CHAMPION | NCT

o33

C H A P T E R
T H I R T Y - T H R E E

It had been nighttime already when we left the Capital. A fraction of me felt terribly disappointed at the way the conversation from earlier turned out.

I could've done better.

"Hey, princess."

Ten was standing in a groomingly manner right in front of me, hands tucked inside the pocket of his pants. I suddenly wanted to switch personalities with him. How could he be so easygoing?

"Yeah?"

"Don't be upset," he chimed. "It's just the first - you could impress them next time. Besides, what you said wasn't wrong."

I pursed my lips together, suddenly feeling down.

"I made no progress. I didn't find anything new about the virus. I-"

"Hey, hey. That's okay," he hushed me. "That's okay. It's not your fault. Don't feel guilty about it."

"I don't know, Ten, I just..." I sighed. "I just feel like I'm not doing things right."

"Stop thinking like that," he replied, his voice flat. "You should never think like that."

I didn't know when it arrived, but suddenly, Ten's signature motorbike was leaning over the parking drive. I remembered fixing it: engine by engine; wheels by wheels; turbines by turbines.

Ten's bike was as familiar as my hands are to me. I knew its controls and wires as much as I knew the lines on the palms of my hands.

"Are we going somewhere?" I asked, rubbing my arms to produce heat. The city's dead cold tonight, still howling the breeze of winter season.

As if he can read my mind, Ten removed his outer coat and hang it over my shoulders. I gripped its fabric, wrapping them around my freezing body. A gas of white smoke escaped my mouth as I said thank you to him.

"Are gloves really a part of your fashion?" Ten asked, as he settled beside his motorbike, smoothing its helmet like it was a pet. "Despite wearing a dress, you still wear gloves."

"Because I don't want my hands to freeze. They're the most sensitive part of my body."

That wasn't a lie. But I also didn't spill the whole reason either.

Ten nodded his head, before he handed me the helmet. I immediately took it from his hand.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

Ten spread his legs over the bike, sitting on it as he gripped its handles.

"Taeil and I discovered a gateway. It lies near the border of the City, below a structure of one of the Port's estate. 15-Balkon Street. It's a primary passage for workers who came from outside the walls. However, it was locked and abandoned after, ummm, the plague started."

"Oh. So does that mean...?"

"We gained access to it," he grinned. "We don't need to cross the main entrance. No officials to monitor you when you go back-and-forth from the DRM's place and to this city."

My eyes widened. "That's... very wonderful, Ten. You guys are a genius."

A boyish smile flashed on his face. "Being called genius by a genius; it's an honor."