"Hey, Newbie, the other agents and I are going out for a drink. You in?"

 A fellow agent invites me. I think his name is Yoon Doojoon but there are three Yoons in the NSI. It's been two weeks since I first entered the NSI and I'm still mixing up their names. By the looks of his face, I can't tell if this guy is Yoon Doojoon or Yoon Siyoon. But after looking closely at his strong jawline and the obvious NSI I.D clipped on his shirt's front pocket, his name is confirmed to be Yoon Doojoon.

"Sure." I gladly accept the invite.

"Great! The others left a while ago to grab our seats. Your partner, Yongguk-sshi, is coming too."

I flinch just after I hear the dreaded name. I've been trying to avoid him for the past two weeks but I've been failing. Since he's my field partner, and trainer, I have to stick with him 24/7. Which reminds me... I have shooting range practice with him tomorrow. .

"O-Oh... uhm... I-I actually have an appointment. I suddenly rememb---"

Doojoon looks at me with suspicion. He grabs me by the neck and pulls me in a headlock. 

"Eish, is the NIS newbie trying to weasel his way out of this? Huh?"

He tightens his grip and I begin to choke. I'm hitting Doojoon's arm to signal him to let go. 

"I g-get it... Ak... I-I'll go... just... get off... GAH!" I can finally breathe. 

"If you're this weak, Newbie, you're gonna need a lot more training. I spent two years learning mixed martial arts. You need to build up some muscle yourself. You understand?"

"Y-Yes..."

"Good. Let's go!"

I takes us around 10 minutes to get to the BBQ place stationed south of our headquarters. It's a small restaurant that reeks of cigarettes, acohol and grilled meat. The place was hidden at the basement of a commercial building and inside the restaurant were familiar faces from the NIS. I guess this is where they usually take a break.  I see a group of about 7 at the back of the restaurant and one of them waves at us to come closer. Doojoon and I walk towards them and they greet us with smiles and high fives. There are 2 girls and 7 guys, including myself and Doojoon. Bang Yongguk isn't at the table. Does that mean he skipped this drinking session? Maybe he's late? Maybe he's not coming after all...

"Yah! Bang Yongguk!"

...I stand corrected. I turn my head and he brushes past me like I'm not here. He greets the others with high fives and fist bumps. He even does some kind of secret handshake with Agent Seunghyun. 

"Himchan-sshi, why are you still standing? Come here and sit beside me."

I clear my head and oblige to sit beside Choi Gina. She's a member of the Foreign Investigations department. She helped solve the Sameok¹ painting forgery case in Rome. Because of the Sameok case, she became quite popular among the field agents. 

Gina pours me a shot of soju and we all drink to our hearts content. After a few more bottles of soju, I can feel the blood rush to my cheeks. I can also feel an arm lock itself with mine. Gina brushes her shoulder on mine; Her other hand lying comfortably on my right thigh. I politely reject her by removing her hand from my thigh but she keeps insisting. I decide to let it go but someone else doesn't. I'm about to drink another shot but I'm dragged out by the collar and I drop the glass. The person continues to drag me until we're both outside the building. The guy just lets go of me and I lose my balance. 

"Yah! What are you doing?!" I turn myself around and it's Bang Yongguk.

"You need to learn to control yourself, Himchan-ah..."

"Control myself? From drinking too much soju? If you've forgotten, I can handle alcohol prett--bb--"

I can't seem to continue my sentence. I cover my mouth and put the other hand over my stomach. I feel a bubbling rush. I run and lean on the closest wall. The rush quickly turns into an uncontrollable urge to throw up on the street. I vomit on the pavement and make clear, audible disgusting sounds out of my mouth. I guess I couldn't handle the alcohol as well as I'd hoped.

"Aish... how embarrassing..." I hear Yongguk comment. 

I can hear him walk closer to me and a handkerchief is covering my mouth. He's wiping off my mouth. I look at him and he doesn't meet my eyes. Why is he doing this? I slap his hand off instinctively.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"Uh... helping you?"

"Help? I don't need your help." 

I wipe the last remains using the sleeve of my jacket and walk back inside. Bang Yongguk pretending to be nice? What an . 

➳➳➳➳➳

All the field agents are gathered at the meeting room. The meeting room is sound proof, dim-lit and eerie; also able to fit fifteen. There are currently 8 field agents, including myself, and 7 others who are part of the investigations division. Our Chief, Kim Byeong-ok, stands at the front of the room with his chin held high and hands behind him. His authoritative stance shows he has a serious announcement to make.

"I've asked you all here to announce a few things. The smugglers have been located recently thanks to our investigations team."

I watch everyone clap and cheer.

"But this is not a time to celebrate."

There is silence again.

"We have reason to believe these smugglers are also part of the counterfeit money case. These counterfeiters are producing millions of Korean won and US dollars, Helping with NK² bomb purchases."

Someone among the group raises their hand I look towards their direction and realize it's my partner. 

"Yes, Agent Bang Yongguk?"

"Sir, I would like to volunteer for this case."

'WHAT? IT'S NOT YOUR CALL!' I argue with him in my head.

The chief looks pleased and nods his head.

"Why am I not surprised with you, Agent. Okay. I'm assigning this case to Agent Bang Yongguk and Agent Kim Himchan. The case files are with Ms. Choi Gina. I want everyone to be on top of their own cases. Ah, Agent Lee Howon, don't forget to report about the black market trade case in Busan."

"Yes, sir"

"Everyone, dismissed."

The others disperse and I'm left inside the meeting room. I'm frozen solid. I don't know if I should be happy that I'm handling a big case such as this or I should be mad that my damn partner volunteered on his own free will. 

"Hey, Himchan-sshi," a familiar voice calls for me.

"Oh, uh... y-yes, Doojoon-sshi?"

"It's time for shooting range practice. You coming or what?"

"Be right there!"

➳➳➳➳➳

After an hour at the shooting range, the other agents seem satisfied with their traget practice and call it a day. They're saying their goodbyes and telling us that they're headed out for another round of drinks. They invite me but I reject politely. They think I'm making more excuses not to join them but I sincerely tell them I want to practice my shooting more. I tell them my ambition to lose the rookie image. They take my word for it and leave. A part of me is relieved now that I'm alone at the range. With the goggles over my eyes and earplugs and overhead earmuffs protect my hearing, I plan to shoot another round of bullets with my licensed pistol. 

I seem to be okay with the 10-foot distance so I move the target back another 10 feet. I extend my arms and aim as best as I can. I shoot a couple of bullets and check to see if I hit the target. My goal is to hit the chest area or head... as the target moves closer to me, I see that I wasn't anywhere near the chest or head. The bullet hit the stomach area and that's not good enough for me. I press the button located at the side that moves the target and the target is traveling back to its 20-feet distance.

I shake my hands and release the tension in my fingers. Maybe I'm just not focusing. I extend my arms and ready to shoot when a pair of hands grips tight on my forarms. A profile appears beside me and I can't clearly see the person's features. The person has a pair of goggles on as well. He's talking to me... telling me something... their mouth close to my earmuff. Their voice is muffled and soft, I still can't tell who this is.

"Relax the arms. Don't stress it. Focus on the target. Pull the trigger when you've aimed."

I listen to the person and aim precisely on the target's head. I shoot 4 bullets and stop. The person standing behind me presses the button and the target is moving towards us. I remove my earmuff and earplugs and turn around. 

"Bang Yongguk..."

"Congratulations. You just killed your target."

"Huh?"

I turn to look at my target and there are 4 bullet holes right in the middle of the head. This is the first time I've gotten close to where I was aiming... and I have Bang Yongguk to thank for that.

"Uh... Thanks..."

"Hey, You did the shooting. I just helped." 

Then the shows me that big bright smile of his. Damn it. Why does he have to be nice? I want to hate him. I'm supposed to. I don't want to fall into his trap and go through what I went through two years ago. I've had enough of it. I can't fall for him again.

"I better go..."

I remove the goggles still on my face and leave it.

I'm still running away after all this time. I'm almost at the door when Bang Yongguk blocks my way. He grabs me by the cheeks and kisses me.

He's kissing me...

HE'S KISSING ME!

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR'S NOTES

[1] Sameok = 3억 = 300,000,000 

[2] NK = North Korea

Thank you for the support! I haven't been this pumped to write a fanfic since... a long time ago. I'm really inspired to write for BangHim because of all the BangHim I'm seeing on Tumblr. 

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I hope you like this update. Himchan running away ends with a BangHim kiss! That's his punishment for always trying to run away. What do you think will happen next? Comment and Share!

Special mention to my new upvoters: KIMparkshi, chanchanxx, TwinklingSimmi, Killer_machine, Oguu_BABY-SHAWOL, mimi59378