When Bora stepped in the dorms, a smile was still plastered on her lips. Her evening with Jackson had oddly managed to lift up her spirits. She had maybe lost the first Trial but she had successfully pocketed a new asset. 

“Woah.”

Bora snapped out of her reverie and froze when she took in the sight that awaited her. 

She had walked in what looked like a common room and dozens of young girls were staring up at her with doe-eyes, and a little of something that looked like fear reflecting in their eyes. 

They were all partaking in different activities, some reading on couches, others playing a video game or billiard but they all halted upon Bora’s entrance. 

A current passed through the recruits and they all jumped to their feet, back straight like invisible hands had coerced them into this display of obedience. 

“There’s really no need for,” she cast a glance to the recruits, “...all that.”

“Are you sure?” said one girl, wary. Her hair was wet and her skin red, seemingly just hopped out of a shower. Bora was probably asking her to break some protocole there but she didn’t care. 

That felt way too formal. 

“One hundred percent.” Bora nodded vehemently. 

The girl with the towel waved at them dismissively and the girls dispersed, some returning to their previous activities while others lingered closeby. 

One of them had a pink lollipop in hand and joined Towel-Girl next to Bora.

“Is there a problem?” the girl asked, the question burning her tongue.

Bora laughed. “Why would there be something wrong?”

“Well, what are you doing in the dorms? Do you need some recruits?”

“No. I’ll be staying here.”

“But why? I mean… We thought you’d be staying at the mansion, or at least on Cloud Nine. With top agents, you know?” 

“Well, I wanted to see how things work at the Cliff.”

The lie rolled out of way too easily. Division was already changing her. She didn’t really like that version of herself. This Bora could lie, cheat and had no qualms about manipulating people to get what she wanted.

She didn’t exactly envision herself saying “right, Solar kicked me out of Cloud Nine.”

The two girls exchanged a glance. They wanted to say something, Bora could tell but they hesitated. 

“There are some mad rumours about you, y’know?” the lollipop girl finally said. “Some people were convinced that your father kept you away so he could train you and that when you’d be ready he’d come back to make you the heiress of all this.”

The towel girl widened her eyes and pinched her friend at the hip.

“That’s not what this is.” Bora shook her head. “I didn’t know anything about Division two weeks ago!”

“Then where did you learn how to do that?” 

“Do what?” Bora frowned. 

“The move you did on Mark at the Initiation.”

“My father taught it to me,” she responded mechanically. 

The two girls exchanged a triumphant look and realization dawned upon Bora. 

“It’s not—”

She couldn’t try to convince them that she wasn’t part of some scheme to make her heiress of the biggest crime organization in the country because right when she opened , she was cut by a shout. 

“Attention!”

Bora whipped around to see Solar enter. She was flanked by guards on each side. One of them held another girl by the arm. 

Bora recognized her instantly. It was the girl from the kitchens. The one who had tried to escape Division. 

Solar’s eyes swiftly swept over the recruits and satisfaction glimmered in her eyes as she took in their docile postures. 

“Girls, let me introduce you to your new friend. Kang Seulgi. Some of you met her ahead of her Initiation unfortunately. Irene,” she trained her eyes in the direction of Towel-Girl. “I count on you to make her feel like home.”

“Yes!” Irene shouted solemnly.

She cast a look at Lollipop-Girl. The latter scurried to Seulgi and caught her by the arm, easing her weight out of the guard’s grasp.

Seulgi was like a puppet with dislocated limbs. The only thing that seemed to keep her up was the other girl’s grip around her arm. Her back sloped, her legs wobbled and her head hung, making her hair cover her face.

The frenzy she had demonstrated in the kitchens was gone. It was as though her spirits had been broken. Her eyes were utterly empty.

Shivers ran up and down Bora’s spine as she tried to imagine what might have happened to Seulgi in isolation. 

Solar’s eyes moved on to Bora. 

She stuck out like a sore thumb against the sea of recruits. Shoulders hunched over and arms crossed over her chest, she looked at Solar’s display of authority with disdain. She’d sooner die than show any type of reverence to Solar. 

Solar said nothing, but Bora still could see the murderous twinkle in her eyes. She her heels and stormed out of the commons. 

As soon as she went out, recruits relaxed their stances and a light hubbub of conversations filled the room again.

“Come on,” Irene jerked her head at Bora. “Let’s go get some sleep in. Wendy,” she called out to the girl who was struggling to keep Seulgi upright. “Take her.”

The girl called Wendy approached them, Seulgi in tow. 

“That was Overwatch, but I reckon you already met her.” She snickered, alluding to Bora’s Initiation. “She’s in charge of operations here at Division. She decides who goes on the field, our assignments. She’s really good at reading people.”

“I want to be a Wiper so bad.” Irene bit her lip and walked them to a door at the back of the common room.

Bora followed, ignoring the gazes that followed them. 

“You’re too pretty to be a Wiper,” Wendy said, supporting Seulgi by an arm. “You scream Mozhno.”

The bedrooms essentially reminded Bora of a prison. It was row after row of bunk beds. More recruits were in there, lying on the beds, chatting, changing clothes. If Bora didn’t know better, she’d think she was at some summer camp.

That was not exactly the vibe she expected getting from this place.

They stopped next to an empty bunk bed, and Irene pulled out comforters and pillows out of a creaky metallic cabinet before readying the two beds.

“What’s a Mozhno?” Bora furrowed her brows as Wendy’s comment registered.

“They’re girls who are deployed on the field as their targets’... love interest.”

Irene faked a gag as she scaled the bed ladder and set up the pillow and sheets. “I’d rather be a Babysitter.”

“There’s nothing worse than being a Sleeper,” Wendy countered as she eased Seulgi down on the lower bed and removed her shoes. “When you’re a Babysitter at least you have someone to protect, there’s some danger. But a Sleeper? You’re there, just in case. There’s no promise.”

Bora scrunched her face up in confusion. “Promise of what?”

The girl smiled darkly. “Action.”

“I wouldn’t mind being a Sleeper,” Irene intervened as she jumped back down. “If I get to be deployed with Taeyong.” She looked dreamily and sighed. “I can just imagine us with a fake baby, being a perfect family.”

As Bora took in all that new information, her eyes couldn’t help from drifting to Seulgi’s petite figure. She had no visible injury but she seemed weak and broken. She was merely the shell of the girl from the kitchens.

“What happened to her?” Bora asked hesitantly. “In isolation?” 

Irene shrugged. “You’ll never know.”

Bora didn’t try to pry further. Irene passed her a change of clothes for the night. She took the upper bed and the fatigue of the day pulled her under in a matter of seconds.

***

The following morning, Bora got down to the dining hall to have breakfast with Wendy and Irene. She was immensely relieved to have them by her side as she entered the room. She felt less alone and more equipped to take on the stares.

They sat at a table and the two girls talked animatedly about the first Trial. Bora really didn’t feel like replaying the events in her head. It was humiliating enough that she’d lost. She thought she must have looked pathetic in the eyes of all these trained assassins to have wanted to save Overwatch of a fall instead of going for victory. 

Bora was surprised when she realized that they didn’t even mention that. They were all too busy speaking about how she had jumped off the Tower and caught the helicopter in flight. 

Jackson had been right. Her stunt did make an impression. In their eyes, she just looked… cool. 

Added to that the fact that they were convinced she was part of a scheme to make her heiress of Division, they were absolutely blindsided. They entertained an idealized image of her and she didn’t know if that was a good thing. 

She felt like a fraud. She had no idea what she was doing but they somehow thought she had everything figured out. It was madness. 

Bora knew better than to correct them. Better they think she was some sort of badass assassin who’d trained all her life to get there. 

She was absentmindedly playing with the food in her plate. The prospect of her first training with Jackson was tying a knot in her stomach. She was too excited to down any food.

He’d told her he would come get her in the morning, right after breakfast. Her leg bounced up and down as she waited for him.

Caught up in her thoughts as she was, she still felt a looming presence as someone slid in the empty bench spot in front of her. She didn’t need to raise her head to know who that was.

Apparently it wasn’t enough that Solar had tried to kill her multiple times. She made it a point of honor to annoy Bora any chance she got. 

Bora stabbed a radish with her fork. “What.” 

She kept her eyes trained on the silver tray. No response came and she waited long seconds but Solar wouldn’t stop staring at her. 

Bora tried to keep her temper in check. She really did. But the more seconds passed, the more nothing happened, the more her anger meter was edging on the red. 

She snapped her head up. 

“What are you looking at, ?”

Recruits’ eyes widened and she heard Wendy make a strangled sound. 

A humorless smile curled the corner of Solar’s lip. 

“You’re gonna die in here,” she murmured for Bora’s ears only.  “I hope you know that.”

The thread holding her patience together snapped. She sprang to her feet and flung her silver platter at Solar’s face. Bits of food splattered all over her, sauce staining her spotless clothes.

The clatter of metal made every head turn in their direction. A collective gasp rose from the other tables.

Solar jumped back and started for Bora but the girl had already whipped out a butter knife and pointed it menacingly her way. 

“Try me.” Bora gritted her teeth together.

She would not let herself be bullied by Solar. She had attempted ing murder on her. And Bora was not one to not bite back.

“Enough!” A new voice intervened. It resonated against the cavernous walls of the dining hall and brought everyone to a standstill.

Bora didn’t leave her eyes from Solar nor did she relinquish her hold around the knife. 

“Now, now,” Jackson entered her line of sight and grabbed Solar by the arm, “don’t you have better things to do than harass our new girl?” His eyes slid over to Bora next and he cocked his head. “I’d put that down if I were you.”

Bora stayed still for a few seconds. She trained her eyes on Jackson. He gave her a strong look that meant back down. 

She tossed the knife away and the shadow of approval crept in his eyes. 

“If anyone wants to fight,” his eyes went between Solar and Bora. “They take it to the training grounds. That’s worth for all of you!” he added as his eyes scanned the recruits.

He jerked his head towards the exit as he looked back at Bora. A silent injunction to follow him. He walked away and she went after him, casting a last dirty look at Solar. 

As soon as they were out of the dining hall, he whipped around. 

He opened his mouth once then clo