Maerin looked around in awe at the area infront of her. Considering the area was underground, who would have thought it would be this huge. She stepped out of the elevator and into what was known as the invigilator room. It was elevated about 20 meters off the actual simulation ground. The walls of the spherical room were made entirely of bulletproof glass to give a full 360 degree view of the area.

There were a widespread of buttons and switches on a control panel which rested right below 6 large screens. Each screen displayed the image of the people who were in the simulation. Microbots that had cameras implanted efficiently trailing to keep them in view at all times.

“This is the Royal Wing Simulation floor. All your combat testing will be run here to see your action and reaction in combat,” Taemin’s voice snapped Maerin out of her daze, “Because there are 5 of us, 1 normally sits out to be an invigilator. But now that you’re here, we’ll probably start doing 3-on-3 simulations.”

“For today, I play invigilator. Since you’re here, I thought I’d give you a feel of it since you probably won’t get the chance to be an invigilator.”

“I see,” Maerin replied, still amazed by everything, “Who are on each teams?”

“Key and Minho against Onew and Jonghyun,” Taemin answered her question before asking a question of his own, “Which team do you think will win?”

“I’d need to know their objective first,” Maerin said.

“Right,” Taemin placed his hand on a screen on the control panel and pulled up a holographic layout of the battleground.

“This,” Taemin pointed at a flag icon on the left, and then the right, “and this. They simply have to capture the other team’s flag. Once the flag is removed from its station, the game ends. Each are evaluated on the use of their skill, the amount of time their are undetected and the amount of injuries they inflict or sustain.”

“And the degree of their skills?” Maerin watched closely at the screens. It seemed like both teams were still strategizing.

“We’re all on second degree.”

Maerin nodded and thought about each of their skills. She contemplated the pros and cons of each skill at their degrees.

“At this degree, His Highness Onew is at a disadvantage if the opposing team doesn’t use any inanimate means to protect the flag. Such as His Highness Key possibly pulling metallic material to entirely cage the flag. But with His High-”

Taemin cut Maerin off for a second, “Just address them by their names. As with me.”

The thought of saying ‘His Highness’ to the point that it no longer registered as a normal word in her brain didn’t appeal to Maerin.

Biting her lip, she nodded, “Just this once.”

“Proceed.”

“I was saying, with Jonghyun’s speed, Key must have some quick means to protect the flag. Possibly like I had said, caging it with available material while using his telekinesis to slow Jonghyun down or focusing his power to send Jonghyun off track. But it depends on his capabilities as well. I doubt he’d be able to cage the flag in time unless he has already reached an extremely high level of control over his skill. Key has to entirely protect the flag while Minho rushes through to retrieve the other team’s flag.”

Taemin listened closely to what Maerin was saying, absorbing the information.

“I have a strategy that would mean sure victory for Key and Minho, but I trust that the Royal Strategist has his own,” Maerin said with a rather victorious smirk. It wasn’t her battle but the thought they she had a winning strategy made her feel like it was.

They watched as the countdown from five began to signal the start of the simulation.

“I can say for sure, if Key and Minho do something similar to what I have in mind, they’d have victory in their hands,” she said as the buzzer signalled the start of the round.

The microbot entirely loses sight of Jonghyun as he disappears at the speed of sound. It only began to catch up when Key began to steer him off his original track and slow him down, leaving the flag unprotected.

He steered Jonghyun towards Minho who was already on the run towards the other team’s base. Minho constantly looked at where Jonghyun was. His job was to catch Jonghyun and run to the enemy base with Jonghyun in his strong grip like a football.

While all the action was going down, Maerin took notice of Onew’s aqua eyes. He wasn’t making any changes to his surroundings but Maerin had an idea what he was going for. They were taking a chance. Possibly knowing his AG was on the brink.

“But tables will entirely turn if Onew achieves a breakthrough,” she spoke.

“VICTORY!” The speakers boomed with a deep male voice not even a second after she said those words, “Royal General, Lee Jinki. Royal Advisor, Kim Jonghyun. Win!”

“Gosh, I haven’t even gotten a chance at this but there’s no chance in beating Onew until I hit third degree,” her head fell.

She only lifted her head when she heard Taemin’s laughter behind her. She scratched the back of her head, wondering if she’d said something stupid.

“You were really into it,” Taemin said with a laugh and cleared her curiosity.

“Sometimes I get a little carried away with my ideas and theories,” Maerin said sheepishly, returning her gaze to the ground and a hand to the back of her neck.

“Well you have a good eye for these things apparently. You could be a big help to Key.”

Maerin looked up at him with a glint in her eye and bright smile.

“The real test though, is to see how well you work under pressure,” he said, breaking down her spirits in a split second.

Maerin could work under pressure, but not under the pressure of a war or a battle. What if it came to the real day. Unlike simulations or test, she’d probably freak out. Considering how she was paranoid whenever she was in the dark, this scenario seemed very possible.

She bit her lip and lightly fisted her hand, “I’ll give it my all and try my very best!”
 

“Good to hear such enthusiasm.”

The door to the simulation room swung open and the 4 Royals that were just on the battlegrounds walked in. They were giving Onew pats on the back and Jonghyun even grabbed his face to stare right into those aqua eyes. Onew laughed and swatted his hands away.

Maerin stood in awe at all of The Royals standing right before her. It was hard enough to believe that Taemin was indeed the one giving her a tour around, now she had to let the reality of the fact that she would spend the rest of her life around these legends sink in.

She gathered whatever sanity she could and pulled her jaw closed before making a deep bow to the five men that stood before her, “Your Highnesses, I am Ha Maerin! It is an honour to be in the presence of our planet’s heroes.”

She returned to her upright position to see all of them giving her warm smiles which immediately translated to her as a welcome. She smiled back with a thought lingering in her mind.

‘They really aren’t as intimidating as they look. In fact, they look like regular young adults who love to joke and hangout. If it is as they say, and The Royals really never had a life outside of training, I want to give them a taste of life beyond the gates. At the very least, they deserve to experience the wonders of the land they are sacrificing their lives to protect.’

“Your Highnesses, would you all like to follow me to officially experience the world beyond military gates?” Maerin’s eyes sparkled in anticipation as she waited for their answer.

Their smiles slowly begin to fade as they looked to one another with serious expressions. Maerin immediately realized how she had stepped out of line.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to show you all the best places. You deserve to see them and experience the things you’ve missed out on in life,” Maerin bowed, “I was out of line, my apologies.”

“We’re finally making our great escape,” Onew cheered before Jonghyun let out an extremely excited ‘Yes!’

“It’s about time,” Key chimed in and Minho placed his arms over Key and Taemin’s shoulders.

“It is, isn’t it?” Taemin smiled to himself.