Safety first, accuracy second, speed last. Luhan repeated the mantra to himself as he pulled the trigger again, feeling the recoil all the way up to his shoulder. He readjusted his grip and fired again. The crack of the revolver echoed in his ears and he rubbed at them, hoping to make the ringing go away.

“Not bad.” A voice to his side made him jump and he looked over to see Donghae approaching him. “You’ve got good aim for a rookie.”

Luhan smiled. “Thanks. I’ve been working on it.” He lowered the gun. “Uh, Haruki’s not here, so-”

“I was looking for you, actually,” Donghae replied. “I wanted to talk to you about your gunfighting skills.”

“Oh.” Luhan frowned. “Why?”

“Good aim is not enough.” Donghae’s voice was stern as he came over. “Let’s try a target that isn’t a series of circles on the wall.” He took Luhan by the shoulder and hauled him over to another set of targets, drawn with outlines of people. Donghae nodded towards them and Luhan swallowed hard, wrapping both hands around his gun as he’d done before.

“Aim for the vitals,” instructed Donghae.

Luhan swallowed hard and fired.

Immediately, he was back to that hostage situation from a few months before, dropping to one knee as the suspect came rushing towards him. His line of vision was clear, his gun was steady- and at the last minute, something had jerked his hand up and to the right so that his bullet barely grazed the man’s shoulder. Still, the man had fallen backwards in shock and pain. Luckily for Luhan, Haruki had run into the room right at that moment to handcuff the suspect and take him away.

Luhan’s finger squeezed the trigger again, but it was empty, though his ears still rung with the sound of gunfire. He watched Donghae take down the paper target and bring it back. “Not good enough,” Donghae said as he pointed at the holes in it. “You’re aiming for the shoulders, the arms, the legs…”

“It’s good enough to stop a person!” Luhan protested. “Why do I need to do more than that?”

“And what if you’re in a gunfight with someone who doesn’t have an aversion to killing?” Donghae shot back. “What if your life is threatened by an armed person? You need to be able to return deadly force with deadly force. I don’t like it- no one does. But think of it this way. You’re protecting yourself, other officers, and innocent citizens from getting killed. If the assailant dies in the process, that is his choice.”

Luhan set the gun aside as if it had burned him and subconsciously rubbed both hands against the front of his jacket as if wiping off something he couldn’t see.

Donghae’s voice softened as he watched the young rookie, remembering how he had felt the first time Chief Park had given him the same speech. “I can tell you didn’t sign up for this part.”

“Not exactly,” Luhan mumbled. “I guess I’ve…I read too much Sherlock Holmes when I was younger…”

“Holmes was good with a gun, when it called for it,” Donghae grinned. “Of course, Watson was a better shot, being a military man and-” He stopped, looking at Luhan’s surprised expression. “Hey, you’re not the only one who was into Sherlock Holmes. The idea of solving mysteries is very attractive and you’ve clearly shown that you’re good at that part, but it’s not the only thing we do. We’re not private detectives, we’re cops.”

“I just…I just don’t think I can kill another person,” Luhan murmured. “I don’t think I can live with that.”

“Think about it this way,” Donghae replied. “Haruki’s your partner now and if you’re not there for her, she might get killed. Can you live with that?”

Luhan shook his head. “But Haruki can take care of herself-”

“Everyone says that, but that’s not the way it works,” Donghae replied. “When you work with a partner, you need to have that person’s back at all times and trust that they have yours. When you go into a building together, you cover each other. You know that Haruki has yours.” Luhan nodded. “I want to know if you’ve got her back. If you don’t, if anything happens to her, you’ll have to answer to me. Are we clear?”

Luhan nodded reluctantly. The gun in his hands suddenly felt heavy, weighed down by his new responsibilities. Apparently, he hadn’t been totally prepared when he accepted the promotion to his new job. It was one thing to dream about it while bored out of his mind stamping papers and cataloguing items. It was another thing to hear about the harsh realities, coming from the mouth of a more experienced colleague.

Donghae reached over and took the gun from his hands with a much friendlier smile. “Hey, come on. There’s plenty of time to talk about these things later. Want to grab some lunch?”

“Sure.” Luhan put the gun away, along with his goggles. He was turning towards the door, when Donghae suddenly spoke up again.

“Why didn’t you wear the earmuffs?”

“What earmuffs?” Luhan asked. That was when he noticed the earmuffs lying right beside the goggles. Somehow, he had missed them. Feeling very stupid, he followed Donghae out of the training area, rubbing his ear and hoping that the ringing in it would go away soon.