Semester evaluations.
They are the one thing that'll make or break a student's mafia asperation.
It was just like finals but the steaks were much higher.
For ranks five through two, the top twenty students in their tier rank up. For tier five, the bottom fifty get executed, not being of use.
The bottom twenty in tiers four through one get ranked down. It's an extremely humiliating experience.
For tier ones, the top three students become a certified substitute in the class they did the best in. Once JYP deems the said students ready, they will have the option to debut as a mafia group. But that could take years or just a few months.
"Do you think I could rank up?" Dae ponders, flipping through the endless study guides.
"We hope you will Dae, but your classmates are quite competitive. If you don't rank up, we'll still be proud of you."
"Will you still be proud of me even if I rank down?" Dae hesitates, her doe eyes looking at them nervously.
"Let's not think about that until it happens. You're a Stray Kids member, you are Dae, I don't think you will be ranking down anyways." Felix comments, putting his hand on her head, ruffling her hair slightly.
"'Racha," Dae starts, getting the attention of 3 males. "What's your final?"
"Ah, that's cheating if I tell you. You'll just have to wait and see." Chan revealed.
Dae's face slips into a pout, "How rude."
JYP allowed the students one hour in the training facility and or library to be able to study.
"Jinyoung!" Dae calls out, running to her best friend. They both decided to meet in the training facility, Jinyoung needed serious help with sparring and Dae remembers best by teaching others. She learned this by substituting with Jackson.
"Oh! Hey Dae!" Jinyoung greets. "I'm so nervous about today."
"Trust me, me too. And the worst part is that they aren't announcing anything until tomorrow."
"what class are you most anxious about?" Jinyoung contended as they were warming up.
"combat definitely. There is always a right or wrong on the written exams, but with fighting, anything can happen. Plus, if it is sparring, Stray Kids already know all my techniques, making them have the upper hand."
"Angle yourself Youngie, you're in an unstable position. If anyone were to come up behind you and strike you, you would be done for."
"Dae, you're great, but I have no idea how to do what you are saying."
Dae rolls her eyes, coming from behind him and changes his footing so he's more stable.
"Like that, at least that's what I do with my jacked-up leg."
"Jacked up?" Jinyoung questions after striking the dummy, knocking it down.
"Oh, yeah. I got kidnapped, ya know the usual. They snapped my ankle in half, and I lost feeling in it."
"Why did I just find out about this?"
"Because it's a weakness. And a mafia member should never expose their weaknesses. Consider this a blessing. And if you use that against me, there will be major consequences."
Jinyoung puts his hands up in defense. "I wouldn't think of it. We're friends, not enemies here."
Then the bell rang, signaling that finals were about to commence.
"We gotta go." Dae ran up to him, enveloping him in a hug. "Goodluck Jinyoung. Let us both rank up, or at least not rank down."
Itzy did not go easy on their test. Things they barely mentioned was on there. Things they promised wouldn't be on there; students now needing to write a paragraph about.
Dae silently thanked Minho for forcing her to learn a lot of Chemistry in her early years carrying on. Things Itzy didn't teach them, Minho mentioned to her a few times.
She knew very well that she got a few of the questions wrong. She isn't perfect and she forgets easily, but she studied hard and tried her best.
Stray Kids. More specifically, 3Racha. Their final? Sparring all of them not together but consecutively, while the rest of Stray Kids judged them on technique, power, agility, and intelligence.
Dae hit her head against the wall, almost turning to walk out when she saw all eight of them in the classroom.
Why they weren't fighting all of 3Racha at the same time? Adrenaline. Fighting all of them at once would be way more painful, but it would be over quick. But having to fight all three of them back to back would be a lot more tiring. The students would need to push through to pass their final.
Dae raises her hand before the bell for class to start rings. "Can I kill myself before this? Would that automatically rank me up?"
"You would be a coward and no. You would just get a free funeral." Jisung replies with sarcasm dripping.
"Well, fuck. That sucks."
The bell rang and Dae sat quietly in the back, waiting for instructions, anxiously playing with her hands.
"Okay if you haven't read the board, read it. I'm not explaining myself. We have to get through all of you, Jeongin is the only person not grading today. Instead, he'll be your medic for after your fights." Changbin explains.
"Okay, first student. Dae."
Dae's eyes widen as she looks at Chan. She sulks her shoulders, dreading this. She was hoping to go last or at least not first.
Her eyes filled with fire. She is going to rank up. She is going to prove to everyone that she shouldn't be messed with.
The first person she fought, Changbin. She won quite easily because she's been fighting him ever since she was ten.
She didn't get a single break after defeating Changbin before she got nailed in the face by Jisung. She was tired and feeling weak, but she won against Jisung as well.
Chan.
She has never beat Chan in a fight. Ever. But today, she will. She was determined.
She has a broken finger and nose (again), but with adrenaline and determination, she surprisingly wins against him.
She smashed her foot into his chest, her vision a blurry daze. When she finally came to the realization she finally beat Chan, she jumped up ecstatically but immediately crashed on the floor.
Jeongin strolled to her, picking her up to patch her up.
"You did so well Dae. I'm very proud of you."
Sadly, she was too busy studying for her other finals and didn't pay attention to the other fights, but she knows that other students won against all three as well. She was both proud and nervous; knowing that she might not have a chance in ranking up. Minho was right, tier-one was competitive.
Emergency situations with Day6 was a breeze. She's been in some of the situations given herself. Dae felt fully confident in her test, but she hoped that her confidence was real and she did pass her final with flying colors.
Hacking was a whole simulation. Which once again, she felt very confident in it because she is Stray Kids' hacker.
The goal was to hack into a specific websites' security system to unlock "BigHit's security cameras" Which in reality, the security cameras were just the same looped footage of BTS jumping in front of a camera, making faces at it.
Dae doesn't exactly know what she's being graded on; how fast she completes it or her accuracy and technique. She has no idea, but she completed it in record time.
Soon enough, it was time to go home. She fell asleep in Seungmin's lap on the way home; the painkillers Jeongin gave her after her fight making her super drowsy.
She didn't wake up until dinner. She stretched her limbs and made her way downstairs.
Downstairs she found herself with a huge dinner with the JYPE family in her house.
Her hair was knotted and she was in sweats and a crop top. But did she care? A bit, but the food that was being served looked so appetizing so she swallowed her pride and got food.
"Dae, you look quite elegant right now." Jae taunted in a fatherly way.
"I have pulled five all-nighters and finally slept after studying for your evil ass finals. Especially you Itzy!" She teased, pointing her finger at Yeji. "Your final was cruel."
"You're a tier one, you must be ready for anything."
"Be ready for anything my ass. That was rude." She commented, taking a big bite of ham.
They all giggled at Dae's antics and continued to mingle within each other.
Dae approached Jeongin. "Why the fuck did none of you tell me they were all coming tonight?"
"We forgot, and you seemed stressed enough. How is your finger?"
"Nothing bad, I can deal with it."After eating, Dae excused herself to go to her room to sleep.
They all wished Dae sweet dreams and stated that they would try to keep it down for her.
"No need," Dae comments. "I've grown to be a heavy sleeper after Felix and Jeongin decide to play on the Xbox at 1 am, screaming at each other."
This makes everyone break out in laughter. Dae takes this time to run up the stairs and lock herself in her room.
Dae couldn't sleep much to her dismay. She was so nervous about whether or not she ranked up. And that's all she thought about as she tossed and turned.
She probably would've gone to ask her fathers to cuddle with her, but she assumed they would be grading finals for most of the night, not being able to deal with her.
"Dae, love, you're acting like it's the first day of school again," Minho assures softly.
"Mine as well be, I'm so goddamn scared."
"You'll be fine."
Dae quickly found Jinyoung in the ginormous gym. She runs to him, sitting herself down next to him.
"Dae, as much as I want to sit by you, we have to sit by our ranks."
"oh-" Dae deadpans, looking down. "Well, good luck."
"Goodluck to you too."
Dae finds the seats labeled tier one and sits next to her lab partner in chemistry; Minsu. They have grown to be good friends, but they don't really talk much outside their classes.
"Ah, Dae." Minsu greets, "God, I hope I rank up. Probably not, only three do. But it would be a dream to."
"Me too." Dae agrees. "Itzy's exam was cruel."
"I failed that for sure."
Dae and Minsu giggle.
"Tell me Dae, what's going on with you and Jinyoung? Like we are dying to know."
"We?" Dae unsurely questions.
"The whole school knows about your friendship, come on! There has to be something deeper."
Dae shrugs, looking at Jinyoung. "I think we're just friends. I think, he thinks we are just friends. But everyone else, including my family, thinks he's in love with me. But we are just close. And I'll leave it at that."
"Ah, thank you for telling me," Minsu concludes, ending the conversation in comfortable silence.
Soon, JYP came onto the setup stage, about to give a speech about hard work given during the semester.
"To all students, no matter what tier, I'm very proud of the progress you've made throughout this semester. From acting class lying through their teeth for a living to chemistry uncovering lifesaving information about past missions, to combat shooting and fighting until their final breath. We've had a lot of mishaps, deaths, traitors, supposed traitors, but you did it. Now to see the results for ranking up from tier five."
anyone could see the pride in the twenty students who ranked up, knowing they weren't on the bottom anymore.
Soon enough it got to tier threes ranking up into two. Dae made eye contact with Jinyoung; a tier-three and gave him a reassuring nod.
His name was called up.
Dae cheered and screamed, so proud of her best friend for making it into tier two.
"And now for the thing all teachers and tier ones, have been waiting for. Which three talented students are going to make it and continue their next step in debuting as a mafia group. All tier ones have worked their asses off, not sleeping much; training and studying until they pass out. Most of them have broken many bones during there time here and have become good friends with I.N because of their regular visits to him. I'm happy to announce the three students who are ranking up."
Dae's heart sped up to great speeds. This is it. If she ranked up, she would make everyone, herself, her fathers, Jinyoung, very proud. She would be crushed if she didn't.
She grabbed Minsu's hand, gripping it tightly.
"The first student is a talented Actor. Stray Kids' Lee Know stated that he could immediately sense his charisma when walking into a room. He went on a mission with 2 Pm, he had to go into a bar and get information from a young prostitute. He succeeded with no mishaps. Everyone, Youngi."
Dae didn't have any classes with him but recognized him as a powerful and popular tier one. She cheered as he walked by them up to the front.
"Youngi, you will be a substitute teacher and apprentice under 2 Pm. Congratulations."
He started crying with happiness.
"My next student is a very bright and happy girl, even in the dark mafia world who is a chemistry genius. She worked under Itzy and even though she didn't do so well on the final. Itzy insisted that she rank up, because of how absolutely skilled she was at hands-on practice. She's exceedingly agile and knows how to use her small figure to her advantage. Everyone, Minsu."
Dae looked at Minsu, gasping. Minsu sat there in shock as applause rang around her.
"Go Minsu, you did it." Dae encouraged, pulling the dismayed girl up.
"Minsu is a substitute and apprentice under Itzy, congratulations."
Dae linked her hands in front of her. She was very proud of the two who ranked up so far, just a little discouraged at her luck.
"Finally, that last tier one. The girl is everything. She has proven to herself she is capable of everything. She has her specific talent in combat, and if you've seen her fight you'll know that is her element. She has done everything she could to prove her loyalty to the JYPE. Enough said, Dae."
Everything went numb for Dae. She didn't even recognize what JYP said as her name.
The cheers brought her back to reality and she stood up in shock and swiftly walked up to where Minsu and Youngi were standing.
"Dae is a substitute with Chaeyoung and Dahyun. Them begging to have her."
Dae smiles, a few tears slipping down her face as she makes eye contact with everyone she truly cared about.
Jinyoung.
Her fathers.
JYPE family.
She did it. She made it.