perfect something ;; xikers

one

"Yujun! Don't leave me!"

Since that horrid day years ago, at the tender age of 12, Yujun had practically been all alone. Hopping from one drifter group to the next just to survive was all he could. He was treated as a drug mule, an errand boy, and every so often, as a form of entertainment for the senior defenders.

He was ashamed to admit that he had taken the lives of many just to survive. He had a good life when he was a child - but the 3020 Riot took away his parents, leaving him all alone. To avoid exploitation, he had ended up killing a few people, and it had heavily affected his outlook on life.

He had ended up losing his dear friend, too.

This particular day, Yujun was wandering downtown to return to his drifter home after a hard day's work. However, he stopped walking at the sound of faint gunshots. There was a turf war happening. Everyone was probably dead. His drifter group wasn't particularly strong, so he'd try to insert himself into another group.

"You - you're Choi Yujun?"

Yujun glared at the person behind him. "Jeong Yujun. Who are you?"

The person standing not too far from where he was didn't seem that much older than him. He was far taller than Yujun was, but disregarding his height, the most prominent factor about him was the symbol on his neck. Yujun paused, almost holding his breath as he could barely remove his eyes from the strange tattoo.

"You're from XIKERS," Yujun concluded, looking up into the boy's eyes. "How do you know my name?"

"I assume you know who Minjae is, right?" the boy asked, leaning against the wall as he dug into his pocket. "He sent me to find you. Guess I forgot your last name on my way here. You keep jumping from group to group - it was a hassle to find you, you bastard."

"Glad you enjoyed the adventure."

"In any case," the boy continued as he took a lollipop out his pocket, "head to quadrant B before midnight tonight. He's heard about you, and he's offering you a hideout."

"Pass."

"Why?"

"I'm fine on my own."

"Just barely. There must be a reason you're drifting."

Yujun clicked his tongue. "I have a group right now."

The distant gunshots ceased, and the area fell quiet. The boy chuckled, leaning close to Yujun's face. "Not anymore. Seems like XIKERS got rid of your dear nameless group. You have no choice."

"Hunter! Let's go! The group is cleared!"

The boy sighed, standing up straight again. "No fair - I missed out on the fight to be here. No matter. When you head to quadrant B tonight, make sure to say Hunter told you to come, okay? Just come - we need someone like you on our team." Hunter tilted his head, chuckling at Yujun's firm expression. "You're too cute to be this angry. See you tonight."

The boy, seemingly named Hunter, walked away from him, leaving Yujun to stand all alone. He leaned against the wall, stuffing his hands into his pockets for some warmth. Inside his pocket was the lollipop that Hunter had taken out of his own pocket. He stared at the packaging in thought - blue raspberry. Not the best flavour of a lollipop out there, and everything it touched would be stained blue for an annoying length of time.

Yujun needed a group for the sake of survival, and the fact that XIKERS hunted him down was a call from the gods he did not believe in. They were the most mysterious drifter group, yet everyone knew them. Any digging for information was usually unsuccessful, as they always flawlessly covered their tracks.