Day 280, 20:30 - November 12, 2030 (After lights out)

  Goldie was smoothly recovering as Sir Hawk personally visited the Ward to feed her on a daily basis.

  6-27, whose real name is Seo Minggu, age 13, finally took a shower after healing Ms Goldie.

  “Why are you writing that down?!!!” Minggu felt aggrieved when he saw the entry Seohwa was writing.

  Jiho chuckled when he took a peek, “Why not? It was the most memorable, Minggu-hyung.”

  “Jiho, shut up!” Minggu blushed as he sat down and covered his face, “What will the readers think?”

  “Who?” Jiho tilted his head.

  “…Just felt like saying it.” Minggu muttered.

  Anyway, after saving Ms Goldie, Minggu and I were summoned to General Ox’s office. When Sir Hawk found out, he bowed on the floor screaming:

  ‘It was my fault, General! If you need someone to punish, punish me!’

  Of course, Minggu and I felt happy that Sir Hawk was willing to defend us. However, his bowing soon ended when General Ox sighed, ‘I’m not punishing them for saving the lives of my men. But, they did enter the Ward without permission… as their mentor, since you begged to receive their punishment, then your punishment shall be…’

  We all gulped from the tension General Ox exuded as he smirked, ‘Brag to Goldie of how wonderful your cadets are.’

  Hawk looked up flabbergasted, ‘Seriously?’

  ‘What? Do you want to brag about Mr Fluffy instead? That’s also pretty fitting.’ Ox chuckled.

  ‘No thanks. I’ll brag about the cadets…’ Hawk chuckled as he rose up, ‘I knew you had a soft spot for me!’

  ‘Don’t push it.’

  ‘Yes sir.’

  After that, Minggu officially joined our group as our healer. But if I were to say one thing about him. He has no athletic talent. Zip. Null.

  “No need to emphasise it.” Minggu grumbled as he peeked at the entry again, “I know I suck!”

  “Minggu-ah~ here a munchie.” Taeseok forcefully stuffed a chip into Minggu’s mouth. Minggu chewed as he crossed his arms, “Why do you keep feeding me?”

  Taeseok honestly replied, “You’re too thin… you should fatten up some more.”

  Hwayeon chuckled as she fiddled with her gauntlets on her bunk bed at the top, “I think you mean, you’re worried that he’s so small despite being 13.”

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  “Mhm.” Taeseok nodded.

  “I’m still growing…” Minggu huffed with his arms crossed.

  Taeseok then asked Yerin who was combing her snowy hair on her bed, “Yerin-ah~ want some munchie~ you’re pretty thin too~”

  Yerin chuckled arrogantly, “Fufufu, that’s a compliment to a lady, oppa.”

  “Really? I think you’re too fat then.” Jiho stuck out his tongue to which Yerin threw a pillow at him.

  “I don’t listen to the thoughts of a buffoon.”

  Seohwa smiled quietly and watched them talk. Seohwa closed her journal as she sighed, “We should head to bed. Taeseok-oppa, stop snacking, you’ll get an upset tummy.”

  Taeseok hummed, “…’kay.”

  Seohwa then faced Minggu, “Right, Sir Rhino told me to tell you that you’ll be taught by Ms Goldie for some healing tricks.”

  “Oh really? That’s great!” Minggu began to hum as he went up his bunk bed on top of Taeseok. Hwayeon climbed down her bunk bed that was on top of Yerin and placed her gauntlets in the cupboard before returning.

  Hwayeon waved to Yerin who was already tucked in as she climbed on top of her, “Good night, Yerin.”

  “Good night, unnie.”

  Jiho was still sitting in Seohwa’s bed in a daze as Seohwa noticed, “…What’s wrong?”

  “Just… I never thought we could be this relaxed here… you know, after Dr 8 and everything…”

  Seohwa sat beside him, “…yeah, we got through a lot of things…”

  “…Are we still, you know, escaping?” Jiho then muttered, “I kind of like it here… with Hawk, Sir Rhino, these guys… not so much Yerin.”

  “I heard that.” Yerin huffed as she covered her ears with a pillow.

  Jiho rolled his eyes before asking, “…Is it wrong of me to think that maybe it’s ok to stay here?”

  “…” Seohwa pondered for a while before responding, “I know what you mean… but, if possible, we should still try to escape even if it seems ok right now…”

  “…Why?”

  Seohwa reasoned, “…I was training my ability to absorb poison in the Ward, remember? Including Ms Goldie, there were 56 of them in total. Except for Ms Goldie, the rest of the 55 had lost one or two limbs.”

  Jiho stayed silent.

  “…Now, I don’t know where they’re going for these missions but I know this one thing… the LAB, Dr Oh who brought us here, doesn't care about us. They send their own agents to do who-knows-what and they always come back injured or dead. The only reason it seems like this is a good place is because we have good adults around us like Sir Rhino and Sir Hawk.”

  Jiho lowered his head and nodded, “You’re right… I got complacent… Thanks for reminding me.”

  Seohwa held his hand on the bed, “…but you’re right about one thing, it's a good place here. With everyone here, I want to escape together.”

  Minggu who was listening chuckled, “I like the sound of that.”

  Yerin turned to face them, “…I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

  Hwayeon hummed curiously, “…Can I bring Dr 5?”

  Seohwa didn’t respond as Taeseok replied to her, “…Probably not? It's too risky. We’ll only get caught if we bring in anyone who isn’t capable… I mean, physically.”

  Hwayeon sulked but knew he had a point as she asked, “What about Sir Rhino, Sir Hawk and Ms Goldie?”

  Jiho replied, “It would be great if we can have them join since they can go out.”

  Seohwa then said, “We should be careful about suggesting this to them. We don’t know if they’re under some type of mental influence or not to report any plans of escape…”

  Taeseok pondered, “Why do you think they’re under a type of mental influence?”

  “When I asked Sir Hawk and Sir Rhino separately what the missions were, they repeated the same phrase, word for word.”

  “Which is?” Taeseok encouraged her to continue.

  “They said, ‘To wait until we get our code names’.”

  Hwayeon added, “Right, even Dr 5 said the same thing actually when I visited him yesterday. He was joking about a certain mission but then said, ‘Hwayeon cover your ears, you’re not supposed to hear this until you get your code name’.”

  Taeseok scratched his belly, “That means, we have to escape at least before we graduate the cadet program if we don’t want to be brainwashed into staying.”

  “Right, and we can’t tell the adults.” Seohwa nodded.

  Jiho sighed, “Guess it’s just us then.”

  After their group discussion, they all went to sleep for the training tomorrow.

  ***

  Day 281, 08:00

  When the 6 of them ate breakfast and headed to the training hall, they were stumped to see Rhino and Hawk crossing their arms away from each other and both pouting like little kids that argued over something. Ms Goldie, who was still recuperating, waved at them with a gentle smile in her wheelchair.

  Seohwa worriedly pointed at Rhino and Hawk, “Why are they being like that, Ms Goldie?”

  Goldie chuckled, “Oh just you know, a lovers’ quarrel?”