As Hyun Min had mentioned, Andy was sent to a training ground as soon as the week begun. It was somewhere in hidden woods, probably privately owned by Hyun Min yet the technology facilities were top notch. There were trainers and other trainees but most trainees were divided into either brain or brawn. Of course, Andy was special so he had to attend courses for both.

During the morning, his usual routine would be attending the physical training which was hellish. Long distance running, weight-bearing, martial arts, boxing, all kinds of attacks and defences. Weapons training was also part of the brawn course. It was crazy how guns and other lethal weapons were introduced but Andy didn’t know how Hyun Min got his hands onto those. Even though Andy did wondered and feared the man for his wealth and influence.

Around noon till late night, Andy would go to the technology facilities for his hacking course, as well as infiltration course that involve lock-picking, decoding, avoiding traps and securities. With his natural talent, Andy had no trouble progressing in hacking course. He even surpassed the trainer without letting the guy know about it so that he could conduct his own search.

It was hectic but Andy handled things well. However, there was one thing that Andy couldn’t control was the jealousy and envy from other trainees. From the start, Andy wasn’t a friendly newcomer, he just stuck to himself, got the work done and over with without attempting to make some friends. The trainees at first were belittling Andy, thinking that he would fail without help from them but they were wrong. Andy survived just fine so they were agitated. Not to mention, there were already tension between the brain and the brawn.

The trainees from brain section always disregarded the brawns, thinking that the brawns have nothing but mere strength. Whereas the trainees from brawn section believed the brains were just weakling with petty tricks up their sleeves. However, despite the hostility for each other, the brains and the brawns kept things under control as they needed each other for team missions. For Andy to be both, it was a threat to both sections, he was being too perfect as he could accomplish everything by himself. The leaders of the brains and brawns had held a secret meeting to plan out a way to kick out Andy, or at least, make him suffer.

“Hey, Andy. I’m Seungri. Can I seat here?” The guy introduced himself as he was placing his lunch onto the table, opposite Andy.

“Yeah.” Andy shortly replied without lifting up his head. He was contemplating whether he should bin the kiwi or eat it as he hates kiwi, for no apparent reason.

“You have been here for almost a week but you haven’t made any friend. We are not scary, you know.” Seungri tried to start a conversation with a cheerful, friendly tone.

“Not interested. I’ll be gone soon anyway.” Still staring at the kiwi, Andy stabbed one piece, raised it up to his mouth, then put it back down. The process repeated a few times.

“How do you know? No one here ever knows when they graduating.” Seungri gasped in surprise.

“I was told that I’m training for only three months. Guess the master needs people.” Andy was certain that he could not consume the kiwi so he began to dissect the poor pieces of fruit until they turned to mush.

“Still, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to talk to? I will be your friend. If there’s any trouble, I’m all ears and zipped mouth.” Seungri jokingly zipped his mouth as he said that.

“Fine by me.” Andy seemed uncaring and uninterested but actually, he was grateful and glad that Seungri had talked to him. After all, friends were something that he had missed out in his childhood.

Half a month flew by, Seungri and Andy were getting closer, knowing each other better and one more person had joined their little circle. Taecyeon had approached Andy some time during Andy’s second week at the training ground. He wanted a sparring partner and Andy seemed to fit the piece. Of course, Andy didn’t mind the extra physical work so he accepted the offer. However, it was a bit unpleasant in the beginning as Seungri was a brain and Taecyeon was a brawn. They openly showed their dislike for each other but Andy didn’t care, nor did he understand the reason. However, the three of them often met up, they talked, they joked, they fooled around and occasionally, Seungri and Taecyeon would engage in a fight.

From his friends’ view, Andy seemed aloof and unconcerned though Andy was thinking otherwise. He was starting to see the training ground in a different light. It wasn’t just a cage that he had to do training and work for the master. It wasn’t just endless training, pain, exhaustion and loneliness. It was a much happier place when he had his friends, someone that he could share laughter and jokes. He thought maybe, it wasn’t too bad after all, a life like this.

One month had passed.

It was the evaluation day which occurred at the end of every month. Everyone was divided into teams of three, mixed of brains and brawns. Seungri, Andy and Taecyeon immediately formed a team. The mission was to infiltrate the weapon storage, steal a gun, break through the security, shoot six moving targets, complete 200m dash to the IT room, hack the secret that file that reveal the final destination. If one of the members reaches the final destination after the completion of all tasks, the team considered as pass.

“How should we split our work?” Taecyeon asked, obviously, showing the reason why he was a brawn, not a brain.

“Isn’t it obvious, idiot? I will infiltrate the storage, get the gun and pass it to you. You will do the shooting and running. Meanwhile, Andy will hack the file, inform us the location. Then, he will head for the destination first. That way, as soon as we complete our tasks, our pass is guaranteed and we will be the fastest team since Andy is already at the finish line.” Suengri grinned, he was ambitious to be the top tier trainee.

“Who are you calling idiot? Pipsqueak!” Taecyeon agitatedly furrowed his eyebrows.

“Let’s just proceed with the plan and get this done.” Andy nonchalantly headed for his area, knowing that the other two would soon reconcile to make the operation happen. After all, none of them want to fail.

As soon as Andy had reached the IT room, he seized a computer and began to search for the files. There were other trainees in the room, mostly are brains but strange enough, there were some brawns as well. Needless to say, Andy solved the puzzle within twenty minutes, the final destination was the underground basement that used for personal training. Andy turned off the computer, stood up and headed for the exit. The others in the room immediately notice his leave as they were still nerve-wrecking trying to hack the file. There were whispers across the room.

“That’s impossible!”

“Did he cheat?”

“Ay, it’s expected, he’s the genius.”

“Just the trainers’ favourite pet.”

Uninterested, Andy was about to exit but he was blocked by the brawns in the room. If it was one on one, Andy could take them down but there were four of them, not to mention, who knows what those brains might do. They would definitely seize any opportunity that arises in their favour.

“What do you want?” Andy asked.

“Tell us the destination.” Doojoon, the leader of the brawns, demanded.

“Why should I?”

“Still clueless about your situation huh? How about a look at your precious team mates?” Doojoon smirked. “Leeteuk, can you get the connections work?”

“Of course, what do you take me for? I’m the leader of the brains after all.” Leeteuk opened two windows that had appeared on the screen, they seemed like live streaming videos.

Andy looked closer, it was showing his friends. The window on the left showed Seungri being beaten up by some brawns, the window on the right showed Taecyeon being held captive with a gun pointed to his head. He was probably ambushed while waiting for Seungri to arrive. They shouldn’t have split their forces.

“So? Will you tell me now or will you watch your friends die? You do know the trainers don’t really care if one or two trainees go missing. And of course, they deserve it since they had betrayed us, how dare they join hands with each other. How dare they make friends with each other? We cannot associate with those brains.” Doojoon raged.

“Yah! As if we want to associate with you brawns! But it’s true that those two are now outcasts. They need to be punished, unless...” Leeteuk grinned evilly. “You are willing to give the destination and forfeit the mission. Just don’t turn up till time over. Then, we will promise you the safety of your team mates.”

Andy was biting his lips. He didn’t want to fail the mission neither did he want to lose his friends. They were the only close people that he had.

“Fine. The destination is the underground basement. Now, release them.” Andy confessed.

Leeteuk dialled two numbers and gave order to release Seungri and Taecyeon. He then showed the screen to Andy, Seungri was still somewhat alive as Andy could see him wriggling. Taecyeon seemed to be angry for being held captive but he couldn’t anything since the attackers had all disappeared.

Andy let out a deep breath, he was relieved.

“Don’t you dare tell a single word about this to your friends. Just fail the mission in silence. They would hate you for the betrayal without knowing you did it to protect them. Isn’t that painful?” Leeteuk laughed while threatening Andy. “If even a single word gets out, they will suffer. We have our way to know it.”

With that said, everyone left the room and headed for the final destination. Andy was there, alone, feeling exhausted. About two hours later, the door sprung open in a rushed manner, unlike the occasional arrivals of other trainees that had just completed their 200m dash. The figure was boiling with anger as he headed toward Andy.

“Why are you still here?”

“No reason.” Andy replied. Taecyeon was already grabbing his collar.

“Are you kidding with me now? Do you know how much we had to put up with to come this far? Do you even know how battered Seungri looked when he passed me the gun? He was like a ghost. And now you’re just calling it quit?”

“I’m giving up on this mission. That’s all I can say.” Andy answered without blinking his eyes even though Taecyeon was so close to punch the hell out of him.

“Whatever you say. Everything between us ends here.” Taecyeon released Andy and walked out of the room.

In the end, only Andy’s team failed the mission. They had to take up extra lessons and physical trainings to make up for their failure, not to mention, they had to clean all the toilets together. At first it was awkward and hostile as Taecyeon was always grumbling at Andy but Seungri somehow soothed things out between the three of them. However, they couldn’t go back to the way they were as they had put up distances.

It had been two weeks after the incident, the leaders had used Andy’s to their advantages as they asked him to complete tasks for them with the usual threat. It was late at night when Andy was called out to Doojoon’s room.

“What do you want?” Andy glared at the leaders. There were a few others trainees in the room, standing around Doojoon and Leeteuk like bodyguards.

“Some entertainment.” Doojoon grinned at the thought. The rest of them laughed while staring at Andy like a bunch of hungry wolves.

‘What do you mean by that?”

“Either you provide us entertainment or your friends will be the ones.” As always, Leeteuk was the one explaining all their schemes. “Grab him!”

The trainees moved accordingly to the order, they restrained Andy and Doojoon had left his seat. The brawn leader walked toward Andy while his not-so-dried lips.

They undressed Andy, chained him up.

His body was beaten, cuts were made.

His body was tortured.

He was .

I won’t go into details but it was horrible, one of the most terrifying experiences that one would ever go through.

All Andy could remember the day after was the cruel laughs, the evil smiling faces, the cold nasty touches that were like the feel of snakes which Andy had always hated. He had herpetophobia, fear of reptiles, ever since he was little. But Andy didn’t resent his friends nor regret his decision.

I had brought this upon myself. At least, they are safe. Andy thought when he shrivelled up from the aftermath of the event.

Since then, for one whole week, Andy was the pitiful toy for the leaders to play with whenever they were bored. But he endured it, until...

Andy was physically and mentally exhausted when he returned to his room. His dark circles were about to reach his chin, his eyes were droopy, his concentration was out of it. As he slipped into bed, Andy could hear some noises in front of his room.

“Aren’t they doing too much?”

“But he hasn’t dropped out yet. You know, we all want him to quit, with some sufferings, of course. Isn’t it fun?”

“Yea, but he really treats us as friends, doesn’t he? To even go to that extend of sacrifice, such a fool.”

“Well, I hadn’t harboured any good feeling all this while, it was for the sake of the plan. At least, I can enjoy his suffering now, my leader is indeed a brain, he thought of such wonderful plan.”

“You guys are all scheming bastard. At least we brawns are honest about our feelings, our bonds are strong.”

“Oh the irony, wasn’t you the one deceiving Andy as well?”

“Let’s stop. I don’t want to fight.”

The voices seemed distanced away, probably because the guys had left. Andy had recognised those voices straight away, and he had regretted that, for a split second.

So everything was planned? So they were just pretending to be my friends all this time? Even the beat up scenes were just setups?

Andy’s mentality crumbled down. Everything was meaningless, he was just a pawn in their game.

There’s no trust in this world, there’s no such thing as friendship. Now I know the way to live in this world, DTA! Don’t Trust Anybody! Everyone puts up facades to achieve their desires.

The morning followed by, Andy had completely changed. His tired look, vacant gaze had transformed into a cold, cruel stare. He had decided to stage his performance. He ignored the orders from the leaders but he didn’t go against them publicly. He up to the trainers and manipulated them into punishing the leaders and those that were involved. He had become a lone wolf, a true lone wolf.

Time flew by and Andy’s three months of intensive training ended. He worked for Hyun Min, completing tasks while behind his back, he would continue the search for revenge. He was also practicing how to control his expressions and emotions, learning how to read others’ true thoughts from reading their faces.

It was meant to be brief so I didn't think of characters' names until I actually write this chapter >< I guess I'm going to drag more K-pop idols into this fic of mine randomly lolz Why did I have the sudden urge of writing in detail for every single idea that popped up OTL Hope it's not too boring~~~ One more chapter of Andy's past and we will return to the main story :D

This is probably gona be a "makjang" fic lolzzzz