Luminous • Jisung

21 • Rules

• Chapter 21 •

Cho-a peeked into the room full of grim reapers and guardian angels cautiously. 

Behind her waited Jeno and Jaemin who looked a little unsure themselves. 

Leaning back, she looked at Jisung with a raised brow. 
"Remind me again why you want us to join your little supernatural meeting." She didn't doubt his intention, juts doubted his reasoning. 

Or the lack of reasoning, rather, given that Jisung had a habit of being somewhat taciturn. 

"We are going to talk about how we will deal with the murder cases. We need to do something about them," he explained. 

"And you want the two human boys and me in there with you because...?" she pressed further. 

Inside, the chatter got louder. Cho-a noticed how some of the guys were leaning back in their chairs in order to peek around the corner to see who Jisung was talking to. 

So Cho-a moved back a little. 

Jisung smirked softly, leaned a little closer to the girl. 
"What? Are you shy?" 

At which Cho-a just frowned. 
"Idiot, I just don't want to waste my time." 

"You wouldn't be wasting your time if you decided to use your power to help us," he retorted swiftly. 

Behind them, Jeno breathed in sharply in surprise, creating a high-pitched sound in all his confusion. 
"Powers?" 

Cho-a nodded and glimpsed back.
"He's talking about my overhelming charism." Which was obviously sarcasm but still made Jeno purse his lips and let out a soft oh~ before he grinned knowingly. 

Soon though, Cho-a turned back to Jisung, crossed her arms in front of her chest and tilted her head to the side. 

"So?" 

Jisung rolled his eyes before he gave in with a defeated sigh. 
"When you were attacked last time it was because no one knows that you are my friends. I want to introduce you to them so they won't pull a Taemin on any of you." 

"Makes sense," Jaemin agreed quietly and Cho-a nodded, getting the boy's point. Yet, it didn't feel particularly logical to her. 

"I thought you kept that a secret on purpose?" 

Jisung nodded, glanced into the room briefly, eyes running over all the boys inside quickly. 
"Because I don't trust everyone," he said thoughtfully, tone going somber for a moment. "But I trust them." 

Cho-a hesitated. 
"Are you sure?" He just nodded. She took a deep breath, then agreed hesitantly. "Well then." 

When Jisung made his first step into the large hall-like room, Cho-a was right behind him with Jeno and Jaemin tailing them closely. 

It grew quiet inside, whilst Cho-a made an attempt to count the boys inside as she walked. 

Twenty? 

Twenty boys. Taemin was missing. Renjun, Haechan, Chenle waited patiently. They had a light expression on their faces - no worry, just calm excitement. 

The glances on the three outsiders felt heavy. They burnt. And they screamed curiosity without even a hunch of animosity.

When they got to the large table, Renjun patted the empty seat next to him, looking up at the girl with a smile. She smiled back as she sat down with Jisung next to her, then Jaemin, Jeno. 

It felt odd there with all of them. 

"Huh," one of them breathed out in surprise. He looked intimidating. Tall, muscular built and carried a strict expression. He looked around. "New members~!" he suddenly said loudly. His strict expression turned bright, puppy eyes and an excited grin.