𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐒

48; 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙚

"wonwoo...?" mingyu creaked out, trying to call the other's presence who seemed to be looking for him. "hey! over here! are you blind! my legs are stuck!"

wonwoo met eyes with mingyu once the taller had said that, which made mingyu feel relieved—but that went away fast because wonwoo suddenly huffed angrily and turned to leave.

"hey! help me up! chan and the others need help!" mingyu desperately called out, but wonwoo only turned around and glared at him.

it can't be... right? wonwoo won't be in yi-eun's side, right? right?

hey, are you telling mingyu that even after soonyoung retrieving wonwoo's memories for him—he's still in yi-eun's side? heck! if all he wants is gelato or money or something stupid—"i'll buy you anything! just stay with me and help me up! what are you doing?"

"i was looking for you for over ten minutes and i was worried sick, and when i found you you're just—you didn't even ask nicely. wow."  wonwoo quipped, rolling his eyes before lifting a finger to remove the piece of rock that restricted mingyu from wiggling out of there.

mingyu sighed. he's just being a sulky child. thank god. well, not exactly very relieving, but still. "thank you. i'm sorry for worrying you too, are you okay?"

"not very much." wonwoo replied, lending a hand to help mingyu stand up. mingyu noticed that wonwoo was still incredibly composed. wonwoo looked like he was forcing himself to stand up. "joshua came looking for us earlier. he gave me instructions, we should hurry."

disparaging the last sentence, mingyu recalled when his fingers were cut off. he freaked out like crazy and he was too shell shocked to move whilst here: we have wonwoo, who is still very composed and logical every after getting his legs badly injured.

"what's the plan?" mingyu asked, snaking an arm around wonwoo's waist. no(!), he's not flirting, mingyu was just helping wonwoo walk properly. "are you sure that you could... keep this up?"

"huh..." wonwoo sighed, looking down at his legs. "i know i said to leave me when i become dead weight, but the rest of seventeen is not here and we have to make the most out of what we have, so i'm not getting left behind."

"that's good to hear. i feared that you might want to just sit somewhere and let me go," said mingyu, smiling at wonwoo. due to the close proximity of their faces, wonwoo felt rather shy. "so what's the plan?"

"chan needed help to get in close proximity with yi-eun since koushi's injured too, so he went to joshua and joshua went to me and told me two of his plans. first one required you, second needed me, but he said it's better if we both come to help. joshua went ahead and assisted chan."

mingyu, however, was alarmed. "what about the pyxis squad that joshua was helping?!"

"joshua hid them inside an illusion." wonwoo replied, almost like a whisper. he hissed then, before continuing. "don't touch me there."

mingyu, frenzied, looks at where his hand was positioned on wonwoo's waist. "why? it hurts?"

"no. it seems that i have a tickle spot there."

"you go there now. remember our blockings?" joshua says, pointing to the space near a huge debris. there were flower petals scattered all around, colors unaesthetically blending, hurting chan's eyes a little. "i gave koushi a heads up. don't worry. he'll avoid hitting you."

"are you sure you're going to be the bait? look at koushi." chan points to the injured president of pyxis, who's still playing decoy. soon, joshua's going to play koushi's part too. "be careful, hyung! i don't want jeonghan-hyung to kill me."

"yi-eun's taking the bait, not me. trust me in this one." joshua says, before unexpectedly pushing chan to the place where he was assigned to go.

joshua enters the battlefield, immediately scattering his clones, to confuse yi-eun further. "oh. you sure are smart." the man comments, swaying the flying petals out of his way.

"aren't we?" koushi says, sitting down on a rock behind joshua, the real one. "now you've just got to—"

yi-eun unexpectedly flicked his fingers, causing a strong surge of wind to pass by because of his ability. the clones (or illusions, as they naturally are) didn't get fazed. but, joshua and koushi did because the wind was strong, and due to the impact, they stumbled back a little. fuck that bastard. he deserves his life to be taken away from him.

chan internally cursed. he should keep seungcheol's ability turned on so he won't stumble back because of the wind, and he wasn't so confident in keeping himself stable.

"i guess your level of smart doesn't even qualify for a college student, huh—oh. oh!" yi-eun exclaims, looking at joshua. "you're the one that the child—who can supposedly 'beat me'—called for backup. because you have illusions."

"i guess you did your homework."

"of course i did," yi-eun says, crossing his arms. this bought jisoo and chan some time. "you're gonna make duplicates of this kid, to confuse me. sorry, but you see," yi-eun paused, abruptly turninng to where chan was positioned. chan froze. "i'm good at spotting."

joshua discreetly made movements with his hands as he watched yi-eun walk closer to chan. stupendous, chan doesn't move.

there were two duplicates of chan in this room.

"uh uh, this one standing isn't our baby chan, neither is the one hiding behind koushi. it's the one behind this boulder here." yi-eun smirked, flicking his fingers to blow the boulder away using his 'super strength'. chan, who was behind the boulder, struggled to stay put and not get blown away as well.

however, joshua didn't dismiss the two duplicates.

"sorry that life has to end this way. you probably thought that life was going to be good and all that.. but not with me." yi-eun smoothly raised his fist, throwing a punch to the trembling chan, and finally eliminating him.

he wins! there's no more trump card, seventeen! such stupid tactic. really? koushi went through all that trouble of distracting yi-eun while chan calls for backup? this is backup? they've done better in past missions. there's no mor—

"you probably thought that life was going to work out well. sorry, not with me around," a seventeen member held yi-eun's other wrist. yi-eun, knowing him, he would immediately fight back—but he didn't.

yi-eun was too shocked to find out that he had been tricked. "how.. but when i used my—!" plus, aside from the fact that he was flabbergasted—his ability was outshined by the said seventeen member.

"yeah, that doesn't work on them," koushi says, raising his palm, scattering rose petals everywhere after seeing the signal through his peripheral view. "they're just having a world tour, you know? showcasing that they never lose to fuckass bitches like you."

the room is filled with fragrant petals, reducing the visibility to zero. the said seventeen member pinned down yi-eun on the floor, which, by the way, is chan. yes, lee chan.

let joshua explain: he created two duplicates, which he placed behind koushi and behind the boulder. the one idly and visibly standing is the real chan. how did chan not get blown away when yi-eun flicked his finger while the duplicate got affected, you may ask?

well, joshua was doing some real life animation, manipulating chan's clone illusion live. amazing, right? and yes, chan did not get blown away because remember how he had seungcheol's ability? phasing? the impact of wind went right through him.

seventeen members are indeed smart.

when the petals cleared out, the sound of wire guns could be heard, and there were new hands pinning yi-eun down. the others see wonwoo, atop yi-eun, smirking down at him while holding his wrists (chan sadly got involved in the hot scene).

"pardon me, but," wonwoo chuckled. "did you really think you were gonna win?"