Flames | NCT

Prologue

"Yah, Park Jisung, come here." Chenle exclaimed, patting the empty seat beside him in the meeting room.

Jisung felt his ears turn red as he quietly took his seat, the other agency board members staring at him as he moved.

How did I end up with such an embarrassing friend? Jisung thought as he sat down but the room soon filled with more chatter.

It's that time of year again. The summer night, where the H.I.D.D.E.N. board members go through the Academy entrance exams to see if any freshman are strong and smart enough to join the agency right from the start.

Jisung was the junior representative with Nari, much to his discontent. He would have much rather been with Jimin, but unfortunately, the girl was starting school at the Academy this year, meaning that he was stuck with the sprite. Luckily, Nari was quietly sitting beside him, flipping through pages of a plant book.

Taeyong entered and the room quieted down at the presence of their leader. He took a seat and Doyoung immediately began to set up the room for their meeting.

"Thank you everyone for coming." Taeyong said, clapping his hands together. "Today will be the last board meeting."

Murmurs spread through the room at his message. Last board meeting? What did that mean?

Noticing the confused looks on more of their faces, Taeyong knocked on the table, calling for silence. The group followed his instructions.

"I'm sure many of you are confused but I will be explaining in today's meeting." Taeyong informed them. "We have decided to restructure our system here, and you all will be the first to hear."

...

The words coming out of Taeyong's mouth were going in one of Jaemin's ears and out the other. He made a mental note to ask Rena later.

The few things he picked up were this:

1. There will be no more board. There were enough leaders in the agency now to form a board and important decisions will be made through that, not through year representatives.

2. Sophomores will be training with the freshman, including Jisung. This meant that the sophomores will be getting mentors as well. Jaemin immediately felt bad for Jisung, as it would be his fourth time going through the mentoring process.

3. There will be no more solo missions. Training will instead be focused on the field, giving the agents exposure to the real world. Jaemin actually agreed with this one, as he definitely felt that he had learned more from his one lesson with Jungwoo on the field than all the time in the training area.

There were definitely a lot more changes Jaemin couldn't be bothered to pay attention, especially when his girlfriend was literally taking notes. Plus Taeyong was continuing on with the meeting so he just sat back and listened.

...

"Cha Jungmo and Cha Eunjung, twins." Doyoung said, reading the names of two incoming students. Jaehyun narrowed his eyes as he stared at the screen.

Something about the two children gave him an odd sense of familiarity, as if he knew them somehow. Have I seen them before?

Jaehyun snapped out of his thoughts as sighs of satisfaction spread through the room. Jaehyun leaned over to Johnny. "What just happened?"

"Male has a physical score of 95 and female has an intelligence score of 93, just under Renjun's record of 94." Johnny informed him.

Jaehyun's eyes widened. Those were probably some of the highest scores he had ever seen.