YOUMIN

"Y-You were smoking. All of you."

"So?"

I try to stand up, but they crowd around closer, making me hiss and fall back down to the ground.

"Get away from me."

"Hey." One of them prods another. "Isn't this the guy that won the competition? At the lake?"

The other man nods.

"Wow~" He whistles, and I growl at them as I bat at his grip on my shirt. "So that means you can hold your breath a long time, huh?"

"We should test it out."

My head jerks up.

"W-Wait, you can't—" I deepen my voice into a snarl, shoving his hand away when he reaches for my neck.

"You can't. So quit it."

But he doesn't listen. I duck away when he reaches for me again, trying to escape through the slight gap before they could catch me.

I was fast, but not that fast.

I scrabble desperately when one of them easily pulls back on my collar. My body was lean and trained for that— while they were built with muscle.

But I still curse at them nonetheless.

"Let go of me or I'm going to clock you in the face!"

He laughs.

And I clock him in the face.

He looks shocked when I do that, at first. But it quickly changes to anger, and I gasp when he slams my body to the ground.

His hand tightens around my neck.

"You don't belong here." He hisses, and I kick my feet, trying to get at his stomach.

But I can't.

"How will you hold up with that little body of yours? Did you really think you could make UDT when you first came?"

I stop kicking.

"Think again. Why do you think that instructor teaches you separately, huh?"

"Because you can't follow our pace without collapsing or some damn."

I should probably say something back.

But it's like there's stuff stuck in my throat, and he smirks at the frozen expression on my face.

He got to me.

I let him get to me.

"Dismissed."

My eyes go wide at the voice. And I just stare— I just stare at the dark figure that had come behind the guy strangling me.

Instructor?

He simply wraps his hand around the man's throat and jerks him back so hard that he lets me go instantly.

V pulls me up to my feet.

"All of you are dismissed permanently." He hisses, voice low. "Get out of here. I better not see even a trace of you in the morning."

Then he drags me into the main building.

"Why were you out?"

I silently point to the fountain behind him. He sighs when I shuffle back and forth on my feet, before his voice turns cold.

"What's wrong, trainee."

He comes closer.

"Did he say something to you? Is that it? Is that why you're looking like your pet dog just got run over?"

I bite my lip when he forces up my
head to look at him.

"Is your mental that weak?"

I shift my gaze to his.

"Do you feel sorry for me, instructor?" I whisper, tone hushed. "Do you teach me privately because you think I can't handle the basic training? That's why? Because you feel sorry for me?"

I expect him to do anything but to laugh.

It's a dark laugh.

"Is that really what you think?"

I turn my face away. I want to hide now, regretting I'd ever climbed out of bed in the first place.

"I couldn't do anything. I can't even fight back—"

"You're not meant to."

My eyes widen, before they fall back.

Of course.

"You're not meant for close combat." He continues, voice a little softer. "Even if I taught you everything I knew,
you couldn't hold your own against people like them, in a fight. It's just not possible."

Then what's the point?

I'm trying really hard not to cry.

"So what do you want me to do then?" I mumble, avoiding his eyes. "If I can't even fight."

My tone is more down than it's ever been before.

He frowns.

"I should dismiss you for not realizing."

I'm training you to be a sniper, Jimin."

_________________________

A sniper.

My heart is completely stitched back.

It's the next day, and I bounce into the place he'd told me to meet him. He'd made me so happy that I'd done all my dawn training and morning rounds with a smile.

A sniper.

"Wipe that stupid smile off your face before I do it myself."

My head snaps to the direction of the voice, and I struggle to press my happiness down when I see his narrows eyes.

His lips open slowly.

"You're coming on a mission with me. Today—"

And I can't help it.

I squeak.

His dark eyes flash up the moment I slap my hand over my mouth, my eyes wide.

He looks mad.

"In the lake."

When I come back soaking and shivering, he's still staring at me with that cold look.

"Jimin, this isn't a damn joke."

"I'm...sorry."

He sighs. "Don't interrupt me again. And watching is the only thing you'll do for now. I'm not crazy to put you in front of a sniper just yet."

I nod, the excitement dying a bit.

"And."

Then I realize he's come closer, and look up to almost stumble back in surprise.

He's so close. I could touch his chest if I leaned in just the slightest.

"Disobey me even once, and consider yourself dead by the enemy."

His voice hushes to a icy whisper.

"And if they don't kill you, I will."

_________________________

At Site

I'm so nervous I can't even breathe.

We're in the high floor of an abandoned building, separated from the rest of the group. V had said this wasn't a big mission.

Because if it had been, he would've never taken me along.

"Hostage rescue." He says as I watch intently. "Snipers are put in if situations get dangerous."

"Is this a hostage rescue?"

He nods.

"Look. Do you see them?"

I squint, making circles around my eyes with my hands. They're so far away I can barely even make out that they're human.

"Uh— no."

"Then wait."

And I do. I patiently sit there in the corner, watching him with his gun. I'd think he was frozen if I didn't know— he was just so still.

It happens in a second.

The gun jerks slightly, and I quickly shuffle back to the window.

He takes his eyes off the scope.

"You weren't watching, were you?" He says, raising his eyebrow in my direction. I flush, confirming him.

"Patience. It's the most important thing that every sniper has to have."

I blush deeper. I'd gotten bored in a minute.

"Can I look through?" I gesture at the scope, and he nods after hesitating.

Excited, I quickly lie flat on my stomach and peek through the optic.

The excitement goes right back down my throat.

Now I can see everything so clearly. A dead corpse, his body intact while his head is almost gone.

A perfect headshot.

"Get used to that." I hear him say next to me. "Get used to seeing blood. Get used to killing."

I nod.

But my mind's still shaken, and I'm about to get off the scope when my eyes catch on something dark and unfamiliar.

Figure in window.

"I-Instructor?"

"Yes?"

"There's someone aiming at us."