the edge of the pool, staring intensely at the blurry lines at the bottom of the pool.
The main door opened shortly after, Prince Taehyung entering. He smiled to me, but it didn't fully reach his eyes. "Hey."
"Hi," I stood up. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah." He whispered, nodding.
"Good. One thing I will tell you is that, there isn't much to this, nothing to be afraid of because worst comes to worst, let yourself float to the surface and breathe," I said and he nodded again. "firstly, you have to jump, though."
"Can't I just go via the steps?"
"There aren't steps in the sea, Taehyung. Imagine we're at sea," I told him. "copy me."
"How?"
I winked, diving into the pool. My feet touched the bottom of the deep end, and I pushed off it, treading water once my head was above the surface. Taehyung looked horrified.
"This is a terrible idea."
"It isn't! Come on, I'll catch you."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Dude, I literally kissed you back to life in front of everybody to see. I thought you'd trust me a bit more," I faked a pout. "I'll even let you cannon ball onto me, we can work on diving later."
He stepped back, then ran forward, jumping over my head and landing at least a foot away. Even before he was properly in the water, he was desperately clinging for something. I swam over, securing my arms around his waist.
"Oh my god!" He gasped for air.
"It's okay, it's okay, I've got you, see?" He looked up, and I only then acknowledged how close he was to me, his eyes wide and alert, hair all over the place & lips slightly parted. "I've got you."
"Okay, okay," he spoke gently, repeating the second one in a whisper so quiet I barely heard it myself. "what's next?"
"You do that, again and again, until you get used to it."
"You're kidding me. I nearly fainted in mid air, Jeongguk!" He whined.
"It gets easier with time, I promise. But you just need to keep practicing getting into the water, and getting comfortable with it." I dragged us both to the shallow end, so he could get off the pool, then swam to the deep end again, where he stood.
This time, and the other few after, he jumped with zero hesitation, each jump with more conviction than the previous.
After an hour and a half, we sat back at the edge of the pool, where I rested my head on my hands, exhausted. "How's Jimin?"
"He's okay. Glad to be alive, really. How's Yoongi?"
"I don't know, he looked unbothered about leaving. But he's most likely upset." I sighed.
"I wish I was in love like they are," Taehyung sighed. "I don't know, you could feel how much Yoongi loved Jimin when he ran to hug him after. It's a once in a lifetime thing."
"I don't. Love was what killed my parents," he looked at me confused. "love between classes. They were killed for it."
"Oh, Jeongguk. I'm so sorry to hear."
I chuckled sadly. "Me too, Taehyung."
On that note, we sat together for a few more minutes, just enjoying the peacefulness of the pool, and this rare instance of silence in our minds.