The Unsurpassed Maiden

"You two girls are so mean." Hae Choon says with an exaggerated sigh while giving the two young girls a disappointed and sad look before adding something like, "Is this the way of the new generation to give thanks to us?"

Mi Young just rolled her eyes at him while giving him a stern gaze, "Stop being dramatic, old man."

The two continued to slightly bicker and almost forgot that there was another person with them.

It was when Su Yeon spoke up that they remembered something.

"Why do you keep calling him 'old man'? And he also said something about the new generation thanking 'them'. Who's them?" The purple haired newcomer asks while eyeing the two with a confused gaze.

Mi Young and Hae Choon looked at each other before they let out awkward laughs.

Hae Choon was rubbing his nape while speaking to Su Yeon, "It's an inside joke between us. I'm sorry for forgetting to include you. It won't happen again."

"Yes, it won't happen again." Mi Young says while sending Hae Choon another pointed look before she changes topic. "So, Su Yeon, what do you know about this place aside from them having a secret experiment that includes kidnapping and killing innocent people?"

Su Yeon stops for a second to think before she starts to lead the way again. "Well, I'm sure you already know about the use of the Mana Shell since you are so keen on stealing it. The High Lords use this place to hide their dirty and dark business. Hmmm what else? I heard the higher ranking officials are planning to demolish this place and move it to the center of the city."

"Center of the city? You mean the heart of Furotingu?" Mi Young questions while walking beside the other girl. She noticed that they were walking down an empty hallway with no soldiers at all. She wonders if the reason why there's no one else but them was because this part of the building is supposed to be a secret from other officials and only the High Lords knew about this.

"Not the center of Furotingu but the center of the Geo capital." Su Yeon answers as she stops in front of the metal door. Mi Young sees her punch in some numbers before the metal door opens and reveals a new series of stairs.

It was then that Mi Young finally registered what Su Yeon had just said. "What do you mean the center of the Geo capital? You mean they want to put their headquarters in the capital?"

Su Yeon nodded her head. "You heard me. Let's use these stairs."

The three of them walked down using the stairs which were located at the far end of the room. Mi Young noticed that there were a total of six different stairs present inside the room with the metal door which they just walked into.

"Where does this lead us?" Hae Choon asks while they descend the stairs.

"Towards the elevator where you will meet your other friend." Su Yeon says. "How did you know about that elevator by the way?"

Hae Choon looked at Mi Young since she was the one who knew about the stairs. Mi Young answered after a whole minute of silence. "We went here earlier and we used that elevator."

The black haired girl hears the other party let out a soft hum as if she was thinking and confirming something. "I assume you two were the Vice Captain's guests?"

"Uhn. How did you know?"

"Everyone in the lobby is talking about it. They said the Vice Captain was running around with two kids. Some soldiers were against it since you two might cause trouble inside the headquarters while others took it as nothing since you two were kids and kids can cause no harm inside these fully secured walls."

"I may think twice about the 'fully secured walls' thing since it's not fully secured. I mean, look at where we are." Hae Choon jokes out.

The two girls stopped for a second just to give him their blank looks before they continued walking down the stairs once more. Hae Choon sighs while consoling himself. 'Kids these days don't know how to appreciate a joke.'

"Anyway, the Vice Captain received an hour-long lecture from the Captain saying that he shouldn't have let some strangers come inside. However, when he mentioned something about you two being friends with the Grand Master, the Captain took back his words." Su Yeon continued. Then she gave Mi Young a curious look, "Is it true? Are you really friends with the Grand Master?"

"We're not really friends since it's our first time meeting each other. However, she is our teacher's closest relative." Mi Young answers while she and Hae Choon followed Su Yeon who entered an open doorway that led to another empty hallway. The black haired girl observes her surroundings and realizes that the hallway is somehow familiar to her. That's when she realized that they were near the location of the elevator which she used earlier that day together with Kwang Soo and the Vice Captain.

"Who is this Grand Master anyway and why is everyone always talking about her?" Hae Choon asks.

Mi Young stopped, which made her two companions stop walking as well. She looked at Hae Choon curiously. "You don't know who is the Grand Master of this city?"

"No?" Hae Choon asks while giving Mi Young a confused look. He then looks at Su Yeon who shrugs at his stare. "I mean, I heard about her so many times already but she never showed her face in public. Aside from that, every time people ask for the Grand Master all we get is a hooded figure with a mask concealing his or her face."

"The Grand Master is a girl." Mi Young deadpans.

"Oh. What's her full name?"

"You really don't know?" Mi Young asks again.

"I told you already, I don't. What's the big fuss?" Hae Choon says with furrowed eyebrows. He was starting to get annoyed with Mi Young's constant fuss about him not knowing the Grand Master's identity. For Hae Choon, there was nothing else more important than getting his hands on the Mana Shell. It was his one and only goal when he arrived in this city a few years ago.

"Her name is Shin Yu." Mi Young says while giving him an expectant look.

Hae Choon's face remained the same. "I already heard her name many times. I'm curious about her real identity. I mean, they could have been using an alias since she's been concealing her identity from the people for a long time already."

Mi Young was about to open her mouth to answer Hae Choon's question but Su Yeon beat her to it. "I heard her real name is Hwang Shin Yu. I saw her once when she visited here. Tall girl, pretty face, great body, and with short white hair. I mean, it's very rare to see people with white hair these days. Hers look real and not dyed."

Su Yeon was so immersed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice how Hae Choon had already stopped walking. He was looking at the purple haired girl with wide eyes and an open mouth. Then his eyes shifted toward Mi Young who was now giving him a look that says 'that's what I was trying to tell you, idiot'.

"Is it really her?" Hae Choon managed to ask after being frozen for a couple of minutes.

Mi Young didn't say much but only nodded her head to confirm his question. The two girls watch as Hae Choon steadies himself by leaning against the wall behind him. If not for the hard surface, Mi Young swears Hae Choon would have fallen on the ground due to his knees weakening at the sudden news being revealed to him.

"I???I can't believe I've been so blind all this time. H-How could I not see it." Hae Choon whispers to himself as he grips his hair in frustration.

While he was having an inner monologue at the side, Su Yeon turned to Mi Young to ask what was wrong with her companion. Mi Young just patted Su Yeon's shoulder and told her that Hae Choon was just being his old idiotic self and that it's best to just leave him alone.

It was obvious that Su Yeon didn't bring her lie, for f's sake the girl is smart, however the purple haired girl saved Mi Young by choosing to be mute and not asking any further questions.

"Are you done there?" Mi Young questions while crossing her arms and looking at Hae Choon as his eyes are still wide as saucers. "We're almost there but if you want to continue with your inner monologue we can just go on and leave you behind."

Hae Choon took out a deep sigh before he stood up straight and looked at Mi Young with more determination than before. "I'm fine already. We have other things to do so I can just punch myself later for being an idiot after we're done with our mission."

"That's great then." Mi Young says before she turns to Su Yeon who was standing on the opposite side of the wall, just waiting for them. "Let's go. I believe the elevator is just right at this corner."

Su Yeon smiled at her. "Yes. Let's go."

So the three of them continued walking until they rounded the corner. When Mi Young sees the elevator door, she lets out a sigh of relief. So far, there have been no issues along their way and it somehow feels like some thorns were taken off of her shoulders.

Mi Young and the two others stepped in front of the closed elevator.

"Where is your friend?" Su Yeon asks while looking around.

Mi Young did the same and noticed that Kwang Soo wasn't still around. She wonders if someone caught her senior already. But if it really happened then there should have been alarms sounding and alarming everywhere.

"I think he's not here yet." Mi Young whispers.

But just as soon as she said those words, the elevator doors opened.

However, what shocked her more was the fact that Kwang Soo was inside, kneeling on the ground with his arms chained behind him and two soldiers guarding his sides.