The training room in the palace put the one in her academy to shame. During her trainee days, Bomi had thought that the academy’s training room had everything that she would ever need. She was sorely proven wrong by the palace’s training room.

She stood in a large rectangular space with several sections for different exercises ranging from sparring mats to shooting ranges. Along the side of one wall were multiple shelves and cabinets that held real weapons or blunted weapons designed specifically for practice. Stations for towels and refreshments were stationed throughout the room. It even smelled nice, which, up until now, Bomi had thought was impossible for any training room.

Other than that one night with Chorong in the gym, Bomi hadn’t had the time to thoroughly make use of the palace’s facilities. She and the others had been swamped with tasks since she got there, but now that they had no major lead to follow, she had a little more spare time, and she had decided to use it to try out the training room. 

Walking into the room, Bomi had to admit that she was a bit overwhelmed by its enormousness; she didn’t know where to start. Luckily, she spotted Eunji sitting by the sparring mats, sharpening her sword. Bomi wove through the different equipment, nodding and bowing at the other off-duty staff who had also come to work out.

Eunji looked up from her sword just as Bomi stepped onto the mat. “Bbom-ah!” she exclaimed with a smile.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Bomi said.

Eunji arched her brow. “Is it really?”

“No, not really,” Bomi replied truthfully. “It’s good to see that you’re still as obsessed with working out as you were two years ago.”

Eunji laughed, and Bomi could see the hard muscles in her belly flexing effortlessly. She wore her usual training attire: a black sports bra and leggings. Her whole body glistened with sweat, making Bomi wonder how long she had been there.

“It’s nice to see that you still wear the same pair of training shoes,” Eunji commented.

“These have lasted me since our trainee days,” said Bomi. “If they’re going to wear out, they would have done it by now. I swear these shoes are magical.”

Eunji chuckled and continued sharpening her sword. Bomi sat down next to her friend and peered at her sword. She hadn’t seen it before, and it was perhaps one of the finest swords Bomi had ever seen. It had a finely crafted leather hilt and an obsidian-black blade that glinted whenever Eunji tilted it. When Bomi looked closer, she saw that the date “April 19th” had been engraved on the blade.

“That’s a nice sword,” Bomi complimented. “When did you get it?”

Eunji ducked her head a bit shyly. “Chorong-unnie got it for my birthday a few years ago. The date stands for the day that we were first assigned to the same team. A bit less conspicuous than my name, but still meaningful nonetheless.”

“Huh,” Bomi said. “I never took Chorong-unnie for such a sentimental person.” It was kind of cute and nice to imagine, the more Bomi thought about it.

“You’d be surprised,” Eunji replied a bit quietly. Bomi waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t.

“Well, whatever the case, I’m glad that you and her were put into a team together. It seems that she looks after you well.”

Eunji stopped sharpening her sword and gazed off somewhere to Bomi’s side. “She looks after everyone well.”

Bomi fought the urge to touch the bandaged wound hiding under her sleeve. She hadn’t told Eunji about her wound yet, and she didn’t know if she would. The damage had been done, and it would be no use telling Eunji about it now.

Eunji sheathed her sword and set it aside. She walked over to the rack of weapons on the side. “How do you feel about a friendly spar?”

Bomi stood up, immediately interested. “Sword and knife, just like the good old days?”

“Always,” Eunji nodded. She grabbed a blunted sword and knife and tossed it to Bomi. Back at the training academy, Eunji and Bomi would always spar each other for practice. Since Eunji had always excelled in swordfighting and Bomi in knife-fighting, they had allowed each other two weapons during their spars to even it out: one sword and one knife. To the outside eye, it might have seemed a bit unfair to pit a knife against a sword, but with Bomi wielding the knife, there was no disadvantage.

Wrapping the knife’s sheath around her thigh, Bomi glimpsed at Eunji’s bandaged arm. Her friend seemed to be moving relatively painlessly, but Bomi knew that Eunji was practically an expert at hiding her pain. “Is your arm okay to be doing this?”

“I’ve been training for the past hour and a half like this. I’ll be fine.” Eunji gripped her sword with her left hand. “Here, I’ll use my left hand to make you feel better.”

“Are you sure this isn’t just your form of mercy?”

“Bbom-ah, if I wanted to show you mercy, I wouldn’t be holding a sword in the first place,” Eunji replied cockily. They took their places on the mat, and Eunji drew her foot back into a ready stance. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Bomi struck first, exploding from the mat, but Eunji breezily parried her blow. Quickly swiveling on her heel, Bomi turned just in time to block an overhead strike from Eunji. Bomi had no doubts that Eunji had sincerely switched to her nondominant hand out of Bomi’s concern, but it seemed like it had actually given Eunji the advantage. It was always more difficult fighting a left-handed person, since it was rarer to encounter them, and Eunji was perfectly capable of wielding a sword in either hand. It had always been her specialty and was what set her apart from all the other talented students back in their academy. Bomi had also excelled in swordfighting in their academy, but Eunji’s ability to use both arms equally well made her the better swordsman. 

Eunji lunged the tip of her sword towards Bomi’s belly, but Bomi just narrowly dodged it. One would think that after growing up and training with Eunji, Bomi would be able to predict her movements, but that was hardly the case. Eunji’s swordsmanship was as beautiful as it was unpredictable. She had always been able to string together new moves and combinations into a beautiful, unseen before dance. Bomi had always admired her ability to recognize different situations and quickly adapt to them.

It was no wonder why Eunji had been practically everyone in their academy’s first love. There was even a time when Bomi had a slight crush on Eunji, but that had only been a quick one-month phase in middle school.

Eunji swung her sword, and Bomi dropped to the floor and attempted a low spin kick, but Eunji nimbly jumped over her leg as though she had been expecting it. Back at their academy, no one in their class other than Bomi and Yookyung had ever beaten Eunji in a swordfight. She would always be one step ahead of them, and the battle would more often than not be over within two minutes. It flattered Bomi knowing that she and Yookyung had been the only ones who could last longer than five minutes against Eunji. Bomi found herself wondering how Chorong would fare against Eunji in a swordfight.

It had been a two years since Bomi fought against a swordsman like Eunji, and her body certainly felt it. She had forgotten how strenuous the skill was on her arm; her arm burned with effort, and with each block and strike, her sword grew heavier in her hand. Neither Bomi nor Eunji had pulled out their knives yet; Bomi hadn’t been able to gain enough distance to accurately throw it, and Eunji hadn’t left any wide enough openings for Bomi to use her knife up close.

Eunji, however, showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, it seemed like she was only getting faster and smarter with her moves. There was a spark in Eunji’s eyes as they fought, and Bomi swore that she was smiling. Bomi had the feeling that she probably looked the same way, because despite how much her arm hurt, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia as she fought her friend.

Eunji faked a lunge to Bomi’s left side and attacked her right, but Bomi swiftly swung her sword to the other side to block Eunji’s blade. Bomi surged forward, tackling Eunji in the chest. Her friend stumbled back, but quickly recovered before Bomi could strike again. She brought her sword down in an overhead strike, and Bomi threw her sword up to block it. The clang of metal on metal rang through the room. As soon as their blades touched, Eunji kicked Bomi in the belly, forcing a painful grunt out of her.

At that moment, Bomi dropped her arms. Her guards dropped for a split second, but it was all the time that Eunji needed.

Eunji sprang forward, excitement and determination burning in her eyes, with the tip of her blade slicing through the air towards Bomi’s neck. Bomi couldn’t bring her sword up fast enough to block the attack, so a second later, Bomi found Eunji’s sword hovering just a millimeter away from Bomi’s neck.

They stood there for a moment, staring at each other and panting heavily. They were both laden in sweat. Even with her sword pointed at Bomi’s neck, Eunji’s face showed no sign of victory. Instead, her eyes traveled down to Bomi’s left hand which was holding a knife to Eunji’s belly.

In that split second that Bomi had dropped her arms, she had unsheathed her knife, flipped it up, and it at Eunji.

Eunji expressed no disappointment or dismay; she only smiled and said, “I guess we both win.”

“I’d say that you both died,” a melodic voice said from the side. 

Abruptly, Eunji and Bomi turned to find Chorong standing to the side with her arms crossed. She seemed thoroughly entertained.

“Unnie!” Eunji exclaimed, dropping her arms. 

Bomi also withdrew her knife and slipped it back into its sheath. “How long have you been there?”

“Quite a while,” Chorong answered. She stepped onto the mat and approached them. “Enough to understand why everyone in the academy called your little trio the ‘Three Musketeers’. It wasn’t just because you three were always together, was it?”

“Oh, it was,” Eunji replied. “The swordsmanship was an extra plus.”

“Have you two ever sparred with swords?” Bomi asked curiously.

“Eunji-ah practically begged me to spar with her when we were first put into a team together,” Chorong said. “Something about wanting to see if Play M Training Academy’s all-star student was really all that?”

“Well, is she?”

“She is. If she had been in our year, she would have been the third person to beat me in a match. We’d be called the Four Musketeers,” Eunji marvelled. “Seriously, you should spar her sometime.”

“I would like to make that happen,” Bomi said, turning to Chorong.

Chorong just looked at Bomi’s sleeve, where her bandage was hiding underneath. “Are you sure you’re in the condition for sparring?”

Bomi saw confusion overtake Eunji’s expression, so she quickly said, “What kind of agent would I be if some week-old bruises stopped me from sparring? Besides, I fought just well during our mission.”

Chorong arched her brows, and Bomi gave her a look that said, Later.

“You’re right. You’re looking a lot less like a grape now too,” Eunji observed.

“You said that I didn’t look that bad!” 

“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” Eunji admitted.

“And you’re sure that you’re in the condition for sparring?” Chorong asked Eunji. She reached down to pick up Eunji’s water bottle and handed it to her. 

“A little cut can’t stop me,” Eunji beamed, accepting the bottle from Chorong. She took a few large gulps, then passed it to Bomi. “Besides, I used my left arm.”

“That’s more of a disadvantage for Bomi,” Chorong pointed out. Bomi nodded in agreement.

“Why did you come here, Unnie?” Bomi questioned. 

“Naeun is calling us in for a quick meeting,” Chorong said. “I came to collect you two. She’s expecting us in the conference room in half an hour.”

“Half an hour?” Eunji repeated in alarm. “I’d better wash up then. I wouldn’t want to harm our Princess’s delicate nose with my stench.”

“I highly doubt that she would mind, Eunji-ah,” Chorong said, but Eunji had already picked up her things.

Eunji took her bottle back from Bomi. “Are you coming, Bbom-ah?” 

Bomi glanced back and forth between Eunji and Chorong. “You go ahead,” she answered, “I’ll catch up with you.”

An odd look flashed in Eunji’s eyes, but she simply nodded and said, “I’ll see you two there, then.”

They watched Eunji walk away, and once she had walked through the doors of the training room, Chorong said, “You didn’t tell her?”

Tiredly, Bomi stripped off her sweat-soaked shirt, carefully avoiding the bandage on her arm. Her wound still stung, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been during their mission. She felt Chorong’s eyes follow her as she slung her shirt over her shoulder. “No. The moment has passed. I got it treated. There’s no reason to tell her now.”

“Is there a reason to hide this from her?”

Bomi clenched her jaw and avoided eye contact with Chorong. “It would be kind of awkward to tell her now, especially since we got back from the mission three days ago. I don’t think it’s worth making a big deal out of it.”

Chorong sighed. “It’s not. I just hope that you won’t make a habit out of hiding things from Eunji. Or the rest of us, for that matter.”

“You don’t want me hurting the people you care about. I understand.”

“I don’t want you hurting yourself,” Chorong corrected.

For some unknown reason, Bomi’s heart flipped. She forced herself to make eye contact with Chorong.

“Yes, I don’t want you to hurt the others,” Chorong explained. “But I also don’t want you to hurt yourself.” 

Chorong’s gaze was unwavering. The power in them was enough to hold Bomi down and keep her words trapped in . Chorong put her hand on Bomi’s shoulder. 

“I’m watching after you too, you know,” she said. Her gaze lingered for a second longer, then she turned and walked away, leaving Bomi staring after her, frozen, as though Chorong’s gaze was still there, keeping her locked in place.