Half-Blood | NCT DREAM

Prologue

Mark woke up to his alarm clock going off and quickly turned it off before shoving his head back into his pillow, letting out a loud groan.

Another day of training.

His muscles were still aching from the extensive sword fighting he had done with Jeno the night before, the younger male refusing to stop until Mark told him that his arm was literally about to fall off.

Speaking of Jeno...

A large roar sounded throughout Camp Half-Blood, signalling that the head counsellor of Ares' cabin was awake and wanted to ensure that all his half-siblings, and the rest of the camp, were too.

Mark sighed as he got out of bed and got ready. He was soon outside his cabin, running laps, picking up a bead from the nymph handing them out as the campers ran by.

Once Mark had five, he went over to the dinning pavilion, exchanging them for his breakfast. But before he could give them in, someone else did, sliding in front of him.

"Hah, I beat you, hyung!" Chenle said with a bright smile.

"Are you trying to make this an everyday thing?" Mark asked, giving the younger male a smile.

"Of course! I was aiming to beat Jaemin-hyung at first, but he's too easy to beat." Chenle said, motioning to the pink-haired boy casually walking his laps.

The two boys grabbed their food and sat with the other head counsellors while their cabins sat together.

"Guess which cabin's table filled first." Haechan said with a singsong voice as the two of them took their seats.

"Not yours." Chenle replied before giggling as Haechan shot him a glare. Renjun rolled his eyes.

"He cheated! He woke his cabin up half an hour earlier!" Renjun argued.

"Guys, it's not a competit-"

"IT IS!!" Haechan and Renjun replied in unison, earning a glare from Jeno.

"I yell at my cabin to wake up everyday, yet they still take so damn long." Jeno said with a long sigh.

"Maybe if you didn't wake up the whole camp in the process..." Mark heard Jisung mumbled. Jeno shot the boy a look.

"What did you say?" Jeno asked, giving Jisung a deathly glare. The youngest head counsellor quickly held up his hands defensively.

"Nothing, hyung." Jisung said. "Oh, Jaemin's finally coming."

Good save, Ji, Mark though as their friend took his seat at the empty spot beside Jeno at the table. Jaemin gave them all a smile as he placed his tray down before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Lovely morning, isn't it?" Jaemin said to them.

"I don't understand how you can be so slow." Chenle said, glancing at the boy. Jaemin simply shrugged.

"It's foolish to compete for something I know I won't win, so why waste my energy?" Jaemin told them.

He has a good point.

Suddenly, the attention was directed to Mark when Jaemin glanced over at him. "You're awfully quiet today."

"I'm just tired." Mark said, careful to avoid Jeno's eyes. "I had trouble sleeping last night."

"Well I hope you're not too tired." The boys turned to see the camp director, Taeyong, standing there. The head counsellors all immediately stood and gave him a bow.

"Please sit and continue eating. I just wanted to call a meeting for all head counsellors after the first period of training." Taeyong told them. They all nodded their heads.