Chapter 1: New Rules
The group of five walked out of school, finally ready to hang out before going home. Kai practically bounced out of his own skin, and Taehyun had already resynced his headphones, using his music as his âalone timeâ until he had to interact with his friends again. Yeonjun and Soobin talked about the stresses of their senior year, going back and forth about the worst thing about being a senior. Beomgyu silently listened on, using that moment to regroup and calm down after another stressful day of school. As the group walked to their usual spot; a small mall with their favorite arcade and diner, Beomgyu watched people pass by. Right before they all got inside the mall, Beomgyu felt a presence in the air. He paused, and looked over to his right, and froze at the sight.
There in the trees was a figure like heâd never seen. It was tall, spindly, and had a strange reddish brown color. It's head was a perfect circle, with no eyes and a large mouth with pointed, razor sharp teeth. It had skinny arms that got bigger past the elbow; at the end of its arms, the thing had large black hands with sharp fingers. It's legs were formed strangely and inhuman, more resembling an animal. Beomgyu stood in complete and utter shock, too afraid to even blink. And it felt like the thing was staring right back, even if it didnât look possible.
Beomgyuâs eyes eventually felt too dry to keep open, and he couldnât help but blink. In the second that it took, the creature had disappeared. Beomgyu gasped, looking around to see where it had gone, confused. Was it even real? He kept spinning, looking around for a sign, before his heart rate spiked even higher.Â
He realized he was now alone. Beomgyu felt his chest tighten, and his eyes immediately started to burn. Where did they go? Did that thing take them? The more he thought about it, the more his body trembled. Oh god what happened? What do I do, what do I do? What-Â
âHey, there you are!..What are you doing?â
Beomgyu spun to the voice, seeing Yeonjunâs hand in midair, like he was trying to wave him over. Yeonjunâs eyes widened as he watched Beomgyu wipe at his face, and even from a few feet inside the mall, he could see Beomgyuâs staggered breath in the cold air. Yeonjun quickly made his way over to his younger friend, holding onto his shoulders. He felt a pang in his chest as he felt Beomgyu shiver and shake under his hands.Â
âHey, hey.. Iâm right here.. What happened?â
Beomgyu stammered incoherently, his body still shaking involuntarily.Â
âThat- that thing.. It was just there and then you guys werenât next to me and I couldnât-â Beomgyu stuttered, guestering to where the âthingâ was with his right hand, his other holding on to Yeonjunâs arm, keeping himself steady.Â
Yeonjun followed Beomgyuâs gesture to see what he was trying to talk about, but he didnât see anything. He felt his heart drop; maybe he had seen a bully and gotten scared? Yeonjun brought his hands up to Boemgyuâs face, rubbing his thumbs against Beomgyuâs cheeks, wiping away the moisture he missed. He then turned, gently pushing his younger friend in front of him, leading him into the mall. âCâmon, whoever it was, it doesnât matter now, âcause theyâre gone, okay? The boys are waiting for us.âÂ
Beomgyu let his friend push him inside the mall, too shaken up from his panic attack to stop him. No one else outside had even reacted to the creature. Maybe it was all in his head after all? He pushed the image to the back of his head, and tried to let it go, breathing deeply to try and not make any more friends worried about him.Â
Inside the arcade, Taehyun was playing with the claw machine, concentrated on a small white bunny on a chain and Soobin and Kai were playing together on a racing game. Yeonjun, with his hand still on boemgyuâs shoulder, led him over to the pair in front of fake steering wheels.Â
âHey guys, I found him.â Yeonjun told them, looking over to Beomgyu to check on him again.Â
They looked over to Beomgyu, their playful smiles falling off of their faces. Soobin looked at Beomgyu worriedly. âHey, are you alright?â he asked, his eyes scanning over his younger friend, making sure he hadnât been hurt. Kai didn't say anything, but his puppy eyed look also told Beomgyu he was worried.Â
Beomgyu looked between Yeonjun and Soobin, unsure of what to say. He settled on âYeah, Iâm fine. Just a panic attack.âÂ
Soobin started at Beomgyu for an extra second, trying to get the truth out of him. When he wouldnât budge, Soobin sighed and got up from the hard chair from the game.Â
âWhatever happened, itâs behind you. Now, come take my place and play with Kai, I suck at racing games.âÂ
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The group had finished playing games in the arcade, and decided to eat at their favorite diner in the mall before heading home. The group settled in their favorite booth; the fourth one away from the entrance of the diner, and of course, their booth was against the window wall. Beomgyu, Soobin, and Yeonjun sat on the side closer to the door, with Kai and Taehyun across from them. They all ordered their usual burgers, fries and drinks, and munched happily when their food arrived.Â
Soobin kept glancing over to his right at Beomgyu, still worried over what had happened earlier. He knew it wasnât just a panic attack, but he didnât want to force his anxious friend to talk; afraid heâd trigger him all over again. He tried to read Beomgyuâs aura, but he couldn't. He got much better at hiding his emotions over the years, even from Soobin; his magic couldn't even find Beomgyu's emotions anymore. The raven haired teen stared at his friendâs profile, mindlessly grabbing fries and bringing them to his mouth. When Soobin finally worked up the nerve to actually bring the topic up again, he saw a movement in the dark window out of his peripherals. He looked past Beomgyuâs face and choked on his food.Â
A tall, skinny.. Creature was standing outside, unmoving. Soobin coughed, yet tried to keep his eyes open and on the thing outside, his eyes squinting through the force of his coughs. The other four boys didnât notice the thing outside; their attention on Soobin as they tried to save him from choking. But instead, he swatted their hands away, standing abruptly, his long legs knocking into the wooden table. His voice wavered, both from fear and from the food still in his throat.Â
"We have to leave. Right now."Â
Taehyun, Kai, and Yeonjun looked at Soobin in confusion. Taehyun gestured to the food on the table."We just paid for this, and we're gonna leave it here?"Â
Yeonjun looked up at his friend with worry. This is the second friend today that did something weird. "Bin, what's wrong? Why do we-" Yeonjun didn't even get to finish his sentence before Soobin started pushing him out of the booth.Â
"I said now. All of you get up. I don't care if you take the food, we're leaving."Â
Yeonjun stumbled up and the two youngest in the group got out of the booth, all the food they could carry in their arms. Soobin grabbed Beomgyu by the hand and sped out of the diner, throwing a half hearted 'thank you' to the waitress by the counter. He could feel something weird in the air, something he'd never felt before. Whatever that thing was, it had to be what scared Beomgyu. Soobin stood on high alert, practically running out of the mall and towards the train station. He didnât even bother looking back to check on his other friends; he used his magic to sense them trailing behind him.Â
Kai, still clueless as to why Soobin made them leave so suddenly, tried to eat some of the food in his hands without dropping it; Taehyun looking similar next to him. Yeonjun looked around the area for anything that might have scared Soobin that badly. First Beomgyu, and now Soobin? It had to be some jerks from school...right?Â
Beomgyu let Soobin pull him along, his hand holding Soobinâs tightly. From how he acted, Beomgyu could only guess, and somewhat hope, that Soobin had seen what he did hours ago. Maybe he wasnât going crazy after all.Â
Suddenly, a gust of wind zoomed past Beomgyu, but something about it didnât feel right. Acting on instinct, he whipped around, pulling his hand out of Soobinâs. He saw a blur of the same reddish brown heading for Taehyun.Â
Taehyun slurped soda out of his to-go cup, glad he and his friends always asked for their drinks to be to go. He stared at his phone as he speedwalked with the rest of his group, when a gust of wind blew against his face. Taehyun looked up, and he dropped his phone and cup in surprise. Some sort of monster was practically flying in his direction, and he froze in shock.Â
In an instant, Beomgyu raised his arm in front of him, and quickly moved it to the side in a chopping motion. Beomgyu used his telekinesis to throw the creature to his left, into trees and away from Taehyun. The whole group stopped at the sudden movement, all of them turning to face the crash in the trees.Â
They all watched as the creature got up, and watched it hunch over in silence. They stood completely still as it breathed, before the thing screeched, and the five boys covered their ears at the sound.Â
Yeonjun looked back to his friends, tears in his eyes from the painful noise, and yelled ârunâ. Although none of them could hear over the high pitched screeching, they all got the clue and ran away from it. The five teens ran as fast as they could, and eventually let go of their ears when they couldnât hear the pitched wail anymore. Kai ran behind everyone else, and turned to look behind him. When he saw the thing running, and catching up, he screamed and lost his balance, slamming against the concrete.Â
The four older boys skidded against the ground to turn around and look for Kai. Taehyun immediately ran forward, reaching his hand out towards the monster.Â
It's body, bent over and reaching for Kai, who was scooting backwards on the ground, slowed down before coming to a complete stop, and Taehyun fell onto his knees next to Kai, thankful he stopped time fast enough. Kai grabbed Taehyunâs arm, scrambling up, stumbling over his words, telling Taehyun to keep running.Â
âHey, I stopped it, itâs okay-â Taehyun started to say; but his words got stuck in his throat. He looked up at the creature, surprised to see that it wasnât completely frozen. Taehyun couldnât hear Kai in front of him, yelling at him to move. How was this possible? Was his magic not as strong as he thought it was? Taehyun watched the creature twitch in the air, its movements speeding up. It was breaking out.Â
Behind Taehyun, the three older kids watched in horror as the creature started to break the time freeze Taehyun had done. Yeonjun looked between all his friends; as the oldest, he knew he had to do something- anything.Â
He walked up to his two youngest friends before breaking into a sprint just as the monster completely broke free. Yeonjun sucked in as much air as he could, bringing a fist to his mouth; his thumb to his chin. He opened a small tunnel through his fingers and palm and breathed out. His hands activated a blowtorch-like fire, burning the creature alive. Yeonjun grabbed the backs of Kaiâs and Taehyunâs jackets, pulling them away from the flames, as they stood and watched the creature. Kai turned his body to hold on to Yeonjun, but he couldnât look away. It writhed around on the floor screeching, which made them all flinch, until it died down. When the flames died down, all that was left behind was a pile of ash.Â
Yeonjun, Kai, and Taehyun stood there shivering; from the newfound cold or fear, they couldnât tell. They heard gravel crunch from behind them, and they whipped around to see Beomgyu and Soobin slowly making their way over. Beomgyu stood close to Soobin, almost cowering behind him. Soobin looked right past the boys, to the pile on the ground. He then moved his gaze across his friends, his face becoming unreadable.Â
Soobin looked down at the ground before speaking.
âYou guys remember what I said about not using our powers?â He paused, and his aura-reading magic told him his answer; though the other four boys were silent.Â
âI take it all back. There are New Rules now.â











