They just watched with their mouths hanging open and their brows furrowed.

The sound of wood hitting wood rang throughout the gym. Ijin was furiously blocking each hit and jab 005 threw at him with his staff, before he returned the blows. Their spar was a brilliant show of skill, technique, and strategy. They were evenly matched, they couldn't tell who was going to win or lose.

" Haaaa, I think 001 is gonna lose."

Well, some people could.

006 nodded his head in agreement, absentmindedly wiping the sweat away from the side of his neck as he watched," 005 is going to win. Like always."

And at last.

Someone asked the question everyone had been wondering.

"Why do you call Ijin that?"

"Huh?" The sound came out dumbly as 032 turned to face Saem, who had been the one who asked the question.

"Ijin," He clarified upon seeing their looks," Why do you call him that 0o1?"

"001," 006 corrected the chopped pronunciation automatically," The people who trained us. They didn't call us by name. They assigned ranks to us." That made just about everyone frown, or make discontented noises.

"Why wouldn't they call you by your name?"

"What the hell?"

"What the fuck?"

"Language-So what did they call you?" Kyong was the one to get the conversation back on track.

"Numbers," 032 leaned his cheek against his fist as Ijin tried to sweep his staff under 005's leg, only for him to fail and get a foot to the face. A foot that he barely dodged," The lower the number, the stronger you are. I was 032."

"Yeah. I was 006. It sucked." The ending statement took them aback.

"Really?'" There was a tone of surprise in Hanuel's voice.

006 snorted," Yeah. I was one of the higher ups in our group. I was in charge of my squad, and teaching everyone else grappling techniques."

032 shrugged his shoulder dismissively," I was just in charge of following orders and being ready to go at all times. Sometimes I taught the others how to make poison out of herbs and stuff, but that was about it."

One of them made an 'oh' sound. They sat in silence for another minute as they watched 005 struggle to keep Ijin pinned down to the mat.

"What about Ijin?" Seokju asked quietly. His voice meek as if he was nervous to hear the answer," What was his rank?"

"Ah," the two mercenaries scratched the back of their head awkwardly, uneasy expressions on their faces as they exchanged looks. They seemed to have a silent conversation with each other, but after a few seconds, 006 sighed heavily as he said, "He was 001. He got it the worst of it."

032 nodded in agreement. All of the shitty memories of camp with 001 going through his head at the moment.

"He was your leader?"

They nodded their head in approval," He led everyone. There was 50 of us and he was in charge for all of us. We were only 12 when he was put in charge."

032 sighed heavily, and glumly, he quietly added," We would get punished if we failed a mission. But sometimes, if our handlers were in a bad mood, they would go after him too if we failed a mission. Even if he wasn't involved." A shiver went down his spine at the thought of Ijin when he returned from Mad Dog when they were about 14.

The poor kid had come back with his chest black and blue, too unsteady and injured to wrap himself up. 006 had wrapped up his ribs, and for a few days after that, they took turns covering Ijin's patrol shifts so he could recover somewhat. It was no wonder he had deserted after three years of leading them.

His older brother ruffled his hair comfortingly," 001…he had it bad. Most of us are specialized in something. I specialized in grappling and pinning," he waved his hand towards the sparring pair," 005 is specialized in weapons but 001… our handlers made him practice over and over again until he was just as good as whoever taught him." That's why he was so well-rounded. The Camp had done a good job of making sure of that.

"He was a massive dick when we were younger," 032's words made everyone give him a weird look at the news that their quiet and amiable teammate was once someone who was a 'dick'," But he was really stressed out. I don't know how he managed to do it. He used to smoke like half a pack a day trying to cope with everything." Even then, they were sure he used to do something else to help with his stress. Maybe not drugs, but something that would leave his fists raw and bloody. As more than once, he would enter the tent, exceedingly late at night, with his fists dripping blood.

"Yeah. He's much nicer now."

"I…I didn't realize he went through that…"

"He hides it well, but yeah. so when he faked his death when we were 15, we just…let him. Most of us pretended to lose his trail so he could escape."

032 chuckled," Yeah, turns out we hated the Camp more than we hated him."

At last, there was a winner as Ijin pinned 005 to the mats, using the staff to push her neck against the mat.

032 and 006 were the only ones that were able to understand the conversation.

"About time you won squirt."

Ijin narrowed his eyes," Fuck," He took another breath, the collar of his shirt being damp and darkened with sweat," You."

They grinned at what Ijin said, and after he helped the woman up, Ijin sat down next to them on the floor. He peeled off his jacket, revealing the damp undershirt he had underneath. They could already see bruises forming on his shoulders and arms.

006 chuckled," I haven't seen you sweat like that since you sparred with 002."

"Whatever." Ijin breathed out, using the inside of his wrist to wipe away sweat on his forehead.

005 came over to them and stood in front of them. "Alright, I'll spar with you tomorrow 006," 006 made a discontented noise in the back of his throat," For now. Kyong asked me to help train your reaction speed and agility. Brats," the brats, being Ijin, 006 and 032, scrunched up their nose's at the title," I'm sure you remember how the Camp trained us."

They stiffened up.

"No."

"Please no."

"Fuck no."

The way they reacted made the men give them odd looks, but the mercenaries were oblivious in favor of focusing on 005, who just grinned at their reactions.

"Yep. It's okay, you won't get hurt."

Ijin narrowed his eyes in suspicion," If we run fast enough?"

005 nodded almost solemnly," If you run fast enough." The grin on her face did nothing to make them feel better.

For a few seconds, the three mercenaries sat, staring up at her with varying expressions as she stared down at them.

Ijin grabbed 032 before he scrambled away," No, we're suffering together. Like old times." 032 groaned, and let his head droop down in reluctant acceptance.

"001?" 006 asked quietly.

"What?"

"Permission to leave?"

"I'm not your leader anymore dipshit. Ask Kyong."

005 started laughing at their conversation," If it makes you feel better, we're going to be using paintball guns instead of actual guns."

Well, that made a world of a difference.

"Oh." 006 said simply," Ok. It's not that bad."

Considering that their handlers shoot at them with real bullets, it was a vast improvement.

Ijin hummed and waved his hand around carelessly," As long as she's not using actual guns, I don't care." His eyes lingered on the back of 005 as she got her duffel bag, which most likely had the paintball guns now that he knew what she was planning.

Obviously, that comment caught the attention of the other men.

"Wait what do you mean actual guns?" Seokju said seriously, nudging Ijin with his elbow to further prompt Ijin into answering. Ijin gave him the side-eye and just shrugged his shoulders in a silent dismissal of the question. Seokju frowned at the dismissal.

005 planned it perfectly as she returned to the group, a bright smile on her face as she carried the duffel bag on her shoulder," Alright! To the back we go for some agility training! We won't do it for long."

"Should we be nervous?" Saem asked, looking at his teammates and the mercenaries for some type of reaction," I feel like we should be nervous."

"It's okay," 032 said hollowly, a blank look on his face," If you run fast enough, you won't get hit."

"You should be nervous," 006 said blandly.

When they looked at Ijin for his reaction, he stared back.

"You'll run faster after this."

Hanuel summed it up for everyone.

"Shit."

005 just smiled.

Like the absolute mad woman she was.