“You have to admit that he’s pretty good,” Youngjae says quietly to Yongguk, not wanting to break anyone’s concentration as the other three men on Squad 6 take their shots at targets.

Daehyun hits every target with much precision and accuracy. If he’s commanded to take a head shot, he perfectly lands a hit on the target’s head. If he’s commanded to shoot directly at the heart, he perfectly hits the location of the heart on the target. If he’s commanded to take a shot at the wrists or ankles, his target will be dropping whatever is in his hands or will drop straight to the ground not being able to take another step.

“Yeah… but Zelo on the other hand… Zelo! What do you call that?! How do you expect to hit someone on missions if you can’t even hit the ing bullseye?! You’re going to give the enemy a perfect chance to shoot your dead!” Yongguk replies to Youngjae before yelling at Zelo, who barely hits the edge of the target.

“Maybe you’re being a little hard on him?” Youngjae whispers to Yongguk.

“Hard?! You think I’m being hard?! Let me show you what hard is! Zelo! Go put on some gear and prepare to go into the simulator!” Yongguk retorts, loud enough for everyone to hear him.

“Captain Bang, you’re being ridiculous. He’s not going to be able to handle the simulator on his first day. I still have a rough time in there,” Youngjae says trying to sway Yongguk’s command.

“Yeah, maybe you should take it a little easy, Captain Bang. I mean, it’s just our first day back to training,” Jongup agrees.

“What kind of attitude is this?! You guys must ing want to fail and die on all our missions! We don’t have time to take it easy! We have to be ready at any given moment! Who knows when the general will put us on a mission! He could send out an order to put us on one right now! Zelo! Why are you still standing there?! Did I stutter when I told you to put on some ing gear?!”

“N-no, Sir! You didn’t, Sir!” Zelo stutters.

“Then get your in some gear! You too, Daehyun! Let’s see what you got,” Yongguk barks before stomping away from his squad.

“Yes, Captain Bang!” Zelo replies to Yongguk’s back.

Youngjae and Jongup help Zelo and Daehyun get into the protective gear as they prepare to go into the simulator. They try to reassure Zelo that he will be fine and try to give him as many tips as they can before Yongguk returns. Zelo tries to take everything in but his head is just spinning with so many thoughts and emotions. Will he be able to do this or will he just disappoint Captain Bang again? Anger, frustration, horror, disappointment, nervousness, anxiety, and many other emotions fill up Zelo.

“I don’t think I can do this…” Zelo mumbles, fear in his voice.

“Yes you can, Zelo. Don’t freak out. We’ll be able to talk to you through the headgear so just pay attention to your surroundings and us. Okay?” Youngjae says soothingly, trying to reassure Zelo once again.

“But-”

Jongup cuts Zelo off, “Stop. You can do it. We believe in you, so believe in yourself. We’re a team and we’re going to help you through it.”

Zelo looks up at Jongup and Youngjae who both smile at him and give him a good pat on the back. After five minutes of sitting around and trying to mentally prepare himself, Zelo sees Yongguk returning and jumps up onto his feet.

“Daehyun, you go first,” Yongguk says, more calmly but his voice still strong.

“Yes, Sir.”

Daehyun puts on his protective headgear, walks down four flights of stairs and steps into the simulator. Once inside, the rest of the squad watches him from overhead through a glass screen. Youngjae sits at the control desk with his headset on preparing to start the mock mission.

“Alright, Daehyun. Your mission is to take down the terrorists and to locate and deactivate a bomb before it destroys the city. You have twenty minutes. Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Get ready. Go!”

Daehyun slowly walks through the simulator as his mission begins. The simulator is modeled off of a city in the Middle East; anyone inside would actually believe that they’re in the desert as the simulator regulates the same conditions that one would feel in the Middle East. Daehyun begins to feel the heat but doesn’t let that distract him. He hears something to his left and quickly turns to shoot a target that pops up from a window of a house. One thing about the simulator is that these targets are not the same as the ones in the shooting range; these targets are designed to fire bullets at the person inside the simulator. Although the bullets are not fatal and will not pierce through the gear or even someone’s skin, they do pack a punch with the impact they give.

As Daehyun continues through the city, terrorists pop up from everywhere. He shoots down targets hidden behind barrels, carts, from rooftops, and everywhere else one could think of hiding.

“His reaction time is so fast, he doesn’t even give the targets a chance to take a shot at him,” Jongup says to Yongguk.

“Youngjae, turn on the civilian option,” Yongguk says.

“But that changes part of the mission,” Youngjae replies after turning off his headset so Daehyun can’t hear.

“How much does it change? All he has to do is not shoot civilians. Also, bump up the difficult from moderate to hard. Now, let’s see his if his reaction is all just a mere killer instinct…,” Yongguk says, smirking to himself.

“Okay…,” Youngjae replies with hesitance before hitting the switch to activate the civilian targets and the other switch to raise the difficulty level.

He reactivates his headset and tells Daehyun that he has reached the four-minute mark. Daehyun begins to notice a change. More targets are popping up at the same time, but still, he shoots them all down. The targets begin taking shots at him and he begins rolling to the ground dodging shots behind different objects. Even on this level, Daehyun’s skill don’t falter one bit. As he rests behind a stack of crates while targets are shooting at him, he takes his time to take each down one by one. He peeks out from behind the crates and shoots down multiple targets at once before returning to his hiding position. Once he takes them all down, he cautiously move deeper into the city trying to locate the bomb. After walking around for several seconds, something feels off to him. “Where are all the terrorists?” he begins to think and suddenly he hears something from behind. He turns around, finger on the trigger and flinches in surprise; a civilian.

“He didn’t shoot…,” Jongup says under his breath.

“Maybe he’s human after all… there’s actually a heart inside of that killer,” Yongguk says with a snicker.

Daehyun stands there staring at the civilian with the gun still in his hand. He still feels like something is off but he can’t put his finger around it.

“Daehyun be-!” Youngjae shouts into the headset only to find Daehyun way ahead of him.

Daehyun swiftly rolls down to his right and a bullet hits the ground where he was just standing. He quickly shifts his position to locate the target that just tried to shoot him down. Even with all the sand and dust flying in the air from the powerful impact the bullet landed, he takes the target down in a matter of a second.

“Holy crap!” Jongup exclaims.

“… -hind you… Well then… looks like you got this all under control…,” Youngjae mutters.

“I don’t care what you just said, Captain Bang, but he’s not human! Zelo, what the hell is he?!” Jongup says, still full of excitement and awe from what he just saw.

Zelo doesn’t answer, completely breaking down on the inside as he watches Daehyun because he knows he’s next and he knows he can’t do it. He knows he’s going to be a disappointment for Yongguk and the rest of his squad again. And he knows he doesn’t deserve to be part of Squad 6.

“Did you see that?! His reaction rate is so ridiculously fast! Like, I don’t even know how he does that! How did he even know there was a sniper from behind?!” Jongup chatters, now sounding like Youngjae, who doesn’t know when to shut up.

“Alright, alright. I’ll admit it, he’s good,” Yongguk says in defeat but with a smirk on his face knowing that Daehyun will be a great asset to Squad 6.

In a matter of minutes, Daehyun finally locates the bomb in a building after taking out a few more targets and avoiding some more civilians. He disables the bomb in seconds and the time stops.

“He completed the mission in less than ten minutes!” Jongup exclaims.

“Good job, Daehyun. Go take a break and relax. You deserve it,” Yongguk says once Daehyun joins the squad after finishing his simulated mission and taking off his headgear.

Everyone congratulates Daehyun, giving him a few playful jabs to the arm and patting his back; all except for Zelo. Zelo stands there, still looking through the glass window in fear, not wanting to go down there but his thoughts are cut short.

“Zelo! Get down there right now! It’s your turn to show me what you got!”

Zelo doesn’t even reply back and heads to the stairs leading down to the simulator like a zombie. Youngjae, who senses the trepidation of his teammate, tells Yongguk that he’s going to make sure all of Zelo’s gear is put on properly and heads downstairs with him. Before Zelo reaches the door, Youngjae does his best to reassure Zelo for a final time. Zelo stares out of the small window on the door that leads into the simulator. Youngjae walks over to Zelo to stand next to him and rests his hand on Zelo's shoulder.

“Zelo, trust me. You’ll be fine,” he says.

“I really don’t-”

“Zelo,” Youngjae says firmly. “I’ll help you out okay? Like I told you, pay attention to your surroundings and I’ll help guide you okay?”

“Alright...,”

“Be more confident! You can do it! Say it!” Youngjae cheers, trying to pep up Zelo.

“I can do it,” Zelo says flatly.

“What? I couldn’t hear you. Shout it!”

“I can do it,” Zelo says, raising his voice just a bit.

“Come on, Zelo! Louder!” Youngjae shouts.

Something snaps inside of Zelo and his mood takes a 360, “You’re right. I can do it! I will do it!”

“Now that’s the spirit! Get in there and prove yourself!”

“Thanks, Youngjae. I really needed that,” he says, shooting a smile to Youngjae before putting on his headgear and heading into the simulator.

Youngjae smiles back and heads upstairs to the control desk. He places on his headset and tells Zelo his mission.

“Alright Zelo, just like Daehyun, you need to shoot down the terrorists you see but instead of locating and deactivating a bomb, you need to locate a hostage inside the terrorist base and bring him to the safe zone, which is where you’re standing right now. Got it?”

“Roger,” Zelo says, feeling pretty confident with himself now.

“Alright, I’m setting the clock for twenty minutes. Get ready. Go!”