At one of our numerous five-star dining halls, Kim Min-jae had been enjoying his first on-campus breakfast before I came along and spoiled it.
I sat my fat-ass across from him.
Min-jae gripped his chopsticks like tiny knives.
<...I asked people?> I thumbed behind me. About half the occupied tables pretended they weren’t watching us.
He scoffed and ate faster. Great, not only was he subtly telling me to fuck-off but he was also trying to leave sooner.
I slammed a hand on the table to make a point.
<’Mentally-deranged,’ you really wanna go there?> I whispered low.
I weakly clutched a hand over my heart.
Min-jae opened his mouth to answer, but too bad for him, I wasn’t planning on giving him the floor.
I traced my finger on the table like we had a physical copy of the document.
I threw my arm up.
Min-jae wordlessly answered with a chilling stare. His patience had run thin, and he viewed me like I was a kindergartner. As a nuisance. There wasn’t a single part of him that felt amused by my company; to him, Baekyong and his mission for destruction were his only purpose in life. Things like joy and friendship and general happiness… They meant nothing.
My heart was beating inside my throat, instincts telling me to back off. For now.
Min-jae stood and snatched his tray and utensils up.
And he left, leaving me scared-to-death.
Again.
***
Tae Jun-hyeok said with a beautiful and perfect smile. God, he was a breath of fresh air after talking to fucking Kim Min-jae.
Lee Yoon-ho replied, head buried in his book.
I’d found the Taeyang boys in the library on the third level, huddled in a secluded corner. Fortunately, the librarian had pointed me in the right direction. Although Eun Chang-min didn’t specify in the document, I was pretty sure Appeals had to be made in-person.
Jun-hyeok sat on the edge of the library-table, waiting for me to say the right words.
I inhaled and let him have it:
He didn’t expect that.
He didn’t answer.
Damn, these guys were good at negotiations.
I pulled out my wallet and took out a crisp, US dollar bill. Mister George Washington himself.
Jun-hyeok nodded.
Way to crush my hopes and dreams, you heartless bastard.
Yoon-ho briefly looked up from the pages. <...Is this a genuine Appeal?>
Alright, I should stop fucking around now. I returned George to my wallet.
Ironically of the four factions, Taeyang was the most approachable. Their position was completely uncontested, so they had no reason to recruit a random transfer. Also helped that Jun-hyeok acted as the main negotiator. With him, I felt like a normal conversation was more plausible compared to Mister Introvert behind him. Plus, building rapport now would greatly benefit my mission.
Jun-hyeok made a welcoming gesture, genuinely interested in what I had to say.
Jun-hyeok crossed his legs.
Her name elicited a loud breath from the Taeyang prince. He shut his book.
I raised my hands.
My enthusiasm wasn’t effective; actually, I think I achieved the opposite effect. Yoon-ho looked twice as though drained from my energy.
I tilted my head a little bit sideways.
Jun-hyeok got off the table.
Jun-hyeok tried reaching for Yoon-ho but he pulled away, refusing to stay a second longer, and left the scene. The idol lowered his hand and sighed, more disappointed than a mother with her son.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Just like that, I was no different from my brother. Instead of pissing off Silverhonor and Celestial Empress, it was Kim Min-jae and Lee Yoon-ho. Fuck, I might be worse than Alex. He at least had a full conversation. I only said a few sentences to Yoon-ho and he already hated me. Operation Sundown was a total failure from the get-go. Joking aside, I doubt my question soured his opinion of me.
Yoon-ho was anti-social, and those people usually disliked everybody regardless of who they were.
Once the heir was out of sight, I released a breath I’d been holding. <...So I guess the rumors are true. He’s the black sheep of the family.>
I asked,
Initially in our pre-operation intelligence gathering, we didn’t have much information on Lee Yoon-ho’s personality other than: weird, black sheep, and introverted. Jun-hyeok’s description seemed to track. Yoon-ho didn’t really…fight me when I brought up Leo. He kinda just rolled with whatever assumptions I had.
Jun-hyeok shrugged.
I flashed him with a finger-gun.
I blinked a few times to get his words through my clown-head. "Funny."
Jun-hyeok extended his smile, and for some reason, that smile reminded me of someone. I couldn't figure out whose. "I'm not joking."
I still laughed like he was the best comedian I'd ever heard, and since we were talking in English now, I bit: "Wanna explain, then?"
"Sure. Yoon-ho doesn't have an opinion of you. Eun Chang-min refuses to recruit you because he sees you as a dumb American slut. Ban Won-sik doesn’t think you’re a threat, and Tak Hwa-yeon wants to break you. But I like being different from my friends, so I’m gonna say you’re more of a wild card than Kim Min-jae."
"I'm not as unpredictable as that suicidal asshole. You're crazy—"
"You're crazier." Jun-hyeok chuckled saying that. "Call it a hunch. That’s what they say in America, right? A hunch?"
Either he had really good instincts or he knew something about me that he shouldn't. With my experience, of course I was dangerous and a total maniac, but what was the point of comparison? Was I really that strange compared to these prodigies, lab-babies, scions, and whoever else? Let's get a few things straight: Min-jae threatened to not just kill but destroy the legacy of five families, Hwa-yeon was a total freak, and I had no idea what Yoon-ho was capable of.
The same could be said for the idol.
I patted his shoulder and turned away. "Don't set yourself for disappointment, Jun-hyeok. You should pay more attention to Kim Min-jae. He's the guy you wanna keep your eye on, not me. It's like what you said: I'm a clown."
***
After the intriguing conversation with Jun-hyeok, he actually gave me worthwhile intel. Appealing to Chang-min was a crapshoot, but everyone else… Yeah, no idea where to start.
So I did something smart: I hid in my room for the rest of the day, doing jack-shit other than research and eating snacks. Sure, I could find the other Golds and see where their heads were at, but I had five days. Being impatient was only gonna ruin everything. Plus, Kim Min-jae seemed like a no-bullshit get-things-done type of guy. Heeding his warning, it was better to sit back and let him make the first move.
By the time I went to bed, day one concluded without any action.
Naturally, everything fucking happened when I was sleeping.
When I woke up the next morning, the [Channel] had a thousand freaking messages as backlog ‘cause Min-jae decided to party all night.
[Eun Chang-min]
[Kim Hyun-wook]
[Gong Kwang-hoon]
?????
[Hong Seung-ho]
[Jin Mi-ran]
[Kwon Hyuk]
I can’t believe I’m agreeing with the comments.
I almost [DMed] Min-jae but didn’t because: one, he blocked me; two, he probably would kill me for even breathing in the same space as him, digital or otherwise.
Doubt Jun-hyeok would hand out gossip for free. Dammit all. This meant I gotta go outside and socialize and annoy everyone who wasn’t named “Kim Min-jae” for information ‘bout last night. Woe is me, I actually gotta do my job as a spy.
After going through my morning routine and picking out the cutest clothes to die in, I opened the door—
Someone vandalized my door and threw their trash on my front-steps—no, this wasn’t just fucking trash, it was a carefully crafted concoction of filth. They’d created a brownish-black puddle that stank like actual shit. Wrappers, cans, and other things swam around in the biohazard. On my door, they’d splashed it with the same potion, wrote obscenities like “AMERICAN WHORE” in bright marker, and made a mess of everything.
Cool.
No one else in my section would interfere with the exam—other than rivaling faction leaders—but normally, anyone interested would try to befriend me. That left the Golds, and four out of the five were automatically eliminated. That’s because those four were guys. Men don’t pull stunts like this. They’d rather settle things in the ring. Really, something like this might cross Chang-min’s radar but he didn’t care about me enough to order this.
That left Tak Hwa-yeon, the only girl.
She was the likely culprit. She gave me those kinda vibes.
“Dammit all…” I pulled my phone out. “Guess I gotta call cleaning services—”
[You received a new notification]
Someone [DMed] me. Someone new and unexpected.
[Ban Won-sik]
[Dorothea Zhang]
[Ban Won-sik]
[Dorothea Zhang]
***
Won-sik waited at the bottom of the steps to Cloud Hall (on the school website, the mages owned this one).
I shrugged ‘cause I got nothing else to do with my arms.
Won-sik listened to my complaining like Alex: completely unamused, annoyed, and half-ready to shout at me to shut up.
I narrowed my beautiful dark eyes.
Won-sik nodded, dead serious about this.
I exclaimed, <’Oh, good luck, Zhang! I wish you well!’>
Well, he put me in a tough spot. I had no information on Min-jae’s combat ability, but because Chungmu had given him a recommendation, this guy must be pretty damn strong. Hell, his natural presence was stronger than most Slayers. Specialty-wise, he was certainly a close combat fighter of sorts. Bad news for me, because that was my area of expertise too. If we fight, it’d be a brutal match.
For me. It’d be brutal for me.
But hey, this was a clear road.
Passing the Gold Rush was, honestly, not much of a concern. I could easily rise out of Gray given enough elbow grease. Really, I was looking to develop opportunities for more of that delicious intel. Kim Min-jae was one of my most pressing person-of-interest at the moment, and the Task would break his case open a little.
It’d mean I would be his enemy, but let’s face it, he wasn’t planning on making friends.
I’d also develop some rapport with Ban Won-sik and build my reputation a little too…
And hey, who said I had to fight Min-jae? I could accept the Task and sit on my ass, letting time expire.
I sighed and held my hand out.
Won-sik huffed from surprise and shook my hand.