After the men all finish showering, they start changing into their normal gear. Youngjae finishes up first and tells the boys he needs to take care of an errand real quick so he’s the first to leave the locker room.

“Since it’s only 0730, let’s all meet at the break room around 0900 to chill before shooting practice!” Youngjae says.

“Alright, see you later, Youngjae,” Zelo replies.

The remaining three men finish changing and decide to go take a relaxing morning stroll around the base. They leave the training facility and start heading towards the trail. Once on the trail, they follow the pavement to wherever it leads observing their surroundings and make some small talk, mainly between Zelo and Jongup. They see other soldiers partaking in their daily routines as some are delivering supplies to different areas on the base and doing other simple tasks; on the other hand, some soldiers don’t have it as easy. They continue down the path to see over a hundred new rookies beginning their basic training. Zelo flinches at the thought of basic training as he was just released from it only a few months ago. When he first started off, he constantly asked himself why he was putting himself through all that work and pain. The end result was satisfying now that he’s back with his best friend, Daehyun.

“So, why did you decide to join the military, Jongup?” Zelo asks, curious to know Jongup’s reason for joining.

“I’m not really sure. I didn’t know what to do with my life after I finished school so I figured I’d join the military. I mean, I was always pretty good at physical things growing up and partook in a lot of sports in school so I figured it couldn’t be too bad. Typical answer right?”

“Yeah, I guess. I never really thought about it but I guess a lot of people here don’t really know what they want in life,” Zelo responds.

“Well, what do you want in life?” ask Jongup.

“Hmmm… I don’t know… I mean, I guess I want to get married, have kids, and to have a good paying job to support my family. Now that’s a really typical answer right there,” Zelo says before lightly laughing and Jongup laughs along. “Hey look, there are the dorms!  You know, I’m actually pretty beat down from earlier today so I think I might take a nap,” Zelo says once he spots the large, brick buildings.

“Yeah, we still have a long day ahead of us, Zelo, so that wouldn’t be a bad idea. You should probably go do that.”

“Alright, I think I will. I’ll just meet up with you all at the shooting range! Let Youngjae know for me when you see him later!”

“Okay, will do.”

--------------------------------------------------

“Hello, Jieun. Did you happen to see Captain Bang walk by here?” Youngjae says to the office worker at the front desk of the training facility.

“Oh, yes. He did walk by here and went that way. I believe he was heading towards the upper lounge,” she replies in a sweet voice.

Youngjae smiles and thanks her and she smiles back. He starts heading up the stairs in search for Yongguk. While making his way down the hall of the 3^rd floor, he thinks to himself, wondering how Yongguk is doing. He knows only higher-up officials are allowed in the upper lounge but he can’t leave Yongguk alone. Once he finally reaches the lounge, he opens the door quietly and enters. He sees Yongguk’s back, who is sitting at a table, with his hands in his hair while his elbows rest against the table top. He walks towards a torn Yongguk and sits down next to him. Youngjae just sits there, pondering on what to say. He thinks to himself asking, “Why didn’t I think about what I was going to say before I walked in here?! I’m so stupid sometimes!” What he doesn’t know is all Yongguk needs is his presence.  After a few long minutes of silence, Yongguk decides to speak up first.

“It was my fault… I’ll never forgive myself for what happened that day…” he says quietly, his voice showing how his emotions are eating him up on the inside.

“Yongguk… we both know it wasn’t your fault… Don’t think of it that way…”

“But it was my fault!” he says slamming one of his fist on the table, furious at himself. “If only I was faster, he would still be here today!”

“Shhhh… calm down, Yongguk… it’s okay,” Youngjae says in a soothing voice, one hand rubbing Yongguk’s back.

“It’s not okay…,” Yongguk replies in a calmer manner, “What if I up again? I don’t think I’m ready to put our squad back on missions…”

“You didn’t up and that won’t happen again, I promise.”

“How can you be so sure?” Yongguk angrily mutters through his teeth, anger directed towards himself.

“Well, my gut feeling is just telling me that everything will be okay. We need to move on from this Yongguk… he wouldn’t want to see you like this...”

“Maybe you’re right… maybe it is finally time to move on… but it’s just so hard…,” Yongguk says.

“You’re thinking about him because of Zelo, right?” Youngjae questions.

Yongguk doesn’t answer. He doesn’t answer because it’s not true, or at least he doesn’t want it to be true.

“Zelo reminds me of him… Jongup thinks so too.”

“They’re nothing alike! Don’t even compare him to Zelo!” Yongguk says angrily as he stands up and marches out of the room.

Youngjae stands there and watches Yongguk storm out. “Guess I was right,” Youngjae thinks to himself.

--------------------------------------------------

“So, how did Zelo and you meet?” Jongup says, looking over at Daehyun.

“Neighbors,” Daehyun replies, still keeping his eyes on the trail.

“Oh, so you guys are like childhood friends?”

Daehyun nods.

“Well, you guys must be really close for him to follow you to the military.”

“Sure,” Daehyun answers monotonously sounding uninterested in conversing.

“I mean, he probably looks up to you or something.”

Daehyun shrugs.

“Yeah…,” Jongup says once he runs out of things to say.

Ever since Zelo left to go take a nap, Jongup has been making an effort to get to know his new colleague but his attempt seems futile. Apparently, Daehyun really doesn’t seem to be the social type like Zelo said and Jongup feels a bit awkward being around him; he just can’t figure this Daehyun guy out. They continue walking down the trail in silence and after about five minutes, Jongup can’t take the awkward silence anymore. “I have to say something,” he thinks to himself.

“So… what kinds of things do you like to do?” he says going for another try at conversing.

Daehyun shrugs.

“…”

“…”

“Okay… well… do you like sports?”

Daehyun nods.

“What kinds of sports do you like to play?”

“Whatever,” Daehyun responds, still looking straight down the path in front of them.

“...”

“…”

“… Uhhh… what about basketball?” Jongup asks, scratching his head as he tries to think of things to say fast.

“Sure.”

“Really?!” Jongup exclaims, finally finding something they can relate to. “The basketball court is right over there so how about a game before we have to head over to the break room?”

Daehyun doesn’t reply, still looking straight down the trail and not bothering to look in the direction of where Jongup is pointing, which is apparently the basketball court.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” Jongup says before heading towards the court. “Now only if I could get him to say more than just one word,” Jongup thinks, eyes rolling in the back of his mind.

Daehyun stands there and watches Jongup walk towards the court before Jongup turns around and motions for him to come along. Daehyun follows. The two men continue the rest of their walk in silence and Jongup thanks the gods once they finally reach the court. He tells Daehyun to wait at the court as he goes inside the gym to grab a ball. Once he returns, it’s game on.

“Don’t expect me to go easy on you just because you’re new!” Jongup says as he runs towards the court with the ball in his arm.

Daehyun doesn’t reply and doesn’t even turn to look at Jongup. “Whatever,” Jongup thinks before he starts to dribble the ball.  He begins the game and takes his first shot only to have the ball be slammed down towards the ground. As Daehyun retrieves the ball, he lands a three pointer soon after. The game carries on and Daehyun continues to make shots after shots while Jongup is all over the place. Jongup dribbles the ball and tries to get pass Daehyun only to lose control of the ball giving Daehyun a perfect opportunity to steal and to score. The score stands 38-17, with Daehyun in the lead.

“Okay, I lied to you when I said I wasn’t going to go easy on you, but I won’t hold back anymore!” Jongup lies.

Daehyun nods, face blank. “At least he’s responding with body language. That’s a start,” Jongup thinks to himself.

Jongup pulls everything he has out of himself and finally slides past Daehyun and lands a dunk. Daehyun now has the ball and Jongup has his defenses up. Daehyun takes his time dribbling the ball closer to the goal while Jongup tries to steal the ball. Jongup sees and opening to grab the ball but Daehyun quickly and swiftly moves out of Jongup’s way causing Jongup to fall straight to the ground. Jongup can’t help but to groan once he hears the “swoosh” of the net.

Jongup rolls to his back and sees Daehyun standing over him with and extended arm. Jongup takes hold of Daehyun’s hand and is pulled back up to his feet.

“Why are you so freakishly good at everything?” Jongup ask sarcastically while swatting the dirt from the court off his clothes.

Daehyun shrugs.

“Well, I think it’s about time we head over to the break room. We better hurry before Youngjae freaks out on us for being late.”

Daehyun nods.

“I’m trying to make conversation with you here and all I can get is one word out of you here and there,” Jongup says jokingly even though he’s slightly frustrated in the inside.

Daehyun stares blankly at Jongup.

“Or not even a single word apparently,” Jongup says before slapping the palm of his hand on his forehead and shakes his head in defeat.

--------------------------------------------------

“What took you guys so long?! It’s already 0905!”

“Chill, chill! We’re only five minutes late,” Jongup replies, “We were playing basketball.”

“No wonder you look beat up. Who won? What was the score?” Youngjae asks, looking at Jongup, who turns away not wanting to answer.

“Okay, well since Jongup obviously doesn’t want to tell me, how the game end, Daehyun?”

“I won. 89-34.”

“… Wow… you just got your assed whooped,” Youngjae says, looking over at Jongup, who suddenly turns around and retorts, “Shut up! I was going easy on him!”

“Uh huh… sure you were. Anyways, where is Zelo?”

“He’s taking a nap right now. He was pretty beat up from this morning,” Jongup replies quietly, pride slightly hurt from losing so badly.

“Poor guy. Captain Bang was a little hard on him with it being his first day and all.”

“Yeah…,” Jongup agrees.

“Well, it’s only going to get tougher from here on out.”