The boy looked around the table curiously, “This is strange…where did all the girls go?”

Jessica cleared , “I am here.”

The boy laughed, “Yea but I meant all the level 2 girls. Something happen in their room?”

Jessica looked at the empty seats next to her, “I don’t know.”

“Really? They seemed to be your friends and Taeyeon should be watching out for you as your mentor.”

Jessica sighed as she remembered what happened last night, “I am sure they all have their own things to do.”

The boy shrugged, “That is hard to believe when the rest of us boys are here.”

Jessica let out another heavy sigh, “Well if Taeyeon is in your group, you should know where she is Yunho.” The girl then stood up, “I have to get to training.”

Jessica didn’t leave any room for the boys to retort as she left the table and emptied her tray so she could go into the training room. The room was empty probably due to most of the people eating lunch, “Oh...you are here Jessica.”

Jessica turned around to see one of the girls in her training group, “Nana...what are you doing here?”

“The next exam is approaching and I am a bit nervous since we won’t be tested on fighting this time.”

Jessica nodded in understanding, “Of course...you are the best fighter in our group.”

“You are not bad yourself and you have Taeyeon as your mentor. She is like a legend around here.”

“But Dara is your mentor. She has a great fighting reputation too.”

“Yea, but I started out as a street fighter like her...I don’t think you started out like that. You don’t have that look in your eyes when you fight.”

“What look?”

“The one where you know this fight is going to depend on your survival or not. I am guessing you don’t have experience in survival fighting. When I was on the streets, I felt like I was fighting for one more day.”

Jessica laughed because everything the girl was saying was true, “I guess you can read a lot based on fighting style?”

“Probably but I think you are the most tactical in our group of trainees. Brute force can only get you so far, but those brains of yours...it is a deadly weapon.”

Jessica sat down on the mat to start stretching as Nana did the same, “I want to be a better fighter. Strength is necessary to get you out of a physical confrontation.”

“Yes...I agree but tactics prevent those situations in the first place. I’d rather have your brains than these fighting skills.”

“Have you heard much about this next exam,” Jessica said as she stood up.

Nana continued stretching, “My mentor has me doing speed exercises with things we learned in our classes.”

“Speed exercises?”

Nana stood up and walked towards the chalkboard that was on the wall of the training room and started drawing a picture, “Do you know what this is?”

“It is a maze...a very easy one.”

Nana laughed, “Well it is just an example. My mentor has sheets of paper with more complicated mazes that I have to solve in under a minute.”

“That means...the next exam is all tactical.”

“Exactly. I think we will be given situations that we have to think quickly.”

Jessica walked up to the chalkboard and listed out the subjects the trainees have been taught thus far, “If we look at our class schedule, we can get a rough outline of what the exam is...I think.”

Nana looked at the board, “We were told it was survival training but we learned things like bomb diffusion, Party indicators like clothes and codes....are we going to be in a simulation?”

“Simulation?”

Nana raised her brow, “Have you never watched a simulation training with your mentor?”

Jessica shook her head, “She is level 2. I can’t go there.”

“Oh...well my mentor is level 5 and I was able to watch a simulation training. The people in their squads work together to carry out a mission. It is a pass or fail based on if the mission gets completed within a time limit.”

Jessica nodded, “That would make sense...but how do I prepare for things like that?”

Nana leaned back on the wall, “I am not sure either. I would get more help from your mentor.”

Jessica sighed, “My mentor always goes missing. She is busy with so many things that I hardly have time training with her and now....the person that was helping me, probably doesn’t want to see me.”

“Seems like you have some ty luck...I don’t mind if you train with me. You have the brains and I have the force, we could learn a lot from each other.”

Jessica smiled, “I would really like that.”

----------------------------------

“Jessica! Jessica!”

Hearing a familiar voice, Jessica turned around, “Taeyeon?”

The girl was smiling as she came up to Jessica, “Hey...where were you these past days?”

“Training? The exam is coming up.”

“I looked in the training room and I didn’t see you. Weren’t you training with Yuri?”

Jessica shook her head, “We stopped training over a week ago. I am using the level 5 training rooms with another trainee.”

Taeyeon looked at Jessica cautiously, “Level 5? Why them?”

Jessica could hear a change of tone in Taeyeon’s voice, “Yea. I was told you were busy and a girl offered to help me with the rest of my training.”

“I am available now. Do you want me to finish training you?”

Jessica didn’t know why she was a bit angry at Taeyeon offering her help just now. There were weeks before that Taeyeon could have been there for her but the girl would always leave on mission or disappear for days, “Are you really my mentor?”

Taeyeon was taken back by the unusual angry voice from Jessica, “W-what? Of course I am.”

“You are never around...” Jessica said hesitantly, “I watch the other trainees and they are always with their mentors...getting advice and tips on how to do well in the exams, but you are never here for me.”

“I have missions...the other trainees don’t have mentors who are in level 2. It is more responsibility...”

Jessica shook her head, “Then I don’t want you as my mentor.”

Taeyeon was shocked, “Jessica...where is this coming from? You seem to be angry at me and I don’t know what I did wrong.”

It was unusual for Jessica to be angry but she felt like a months’ worth of frustration exploded at that moment, “Taeyeon if you were my mentor you would be here! I watch Nana and Dara interact every day. Since I joined their training, I have learned so much more than I have ever with you or Yuri. I can’t always be waiting for you to have time. I need to get better now.”

Taeyeon bit her lip as Jessica gave her the harsh truth, “I am sorry....I don’t mean it to be like this but...”

Jessica shook her head, “No buts. I am going to continue to train with Nana and her mentor. After this next exam, I want to change mentors. I can’t have one like you. Level 2 may have some amazing people but I’d rather be with a level 8 who has more time to be with me.” Jessica turned to leave but Taeyeon stopped her.

“Jessica wait....I get where your frustration is coming from but I don’t want to stop being your mentor.”

“Then tell me how you are going to be there for me in the future? The final exam is a fighting exam. Did you know that is my weakness? I need to be trained more than once a day to be good enough to even have a chance of passing!”

Taeyeon looked down at the ground thinking, “I can....I will make sure I can...Yunho can take over most of my responsibilities and I will tell the elders not to call on me for some meetings. Jessica just don’t give up on me as your mentor.”

Jessica willed herself to look up into Taeyeon’s eyes, “Right now those are just words...” Turning her back, Jessica started walking away.

“Jessica be careful of level 5. Most of them are street kids. That means they will do what it takes to win...even if it means abandoning a friend.”

“I can take care of myself.” Jessica said as she walked out of Taeyeon’s sight.

---------------------------------

“Well you look depressed a day before the exam.”

Jessica looked up at Nana, “I had a fight with my mentor a few days ago.”

Nana took a seat next to Jessica, “Oh? Why did you fight?”

Sighing, Jessica looked off into the distance at Dara, “I just see you and Dara together...and I get a bit jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Taeyeon may be great at...practically everything but because she is this amazing legend, I hardly get time to be with her.”

“So that is why you are always training with us? Not because you like my company?” Nana gave the girl a cute pout causing Jessica to laugh.

“Both I guess. When I first came here, I was always with Taeyeon and her friends...I guess it is nice to find my own friends here and stop depending on Taeyeon.”

“You know, even if she isn’t around all the time, I think there is a lot to learn from her. My mentor has only been here around 5 years where as Taeyeon has been here almost her whole life.”

“I know but...I want someone like Dara who can teach me things now. If I can’t be a part of the Resistance....then everything I worked hard for will be lost. I need to pass these exams.”

“I see...it is your choice but neither of us will be passing if we keep sitting here.”

Jessica smiled as she took Nana’s hand to get up, “You are right.”

--------------------------------

The large training arena was filled with many members of the Resistance as most of them wanted to see which trainees would make it past the second stage. The stage where almost half the trainees fail the first time.

“Taeyeon you came?”

Taeyeon took a spot next to Yunho, “Yea....although I am not sure if Jessica wants me here.”

“Why wouldn’t she? You are her mentor.”

“Before the exam she said she didn’t want me as a mentor because I am never around.”

Yunho patted his friend on the shoulder, “She is probably stressed. Exams make everyone go crazy.”

“I don’t think it was stress...she had some valid points. I was never around when she needed me. I have been a ty mentor.”

“Aww don’t say that. You are like the coolest person I know. Just cheer her on now and find a totally awesome way to win her forgiveness. She would be stupid to turn you down as a mentor.”

Somehow those words made Taeyeon see some hope in her situation with Jessica, “You are right. I just need to cheer her on today. By the way have you seen Yuri or Yoona? Those two have been like ghosts entering and exiting the room. I hardly see them.”

Yunho looked around, “You could ask Sooyoung since she works with Yuri but I thought you and Yoona were super close?”

“We are...were? I don’t know. I feel like all my friends abandoned me right now.”

“Oh cheer up Taeyeon. No one has abandoned you. Especially not your most handsome teammate.”

Taeyeon shoved Yunho playfully, “Everyone knows Junho is the best looking in our group.”

Yunho fake gasped, “He is indeed my protégé.”

Taeyeon could only shake her head, “You boys think too highly of yourself.”

“What can I say? Our group is full of beautiful men and women...woman.”

Taeyeon laughed at the boy’s idiocy, “Whatever...looks like the exam is starting.”

The training room grew silent as Seven entered the arena, “Alright trainees this exercise will be done in groups of 3. You will have to show teamwork and use skills to fulfill each task. You will get points based on teamwork, time, and task completion. However, this is not solely a team exam, your teammates could pass and you could fail. For fairness in the exam, the groups that are not up for evaluation will be asked to wait in an adjacent room. Your teams will be picked at random using numbers. If your number matches, then you are one group. I wish you all the best of luck.”

The group of 21 trainees lined up to pick their numbers. It was either luck or misfortune that Jessica picked number seven, meaning she would be the last group to do the exam, “What luck! We are in the same group.”

Jessica looked at Nana, “Wow really?”

“Yea! Who else is in our group?”

“Junhyung...I heard he is like a beast...I think we will pass if he is in our group.”

Jessica nodded as she walked out of the arena with her groupmates and the other trainees that were waiting their turn. The room was just another training room so each group of three huddled together, “So what do you think we will have to do?”

“Jessica and I think it is a simulation mission.”

Junhyung nodded, “I think so too. If one of us knows how to do the task, then they should lead the rest of us.”

Nana agreed.

“I don’t think it will be that simple. Why would we be doing this as a group if only one person could do the task?” Jessica asked.

“I guess we will find out soon enough...looks like the second group is already being called in.”

“How long has it been?”

“Maybe 10 minutes?”

“Does that mean they failed?”

“They could have done everything quickly?”

Junhyung leaned back, “I just wish we knew what we were facing.”

“If you were going into a mission, you never know what you are facing. Unexpected things could come up. This is the Resistance.” Jessica exclaimed.

Now alone in the training room, Seven entered, “Group 7 you are up.”

Nana, Junhyung and Jessica stood up to follow Seven back into the arena. The first thing that they saw was a black curtain that was probably hiding their mission and then they looked up to the crowd that was eagerly awaiting their turn, “Alright team 7 you have a maximum of 30 minutes. Your task is simple. You are going to enter into a Party building undetected and defuse a bomb which you will located based on the clues you get in each room. The clues are marked in red. You will gather those without being suspicious, but remember there is a time constraint. If you go longer than 30 minutes or don’t diffuse successfully, you fail and everyone gets blown up. Questions?”

Jessica looked around to her groupmates that looked a bit frightened but had no questions.

“Okay. Group 7, since we don’t have a real Party government building in this arena, I am showing you a picture of one. From what you see here, change into a uniform behind you and put on the proper identification. Then we will remove the black curtain and your time will start.”

Jessica took one glance at the building and already knew what they had to wear, “It is sector 3 maintenance. I am guessing we will be going in as workers.” Rushing over to the uniforms, Jessica picked out the outfits they could wear over their clothes. When she looked at her teammates she noticed something was missing, “We need badges.”

Junhyung looked around and saw the badges on another uniform, “Jessica, these?”

Looking the badge over, it almost looked like an identical copy of one her father had, “Yea...this one.”

With the uniforms on the group signaled they were ready and the curtain dropped showing a man in uniform blocking a door. At this point Nana took charge and led the group up, “We are here for maintenance.”

 Jessica quickly showed her badge along with her teammates. All three were sweating with nervousness as the “worker” looked over the badge before letting them through. Knowing that this mission relied on their acting skills, all the members kept a straight face while entering the next stage of the mission. Seeing that this room was just a hallway, Nana led the team, “Do you think there is a clue here?”

Looking around, Jessica could see various rooms but no red clue, “We can always come back. Lets go into the first room.”

“Do you think we should split up to save time?”

Jessica bit her lip thinking if it was good to split up, “What if we have a problem?”

“I think Junhyung is right. We should split off.”

Jessica had to agree with her team so she took the second door where she was immediately greeted by a man at a desk, “Comrade?”

Looking around she could see that this was a finance room. The worker most likely was in charge of this plant’s income, but why have a room like this for her to enter? However, she didn’t have time to analyze the situation because she needed to find a way to search this office for the clue without being suspected, “I was told you had a copy of our payment.” Jessica really didn’t know what she was saying but she hoped that it would make the man leave the room for a minute.

The fake Party worker looked around his desk before getting up, “I will ask my manager. Wait here comrade.”

Jessica sighed in relief as the man left. Quickly she made it to the man’s desk to rummage around each drawer, “here.” Finding the red clue, Jessica made her way out of the room quickly to find Nana waiting with her clue, “What do you have?”

“M.”

“I have a 6.”

Just then Junhyung came out, “1.”

“M, 6, 1? Jessica looked around until she saw an emergency exit route map on the wall, “Look here. There is a mechanical room in room six on level 1, maybe that is M-6?”

“How much time?”

Junhyung looked down at his watch, “We have 10 minutes left.”

The three set off down the hallway in haste but they immediately slowed down when they saw a senior level officer stand in their way, “Comrades where are you going?”

“Mechanical room.”

“State your orders.”

Jessica gulped because there were no real orders they were following and she didn’t know much about this plant’s mechanical systems, “Air leak detected.”

The three held their breath with Jessica’s guess, “Carry on.”

After the senior officer left, the three made their way into the Mechanical room, “Do you see the bomb?”

“8 minutes.”

Hastily looking around the room, Jessica couldn’t find the bomb, “Think. If we wanted to blow something up, where would the ideal place be?”

“Near the gas.” Nana responded.

Jessica nodded as she crossed the room to an area that was marked hazardous, “Found it!”

The other two teammates made their way over to Jessica, “What kind of bomb is that?”

Jessica looked at the bomb closely, “Chemical.”

“Did we learn about that?”

“Yea...well Taeyoen taught me a bit about these. I need to drill a hole.”

Nana opened up her pack and found the drill, “What else?”

“Maybe some light.” Junhyung hurried to flash a light on Jessica while she identified the correct area near the timer that was now counting down 5 minutes. Not having time to rethink her plan of action, Jessica began drilling into the bomb. She passed the armor plating and then stopped after passing through another plate, “I need the yellow liquid in the kit.”

“What is that? The yellow one is stabilize the ammonium nitrate. Most chemical bombs are made using that with combination of another substance. If we can change the chemical composition of that, we will diffuse the bomb.” Carefully, Jessica poured the liquid into the bomb and then backed away, “Done. We should get out of here.”

“There is 2 minutes left. What if the bomb still goes off?”

Jessica looked back, “it shouldn’t but we should leave just in case.”

Nana and Junhyung agreed and started to pack up but right as they were going to leave, Jessica’s jacket got caught on some kind of lever, “Wait.”

Junhyung stopped to help Jessica out but Nana looked at the bomb counting down the final minute and left, “Nana!”

Junhyung stopped Jessica from struggling, “Let her go. It isn’t like this bomb is going off. I think you disarmed the thing.” Freeing Jessica from the lever, “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

With only seconds left, Junhyung and Jessica joined Nana outside the fake Party building along with Seven. “Well out of the seven groups, you were of the three that successfully diffused the bomb, and passed the mission. We will be judging individually so your pass or fail grade will be announced after we deliberate.”

With the final group finishing the exam, the crowd watching started to disperse from the arena but there was one person who stood still in their spot watching Jessica. Looking up at the crowd, Jessica also noticed the person who was looking down at her so she decided to make her way up to the person.

“Congrats! “

Jessica held her head low, “I am sorry.”

The woman tilted her head, “Sorry? But you passed!”

“Taeyeon...what I said a few days ago...I don’t really mean it.”

Taeyeon sat down on the seat behind her, “You did and I deserved it.”

With her head still hung low, Jessica shook he head, “No you didn’t.  Do you know how I was even able to pass that exam?”

“I assumed you trained hard for it.”

“None of my training helped. As I defused the bomb, I could only remember the time you were going through the bomb kit with me. It was long ago but I remembered asking about the three different liquids in your kit and you told me the yellow was the most important.”

Taeyeon thought back, “Wow you remember that from a month ago?”

“Well that and because you said ammonium smells like pee and this liquid was a pee color.” Jessica and Taeyeon laughed at the crude humor, “I remember yelling at you for acting like a boy and told you to stop taking after your teammates.”

Taeyeon was nearly out of her chair laughing, “Yunho does most of the bomb training...he tells everyone that.”

“Well...it was because you told me that, I remembered. Although you were not around all the time, it was just that one moment that helped me pass. You are a great mentor and it isn’t because you are there for me 24/7 but because you tell me the things that are actually important and give me advice that could really mean life or death for me.”

“Still...I want to be there for your more often.” Taeyeon said with sincerity as she looked into Jessica’s eyes, “I really do....can you give me another chance as your mentor?”

Jessica smiled, “You don’t need a second chance...I never let you give up your first. I would be stupid to lose someone like you as my mentor.”

“Thank you Jessica...”

Jessica leaned forward and gave Taeyeon a firm hug, “No...thank you.”

Feeling the comfort in Jessica’s arms, Taeyeon closed her eyes as a smile filled her face.

Author's Note

If you follow a A Daydreamer's Tales (Taengsic one-shot collection), you would know I got a little one-shot happy and was off writing taengsic short stories than updating this. Well, I hope this chapter was worth the wait as we finished up the second exam in the Resistance!

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