"f'épebhyreMjA4MTA2MzA=." The numbers which were etched into the demons skin and the tattoo which had been preventing you from getting a smooth sleep. After reporting back from patrol, the tattoo was sent off to be deciphered by tomorrow. Thinking that would ease your mind, you fell into your mattress with the intention of allowing sleep to take you away it did...but only briefly.

"f'ép..eb..hyre?..MjA4MTA2MzA=." You spoke out slowly, thinking that maybe repeating the set of numbers and letters would somehow spark an idea. But sadly it only confused you even more. What might seem like a language to others simply looked like random letters and numbers suck together to you. It was not like it was rare for demons in the Overworld to have tattoos but this one seemed different. Maybe it was the fact that it was the last thing to disintegrate or the fact that it just screamed suspicious to you. No one would have a random combination of letters and numbers permanently inked onto their skin without a reason.

You allowed your hands to slam down onto your mattress in frustration before turning over to lay on your right side. You knew you would not be getting any ounce of sleep until your curiosity was fulfilled. You found yourself eyeing the device sitting on your nightstand with annoyance, the second hand seemed to tick ever so slowly only when you watched it. The time was six in the morning. The morning birds were now out and about and the rising sun peeping through your blinds. You watched the second-hand past by rising numbers until a louder tick echoed through the silent household.

A groan left your mouth once again as your tongue glided across your inner cheek. Only a minute had passed. Finally giving up on the idea of falling back asleep, you lifted yourself off of your bed and decided to wake up early and head to V.I.R.T.U.E  for early training. You had gotten home at two o'clock last night and now you were awake four hours later. 

You sat at the edge of your bed and lazily placed your hand into your bedside table, in search for your large framed glasses. Once your fingers wrapped around a cold metal object you placed it onto the bridge of your nose. It didn't help much with correcting your vision as you still felt sleepy and everything around you was still slightly fuzzy. 

Sluggishly, you dragged yourself into the bathroom just outside your bedroom door and stared at your reflection blankly. It was until you finished rubbing your eyes did you notice the crows nest that had formed overnight on your head. You had to hold back another sigh. It must have been the result of your constant tossing and turning. 

After taming your unbelievably knotted mane whilst simultaneously brushing your teeth, you swiftly tied up your hair into a ponytail. You allowed your bangs to fall gently on the side before mindlessly making your way out of the bathroom. 

"f'épebhyre." You muttered again. It was like you had a new high school crush on the tattoo. It has been plaguing your mind and it didn't intend on leaving. 

Was it a code?

Scanning your room for a certain rectangular device, your eyes landed on your desk. Walking over, you cringed at how messy it was. Your laptop sat in the middle, lid half closed. Whilst it was surrounded by messy notes and printed pages. At the top of the desk stood your most prized possession, something you struggled to see through the mess. Finding your phone on the top of a pile of papers, you turned it on with the hope of finding maybe a message about the tattoo. But to your disappointment there was none. 

You swiftly discarded the device into your bag and replaced your pyjamas with a pair of cotton shorts and a sweater. You weren't very hungry so you decided against breakfast and headed to the front of the apartment with your backpack. 

Your not so silent patting on the white tiles immediately caught the attention of your father who was sitting in the kitchen eating his breakfast. "You're up early." 

"I couldn't sleep, stupid demon tattoo was stuck in my mind all night." You muttered, voice laced with slight annoyance. 

"What tattoo?" Popping his head out of the kitchen, your father eyed you with curiosity before making his way slowly over to you. 

"I don't know, its weird. I mean, it's normal for demons to get tattoos but..." Trailing off, you quickly bid goodbye to your father by embracing him tightly. 

"How so? What was so odd about the tattoo it kept you up all night?" Breaking the hug with a kiss to the forehead, you turned around to walk towards the door. 

"f'épebhyreMjA4~or something like that. It was just a jumble of random letters and numbers." 

"Sounds like coding or something."

Opening the door with a huff of exhaustion, you waved a final goodbye to your father, "Perhaps." 

The walk to V.I.R.T.U.E was yet again filled with thoughts about the tattoo. It really was bothering you. However, there could be a chance you where overthinking it. Taeyong and the others could crack the code and have it turn out to be something completely irrelevant. If that was the case, all your worrying and tossing and turning were all for nothing. But your gut was telling you it was apart of something bigger. You just hoped you were being paranoid and it wasn't.

Wanting to take your mind away from the tattoo, you decided to look around at your surroundings whilst plugging in your earphones. Although it was still early in the morning, the city was bustling with men and women alike, rushing to get to work. The usual shortcut that you took to headquarters was full of men and women in black suits and tight pencil skirts. 

A slow hip-pop beat began to play, putting your mind at ease. A small smile made it's a way onto your face when seeing the crows soaring the sky. The sun wasn't as blinding as you thought it would have been. Remembering back to the sun peeping through your blind, it looked bright and sunny outside. But now that you were out here, you could see the overcasting clouds. 

It looked like it was going to rain.

 It was calming to see the creatures of the world at such peace and serenity, it was rare for you. The image of seeing vial creatures gore on your own kind was enough to bring a frown back to your face once again. 

Adverting your eyes from the crows, you reached the edge of the park and headed into the heart of the city. Headquarters was not necessarily in the heart of the city as it would cause too much attention. Instead, it was somewhere hidden amongst the other tall skyscrapers. Though, you thought it was pointless as the large V.I.R.T.U.E  logo sitting smack bang in the middle of the tall building stood out like a sore thumb. 

Your eyes managed to catch sight of the new advertisement for the upcoming Championships. A competition held every second year, it was definitely something everyone around the world used to look forward too.

Arriving at the font of V.I.R.T.U.E, you stood at the ID scanner. By this time, the clouds had completely muted the rays of the sun. You felt a small droplet of rain crash onto the top of your cheek as you entered the building. You were about to walk into the elevator when you felt a familiar vibrating sensation emitting from your front pocket.

Picking up the call through your earphones, you hear Zel's voice from the other line. "I was not expecting you to pick up." Voice laced with surprise, you replied with a low groan. 

"Neither was I to be honest." Running your hands through your bangs, you stepped into the spacious elevator. 

"Geez someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Where are you?"

"At V.I.R.T.U.E." You simply responded.

"At this time of the morning?" To be honest, you were asking yourself the same question. 

"Don't get me started on the reason." 

A soft hum could be heard from the other side of the line before Zel spoke up. "Is this about your patrol last night? I heard about what happened." 

"Ye, it's weird, right? I was up all night thinking about it." Leaning on the cold wall of the elevator. You watched as the duel doors slide shut after you decided on your destination.

"They sent it off to be deciphered yeah? I am sure you will get the answer soon, they usually work quite quickly. Listen, I am heading to headquarters now. Down for a sparring match?" 

"Sure, catch me in one of the training rooms. See you soon." Arriving at your chosen floor, the doors opened up to a long and packed corridor. V.I.R.T.U.E has definitely brought back a lot of old and operatives far and wide as the training decks where usually your go-to spot to get your mind off things. It was usually quite as not many people felt the need to train with such low demonic activity these past few years. Not to mention the cutting of funds as there was no longer a high demand for operatives. Now the training decks were buzzing with life, did they stop cutting funds?

"Oh and I'm bringing snacks. I am not going to tolerate eating another salad." Laughing at Zel's frustration, you hung up the phone. 

After pulling your earphones out, you decided against checking if your usual training room was free. Usually, your first choice for training rooms would be zero-one but seeing as it was the first door you doubted it was free. So make your way all the way down to the last training room, you opened the sliding doors only to see it was occupied. 

You were going to turn around to look for another room but the weapon the operative held inside caught your attention. Standing in the doorway, you watched closely as the figure jumped back and away from the robot inside the training deck. 

The silhouette was mesmerising, their form flawless as it spun through the air. Bright yellow beams lit up the dark area as the figure shot at the robot mid-air. The light emitting from the origin of the shot allowed you to see the small logo etched into the body of the weapon. It belonged to one of The Seven Virtues. 

The male continued his rapid fire and it was only when you had realised he wasn't simply just holding one gun...but two and there was only one person you knew operating in V.I.R.T.U.E that wielding a pair of handguns; Jungkook. You should have recognised his move before, it was the same move he used on you just a few days ago. But would mean he was a.....

Snapping out of your trance, it took you a few seconds to realise what you were actually doing. You knew better than to peek in on someone else's training, so you ducked out of the room.

Moving to the room opposite, the sliding doors opened to reveal an empty room. A wave of relief washed over you once realising it was. So you proceeded to place your backpack down and pull out a slick black casing from the inside of your bag. There sat your snipe rifle. The rifle which helped you win the championships. 

After unzipping the case, you pulled out the weapon and examined it. It was pretty out of shape. On the handle of the weapon, small indents and scratches could be found from when you used it. Once you loaded the gun, the barrel lit up, shining a low blue colour. Subconsciously, your fingers begin to pick at the scratches that created a rough surface on your rifle. Your thumb glided cross the indents gently, as if your actions could somehow smoothen out the surface. You knew it wouldn't. You had wished you had taken better care of it because you knew you wouldn't be getting a new one from her.

"AND YOUR LORD AND SAVIOUR HAS ARRIVED WITH THE JUNK FOOD!" Bursting through the sliding doors of the training room, Zel waltz in. Her hands up in the air dramatically with multiple plastic bags. Her entrance giving somewhat of a fright, which led you to jump up from the ground in shock. 

"Your trainer is going to kill you if she sees you eating those." Staring at the multiple bags full of food, you send Zel a disappointed expression. 

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." Zel placed the multiple plastic bags onto the floor next to you with great satisfaction. She seemed so proud of herself. 

You didn't care to give a response as you knew there was no point to argue with Zel when it came to her food. So you picked yourself up from the floor and slung your rifle over your shoulder before making your way over to Zel. After she had placed her bags down she had made her way over to the large wall of assorted weapons. From there, Zel picked up a long metal pole. Flashbacks of training from a few days ago plaguing your mind.

"No shield today?" Tilting your head in curiosity, you watched Zel twirl the weapon between her fingers. 

"Nah, my trainer wanted me to work on building my skills with another weapon. She said shields aren't always practical for fights. Said it was too heavy." Voice laced with annoyance, Zel held her fingers up to mimic her trainer in a demeaning manner. 

A small chuckle made its way to your lips upon seeing your friend's salty antics. "She picked the weapon too?" 

"Shes bad not that bad. I picked the weapon myself." Zel replied before making her way over to the large console near the edge of the training deck. "Normal sparing settings yeah?"

You hummed in agreement whilst making your way over to her. Once she was done with the settings, the circular border of the training deck lit up. This signalled that it had been activated and ready for use. So you stepped into it.

'Participant one identified.' 

Following behind, Zel made her way over to the other side of the long oval and stepped into the border. 'Participant two identified, simulation beginning in;' 

'3.'

"So what does the winner get?" Zel asked cheekily. She pulled the pole back and began spinning the weapon between her fingers once again. 

"Whatever you want." 

'2.'

"Losers treats the winner to a meal." She responded. Nodding your head in agreement, you readied yourself for Zel to attack.

"Game on." 

'1.' 

Jumping forwards, Zel brought her pole down to attack. Reading her attack, you fell to your knees and used the tip of your barrel to knock Zel's foot. Your action caught her off guard, causing her to stumble over your figure as you glided across the smooth metal flooring. 

Appearing behind her, you immediately jumped to your feet and wrapped your fingers around the grip of your rifle. 

Zel was quick to recover from her sudden stumble as she pivoted around to face you. Making it just in time to block your bullet with her weapon. Of course, V.I.R.T.U.E did not allow you to use real bullets in sparing matches. Instead, you loaded your gun previously with paintballs. 

You continued to shoot Zel from the other side of the deck but your shots where simple blocked by her high defence moves. Zel loved to work on defence skills over assault skills, if she was to pick something out she would most likely want to learn how to defend herself before she would learn how to attack. That was the problem with sparing with her. You, however, was the opposite, your chosen weapons for both close range and long range were assault weapons which provided little defence. You relied on your skill to take out the opponent before they had time to attack you head on. 

All you had to do was hit Zel once with the paintball and the system would recognise it as a win. Coming to the conclusion that shooting from afar was useless, you slung your rifle onto your back and sprinted forward. 

Zel swooped the pole near the floor with the intention of tripping you over but you jumped over and grabbed onto the long weapon. This locked it in place. Eyes widening in surprise, Zel tried to pull the pole out from your grasp but failed miserably as you let go just she tried to heave it out of your grasp. The force of her pull caused her to fall back onto the floor. Taking this as an opening you hastily pulled your rifle out from your back and shot Zel on the shoulder. 

'Participant one wins.' 

"Unfair, your champion class and I'm just a beginner." Pouting in defeat, Zel picked herself up from the floor and sat up cross-legged. 

"You where the one who asked me to spar, remember?" You reminded before holding out your hand for Zel to take. 

"Ye but~"

"(Y/n), I recommend this expensive ass restaurant down the street." You immediately recognised the familiar voice as Ten's so you turned to face the direction you had heard his voice in. You spotted him leaning against the wall your bag was stationed at and Taeyong next to him.

Zel also followed your gaze, meeting with Ten's, her face instantly turned sour. Zel didn't like to lose and she also didn't like it when people would rub it in her face either. She was somewhat of a sore loser but you knew she was only acting that way to guilt trip you into letting her off the hook with shouting you food. "How long where you standing there for?" Zel hissed, it was evident she wasn't pleased by the older males appearance. 

"Long enough to see you get your butt whooped." Ten snarkily replied all while trying to hold back from bursting out into laughter. Zel only rolled her eyes in response. 

"What do you w~"

"We figured out what the tattoo meant," interrupted Taeyong. He knew you wanted to know what the tattoo meant and both Ten and Taeyong knew you well enough to know that the curiosity was eating you up on the insides. Your eyes widened slightly at the news before averting them to Zel. She was fast to grab onto your hand and allowed you to hoist her up from the floor.

"We?" 

"Namjoon and I." Taeyong simply replied.

"Who?" 

"He's one of The Seven Virtue's." Zel quickly slides in. Taeyong wasn't even surprised Zel knew who Namjoon was, the queen of gossip. The presence of The Seven Virtue's no longer seemed to be a concern to the director so each of the rumours had slowly been confirmed one by one over time. "Rumours say he is the leader." 

"Hold up, you know a Virtue!" Ten was completely baffled, not only did the identity of one of the Seven Virtues just slip out of Taeyong's so carelessly but the fact that Taeyong knew a Virtue was enough to cause his jaw to drop to the floor.

Opening his mouth to reply to Ten, he quickly stopped when you gestured for Taeyong to continue on with explaining the tattoo's meaning.

The little gossip session which Zel and Ten had just started had gone completely over your head as your mind was occupied with wanting to find out the meaning of the tattoo.

So you quickly followed behind Zel and exited the training deck before sitting on the bench next to Ten. And by the looks on Ten and Taeyong's faces, you couldn't decipher whether or not the meaning of the tattoo was good news or bad. They both had fairly flat expressions and that only made you more curious. 

"So the tattoo is actually made of two components." Pulling up a holographic projection of the code, Taeyong sent the window to hover in front of you. "The first component is MjA4MTA2MzA=. The equal sign at the end of the string of numbers and letters means its base64. The second components is f'épebhyre, we later on figured out that rot13 is used. After we decoded the second component we came back with this set of numbers; 30062081." 

"A date?" Trying your best to absorb all the technical information sent your way, the cogs were spinning in your brain as you tried to make sense of it. 

"We believe so," Taeyong confirmed. "Afterwards, we decoded the second component and came back with a word; s'écrouler. French, it means to collapse." You pressed your lips together upon hearing Taeyeon's reply. Sometimes you hated being right. Just the thought of the demonic tattoo inked into the vial creatures body got your blood boiling. 

"So it's a date of an attack." You breathlessly let out while rising from your seat.

That was tomorrow

"Relax (y/n)." Pushing himself from the wall, Taeyong was quick to sense your anger. He latched onto your shoulder and lightly pushed you to sit back down on the bench. "V.I.R.T.U.E's already got it covered. They have scheduled The Seven Virtues on for the night of the supposed attack." Although you knew the thought of The Seven Virtues was meant to comfort you, it didn't at all. 

In the past few years, demonic activity has nearly been zero to none. Why were the demons just resurfacing now? Whatever they where planning it didn't settle right in your stomach. It seemed like it was apart of a larger scheme and this was just the beginning. 

.

I am extremely sorry this chapter was very long. Although some of it was quite pointless and just showed the relationships between characters, I dropped A LOTTTT of hints.

 I hope I didn't make them too obvious and too discreet at the same time.