Daehyun stood in front of a training chamber with an engraved '04' on the white wall with Junhong standing next to him. Youngjae had just endednhis training and Daehyun was forced to be nice by the youngest to join them later to clean the weapons together.

Yup, they take turns to clean and polish the weapons.

The distressed brunet still think that Himchan's idea was ridiculous. His friend had suggested to Leader Bang that by practicing this, they might get to know each other better and ultimately will strengthen their bond. Himchan had been spurting tons of bulls lately and it was driving him insane. Especially anything that is Youngjae-related topics.

Oh, speaking of Youngjae, Daehyun and him are finally in talking terms. Talking as in no more shouting and yelling in a conversation. 

"Sorry it took me a while there. The last one was a bit tenacious." Youngjae apologised to the pair as he rushed towards them. 

"No worries, hyung." Junhong happily chimed and Daehyun expectantly, waiting for the older to say something. Daehyun raised an eyebrow before the tall boy pursed his lips towards the shorter hyung. 

"We're cool. Don't worry about it." Daehyun replied and earned a smile from Junhong. He didn't understand what pleasure did the maknae get by forcing him to talk with Youngjae. The black haired just smiled before all three of them walked out of the training area.

Once they reached the weapons chamber, all of them immediately took a seat on the floor and started to clean the weapons. Daehyun immediately got down with the steel polish liquid and a white cloth and started polishing his katana, starting with the imitation and the real one that he uses during missions. Youngjae was wiping his gun and rifle while Junhong just grabbed any weapons randomly that he deemed needed to be cleaned.

Junhong and Youngjae had started a small conversation which Daehyun had zero idea of and he felt so left out. "So, what plans do you have after this?" Daehyun asked randomly, asking none in specific as he tried to get their attention. Junhong looked as if he's pondering before continuing his work. "Rest, maybe?"

"Resting does sounds nice. After all, we've just finished our training for today." Youngjae picked up from where the maknae left. "You have anything nice to do besides that?" Youngjae stopped placed his gun on his lap and stared Daehyun who was so focused on his cleaning and polishing.

Of course Youngjae had to agree with Junhong, Daehyun thought to himself.

"I don't. That's why I asked in case both of you are going to do something a lot more interesting than not doing anything." Daehyun said with a hint of coldness in his tone as he admired the shiny blade before putting it a side and took another one and started cleaning it.

Youngjae frowned and was about to say something before the steel door of the chamber opened and Himchan entered quite dramatically. "Junhong! Junhooong!!" The three of them flinched and the loud male immediately went towards the them. "Hey Himchan." Daehyun greeted. "Hey buddy. Junhong, Yongguk wants to see you."

All three of them raised their eyebrows and stared the intruder. "Um, who?" Junhong purposely asked again. It's not like they aren't aware of Leader Bang's first name, just that none of them actually call him that.

"Leader Bang! S-sorry about that." Himchan blushed upon realizing his mistake and quickly pulled Junhong by his arms. "Owowow. Hey hyung I can get up by myself!" Junhong pouted as Himchan dragged him out. "Come quick. Let's not make him wait."

Both Daehyun and Youngjae couldn't hear anything after they exited the room but they could hear Junhong shouted painfully just before the door being shut. The black haired boy turned his head to face Daehyun and the latter just shrugged before continuing his work.

They did not talk for a couple of minutes before Youngjae decided to break the silence. "Do you think-" the latter paused when the brunet shot his head up almost immediately, and Daehyun mentally slap himself. 'Don't be too excited you idiot.' He warned himself. "Yes?"

"Do you think there's something going on between Himchan and Leader Bang?" Youngjae asked, smirking as he took the rifle and started cleaning it. Daehyun stared the other male before shrugging, and continued polishing the blade of his sword until he can see his own reflection clearly.

"I do admit that he's been bothering Leader Bang a lot lately. Maybe he assigned Himchan to be his assistant? Who knows?" Daehyun smiled when Youngjae chuckled at the comment before an awkward silence consumes them all over again.

The brunet had a lot of things to ask; about him being homeschooled, life. About Youngjae in general but none of them seems to be able to pass through his lips. Junhong wasn't here but now his mouth is shut closed.

"You seemed to be struggling with yourself." Daehyun blinked and stared the male in front of him. 'Had I been staring?' He thought before Youngjae continued. "It's okay if you can't converse with me normally. I know you need time to warm up to me." Youngjae smiled before gathering his gun and rifle. Youngjae stood up and Daehyun was quick to follow suit, immediately caught his attentention when the latter called him.

"Yes?" Youngjae stopped his tracks almost immediately. Daehyun felt like his inside is doing all sorts of weird thing because he felt horrible. Real horrible.

He in his breath harshly before calming himself down. "Are you free tomorrow?" Youngjae raised an eyebrow and Daehyun noticed how his question made it looked like he's asking the other out (although the other wasn't thinking of that the slightest bit). "I'm wondering if you would want to go on a partnered mission with me." He quickly added.

Youngjae blinked after a while before nodding his head softly. "Sure."

Daehyun grinned and patted the black haired male's shoulder before the door opened, Jongup entering the area with a distressed look.

"Why am I left alone?

▷

"Remember, you'll only have two days to complete this mission. Not more, less would be better. Bring the valuable parcel to the northern headquarters safely." Leader Bang reminded them as he gave both Daehyun and Youngjae an encouraging smile. "Got it." Daehyun said as he put his gloves while Youngjae making sure all their medical supplies are in sufficient amount.

"I'm going to remind you this again; one of you fail the mission, the other one also will immediately fail it too. Watch each other's back."

"We will, don't worry." The brunet reassured before both of them entered the mission room.

"MISSION WILL COMMENCE IN TEN SECONDS."

He stepped in front of the jet black and placed one hand on the latter's shoulder before squeezing it lightly. "Focus." Was the only thing he managed to get out of his lips, earning a scoff from the other. "You'll have to take care of me if I slack off." Youngjae simply commented with a smirk as the room filled with blinding white light.

The moment they opened their eyes, they were already standing on top of a cliff. "So.. green." They gasped in amazement before they felt the ground underneath them shake.

"Run first, admire the nature later." Youngjae said and both of them start to run as fast as lightning. The cliff started to crumble down and the brunet cursed under his breath. "I see stable grounds in 15 metres." Youngjae managed to say in between his ragged breathing.

Daehyun sensed that the other is getting slower with his running, quickly grabbed the other's arm and pushed him forward towards the stable ground before he felt the ground under his feet disappear.

Youngjae who had stumbled on his feet quickly stood up, panicking as he saw his partner disappear along with the cliff. "Daehyun!" He shouted for the other and ran towards the end of the cliff. He shouted for the other again but when he received no reply, he knelt down and felt like crying. The mission just started and they can't fail immediately.

And the real Daehyun might go into coma if he suffers severe injury in this dimension.

Youngjae slowly peeked downwards to see if there's any sign of Daehyun, maybe hanging by a protruding root or something but came to no luck.

"Hey-" The black haired struggled when he felt a hand gripping his shoulder from the back. He was about to punch whoever was it behind him when his wrist was caught in a tight grip and when he saw that the person was none other than Daehyun, he immediately laid down on his back in relief, the brunet toppled onto him in the process.

"At least reply to my hysterical yelling, you idiot." Youngjae said and pushed Daehyun harshly off of him and the latter groaned. "Were you that worried?" Daehyun asked, still managed to form a lopsided grin on his lips.

"Don't do the same thing again next time." Youngjae warned as he sat up and checked Daehyun's health meter on his forehead. "Are you alright?" He asked and the brunet nodded. "Yeah, just a bit tired. I'll be able to walk in a few minutes." Daehyun replied before closing his eyes.

They continued their journey after Youngjae deemed that Daehyun had enough rest and they should move fast before night falls. At least, find a safer place to set up a temporary camp if they couldn't reach the HQ in time.

They did encountered a couple group of bandits trying to steal the parcel but it wasn't something that both of them couldn't handle.

"We're only half of the way. Do you want to stop here?" Youngjae asked the brunet when he saw Daehyun's health meter has already reduced more than half. He took out his knife and pull down his turtleneck shirt to check his on his own meter too. "I still have about 50% health but the sky's getting dark."

"You're right." Daehyun paused before looking around for a nice spot to spend the night. "I think I can hear water running towards the east. If not a river, a stream should be fine too." The tanned boy explained and Youngjae agreed to that so they walked further in towards the sound and found the river.

"Isn't the air a bit chilly here?" Youngjae asked his teammate as he rubbed his arms. "Maybe because we're walking towards the river?" Daehyun replied, not paying much attention to what the other was feeling.

"Great." Daehyun smiled the moment they found the river and stretched his arms in the air while the other just shook his head. "Our camp should be in the clear grounds back there. We can't sleep here because the ground is uneven and too.. sharp." Daehyun said as he knelt down and pick up a rock.

"And some privacy in case one of us needs to freshen up." The jet black added as he watched Daehyun got up on his feet.

"And that."

After they had set up a campfire, Daehyun decided to take a quick dip at the river because he feels so dusty after what happened earlier today. "Don't go too far, okay?" Youngjae reminded and Daehyun rolled his eyes. "Sure, mom."

"Just go quickly. I need to wash myself up too." Youngjae ignored the nickname and checking the parcel to make sure it wasn't damaged. "You.. can join me if you want to. We're both guys anyway." Daehyun reluctantly offered (but offered anyway) and he saw the other froze for a couple of seconds.

"I'm fine. Just go first. I need to look over this parcel. We can't leave it unattended." Youngjae lowered his gaze and Daehyun swore he saw the other blush. He had to rub his eyes to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

"I'll be back in a few. Don't go anywhere."

"Yeah yeah, I got it. Now go." The younger busied himself with some other things, fire wood, the medical supplies. Other than the standing Daehyun. After receiving no other comebacks from the other, he finally hears the older leave to the river, leaving him alone by the fire.

Youngjae looked around the area before he felt chill run down his spine. "It's not even dark yet." He rubbed himself before scooting closer towards the fire to warm himself up. Why is it suddenly so cold?

"Fog?" He then realised that their camp site was covered with fog, not so thick to the point that he can't see anything around him, but still quite an amount for a dusk. He took out his gun and stood up, be on guard just in case someone came attacking him for the parcel.

The silence was so nerve-wrecking to the point that he felt like he's going deaf from it. "Daehyun! Are you done?" He shouted but all he got was another silence. When he was about to make a step forward, he was stopped with a familiar voice behind him.

"Where are you going?"

He quickly turned around and raised his gun, which the tip lightly touched the guy's nose. He relaxed when he saw it was Daehyun. "Stop doing that." Youngjae's voice was filled with finality, he's tired of the older making fun of him like that.

"Do what?" He heard the brunet asked from behind him. The moment he turned around, Daehyun attacked him and he hit his back against the tree trunk. He was quick to duck the other's punch and rolled to the side and watched in horror as the latter's hard punch went straight into the tree trunk.

Then only Youngjae noticed that the pair of eyes that stared his aren't Daehyun's.

"Who are you? Where's Daehyun?"

_________________________________________________________

I'm still alive!!

Don't worry, I will not abandon this story, I just need a lot of time in between the updates to write. It is quite difficult to convert my idea into word because of the genre. I'll be having my semester break in June and hopefully I'll have more time to update. No promises though xD 

Thank you my super patient readers ! I love you guys ^*^