Day 261, 13:00 - October 24, 2030

  Rhino glanced down at the expectant, puppy-eyed Seohwa. He pondered. Her request to make her a specialty sword was a difficult one considering he would need to get permission. But since it was Seohwa who knew what she needed best, if he pushes it, he might be able to pull some strings.

  “I’ll see what I can do. But to get there, I might need to say that you as a tri-awakener need it.”

  “That’s fine with me.” Seohwa nodded, “I would rather do that than stay weak.”

  Rhino sighed before smiling, “Good mindset. I’ll do what I can so you should head to your training class with Hawk.”

  “Sir, yes sir!” Seohwa saluted before running to the training hall.

  ***

  13:10

  “Mwahahaha! You’re running 10 minutes late, cadet 8-33!” Hawk went back to his silly self as he watched 8-33 coming in.

  “I’m sorry for being late!” Seohwa breathed heavily as she saluted.

  Hawk hummed, “Well, since 8-10 and 7-11 already sparred, I had them do some personal training to improve their style of fighting. With that said…” Hawk pointed at Seohwa, “You missy shall be only using wind today. And, as punishment for being late, you will spar with the Great Me!”

  “Ok.” Seohwa nodded.

  Hawk paused, “Aren’t you scared?”

  “Of what?”

  “You’re sparring me! Usually, cadets should be afraid of sparring with a mentor who’s stronger than them!” Hawk yelled, frustrated that she didn’t react the way he intended.

  Seohwa replied bluntly, “But more than that, I’m going to learn a lot from it. And, I trust you won’t hurt me much.”

  Hawk froze as Seohwa went to the arena. Hawk chuckled, “Hah! Hahaha!” He flew up to the arena, “This is why I don’t like hard-working brats.”

  Hawk crossed his arms as he flew up in the air, “So what will it be, 8-33? Will you attack from the ground or come to match me in the air?”

  Seohwa looked up as she breathed in, focusing on the wind as she slowly lifted herself up in the air. She stumbled a bit, due to the lack of balance as she finally was evenly levelled to Hawk’s height.

  Clap. Clap. Clap.

  “Well done getting here. But that takes too long.” Hawk flapped his wide hawk wings, throwing Seohwa somewhat off her balance before she stabilised herself, “…I guess you need better control. Alright, I’ll pity you just this once, if you can land one attack on me in mid-air, it’s your win.”

  Seohwa glanced at him and nodded.

  Hawk chuckled, “Whenever you’re ready.”

  Seohwa stabilised herself mid-air as she placed her feet together. It was exhausting just keeping up as she huffed.

  If only there was a way to walk on air instead…

  Seohwa thought of an idea as she saw Hawk yawning.

  To do this, I need timing…

  Soon, Seohwa moved a step forward as a small wind step supported her.

  It worked!

  “Hoh?” Hawk seemed to have realised what she did, impressed.

  With that, she wasn’t as exhausted. She began to run using the small wind steps to walk on air as she blasted a gust of wind toward Hawk, which he easily dodged.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Hawk’s wide wings flapped together, wind gushing towards her, making her fall backward.

  Seohwa flipped acrobatically in the air as she made small wind steps to head back towards him.

  “That’s amazing.” Yerin commented.

  “That’s just Seohwa.” Jiho chuckled proudly.

  Yerin scoffed, “Why is it that you two are at different levels despite being from the same batch?”

  “What was that?!” Jiho glared.

  Hawk threw feather spikes to Seohwa, which she dodged, near-missing Jiho.

  “Eek!” Jiho had screeched.

  “Sorry!” Hawk yelled as he flew after Seohwa.

  “How long will you keep running, 8-33?”

  Seohwa then made a quick run to the right just before a wall. Hawk who flew fast couldn’t stop in time and faltered as he flew up.

  Seohwa used that opportunity and made a concentrated wind missile to aim at his flight route.

  Hawk was about to get hit when he smirked knowingly.

  Seohwa shuddered, her senses tingling like he could see through her despite the fact he was turned away.

  What happened next stumped her as Hawk covered himself with his wings and twirled incredibly fast. Her wind missile dispersed as Hawk lunged at her.

  “Got ya!”

  He flicked her forehead and she fell after depleting her stamina from flying. Hawk chased after her and carried her as they floated down.

  He smirked, “Not bad for your first mid-air fight! I guess you would need to focus on improving movement and your attacks.”

  As they headed down, Jiho eyed Yerin, “Hey.”

  “It’s not ‘Hey’, but what?” Yerin rolled her eyes.

  “…Want to spar?”

  Yerin smirked, “Hmph, at least we can agree on that.”

  After seeing Seohwa, perhaps, it may be ok getting to know these people… even that buffoon.

  She then asked arrogantly, “Hey, what’s your name? I’m Baek Yerin. I need to know the name of the guy I’m sparring with.”

  “…”

  Jiho chuckled, “Feel like opening up?”

  “Of course not! But if we’re going to be allies, I thought it would be more beneficial.”

  “Han Jiho.”

  Yerin and Jiho went to another arena and began to spar. Seohwa on the other hand was supported by Hawk.

  Seohwa asked, “How did you deflect my wind missile when you were turned away?”

  Hawk smirked as he pointed to his shining silver eyes, “Hawk Eyes allows me to see a certain field of area from afar. It's not all powerful but my field of vision is about 30 metres in diameter which is useful enough in aerial combat and stopping ambushes.”

  “…” Seohwa’s mouth was agape as she stared at him.

  “Why do you look so shocked?” Hawk raised his brows.

  “You actually seemed like a proper mentor just now.”

  “…Why do I feel conflicted about that?” Hawk grumbled.

  Hawk noticed Jiho and Yerin sparring as he sighed dejectedly, “You two! Didn’t I say to rest? Rest is also a part of training, you know?!”

  As Hawk pulled Jiho’s and Yerin’s ear, Rhino came in and headed to Seohwa.

  Rhino gave her the approval form, “I got it but in exchange, you need to come with me tomorrow to Dr 5. He’s an eccentric scientist as well as a former engineer. He said if you want something from him, you have to face him.”

  Seohwa nodded in understanding, “That’s fair.”

  Rhino smiled, “Be ready by 06:00 tomorrow and we’ll head to Sector B Gen5’s lab.”

  “Yes, sir.” Seohwa saluted.

  ***

  Day 262, 05:30 - October 25, 2030

  Before lights were on, Seohwa silently went to the bathroom and took a cold shower. She sighed, feeling sore after yesterday’s aerial battle.

  She got dressed in the light grey cadet uniform. When she looked in the mirror, she grabbed her long hair to tie it up in a high ponytail.

  I should trim it soon…

  After that, she brushed her teeth and headed out. She checked the time on her watch.

  05:59. Perfect.

  She then saw Rhino waiting outside as he led her to Sector B. To think, she of all people, would return to Sector B again.

  When they took the lift, Seohwa asked, “This Dr 5… is he anything like Dr 8?” She had her arms crossed but Rhino could sense the faint trembling in her voice.

  Rhino shook his head, “No… if anything, I call him an eccentric old man due to his hobbies rather than his personality…and perhaps one of the few scientists you can trust alongside Stretch.”

  “…” Seohwa remembered Stretch, who was kind to her and began to relax. She then asked a question that had been on her mind for a while but couldn’t, “Can I ask how you and Hawk became Grey Agents?”

  Rhino paused, “Hmm, we were a mix of soldiers and mercenaries. There were about 300 or so mercenaries and 200 soldiers that volunteered. We honestly came for the large amount of money offered.”

  Rhino then chuckled, “What fools we were.”

  Seohwa raised her brows.

  “…That amount of money was never enough for what we had to do but before we could even quit, they had already planted these nanobombs in our necks.”

  “What did you do?”

  “…I’m afraid that’s classified until you have your code name.” Rhino patted her head, “We’re here.”

  Seohwa followed behind him as she pondered. She began to wonder why the experiments were made.

  While she pondered, she heard a glass shatter as she curiously looked up and saw a hunched old man in white, cackling, “We did it! We did it 5-03!” He was a cheery old man who ruffled the orange hair of the girl with tanned skin.

  He then laughed, “With this, we can turn Dr 8 into a frog! Fitting for a witch in human skin! Hahaha!”

  Rhino pinched his bridge between his eyes, “Apologies, 8-33… do you see what I mean?”

  Seohwa nodded. When Dr 5 noticed them, he smiled, “Rhino! How are you, old chap? And who is this? Is she…” He coughed, “… apologies. Is she the one that wanted a whipsword?”

  Seohwa nodded, “I’m 8-33… Dr 5.” She reached her hand out to which he shook it briefly and introduced the girl next to him, “This is 5-03. She has a keen mind and talent in smithy work.”

  He then pulled out tiny delicate needles from his pocket, “These thin needles were her work. I was thinking if she doesn’t awaken, I could have her work as my assistant or if not, hide that she awakened!”

  Rhino groaned, “You know, you can’t do that.”

  Dr 5 booed, “Whatever, old chap. Anyway, come sit. Both of you.” He gestured to his messy lab. Dr 5 scratched his grey hair, “Weird, I was sure I cleaned it up yesterday.”

  5-03 interjected, “And made a mess again this morning.”

  Dr 5 sheepishly chuckled, “Oh dear. Wait a bit as I clean up.”

  “Doc, let me do it. You worked a lot last night until this morning.” 5-03 stopped him and began to clean up.