"Ijin," he looked up from his hands, where he was trying to take his sweaty hands out of the padded guards. The team leader was standing a few feet away, motioning for him to come over as he asked," Would you mind demonstrating your skills with a knife?"
"No sir," He slipped his hand out of the padded glove and wiped his sweaty palms onto his pants before getting closer.
"Thank you," Ijin accepted the foam-covered knife from the team leader.
He frowned at the foam knife.
What the hell was the point of a knife if it was covered with a knife?
The team leader started to pass out more of the foam-covered knives to the men, "These are training knives," He blinked in surprise.
There were training knives?
"Should the foam covering fall off, the metal is dull and cannot break skin. Still, make sure the foam covering doesn't come loose."
There were training knives?
His life would have been a lot easier if he knew that they existed.
Wait.
No, it wouldn't have.
His handlers would have never let him and the others learn with padded knives instead of real knives.
"Is there something wrong?" he looked back up at the team leader, and quickly swallowed the 'I didn't know training knives existed' that threatened to come out of his mouth.
"No sir." After figuring out the balance of the training knife, he started to demonstrate a few moves. Seokju had been kind enough to be his partner to help in the demonstration. Everything was going well until one of the younger members, Sung-Ho, asked a question.
"How do you know where to aim to make their arm useless?"
He thought about the question for a few seconds.
He had been taught the hard way.
After failing to aim correctly twice, his handlers got annoyed with him and decided that it was just best to make sure that Ijin would never miss again.
He zipped down his jacket to take his arms out to show them. Pointing at the scar that was on his bicep, he said," Aim for hands width above their elbow," then he pointed at the scar that was in the middle of his forearm," And aim for the middle of their forearm." There were sputters around the gym but he continued nonetheless," if you fail to cut deep enough, give it some time. They'll pass out from blood loss eventually."
"Ijin," Seokju said quietly, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the dark scars that Ijin had pointed out," Where did you get those scars?"
Sometimes he forgot that he wasn't dealing with Han-Gyeol and the others, who already knew about his past.
Ijin hummed," I annoyed my handlers when I didn't grasp the concept immediately." Thankfully, they only cut his right arm. Even then, he was sure it was so he could practice with his non-dominant arm.
It had happened to 006 and 032 as well when they were younger. 006 couldn't figure out the proper positioning to put someone into a chokehold. Although he understood the concept perfectly after he had been put into a chokehold by one of their handlers.
032 couldn't strike the solar plexus right, although thankfully, he understood it after 006 had shown him personally.
It sounded cruel, but Ijin knew that 006 did it because he saw their handler approaching them from the corner of his eye.
He could hear the angry and surprised muttering of the other men as the team leader stepped up to him. Ijin let him grab his elbow, twisting it until the entirety of Ijins inner arm was exposed. His eyes were tracing the scars that were on his arm, the scars that his handlers and other numbered had put there during training.
The man did not look happy.
"Why didn't you use training knives?" His words were almost growled out.
"We had none," Ijin answered truthfully, the team leader's jaw clenching tightly in response," Today is the first I hear about the concept."
That also seemed to be the wrong thing to say.
The man's brows were furrowed," Who were your trainers?"
Oh, they were not his trainers.
The team leader was a trainer. He was a hard-ass, but he still made sure that he didn't overwork them and that they didn't get injuries.
They were his handlers . Men who didn't care about their well-being, as long as they did what they wanted.
That was why Ijin had the scars in the first place. Since they just wanted him to learn how to render an opponent useless.
"There's no need sir," He had a rough idea why the man was asking," My handlers were killed long ago."
And Ijin had been the one to kill them. Since they had gotten in the way of his escape from the camp when he was 16 or so.
Seokju looked at Ijin with a frown. Sighing in annoyance when he noticed the look on his classmates face.
Leave it to Ijin to admit that his handlers had both attacked him with a knife and died.
And find nothing wrong with his statement.
The team leader sighed heavily and let go of Ijins arm. Allowing the teenager to put his jacket back on, hiding his scars from the team again.
"You heard him," He said as he rubbed at his forehead with his fingers," team up and practice what he showed you."
Despite the man's words.
It did not go unnoticed the way their team leader dragged off Ijin to the side for a small talk.