Mr. Frankenstein had invited me and the others to dinner at his place. After the tutoring, I couldn't see Gray anywhere and decided to walk there by myself. On the way, I happened to spot Shin-Woo and Yuna at the coffee shop talking to a handsome, long-haired man.

"Shin! Yuna! Hey! Shouldn't you be heading to the dinner?"

"Sunny! We made a new friend. This is Takeo, and he's Japanese. He was getting robbed in an alley, and we rescued him."

"Hello. I'm Mi-Sun. Shin's cousin. Really nice to meet you. It looks like Japan is sending their best looking to Korea, huh?" I smiled at him and extended my hand for a handshake.

"Nice to see you too, Mi-Sun." He chuckled bashfully.

"So, what brings you to town? Business or pleasure?"

"Just visiting."

"It's unfortunate that you got robbed while visiting. I hope the rest of your experience turns out better than this."

"I hope so too."

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I have people to see. I'll see the rest of you later. Takeo, good luck with your visit. Stay safe."

I hurried to Mr. Frankenstein's house, hoping I would get a chance to talk to Gray before the dinner. Two new transfer students stayed with Mr. Frankenstein, one white-haired girl named Seira and her black and white-haired brother, Regis. Gray and Regis seemed to conflict with one another, bickering like siblings.

"What's up with you and the short one?" I asked Gray. He was washing some of the dishes as I leaned backward on the counter.

"He's a bit of a brat."

"I think it's pretty cute. You guys are like siblings, and Mr. Frankenstein is like your dad that's constantly telling you to stop."

"I would never be related to that brat!" He growled.

"Awww…sorry, Gray. You would never be his sibling. You are way too good for that." I teased, then giggled and playfully touched his arm. His face still showed a hint of anger. "I'm sorry for teasing. I'll never do that again." I looked at him and exaggerated my pout. He smiled.

"Sorry about that. I get carried away sometimes."

"No need to apologize. But it is kind of nice to take a peek behind the curtain. I got a smile and an angry face today. The next goal is a laugh." I gave him my flirtiest smile.

"That might be hard."

"That's great. It just means I'll have to spend more time around you to try to get it out of you."

"I'm not exactly the best company to have around."

"I think you are. Besides, I think I'm great company, so I might just rub off on you."

"Maybe."

I managed to get a bit more conversation from him then moved on to the rest of the group. The dinner was fantastic. Turns out Mr. Frankenstein was testing out a ramen recipe and wanted our opinions on it.

A couple of days after the dinner, I was invited to another dinner by Mr. Frankenstein's. I was hoping Gray would be there, but he hadn't been there the past two days, according to Shin-Woo. While walking through the park, I was cornered by two men. The first was a goth-looking guy with chin-length hair and dark lips. The second was a heavyset guy with a Mohawk.

"Great! Now I'm getting mugged in the park. This is just awesome." I mumbled to myself. "Can I help you, sir?" I said to the goth one.

"Nothing. I'm just here to escort you to one of your friends."

"What friend?"

"It's a surprise."

"Yeah, right. Like I'm dumb enough to fall for that." He slowly approached me with his hands in his pocket. I knew I would need to fight, so I would wait until he was close enough to kick him. Just as he was within reach, I decided to raise my leg to kick him. Before I could move, I felt someone hit the back of my head, and everything went black.

My neck hurt when I opened my eyes. Shin-Woo, Yuna, Suyi, and Ik-Han were looking up at our kidnappers. Regis was out cold and tied up on the ground next to us. He looked like he had been beaten up.

"What's going on?" I asked. I took a look at my kidnappers.

"Those are the people that kidnapped us," Yuna said. She and Suyi were holding on to each other.

"Hyung? What is happening right now? Why are we here?" Ik-Han cried at one of them with an undercut. "Tao? Is that your name?"

"HAHAHA! DID YOU HEAR THAT?! THE KID CALLED TAO 'HYUNG'!" The guy with the black lips laughed along with the heavyset guy. One guy with a scar across his nose looked on, expressionless.

"Why the hell do you have us here?" Shin-Woo asked. The guy with the black lips kicked his head into the floor.

"SHIN-WOO!" We all shouted. "Get your foot off him!" I shouted at him.

"STOP IT!" Yuna, Suyi, and Ik-Han shouted.

"It's loud," Regis said as he woke up.

"Are you ok, Shin? These people are serious. You can't just be cocky, you dumbass. Do they look like you can take on them? Sit down and shut up. I hope you think about it next time you decide to do that shit because you're putting the rest of us in danger."

"M-21!" The black-lipped man said. Gray, who was standing in the far corner of the room, turned around.

"AHJUSSI?!" The other kids said.

"What? These kids also know M-21?" the black-lipped guy replied. He then began cackling.

"You know…when I said I wanted to take a look behind the curtain, this is not what I meant. You know these people?" I glared at him. He maintained a serious expression on his face. I closely studied his face and noticed he was a bit less beaten than Regis but still looked like he had been roughed up.

"PLEASE SAY SOMETHING, AHJUSSI! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, AND WHY ARE WE HERE?" Ik-Han shouted at him while standing up. I pulled him back down.

"We thought you were sick because we didn't see you for a while," Yuna said.

"Sit down, you idiot! I swear to god. You fucking kids are the worst people to be around! Shut the fuck up!" I hissed at them. "I'm shocked no one has killed you yet. We have the dummy here fighting battles he can't win. We have this other dummy. How the hell are you smart but still stupid? And you two…cower over there but do it with your mouths shut. Do you hear me?!" I yelled at them. "God! I should have just stayed home today. Of all the people I got kidnapped with, I had the idiot ones that want to die the fastest."

"But Sunny…" Yuna cried at me.

"SHUT UP! Next person to say a word, and I'm beating the shit out of you before that guy gets the chance to."

"M-21 seems to know so many people. Do you know these kids?" The black-lipped one said.

"Do I know them well? We've passed by each other a few times, but I'd barely call us acquaintances. After all, what reason would I have for hanging out with kids?" He replied with a smirk on his face. There was a reason he denied knowing us.

"Hey. Brat! Do you know this man? He knows you but refuses to say anything." The black-lipped man asked Regis.

"There's nothing to know about him. There's no connection between this man and me, so there's nothing to talk about." I know that was technically the truth because the two of them didn't seem to see eye to eye on things.

"A rare Noblesse knows you and denies there's no connection?" Black lips said suspiciously.

"I ran into him on a job I was doing. The same goes for the kids."

"Why must you keep making connections that don't exist?" Regis said.

"Well, then. Since you don't know them, then I guess we don't have any use for them. We can just kill them." I looked defiantly at black lips. "I might just start with the pretty one here. I don't like the way she's looking at me."

"Wait! Can't we just give them serum to make them forget?" The guy with the undercut begged. "Kratz. They give those serums out for times like this, right?"

"Not permitted." The guy with the scar on his nose said.

"You people should be embarrassed for yourselves. Don't you have better things to do than pick on a bunch of powerless kids?" Regis scoffed at them.

"I changed my mind. I'll start with that brat." He then started beating up Regis, but Regis wasn't budging. I glared at Gray again. Suddenly, Shin-Woo jumped from behind me towards black lips and managed to land a punch on his face. That did nothing to black lips but anger him while Shin-Woo had a bleeding fist.

"No! You will die first."

"SHIN! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I shouted at him. It was a mix of fear and frustration. Black lips began charging at him.

"If you let those kids go, I'll tell you the information," Gray said.

"What?"

"As Tao said, you can wipe their memories."

"No. We must eliminate all dangerous factors." The scarred guy said. Black lips started cackling again. He then grabbed Shin-Woo by the neck and started choking him.

"STOP IT! YOU'LL KILL HIM!" The other kids yelled at the guy. Ik-Han ran and bit his arm, and I ran towards him, aiming for his head. Of course, Yuna and Suyi wailed from the side. Before I could kick, someone slashed the black-lipped man's arm that was holding Shin. Shin fell, and we dragged him back to where the girls were. I stopped mid-run and saw that it was Gray. He had long claws on his hands. He slashed at black lips a couple more times then jumped protectively in front of us.

"HE CAN TRANSFORM?! I thought he was just a low-level agent!" Black lips said.

"AHJUSSI?!" Ik-Han said. "How can a normal person do that?"

"You guys don't call me 'Ahjussi,'" he said with a smile on his face.

"Be careful, Gray," I said quietly. He looked back and subtly nodded. Black lips started attacking again, and Gray slashed him a few more times.

"Krantz. This cannot go on. I must kill that guy!" Black lips said to the scarred guy they called Krantz.

"If you do that, then that will just delay our mission. We can just start over without M-21." Tao said.

"No. We must not let this humiliation go on like this." Krantz growled. "Shark. I give you permission. Eliminate him."

"Finally. I will take my time killing you, M-21." Shark said as he lifted his knife and aimed at Gray, but he blocked it. He then slashed his knife in our direction, and Gray jumped in front of it, getting slashed as a result. He was trying to protect us.

"We have to figure out how to get out of here. You have to move! Move!" I told the others. Shark slashed towards us again, and Gray took the stabbing.

"You stood in front of it to protect the kids?" Shark cackled.

"It's too loud for me to even rest. I'll take over from here. You've done enough." Regis said to Gray. Gray then fell, exhausted and seriously injured. I ran to him.

"I told you to be careful. Why would you do that!" I started crying as I took off my jacket and placed it over his wounds to wipe away some blood. He sat up. "You'll get even more hurt if you do that."

"I'll be ok." He said calmly. I took my t-shirt off because it would make decent bandages at the moment. Yuna and the others started ripping the shirt into strips and wrapping up his wounds.

"You've lost so much blood," Yuna said to him. Regis had defeated Shark and was now fighting Krantz. He was punched into a wall. As his fight continued, Shark started making his way to us.

"Of course, he wouldn't leave the children alone," Gray mumbled. He then stood us and faced him. Shark slapped him hard on his face, but he didn't go down.

"You're on my way M-21. I have to finish my job. If you hadn't gotten in the way…."

"Laying the blame on others for losing? It's not even funny." He goaded.

"Shut up! Die M-21!" He said, then stabbed Gray in the chest.

"NOOOO!" I screamed as he fell backward towards me. Shark started cackling as we all tried to wake him up.

"Wake up, AHJUSSI! Please, wake up!" Yuna and Suyi called out. I cradled his head on my lap.

"You have to wake up. You can't die yet. I was supposed to make you laugh first." I cried as I placed my forehead on his. "Please wake up, Gray." I continued sobbing. I felt his eyes flutter and raised my head to look at him. He chuckled weakly.

"What the hell are you laughing about?" Shark asked him.

"I'm just glad." He whispered. "You took too long to get here."

"Who the hell is that guy, and how did he get in?" Shark said, looking towards the exit. Rai was walking towards us.

"Rai?" Ik-Han asked

"Why is Rai here?" Yuna asked.

"Didn't you say it would take fifteen minutes from the other door to here?" Krantz asked Tao.

"It does. I had all the safety measures in place."

"Did you take away all their phones?"

"Yes. There's no way that guy could have made it here." Shark started walking towards Rai. Regis quickly stood in his way to protect him but was punched towards a wall again. Suddenly, Shark, Krantz, and Tao froze in place.

"What the heck is going on? I can't control my body." Shark said.

"I can't move," Tao replied.

"I did not give you permission to move," Rai uttered in a commanding voice. Gray had a huge smile on his face.

"You're awake. Please tell me whatever you have in you can heal you." I whispered to him. He nodded subtly. "Thank god. Sorry I got tears all over your face. Did I cry for nothing?"

"I wasn't sure I could." I looked up, and Krantz had transformed into a dark creature and was trying to fight Rai. Every attack was missing him.

"That's incredible!" I stared in awe. He then tried to punch Rai, but Rai stopped his punch and pushed him back into a wall, forming a deep crater. "How can someone so small be so strong?"

"Tao! Are you going to disobey an order?" Krantz shouted at him.

"Hyung! That man intends for you to die. Don't listen to him! Why are you accepting death just like that?" Tao looked at Ik-Han then at Krantz.

"I'm not sure. I guess that's the fate of us modified humans." I looked back down at Gray, and he looked unconscious. I placed my ear close to his nose to hear his breathing, and I couldn't hear anything.

"No. He said he was healing." I carefully placed his head down and placed my ear on his chest. "I can't hear his heart. He said he was healing." I sobbed over his chest. I kneeled next to him, tears streaming down my face. The fight between Rai and Krantz was over, but I wasn't fully paying attention. I still had my head down, sobbing when he suddenly sat up.

"I told you I was healing." I wrapped my arms around his neck. I heard him gasp.

"I couldn't hear your heart beating."

"I'm still healing, but I'm fine now."

"Sorry. I'm hurting you." I released him and went back to kneeling.

"I'll be ok."

"I suppose I should go check on Shin. I'll be right back." He nodded. I walked over to Shin-Woo and the others. Mr. Frankenstein had also shown up.

"Hi, Shin. Did you learn your lesson about being a dumbass?"

"I'd rather get hit than let my friends get hit."

"See…that's where you fucked up today. That Shark guy was spiteful. He was going to escalate everything and eventually kill the rest of us because you chose to attack him. Do you see why you have to sit and assess?"

"Yes."

"Now, the reason why I told the rest of you idiots to shut up about knowing him is because of exactly what happened afterward. If you had taken a closer look at him, you would have seen that he had already been roughed up when we came to. He was just as much a hostage as the rest of us were. Do you get it? This may sound mean, but I hope I'm never in another situation like this with the rest of you. If it weren't because my cousin was in the group, I would have requested to be taken to a different room from the rest of you. Shin, you are impulsive and don't think things through. Yuna and Suyi, your crying is annoying. If it was annoying to me, how much more annoying do you think you were to the psycho? Ik-Han, you have the same issue as Shin but with your mouth. Know when to speak and when to shut the hell up. You don't have enough strength to back up your mouth so that that dummy will be the one taking the beating for you. All of your stupidity almost got me killed. Shin, I hope you think about your hurting throat and the head pounding you got next time you decide to jump into a fight with anyone. All these people are way above your caliber. Stop and see what they are capable of before jumping in. If you think what I said to you right now is too harsh, be sure to also think about the fact that all your dumb actions almost got yourselves and me killed." I stood up and walked back to Gray.

"Ik-Han. Yuna. Why don't you help Shin-Woo up? Seira, you, and Mi-Sun can help with M-21. Are you well enough to walk, Regis?"

"I would never let injuries like that make me appear so inelegant."

"You should go to the roof and pick up up your friend. Bring him along with us." Mr. Frankenstein told Tao. Seira and I took Gray to Mr. Frankenstein's. Ik-Han and Yuna took Shin-Woo to the hospital to get checked out. All he had was a bandaged hand, a neck brace, and to rest his voice until his neck healed. Takeo was also injured in a fight, and Mr. Frankenstein also took care of his injuries. He said since they were modified humans, they didn't have the option to go to a regular hospital. After getting bandaged up, Takeo was still out cold, but Gray was only sleeping while his injuries healed. I decided to visit him in the medical area.

"Hey. How's the healing going?" I sat next to him on the bed, and he sat up.

"I feel much better. Try not to cry about it."

"I'll try to ease up on the waterworks. Try not to look dead."

"I'll do my best."

"So…I'm kinda jealous someone else made you laugh instead of me. I have to find something else now."

"You saw me laugh?"

"Yeah. It was a little chuckle right before Rai came in. That may have been one of those before-death visions or whatever. It was still a laugh. Maybe I should try for another one."

"I suppose."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You wanna know why they called me M-21?"

"Is it wrong for me to ask?"

"I guess I might as well tell you. I don't know my name. M-21 was my lab experiment number. I let myself get taken because I was hoping to find out my name and the names of my other ninety-nine comrades. I guess finding out my name would give me some sense of normalcy. And finding everyone else's name will allow me to honor them. To give them a name instead of a number."

"That makes sense. I'm sorry you had to go through that." I hugged him.

"No need to worry. I'll find it another way." I let him go.

"I hope you do. I think it's an honorable thing to do for your friends. In the meantime, is it ok if I keep calling you Gray? I guess I'd prefer using a name instead of a number."

"You can call me whatever you want to. I don't mind."

"I think Gray is more fitting. I thought of it because of your hair color. I like that color." I heard Takeo stirring. "I should probably go back up there. I'll try to visit later if you haven't fully healed yet. Otherwise, I'll probably see you once you've healed. It was nice talking to you."

I headed to the living room, where everyone was. The guy with the undercut, Tao, was there along with everyone else.

"How's neck feeling?" I asked Shin.

"Not too bad. I tend to recover fast."

"Good."

"Can we tell you something, Sunny?"

"What?"

"We're sorry for how we acted. We now know that we were acting stupid, and we all could have gotten killed faster if it wasn't for Ahjussi. We'll try to think first before acting from now on." Ik-Han implored.

"I don't intend to get kidnapped again. If the rest of you do, I'd rather not have you near me, and if that happens again, I'd rather not have you near Shin. I don't care how long you guys have been friends. I'd rather he be safe and friendless than constantly in danger. Anyway, I hope this was a learning experience for the rest of you. Think first."

"We understand."

Ik-Han and Shin-Woo decided to ask them questions about their powers. They took the time to explain what Noblesse and enhanced humans were.

"No way! How is that possible?!"

"How come we haven't heard of him?"

"But it's true. How else do you explain what happened tonight?"

"So, you're saying Seira and Regis are vampires?"

"Not exactly like Vampires."

"How dare you compare us to those vile creatures. We are nothing like them." Regis said.

"Wait. If you are vampires, don't vampires drink human blood?" Ik-Han exclaimed while the rest of them cowered.

"See. That's exactly what I was talking about. You've been coming here for however long. Don't you think if they were going to drink your blood, they would have done it by now?"

"But aren't you afraid? How come you're not freaked out?" Yuna asked.

"First off, I'm not stupid. I know who to fear and who not to. Second, I accept things as they are. You have that freak standing next to you who gets injured every other week and still ends up fine. Do I believe that someone can be even stronger? Yes. But maybe it's because I've been to New York, so seeing weird things like that are just par for the course. Use any public transportation system in that city and believing in vampires is not such a ridiculous thing to accept because it makes more sense."

"Calling them vampires is a simplistic way of putting it. They're different from that. They are more exalted beings called nobles."

"You mean like those vampires in storybooks that live in fancy castles and stuff?"

"Yes. Like those."

"How about you, Hyung?"

"We are not exactly humans. We are more like beasts because we are modified humans. Other humans created us for one purpose or another."

"I don't know why you would say you're not human. You were born humans, right? You just have a little extra whatever it is inside you that enhances what you already have, right?"

"I suppose when you put it that way."

"How about Rai? What is he?"

"That, I don't exactly know."

Mr. Frankenstein came back to the living room.

"Mr. Lee! How are the Ahjussis?"

"They are recovering well. Their wounds are deep, but they are healing."

"Thank goodness!"

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that again."

"What exactly do you mean by that? When you say it like that, it makes it seem like this has happened before." Ik-Han said.

"Don't be crazy, Ik-Han." Shin-Woo retorted.

"Ik-Han is absolutely right." Mr. Frankenstein said.

"Huh?" I gaped.

"The four of you have been through this situation multiple times. The reason you don't remember is that we had your memory of the situation erased."

"Is that why this kind of felt like some sort of déjà vu? Wait! If this happened before, did I tell them the exact thing before?" I asked.

"You didn't quite put it as bluntly as you did today. However, you did tell them something similar. It seems with every situation, your response got harsher. For your sakes, we must erase your memory of this event."

"Are you saying that if we remember what happened, our lives could be in danger?"

"Yes."

"How much are you going to make us forget?"

"Everything that happened today. It's usually what we do in events like this. Haven't you wondered why humans haven't spoken of our existence yet?"

"That's also true for the agency. We usually have to eliminate witnesses or make them forget ever being aware of us." Tao said. I began to think back to the conversation I'd had with Gray. The fact that I saw him laugh. And even what he was. My eyes started tearing up.

"You mean I'll forget every conversation I've had so far?" I asked.

"Unfortunately."

"We'll forget that Regis put his life at risk to save us?"

"Or that Ahjussi almost died protecting us?"

"Or that Rai is the one who saved us? Somehow, it doesn't seem right to forget about that."

"Is it right not to know that?"

"Yes. Because they don't wish to be remembered for their actions." Rai remarked.

"If it's something that must be done, we'll do that." I couldn't stop crying.