The shot echoed through the forest; the debris littering the floor before disappearing.

Another shot followed shortly after, signaling another shot connecting with the target.

Four pairs of eyes followed the line of path of each anima intensely before each looking at their own weapon.

It was silent before more echoes of shots were heard through the area.

"Holy ," Soonyoung muttered. "You're good."

Wonwoo twitched, effectively dropping the gun. He visibly grew red and turned away, murmuring, "Not really."

Soonyoung shook his head. "No, really. We've all started the same time, but you never missed a target."

The other boy sheepishly rubbed his head. "I guess I'm just lucky?"

Jihoon snorted. "That ain't luck," he muttered darkly, narrowing his eyes. "You're just a natural." He aimed at the target, but the anima hit the outer ring causing the target to swing mockingly at him.

He growled and threw his weapon straight at the target. It hit it square in the middle and upon contact the target burst.

All the boys stared at the scene in wild wonder.

"Well, that's one way of destroying the target." Jisoo murmured, eyes trailing the debris that was left behind.

Jihoon smirked, opening his palm up where the weapon fell back into his hand.

Soonyoung tsked. "Of course, your umbra gun would destroy things on impact. Just like its owner."

Jihoon paid no heed. "Hell, at least I'll be able to hit it." He side-eyed the boy. "Unlike someone."

Soonyoung shot daggers at the shorter boy while the other smirked back.

"Calm down. We're all beginners here," Jisoo tried to mediate.

"Not like you're doing any better," Jihoon snorted, glancing over to the boy's own target.

Jisoo looked a little hurt by Jihoon's words. "You don't have to tell me that," he said softly.

They were interrupted by a gust of wind and a feeling of a silent pulsation.

Seungcheol's own gun was pointed at his target and the wooden piece split into two. No one heard his gun and even the impact was silent.

He lowered his weapon and glanced at the rest of them.

"If you have time to argue, then you have time to practice."

That quieted all of them and they focused back on target practice.

 

In the end, the results were expected.

Wonwoo had the best score and finished first. He had only missed twice and that was because he was distracted by Soonyoung's yelling.

Seungcheol was the next one. He did considerably above average, making about 75% of his shots. He had improved with time.

Jihoon was next, making about almost half his shots. He had opted out for throwing his gun at the target in the beginning, but when they became increasingly further away, he had to try and start aiming.

Soonyoung did average as well. He ended up shooting multiple animas at the target at a time. His theory was that one of them was bound to hit it. Which was true to some extent. The further targets were hard for him to support his theory.

And finally, Jisoo. He did also considerably average, but he still had the worst aim out of the five. No one mentioned it to him because it was obvious that he was taking it rather hard on the fact that he did poorly.

Even Jihoon didn't say anything. And no one knew how to console him.

"Let's take a break," Seungcheol finally said. The others nodded silently as Jisoo sighed and muttered something about taking a walk.

They watched him disappear into the thick of the woods before completely disappearing into sight.

After a moment of silence, Soonyoung spoke up. "Is Jisoo good at anything?"

He was met by a harsh gaze by Seungcheol.

"What?" Soonyoung complained. "I was just asking! I mean realistically speaking, he's considerably average. Even I managed to get better times than him on running recently. And he’s been here longer."

The three other boys glanced at each other.

“Let me ask you something, Soonyoung,” Seungcheol finally said.

“What is it?”

“If Jisoo wasn’t here, what would you think would happen?”

Soonyoung pursed his lips and hummed softly, musing on the scenario playing out in his head. His eyes got increasingly larger and he made a face. “It would be a disaster. I think we would all kill each other.”

“Jisoo knows that he’s not as good as us and it bothers him more than he wants to let on. But he tries really hard,” Seungcheol concluded.

“I’ve seen him.”

Wonwoo had suddenly spoke, still trying to understand the conversation. He may not have been here that long, and his time in the team was even shorter, but he sort of understood what they were implying.

“I’ve seen him practice. I mean, we all practice together during the day, but I’ve seen him running at night.”

Soonyoung frowned with a slight pout. He looked defeated and apologetic. “I didn’t want to make it seem like I didn’t appreciate Jisoo. I just thought we all had a niche or something.” Soonyoung looked at Seungcheol desperately. “You think Jisoo thinks he’s not good enough?”

Seungcheol shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. Me and Jisoo don’t talk much.” He frowned. “In fact, none of us really do.”

They all were silent. Besides the forced meetings and practices Jay had them do, none of them really went out of their way to talk to each other. In fact, none of them knew much about each other.

Jihoon snorted, “Do we have to? I’m kind of okay with us not knowing each other.”

Seungcheol gave him a sharp look. “Then how are we going to be a team?”

Jihoon flippantly shrugged.

“Why don’t we meet once a week and just talk?” Wonwoo suggested. “I’m curious about you guys.” He paused and grew slightly red. “And I’m sure you’re curious about me and Jay’s relationship.”

That piqued the other’s interest.

“Are you okay with letting us know?” Soonyoung asked. “I don’t know if I would be. It’s kinda private, don’t you think?”

Wonwoo shook his head. “It would be better for you guys to know. And it’s nothing big.”

Seungcheol nodded. “I think it would be a good idea. We can try and help Jisoo as well.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Look at you trying to be a good leader.”

Seungcheol’s eyes widened and he shook his head fervently. “No, I’m not the leader. Jay is. But it’s true that I’m worried.” His eyes grew soft and they gazed at the area where Jisoo had disappeared earlier. “I hope he figures it out.”

 

Jisoo wasn’t a confident person. He wanted to be, but he never really liked putting himself out there. Most of the time, he took compliments rather poorly.

People called him humble, but it was more of the fact that he couldn’t accept it.

He just couldn’t believe that they were speaking the truth.

He hated thinking like that, and he never told anyone that he did think that.

Bottling it up was never good, but he never really had anyone to tell it to.

He didn’t want to bother his mother about it, and he really wasn’t particularly close to anyone at school or work.

It was a major flaw of his, and he knew it.

Even when he joined the Azure Dragons, he did it partly because he didn’t know what else to do and partly because Jay asked him to.

He stopped walking and sighed softly, gazing at the sunlight streaming through the canopies of the trees.

Speaking of the team, he wondered if he was any real use.

He knew that the others were exceptional people.

Seungcheol was a strong and silent person who was willing to take up any tasks without any complaints.

Jihoon had experience fighting nibras before and is good at it.

Soonyoung has his eyes that could find people before they transitioned.

And now Wonwoo is remarkably good at using the umbra gun.

But what about him?

What did he provide to the team?

He knew that Jay told him that he didn’t need to have something like that, but even if she told him that, he couldn’t help but continue to feel useless.

You don’t just get over your insecurities in just a couple of days.

187. felt that the longer time passed, the more incompetent he felt.

He felt like that he was dragging the team down. That the longer he struggled to catch up, the more he slowed down the team.

He groaned and suddenly crouched down, covering his face.

He hated feeling this way. And he knew that the others probably most likely didn’t think that way of him, but he just hated feeling useless.

The insecurities swirled inside him, biting his morale and confidence.

Now he was doubting himself. Did he make the right choice? Would he had been better off living a normal life?

He bit his lip and clenched his fists, standing up.

He froze, realizing that he walked quite deep into the woods. It was getting late and he wondered if the others had left or were waiting for him.

He sighed. They probably left. He imagined that Jihoon would complain and leave once he got fed up. Wonwoo wouldn’t know what to do. He would probably just stay until someone says something. Soonyoung might stay as well as Seungcheol, but if it got too late, he imagined that Seungcheol would tell them to go.

Would it matter if he just disappeared?

“I hope you’re not thinking of anything outrageous.”

The sudden voice in the air startled him and he immediately put up his guard.

“Oh! I’m impressed. I’m glad all the training paid off so that you instinctively put up your guard.”

He recognized the voice and slowly lowered his arms. He immediately began to glance around, trying to find the female.

187. finally found her perched on one of the high tree branches above him. She was lying with her legs straight out on a thick branch and her back against the trunk.

“I thought you guys were practicing target shooting? Are you taking a break?”

Jisoo looked away. “Something like that,” he murmured.

She frowned and sat up a little straighter. “Something wrong?”

He immediately whipped his head back to her and shook his head. “No! Nothing is wrong.” He rubbed the back of his head nervously. “Just tired.”

She snorted, “I hear you.” She jumped down gracefully, using wind to gently cushion her landing. The brief encounter of wind caused Jisoo’s hair to gently sway in the wind.

She sat down and patted the area next to her. He sat down without a word.

“But really. Something’s wrong.” He opened his mouth to protest but she interrupted him. “Don’t try and deny it. I think we’ve spent enough time with each other for me to see that something’s wrong.”

He gave her a smile. “Really. There’s nothing wrong.”

She gave him a look of disbelief but didn’t push it. “Alright. If you say so. But I will listen to you whenever you need someone to talk to. You know you can trust me, right?”

He nodded slowly and hesitated. “Actually, I had this thought.”

“Go on.”

He frowned. “It started when we when met that nibra on that day we also met Jihoon.”

She looked up, gathering the memory. “Mmm,” she hummed. “I remember.”

“Well, I was thinking. It's regarding on how we fight the nibras." He looked alarmed for a second as he saw Jay's intense look. "Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say you're doing a bad job or anything."

Jay rolled her eyes and laughed. "I didn't even think that." She let out a small laugh and leaned back. "Go on. I want to hear it."

"Oh," he started. "Well, don't you think it's an inconvenience when we fight in public?"

She furrowed her forehead in thought. "Continue."

"Well, I don't know if it's possible, but we should find a way where we can encapsulate our fight so that the public doesn't get involved."

"So, something like the public sees a mirage? Or we get transported to another dimension? Or maybe a barrier?" she mused, now interested in the idea.

He shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know what exactly. But something. I think it would in the best interest for both parties. The public doesn't get hurt in the cross-fires and we don't have to be wary of the public. Isn't that why you go hunt them at night?" She blinked and looked down before looking at him, a small smile on her lips. "You're much smarter than I gave you credit for."

He laughed embarrassedly, rubbing the back of his head. "Nah. I tend to overthink things. Which is why I came up with such a thought.” He hesitated. “I mean, I’m not good at anything else.”

Jay frowned. "Jisoo," she softly said.

He looked up at her and widened his eyes. He waved his hands in protest. “No, no! I didn’t mean anything with that.” He looked away. “Really.”

She gently took his hand and clasped it between hers. He turned to her in surprise.

“Jisoo,” she repeated, staring straight at him. "You are important to this team more than you think. You get along with everyone, something I feel is extremely difficult to do. You also manage to calm down the rest of the guys. I mean, Jihoon sometimes listens to you. Believe me, I think you're more powerful than you give yourself credit to."

He smiled hesitantly. "You really think so?"

She laughed. "I do. Wholeheartedly."

He stared at her, before pulling his hands away. “No. I’m average. I’m not anything special.”

“But isn’t that why you try so hard?”

“What do you mean?”

“Wonwoo told me that you go running at night sometimes.”

He stared at her in aghast.

“He was pretty impressed and I think it made him more motivated to try harder.”

“But that’s it. I have to try harder to catch up with the other guys.”

She blinked at him before erupting into laughter. Jisoo looked on with confusion.

“Jisoo. You are already at a level where you are much stronger than an average person.”

He looked away. “Maybe. But I’m still nowhere near the others.”

“And must you?”

He turned to her. “What do you mean?”

“They might be stronger. But that’s not the only way to win a fight. You can always outsmart them. That’s what Jo Kwon does. Sure, there are advantages of being strong, but there are also disadvantages.”

She gave him a supportive smile. “You say you’re not as good as the others. That’s fine. You say that you overthink things. Use that to your advantage. You may not be as strong as the others, but that does not mean you can’t win against them in a fight.” She glanced at him with a grin. “How else do you think I managed to beat Boa so many times during our spars?”

“Have you lost?”

She snorted. “Of course, I’ve lost. I’m definitely not the strongest of the four leaders. But that doesn’t mean I’m a pushover. Look, we all have our strengths and weakness. Knowing what they are is the thin line of winning or losing.”

She pointed at him. “So, stop thinking that you don’t provide anything to the team!”

He blinked at her before giving her a small smile. “I’ll try.”

She let out a sigh. “I’ll take that.”

He smiled harder before pausing in thought. “One more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you always go out on missions when we’re training? Isn’t the point to let us have more real experience?”

Jay’s face went blank in surprise. She stared at him before laughing. “I never thought anyone would find out. I only go out because I couldn’t take you guys just yet. But I’ve been thinking that it was time soon. Was it so obvious?”

He shook his head. “No, but you always came back exhausted and you sometimes had black dust on you, which I could only assume was one thing.”

She patted him roughly on the back. "Yeah, you really do not give you more credit than you deserve. You're a smart guy, Jisoo. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

She looked toward the house, stretching her arms behind. "Shall we go back? The others might be wondering where we are.” She glanced back and winked, starting off first.

Jisoo blinked, staring at Jay's back before looking down at his hands where Jay had held them briefly before.

A shy smile crept on his face before blossoming into a full grin.

Changing his pessimistic thoughts so quickly would be hard to do. Thinking he was useless to the team would still come to his thoughts in the future. Jisoo knew that.

But now, he knew that there was at least one person who would saw the potential in him.

And honestly, that’s all he needed to try a bit harder.

He shook his head to shake his thoughts out and bounded after her, catching up to her so that they were walking side-by-side back to the house.

 

As they trekked back to the house. Jay had told him that she had texted the others to finish up and head back home. She also had texted them that he was with her.

When they saw the manor in the vicinity, she groaned and said she had forgotten to buy groceries. She ushered him to head back home while she made a quick stop to town and buy some food.

Jisoo nodded and headed back without Jay.

He wasn’t a few feet away from the house when he heard loud yelling.

He frowned and rushed to the front door. When he opened it slightly, peering in. He was met with a red-faced Jihoon, an angry looking Seungcheol, a frightened Soonyoung, and a confused and unsure Wonwoo. Jihoon and Seungcheol was glaring at each other. Soonyoung was in between the two, desperately waving his hands to calm them down. And Wonwoo was nervously looking from behind Soonyoung.

“Then what if he leaves?” Jihoon growled.

“I thought you wouldn’t care either way,” Seungcheol retorted back in a quiet but chilling tone.

Jihoon looked away and clicked his tongue. He finally looked back. “I wouldn’t. But it would leave a bad taste in my mouth if he left like this. He was the only one beside Jay who treated me as an equal and tried to talk to me. I know the rest of you guys don’t like me that much.”

He narrowed his eyes. “And I thought you would the first person to stop him. You and your pretentious way of thinking you’re better than everyone. I thought you would act more caring.”

Seungcheol looked down. “If he truly wants to leave, then who are we to stop him?”

Jihoon rolled his eyes and snorted. “God, stop acting like Jay. Do you revere her so much that you have to imitate her? Jay says that because she thinks she forced us to do this. That is why she doesn’t want to force us if we want to leave or stay. She isn’t a goddamn mind reader so we have to tell her that we do. Though if she was little bit more observant, she should know better. But we’re different. We all are going through the same every day. We ing struggle together. To live another day. We’re in this together, and everyone here knows we all want to be here. If it wasn’t for Jay, I think a lot of us would be in worse . And I know that Jisoo still wants to be here.”

He gritted his teeth. “If Jisoo wants to ing leave, then he can ing leave. But not before I beat some sense into him. . If he leaves, who’s going to stop Soonyoung from bothering me?”

“I’m not that bad!” Soonyoung cried out.

Jihoon glared at him. “It’s your ing fault this happened in the first place.”

“What?” Soonyoung shouted. “How the hell is it my fault?”

“You asked that stupid question.”

“It was only a question. I’m sorry if I offended you, but you got to admit you were thinking it too.”

Jihoon went silent, unable to face the hidden truth behind Soonyoung’s words.

“Do you want guys want Jisoo to be here?” Wonwoo suddenly asked.

The others were quiet.

He continued. “Personally, I would like it. I thought I could get along with him the best. And that he would show me the ropes or something.” He frowned. “But I doubt he would listen to me if I asked him to stay. I mean, I did just join.” A pause. “Besides, isn’t he already an integral part of the group? I’ve never seen you guys have such a big fight before when he was here.”

Soonyoung looked down. “I don’t want Jisoo to leave. He always helped me and encouraged me.” His voice got quieter and quieter. “I didn’t mean anything bad when I said if Jisoo was good at anything. I know he was feeling insecure and I wanted to help boost his confidence by saying he’s was good at whatever that was.”

Jihoon gave Seungcheol a sharp gaze. “Well, they have spoken. What about you, Mr. Leader?” The words seethed out with venom but Seungcheol did not let it affect him.

“It’s not like I want Jisoo to leave either. I don’t want to force him if he doesn’t want to stay. That’s all.”

“Do you even know if Jisoo wants to leave?” Wonwoo asked.

“Why else would he be with Jay?” Soonyoung asked desperately. “She said that they were talking about some important stuff and it was serious and all that! And it happened after Jisoo stalked off into the woods! What else would it be?”

Jihoon grumbled under his breath and marched to the door.

“Where are you going?’ Seungcheol asked.

“Going to find that prick myself.”

“Jay said she was coming back with him.”

“And? Gotta make sure he doesn’t run away before we talk to him.”

He opened the door, only to meet Jisoo face-to-face.

Jihoon stared wide-eyed, looking like a deer in the headlights.

“Jisoo!”

Soonyoung pushed Jihoon aside and gave the male a hug. “I’m sorry! Don’t leave!”

Jisoo awkwardly patted the other boy on the back and let out, “Um. What?”

Jihoon tsked, “How long have you been there?”

Jisoo gave him a wry smile. “About the time where you yelled something along the lines of what if he leaves.”

Jihoon gave him a sharp look and walked back inside the room. Jisoo gently pulled Soonyoung off him and they both followed him.

All eyes were on Jisoo as he assessed the situation.

“Well?”

Their eyes turned to Jihoon. “If you heard us, you must know what happened.”

Jisoo bit his lip and let out a heavy sigh. “You know, I felt very incompetent whenever I practiced with you guys. That I wasn’t good enough. You probably noticed, but it affected me a lot more. I felt like I had to put in twice the amount of effort to be at your level. It was draining and exhausting to be honest.”

“But, we-”

Jisoo gave Soonyoung a sharp look and the boy immediately quieted down.

“And honestly,” he continued, “It was the fact that I felt like I was slowing you guys down that made me feel the worst. I felt like you guys would be better off without me.” He let out a small chuckle. “But now I realize that I was wrong.”

He looked at each one of them. “Thanks, guys. I appreciate the fact you all don’t want me to leave.”

“So, you aren’t going to leave?” Soonyoung asked.

Jisoo shook his head. “Not anytime soon. And I wasn’t planning on it.”

“But Jay!” Soonyoung started.

“We weren’t talking about me leaving. It was about other things.” He chuckled. “You know how Jay is.”

Soonyoung was unable to contain the grin. “Thank god.”

Wonwoo let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you’re staying.”

Seungcheol didn’t say anything but he went of up to Jisoo and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m...sorry,” he murmured quietly so that only Jisoo could hear him. Jisoo patted the other male on the arm and gave him a warm smile. He didn’t have to say anything, but Jisoo knew what he was sorry about. Seungcheol blinked and gave him a small one in return. “We all decided that we should meet up once a week and just…talk.”

“About what?” Jisoo asked curiously.

Seungcheol shrugged. “About ourselves and whatever comes along with that.”

Jisoo knew what the other male was implying and smiled. “I would like that.”

Jihoon snorted and turned to the stairs. “Thank god that’s over and done.” He glanced back at Jisoo. “You bring a lot more trouble than you’re worth.”

Before he left, Jisoo called out, “Hey.”

Jihoon paused and turned back to look at him.

“Thank you, Jihoon. Really, thanks.” He gave him a warm and genuine smile that bloomed on his lips.

Jihoon abruptly turned around and scoffed. “No need for thanks as long as you pull your weight around here.” And he disappeared up the stairs.

But Jisoo knew he saw the faint blush on the other’s cheeks.

And really? What more can you ask for?