[Yongguk’s POV]

“COVER!” I yelled and dove behind a sheet of metal as a spray of bullets whizzed by me. The air filled with the stench of Daehyun’s smoke bomb and I covered my mouth. I looked over at SHINee and saw that stupid kid Zelo just standing there in the open. Minho and Onew rushed toward him and he didn’t move a muscle.

That moron’s gonna get himself killed. I hissed to myself and yelled his name as I prepared to go help him. Before I could do anything, Zelo sprang forward, ducked under Onew’s punch, and quickly broke his neck, earning a scream from Minho. I stared in shock as Zelo toyed with him for a bit then easily killed him with one hit to the chest, and instantly Taemin flew towards him, shrieking.

That poor kid, I thought as Zelo picked up a pipe and nailed him in the stomach. Chuckling, I turned around to see Jonghyun raising his gun, a crazed look in his eyes. I sighed as I quickly brought up my own gun and shot him once in the torso. No need to waste bullets.

After I shot that piece of scum, I looked back at my team and smiled, thankful that everyone was still alive. I glanced at Zelo as Youngjae and Himchan began bickering and saw his eyes widen in alarm. Suddenly he sprinted towards me and all I could think was, if he touches me I’ll kill hi-

I was sent flying backward and just before I hit the ground, a single shot rang out. Turning toward the noise, Jonghyun stood there shakily with a gun in his hands, and Himchan quickly killed him with his knife. I saw Zelo holding his stomach, and as he fell to the ground his hands fell away.

They were drenched in blood.

I sat there, shocked. He… saved me?

Youngjae caught him before he hit the ground and looked at me desperately. I ran over and grumbled, “Why the hell did you do that, you idiot?” Zelo just smiled faintly and passed out.

I sighed. ”Alright, let’s bring him back home.”

[Zelo’s POV]

Apple pie.

That was what woke me up. The sweet, warm scent of apple pie wafted through the air and my mouth watered even when I wasn’t fully conscious. My eyes snapped open and I sat up sniffing the air and gasping when I felt a horrible pain in my abdomen. I looked down and saw a huge bandage wrapped around my torso. That was when I remembered what happened.

“So why’d you do it?” A deep voice said off to my left. I snapped my head over and saw Yongguk leaning casually against the wall holding a small fan and a plate with a piece of pie on it. I started drooling when I saw it, and Yongguk chuckled, passing me the plate and a fork. I immediately began wolfing it down and listened as he talked.

“It’s a miracle you’re not dead. When we brought you here you were almost dead from blood loss and the bullet fragments weren’t easy to take out. You’re gonna be sore for a while, but Jong Up patched you up,” He told me quietly as I swallowed the last piece of that delicious pie, wanting more, “I’m asking you again: why did you push me out of the way?”

“Don’t get offended when I say this,” I began hesitantly, “but you reminded me of my mom.”

Yongguk looked at me in surprise. “How so?”

“Well, when I was eight, some scumbags came looking for my dad,” I told him bitterly, “but he was already long gone when they found us. So when she told them she didn’t know where he was, they assumed she was lying and they…” I swallowed, forcing tears to well up in my eyes, “they shot her right in front of me.”

When Yongguk’s expression became one of pity, I felt kind of bad for playing the dead-mother card. Although she was killed in front of me, I had somewhat gotten over it when I hunted those murderers down a month after I turned eleven.

“So you took a bullet for a complete stranger because of that?” A voice questioned me behind the curtain to my right. Pushing it aside, Jong Up went to my side and began checking my vitals, “By the way, I’m Jong Up and that’s Yongguk.”

“I’m Zelo,” I winced while he unwrapped my bandages.

“You didn’t even know who he was and you let yourself get shot in his place. That’s… loyalty,” Jong Up mused and I in a breath as cool air hit my wound. I looked down and saw the place where I got shot and a neatly stitched line over it.

“Loyalty?” I said between clenched teeth, “what do you mean?”

“It means,” Yongguk rumbled, moving towards the door, “that you’re one of us now.”

“HUH?” I blurted. Was it really that easy?

“Well, you do have to go through initiation when you finish recovering, but after that you’re in.” Jong Up told me as Yongguk left the room and he began to rewrap my wound with fresh bandages. He continued to tell me about his own initiation, but I wasn’t paying attention.

I’m in already? I thought, dumbfounded.

This is gonna be easier than I thought.

It’s been roughly a week and a half since I got shot. On the third day I could fully stand on my own, and by day six I could walk normally again. Jong Up kept commenting on how quickly I was healing, given the severity of my injury, so I had to make up a lame excuse to hide the fact that the government had given me numerous injections that would make me heal faster than the average person.

Although he hadn’t said anything, I knew he saw the scars that littered my body. I had never failed a mission, but at Headquarters, we were whipped and tortured daily in order to prepare us for missions. If we were ever captured and tortured, we would already be used to it. I winced as I remembered those painful memories.

Strapped down to a cold metal table, I struggled with all of my strength, yet the leather straps only dug further into my flesh. A skinny, bald man walked up to me and roughly plunged a syringe filled with dark liquid into my forearm. I heard someone screaming, and I realized who it was: me.

I was jolted out of my hazy past when I heard the door opening quietly, revealing a happy-looking Yongguk. Well, since his face wasn’t icily glaring or snapping at anybody, I took that as happy.

“How’re you feeling?” He asked me with a flat voice, and I groaned.

“Yongguk, we’ve been over this before,” I rubbed my temples out of frustration, “I fully recovered last week, and I’m ready for my initiation. Just let me out already.”

Yongguk sighed before saying, “Fine, follow me. If I hear a single complaint out of you, you’re back in here for another week, got it?”

I nodded vigorously and jumped out of my bed. I began to follow him as he walked out of the door, but I paused to grab my mask. Jong Up and Yongguk were the only members who had seen my face, and I wanted to keep it that way, at least for a while. Yongguk raised his eyebrows when I came out of the room, but didn’t say anything. He led me through a long, dark hallway that had several steel doors on each side of me, and I wondered what was in each of them as we walked past. After a few seconds, we came upon a set of metal stairs that led down into a cavernous room that could’ve easily fit a two story house.

There was a garage door on the far side where two large black hummers were parked, and someone was bent over the engine. Off to the right was a huge kitchen that a professional chef could die for, and I smelled a delicious, meaty aroma wafting towards me. Whatever was cooking smelled freaking amazing. Suddenly, series of shouts and gunshots coming from a corner of the room made me spin around in alarm. Yongguk looked at me in amusement.

“It’s just Youngjae playing some videogames, Zelo,” He chuckled, but I only stared.

I looked at him, confused. “What are videogames?”

Everyone froze and gaped at me, including Youngjae. I felt a little embarrassed; we were never allowed go out (with the exception of missions) back at Headquarters, so I didn't know very much about, well, anything.

“You don’t know what videogames are?” Youngjae asked me incredulously, and I shook my head, “Where the hell did you come from?”

“Erm, I wasn’t usually allowed out of the house, and we didn’t own a TV or anything,” I mumbled. Youngjae strode toward me and pulled me towards his gaming center.

“Well, I’m giving you a lesson on videogames right now. It literally hurts me to hear that you’ve never played -,” He began but was cut off by Yongguk.

“I’m about to start his initiation, moron,” He growled and Youngjae released my arm, nodding.

“Alright, but as soon as you’re done, I’m showing him how to play.”

Yongguk and I sighed at the same time and he gestured for me to follow him. He walked towards a large metal door next to the kitchen and opened it with a clang. I peered in to see a dark room with only a table and two chairs in it. Yongguk pushed me in.

“Wait here for a sec,” he said before shutting the door. After a few minutes, Yongguk came back with a large black bag slung over his shoulder, and I heard a small tinkling sound from inside. I raised my brows at him, but he just sat down at the table, so I followed suit.

“Zelo,” He began, “there are three parts of the Best Absolute Perfect initiation: mental capabilities, physical capabilities, and…”

He hesitated slightly on the last word before saying, “And torture capabilities. Do you think you can handle it?”

Seriously? That’s it?

I tried to put a small amount of fear into my voice when I said yes, and from the sigh that came from Bang, it seemed like it worked.

“You’ve already proven yourself, Zelo. You really don’t have to do this-,” Yongguk began, but I shook my head.

“Don’t bother trying to talk me out of this. I need to do this, alright?” I spoke firmly, and Yongguk nodded in defeat.

“Which test would you like to do first?” He asked me, but I had already decided.

“Mental capabilities first.” I said quietly.

Without another word, Yongguk reached into the bag and pulled out a small jar. It seemed to be filled with what looked like a grayish powder.

“In this jar are equal amounts of salt and pepper. All you have to do is sort them out,” Yongguk told me. I just stared at him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I said flatly. He gave me a look and I sighed, grabbed the jar and dumped its contents out onto the table.

It only took me around ten minutes, but it was actually quite difficult. It took an enormous amount of concentration, but I got it done. Bang looked impressed for a second, but when I finished he swept all of it off the table and set another jar on the table again, but with one minor difference; this one was entirely white.

“Separate the sugar from the salt.” My jaw hit the ground. How the hell am I supposed to do this?! I gulped but got to work immediately. It took much longer than the first jar because it was freaking salt and sugar. After a while, I began to notice the subtle differences between the grains. Sugar grains were more rounded, whereas the salt grains were rough and jagged.

After around 45 minutes of sorting, I looked up and Yongguk. He his finger, poked it into my sugar pile, and then did the same with the salt pile.

“Not bad, Zelo,” He nodded in approval, “are you ready for the next test?”

“Yes,” I murmured, “I’ll choose physical capabilities.”

At that, Yongguk got up from his chair, knocked three times on the door, and sat back down, me staring in slight confusion the entire time. A few seconds after he sat, the door rattled open, revealing the other four members.

“For the physical capabilities test, you’ll be fighting against each one of us. If you can beat at least two of us, you pass,” Yongguk explained, and I, wanting to look like a nervous little kid, hesitantly raised my hand. “Do you have a question?”

“Erm, well, I was just wondering if you guys'll tell each other about how I fight,” I mumbled and forced my cheeks to turn bright pink. I mentally cheered when he told me that only I and one other member would be in the room fighting me at a time and that they wouldn't talk about my techniques. If I fight them one at a time, I can go all out and they won't be able to tell each other how I fight.

They think I’m some scared kid who’s barely knows how to fight. This is gonna be a piece of cake.

Not even ten minutes later I regretted thinking that.