"I can't believe you're making us do this." Sang Hee growled as she held her hands out.

Although she couldn't see him, she could hear the smile on his face, "It's team building."

"I'll shove you down and build a team over your dead body." She grumbled under her breath.

She heard Himchan snicker before the wall in front of her started to shake. "W-What are you doing?"

"I'm-" He grunted, "-trying to get some leverage."

Sang Hee panicked while patting the rocks in front of her, "You're climbing? What about me? You're just going to leave me here?"

"Calm down, tiger, ." He sighed while he moved up the wall. Once he was high enough he glanced down and leaned back to get a better look.

"Grab the blue rock."

She tilted her head up in the direction of his voice and scowled with her arms crossed, "Are you stupid? How am I supposed to know which one is blue? I CAN'T ING SEE, YOU !"

"Team building!" Woon sang cheerfully.

Himchan winced and sighed when he saw her kicking the structure. He looked over at Woon who just gave him a smug smile. He shot the older man a glare before repelling back down to the wall next to her.

"Rule 1 children, don't walk in front of your partner. Don't walk behind your partner. Walk nex--"

"If you finish that sentence, I'll wait until you're asleep and then I'll drag you here and tie you up at the top of the wall and wait until you wake up." Himchan snapped in aggravation. Woon tucked his lips together but grinned as he watched Himchan turn to Sang Hee.

He grabbed her hand and held it out until it came into contact with the blue rock. "Take one step forward and hold your other hand out a little bit higher."

"I don't want to do this." She mumbled while following his instruction. "Of all people, why does he have to make me do this circus trick?"

"If it makes you  feel any better, everyone from your old department is watching you right now." He mumbled next to her ear.

"I doesn't make me feel better, actually." She groaned and hung her head low, "I hate this."

"Left leg up." He said with a smile. Once she was position on the wall, he started climbing next to her while instructing her where to place her hands and her legs but he saw the way her arms were trembling every time they reached up.

Sang Hee was terrified.

No. Horrified.

No. Petrified.

She didn't know which was worse.

Everything in her body was telling her to let go and just hang limply in shame but knowing that her old colleagues were watching her, just waiting for her to do something so they could make fun of her, was enough to keep her going.

"To your left, straight up."

The only thing that was making it the least bit bearable was the fact that she could blur everything out and just focus on Himchan's voice.

His voice was surprisingly calming in a situation this distraught.

She reached her hand out to the left, just like he said, but frowned when nothing grazed her fingers. She patted her hand around, her frown deepening when nothing was there.

"Himchan?"

She gulped when he didn't respond and a sound of pain escaped her lips when her muscles started burning from strain.

"H-Himchan? Where are you?" Her voice started to tremble as her arm started to give way.

"I'm right here. You're fine. I got you."

She jerked away when she heard his voice right next to her. He grabbed her hand, subconsciously squeezing it, before positioning it further up where it came in contact with the climbing rock.

With her sight blocked off, Sang Hee found her other senses to be sharper. She could hear Himchan panting, smell the scent of his cologne mixed in with his sweat and feel the comforting heat that radiated from him right before he moved away.

"Ready?" He asked as he repositioned himself next to her.

He watched her her lips nervously before she nodding. Just as she was about to pushed herself up, he gripped her arm and stopped her.

"Hey, tiger?"

"Now isn't really the time." She gritted out through her teeth.

He grinned and knocked their helmets together, "See you at the top. Of course, you'll probably come in second since you need me to tell you where to go. No wonder you struggled climbing the ladder back at the OC. You just at climbing."

There was something in the lilt in his voice that lit a fire under her feet. It was a mix of taunting, challenging and teasing that detonated a bomb of competitive determination in her.

She didn't need Himchan to lead her. She could lead herself.

She spent her whole life paving her own road against all odds, making her own mistakes and learning from her own experiences. Climbing a rock wall blindfolded was hardly a challenge in comparison.

She could do this.  

Sang Hee took a deep breath and pushed herself up, surging forward, but instead of relying on Himchan to tell her where to go next, she listened to her instinct.

She'd used her hands to feel around until she'd find the next stone and before Himchan could speak, she was already a foot ahead of him.

She was sure that she was defeating the whole purpose of the exercise but strangely enough, she felt empowered.

Screw Woon.

Screw Lee and Yoon.

Hell, Screw Himchan too.

She could do this herself.

She spent all this time relying on herself and it never failed her, so what makes now any more different?

Himchan blinked at her as she cautiously moved ahead without his words and watched her feel around before making each careful move.

He stared at her for a few seconds, watching her increase the gap between the two of them before a smile spread across his lips.

"Atta girl."

-----

Himchan spent the entire climb eyeing Sang Hee, watching her carefully, making sure she was going the right way but he never made an attempt to tell her where to go because a part of him trusted her instinct.

But there was also a part of him that was ready to catch her if she slipped, even if she was harnessed to the wall.

One glance down at Woon and he was starting to wonder if this was exactly what the old rat wanted to happen. He knew that Himchan wouldn't be able to resist making a snarky comment to Sang Hee and that would inevitably fire her up.

And even if he wasn't directing her anymore, he'd still watch out for her.

Himchan rolled his eyes, there was probably some lesson in there about challenging and being supportive of each other.

When Sang Hee reached out, her heart stopped when she felt the top of the wall. Her core and her arms were screaming in pain, sweat was dripping off the ends of her hair and her lungs felt like they were on fire.

But she made it.

She was at the top.

But instead of looking for the buzzer, she tilted her head up to the sky, "Himchan! Hurry!"

 In a few short seconds, she felt him beside her. "I'm here. Ready?"

"On three?" She asked.

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

Both their hands reached up and slammed down on the buzzer, a loud blare echoed through the field as the people under them started to cheer and whistle.

Sang Hee fumbled with her blindfold before managing to pull it around her neck. She forced herself up once up so that she could sit on top of the wall and look down.

Himchan followed suit until the two of them were side by side.

Sang Hee took off her helmet and shook out her hair, running her fingers through the matted, sweat drenched locks, giving it a flip.

Himchan made the horrible mistake of looking over at her just as she tossed her hair aside and beamed at the cheering crowd under her.

He froze and found himself unable to look away when her eyes lit up like ing a Christmas tree and with her hair was matted down with sweat she still looked…breathtaking.

The redness of her cheeks from the climb mixed in with the fact that she was grinning from ear to ear regardless of being out of breath.

She was beautiful and Himchan was starting to wonder how long he'd been thinking that.

-----

"You were so badass." Chin Hwae deadpanned as he took Sang Hee's helmet from her while people worked on helping her take off the harness.

She grinned, "Thanks!"

"Not like Himchan was any help." Dong Chul said haughtily.

Sang Hee chuckled and nudged his shoulder teasingly before brightly returning his high five. Chin Hwae rolled his eyes when he saw the tips of his friend's ears turn red. He glanced over at Himchan who was getting his own harness taken off before sighing.

It was going to be really messy the second one of them makes a move.

If they ever.

"I feel so energetic." She said while bouncing on her heels. "Like I can do anything."

Chin Hwae watched her, his eyes curving up in an attempt to smile but failed, "You two have interesting chemistry."

Dong Chul pouted at his friend while Sang Hee tilted her head in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know how to explain it but you two have known each other for a total of 2 months but it's like he knows you and what you need better than anyone."

Sang Hee laughed incredulously, "What are you talking about?"

"Look at what just happened. Any normal pair of partners would've have just done the exercise at face value but you didn't see how many often he kept looking at you or how many times he'd stop climbing just to make sure you caught up." He pointed out.

Dong Chul's eyes fell before he nodded, "Actually yeah and he let you climb on your own even if it made him look like a bad partner."

Chin Hwae looked passed her shoulder and nodded at something in the distance, "I don't think I've seen partners so dysfunctional but are still a perfect match."  

Sang Hee's brows knit together until she turned to see what he was looking at her. Her eyes grew huge and her heart started to race when she saw Himchan talking to the guys from her old precinct.

". . . ." She chanted under her breath as she ran over to the group to do damage control.

Not that it'd do any good.

When she got close enough, she collected herself and tried to act like she wasn't freaking out, "H-Hey guys. What, um, what are you talking about?"

"You." Det. Lee said blankly.

Sang Hee gulped and let out a nervous laugh, "O-Oh really? About what?"

"The Park case."

Her heart raced as her palms be