A memory.

“Kim Sungkyu,” the man rapped his fingers on the hard wooden table, staring down at the sheet of paper in front of him. “18 years old, no apparent experience prior. You came to Aboveground a month ago?”

Sungkyu nodded.

“How did you get here?”

“I took a train, sir,” he replied as politely as he could. If the top guns were really as stupid as this guy was, he’d have no problem making it to the top. “That’s usually the way to get here, sir.”

The man stared long and hard at the boy before him before letting the corner of his mouth twitch. “Cheek gets you nowhere in these parts, boy, but I’ll let it pass for now. You seem tougher than you look. You’re from Level?”

No, I’m from Deepground, what do you think? “Yes sir.”

The man sat down and propped his chin up in his hands. “Tell me, Kim Sungkyu,” he stared the boy directly in the eye but there was no flinch. Hmm. Interesting kid. “Why should Aboveground hire you? From your resume here, which, by the way, might as well be blank…” He slid the said sheet into a slit in his desk where it immediately glowed red, and Sungkyu knew that it had been incinerated. “You’ve obviously never assassinated anyone before. So why should we hire someone with no experience?”

“Just because I’ve never killed anyone,” Sungkyu said calmly, “does not mean that I haven’t shot a person before, sir.” There was a slight pause as the man searched his face, and then sat back with a slightly weary smile.

“Alright then,” he raised an eyebrow. “Shoot me.”

For the first time since entering the room, Sungkyu’s expression changed slightly. “Excuse me?”

“Go ahead. Shoot me. I want to see if you’re capable of killing.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but right now you would be the last person I would want to kill,” the boy said stoically. The man burst out laughing. “I don’t kill without clear orders, sir,” Sungkyu continued. “There must always be a reason, and I’m afraid that your order has no reason whatsoever.” The man stopped and then swiveled around, looking out of the window behind.

“Come here,” he beckoned the boy forward. “You see that bird over there?” he pointed to a tree that stood some 20 metres away in the sprawling grounds before them. “Shoot it. I don’t like birds.” Sungkyu’s face was completely devoid of emotion, and he didn’t move as he stared out of the window. This kid hasn’t got it in him, the man thought. Despite all he’s said, he hasn’t got it in him. He smiled to himself.  And if I can’t see any bird in that damned tree, neither can he. He was about to tell the boy that he was sorry he couldn’t hire him, when Sungkyu suddenly whipped out a pistol from behind him, and in a split second fired one round through the glass. The man watched, completely shocked, as a small, dark object fell from the tree he had pointed at.

Sungkyu stowed the gun away, then nodded at him. “Thank you for your time, sir.” He turned and walked away. The man staggered slightly, then pressed a button on his desk. A small screen made of light projected upwards, a woman’s face on it. “Yes, Yunho-sshi?”

“Give that boy a number,” Yunho said as steadily as he could. “And get him to sign the papers. We’re hiring him.”

-

“We don’t just deal with guns here,” a small, overly perky girl with long blond hair and a fringe instructed the row of new recruits, ten or so people in line. She didn’t look that much older than Sungkyu. She held a small, slim pen-like item in her hand, and smiled at him when she caught him looking. “We deal with explosives too.” She held out the object in her hand and pressed down on the top. There was a click, and then a muffled explosion sounded, flames erupting out of nowhere on the ground before them, only to curl back into themselves until there was only a box-shaped, swirling orange mass before them in the completely white room.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” the girl smiled as several people flinched. “Yet awfully destructive. And when you use one of these in real life, there won’t be a container.” She walked up to Sungkyu - who hadn’t even batted an eyelid - and took his hand, placing the detonator into it. “You’re promising. Today I’ll let you be the first to try this out.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sungkyu stared straight ahead, and the girl giggled.

“Call me Zinger,” she addressed everyone. “If anyone ever tries to call me ma’am…” She whipped a handgun out from the holster on her thigh and before anyone could even blink, she had cocked and locked it and shot a clean hole through the head of a white mannequin that no one had even known was there. It fell to the ground with a clatter, and the girl standing just in front of it tried her best to look unaffected. “…well, let’s just say that would be you.” Zinger stowed the weapon and gave them a bright smile. “Understand?”

It was a magnificent day – just the sort of weather Sungkyu liked: sunny enough to warm his face but not able to keep away the tinge of cold that nipped at his skin. His breath came out in small puffs of moisture as he strolled through the market district of the city, hands in his pockets.

Even after two months in Aboveground, the place never ceased to amaze him. Everything was inhumanely clean, not a scrap of rubbish anywhere, and everyone dressed superbly and always looked fresh and happy. Not that people in Level were unhappy… but here there was a different kind of happiness. A sort of arrogant happiness, these people knowing how well above their Level counterparts they were.

It was enough to make him sick.

He bumped into someone as he tried to squash past a fat lady carrying a small, fluffy white dog with pink ears and tail, and heard a small exclamation of ‘oh!’ before someone dropped to their knees. He turned back around, finding pristine red apples tumbling all over the floor. A girl with long, straight brown hair was bent over, hurriedly gathering them. He crouched down to help her.

“Sorry,” he said to her bent head. She looked up and their eyes met. They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then she smiled at him. She had the most sincere eyes he had ever seen in a person since arriving in this place.

“It’s alright.” Her hair s over her shoulder and she tossed it back. “Just as long as none of them are damaged.” She got to her feet, placing the apples back in their place and he hurriedly stood up too, dumping his lot on the pile. She laughed. “I can tell you’re not from around here,” she reached over and began arranging his apples until they were all in straight, perfect rows again.

“No, I’m not,” he answered with a small grin. “Is it that obvious?”

She tucked her hair behind her ear and tilted her head, scrutinizing him, and he felt his cheeks burn up slightly. “Not really, no,” she laughed again, and he felt it run through his veins. It left him shaky and breathless. She was saying something but he wasn’t listening: too preoccupied with trying to contain the sudden excitement in his chest. “Hey,” she tapped him lightly on the arm.

“I’m sorry, what?” he blinked.

Her eyes were laughing at him. “I was saying that you look a little lost… would you like me to show you around?” He blinked again, mind completely blank.

“Umm, okay,” he finally answered. “I’m Sungkyu, by the way.” He held out his hand.

“I’m Soyu,” the girl’s face lit up in the prettiest smile he had ever seen on a girl and shook his hand, leaving a tingling sensation in his skin that stayed with him for the rest of the day.

“GYU!” she screamed, her eyes wide and maniacal, hair flying as she whipped her from side to side, desperately searching for a way out. “GYU, HELP ME!”

Sungkyu stepped out from the shadows, dropping his cigarette to the ground. She cried out his name as she spotted him, a tinge of relief in her voice. His head was bowed – he couldn’t look at her. “Gyu?” He breathed in shakily, raising his gun and pointing at her. “Gyu, what are you doing?!”

These are your orders, a voice whispered in his ear. You don’t want to disobey orders now, do you? He his lips, raising his head. She was staring directly at him, surrounded by a group of people who turned to look at him. He blanked them all out; all he could see was the pain in her eyes. “Gyu?” she whispered. A tear slipped down his cheek, shining in the dim light.

Everything happens for a reason.

“These are my orders,” he choked out, his voice cracking. “I have to follow orders.” One of the figures shifted, cocking his gun. “Stand down!” he growled, flinging a hand out. His subordinates looked at each other and then shuffled away slowly.

“You don’t have to do this,” she whispered, her eyes wide. “You don’t.”

“This is my life,” he cocked and locked the weapon with his other hand, never taking her eyes off her. “This is all I have.”

“I thought I was all you had,” she cried out. “Don’t do this, Gyu!”

“You lied to me,” was all he could manage. His hands were shaking. “You lied to me.”

“I never lied to you, I never -!”

“Shut up!” he yelled, another tear escaping from his eye. She flinched slightly, her gaze darting back and forth, searching for a way out. “These are my orders,” he repeated mechanically. He closed his eyes painfully and squeezed the trigger. The shot rang out in the silent night, and she screamed his name. When he opened his eyes she was on the ground, shivering as her life slowly drained out on to the ground around them. His throat was constricted; he couldn’t breathe. He fell to his knees beside her, clasping her hand, beyond caring that the knees of his trousers were slowly staining crimson. Her lips were white, her pupils dartng back and forth as they searched his.

“I… thought you were… d-different,” she rasped. A small stream of blood escaped from the corner of her lips, and one of his tears landed on her cheek. “I really… thought… you were…” She took one last, deep rattling breath, and turned still, her eyes glassy and fixed. Sungkyu reached out and closed them, but he knew that the image of her searching his soul would haunt him forever.

“You did good, mate,” someone finally said. “Yunho would be pleased.”

“Yeah, she was a right ,” someone else piped up.

Without warning or even looking up, Sungkyu raised his gun and shot the second person through the head. And when the others flew at him (never mind that he was a senior), he choked two with his chain and three others ended up with a bullet through the heart. The last boy simply got a broken neck.

He staggered slightly, collapsing beside her body again, his teeth bared and eyebrows furrowed. “,” he muttered, another tear streaking down his cheek. “.” He pounded a fist into the ground, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. The pent up rage inside him finally exploded and he screamed til he had no voice left, til all he could do was whine like a broken dog, like the dog that he knew he was. He had to get away from her. He had to. He stumbled to his feet, hearing metal clinking against metal as he did. He stared down at his chest, seizing the dog tags around his neck and snapping the chain off as easily as if it were thread.

“GO TO HELL, YOU BASTARDS!” he cried out hysterically, throwing it on to the ground with full force and embedding it with five bullets. Panting, he stared at the carnage he had created, at the bodies strewn around the ground. They’d be here soon. They would know what he had done.

Finally, he turned tail and limped away.

“Sungkyu!”

“Hey! Wake up!”

“Skyu!”

Someone shook him violently, and he awoke with a start, staring into CL’s wide eye and Jepp’s troubled ones. He was on his knees on the bed. Min was standing by the doorway, hands clasped tightly to her chest. Small, white feathers were falling around them.

Feathers?

“You were dreaming again,” Jepp caught on to his shoulder, a shiver going through him when he felt how cold his skin was. Sungkyu looked at the floor where his pillow lay, five bullet holes clearly evident. His sheets were a mess, and he could feel tear tracks on his cheeks.

“Tell us what the hell is going on,” CL said, eye ablaze. “You’ve killed five pillows in two weeks, you know. You’ve got some expensive nightmares, you know that?”

“You don’t need to know,” Sungkyu muttered, brushing Jepp’s hand aside and clambering off. His knees were weaker than he thought, and he fell to his feet, head spinning. CL grasped his wrist, crouching down in front of him.

“You need to tell us,” she said warningly. Jepp leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. Min timidly held on to the elbow of his jacket. Sungkyu stared past them, meeting no one’s eyes.

“I said you don’t need to know,” he repeated dangerously, pushing her aside and getting to his feet, exiting the room. He stopped when he passed Min, reading the scared expression in her eyes. “Sorry.” He lifted a hand and patted her once on the head before leaving the room. CL stared after him, eyes narrowed.

“Let it go, CL,” Jepp shot her a warning look before breaking out into his usual happy-go-lucky grin as he looked down at Min, ruffling her hair. “Maybe you should tell him to wear something with sleeves the next time he sleeps, eh? Warm up that cold soul of his.”

“I’m not a dog, Jepp,” Min replied, blinking, but he simply laughed and ushered her out. CL crossed her arms, staring down at the mutilated pillow at her feet. She sighed, then reached into the pouch at her hip and pulled out a gummy bear, popping it into .

-

Sungkyu stared at the silver fire lighter in his hand, brushing his thumb against the wolf head engraved into the surface. The wind ruffled his hair and he sighed, closing his eyes for a few seconds. He had vowed that the last cigarette he smoked was going the be the one that he had had before he killed her, but he couldn't help sneaking one in every now and then.

It was a fruitless decision; smoking only brought back memories that he tried so hard to keep away. More often than not a smoking episode ended with CL throwing water over him while Jepp pinned him to the floor or the wall. He hadn't smoked for a year now, and he wasn't about to start again.

He opened his eyes and cast the lighter one last look before stowing it into his jacket pocket and slinging a leg over the motorcycle seat. He pulled his bike goggles over his eyes and adjusted them. "What's the point of wearing those when they're not even secured? You might as well wear sunglasses," he heard CL pick at him, hands on hips. A small, barely perceptible, wry smile appeared on his lips.

Leaning over the handlebars, he kickstarted the engine to life and adjusted his goggles again before zooming off. He didn't cast another look at the blood stained ground he had just left, the twisted, rusted scraps of metal lying to the side all that remained of his bullet-ridden dog tags.