Alone | NCT

Chapter 7

Naeun and Minjee exchanged looks before making their way onto the mats, their peers and agents watching them.

Minjee cracked her knuckles as she stepped to her side, certain that she could defeat the faerie on the other side. Johnny gave the two girls a hand motion, signalling that they could start their duel. Minjee smirked as Naeun began her attack, whispering a spell under her breath.

"What?" Naeun said as she froze in her place. Minjee smiled, kicking the girl's feet from under her, making her fall from under her. Minjee wiped the bead of sweat on her forehead before repeating the process multiple times.

Sejung opened her mouth to say something but Doyoung held her arm shaking his head.

"She needs to learn." Doyoung said to her. Sejung closed her mouth nodding to her senior.

Everytime Naeun would attack, Minjee would chant her spell before making her own attack. Minjee eventually felt something dripping down her nose. She inhaled sharply to stop the flow but tasted a metallic liquid instead.

Blood? Minjee wondered. While she was lost in her thoughts, she didn't hear Jungwoo shout to Naeun.

"Naeun, this is your chance!" Jungwoo called out to the faerie. Naeun quickly opened up a faerie door, entering before exiting behind Minjee.

When Naeun disappeared, Minjee looked around dizzily, unsure of what had happened until she felt a blow to her back, knocking her down. The hit had felt a lot more painful that what she was used to and as her body hit the ground, Minjee felt so much paint that she wasn't sure if she could get back up.

"Okay, that's enough." Taeyong called to the two. Naeun hopped off the mat, Jungwoo handle her a bottle of ambrosia for her wounds. Meanwhile, Sejung stared at the girl who struggled to get up on her own. Minjee watched as Renjun sighed on the sidelines before stepping onto the mat, approaching her side as he helped her up.

"You're an idiot." Renjun said as he helped Minjee walk to the side room where Sejung was leading them. Sejung thanked him before he left the room, closing the door behind him. They sat in silence, Sejung looking away with her arms crossed as Minjee looked down at the empty table in front of her.

Eventually, the door opened again and Renjun entered again, this time with a lavender coloured potion in his hands. He passed it to Sejung before leaving.

"Drink." Sejung said as she removed the cork, passing it to Minjee. Minjee quietly took the healing potion in her hands, quickly downing it. When she put the empty glass down, she looked at her mentor and the darkness in Sejung eyes made the message loud and clear.

Minjee had messed up big time.

...

Jimin gulped as she stepped onto the mat, Jisung across from her. Since there was an odd number of them that needed to complete the initiation mission, Jisung had offered to participate in one of the duels. It just so happened that Jimin was paired with the male.

"I won't go easy on you, but good luck." Jisung whispered to her. Jimin forced a smile as she took her side. Johnny gave the motion and Jisung quickly began his attack. He was fast, too fast as Jimin blinked, her feet were knocked from under her.

"Remember what we practiced." Jimin heard Ten yell from the sidelines. Jimin took a deep breath before getting back on her feet turning to where Jisung had knelt. Jimin ran towards him, kicking her leg out to attack him but Jisung had quickly grabbed her leg, pulling it making Jimin lose her balance as she fell on her back.

Jimin felt discouraged as she could tell that Jisung was already going easy on her but she was still struggling.

"You need to summon your vampire form." Ten instructed her. Jimin closed her eyes, trying her best to allow her vampire form to take over but as she opened her eyes, she could tell her eyes were still it's regular brown colour. She heard Ten sigh as Jisung made his third attack, a punch to the cut, throwing Jimin completely back.

"Ow." Jimin whispered as Taeyong told Jisung that was enough. Ten ran over to where the girl lied, immediately passing her a pack of crimson liquid.

"We need to talk." Ten said, helping her up. Ten brought her to a side room while the agents split off, each going to their own way to train. Ten told her to sit down while he sat down on the chair on the other side of the table.

"Jimin, I've made a big decision." Ten started. Jimin looked at her mentor before her continued.

"You will not be participating in the initiation mission this year."

...

"Are you here to make fun of me?" Minjee asked as Renjun brought his gear to the target beside her. She was practicing her archery when the male decided to join her.

The two of them had spent everyday that week, cleaning the training area in pure silence. Once they were done, they would return the cleaning supplied before going their own separate ways. Minjee had even taken the time to avoid the male at school.

"No." Renjun said as he shot his first arrow, hitting the target perfectly in the middle. He watched as Minjee shot hers, hitting the centre but not lined as well as his.

"You're out of practice." Renjun said as he shot another arrow, splitting his first one.

"I've been focusing on my spells." Minjee replied, her arrow landing beside her first one.

"Sejung's a good agent, one of the better ones here. You're lucky to have her as a mentor." Renjun said before shooting his last arrow. He waiting for Minjee to finish shooting hers before retrieving the remains on his arrows.

"Back at the coven, you might be one of the strongest, but out here, everyone is good at their own strengths. What makes you powerful here is being good at multiple skills. You need to let go of the huge ego of yours so you can actually gain something here." Renjun said before throwing his broken arrows in a bin. He walked away, returning his equipment to the wall before leaving the archery area.

"He's got a point." Sejung said, stepping out of the shadows. She had been watching her mentee all along.

"You're not going to improve if you don't think you have anything to improve on." Sejung said, walking towards her. As Minjee drew the arrow, Sejung adjusted her posture. When her arrow hit the target, it was perfectly centred like Renjun's was.

"Let's go work on a skill you're lacking in now." Sejung said, giving Minjee an encouraging smile.

...

Taeil walked into the academy's meeting room, where the other faculty members were waiting. Yoora gave Taeil a small smile as he took the seat beside her.

"How are you?" Yoora asked the male siren.

"Terrible, I need to catch up on my marking." Taeil answered. Yoora chuckled as she could relate. Taeil continued greeting the other members as the headmaster entered, silencing them.

"Hello everyone, I hope I'm not taking too much from your weekend, I wanted to discuss the potential of a new part of our curriculum." The headmaster began.

Taeil leaned back in his chair. These faculty meetings tend to be extremely boring, simple discussions on increasing training, allowing spells in classes, how far demonstrations should go, etc.

"Mr. Im and Miss. Bo have brought up the idea of taking students out to the various kingdoms for exposure, in partnership with the leaders." The headmaster stated. Taeil sat up straight, suddenly interested in the topic.

For a long time, there was a strict rule that students were to stay in their hidden neighbourhood, far from the outside world. It allowed students to focus on their training and prevented them from getting into trouble.

"What classes are you thinking of implementing this for?" Taeyong asked the headmaster.

"Mainly the senior students of the Lower School. After the events of last year, I don't think it would be wise to take the younger students." The faculty members around the room nodded in agreement.

"Does anyone have any comments on the change?" The headmaster asked. The faculty stayed silent, agreeing that this change could be beneficial for the students.

"In that case, let's move onto the division of lab space for next semester." Taeil sighed, once again leaning back into his seat.

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