2030, Pan-Pacific Defense Corps (Jeju Shatterdome)

“What’s with all the fuss?” Kim Sejeong slid down the rope in one swift motion, landed herself on the upper maintenance deck and took off her welding helmet to get a better visual of a forming crowd downstairs.

“They’re recruiting a co-pilot,” Yoo Kihyun chimed in, pulling a cart full of freshly delivered spare-parts. “Where’s Hyungwon, by the way? Shao Corps’ cargo just came in. They sent us a lot of junks a usual,” he rolled his eyes in dismay. It wasn’t his job to fetch all these spare parts, but Hyungwon disappeared into thin air after lunch – probably sneaking somewhere for a quick nap – and he didn’t have the heart to let Sejeong does all the work by herself. The lab was pretty slow today he decided to lend the scrawny girl a hand.

“Can’t believe I had to fight neck and neck with that snob, Bambam, just to get a few decent stuff here,” he grunted, pulling out a neutron generator from his cart that used to belong to an old Mark-3 – China’s Shaolin Rogue. “Geez, Jaebum needs to keep tabs on him…”

“What co-pilot?” something else occupied Sejeong’s mind. She brusquely wiped her sweaty forehead and squinted her eyes to get a better look. Her heart skipped a bit when a familiar tall figure was spotted almost right away. It can’t be him, can it?

“Haven’t you heard about it?” Kihyun scratched the back of his head, following where her gaze went straight to, “They found a strong candidate for Foxtrot’s pilot and now that one seat remains…”

Sejeong refastened her harness and before Kihyun could finish his sentence, she had already slid downstairs.

“Do you think she’s going for the tryout?” Im Changkyun’s head popped out of Busan Basher’s conn pod, “Too bad, though. She’d actually make a great technician.”

“Nah, Matthew won’t let her try in the first place,” Kihyun shook his head, “And there’s always a chance of incompatibility.”

“How can you be so sure that they won’t be drift-compatible?” Changkyun frowned. “Nobody knows the inside of a jaeger better than Kim Sejeong.”

Kihyun gave him an incredulous look. “She has never piloted one before and now she wants to try for Guardian Foxtrot of all jaegers, with him of all people?”

…

“I don’t like him,” Shin Hoseok muttered under his breath. He had been using his binoculars to spy on particular someone from their training deck. There were murmurs and whispers eversince their guest set his foot on their quarter. It was the first time they saw him since the second battle of the breach three years ago. He was wearing a full PPDC dress uniform, his gold insignias sparkling proudly under the dim light of shatterdome.

“How so?” Lee Minhyuk stepped out of the VR simulator all drenched in sweat and joined his partner.

“He’s an arrogant bastard.”

“Just because he’s taller than you doesn’t mean he’s arrogant, Hosoek,” Minhyuk snickered and chugged down the iced water from his tumbler. “Do you even know him in person?”

“I’ve heard stories. He abandoned his order to stay put and launched an attack that cost him the life of his co-pilot and half of Gunpo citizens, yet they still consider him a national hero even after three years of going irresponsibly AWOL,” Hoseok put down his binoculars and crossed his arms on his chest, noticing that a small entourage of Marshal Kim, some cadets, and a mysterious tall figure were heading towards Kwoon Combat Room, their practice arena. The sentiment was personal to him. Gunpo was his homeland after all. “He doesn’t deserve the title.”

“Aww, come on. You gotta give him some credits,” Lee Jooheon, the orange-haired pilot nudged his ribs, “Cherno Alpha might hold the record for six years straight of unbreached anti-Kaiju walls, but the highest killing record has always been his. His combat skill is on par with Raleigh Becket’s and Jake Pentecost’s.”

“Still don’t like him,” Hoseok shrugged right before the door opened and Marshal Kim and his entourage stepped in.

“Attention!” Captain Im Jaebum shouted and all rangers lined up side by side in orderly manner.

Eversince they lost Marshal Jung Yunho from the previous battle of breach; Marshal Matthew Kim had been in charge of Jeju Shatterdome. Together with Shao Corps, they invented a bigger, better, and even more lethal jaeger exceeding its predecessors. Learning from their last contact with Mega Kaiju, they shouldn’t underestimate its ability to hybrid into bigger and more destructive monsters. Liwen Shao came up with the idea of a Mark-8 prototype, Guardian Foxtrot, that was specifically designed to tackle bigger-size Kaiju. But two extremely skilful pilots with strong compatibility would be needed in order to operate it and the whole pilot-recruiting thing had been the talk of the dome for the last few weeks. Out of fifty applicants, only seven managed to pass the first round.

“At ease,” Marshal Kim commanded, “Pilots, I would like to introduce you all to an old friend of mine, Captain Sohn Hyunwoo. It’s been a while since he joined us last time, but I believe his reputation has preceded himself.”

Hoseok didn’t miss the small wince that slipped out of Marshal Kim’s lips when he mentioned old friend. Sohn Hyunwoo stood out from the rest for his height and his wide shoulder that made his presence bigger than everyone else, especially with h