Stronger || NCT mafia au

Chapter 2 | "a little first day fun"

All of the mafia members climb up on stage and quickly sit. The aura immediately changes from upbeat to intimidating as everyone stares down the new students, emotionless glares coming to rest on their faces.

All 200 students file in, no one making a sound as all of them are too scared to do anything but stare at the group in front of them, silently finding their seats. A guard walks to the front of the stage, speaking quietly to Jaehyun.

"Everyone's here Ji, whenever your ready" Jaehyun bends down slightly and whispers in her ear. Taking a deep breath, she stands and steps to the front of the stage.

"Welcome, trainees, to the Jang Mafia Academy. My name is Jang Jihyun, heiress of the Jang Mafia and leader of NCT. You will address me as Miss Jang for the time being." The student stare at her with a mix of awe and pure terror.

"As you know, all 200 of you, aged 18 to 22, have tested into this academy with the hopes of joining the Jang Mafia. I hope you know that failure in this institution, much like in the world we live in, means death." The student's eyes widen as her words sink in, their reaction causing a smirk to pull at the corners of her lips.

"So with that, I'll just say train hard, and I look forward to seeing who survives." Jihyun steps back, sending shivers around room, and motions for Taeyong to step forward.

She steps back into line next to Jaehyun as he wraps an arm around her waist. Being barely 20 herself, she fits right in the age pool of the trainees, and Jaehyun didn't miss the glances thrown her way by some of the students. He glares at them as he possessively pulls her closer to him.

"Protective much?" she whispers to him. He meets her eyes, cocking an eyebrow at her before resuming his cold stare as Taeyong begins to speak.

"My name is Lee Taeyong, one of the caporegimes of NCT. Things move quick here, so try to keep up." He begins pacing along the stage, taking slow deliberate steps, confidence and authority evident in his every move.

"There are 200 of you here today, but, as I'm sure you're all well aware, we do not have use for 200 people in the mafia. Our job is to find the strongest, smartest, and most capable trainees among you, and give them the opportunity to prove themselves worthy of joining us. Anyone who is not worthy, as our leader mentioned, will be killed." Jihyun watches as some of the students gulp nervously.

"To be quite honest, we are looking to take in around 20 trainees," the students eyes widen as the realize that only 10% of them will live.

"although we won't deny the strong nor will we accept the weak to match this number. Some of you may be chosen to form your own specialized gang, or reinforce one of our own, and the most skilled of you just might be given the chance to join NCT itself." A collective gasp spread through the room as students processed what Taeyong said.

"but don't count on it." he adds with a growl, "That's for our leader to decide, and you'll find that she's quite difficult to impress." He shoots one last cold glance at the crowd before stepping back so Jaehyun can talk.

"Here's how its going to work. You will have two weeks of training in specialized classes starting today. We will be introducing your teachers shortly. The members of NCT, including the Council, and even the boss herself, will be filtering through classes, simply observing.

After those two weeks are up, you will have your ranking exams. NCT, along with your instructors, will watch each student in each class complete a test. We will then sort you into levels, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst, obviously. You will take classes according to your level for the first 3 months before the next ranking." The students nod in understanding, carefully listening to each of his words.

"There is no limit to how many students are in each level, either way, the bottom third of each level get demoted, and the top 10 get to move up, except for level 1. With level 5, the bottom third will be executed." Students gasp at the news and Jaehyun turns to them with an icy glare.

"like we've said, theres no need for weak links. Eventually, you will take your final exams. Those of you who pass will be sorted with specialized schedules to further your training in a specific skill. Those who fail to pass will be promptly executed as well. If any of you are somehow lucky enough, Jihyun herself will take on a small group of you as ace trainees to privately train as potential members of NCT." The students jaws drop, a glint of determination flickering through their eyes. Jihyun steps up next as Jaehyun falls back into line.

"Alright, I will now introduce your instructors behind me. The assassins, Chan and Felix. Ground compat, Hongjoong and San. Spies, Yeji and Ryujin. The medical team leaders, Jihyo and Chaeyoung. Weapon specialists, Jaebeom and Jinyoung. And lastly, the heads of our hacking and negotiating unit, Sungjin and YoungK." Each of the leaders and caporegimes stand when their name is called, staring down the new students with an intimidating gaze.

"Each of you has a number and a scan code tattooed on your wrist. That number and code match both your dorm number and you locker number. All your materials, including your schedule and training gear, are in you locker. Everything else you need is in your dorms. You have 30 minutes until class starts to go find what you need and get to the correct place. Your teachers don't take kindly to being late. I hope all of you live past the first day, good luck." She dismisses them and turns back to her members as students begin to stand, silently filing out of the auditorium as  Jihyun turns around.

"Nice job, Ji. Hopefully we won't have any issues."

"Hmm yes, though I doubt it. I know they're scared of us, but fear can only quell them for so long. Eventually they'll all have to learn to truly respect us if they want to stand a chance." The people around them nod, not to breaking their cold expressions.

As the members talk amongst themselves Jihyun hears her name being whispered in the crowd of students. She focuses her hearing on the group of students behind her. Taeyong and Jaehyun taking notice of this, share a concerned glance.

"'Miss Jang' my ass. She thinks she's so scary just because she was born into this shit. She's just a hot piece of ass who probably can't do anything without those guard dogs to protect her." Her blood boils as she hears some students rapidly shushing the boy.

"They're not even paying attention, some stupid mafia members if I've ever seen one. Jihyun just seems like a stuck up bitch to me." Jihyun spins around, locking her eyes onto the boy.

"Why don't you speak up a bit?" she says lowly, menace dripping from her every word. The whole room stops moving as the students nervously stare at her in silence.

"You" she points to the boy. "why don't you repeat yourself, I'm sure your classmates would love to know what you were just saying." He gulps but holds her gaze, a cocky smirk coming to his face.

"You're nothing but a weak princess who was born lucky." She's hides her surprise at his confidence with a glare as Jaehyun comes to her side.

"who the fuck do you think you are? Do you know who you're talking to right now?" Jaehyun growls at him.

"See, even now she needs her watch dog to protect her" the boy sneers in return. With the slightest flick of her wrist, Jaehyun gets back in line, throwing a glare to the brave boy.

"Well, if I'm just a princess, you could surely beat me in a one on one fight right?" She bends down to read his name tag, "right, Woojin?"He begins to smile as she innocently bats her eyes.

"Any day, princess" Jihyun feels the boys behind her stiffen. She smiles in return, the expression not reaching her eyes. Her gaze darkens with a certain excitement to them as she turns to the people behind her.

"Well, how about a little first day fun?"

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Nothing like some early action to get the story started! My only goal was to publish this before 2021 so here I am on New Years Eve lol, hope you guys are staying safe!
Don't forget to vote and comment, thanks!