It was the first of Spring, and it was Jang Wooyoung’s first day at the academy. Eyes bright, hands tightly clasped around the straps of his backpack, he strode down the concrete pathway from the gate towards the Main Building where the last phase of his acceptance was being processed. The main hall towered in front of him, looming larger than life itself, and Wooyoung was feeling very small. Everything about the city made him feel that way. In the country side, all he saw were thatched roofs and wares sold from family businesses. Nothing was ever as shiny and as sparkly as NeoSeoul.

He craned his neck up to read the inscriptions under the plaque, but it was written differently, in a language Wooyoung was sure he had never seen before.

“Hey freshman!”

Wooyoung looked left and right, freshman meant him, right? He turned to see a group of guys in uniform approach him. He felt a twinge of excitement knowing he was to wear the same navy blue and white dress uniforms. Although the men approaching him were not wearing their jackets or their slacks, they were in tactical gear, or at least part of it. The grass crunched under their combat boots and their plain white shirts strained from their muscles. Wooyoung shrunk back, suddenly feeling inadequate with his small frame. Again the feelings of uncertainty flooded him, and he backed up not wanting to be in the way of these men. His eyes narrowed at them, intently watching them as they paraded down the grass.

One of them stood out in his eyes immediately. Blonde hair and gray eyes, Wooyoung has never seen anyone like him before. He was the one that had spoken first, and he spoke again.

“Hi freshman.”

He bowed, not knowing how else to answer to them. They laughed, pushing each other around, and Wooyoung smiled unsure of what was so funny.

“Ignore these idiots.” The young man grinned. “I’m Khun, second year from Weapons and Tactics.”

Wooyoung liked him instantly. A warmth surrounded this Khun and for the first time Wooyoung was comfortable in a foreign city. Suddenly, the uncertainty was gone. “I’m Jang Wooyoung, I’m from the Southern Provinces.”

Nichkhun shot out a hand, and Wooyoung froze, staring at his pale skin for a moment before scrambling to shake it. He took Nichkhun’s hand that was firm around his, and he bowed the full 90 degrees, his left elbow bent, fingers touching his own elbow as he did.

Nichkhun continued smiling as he introduced the rest of his friends to him, seniors Ok Taecyeon and Park Jaebeom, and Yang Seungho..After securing his papers and uniforms, Wooyoung joined Nichkhun and his friends on their table for lunch. It was a large group with juniors, Jung Byunghee and Lee Joon, and several girls from the upper years joined them: a senior, Huang Fuumi, juniors Kim Yoobin, and Ariana Yang, and another second year, Amihan Cruz.

Several tables were set out in the large open field. A lot of new kids like him seemed to have found a group of upperclassmen to go around with. He stared at his table, and three more freshmen joined, Kyeon Nara, Park Sanghyun, and Bang Cheolyong, who insisted on being called Mir instead.

Everyone got along so well that Wooyoung was all smiles as they sat there and asked about him and the Southern Provinces. Not a lot of students were from the countryside, and Wooyoung thought he would have difficulties in adapting, yet there he was talking animatedly to those who listened.

Some upperclassmen were doing a series of demonstrations and choreographed basic routines. It was because of this that Wooyoung found himself watching in awe as Nichkhun performed his Iaido kata for their dojo that same afternoon.

Wooyoung held his breath the moment Nichkhun’s face calmed into the opposite of that morning. His face was serious and determined, his eyes gleaming like his blade. His slow and steady movements impressed the crowd, each swing of his sword cut through the air making a loud whooshing sound. Loud cheering flooded his ears, and he, too, found himself clapping with the crowd. From the demonstration alone, he heard so many things about Nichkhun. Within one day, Wooyoung had found his ideal, his hero, the kind of man he wanted to follow the rest of his life.

He followed Nichkhun wherever he went, trained in the same way as he had, treated people with the same respect the older one had. He was a hard worker, but he was even harder at play, as Wooyoung eventually found out.

Somewhere in the middle of that academic year, Nichkhun decided to let Wooyoung in on a secret. The younger boy trembled in excitement as the two of them sneaked out of their lunch table one afternoon.

“Hyung, what are we doing behind the bushes?” he asked quietly. Overlooking the ledge where the bushes were, was a large white building they’ve been warned about ever visiting.

Nichkhun shifted a little bit, pulling out his binoculars and looking through them. “That’s the science building, there’s someone I want to show you.”

Wooyoung’s eyes widened significantly and he eagerly waited his turn. The boy was curious, what could his hyung find so interesting here? Nichkhun handed him the binoculars, and Wooyoung scanned the same area Nichkhun had been looking at. No one else was inside the laboratory but two people, a girl with long black hair, and lanky guy with glasses.

“Ignore Changmin, that’s her nosy lab-mate. Her name’s June, she’s beautiful isn’t she?”

Wooyoung nodded. “So, hyung, why are we hiding?”

Nichkhun laughed, softly, nervously. “We kind of started out at the wrong foot,”

“You stepped on her foot?”

“No, I mean, I made a bad first impression so she’s ignoring me for the most part.”

“Why? What did you do?”

Nichkhun hesitated for a moment, Wooyoung hadn’t gone through his initiation yet. “I’ll tell you some other time.”

Wooyoung couldn’t believe that someone was actually capable of resisting his hyung’s charm. She must have been special, and in his mind, she was now noona.

“You really like her that much?”

“Wooyoung, I would kill for her.”

Truly, Wooyoung had never met anyone quite like Nichkhun. He gave his all in everything he did, and everything else returned to him in spades. It seemed as if the stars were shining bright upon him, that all omnipotent beings out there smiled because of him.

However, everything changed. In the blink of an eye, everything Wooyoung thought Nichkhun to be changed so much that he didn’t recognize the man he just fought the night before. Wooyoung reeled his thoughts away from the memory. He wasn’t seventeen anymore, and Nichkhun was no longer his hero.

And it was all because of her.

Wooyoung opened his eyes, the familiar setting of the training room reminding him of where he was and why. Now he had more reason to stay. He genuflected a knee from his relaxed kneeling position and rested his weight on the ball of his other foot and slowly drew his sword. It was a heavier wooden version of his practice sword, and he held it out with one hand, the other on its sheath. He stood up slowly, now holding the sword in both hands. He slid one foot forward. He closed his eyes as he slowed his breathing. His back foot stepped forwards as he raised his sword, sliding his front foot forward as he brought his sword down in one forceful swing.

The air around him parted for a brief moment before rushing back in invisible swirls. Meditation, kata, it no longer calmed his mind. Inside his head, a wave of thoughts kept him awake, kept him on guard. There was no more rest, not until he exacted retribution, and even after then Wooyoung knew he would never find peace.

Outside he heard the chatter of the members of Schatten. It seemed that he wasn’t the only one who decided it was about time they headed back to train. He walked out of the dojo and into the gym. Taecyeon and Seulong were sitting on a bench press, water bottles in hand while the two rookies were by the punching bags. Mai was teaching Junho how to fight.

The shower rooms were in the same direction, and Wooyoung was thinking of calling it a day. He watched her show Junho the proper way to defend his vitals, elbows clinched to the ribs, hands in a loose fist. Junho took this all in, and Mai was correct, at least for the most part.  He made his way towards them, wooden sword in hand.

He passed by Mai, and his sword lightly probed the back of her knees in, causing Mai to lose balance and tumble towards Junho. “Your form is bad. Bend your knees more.”

…

Eyes flashing daggers, Mai watched dumbfounded as Wooyoung disappeared into the shower rooms. If not for Junho’s firm grip on her arm, she would have followed after him and given him a piece of her mind. She was somewhat grateful to the inspector of course, if not for him last night she probably wouldn’t be here at present. That fact however did not change how she felt for the insufferable inspector. It appalled her to hear him, of all people, comment on her form. She was very well balanced. Using a sword, wooden as it may have been, was cheating.

Crossing her arms across her chest, she bounded over to the water fountain next to Seulong and Taecyeon who were still in conversation. Her sides still throbbed from being thrown around, and she sported large heat pads on her torso, shoulders and back under her white tank top to relieve the muscle pains she had there. Her arms were bruised, blackish-blue hues staining her otherwise rosy skin.

“It’s not like we’re the only ones operating outside the system. Of course there’d be another unit,” Taecyeon said, a matter-of-factly.

Seulong frowned somewhat. “They make us look like losers. That’s an elite team for the general and the chief. Fuu said she heard some developments for a plug suit. Man, we don’t get plug suits. That’s top secret military stuff right there.”

“Who do you think they trained for that?”

“No rookies I’m sure.”

Mai rolled her eyes. Was it really that much trouble for them that she and Junho were rookies? It wasn’t as if she chose to join Schatten, she was chosen for it. She was hand-picked to be a member of a unit that she had never even heard before. True, she was aware that there were units that operated separately from the main chain of command, but Mai never imagined something like this.

“Maybe that’s why we got the rookies? Because the secret unit got all the good ones?”

She wanted to lash out at Taecyeon, even when he may have presented a valid point. Still, the Chief of Police wouldn’t assemble a team like this if he found no reason to. Mai believed that she was put here for just as good a reason, and she meant to prove that given the opportunity.

She lingered by the water fountain a moment longer as Taecyeon pulled out his digital tablet. “See, I still can’t figure out who else was top of the graduating batches since ours. The ones we knew are all stationed high up with offices and underlings, we’re really just the very few who’re still in the actual force.”

Seulong shrugged. “So? I like it here. It’s funner than being stuck in an office all day. Think Changmin’s getting scolded for last night’s semi-fail?”

A semi-fail. That was what Seulong and Taecyeon had called it. They were unable to take the scientist and the business man alive, but they did uncover several files on the beast killings, enough to trace them back to the students they had to take down. Mai shuddered inwardly at the memory of Doojoon’s last words to her.

Save me.

It haunted her even in her sleep. Save him from what? From the doctor? From himself? What could have happened to them in those experiments? Mai shook the thought from her head as Taecyeon spoke again.

“I have code names, but all I have so far are G-Dragon, T.O.P, and Queen. They’re supposed to be a nine-man team, I’m still missing six units.”

“Damn, they get the best of the best, huh. Wonder what kind of training they had to go through.”

“Speaking of training, we have a performance test scheduled in a few weeks. You have no idea how this will count for our final evaluations.”

Seulong made a sound from the back of his throat. “There’s should be some other trick to that.”

“Besides teamwork? I heard this new team had formations that paired each one of them with every other person. That’s teamwork.”

“Bah, we have teamwork. Just take out Wooyoung and we’re all good.”

“Yeah, but, it’s Woodong.”

Woodong? Mai had to look away to hide the shock from her face. Woodong was too cute a nickname for the inspector. While she considered the fact that Taecyeon could have known Wooyoung previously in the academy, she never thought they would have known each other personally. Not with the way Wooyoung interacted with everybody else.

“Where do you think the others are?”

Taecyeon laughed. “Are you thinking about a reunion? Man, that would be great. I mean, after everything, it would be nice.”

Feeling as if she had already over-stepped her eavesdropping limits, Mai left the fountain, going over to Junho who was still waiting for her. The look on his face told her he knew exactly what she had been doing and she disregarded it completely.

“You, Captain tells me you’re great at dodging, now we need to work on your offense.”

“What’s got you so interested over there?”

Mai ignored his question and pulled out two large rolls of handwraps and tossed one to Junho. “Fight now, talk later.” She winced as she extended her arm, but there was no time to rest when training was in order.

“What about I fix those poorly applied pads first, then when you’re no longer in pain, you can work on your form.”

Mai shot him a scathing glare.

[B/N]: I find this chapter amusing for so many reasons. ^_^