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"Clear records only exist to be broken. The peak will always lie in the future. Guides are only references and shouldn't be blindly consulted. Otherwise, you'll never break through to the next step."

—Ye Xiu, 全职高手 (The King's Avatar)

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"You know, we should probably just leave while they're distracted. It's not like we can do anything." Koushi spoke, sipping a slushie through a straw as he leaned against a rather big oak tree.

"Where would we even go? We happen to be at the edge of a field, if you haven't noticed." Haru stated, sitting criss cross on the ground next to Koushi. Koushi sighed, sitting down as Haru was.

As of the current moment, the two boys rested in a small patch of forest beside a wide expanse of grass. In said expanse of grass, seven boys and a leopard could be seen running around and yelling like idiots. If the leopard's presence wasn't enough of a sign that something was off, the boy summoning a box of pizza for the group was a telltale signal that this wasn't your everyday squad.

"Guys, I got the pizza!" Baumé announced, holding up a box of pizza that he had literally conjured from thin air. One could argue he had the best power. 

"FOOD HECK YEAH" Danjong shouted, actually pushing off to tackle Baumé for the pizza. However, Danjong's leap for the food was rudely interrupted by a goddamn emu dashing by and snatching the pizza, then promptly transforming into his human form and holding up the food in victory.

"Minwoo, why are you so extra?" Baumé looked the boy in the eyes, not wanting to accept the fact his pizza was just stolen by an emu. "Because free food, Baumé." Minwoo smirked, opening the box of pizza and taking a slice. 

Kyungjin silently walked over to Minwoo and took a slice of pizza, muttering, "Burgers would've been nicer..."

"Hey Baumé, could you make us some cotton candy?!" Lucien called from a few meters away, where he stood with Siwa and Alexei. "No." Baumé replied simply. A few seconds passed by. "Please man?" Lucien asked. Baumé sighed and focused in front of him, the air itself seemingly shifting and forming into a physical object.

"Yusss." Lucien whispered, walking over and taking the pink sweet which Baumé handed to him. Lucien walked back to his little group, taking a piece of the cotton candy and feeding it to Siwa like some sort of cliche couple thing. Alexei smiled shyly at the two as he watched them joke around.

"Guys omg I think I messed up" Jihyun suddenly announced, everyone's attention turning towards him. "So... Danjong startled me..." he smiled nervously, glancing at the ground next to him. Danjong lay on the grass, sleeping peacefully, as if he had been that way for hours. 

"Did you actually knock him out?" Kyungjin asked, staring at Jihyun who laughed sheepishly. A collective groan arose from the group, most wondering how Jihyun could even do that. 

Eventually the small crowd dispersed, and the boys found themselves going off to do whatever activities they wanted. 

Meanwhile, back with our boys at the trees, things were going a lot better.

"Just because they can use their powers they think they can have fun without us." Koushi pouted. In fact, that was the reason he and Haru were sitting in this place alone. The others were busy messing around with their powers, but didn't stop to consider the two members who hadn't managed to harness theirs yet.

"Seriously. I'm starting to consider your offer of leaving." Haru said, glancing over at the boys frolicking around in the field. "Think we could contact the teleportation lady and ask her to send us back?" Haru asked. "Maybe. But I don't have my phone." Koushi stated. "And I don't have her number." Haru added.

"Oh, I have an idea. We can steal Lucien's phone and message the leader." Koushi said, eyeing Lucien in the distance. "How would we even steal it? It's always on him." Haru questioned, knowing their leader's phone habits.

"Shh. I've got this. I'll be back in a second." Koushi smiled evilly, walking off, headed towards the leaders' group in the field.

Haru stared after him, watching as Koushi approached the group of leaders. He said something to them, and after about five seconds, Lucien laughed and hugged Koushi. Koushi took this opportunity to slip his hand into Lucien's pocket and grab his phone, then back off and subtly slip the item into his own pocket.

Waving goodbye to the leaders after a couple of seconds, Koushi dashed back over to Haru, his expression one of victory. 

"What'd you tell him?" Haru asked, smiling. "I told him you bet ₩5,000 he wouldn't hug me. Idiot fell for it." Koushi smirked, sitting next to Haru and holding out Lucien's phone so both of them could see.

"So, we just gotta find his messages and contact the leader." Haru reminded, turning on Lucien's phone. "Why doesn't he have a password on this thing?" Koushi shook his head, wondering what went on in their leader's mind.

As soon as the homescreen popped up, Koushi shrieked and Haru burst out laughing. "WHY IS THIS HIS SCREENSAVER" Koushi said, shocked, as Haru was struggling to calm down. 

The picture in question happened to be one of Siwa and Lucien, dramatically posing half naked on the side of pool. The question of why the photo existed or even who took it would remain unanswered.

"My virgin eyes..." Koushi groaned, acting as if he'd been forever scarred. "If his screensaver's like this, imagine what the rest of his photos are like." Haru giggled, tapping on the photos app. "Are you sure we should be going through his phone like th..." Koushi's argument died out when he realized he wasn't even against doing it.

"What the..." Haru said as the photo app opened. Silently, he opened the first album of photos, and the two froze. "Why does he have pictures of us...?" Koushi said quietly, scrolling through the countless photos in the collection. Among the expected photos of Siwa and some selfies, photos of the Chosen Seven occupied most of the space. The two swiped through photos of the group, most taken from a distance away, and even found one or two of themselves.

"Let's just... not speak of this." Haru nervously spoke, closing the app. Koushi agreed, instead clicking on the messages app to fulfill their original intent.

"Oh my god, what even is all of this?" Koushi said, exasperated. Looking at the messages, almost none of them were in any language decipherable to neither Haru nor Koushi. The last message he had received read "Я понимаю, мой люсиен," and the two weren't even going to bother trying to figure out that one.

After locating the leader's contact and composing a message, the two sent it and sighed. Exiting the app, they shut off the phone, not willing to look through anything else.

"So that was an experience." Koushi stated. Haru nodded, showing silent agreement with the statement. 

"What are you guys doing?" a voice asked, Haru and Koushi quickly turning to face the newcomer. "Oh, Danjong. What's up?" Koushi sighed, relieved that it wasn't one of the leaders. "What's up? Well I got knocked out so I gave up on being over there and came over here." Danjong pouted.

"Ah, understandable." Haru said, laying down. 

At that moment, the leader replied, saying he'd send someone to come and bring them back. "Who's that?" Danjong inquired. Not in the mood to hide everything, Haru simply explained they wanted to leave. 

"Can I come with? There's not much to do here." Danjong asked. Koushi reluctantly agreed right as the teleportation woman suddenly appeared next to them.

"You all ready to go?" she asked, ignoring the fact that there was an extra member added to the party. A chorus of agreement arose, and one by one she sent them back to the castle, each disappearing in a brilliant flash of light.

"Anyone else see that?" Jihyun asked, stopping what he was doing to glance towards the woods. "No. We didn't see anything. Please do enlighten us on the majorly important event you just witnessed, Jihyun." Baumé said, monotone. "Just a 'what was it' would've sufficed, Baumé." Minwoo stated, glancing at said boy.

"It looked like lightning kinda... just ignore me." Jihyun brushed it off, turning back towards the others.

"Baumé what are you... pUT THAT AWAY WHAT THE FUC–" Siwa's outrage was cut off by Lucien slapping a hand over his mouth. The group turned towards Baumé, who held a revolver in his right hand and a bottle of wine in the left. 

"Whatever you're planning, do it over there." Lucien spoke calmly, either trusting Baumé to not hurt anyone or just not caring at all.

"Pfft, calm down, it'll look cool. Just watch." Baumé smirked, ignoring the fact that the whole group took about ten steps away from him. 

"Where did he even get the gun from?" Kyungjin whispered to Minwoo, who shrugged in response. He took this chance to transform into a sparrow, just so he could fly away if things went south.

"Are we really gonna let him do... whatever this is?" Jihyun asked Lucien. "I mean, I ain't gonna stop 'em." Lucien replied, glancing at Baumé who looked up at the sky, then back down.

With a step, Baumé tossed the wine bottle high into the air. As it spun, he swiftly pointed his gun in the air and fired, the bottle shattering into countless pieces. However, instead of the bottle's remains falling to the ground as expected, the wine and glass mysteriously evaporated as soon as the object started to fall.

"WOAH JESUS CHRIST" Jihyun shouted, burying himself into the oversized hoodie he was wearing. 

"Oh fuck I actually hit it" Baumé laughed, clearly not having expected to actually pull the feat off. "Interesting. You enchanted the bottle to disappear upon fracture, then shot it midair. Bravo, friend." Alexei praised from the side, although quietly. 

"Where did you get the gun from, Baumé?" Siwa questioned, clearly not as amused as everyone else. "Does it matter?" Baumé retorted. "Yes. Tell me where you got it or so help me you'll never look at trees the same again." Siwa replied, his threat not sounding very threatening at all.

"Fine. You remember the mission where Jihyun knocked out the security guard? I took his gun after he passed out. I keep it with me now." Baumé explained, tucking the weapon into his pocket. "So you've had a gun on you this whole time and no one noticed?" Siwa sighed, clearly rethinking his abilities as a leader.

"Oh, I noticed he had it," a once again human Minwoo started, "I just didn't care enough to comment." Lucien covered up a laugh at Minwoo's statement, but didn't hide it well enough to avoid a nudge from Siwa.

"Koushi knew I had it too." Baumé admitted casually, glancing among the group in search of his mentioned junior. "Hey, where even is Koushi?" he asked, causing the group to scan their surroundings.

"Haru and Danjong aren't here either." Jihyun pointed out, causing a few annoyed groans and sighs of disbelief to arise. "Did we really manage to lose three people?" Minwoo asked aloud, not searching for an actual answer. 

"Um, I think they were over at the edge of the field earlier" Alexei said softly, almost no one hearing him. Not that it would matter, they clearly weren't there now. 

"Luci, text the leader or something and ask if one of the three two contacted him." Siwa told him, then turning to find someone to search for the three. Lucien nodded, then reached down to grab his phone and do as Siwa had commanded.

That was when the panic set in.

"Uh... Siwa, did you by any chance borrow my phone?" he asked nervously, taking a moment to check each of his pockets. "No? Why?" Siwa raised an eyebrow, wondering what Lucien was on about, then walking off.

"Then I must've dropped it somewhere–Oh god, I better not have lost it." he rambled, scanning the ground around him and looking towards places he'd walked. As he checked every place it could've been dropped or left, his nervousness soon turned to full-scale panic.

"SIWA THIS IS AN ACTUAL CRISIS GET YOUR CUTE ASS OVER HERE" he shouted, dashing over and violently yanking Siwa away from where he was talking to Minwoo, then avidly demanding Siwa help him look for his phone.

"Jesus, what's his problem. It's just a phone." Baumé mumbled, watching poor Siwa deal with Lucien's crazed antics.

"I dunno, man. Losing a phone isn't fun." Jihyun replied, leaning down to pick up a rather interesting pebble. "Yeah, I get that. But the guy's acting like he'll literally die without it. Like, come on." Baumé spoke, obviously judging the leader's actions as downright unnecessary.

"Lucien, c-calm down. We can buy you a new one, it's not worth this much trouble." Alexei tried to gently console his friend. "But all the stuff I have on it can't be transferred. I've got a bunch of files and... other things that can't be easily replaced." Lucien huffed, folding his arms. 

"Listen, if we can't find it, we'll buy you a new one tomorrow. I know why you REALLY want it, but can't you manage for a little while?" Siwa coaxed. "Fine. But the leader better not come in for a surprise power checkup or else I'm screwed." Lucien pouted, Alexei and Siwa quietly laughing at his behavior.

"They're like some sort of weird threesome." Baumé commented to Minwoo, who snickered at the thought. Looking at how Alexei and Siwa were both patting Lucien like some sort of puppy, the thought didn't seem too far fetched.

"So I just spoke to the leader everyone, and he says that Koushi, Haru, and Danjong aren't with him." Siwa eventually announced to the others, after a short telephone call.

"They're not? Then where the hell are they?" Minwoo questioned, the rest of the boys saying things of similar caliber. "Don't know. He just told me he's not with them." Siwa answered. "I wonder what they're doing." Jihyun spoke, examining yet another strange pebble.

"I can't believe leader told them he didn't know where we were." Koushi laughed, picking up a small pastry and biting it.

Koushi, as of the current moment, sat at a table with Haru, Danjong, and the leader himself. This table was located in a small dining room area, and was set with plates of little desserts, as well as a pot of warm tea of which they all had a cup of.

"Hey, I didn't lie to them. I just said I wasn't with you. At that moment, I was in the next room. I have only spoken the truth." the man said, smiling. 

"But hey, thanks for doing this." Haru said, the leader brushing it off and saying it was nothing. To elaborate, the man, apologizing for not considering their inability to use their powers when sending the group out for a field day, bought them a bunch of pastries and made tea. Let's just say that the boys didn't regret contacting him.

"You know, I've been wondering for a while. What's your name? Is there something we should call you besides just leader?" Danjong inquired, looking at the elder as he poured himself some more tea.

"Well, I do have a name. But I'm used to being called leader. It's fine." he said, sipping the tea. Chatter eventually arose, filling the room with laughter and noise.

"Shoot, just remembered I still have Lucien's phone." Koushi said, freezing mid conversation as he felt the phone in his pocket. "Meh, I'm sure he hasn't noticed. It'll be fine." Haru said, turning away as Danjong tried to get him to eat some weird dessert combination he had made. 

"You're right. He probably doesn't even know it's gone." Koushi agreed, relieved. 

If only they knew what they had caused.