THE NINTH GUILD | skz

CHAPTER ONE!

ONE YEAR LATER.

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IT WASN'T even daybreak and the ninth guild was already in shambles.

"i'm going to murder you!" a lanky brunette yelled while a shorter red-haired boy chased after him like a puppy, pleading with him to stop. the taller boy was hot on the tail of a cackling blonde whose cheeks were filled with steaming hot eggs, making him look like a manic squirrel. halfway across the room, a freckled boy with pink hair cheered them on alongside an ecstatic boy with dimples. the two were holding pieces of a broken wooden stool above their heads and would hoot wildly every time one of the other boys passed them. two other boys merely watched with disinterest from their places on the wooden floor.

"dimwits!" a furious voice caused everyone to freeze in their spots and turn their heads to see a man with crossed arms standing at the door. "what the hell are you doing?"

everyone simultaneously gulped. the figure at the door was their leader, bang chan, and he looked pissed.

one extremely long lecture later, the five boys were cross-legged on the ground, heads bowed in shame. "i leave for five minutes to kill a dirt goblin and so much shit happens," chan muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "jisung steals hyunjin's eggs—"

the blonde grinned and a piece of egg fell from his mouth, much to everyone's disgust.

"— hyunjin decides to go on a rampage and breaks a chair—"

the lanky brunette glared at jisung, opening his mouth to refute, but chan cut him off.

"—and felix uses the chair to cheer them on! what is wrong with all of you?"

the freckled boy, felix, frowned. "hey, what about jeongin? he was doing it too!"

"only because he was being influenced by your poor decision-making," chan refuted, defending the dimpled boy. "thank you, seungmin, for trying to stop them," he added, gesturing to the redhead. "minho and changbin, why didn't either of you try to help?"

the two boys on the floor glanced at each other with dull looks. "because it seemed pointless," one of them piped up.

"it wouldn't have been pointless if someone had gotten hurt, minho," chan sighed. "this is why i can never leave any of you alone for a second! is this how a prestigious kingdom guild is supposed to act?" a chorus of no's echoed around the room with one yes coming from jisung. chan ignored him. "that's right. as punishment for your dumbassery, we're going to get started on our training extra early today."

the ninth guild groaned. chan's punishments were always harsh— a night run through moonspeak forest, solo raids on dragon nests, harnessing a rabid unicorn— but getting started on their training when the sun hadn't even finished rising seemed too cruel to them.

"please don't make us fly on wild pegasi again," felix pleaded. "just the memory of it makes my butt hurt!"

chan laughed. "no, we're not practicing our flying skills today. instead, we're going to be doing partner training to get our bonds up. i'll be walking around and supervising, and i'll have a reward for any pair who is able to come up with a new partner attack." hyunjin raised his hand. "no, throwing your partner into a group of enemies is not an acceptable partner attack." hyunjin put his hand back down.

bonds were very important to people. in the land of wind, you could find many fighters of all shapes and sizes, but no matter how strong they are, they could be taken down with ease by a pair of people with a strong bond. a bond could only be formed with someone if you have battled by their side multiple times. it is a magical thing built on trust, harmony, and devotion, and once you form a bond, it never disappears. the stronger your bond with someone, the stronger your skill set becomes when you fight near them, which is why it's common for people who have bonded to take each other as partners for life. anyone can bond, but it takes a lot of time and effort from both parties in order to form one.

"i want everyone to train away from each other so nobody gets hit by a stray spell or weapon. jeongin, you stay at the bottom of the house so that when someone gets hurt, they know where to go." 

"i like how chan didn't even try to hide the fact that someone is gonna get injured," jeongin whisper-giggled to felix.

the ninth guild's base was a gigantic treehouse in the middle of a small clearing in moonspeak forest, home to the most fearsome creatures in the land. when they got their base assignment, chan said that it was the perfect opportunity for them to get survival training every single day since they were surrounded by monsters on every side. ("maybe if we were the first guild," hyunjin had snarkily replied, earning a slap on the shoulder from seungmin. he wasn't wrong, though.)

"any questions?" chan asked. there was no response. "perfect. grab your gear and let's get going." he began to make his way to the door, but paused. "oh, and i'd bring your centaurian dictionaries with you. i heard there's a pack of them traveling through the forest today."

seungmin's face dropped into his hands. "first i have to deal with this rowdy bunch, and now i have to deal with centaurs in the early morning. what else could go wrong today?"