[training]

Crescent
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Byul stands with her back against the wall, watching as they demonstrate to her basic martial art skills, with San and Jongho facing each other. They can't tell who's winning because both have their own plus points; the youngest relies on his strength while the older relies on speed.

Sweat glistens on both of their faces as again they head towards each other, but unfortunately Jongho misses a step as he trips over the training mat. San takes this opportunity to slam the back of his leg at the area between the former's shoulder blades, slamming him down onto the floor. Jongho raises up his hand, admitting defeat.

"That's what we usually do for beginners," San says, helping Jongho to stand up. "Unless you're ready to do something more complex."

Byul pushes herself off the wall and walks to the stand that stores different kind of combat weapons; from melee, range to flexible weapons. Her fingers dance across the choices of weapons, thinking of which one she'd curl her fingers around. The rest eye her as her hand stops on the blunt-ended wooden sticks, automatically stepping back as she takes one and swings it in a half-arch, pointing one end towards Hongjoong.

"Up for a match?" she invites before throwing the stick to him. He catches it swiftly, tilting his head towards the training mat.

"She's not even restraining herself and going straight for the captain," Yeosang comments. "This should be interesting."

She plucks one stick from the stand, walks with her head down to stand in front of Hongjoong, who has his stance ready as he tightens the grip around the stick. She seems to stumble around for a moment before she gets to the position where she would be face to face with him. She rests one end of the stick on the ground, wrapping her hands on the other and resting her chin against her hands.

"I don't discriminate," Hongjoong says, kicking the stick so it's launched off the ground, catching it mid-air. "Whether you're a beginner or not," he holds it horizontally, "my opponents are all the same to me."

"One thing about you, Mr. Kim, is that you've been offending me a lot ever since the beginning. I get where you're coming from since you're a man of many talents," she expresses, earning an 'ooh' from both Wooyoung and San as they look on, impressed. "But too bad you ruined an innocent girl's life because of you can't keep your mouth shut."

"Oh snap," Seonghwa hisses. "They haven't even started but it's getting hot in here."

"Less talking, more action then." Hongjoong strikes, in hopes of taking her by surprise at his sudden attack but she is all prepared as she slides backwards on the mat, the blunt end missing from driving into her skull just by a few inches.

She hits him from the side using the middle part of her stick, causing him to loosen his grip on his weapon. As if in slow motion, she throws her weapon in the air, using the few seconds of her free hands to steal from his loosened grip and lets the one in the air fall rightfully into her hand. She spins on her heel to give a spinning kick to his torso, and he falls down onto the mat, skidding before he rams sideways into the foam-padded wall. She crosses one end of the weapon over the other, pointing them towards him.

With all of them slack-jawed with the short but impactful show, Mingi and Yeosang are the first to clap their hands before they are joined in by the oldest, their applause resonating in the training room. San does little to hide how proud he is seeing her bringing down Hongjoong without much fuss.

Yunho has been quiet since they started the training, as he feels that there's a spark igniting from one end of a severed memory as he watches her fighting style. There are subtle differences in how she brings herself from his memories of Lee Eunbi, but he's not ready to bring down his theory that this girl right here just might be Hwayoung's mother.

Throwing away the sticks onto the ground, she stretches out a hand to help Hongjoong up, who has yet to register that he had lost an impromptu match against Byul. With a grunt he gets up, hiding the embarrassment he felt as a small smile plays on Seonghwa's lips, looking like he's about to jeer at him for his loss.

"Hongjoong is one of the best when it comes to weapons," Yeosang comments. "And you beat up his in one try. What the heck just happened?"

"Just luck, probably," she shrugs, but she doesn't deny the slight smirk that creeps up on her face. "I'm not really good at close-range combat."

"You said you learnt taekwondo, didn't you?" Mingi butts in, picking up the sticks and stowing them away. "You basically slammed Yunho on the ground when you first came to the cafe. Black belt?"

"Yeah," she says sheepishly.

"San's a black belt too, a 3rd dan," Wooyoung says, looking too proud as he loops an arm around his team member's waist, hugging him close. "Which dan are you?"

"Only the second one," she says humbly, baring her teeth. "Not a match for San."

"Are you sure you're not a match?" San asks, lifting up his eyebrows partially. "Aren't you being too humble Ms. Han? Look at our leader, he's too quiet ever since you beat him. Come on, let's see if you're really no match for me."

"I let her win on purpose," Hongjoong defends himself, huffing. "I didn't want her to cry again because she's been doing that too much."

"Sure, Hongjoong."

San goes over to the metal stand and snatches off two protective body gears, giving one to Byul who catches it with her left hand. He goes over to her and without being asked he helps her to wear the headgear, with Yunho rolling his eyes until he could see the back of his head. San is making too obvious that he has taken a liking to her, while Yunho knows that he has no rights to stop him from making a move.

With the protective gear on, Byul waddles over to the centre of the practice ground again, looking like a cute penguin as she waits for him to get ready, the knots of his protective body gear being made up by Wooyoung. As they stand facing each other, she looks unsure on how she should proceed with her stance that San lowers down his fists and observes her worriedly.

"What's wrong? Not feeling well?"

"No," she answers simply, and turns to a question, "how far can I go?"

He shrugs, "As far as you can."

"Are you sure?" she squeaks.

"Yeah."

San ends up regretting his decision to let her go as far as she can, because by the end of their sparring session he is sprawled on the floor, with Wooyoung and Mingi rushing to his side when they see that he was not moving. She had let him land the first kick on the pad on her body - the only attack she had allowed herself to receive - as she retaliated and showered multiple kicks to him, sending him stumbling backwards before she launched herself off the ground and landed a solid kick against his chest, putting the session to a close.

"Okay now I'm scared," Jongho vocalizes as he stands behind Seonghwa. "She's not human."

San heaves himself up, stumbling around as he shakes his head, trying

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Magbuull5245 #1
Chapter 70: By far the best book I have read. Laughing, crying, deep thinking. Just amazing!
jeongsclown
#2
Chapter 3: LMFAO THEY'RE SO CHAOTIC I LOVE IT
Manna-chan #3
Chapter 70: This story is amazing! You are so talented, the flow of the story, the way you managed to tell about all of them without it seeming forced or weird. I love it, thank you for making me smile, cry, smile again and cry happy tears at the end. Thank you for sharing this story with us <'333
WiltedStar
#4
Chapter 1: You're such a great writer.
Jade_Flower #5
Chapter 70: Loved it!!
TaeTae_wife
#6
Chapter 70: I so love your story! It's the fist Ateez story that I read and it's WOW!
Congratulations!!!! <3
MsPinKai
#7
Chapter 70: THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME SHED HAPPY TEARS ??? this was EVERYTHING!!!! One of the best written stories & plotline ever! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Animeakume
#8
Chapter 70: prepared my heart for a tragic ending but tHANK GOD ??? shed happy tears instead but it’s all worth it

i love this whole story so much! defs one of my go tos for rereading <3 thank you so much for this amazing story
Animeakume
#9
Chapter 57: i cracked and bawled my eyes out when yunho and byul repeated that they said back then as trainees ??? the whole “Dont you wish everything here is an illusion” “us, being here?” “No you idiot” back and forth conversation ohmyheart
MsPinKai
#10
Chapter 51: just when I was already believing that she 's not eunbi.......OH. MY. GOD.