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Mari felt the shift in the atmosphere at the Seo Manor very heavily. There was always a serious undertone in the faction's place of business, but it wasn't enough to disturb the flow of her day to day life. But this time it felt like someone had dropped a piano on her head, the pain ringing out into every inch of her body.

The Underboss and Consigliere had never explicitly stated what the Kim Faction was up to, but she could definitely tell that her father had gotten word of the intrusion. The number of armed soldiers around the Seo Faction increased intensely as well as the number of people being placed as guards around the manor itself. Out of sheer anxiousness, Wooyoung had been placed as Mari's guard once again but more permanently this time. He was forced to go everywhere with her and if he left her side the punishment wouldn't be a simple slap on the wrist like normal.

The Underboss began bringing in certain members of the faction for questioning as well, trying to find the fly within their ranks so that they could eliminate the threat immediately. He wasn't just calling regular soldiers and bullying them into revealing any information they may have been hiding from him though. He was calling high ranking officials of Seo Faction, Lee Faction, and Japanese Yakuza. No one could be trusted outside of her father's close group of associates, they had to make sure even their allies weren't trying to sell them out.

Yeosang had been put to work as well, tasked by his father to work closely with the intelligence team to keep track of the Kim Faction's movements. He wanted to make sure that all eyes were on the rival faction, analyzing their every move and soaking in all the information they could steal from the Kim Faction. During this search for anything that could prepare them for an all-out war with the other faction, Yeosang had dived even deeper into the aimless hole of the assassination unit in hopes of discovering any new knowledge he hadn't received beforehand.

Mari could only wish him luck as she wasn't too sure about whether or not he was going to find anything new. Unlike the Kim Faction, they didn't have anyone on the inside to snag any of the information they needed. However, with the news of the rival faction's frighteningly large amounts of knowledge on them, she could only assume they were planning to send someone in soon.

She could assume that their choice might have been San, seeing as he was a rather capable member of the Seo Faction and the Underboss had the boy under his wing for a very long time. Yet because of his presence during the Kim Faction ambush, he already had eyes on him. Whether the rival faction knew if he was alive or not, they knew his face. Maybe they even caught wind of his name. That was all they needed to put a target in his head if he ever decided to show his face around them again.

Maybe they'd end up sending Jongho? The Lee Faction had been dragging him around with them everywhere they go for a while now, so he must have held some sort of importance to them. Whether it be his strength or intelligence, one of those must be rather valuable to them. That or Jaerin was taking Jongho around with her on purpose, practically waving him around in the air like he was some toy that Mari couldn't get a hold of.

It was rather evident that Mari was fond of Jongho's presence after the Utopia incident, so she wouldn't be surprised if Jaerin was using him for that purpose.

"I'm so glad I dropped out when I had the chance," Wooyoung commented, throwing his head towards the sky and stretching his arms out. "All the stuff you're learning seems so... unnecessary? And not just because your whole adult life will be dedicated to kicking ass and having authority over an entire army of men. Being a senior looks like it's more stressful than working for the Seo Faction."

"You weren't even sitting in the classroom," Mari mentioned, crossing her arms as she addressed him. When her father said Wooyoung had to be everywhere Mari was, he wasn't joking. The boy wasn't enrolled in the school, but posing as a student that attended. A few days ago San had gotten an extra set of the school's uniform for Wooyoung so that they could easily sneak the boy off and on the campus whenever they pleased.

She didn't think it would work at first, as Wooyoung had previously been caught on campus as an outsider. Yet the uniform somehow made him indistinguishable from the rest of the student body, blending him in perfectly. Not a single form of authority batted an eye at Wooyoung's presence, immediately assuming he was just another one of the children they were forced to look after for several hours of the day. The name tag attached to Wooyoung's shirt didn't even have his name on it, it was San's full name.

"I may not have been in that classroom with you, but I sure as hell heard everything I needed to hear," He clarified. "All of it is just a bunch of gibberish to my brain, a lot of unnecessary gibberish. Where are the classes that are interesting and fun? Maybe even a little useful to life outside of people's parents?"

"Ms. Yoo would rather die than make her class fun," Mari mumbled, watching Wooyoung complain to the sky about her classes. "But hey, at least it's a breath of fresh air from whatever the hell is going on at the manor, right? You're not surrounded by men strapped with dangerous weapons, my father isn't here to nag your ears off about staying by my side..."

Wooyoung shrugged in response, his reaction to her words awfully dry. "Yeah, I guess so. But you know, San isn't here. So it's not as fun as it could be."

"No, San is here." Mari corrected. "He's just been avoiding me. I mean, I know I was avoiding him at first, but now he's avoiding me. You know I tried to be secretive while avoiding him, I didn't want to hurt his feelings or anything, I just wasn't mentally ready for the potential onslaught of emotions us talking would give me. But San is blatantly ignoring me! He'll see me in the hallways and literally start sprinting away in the opposite direction! Maybe it's because he's actually mad at me for lying to him like I said he'd be. Maybe he's just—"

"Mari," Wooyoung cut her off, a slightly annoyed yet assumed expression donning his face. "You're rambling."

Mari resisted the urge to chew on her nails, guilt eating up inside of her the longer San ignored her. Usually, she wouldn't be this bothered by him ignoring her. She knew people needed space to clear their minds at times and she wasn't one to intrude. But the mere fact that the two of them would make eye contact and San would immediately look for a way out of her line of sight? It threw her whole world off balance, more so than the sudden arming of the Seo Faction did.

She had tried to approach him several times that week, cornering the boy off so that he'd have no way to escape her and be forced to face her whether he liked it or not. Yet he was sly like a cat, easily slipping out of her grasp and disappearing into a crowd without a trace. When he was present at the Seo Manor, he'd run off on a mission or even stay by the Underboss's side in order to keep Mari at bay.

She didn't know what she had done specifically in order to make him feel as though she couldn't be approached at all, so at the moment she could only assume her lying to him for several years straight took a toll on his trust with her. It was understandable, but even Mari knew they'd have to talk out the problem at one point.

"Yeah, sorry, I just," Mari trailed off, a grimace growing across her face. "I don't know what to do. I want to make up and explain myself, even if I'm not really prepared for it at the moment, but he's not even giving me the chance to get close."

Wooyoung stood there for a moment, thinking of a quick solution to her situation. "Well... when you're not around, San still approaches me. Maybe I can lure him into being in the same room as you and that way I can stop him from escaping and you two can clear your differences."

"Thank you for the suggestion," Mari told him, a strained smile on her face. "But I get the unfortunate feeling that you might end up getting scratched in the eyes by him or something."

The boy thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Well, yeah, you're not wrong. You know his nails have been getting longer than normal too. I could end up with a genuine scar... or even worse! He tears my entire eye out of its socket! Then I'll be half blind for the rest of my life... but it would really cool to get like a glass eye or something so I could pop it in and out for a party trick or something."

"I hate the fact that it sounds like you're considering actually letting him tear out your eye," Mari mumbled, a judgmental stare resting on the boy's figure.

He shrugged in response to her, his signature smile beaming at her as if Wooyoung wasn't planning to nearly destroy his facial features for a party trick. "I mean, come on. It would be pretty cool, wouldn't it?"

"No. Wooyoung. Every day you put your life on the line just existing next to me, do you want to make that even harder on yourself?"

A pout formed on the boy's lips at her words, crossing his arms like a frustrated child and mumbling something incoherent under his breath. Mari resisted the urge to turn and force the words out of his mouth as if he was going to say something about her he should say it loud and clear for everyone to hear, but she stopped. Just as she was about to turn the corner and enter right back into the school's building, a figure was blocking her path. Unwillingly blocking her path.

San stood there like a deer in headlights, his eyes wide and his feet frozen to the ground. Both Wooyoung and Mari stood still as if any sudden movements would scare him away. He seemed like he was in a rush, his chest rising and falling with rapid breaths and his eyes darting everywhere but theirs. "San—"

"Oh, I didn't know you attended this school too!" An unusually chirpy voice spoke, a hint of mockery in its undertones. Mari audibly groaned in realization, biting her lip as Jaerin peered from around the corner where San had appeared. She was staring straight at Wooyoung, not even acknowledging Mari's presence. "I must say, Jung Wooyoung, our uniform does look rather good on you. Tell me, how do you feel about wearing formal wear more often? I think a suit would just highlight your facial features perfectly."

"What do you want, Jaerin?" Mari scowled, trying to keep her temper from flaring up. The last time she had spoken to the Lee Faction heir was when she nearly pulled her hair out, attacking the girl as if she was a wild dog. Jaerin hadn't gotten any payback since that day no matter how hard she tried, so needless to say Mari wasn't looking forward to this interaction.

She shoved herself past San, the boy giving her an offended glare as she stepped in front of Mari. "Actually, I was looking just for you! See, I noticed you and Choi San tend to hang around each other. So I thought he knew where you were at the moment. He kept telling me no... but it seems like you three just gravitate towards each other."

"Yeah, that's kinda how friendship works?" Wooyoung interrupted, annoyance peering through his voice as he spoke to her. Both of them took note of how San used Jaerin's intervention as a distraction, turning on his heel with an apologetic look on his face before booking it as far as he possibly could away from them. Mari took a step toward to push past Jaerin, but the girl simply blocked her path so that she could stay in her sights.

Mari glanced around the area, taking note of whether the school's security cameras were watching them or not. Everywhere Jaerin goes she's constantly trying to cause trouble for Mari, and if they get into a fight here? The teachers will eat that right up, anything to prove that Mari was a burden on their school's name. She had no forms of academic authority that would vouch for her innocence like Jaerin. All she had was Wooyoung and her father's influence.

Jaerin's eyes twitched at Wooyoung's attitude but simply ignored it to address Mari again. "Oh, I just wanted to check up on you! You know, with all that's happening in the Seo Faction at the moment... I think you'd be rather stressed out. Elevated security? Members of the faction being brought in for questioning? Untrustworthiness evident throughout the whole faction? It's like it's got you in a chokehold."

"Unfortunately," Mari responded, narrowing her eyes at Jaerin and taking a step back away from her. Wooyoung seemed to notice her reaction, subconsciously placing himself between the two just in case the girl decided to lunge at the Lee Faction heir. Jaerin was so good at bringing out the worst at Mari, every single word the girl let fall off her tongue was like she was planting needles under Mari's feet and just waiting for her to pop. "Why are you concerned with how I'm feeling though?"

"Because I have a favor to ask from you," She answered, nonchalantly checking her nails as she spoke to her. "You're friends with Hongjoong, right? And clearly, you'll be too busy with your faction's business to even hang out with him at the moment, so I was wondering if I can borrow him from you for a moment."

Jaerin laughed after letting her statement linger in the air for a moment, looking towards the girl as a smile appeared on her face. "I mean, whether you said yes or not, I would have taken him anyways. I just thought it would be polite to ask."

"Calm yourself," Wooyoung muttered to her, grabbing a hold of her wrist when he felt her tense up next to him, breathing through her nostrils like an angry bull.

"My mother is very fond of Hongjoong, I'll have you know. She's always talking about how good of a match he would be for me and honestly? She's not wrong! She wants to invite him over for dinner, give his parents a few gifts, sway him over into finding me more..." She looked Mari up and down before smiling at her. "Appealing than others. And since you aren't going to be busy bothering him any time soon, I thought I would begin pursue him again like I used to. When I didn't distractions."

"You can't... do that." Wooyoung intervened, a confused yet scornful glint in his eyes as he began to connect the dots. "I mean in theory you can, it never works out the way you'll want it to."

Jaerin rolled her eyes, turning her head towards Wooyoung with a sneer. "It'll be a hard journey for sure, trying to make Hongjoong keep his eyes on me rather than Mari over here. But you can always take his place for the week if you believe in morals so much."

"You can't just force people into doing things for you, Jaerin," Mari growled, testing Wooyoung's physical strength as she tried to snatch her wrist away from. Somehow Mari was going to wrap her hands around Jaerin's neck and squeeze every little silvery word out of the girl's mouth. "Especially when those people aren't interested in you."

"Oh please! You can always go find some other boy to play around with!" She complained, her smile turning into a mocking smirk as she pointed towards Wooyoung. "I mean you've got him begging at your feet even! Not only that but Seonghwa, Mingi, and Yunho? Tons of options for someone of such... unique way of doing things."

"I'm going to need you to let go of me," Mari growled between gritted teeth, attempting to pry Wooyoung's hands off her wrist. "I'm going to need you to let go of me right now."

"Absolutely not," Wooyoung responded, his grip on her wrist getting tighter. "I let go of you and all hell breaks loose."

"Good."

Jaerin cackled, covering her mouth with her hands as she watched the two interact. "God! I swear you don't have an off switch, do you? It was a good thing your father put Wooyoung by your side permanently, it's like you were never trained in manners at all! All you know is bark and bite, it's hilarious!"

Wooyoung blinked his eyes a couple of times, her worse registering in his mind before turning towards Mari. "You know I might actually let you go this time. This front row ticket to seeing you knock her out seems really worth it right now." Jaerin flinched when she saw the boy grip on her wrist loosen, her strong and arrogant attitude dropping immediately at the thought of getting attacked by Mari again.

All the girl knew how to do was talk, she just didn't have the strength to back up her words.

Jaerin cleared her throat as she drew away, putting distance between her and Mari with each step she took. "Like I said! I'll be borrowing Hongjoong for a few days so don't be sad when he comes back head over heels for—"

Mari took one threatening step towards Jaerin and it sent her jumping backward like a frightened cat. "I think this might be your last chance to run away Jaerin. Cause this time my father isn't here to stop me and these cameras sure won't do a damn thing to me."

The Lee Faction heir visibly shivered at her warning, debating on whether or not she wanted to face the humiliation of being mauled to death by Mari or not. "You're so..." She trailed off, biting her lip in anticipation as she waited to see if Mari would jump her before she could even finish her last words. "You're going to regret this, Seo. I promise you that. I'm going to make you wish you had never even crossed paths with me."

"Oops, I let go," Wooyoung stated, letting go of Mari's wrist and letting her have full freedom of her movement once more. Jaerin immediately took it as a sign to run away, scurrying away from the two as fast as her legs could take her. The boy had to resist the urge to laugh at the girl, a playful smile stretching across his face. "Seriously, why does she even antagonize you if she's the one who would get her ass kicked in a fight?"

"I think she just likes seeing me pissed off," Mari hissed, watching the girl disappear around the corner in a hurry. "The only problem is that she can't take the heat once I'm mad enough."

He nodded in agreement, a moment of silence settling between them before he turned towards her. "So I'm guessing your berserk mode is triggered by Hongjoong then?"

"What?" She asked him, confusing donning her face and replacing the amount of rage that was building up inside of her. "I don't... think I understand?"

"Are you serious?" Wooyoung responded. "Have you not noticed all of the times someone has mentioned Hongjoong negatively and you've nearly exploded? Jaerin has done it twice to my knowledge and I've done it a few times as well. Each time you were literally rocking on thin ice, I thought you were going to murder me when I had said something bad about Hongjoong before. You're so attached to him that the mere mentioning of his name will put you into attack mode."

Mari stood there in silence, trying to comprehend what was coming out of Wooyoung's mouth. Was she... really like that? If she was, she has never noticed her change in demeanor whenever Hongjoong would get mentioned in a conversation or argument. But then again, Mari thought she was always nearly biting people's heads off when she was talking to him.

Wooyoung took a moment to take in Mari's expression, watching her come to a realization she had never thought of before. "Wow... you really didn't know, did you?"

"I thought I was just being myself? Aren't I always aggressive when I'm talking to people, much less arguing with other people?"

"Well..." He trailed off, trying to put it as nicely as possible. "Yeah... but it's totally different when Hongjoong gets brought up, you know? It's more intense, you go literally insane. I mean that's how you got into a fight with Jaerin back at the manor, is it not? Because she had mentioned Hongjoong to take a jab at you and you... liters lost your shit."

"Oh," Mari said, staring down at the ground. "I never really... noticed."

Wooyoung gave her a mirthless laugh, slinging an arm around her shoulder as he forced her to start walking forward. "I guess that means you really like him, right? I mean I would literally jump in front of a bullet for you, not just because that's my job, and it feels like you would do the same for him and vice versa."

When Mari didn't respond, too immersed in her own thoughts, another weak laugh escaped his mouth. "Yeah. You like him."

"Yeah," Mari finally responded, running her hands through her hair in order to keep her mind preoccupied. "I do like him. I like him... a lot more than I should."

A smile began to spread across Wooyoung's face, bitter and green with envy. "Yeah. That's pretty fucked up, huh?" He went quiet for a moment before stopping in his tracks, bringing them to a sudden halt that nearly sent Mari tumbling to the ground. "You know I was deeply in love with you for like several years right? I spent nearly the majority of my life not just trying to save your life, but get you to like me back just as much as I liked you."

"Wooyoung, what..." Mari began, trying to find the right words to explain herself. "What the... hell is this about?

"I really thought I was finally getting somewhere. That night at that masquerade party I thought I had finally got you right where I wanted. I thought I finally had gotten you to realize how much I liked you and that you felt the same," He confessed. "So how does that bastard of a biker boy get like two months' worth of time with you and your head over heels for him? I'm calling witchcraft, I promise you no normal human being can get you to fall for them so quickly!"

Mari laughed at his statement, rolling her eyes at his playful demeanor. Even when he was standing there and professing his unrequited feelings to her, he still found a way to make it feel like it was just another day of them hanging out with each other. "Honestly, I'd like to know how he did it too. I promise you I had no intention of falling for that bumbling idiot, but I did anyway."

"Yeah, but I used to be your bumbling idiot." Wooyoung pouted. "It's not fair, he's just taking everything I've worked hard to achieve away from me. Hongjoong has just gotta be some glitch in the system."

"Honestly—" Mari agreed before she was cut off, almost unable to get the whole word out of her mouth. It was a quick and fleeting moment, the feeling of lips quickly pressing against Mari's and taking her off guard. She wasn't mentally nor physically prepared him to kiss her out of the blue, lightly brushing his oddly soft lips over hers just long enough to transfer the warmth between the two. It felt like they had barely even touched each other like a feather had lightly tickled her face for just a few seconds before it suddenly disappeared.

"What... what the..." Mari stuttered, trying to regain her composure but failing miserably at every attempt. Her brain just refused to realize what had just happened, her entire mind's inner workings were starting to shut down even. "What the fuck?"

"Now," Wooyoung began when he pulled away from her. The corners of his mouth curved into a blissful smile as he watched Mari short circuit, satisfied with the outcome he had received. "You can tell Hongjoong I'm waving the white flag. I got the first kiss so I think I'm okay with letting you go now."