snake in the grass

It is day 5 of being stuck in the Area 24, and Wheein is just starting to get used to life in the dreaded training ground.

For putting the other students’ life in danger, both Taehyung and her got one of the academy’s worst possible punishments: they have to clean Area 24 every single day for two whole weeks.

Area 24 — or as the students like to call it, The Maze — is a ghost town stretching along the perimeter of civilian life, bordering with the sea on one side and the dense forest on the other. As the nickname suggests, the buildings there are built haphazardly, forming narrow alleys and dead ends and, of course, maze-like streets. No one really has any idea how it came to be, but with the lack of planning in infrastructure, the vast town is deserted for as long as anyone can remember, making it one of the ideal places for S class students to train. Some said even crews of the Force train there.

As Wheein’s luck goes, there’s currently a group of senior students training intensively for an upcoming round of recruitment. And one of those students have the ability to produce toxic goo. 

Not only it is dangerous, it’s downright disgusting.

“I can’t believe this,” Taehyung groaned from behind his gas mask, as he scoops some radioactive goo into a special cylinder, “No wonder Namjoon’s still in senior class even though he’s ancient. Why would the Force recruit a messy spitting dinosaur?”

Wheein suppresses her laugh. That was funny, but she’s not giving this monkey of a guy the time of the day. “Just shut up and scoop,” she hisses instead.

Wheein gets her few moments of silence before Taehyung starts questioning how the academy could afford training instruments for all kinds of powers and abilities, but not some high-end cleaning technology. Again. She’s already heard the same complaints for days.

And that’s more than enough for Wheein. “I swear to god, Taehyung, if you don’t shut up--”

“How are you guys?” a voice interrupts Wheein.

Wheein and Taehyung look up to see Moonbyul on a building roof nearby, glancing down to them. Her eyes are covered by a pair of goggles, but other than that she’s in her usual attire of t-shirt, jeans, and her trusty bandana. Wheein swoons at Moonbyul’s courage to come to the place with no heavy duty gears like the one she grudgingly wears.

“Where have you been?” Taehyung shouts furiously, “You left us to rot in here! You’re a teacher! You’re supposed to protect us students!”

“Oy, calm down, tiger,” Moonbyul shouts back, “I have responsibilities in the academy too, you know. But starting from now, I won’t leave you two out of my sight”

“We’re doing good even without you, Miss Moon,” Wheein chimes in, “So no thanks.”

Moonbyul fake sobs, “Aw, don’t be so mean, Wheein. I swear I didn’t mean to ditch you guys. It’s just that the paperwork for your punishment got stuck in the bureaucracy so I have to pull a few strings to make you guys legally transfer here for two--”

Taehyung loses it. “You mean you dropped us here without the school knowing in the first place?!”

“Hey,” Moonbyul taps her goggles, “The principal already okayed it. I asked permission and he said yes, just not on paper. The staff’s minds are wired to him, you know. He can communicate with each of us and all of us at the same time. Impressive, huh?”

Wheein and Taehyung look at each other. No wonder Sowon’s really good at reading and thoughts; her father is capable of such omnipathy.

“That’s so extra. Could’ve used a cellphone,” Taehyung shrugs, resuming his goo-scooping.

“Yeah right,” Wheein rolls her eyes, “Why do you think cellphones are banned in the academy? Imagine what those electronic signals could do to the telepathic kids’ brains, muppet.”

“Thanks for answering, Wheein,” the proximity of the voice makes Wheein jump. Moonbyul has appeared right beside her.

“Stay back,” Taehyung warns, holding out an arm, “You’re wearing practically nothing.”

Moonbyul throws him a smirk. “The poison is not airborne, so I’m okay as long as I’m not touching any.”

Wheein looks down to the glowering substance. “Then will we get in trouble if we throw some at you, Miss Moon?” she asks playfully.

“Not really, if you don’t consider getting left out here for a few more weeks trouble.”

Taehyung groans “I used to dream of going here as a recruit in training, not for punishment. This is really, truly, too much.”

“At least you got here earlier than your peers,” Moonbyul smiles, genuinely this time, “Both of you just got promoted to S class right? The principal announced it all over campus? Congratulations, both of you.”

Wheein winces. 

She doesn’t even want to be an S class.

The S class is a special rank for students ready for recruitment. In other words, S class students are almost definitely going to be a part of the Force, an organization of the nation’s best fighters, responsible of protecting everyone else from harm, especially from villains. Being in the Force is a big dream for a lot of kids with superhuman abilities, it is considered the noblest job for a mutant, which makes S class a goal for most students in the academy.

Unfortunately for Wheein, this year they only promoted two students from her old rank, A class, to S class. They are, to no one’s surprise, Wheein and Taehyung.

Wheein manages to bite back the bitterness she almost spit out, and smiles back at Moonbyul instead. “Thanks, Miss Moon.” Taehyung only bows, too giddy to say anything (he must be happy with his rank now)

“Keep up the good work, okay” Moonbyul winks, “You still have half a section to clean up before dusk” and she disappears, probably teleporting to the HQ.

Taehyung chucks a piece of goo into his cylinder. “And she said she wouldn’t leave us out of her sight.” 

The sun is setting and it casts the sky a ruddy orange when Taehyung and Wheein finally finish cleaning their assigned section of the ghost town. They spend the last few minutes of sunlight arranging the cylinders they managed to use, and by the time darkness sinks in and a few of the streetlights flicker to life, a pickup truck pulls over.

A couple of guards climb out and help Taehyung and Wheein load everything into the pickup. Taehyung is in the middle of yawning and stretching, mind filled with sleep, when one of the guards start unloading another set of cylinders. 

Empty ones.

“What are those for?” Wheein asks incredulously.

“Since the academy now knows of your whereabouts, we’re allowed to assign you night shifts,” the other guard replies as he hands Wheein two sets of lunchboxes and water bottles, “So you kids better refuel. It’s gonna be a long night.”

Taehyung and Wheein break into a chorus of groans.

“I heard they’ll cut your time here if you guys stay keen,” the guard chuckles. “Besides, there’s back up,” he points to the car.

Wheein then realizes that there’s a third person leaning on the side of the pick up, clad in the same outfit as her and Taehyung; jumpsuit, boots, gloves, and gas mask. The person waves their hand, and Wheein gingerly waves her own.

“Okay,” the guard who’s been unloading new cylinders to the street claps, “We’ll pick you kids again at around 9 pm. Work hard, now,” He climbs back into the pick up, his coworker following right after, and before long the car disappears to a corner, leaving Wheein with Taehyung and the mysterious person.

Taehyung doesn’t seem to mind the person’s sudden appearance, or maybe he still hasn’t realized. He just snatches his lunchbox from Wheein and plops down to the (now clean) curb without a word, visibly upset by their night shift.

Wheein turns to greet the newcomer, but the other person is already approaching her. The person takes off the gas mask covering their face, and Wheein lets out a squeal of delight when she sees who’s standing right before her.

“Sowon!!” Wheein cheers as she runs to her tall friend.

“Wheein!” Sowon cries back, pulling Wheein into a hug as the she comes charging at her, “I miss you so much!”

“I miss you too!” Wheein snuggles into Sowon’s neck, “Why didn’t you come to school?”

“I have to accompany my dad check out our sister schools and stuff, you know, the usual,” Sowon explains, “I just got back yesterday. Imagine my surprise when I found out you were sent off here.”

“Uh huh,” Wheein hums, “What are you doing all the way down here, anyway?”

“To meet you, of course,” Sowon replies with a giggle.

Wheein narrows her eyes. “Liar.”

The sound of Sowon’s laughter makes Wheein feels like all her fatigue has been lifted off her. 

Deep inside, Wheein believes Sowon’s words. Her friend doesn’t have any reason to be here, and even if she did, her father, the principal, wouldn’t let Sowon get sent to Area 24 out of all the possible punishments the academy has instrumented. Wheein’s sure Sowon just missed her, or got too fed up with dealing w