fair warning: the extent of my knowledge on combat and action sequences are very limited. (aka y scenes ahead)

To: kkamjong <3

I am very pissed at u, just so u know. What happened to contacting me u idiot! So many things have happened…I wish I could talk to u. You have a lot to make up for! I demand chocolate cake when ur back + a lot of explaining!!  >:(

PS come back alive so i can murder u myself!!!!!

I was doing what Sehun told me to do. I was giving Jongin the benefit of the doubt, meaning I won’t go all out raging on him just yet because I wasn’t 100% certain still if he knew about my dad or not. Although the majority of my train of thought was already leading towards the former anyway.

Still, it irked me to not hear from my best friend for so long. If it weren’t for Jongdae keeping track of what’s happening in Busan, I could most probably assume the worst of things, and I’d rush to Busan thoughtlessly.

The weekend had already gone and I was back to my weekday happenings with Jongdae, which weren’t a lot. I was sort of scared of the normalcy of my day-to-day affairs even with my Nini reserves running very low and even with the shock I went through just days prior. It was surprisingly manageable to go about my classes with Jongdae in tow, and I didn’t even have a problem with focusing on schoolwork and what not.

The only other thing that was bugging me was the fact that I hadn’t been able to talk to my sister properly since the week started. I had wanted to confront her so bad about our father, but her busy work schedule had gotten in the way. She apologized profusely for it, but I told her I understood. Maybe we could talk about it some other time. Hopefully.

Curious eyes have also kept on staring around campus even with the absence of my sling. I had half a mind to assume that they would stop ogling once my shoulder was healed, but with the amount of heads still turning, I was beginning to realize that maybe they did it because of something else.

“Jongdae, quit it. I swear you’re worse than Jongin when it comes to being subtle.” My good friend who doubled as my body guard continued to shoot daggers at the girl who had been staring at me unwaveringly since I stepped foot in campus. Finally, she snapped out of it, urging Jongdae to narrow his eyes at her even more until she scrammed. “I’m not exactly trying to be subtle. They need to stop.”

I fiddled with my bag strap. “They’re probably just one of Baekhyun’s jealous fangirls again.” I had been receiving random hate notes since the week started, all of which contained messages graciously asking me to back the off of Mr. Byun. When I told Baekhyun, he laughed his off.

“They’re probably mad at you because they think I’m doing amazingly dirty things to you during our after class sessions.” The bastard smirked. My cheeks flared up almost immediately as I threw a ball of paper at him. “Not funny, Baekhyun.”

“It is funny.”

I pouted at him. “Not when your fangirls are after me! Seriously, it’s bad enough that I get stares from mafia people around the campus, but now the nofies from your groupies are joining in, too.”

Baekhyun just grinned. “They’ll settle down soon enough.” He shrugged. “And who knows, maybe with their insinuations about us, they’d finally stop shoving their s on my face.”

“That’s impossible.”

By the next meeting, Baekhyun paid extra close attention to me. He even winked at my direction when he “thought no one was looking”. It was safe to say that his fangirls have become as insane as he was.

“They could be fangirls, OR they could be ers who have a problem with Seven Suns. But regardless, they mess with you, I beat them up.”

“Jongdae.”

“I glare at them until they leave.”

I laughed. “Much better.”

He looked around, trying to see if there was still anyone trying to send a stinkeye our way. “Just they wait until Sehun hears about this.”

“No.” I widened my eyes at Jongdae and shook my head. “Sehun doesn’t need to know about this.”

“Why not?” I could tell he was getting frustrated with me, but I didn’t care.

“Sehun doesn’t have time for such petty things like this. I’d rather call for his help when we actually need it, hm?” The stares and the jealous fangirls were all trivial to me. There were more important things to think about, like my dad being Seoul’s Cadre, my rediscovered self-defense abilities, and my afternoon sessions with Mr. Byun that week.

We had finally arrived at Baekhyun’s office door. Sehun insisted that I take an extra week off before I start any kind of self-defense training, just to make sure that my shoulder was fully healed. That was how he and Baekhyun came up with the grand idea of introducing me to different weapons for the time being, to see if I’m familiar with any of them. Hence, my afternoon sessions with Baekhyun were filled with weaponry instead of research work.

 “You’ll start training next week. We might as well find out the extent of your abilities.” Sehun had said while he was driving me back to my apartment. “That includes finding out if your dad taught you to wield any weapons.”

I knocked twice on the door, and it opened promptly. Baekhyun was still in his professor attire, his platinum blond hair parted to one side. He gave Jongdae a silent greeting before he gestured for me to come inside with his head. Jongdae gently squeezed my arm. “Call me afterwards, and we’ll go home together, hm? Lord knows I’ll be in trouble with Sehun and Jongin if I let you go home alone.”

I nodded at him with a smile and I finally went inside Baekhyun’s office. His space was relatively well-kept, which was a stark contrast to how rowdy and messy he could get in combat. A brief flashback appeared in mind of how Baekhyun was fighting off multiple men at the alley and looking as if he was enjoying it.

On his large desk was a plethora of armory. From guns, knives, and daggers to various shaped bombs, tear gas, and even some axes. I continued to ogle at the different damage-imposing devices, which Baekhyun took delight in. “Like what you see?”

I caressed one gun with a single digit. “They’re fascinating.” I looked up at him skeptically. “Though I still don’t get why we have to do this here. I mean, what if Mr. Lee suddenly comes in?” The image of the head of the department seeing the amount of weapons on Baekhyun’s desk and him handing me one would definitely prompt some irrevocable sanctions on the both of us. I refused to believe that Baekhyun wasn’t aware of that.

The man in question flashed a devious smirk on his face. “Would you have preferred we go to my place?”

I thought about it and shrugged. “Sure, I mean, your office is nice, but there wouldn’t be any intruders there.” Not to mention he wouldn’t need to haul all of his weapons to the office.

Baekhyun let out an appreciative laugh. He picked up a knife as he looked at me with a dark glint in his eyes. “You and me, alone at my place, with no intruders. Hm.”

Wait what? My eyes widened as I understood what he was getting at. “Wait no that’s not—”

He twirled the blade in his hands. “I live in Hannam-dong and I barely see any familiar faces around there. I could take you home and no one would suspect anything.” He went around his desk and joined me at its front. “We’d eat, then relax and chill for a while.” I didn’t realize that my hands were gripping the ends of the table until he got close enough to cover them with his larger ones.

“Mr. Byun.” At such close proximity, it was easy to get a whiff of his cologne, and I found myself liking his scent.

Baekhyun’s pupils dilated. “Oh, baby girl, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?” He let out a sensual chuckle before continuing. “I’d make sure you were nice and warm.” He leaned in just enough so he could whisper in my ear. “Then I’ll take you to the bedroom and—"

In the next second, he had my good arm behind my back and my body twisted away from him. “I would teach you more about self-defense because you still obviously at it.”

“Baekhyun!” He let go of me and was laughing his off. “No fair! I haven’t exactly started yet, you know.”

His laughs finally minimized to a cheeky smile as he handed me the knife he was holding before. “Alright, baby girl. Let’s begin.”

Baekhyun told me about all the weapons he had on his desk. One by one, I learned their structural mechanisms and how to disable them. The knives were pretty straightforward, and the miscellaneous ones were easy to master. It was the various guns that took time, but Baekhyun was patient with me, and he didn’t let us move on until I was comfortable with what I learned.

I was trying to be open as best as I could to all of the weapons laid out before me, trying to search my memory for anything that would feel familiar. But nothing turned up. Back at the mansion, holding up the gun when Sehun tried to come for me felt natural, as if I had done it a hundred times before. However, even with the numerous options on Baekhyun’s desk, I couldn’t get the same feeling anymore.

By the end of it, I had absorbed everything Baekhyun taught me like a sponge, but I still couldn’t shake off the upset feelings from not being able to recall what I already apparently knew.

It was while he and I were putting the weapons away that Baekhyun spoke. “You did really good, you know. The forgotten assassin abilities aside, you were quick to learn whatever I told you.”

Baekhyun was the only other person who knew about the problem with the Cadres and my dad; he was the one who helped Sehun uncover my link to him. They had both agreed that the less people who were aware, the better it was for me. Hence, none of Sehun’s subordinates – not even Jongdae – knew yet, and he intended to keep it that way as much as possible.

The last of the guns were finally tucked away. I sighed. “I’m just kinda frustrated. When Sehun said that he got word that my dad used to train me, I just thought everything would come back naturally by now.” Sehun did some more digging after finding out about me, and he heard a rumor that the former assassin passed on some of his skills to his child, which turned out to be true.

But since it was already so long ago, and he had left after the divorce, I forgot about it completely. “That was a whole part of myself that I forgot, a specific skill set that I can’t remember. It’s kinda irksome.”

I had thought Baekhyun would laugh at my frustrations, but I was met with silence instead. When I looked back at him, there was an unreadable look on his face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Baby girl, can I tell you something?” Baekhyun looked at me for a few moments, his gaze earnest. “You fascinate me. A lot.”

“U-um…” What were you supposed to say to that?

Thankfully, Baekhyun didn’t wait for an answer. “From that first mafia bingo, when numerous guns were pointed at you and you didn’t even flinch, I found you interesting. When you started as my research assistant, you didn’t even consider that it might be dangerous for you to be alone with a murder-savvy lunatic.”

I quickly shook my head in disagreement. “I would never judge you like—”

“Exactly.” He smiled. “You were a nofie, completely and utterly clueless about the world of gangs, greed and gold. And yet you’ve handled everything gracefully.” He scoffed. “You find out your best friend’s a sniper for Twin Dragons and you still accepted him with open arms. A powerful gang leader who owns the largest mafia in Gangnam wants to court you, and now you have him wrapped around your little finger.”

“Baek—”

“You find out the professor of your favorite subject used to be the leader of Seven Suns and literally smashed multiple skulls in front of you, but you can still manage to trust me.” Baekhyun chuckled to himself. “Your dad is the ing Cadre, and you’re getting flashbacks of the abilities you’ve forgotten as a child, and what do you do with this information? You ask Sehun to train you so you’re not so helpless when the time comes, because you know your link to your father would cause you trouble.”

The male shook his head. “I know people who have experienced half of the twists and turns you’ve experienced, and they already ran the other way. You….you prove to be strong enough to deal with it.”

I was blushing from head to toe, for sure. “Maybe there’s something wrong with me.”

“Or something right.”

I was at a loss for words once more. The way Baekhyun was looking at me was dangerously affectionate, and I couldn’t control the heat gathering in my face because of it. I was used to the loud and borderline insane Baekhyun who could make me laugh and piss me off at the same time, the Mr. Byun who was so easy to admire because of how animated he always gets when he’s teaching.

I didn’t know how to handle affectionate Baekhyun.

Baekhyun chuckled at my lack of response and just placed a hand on my shoulder. “Never mind. Don’t worry about your forgotten abilities. You were so young. I don’t even know if it was legal to train you at that age.” His hand gingerly trailed down my arm, until it found my hand. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Even if you don’t remember, that’s what your self-defense training’s for, hm?”

He let go of my hand and took a step back. “If you don’t remember, then you don’t. If you do remember–” In the next split second, he pulled out a gun from who knows where and pointed it at me. I didn’t even think twice, my body moved on its own accord. I stepped forward and sideways as I grabbed the muzzle and turned it to the opposite direction. Then I struck his wrist – hard enough for his grip on the gun to loosen so I could pull it out, and I pointed his gun at him instead.

Seconds later, I came back to my senses and I lost my form. “Oh my god.”

Baekhyun’s eyes were filled with pride and even more affection. “Then you do.”

Sehun turned the mansion into a training grounds of sorts for me. He brought me there the next weekend and showed me the revamped rooms. Some of the living rooms (yes there were multiple) became spacious areas complete with padding, he also refurbished the existing gym and added more equipment – and a sauna – just because.

“Isn’t this a little too much?” I had asked him. “I just said self-defense lessons, not training for slaying vampires.”

Sehun ignored my pop culture reference and just raised an eyebrow at me. “No such thing as too much when it comes to you.”

After having a private doctor check my shoulder one last time and getting the go signal from him, I started self-defense training. Sehun created a regimen specifically for me and he had tasked both him and Baekhyun as my ‘instructors’. I had gaped at him as he briefly explained to me how things were going to play out. Jongdae, who was with us at the time, enjoyed my reactions.

“Sehun was the best in close-combat fights in Seven Suns. He still is honestly.” Jongdae told me when Sehun walked away to talk to Chanyeol about something. “When we had to do raids, he would be at our front lines because he dismantled any incoming assaults quickly. With Chanyeol covering him from any shooters? No one could touch him.”

“If there was anyone who could be at par with him, it’s Baekhyun. Sehun would always challenge Baekhyun to spar with him.” He shrugged. “We’d make bets out of it, too.”

I gulped. “And they’re the two people who will train me?”

Sehun came back from talking with Chanyeol. Eyes solely on me, he shrugged off the jacket he was wearing and threw it back to his right hand man. He was wearing a grey dry fit top which hugged his incredibly perfect frame. His broad shoulders were accentuated along with his pecs. His toned arms crossed over them, making the prominent veins in his forearms stand out even more. I couldn’t help giving him a very thorough once over.

A couple words were going through my head as I ogled, including hot, so ing hot?, oh my god, and thank you Jesus

Sehun just knew what was going on in my head, and he flashed a devious smile. “Get changed.”

Almost an hour later, I was on the floor practically dying.

It was just Sehun and I left in the training room. We used up the first 10 minutes for stretching and warm-ups, then we started sparring. He had said, “I’ll go easy on you, baby.” but the that I was said what? No just guide me through it and don’t pull your punches.

Sehun would teach me something first, then he’d guide me through doing it, but when it came to actually executing it on him, I hadn’t even come close to succeeding. No matter what I did, Sehun was always a second or two ahead in his movements. He would coax me to go even harder or faster, and he would correct any positions or movements I did wrong, but it still didn’t seem enough.

I had thought that my pre-existing self-defense skills would kick in soon, but they hadn’t, and I was reduced to being an awkward noodle the whole time.

Hence, I was dying on the floor, and I was okay with that. But then a shadow loomed over me and a hand started pulling me up to a sitting position. I whined in protest. “Nooo, leave me to die, Sehun.”

That earned me a hearty laugh from him. “You’re cute when you’re dying.”

When I was finally sitting, Sehun went around me and started pushing my torso forward. “Arms forward and legs sprawled out, baby.” He didn’t even sound the least bit exhausted.

I complied and we began stretching. The burn from Sehun pushing me forward was much appreciated. “Maybe you should have went easy on me after all.”

Sehun switched his hands for his knee to push me forward again. “I did go easy on you.”

“You did?” That was his version of going easy?

He didn’t answer me and just laughed softly. “You became cocky, that’s why you ‘died’.”

“Huh?” After stretching, he pulled me up to stand and made us walk to the side for some water.

Sehun picked up his water bottle and began downing a couple gulps. He wasn’t as exhausted and dead as I was, but he was definitely perspiring. My eyes trailed from his face down to his neck, appreciating the drops of sweat that followed. His throat bobbed with every gulp of water.

Unbeknownst to myself, Sehun was actually watching me watch him. He smirked once he put his water down. “If you want me , you just have to ask.”

Eyes bulging out of their sockets, I tried to save face. “N-no I..I was just—”

Sehun suddenly gripped the hem of his grey top, teasingly lifting it up. I felt my face go red at the thought of him stripping, and I was suddenly torn between actually letting him continue and stopping him like the rational person that I should be.

The latter won, by a thread. “Sehun.” I placed my hands on top of his, stopping him from lifting his shirt any further. I bit my lip and looked up at him. The fire in his eyes, the same ones from the garden, were back, but he was already loosening his grip on his shirt and he started chuckling. “Cute.”

We walked back to the middle of the mats, and he made me assume an offensive stance again. “You’re cocky because you think your training from years and years ago will come back and save you.” He kicked my legs into proper position. “You’re probably thinking, ‘Ah when is it going to kick in? I need to remember so I can fight back’. That’s what’s going on in your head.”

I remained silent because he was right. I had been waiting for my instincts to kick in like they had in the past, endlessly hoping that my muscle memory can save me like it had done twice before. Sehun spoke again. “I need you to empty your mind. I’ll guide you through everything, but you have to be willing to absorb what I tell you, okay?”

He was right. I asked for these lessons way before I realized I had abilities anyway. Nothing had to change and I should still start at square one. “Okay.”

Sehun gave me an encouraging smile. “Arms up, baby.”

Trainings proceeded as planned, with Sehun’s regimen strictly being followed. It was exhausting and almost terrifying during the first week, but it was starting to pay off. It was just a week, but my reflexes were getting better, and I wielded guns as if they were my second skin. I told Sehun that my forgotten skills must have something to do with it, but he insisted that I was really just a fast learner.

As more days passed, the more I got used to the