Missing in Action

5: Entente Cordiale

Finally, the appointed day had arrived. The building beside the eleven-storey hotel in Wanna City was the site for today's assembly. The building was specifically built to accommodate a huge number of participants. After all, magical squads from Hallyu vary in number – from solos up to In-City which had twenty-three members so far.

While it was still early, magical squads from different parts of Hallyu were starting to arrive. Prominent squads like Ex-Monster, Five-Sided Polygon, Gots-Even, Troas and Wheener were already at the venue. Interestingly, newly-formed groups such as Hitbig's Texty, Rekerc's The Buoyz and Jeewyphi's Itchi and Agi Sajin were also present. The squads began to fill up the venue and took any seat that they wanted; the only rule was that the group's members must sit together or relatively close to each other.

By eleven, the meeting officially began as Wanna One, along with Bulletproof Scouts, X-O, Two-Times, Plackbink, Velvety Red, SVT, Mommymoo and Geefreend, sat up front facing the hall. Interestingly, Wanna One was not wearing their "Supreme Six Capelet" today, unlike the other members of the Supreme Six, but instead they were wearing their "Chosen Capelet".

What is "Supreme Six Capelet", you ask? Every year starting from the second generation, the Supreme Six and Twilight Triad are given honorary uniforms immediately during the inauguration. They are called by everyone as the "Supreme Six Capelet" and the "Twilight Triad Capelet". Both capelets show the logo, along with the generation number, of the chamber where the squad belongs at the left chest front side while the membership logo of the group was emblazoned on the back. The "Supreme Six Capelets" are gray while the "Twilight Triad Capelets" are black. They are supposed to be worn during the Bicameral Meeting, Entente Cordiale and when the group perform the duties of their respective chambers, but, of course, the groups also have the prerogative not to.

On the other hand, the "Chosen Capelet" was an idea proposed by the male members of the Supreme Six and Twilight Triad except for Wanna One. Their idea was to give Wanna One a set of official uniforms when performing their duties as rulers of the kingdom. The "Chosen Capelets" look similar to the previous two but are bluish in color. In the left chest front portion lie the Chosen's generational logo while the back shows the members' individual insignia. Originally, the "Chosen Capelets" were supposed to be worn by Wanna One every single day when performing their duties but Wanna One was not fond of it. They hate drawing attention as much as possible.

So, going back to the assembly, the squads were buzzling around, wondering why Wanna One was not wearing their "Supreme Six Capelet" but rather their "Chosen Capelet". Every squad knew that Wanna One only puts on those capelets on serious occasions a few times. Quite frankly, they saw Wanna One wearing the "Supreme Six Capelets" more than the "Chosen Capelets".

"Settle down everyone. We know it is quite unusual for us to not wear our Supreme Six Capelets, given the event. However, today, we are attending the meeting not solely as a member of the Entente Cordiale but also as The Chosen. For this reason, we are wearing our Chosen Capelets to signify to we are here not only as a member of the Supreme Six but also as the rulers of the kingdom" Jisung clarified in behalf of his group. "Specific reasons for this move will be discussed later as we go through our agenda for today."

"No objections from the Supreme Six," RM, Suho, Jihyo, Jennie and Irene stated.

"No objections from the Twilight Triad," S.Coups, Solar and Sowon added.

The rest of the squads were now bothered. What could possibly have happened that Wanna One had to attend both as the official rulers of the kingdom and as a magical squad? Oftentimes, any decision that will be made here will still be reviewed by Wanna One separately. The fact that they were there as the Chosen meant that they needed to make a decision immediately with the help of every single magical troop present.

The meeting officially started with the roll call. Each magical squad recited their greeting slogan, starting from Wanna One up to the rookies. Minhyun was, of course, keeping track of the meeting's minutes.

"First and foremost, we would like to welcome all squads who attended this meeting for the first time. Welcome to the annual Entente Cordiale assembly," Sungwoon announced as Wanna One officially led the assembly. "We would also like to welcome Luhan, Kris and Tao of X-O to their first Entente Cordiale."

The mentioned three stood up and bowed before returned to a sitting position. Every other group in attendance gasped at the sight of the returning X-O members; the venue was once again filled with murmurs.

"Second, we would like each squad to submit their reports. Through this, the Supreme Six and Twilight Triad can review any possible problems in terms of security and defense," Minhyun urged every troop in attendance.

The leaders of each squad made their way to the front and gave their reports to the Twilight Triad. They are Hallyu's frontline forces after all.

"Now, the reason why we are here as The Chosen and not a Supreme Six member is that today's agendas concern the whole kingdom," Seongwu revealed. This made the crowd whisper to each other once again.

"First is that we, as the rulers of the kingdom, have made a proposal concerning our safety and defense," Jaehwan opened the first topic. "This proposal has already been approved by the bicameral committee via six approved votes against two."

"What is this proposal?" Gots-Even leader, JB, asked.

"We are planning to form what we call as the 'Arcanus Alliance'. This alliance will consist the kingdom of Hallyu and our neighboring magical realms for security, defense and economic purposes among others," Daniel explained.

"During the bicameral committee's meeting, we originally planned to invite four realms to join the inaugural Arcanus Alliance eight days from now. These are the realms of Tomoeda, San Francisco, Hogwarts and Magnolia" Jihoon elaborated. "However, within the course of the week, upon BoA-daepyonim's recommendations, we decided to invite four other realms – Namimori, Hakusen, Goryeo, and Carat. The eight realms were selected based on their magical prowess and the possible benefits for our kingdom through the alliance."

"We already sent the invitations during the past week," Woojin informed the assembly. "In light with this, dignitaries will arrive in our kingdom a week from now. Thus, we would like to also ask the help of everyone in attendance for their cooperation and support."

"Everyone present here today will serve as the security for the said event. We need maximum security for that day as dignitaries from other realms will be visiting us," Jinyoung added.

Thankfully, in addition to the Supreme Six and Twilight Triad, the other troops present also voiced out their intention to support the event. Wanna One was able to exhale a sigh of relief.

"Now, for the second and more important agenda for today's assembly..." — Daehwi paused to raise the tension — "Yesterday, the Hall of History was intentionally set ablaze and the last copy of Light: Hallyu's Ultimate Guide for Powers and Magical Squads was stolen as well."

"What?" some of the attendees gasped.

"We decided to not let the public know in order to avoid panic. However, if our deductions are correct, that means there is an invasion attempt going on and they have the book that generally contains all information about us," Kuanlin reported in a serious tone. "That is why we urge everyone in attendance today to be vigilant. Our Intuition has never been wrong so far."

"But who will even dare invade our kingdom? Most of our neighboring realms are in a good relationship with us thanks to the One: The World program," Shownu, the leader of Ex-Monster, spoke.

"We don't know yet. But think about it, by opening our borders to other realms means we might become enemies to their enemies as well," Jihoon pointed out.

The assembly once again erupted into a sea of murmurs.

"Who could dare do such a thing?" Hyebin of Landomom addressed.

"I dare," a sinister-sounding disembodied voice claimed.