"It’s alright… You can do it, Steve… You can do… !” Steve was trying to calm himself down when a cat suddenly came out of nowhere, startling the novice sniper who, for the umpteenth time, was aiming at his long-range target.

He took a deep breath, then lifted his black, long rifle back up to take another aim. Alas, his target was already gone. All he saw was a few white shirts hanging to dry in the sun.

Steve’s black turtle neck was drenched with sweat and he felt like crying. He’d been training in the Shinhwa Sniper Academy 7 days a week for 17 weeks, yet hadn’t hit a single long-range target. Not even once. Not even out of beginner's luck.

"Don't cry,” Eric the master sniper got up from his seat, not more than 2 meters away from where Steve was kneeling. “Crying is bad for you.” The cool, handsome shooting instructor approached the desperate trainee. Without looking at Steve, he extended his left hand, asking Steve to hand him the rifle, “Give it to me.”

Steve looked up at his mentor and handed him the rifle. Eric casually took the rifle, aimed and shot.

"Whoa~ Bull’s eye! You’ve done it again, Coach! The last button is now yellow!" John Jean, another trainee, shouted from below after inspecting one of the shirts.

"So, could you please tell Steve here, the key to a perfect shot every time?" Eric asked Andy, the star trainee who was also with them on the balcony. He’d only been in the academy for 17 days, yet his long-range target hitting record is an impressive 50%, which means 1 in every 2 shots, earning him the nickname Sharp Shooter.

"The key to a perfect shot every time is to be in love with your target, Sir!" Andy recited Eric’s teaching principle out loud.

"And why is that?" Eric asked again.

"Because when you are in love with the target, you would only see it, and not distracted by others," Andy answered promptly.

“But chanting I’m in love… I’m in love… like a mantra will not help with your concentration and focus when you have poor physical and mental fitness. I’ll see you at the gym in ten minutes, Mr. Jung.” M, the physical fitness instructor interrupted the almost ended shooting class session as he was passing through the balcony on his way down to the yoga class.

Eric snorted, “You don’t actually chant it. You just keep it in your memory. Fine... Class dismissed. I’ll see you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.”

As everyone was getting down from the balcony, the voice of Mr. Kim, the academy’s manager-slash-housekeeper, could be heard throughout the entire neighborhood, “Yaaaaaahhhhhh! What did you guys do to my shirts again?? Wait, were you actually aiming at my while I was hanging them earlier?? EEERIIIIICCCC!!!”

Upon hearing that, a smile bloomed on Steve’s face as he thought to himself, “That’s right. I shall never give up. At least not until I hit Mr. Kim’s …”

-끝-