A week after the Spyro’s last mission, agents were thrilled with the activities that were coming up. Jaesuk announced that there would be a ‘Round Up’ held in the arena once again meaning a series of games. This time, he was proud to say that the legendary Running Spies would be attending the anticipated ocassion. Activities in the Espionage consists of challenges in between agents from all zones, and winners might able to benefit from points that were given by the Chief. The Espionage have come up with ‘Four Theories’, games that required, skill, strength, agility and perception as these four qualities were essentials for a spy. Examples would be ‘Tick Tap’, a physical game that tested agility where agents have to match similar figures as much as they can within the time limit. ‘Trapped Door’ tested skill where agents have to unwind ropes that were attached to certain parts of the wooden gate. ‘Snakes and Ladders’ tested perception where agents must answer a riddle in order to move forward until they reach the finish line. ‘Arm Wrestling’ tested strength where two agents face off and  pin the other's arm onto the surface. These games weren’t permanent in the four categories as games vary from time to time. When agents earn a minimum of fifty points, they could participate in the traditional ‘Best of the Best Match’ where they could show off their skills and tactics when ripping off name tags from their opponents’ backs. And of course, the last agent standing would earn the ‘Spy of the Year’ title.

“Sounds fun,” Taecyeon said with sarcasm hinting in his tone. “So tell me, are you guys included in the best of the best match?”

Chansung and Sooyoung nodded their heads at the same time. “Four theories is held four times a year to allow agents earn the points they desire. The best of the best match is held annually, which happens to be today. I myself, am confident to reveal that I earn a good ninety points so far,” Sooyoung batted her eyelashes at them, showing a toothy grin.

“Seriously?” Taecyeon rose an eyebrow.

“It’s true Taec it’s just that she’s a little boastful sometimes,” Sooyoung punched Chansung’s arm lightly.

“Then what did you get?”

“Oh I earn ninety-eight points currently,” Chansung turned to Sooyoung, teasing her on purpose.

Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “Whatever Channie, you just got lucky from your arm wrestling matches.”  

Taecyeon chuckled. “Ever won the big title yet?”

“Just once for me. Chansung won last year and it was quite impressive of him.”

“Awesome, what about Yoona? How many points does she have now? Did she win a big title before?” Taecyeon spat out his questions in curiosity. Sooyoung stared at him in amusement. “We don’t really know her current points right now but she had about a hundred and thirty points last year. Also for your information Mr Ok, Yoona became the spy of the year five times in a row. I know, she wiped that title pretty clean  for the past few years. She didn’t participate after her fifth consecutive win because chief assigned special tasks for her. So Yoona’s gonna be making a comeback! Watch out boys. ”

Taecyeon whistled, clearly impressed as did not expect Yoona coming out on top in a long period of time. “So am I participating in this event?”

“Of course Taec, chief might even let you join the best of the best match this year despite your lack of points,” Sooyoung hung her arm around Taecyeon’s shoulder. “We’ll have to give you some tips on the name tags I suppose. Right Chansung?”

Chansung smiled, giving a nod. “Disclosing our tactics now huh Sooyoung?”

Sooyoung stuck her tongue out. “Oh please I trust my own strategies okay? Besides we’re giving advice to Taec so ease up Channie.”  

Taecyeon held up a hand, tilting his head to the side. “I’m overwhelmed to hear your tactics but I think I’d like to know Yoona’s, since she’s the super star here,” he said with a smirk in place.

Sooyoung shifted her body a seat closer to Taecyeon on the sofa. Chansung scoffed, keeping his arms folded while sitting comfortably on the rug facing them. “Actually we don’t really know Yoona’s secret to her success but Chansung and I made a theory,” Sooyoung whispered so quietly that Chansung had to lean his head forward.

“And what is that theory?”

She looked around to check whether Yoona was around before leaning close to his ear and whispered, “Her eyes,” Sooyoung mumbled. Taecyeon drew his head back and stared at them in confusion. “Wait what? Eyes? Is she like a Medusa or something? Turns the agent to stone?”

“No not necessarily like that Taecyeon,” Sooyoung shook her head. “This is how Yoona plays. When the race starts, she hides herself somewhere and let the others take each other down first. No one ever dared to rip her nametag off anyway because she was too intimidating,” Chansung chuckled with her. “When there’s one agent left, Yoona steps out from her cover and faces off with this agent. If it’s a girl, she doesn’t hesitate to attack and it will be an easy win for her. If it’s a guy, she uses her eyes to ‘enchant’ them and it works every single time. Once she catches the guy fall into her gaze, she rips off his name tag then and there. Now that’s what Chansung and I think because we would always focus on Yoona during the battle.”

“From Yoona’s first win, no one has ever ripped off her ‘530’ name tag once,” Chansung gave an additional fact. “She’s pretty amazing.”

“I see,” Taecyeon leaned back against the sofa, grinning. He thought about possibilities of breaking Yoona’s streak but then again it was his first time so probably not.

“Attention all agents this is Chief Yoo, and I would like all of you to make your way down to the arena this moment,” an announcement went off which disrupted the conversations in between the agents in the building. Taecyeon stood up, made his way out of the red zone as he noticed the movement of the agents from different floors. Sooyoung and Chansung followed after him.

“Ah how exciting! I think this is gonna be one of the best round ups yet,” Sooyoung clasped her hands hoping as she skipped towards the elevator.

The agents were divided into different bleachers, according to their rankings. The red bleachers were at the top, blue ones in the middle and green bleachers at the bottom. Taecyeon wheezed as he climbed up the stairs, leading to the red bleachers.

“We just had to be at the very top,” Taecyeon huffed as he sat down next to Chansung. Realizing their spot was one of the best ones to visualize the whole arena, Taecyeon wiped the frown off his face and grinned instead. “Talk about hawk-eye view.”

“Again with the advantages Taec,” Chansung leisurely crossed his legs. “Just sit down, relax and watch.”

“Someone’s enjoying his spot,” Sooyoung teased. Taecyeon was surprised to see Yoona next to Sooyoung. “I was looking for Yoona just so you know and pulled her along with me. Yoona wanna sit in front of the boys?”

Yoona refused politely. “I think Taecyeon needs a chance to see the event,” she said, taking a seat behind the guys. Sooyoung chuckled and joined after.

Everyone settled into their own seats, speculating the arena with anticipated challenges. Jaesuk stood in front of the bleachers, a microphone in hand. Silence took over as they stared at the chief.

“Welcome to the arena agents. It’s another round up once again, but it’s not just a round up because the best of the best match will also occur today. Those of you who managed to gain fifty or more points now, your name tags are on the go. For those who have yet to qualify, let’s hope you play hard in the four theories. Aside from the games, I’m pleasant to announce that the running spies are joining us for the ocassion. Put your hands together for your seniors!” Jaesuk clapped, his eyes at the entrance.

Chansung caught Taecyeon raising his eyebrow while glancing at the the people marching in. “They’re the Running Spies, our seniors of the Espionage. They’re from the first generation of spies, we’re the second ones. First one entering is Ji Sukjin who is a close friend to the chief, second one is Ha Donghoon otherwise known as Haha, third one is Kang Gary well-known for winning the best of the best matches, fourth is Kim Jongkook also known as the Commander, fifth is Lee Kwangsoo famous for betraying his team mates, sixth is Song Jihyo the only female member in the team also known as the Ace. Lastly our chief, Yoo Jaesuk, leader of the Running Spies,” Chansung explained in detail. Taecyeon nodded, his knowledge of the spies filling him in. The seniors sat on the bleachers on the opposite side of the arena.

“Shall we start the four theories then?” Jaesuk smiled at the agents who couldn’t control their excitement. “Alright! Agents who would like to participate in agility, please make your way over to the respective platform in the game zone.”

Taecyeon witnessed the movement in between and he recognized the rookies came in a large number compared to the aces and the professionals. There were exactly a hundred agents in the Espionage, four professionals, thirty-six aces and sixty rookies.  A scoreboard lit up from the side of the arena, showing the rankings and scores of agents. It was a scoreboard for the ones who aced in agility. To Taecyeon’s surprise, Chansung came out on top. “You’re keeping secrets from me Chansung,” he scoffed.

“It’s not really something I should boast about. I’m not that self-centered like you Taec.”

Taecyeon rolled his eyes, “Yeah yeah yeah whatever,” he said crossing his arms. “Shouldn’t you be out there?”

“I’m being generous by giving others a chance to beat me.”

“What a joke. Get out there man!” Taecyeon playfully pushed Chansung from his seat, laughing when he stumbled on the floor. Chansung growled, taking revenge by punching Taecyeon in his stomach. Sooyoung and Yoona shook their heads at the sight of two large men joking about like four year olds. The two stopped and lifted their heads up at the sound of a buzzer going off. They saw Tiffany among the participants, tapping her fingers off on a screen, matching identical cards. A minute was given to the players. The buzzer went off, forcing the agents to remove their fingers from touching the screen. With the calculated results, a rookie, Kai came in third place with eighty-two pairs of cards matched, an ace, Eunjung came in second place with ninety pairs of cards matched and the last but not least, ace Tiffany snatched first place with ninety-nine pairs of cards matched. First, second and third places earn, thirty points, twenty points and ten points respectively. The rest earn two points for participation.   

Taecyeon watched the rankings on the scoreboard change accordingly.

“You’re still on top though,” Taecyeon nudged Chansung’s arm. Chansung shrugged his shoulders, smiling slightly. The next game ocurred, which tested skill.

“Aren’t you guys joining in?” Taecyeon asked, turning around to look at the girls. They shrugged their shoulders at the same time.

“Chansung, Yoona and I agreed on playing arm wrestling,” Sooyoung grinned. “Wanna join us?”

“I’ll pass. I wanna see you three in action.”

Taecyeon stood up and rested his arms on the railing in front of him. He didn’t really bother watching the game bfore until Sooyoung, Yoona and Chansung made their way down the game zone, entering the platform with confidence. He noticed the rookies who were on the standing on the same platform as them, shrunk at their presence. It appeared like the professionals brought an aura of dominance with them, causing the rookies to be flustered. The aces weren’t as affected like the rookies, since they were familiar with the three professionals.

“Our Professionals have finally joined us,” Jaesuk said with a grin. “Who’s up first? Alright let’s begin with the boys,” he faced the screen behind him. Two codenames flashed in the screen. “Agents 1106 and 1123 please come forward and greet each other!”

Everyone turned to the two boys who reluctantly walked to the middle. They were Kris and L.Joe, bowing and shaking hands with each other before resting their elbows on the small round table. L.Joe covered his face in embarrassment when Kris was overwhelmingly taller than him.

“Come on L.Joe!” someone shouted from the green zone.

“Go Kris!” rookie Chanyeol cheered from the side.

An idea popped in Jaesuk’s head and decided to call Jongkook to be the referee instead. “Jongkook! Can our Sparta be our referee for this game?”

Jongkook chuckled, “Okay!” He made his way down the stairs, gladly taking over Jaesuk’s spot. He held onto the whistle and leaned closer to the two boys, checking if their grip was fine. Jongkook blew the whistle as cheers uproared the arena. L.Joe struggled with Kris’s strength, only depending on his remaining strength left. Kris grunted, not expecting L.Joe’s strength was quite challenging. L.Joe groaned as he managed to defeat Kris when Jongkook blew the whistle, “Agent 1123 wins!” gesturing a hand to his side. Kris and L.Joe took in short breaths as they smiled giving each other a quick bro hug. A couple more rounds passed and it was Chansung’s turn to play. Taecyeon shifted his leg behind his other leg, examining the scene closely. Chansung was playing off against Siwon, which was one of the matches most of them looked forward to.

“Good luck boys,” Jongkook said with a nod, blowing the whistle shortly. Taecyeon whistled with his fingers and cheered for Chansung. “Let’s go Chansung! Come on let’s win this man!” he yelled making Yoona and Sooyoung laugh. Chansung grunted when Siwon pushed his arm down with an intense force. Siwon’s mouth twitched when Chansung made a sudden control over him. Siwon attempted to fight back but Chansung was quicker. “Agent 211 wins!” Jongkook blew the whistle and raised Chansung’s arm. Both guys panted, shaking hands with each other with smiles.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Taecyeon cheered, pumping his fists up in the air.

As for the girls, Taecyeon was amazed at Yoona’s strength because she beated every single female player on the platform even her own team mate Sooyoung who was the last one in line. He glanced over the scoreboard, noticing Yoona’s rank was first on the list for strength.

“Man she’s a real deal alright,” he muttered.

Alas it was time for the Best of the Best match to begin. “It’s time for the most waited event in the arena, the Best of the Best match! A special obstacle would be set up today and here it is,” Jaesuk proudly announced, gesturing at a glowing maze that appeared drastically in the middle of the arena. Agents whispered among themselves, thinking of how complicated it was especially when it’s a maze they had to fight in. There were about twenty-five competitors that came out from the zones. Jaesuk mentioned Taecyeon to join in as he willingly rushed down and mingled with Chansung, Sooyoung and Yoona.

“I’ll let you play Taecyeon as a reward for successing the first mission,” Jaesuk patted his back gently. “Win this when you can.”

“I’ll try chief.”

“Good,” Jaesuk held the mic close to his mouth and said, “Spies enter!” The gates of the maze opened as the spies marched in with sweaty palms and firm expressions.

Chansung whispered into Taecyeon’s ear, “They’ll give us twenty seconds to hide in the maze. Keep your back against the wall and don’t let anyone rip off your name tag okay? Watch out for aces.”

“What about you and Sooyoung?”

“Sooyoung and I are pairing up and we’ll eliminate most of them for you,” he smiled pausing for a while. “Taec.”

“Yeah?”

“Try to be the first to rip off Yoona’s name tag, we’ll take care of the others,” Chansung threw Taecyeon a wink before running off with Sooyoung. Taecyeon smiled at his witty suggestion. The timer went off, Taecyeon hurriedly ran to the right where Yoona went. A surge of adrenaline that raced through his veins made him feel alive, strong and thirsty for action. Deciding to hide in a corner first, the buzzer went off, alarming the agents that the race started. Taecyeon snickered when he already heard some name tags being ripped off. Announcements went off consecutively with “Agents 502, 801, 113, 404, 701, 313, 328, 1005 eliminated.

“Ah this feels like the hunger games how the heck did eight people get eliminated that fast?” Taecyeon complained to himself. “That means seventeen of us remaining.”

“Agent 203 eliminated.”

Taecyeon pursed his lips. “Okay make that sixteen.”

Chansung and Sooyoung on the other side were going strong with their impressive teamwork. They ran chased after Hyoyeon and Junho who were frantically escaping from their grabby hands.

“Chansung let us go this time come on!” Junho begged in mercy while holding onto Hyoyeon’s hand. He turned around seeing the Chansung catching up with them in a hurry. “Oh hell no,” Junho and Hyoyeon made endless turns. Sooyoung laughed heartily as she caught Sunny on the way, ripping her name tag off in aa blink of an eye.

“Choi Sooyoung!” Sunny slapped Sooyoung’s shoulder both of them breaking out into laughter.

“Sorry Sunny! Gotta go!”

“Sooyoung help me over here!” Chansung yelled as he had a firm grip on both Junho’s hands. Hyoyeon prevented Sooyoung from coming close to the guys but Sooyoung made a quick move by hugging Hyoyeon tightly, ripping her name tag off easily. Chansung played along with Junho as they stretched their arms out in a funny position. Chansung pulled Junho towards him and hastily smacked his hand over Junho’s name tag, snatching it away from his back. Junho gritted his teeth, grabbing Chansung’s neck teasingly, pretending to choke him. “Seriously man!”

“Gotta play the game well Junho,” Chansung shook hands with him, while grinning.

In a little while, there were only three surviving agents left in the maze. Chansung and Sooyoung was eliminated by Minho and Siwon respectively, and Minho eliminated Siwon right after. Resulting to Minho, Taecyeon and Yoona to be alive. Minho was sneaking up on Taecyeon who was also somehwere near around Yoona’s hiding place. Taecyeon cautiously backed away and ran to an open space in the maze. Minho chased after him, smirking a little when his eyes met Taecyeon’s gaze.

“Hey I’m Taecyeon, agent 1227.”

Minho stared at him in amusement. “Choi Minho, agent 1209.”

“Nice to meet you pal,” Taecyeon smirked.  

“Are you still gonna hide,” Minho stated rather than questioning.

Taecyeon let out a light chuckle. “You’re that desperate to rip mine off. Try me.” Minho sprinted up to him, letting his arms on a stand by when Taecyeon mirrored his movements. Minho attempted to throw an arm over his shoulder but Taecyeon avoided him too quickly. This time, Taecyeon made a bold move by clamping his hand on Minho’s arm, forcing him to turn around. The agents who were watching from the zones, held their breaths, paying close attention to the fight between Taecyeon and Minho. It turned a little dangerous when Minho clawed his hand on Taecyeon’s name tag. Unfortunately before Minho could rip Taecyeon’s name tag off, he heard his own name tag tear.

“Yoona?” Minho and Taecyeon stared bewildered at Yoona who flicked Minho’s name tag on the ground. Minho’s eyes fell upon what she had just done, feeling bitter.

“Agent 1209 eliminated,” the announcer said which forced Minho out of the maze.

Taecyeon who was still confused, woke up when Yoona broke his thoughts. “Didn’t see that coming did you?”

“No…”

“Wanna win?” Taecyeon stared at her in awe, not understanding what she was trying to do.

“What do you mean?”

Yoona scoffed, a smile curling her lips. “Okay let’s fight one-on-one then,” she started off by putting his arms together, pinning it behind his back. Taecyeon suddenly felt helpless in the situation, not being able to move. He winced when Yoona pushed him on the ground, his back fell flat against the floor. His eyes looked up, turning quite dizzy when Yoona’s face was absurdly close to his. She was straddling his sides which meant he won’t be able to escape anytime soon. She was staring directly into his eyes which made him hot in seconds. Her doe eyes piercing through his was one of the magical things he had ever experienced. They were caught up in a staring contest, as well as the agents from the side were staring intently at the two, dying to know what was happening next. Yoona’s hand was stuck onto Taecyeon’s name tag, ready to go. Taecyeon didn’t make any movements at all. He sat there gazing intently into her eyes, seeming to drown in them. Yoona’s heart raced when she noticed Taecyeon staring at her with such affection, making her utterly weak. Taecyeon leaned closer to her face while Yoona froze in place. She kept her eyes shut, squealing in her head when his breath tickled her cheeks. A name tag was ripped off. The agents who were witnessing from the zones, had their mouths open wide.

“Agent 530 eliminated.”

Taecyeon smiled as he watched Yoona’s eyes widen.

“Am I that handsome?” he teased.  

sorry to keep you guys waiting hehe! ^^ this is probably one of the funnest chapter I wrote hahaha :)

thank you dear readers! 

oh and pray for the philippines guys! they definitely need our prayers!