Venatus

-36-

Hoseok was in his room, studying the holographic design of the crystalline key along with Yoongi. They still hadn't found any use of it and wondered if there was anything inside it. They were waiting as the crystal was being scanned. As soon as the machine notified them, they put on the sensor-receptive gloves around their fingers and worked on figuring out a way to open the thing. 

Hoseok made several copies of the holographic designs  and divided it among themselves so that they could try different ideas on it. His first idea was to see if the thing could be opened or had any removal parts. He was pleased to find that the perfect rectangle shape was more a case, but he failed to get further in. Then he tried to cut it open with a laser.  But he soon find out that only a portion of it could be cut, and for the rest of it, the laser either got scattered or failed to penetrate the material at all.

"You stupid little thing" Hoseok grumble under his breath as he thought of different approach to the crystal. 

After three different tries, Hoseok huffed pushed the table away for a while.

"I hate you" Hoseok mumbled, glaring at the real crystal. 

"Oh, what a shame" Yoongi mumbled, "You fail against an innocent inanimate object"

"Are you here to help me or what?" 

Yoongi sighed, looking up from his screen, "What do you think I'm doing?"

Hoseok stared at it for a while before he leaned forward to grab it. He held up it in front of the light and examined the crystal. Until he saw a small detail that he seemed to have missed out the first time. He grazed his finger softly across the surface. His eyes widen as he felt something and pulled the table back in. 

"What if there is something on it?" They both asked at the same time. 

They shared a brief look at each other before hurrying back to check for the presence of any clue on the crystal. 

Hoseok decided to run a coat of paint over the sides before pressing it onto a paper. The holograph teetered a bit, before focusing back. Hoseok frowned a bit at the glitch but shrugged of by thinking it was because two people were working on it. After he got the imprint from all the sides, he ran a scan over it to get a clearer version. 

"Where's Jimin?" Hoseok asked out of the blue as he waited for the scan to be over. 

He wiggled his eyebrows and  made some randon, teasing sounds when he noticed the soft streak of pink spreading across Yoongi's cheek. The elder pretended to clear his throat before answering. 

"He's practicing by himself"

The two stayed quiet so that they could hear the soft sounds of movements and puffs of breath coming from the main room. 

"He's a bit irked to lose against me...again" Yoongi commented, scanning through the crystal. 

"Have you told him that you've been learning sword fight since you were a kid and that you happen to be one of the best swordsman among the royalties?" 

Yoongi shook his head, "No, I don't want him to feel more pressured than he already feels. He likes to sword fight. You should see the way he smiles over his little victories"

"And what about you?" 

Yoongi looked up with a confused look, "Explain"

"Are you planning to get him to be you boyfriend or not?" Hoseok deadpanned. 

Yoongi glanced towards the door, before looking back at Hoseok with a small smile on his face.

"Soon"

The scan was halfway complete when Jimin walked into the room. He wore a confused look on is face. 

"We-We have a message" Jimin said, "We are requested at the Main Hall. The President wants to meet all the players"

The three were escorted soon to the Main Hall. They noted the number of players had decreased considerably from the last time. They wondered how many were eliminated and on what grounds. As they huddled up in a line, Yoongi noticed the hostile atmosphere. The angry glances by the others. Another difference was that this time,  FireCrystals were standing by GlassWater. 

The room felt silent as the President walked in. Beside him was the architect, Hyun-Ki. 

"Congratulations Players for making this far!" The President started. 

He continued on to give a small congratulatory speech along with a few round of applause. After he was done, he handed over the mic to the architect. 

Jimin immediately tuned out his words. And when he looked aside, he saw every other player apart from GlassWater and FireCrystals to be in a sort of trance. This time Hoseok wasn't looking off in any direction and seemed to concentrate on blocking out Hyun-Ki's words. 

"...and of course the teams which have cleared to Level two" 

Jimin's head snapped upwards where the architect was standing. His eyes were trained directly upon the two teams; a dark, evil look in his eyes. 

"Team GlassWater and FireCrystals!" He declared. 

All the members of the said team looked at him shocked, mouth hanging open. The progress of each team was supposed to stay a secret for the safety of the leading teams. And moreover, the two prince weren't sure how the architect even got to know about the leading teams since the result wasn't visible to anyone until the final round.

Jimin could immediately feel the glares on him.

The architect said a few more congratulatory words before disappearing with the President.

And as soon as they left, all the attention was on the two teams. If they weren't careful and held onto their ground, they would easily be attacked by the others. 

"Jimin get in the circle" Yoongi ordered. 

The younger noticed the circle that the two teams, FireCrystals and GlassWater, had formed together. The only two inside the said circle was Taehyung and Jimin, leaders of the respective teams. The others stood around him in a defensive position incase some teams decided to cross the line.

But thankfully, no one did. 

They parted right when they were close to their chambers and walked in after making sure no one was tagging after them. After Yoongi closed the door, he quickly stuffed his hand in his pocket to pull the small piece of paper that SeokJin had put earlier.

'We found chips in our room'