006

Rogue
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6

  

Even a brisk walk around the block couldn’t clear Miran’s head: it got rid of some of her nervous energy, though not nearly enough, but because her mind wasn’t actively occupied, she just found herself thinking about everything over and over again, and how unfair it was that Sehun had been killed.  Had he been too optimistic about whether his former colleagues trusted him, or had they figured out at some point during the previous day that he was betraying them?  It just seemed so wrong that such a nice, charming person should have to die, especially after finally seeing the light.

Humans can be so cruel, she told herself as she swiped back into the building.  So cruel.  She wandered past Woohyun talking to Gayoung at the desk, aware that she was still far too agitated to actually get any proper work done.

That was when she remembered that she needed to sign up for field training.  Doing an about turn, she headed away from the stairs and off along one of the passages nearby.  The building might be a maze and she knew that a fair amount of stuff probably took place in the gym, but the main offices and rooms for field training were on the ground floor.

And, of course, there was the shooting range in the basement, where she went after signing herself up for the course with a bored-looking man called Jaejoong who looked like he could do with even more coffee than Woohyun needed in the morning.  It hadn’t even crossed her mind until Jaejoong mentioned that lots of people tended to use the shooting range to clear their minds and work off stress that it might be therapeutic for her, but she knew within twenty seconds of stepping into the place that it had been a very good idea.  Park Jimin, the person on duty for the range that morning, tried to convince her to sign out a model she’d never shot with before, but Miran went with a rifle she’d often shot with at school, taking a few rounds of ammunition with her and a pair of ear mufflers and heading on in.

To her surprise, the place was almost full.  She recognised large portions of Boa’s and Changmin’s squads from the day before and one or two other faces, and a sizeable crowd had gathered around somebody at one end, chanting as they waited for the shot.  Others were sitting around on benches, taking breaks or chatting.  It was clearly some kind of social place.

Even more to her surprise, as she headed curiously towards the crowd to see what the fuss was about, somebody even more familiar caught her eye, and she came to a halt.  Kyungsoo was sitting beside a woman who couldn’t be much older than Miran who was crying her eyes out, one hand cupping her head protectively against his shoulder as his other her arm.  He was murmuring to her – Miran didn’t even have a hope of overhearing what when it was so noisy, but after a moment or two, he pulled the woman into a hug, gently patted her back, and then let her go.  He appeared to ask her something, and she nodded, at which point he affectionately ruffled her hair with a small grin.

Miran felt herself blushing.  It seemed like a very private moment, and she was standing there gawking like an idiot and wondering what it would be like if he ruffled her hair like that instead.  He’d smiled at her before, though another grin like that, directed at her, definitely wouldn’t go amiss either.

With one last brief touch to the woman’s arm, Kyungsoo got to his feet and picked up his own rifle – Miran couldn’t help feeling thrilled that they’d inadvertently selected the same weapon – and at that point, he appeared to catch sight of her.

Miran almost panicked before remembering there was nothing she’d done wrong, and she attempted a grin as he came over.  His eyes slid down to the rifle she was holding and he gave an approving nod.

“You shot with that model internationally, didn’t you?” he said with interest just as the crowd at the other end erupted into screams.  Miran nodded and he moved past her.  For a moment, she was disappointed that that was all, but a light touch on her elbow had her turning just quickly enough to see him withdrawing his hand.  She followed him, assuming that had been what he wanted.

“You should meet Hyeri,” he told her without looking back.  “She’s shooting right now.”

“Hyeri as in our division Hyeri?”  Miran ran a couple of steps so that she was walking alongside him.  He nodded.

Miran had no idea where the courage came from, but a couple of seconds later, she found herself blurting out, “Was that woman your girlfriend?”

Kyungsoo looked startled before sobering.  “No.  Eunbi’s a handler like you and it’s her first time losing an agent.  She’s finding it tough.”

You looked close, though, Miran wanted to say, but she bit her tongue.  “Lost as in…?”

“Mission went wrong.  Fatal.”  Kyungsoo sighed.  “From what Eunbi told me, their information was compromised.  By an insider.  We’re probably looking at your mole.”  He contemplated the crowd in front of them for a moment before deciding it wasn’t worth it and coming to a halt.  “I wouldn’t normally say something like that, but you’re working on the case and you might find it useful.  Might help to pinpoint.”

“What division is she in?” Miran asked immediately.

“Park Bom’s.  Bom was there this morning.  Large eyes, fringe….”

Miran nodded.  Kyungsoo glanced down at her, and the faintest hint of a smile crossed his face.

“It said on your file that you won shooting awards.  Will you demonstrate?”

Miran bit her lip for a moment, trying to fight off nerves.  It was pressurising having to perform for somebody like that.  Slowly, she shook her head, and she was surprised that he looked a little crestfallen.

“I don’t like being put on the spot,” she admitted, “but I’m competitive, so we could always compete.”

Kyungsoo appeared more than happy with the offer and immediately pointed out two targets next door to each other.  They were clearly set up for rifles as it was possible to lie down without disturbing anybody who might be walking past.

“Five shots?” Miran suggested and he nodded as he loaded up a cartridge.  “In your own time.”

Rather than shooting alongside him, Miran opted to watch first.  Kyungsoo wasn’t bad, landing three shots in the bull’s eye ring so close to each other that they merged into one big hole, though the other two were off centre and both in the next door ring.  He set the gun aside and watched Miran expectantly.

It wasn’t really what Miran wanted, but then she’d brought it on herself by not shooting while he was.  His concentration and the crook of his pale fingers around the trigger had really been so incredibly enticing.

Taking a deep breath, she lay down on her front, adjusting the ear mufflers for optimum benefit, and loaded the rifle, laying out the last four cartridges on the flat end to her right.  It was a soothing habit she’d acquired at school to help her through shooting matches, and just like that, the rest of the world faded away.  All she could see was the target.

No wind.  No adverse weather conditions.  Just indoors, with the target staring opposite her down a tunnel, and nothing to distract her.

She inhaled deeply, taking note of how even that small movement could affect her aim, and then adjusted the rifle, squinting along it, before inhaling again.  Then, with a final deep breath in, she curled her finger around the trigger.

She barely even felt the gun’s recoil as she breathed out and squeezed the trigger at the same time, sending the bullet ripping through the dead centre of the target.  She was already reaching for her next shot.

Breath.  Adjust. Breath.  Bang.  Breath.  Adjust.  Breath.  Fire.  Breath….

It was only when she reached for another cartridge and her fingers closed around empty air that the world slammed into focus.  Kyungsoo was gazing at the target, undeniably impressed, and Miran looked up to see what she hadn’t been aware of when she was shooting: just one hole in the middle of it, a little too wide to come from one bullet.  She took the ear mufflers off, a grin spreading across her face.  She hadn’t lost her touch.

Cheers exploded around her, and as she scrambled to her feet, somebody whacked her on the back and nearly knocked her flying.

“Why are you not in the TA?” Key demanded loudly.  “You should be a sniper!”

Miran saw Kyungsoo smothering a smile with his hand as she turned to face the inventor.  A woman around her own height was standing beside him, balancing her pistol on her shoulder, and she looked very excited.

“I demand a match!” she exclaimed, grabbing Miran’s wrist before Miran could refuse.  “What are you like with a handgun?”

“Steady on, Hyeri!” Key laughed, but the crowd was already beginning to chant.  Hyeri looked at Miran with gleaming eyes.

“Come on – we can use my official target.  Best of three?”

Miran looked helplessly at Kyungsoo as Hyeri began to drag her back over to where the crowd had been when she’d first walked in, but all he did was give her a very faint smile and a thumbs up before stooping to pick up their rifles.

Being in the spotlight with an enthusiastic Hyeri who’d clearly done this plenty of times before was very nerve wracking for Miran.  Even with competitions, the audience had been sufficiently far away for it not to be a bother, and there had usually been more than one person shooting at a time for them to focus on.  The other thing was that she’d only really shot with rifles before, and that was different from shooting with a pistol.

“I-I don’t think—” she began, but Hyeri had already darted over to the straw humanoid target with bull’s eyes printed on it.

“I’m sure you’ll be great!” she trilled as she turned the target around.  Miran scanned where the bull’s eyes were and concluded from the lack of them in the face area that the target’s back was facing them.  “Pick three areas and hit bull’s eye.  I’ll take the back because it’s more difficult and you can take the target’s front.”  She paced back towards Miran, and then further, the crowd parting around her, before calling out, “is twenty-five yards okay?”

Miran looked at her in alarm.  “I’ve never shot with a pistol before.”

“We’ll make it fifteen, then.”  Hyeri came closer.  “I’ll start.”  She checked the chamber and then, satisfied that everything was prepared, took up stance with her feet shoulder width apart, braced her left wrist with her right hand, and fired off three shots in quick succession.

Miran jumped, first at the rapidity of the gunshots and then again at the resounding cheer that the crowd took up.  Somebody darted forwards to spin the target around, and then everybody’s attention was abruptly on her.  Miran swallowed, feeling sick.

“Go, rookie!” yelled Key’s voice.  Miran was unsure if that made her feel comforted or even more nervous.  As Hyeri had done, she checked the chamber to make sure that the gun was loaded, and then she scanned the target.

The front undoubtedly had more areas to hit.  They were all in different colours, too.  Based on the location of the red ones, she judged that they would be fatal areas.  Blue appeared to be serious injuries and green probably areas that would do much less life-threatening damage, such as the shoulder or the hand.  She hesitated, wondering where she should go for.  Hyeri had shot extremely quickly, but she was convinced she’d seen at least one go through the bull’s eye on the area that, on a human, would be the juncture between the top of the spine and the base of the skull, which was very tricky in terms of aim.  And reminded her somewhat of the weapons expert’s analysis of Yerim’s corpse, because that was more or less where the woman had been shot.  And the very last thing she wanted right now was a reminder of those pictures.

Hand shaking, she raised the pistol and braced her wrist with her free hand, as she had seen Hyeri do, but then she paused again.  Which targets to take?

“Can I do three in the same place?” she asked Hyeri.  The woman pouted and shook her head.

“We’ve already seen you do that,” she said.  Miran bit her lip.

Eventually, she decided just to go for it, picking out the kneecaps and the heart.  The first one went awry, slicing off straw fingertips instead, and the second one close enough to the groin area to make it look like she’d aimed th

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Korekrypta
Thanks for the feature! Was planning to update today but just found out Rogue's been plagiarised, so will put a hold on that until I've received an apology.

Comments

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LovaChu
#1
Chapter 7: Just remembered this story and had to read it after i dont know how long. I remembered that this story was soo good and it still is. All i can say is "its sooooooo gooood" anyway,
I hope you're doing well Korey!
Dedehb
#2
Chapter 33: With all due respect, f*** you person who plagiarize this story :D

That been said, Korey miss your stories, you're a genius. :(
atasiwi #3
Hello korwy
Emilieee
#4
rogue hitting different today now that i'm Aware with a capital A
Kyle_Kyungsoo
#5
Chapter 33: Oh so this fic is abandoned already 😢
Emilieee
#6
nice cover, korey. an absolute masterpiece that can't be beat.
Just_Gen
#7
Chapter 33: Why do they have to plagiarized this when the romance was just about to blossom and the plot's just keep on thickens? I know they wished they're the one who wrote this amazing story cos I do too but why can't they just enjoy this in silent?! A good kyungsooxoc is so rare and they just have to ruin it! Urrg! My disappointment immeasurable and my day is ruined!

In all seriousness, it's been years & I don't think they plan on asking for forgiveness but I guess let's not lose hope? The author wrote this in great details and I'm into stories that romance is not the main focused, so I'm floored to find this with my bias as the main lead. It hurts to see this discontinued.
Gingerdip
#8
Chapter 9: Why do I have a feeling that Hyeri's the impostor... This giving me among us vibes ngl
Gingerdip
#9
Chapter 3: You really put the tbbc cast in those three files huh
Krystel-Kim
#10
Chapter 33: It's really crazy how some people can be so thick-faced and unashamed when it comes to plagiarising... it's been three years and still no apology. I'm sorry that you have to deal with this but I really hope you've been doing well Korey!