Jongdae emptied the bucket of water and gave the boat a glare. He resisted the urge to kick a dent in the side of the boat. A week had passed and it was the third time the senior diver had told him to wash his boat, claiming it wasn't shining enough. Jongdae had practically helped washing everyone else's boats and everyone was pretty satisfied with the help. However, Sunggyu wouldn't let Jongdae slack off on the cleaning duties and demanded for him to make his boat shine like a star. The younger can only hope that the students arrive from the capital soon.

Putting the bucket away, Jongdae stalked towards the cabins, stretching his back from bending over too much. He was yawning when he saw a big crowd in the common living room and backtracked before someone, Minseok, could drag him in there.

He went to the empty cafeteria and got himself some freshly cooked food, knowing everyone else was busy in the common living room watching the television. As he stepped into the room, he bumped into someone and almost lost his balance.

“Oh great Jongdae! There you are!”  

The latter looked up to see Sunggyu happily beaming at him. The older opened his mouth to say something, but Jongdae snapped at him before he could produce any sound.

“I already washed your boat today, so don't even think of telling me it's dirty.”

The senior cleared his throat, clearly not pleased with the younger one snapping at him.

“That's not what I was going to say and don't snap next time.” The older lightly pushed the younger’s forehead. “Anyways, the students are going to arrive soon and I need you to keep watch of them during training. In other words, follow them around and make sure that none of them is an outlander.” He continued.

“Why me?” Jongdae questioned.

“Because you know how they act since your old partner was one. We don't want another of those monsters part of the diving team again.” He explained and continued, “Actually, you and your partner should train two pairs of graduates. We're down a group since those outlanders were try to pose as one of us good guys last time.” He smiled at the boy and stalked off.

Jongdae clenched his jaw in anger. How dare he called my old partner a monster? he thought. There was nothing more disgusting for Jongdae than to call not only his old partner, also his best friend, and outlanders monsters. He also despised the feeling of being categorized in the same group of “good guys” along with the kinds of Sunggyu. He felt the urge to go jump into the sea again and forget about the Annual Divers’ Training, but he just couldn't. He couldn't just ignore the training because that would just mean getting fired and he didn't want to lose the only chance he had to dive.

“Hello? Earth to Jongdae?” Minseok waved in his face.

Jongdae jumped a little and shook his head to clear away the thoughts.

“I saw Sunggyu on my way. Did he say anything?” Minseok asked when his partner didn't give him a verbal response.

“Are you here for food? Because that can come later.” Jongdae suddenly said and pulled Minseok’s wrist to drag him away, but the latter easily pulled Jongdae back, making him nearly knocking him off his feet.

“What's more important than food?” Minseok frowned.

Jongdae only needed to give him a look after checking their surroundings for Minseok to understand. He promised the pasta sitting behind the counter that he'd be back before catching up to Jongdae that hurried out.

***

“Jongdae, I think I need to go to the bathroom.” Minseok whispered as he looked forward in line with all the other divers, properly dressed to welcome the graduates along with the princess and the military chief.

“No you don't, you're just nervous. Just remember what we discussed earlier and you'll be fine. I promise.” Jongdae whispered back without turning to him.

“Don't make promises.”

Jongdae looked at his partner at the corner of his eye. He could see that the other was already breaking into a cold sweat.

A finger snap in Jongdae’s face and he turned his gaze to the person in front of him.

“Focus Jongdae.” Sunggyu said, giving Minseok a glance. “You're sweating quite a lot Minseok.” He noted.

“I tend to sweat a lot.” Minseok replied giving the senior diver a small bow. The senior pulled out a tissue from his back pocket and handed to him.

“Here. Wipe it off and keep the tissue.” Sunggyu said and continued snapping the other divers out of their daydreams.

“I feel like I'm gonna sweat out before the day ends.” Minseok sighed as he dabbed the sweat away.

“I'll make sure you drink water more often.” Jongdae snorted quietly.

Suddenly, they both see Sunggyu run past them to his position, meaning that the graduates were finally arriving.

A few Jeeps appeared, followed by a fancy car and a bus with a few more Jeeps behind. Minseok was impressed by the amount of vehicles arriving. When he had his training one year ago, there were only a few and neither did the military chief or the princess came along.

“There are so many vehicles.” Minseok quietly commented and Jongdae heard him.

“You might not know, but there were bigger groups of graduates in the past.” Jongdae said lowly.

The older nodded in understanding, but quickly realized something.

“Wait. If you said there were bigger groups in the past, why are we such a small community?”

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