Seohwa remembered that when she was still in Sector B, there was a boy that continued to cause trouble. He didn’t do much damage, just somehow always slipping past the guards and trying to escape. There were many instances where he ran away from Mr Alpha’s intense drills.

  Unintentionally, she looked at him worried, “The one that runs away?”

  8-10’s lips twitched and exclaimed, “That's not all I am!” Seohwa frowned at how loud his voice was as she calmly rebuked, “…No need to yell.”

  “Ah!” 8-10 seemed to have realised she was sensitive to sound as he bowed his head and shyly whispered, “…Sorry.”

  Hawk who was watching the interaction smirked, seeming to have found something fun as he pushed Seohwa to sit down, “Now, now. Sit down.”

  Hawk then revealed his hawk wings behind his back, “Now then, I’m Hawk to those who I haven’t met.” He paused, counting in his head for a bit, “So, including the two of you, there will be 4 others from generation 4 to 7 who will be coming soon in our Grey Cadet program... well, if nothing serious goes wrong… But anyway, it’s pretty impressive being the first two awakeners of the newer generations.”

  “You mean three. It's the first three.” Seohwa interjected.

  Hawk raised his brows and hummed knowingly, “Apologies, the first 3. But, you two are the first two viable awakeners of the newer generation.”

  8-10 then raised his hand as Hawk nodded, “Yes, 8-10? And please just say it. You make me feel old by raising your hand like that.”

  8-10 lowered his hand and asked, “Why are you called Hawk? Shouldn’t it be numbers?”

  Hawk chuckled, “Well yeah, it would be numbers for recruits but when you’ve completed your training, you get a code name. I was 2-524 before I became Hawk.”

  “So you’re a Gen2?” 8-10 asked.

  “Yeah. But that isn’t important!”

  Hawk was going to continue until Seohwa asked, “I noticed it's only Gen2 and 3 in the training hall, where are the Gen1s?”

  Hawk glanced towards her and smirked, “Well, the first generation only had 4 awakeners to begin with. And, they were all ‘disposed of’ when failing to deal with a certain Gen8 escapee a week ago. I wonder who that was...” He chuckled teasingly.

  “I… didn’t mea—!” Seohwa looked down, silenced.

  “Don’t apologise, they were the older models anyway and I think you did them a favour… if not, they would still be following the orders of those scientists…” Hawk waved his hand as if to shoo off her guilt.

  He continued, “…Anyway, where was I? Ah right. So currently, the Great Me and a physical type awakener called Rhino will be your fellow mentors in the program. Rhino will teach combat and weapon mastery. And, I’ll be managing your one on one sparring using your powers plus workout exercises.”

  “What are we training for?” Seohwa asked, locking her feelings down and focused on the task at hand.

  “Great question, 8-33. You will not know until you get a code name.”

  8-10 then asked, “Is it dangerous?”

  Hawk glanced at 8-10 and smirked, closing the lights, “Every field mission would always bring about loss. Yes, there are death casualties. And, sometimes, everyone would be back but their wounds would be severe~ Blood splattering everywhere, legs and arms gone, or even an eye would be lost~ It makes you wonder if it’d be better to die instead~~~ Mwahahaha!”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The lights turned on and Rhino pinched the bridge between his eyes, “What are you doing, slacker?”

  “Aww~ it was getting to the good part.” Hawk pouted as he retracted his wings.

  Rhino stomped inside as he gruffly examined the new recruits before keeping his gaze on 8-10, “Is this the Houdini?”

  “I’m not!” 8-10 glared as Rhino asked, “Why reply then?”

  Rhino then faced Seohwa, “Loner?”

  “… Do you mean if I was in solitary confinement? Yes.” Seohwa affirmed, unfazed by the sudden insult.

  Rhino smirked as he patted Seohwa’s head, “Not bad. One aspect of being a good Grey Agent is to remain calm. Have a heart as fiery and a mind as cold… Here, you get a treat.” Rhino placed a small chocolate into Seohwa’s palm.

  Seohwa looked at the familiar wrapping then briefly turned to Hawk. Hawk for obvious reasons turned away whistling.

  Seohwa sighed as she looked up at Rhino, “I’m sorry.”

  Rhino huffed as he gestured his thumb towards Hawk, “Don’t be. He’s the one that needs to apologise for stealing.”

  Hawk smiled innocently, “I thought you didn’t have any more?”

  “Luckily, I had some in my pocket.”

  “Oh really? Can I have some?” Hawk greedily put his hand out as Rhino smacked his hand away.

  Somehow, Seohwa already felt drained and she hadn’t done anything yet besides listen to Hawk’s orientation. She unwrapped the chocolate and ate it, craving the sugar.

  After orientation, Hawk was leading them to all the sites cadets can access. Seohwa observed every crook and cranny. In a way, if she could get the nanobomb out of her neck, perhaps, she may be able to escape.

  As she thought this, 8-10 whispered, “Amateur.”

  Seohwa turned to see 8-10 looking at her with his arms flamboyantly on the back of his head. She asked, “Are you talking to me?”

  8-10 chuckled, “Duh. No wonder you got caught. Escapes are about spontaneity. No one would be able to prepare for one that wasn’t planned.”

  “At least we got farther than you did.” Seohwa commented, unfazed at his sudden advice.

  “The reason I failed was because I was alone.” 8-10 retorted. “If I had a friend, I would’ve escaped.”

  “No wonder you don’t have a friend.” Seohwa stopped to look at his confident face, “It’s because you’re focused on yourself.”

  “Huh?” 8-10 raised his brows.

  Seohwa explained, “You said, ‘I’. It should be ‘we’… ‘we would’ve escaped’. If you want a friend, you should start there.”

  8-10 looked at her retreating back and smirked before running after her, “You’re fun. Ok, since that's the case, why don’t you be my first friend? I’m Han Jiho.” He reached his hand out to her.

  Seohwa looked at his hand before looking up to see his sincere gaze.

  I had a friend but…

  “It’s not that easy to form friends. I hardly know you.” Seohwa ignored him.

  “…” 8-10 or Jiho glanced at her, shocked she would refuse as he curiously asked, “Why not? Is it because of what happened to 8-21?”

  Seohwa gave a deathly glare at him before stopping, “How… did you know that?”

  Jiho shuddered at her menacing eyes. It was a different expression compared to her usual indifferent, stoic face as he gently replied, “Dr 8 told the rest of Gen8 about your escape and even showed us photos of what would come if we disobeyed her further…”

  “…” Seohwa closed her eyes and exhaled the breath she was holding as she continued to walk after Hawk.

  Jiho rubbed his neck, realising he had hit a nerve as he followed along.

  They were taken to their shared room. There were 3 bunk beds. A total of 6 beds in the room. Hawk smiled pushing the both of them in, “Anyway, it’s 17:45. Dinner starts in 15 minutes. You know where the dining hall is. Remember, your dorm is D6-06. At least memorise the name if you can’t memorise the way. See ya there.” Hawk whistled out the room. The door slid closed.

  Seohwa and Jiho were left alone. Jiho saw his number on the top bunk near the door as he climbed up and lay on the bed.

  Seohwa started to look around the room, noticing cameras in the bedroom. When she went to the bathroom, there were cameras near the sink, but when she calculated the camera view, she noticed the toilets and showers were in its blind spot. Seohwa went back to the bunk beds and saw Jiho lying down in his assigned bunk. She realised she was under him as she sat down on the plain bed. She sighed wearily, rubbing her aching shoulders.

  “That was a huge sigh.” Jiho chuckled to ease the tension, “Did you see the present Hawk placed?”

  She didn’t reply but noticed a wrapped box with a letter on her bed. She picked up the letter and read, “To 8-33, make sure to watch over time.” She opened the small box and there it was, a wristwatch. She didn’t like the watch joke but gratefully wore the wristwatch. It was a dark green leather that matched her hair as the watch told her the date and the 24hr time.

  Oct 11, 2030

  17:51

  “Look, look. I got a brown watch. The leather looks cool.” Jiho jumped down and bragged about his watch to her. Seohwa took note of his excitement as she curiously asked, “Why are you so happy?”

  “Well, it’s our first personal item after all! It’s true that we get everything when we ask for it. But it didn’t feel like it solely belonged to me, you know?” Jiho smiled warmly.

  He continued to fiddle with his watch as Seohwa observed him. Perhaps, she was being a bit unfair to him. She had been grieving all this time and closed her heart off to not feel hurt again. But seeing his cheerful attitude and the fact he was doing his best to be considerate of her made her hesitate.

  Maybe… it wouldn’t be so bad…

  “Seohwa.”

  “What?” Jiho perked his ears up.

  “It’s Tang Seohwa… my name.” Seohwa reached her hand out, “If you’re still offering to be friends?”

  Jiho’s lips curved up, laughing as he shook it vigorously, “Yeah!”