Distance

by Seasilver17

One day Ijin was there and the next day, he was gone. Someone called 004 retrieved him from training, Ijin said that he would be back within a week. He wasn't Teenage Mercenary / Mercenary Enrollment Fanficiton

2. Recovery

Ijin had his hands on his hips, his eyes focused on the map in front of him. "032 picked up rumors of a superior flying in a few days. If we post someone by the airport, we can find out where their final base is." It would be a good chance to both figure out how many men were under their command, along with getting a better read on the group overall. All they knew was that the long-dead Mad Dog had coordinated with his superiors to train another group as they did the Numbered. Forest was supposed to be their improved replacement, however, based on the way the fight went with Anna, it was obvious they weren't as improved as they thought.

002 leaned over the table, his eyes roaming the circles that marked the potential locations of the final base. There were a few locations that had already been crossed out but there were still a few more places left to check. "Everyone has already been spotted at least once. There's a chance of them being spotted and killed."

Ijin hummed. "I know. The two of us can't go, they know what we look like. Everyone but 016 can easily be identified." 016 was a sniper and while there were a few times where 016 had been out in the field with them, he had his face covered with a mask. If they dyed 016's hair and gave him a haircut, chances were low that he would be recognized by a Forest member.

002 caught on. "He'll slip under the radar if we change his hair…" the man trailed off, his chin in the pit of his thumb and index finger. "Alright then. Tell 032 to figure out when they're flying in. I'll take care of 016 and get him ready for the mission."

"Okay. I'll get the report from 006 and 008 mean-" Ijin cut himself off and in tandem, the two men turned towards the window. It took them mere seconds to identify the approaching rumble of an engine and within seconds, they were arming themselves. With the guns slung around their shoulders, Ijin and 002 ran into the main room, where the others were preparing. 005, 006, and 008 were already armed, 032 ordering 016 and 018 back to base to aid in the upcoming attack.

No words had to be said.

The engine got closer as they took up their positions, all of them spreading throughout the building to cover all of their blind spots and the entrances.

How did they find them? They just moved bases the day prior. 005 said that they weren't followed and even if they had followed Kang on the main street, how did they get back to the base? They were deep into the forest, and Ijin himself nearly got lost when they were driving to the new base. They weren't anywhere close to the old base.

They didn't have a snitch. They couldn't have. Not only were all of them determined to get rid of Forest so they could live without worry, but not a single person had been by themselves long enough to contact an enemy. The only privacy they could get was for the bathroom, but with the vegetation and canopy, it would be difficult to get any type of signal in a timely manner.

From across the room, he exchanged looks with 002, earning a nod from the man.

Alright, they were going to talk about it later. They had to focus on the present.

The rumbling of the engine got closer. The vehicle was close enough for them to be able to hear the tires rolling over the path. Pulling back the bar, Ijin confirmed that there was a bullet in the chamber before he held the scope up to his eye.

It was getting closer.

"Wait wait wait!" Ijin nearly flinched from the sudden voice from the comm, 016 had a frantic tone to his voice, "Don't shoot! He passed us! It's 001s friend!"

He felt his heart skip a beat.

Ijin was out of the door before anyone could stop him. Why were they driving back? Did something happen? It had been less than three hours, that was just enough time for them to get to the city and return. Something had to happen for them to return.

Something made them return.

The truck, their truck, nearly skidded to a stop, and Kang rushed to get out of the car.

He was the only one and the truck was empty.

"Ijin!" Kang called out, nearly sprinting over to the teenager, prompting Ijin to meet him halfway. Where was Seokju? Where was 004? Why was Kang by himself? "It's Seokju. He was gone for five minutes I swear but he's gone. Someone took him from the airport. I wasn't able to find him but his phone was in the bathroom." Kang was speaking so fast that Ijin almost didn't catch what he was saying.

Almost.

Horror set in before anger did.

He should have never brought them to the base, he should have told 006 and 008 to send them home.

002 caught up, "Where's 004?" Already, 002 stood too close to Kang and if it wasn't for Kang taking a step back to keep the distance, Ijin would have forced 002 back with his arm, "I told you that 004 is my-"

"He's already on the plane," Kang cut in, his hands up in defense, "He's already in the air. I called the right people. They'll be waiting for him by the time he lands. They'll take him to the hospit-"

"Where was he?" Ijin cut in. He didn't even care if he was rude. He had to be at the moment because 004 was safe, and so was Kang.

Seokju wasn't.

"Where was Seokju?"

"The bathroom." Kang answered smoothly and not for the first time, Ijin was eternally thankful that Kang was trained to keep a level head. The soldier held out a phone, "I found his phone in the bathroom. I didn't see him come out of the hall the bathroom was in, but there was an emergency exit door at the end of the hallway." Ijin already knew what happened.

Whoever had taken Seokju had overpowered him in the bathroom and dragged him out the exit door. He already knew that Seokju had little to no chance of fighting them off. Whoever had grabbed him, Seokju had no chance. Forest was inferior to the Numbered, but that didn't mean they were amateurs and with how big all of them were, it was just a matter of incapacitating Seokju and that was it.

Slowly, he took Seokju's phone and pressed the power button.

A picture of Seokju with his parents stared back at him, reminding him yet again of the weight of the situation.

Ijin turned on his heel. "006, 032." It felt like a physical effort to keep his voice level, the anger he felt was justified, his friend had just been kidnapped by the enemy, but he also knew that it was pointless to take it out on anyone.

The Numbered had been trained to incapacitate someone within minutes, seconds even. Ijin had no doubt that Forest trained their members to be just as effective.

It wasn't Kang's fault. It wasn't Seokju's. If it was going to happen, then it was going to happen.

That did nothing to smolder the anger that was burning in his chest, making his chest tight as it took every fiber of his being to keep his temper under control. Losing it would do nothing to help, it would do absolutely nothing and all it would do was get in the way.

With the way 006 and 032 almost scrambled to stand in front of him, maybe he wasn't controlling his expression as much as he thought he was. "How did Forest treat you when you were captured?" The question took them aback. Slowly the others started to join them, all of them being curious about the situation.

The brothers exchanged looks. "Well…"006 started slowly, and immediately, Ijin wanted to snap at him to hurry the fuck up and to talk faster. They did not have time for his hesitance, "the forest members. They're assholes, but they weren't cruel. Not to me at least."

032 shook his head. "Hawthorne is an asshole. But she wasn't cruel to me. They seem to be in charge of security." 032 trailed off and Ijin knew within seconds that 032 was holding something back, 006 seemed to know what it was because he took over for 032.

"The problem is their leaders and their subordinates. They're the ones who interrogated us and well…they're the ones who are cruel." 006 finished, his lips turning white with the way he was pressing them together.

032 almost curled in on himself, "Birch was the one who overwatched my interrogation. When I wasn't talking and when they-" 032 stopped himself, and 006 rested a hand on his shoulder, prompting the boy to take a deep breath to steady his nerves, "when they tried to touch me. Birch stopped them. He reminded them that interrogation had nothing to do with their dicks." Ijin felt his expression darken. "I didn't see those guys again after that."

Ijin didn't need to look to the others for their reactions, he knew that everyone had the same reaction. He could hear them shuffling on their feet, the gentle tap of metal as 008 tapped his ring against the stock of his gun, the sound of an aggravated huff coming from the side. They were just as upset as he was to hear that someone had tried to take advantage of 032 like that.

It was something that generally went unsaid among the Numbered. They were mercenaries, hired killers. Give them enough money, and they would get the job done, they would kill whoever needed to be killed.

They weren't animals who couldn't keep their dicks in their pants.

"Forest took Seokju." Ijin said simply, his voice tight with anger. "From the airport."

"He'll be fine. By our standards." 006 quickly added on, much to Ijin's ire, "Whoever took him will find out he's not one of us. Forest won't let them go too far."

"That's the problem," Kang quietly cut in, "Seokju is just a normal teenager. What isn't cruel to us can be cruel to him." fuck that was a good point.

Ijin pinched the bridge of his nose as he looked down at the ground. Kang was right, Seokju was not battle-hardened like the rest of them. Torture was standard during an interrogation, especially when the subject was being stubborn. It was even normal to take part in a little even if someone was telling the truth just as a form of insurance. Ijin had no doubt that Seokju would either be telling the truth in some aspects and would be hiding it in others. Seokju was loyal like that. Seokju wasn't going to tell the truth and put Ijin in danger if he could help it.

The worst part was that Ijin knew that there was a point where Seokju would break. Perhaps it was a good thing that Seokju wasn't trained like the rest of them because that meant that they wouldn't have to go to great lengths to break him.

But that meant that the period to save him was shorter. The period to save him before they broke him was shorter.

Ijin didn't want to know if he wanted Seokju to break out of self-preservation and potentially put all of their lives at risk. Or did he want Seokju to endure, to hold on long enough to face whatever was thrown his way until they could save him.

It wasn't right.

It wasn't right for Ijin to be thinking like that about his friend. Seokju was his closest friend, the Numbered was his responsibility and his entire family was at risk. Seokju was just as important as the others, so it wasn't right to be thinking that way.

It didn't change the fact that they were going to have to retrieve Seokju as fast as possible.

Ijin held his position. He knew what he had to do. He started moving again. "032, start monitoring frequencies again and use your equipment to scope out locations. 008, go with him and help him." They nodded, the pair going off to get ready to go. "005, 006, do the same on foot. Take the truck to get closer but walk the rest of the way. 016, 018," The pair went off to do the same as Ijin spoke into his radio, "Finish your patrol and come back to rest. Kang, when was the last time you slept, "Kang looked bashful and unfortunately for him, Ijin knew when Kang was lying, he was terrible at it, "Get some rest. It's too dangerous for you to leave now, you're stuck with us. We're going to have to put you to work. 016 and 018 will show you how to keep watch tonight." Kang nodded but stayed as he waited for Ijin and 002 to show him where to go.

It was just the three of them left.

"I'm sorry kid. I shouldn't have let him go to the bathroom alone." Kang said remorsefully, his expression making Ijin think that Kang regretted his existence at that moment.

"Don't be," 002 said smoothly, "We were trained to incapacitate someone within a minute. The kid didn't stand a chance. This couldn't be helped." 002 said that and Ijin knew that he was right. If it had been Kang who went to the bathroom first, then Kang would have been the one taken, though he probably would have been able to put up a much bigger, louder fight against Forest.

It was just absolute shit luck that Seokju was the one who was taken.

Kang didn't look comforted and Ijin couldn't bring himself to care. "002 is right. This couldn't be helped." Ijin started to walk back into the base, the others preparing for their departure as Ijin pointed to the door that had their cots. "Go to sleep in there. I need some time to figure this out." he was going to need more than 'some' time to figure everything out, but he needed to get the man to rest because they were going to need his help for the night shift.

With a nod and another apologetic look, Kang went into their sleeping area. The others left for their assignments and 002 went who knows fuck where. He was just gone. Probably to get something so they could start figuring shit out.

Upon seeing that he was alone, he pressed the heel of his palms against his eyes, an aggravated sigh escaping him. He was so tired. Ijin was just tired. After three weeks of nothing but fighting and planning against Forest to take them out and to add onto everything, he had to figure out a way to get Seokju back, alive, with minimal damage.

But there was no point in complaining, he just had to do.

The teenager sighed to himself, taking a bag out of his pocket, he went back to the room where the map was, taking care that his radio was on and ready to receive anything the others relayed to him.

Ijin could feel his head growing foggy, the exhaustion and lack of sleep catching up to him at last. He hadn't been able to sleep for more than a few hours for days and he already knew that he didn't have enough energy to stay up for much longer. He needed to fix that.

It was a struggle to open the shitty plastic bag but once he did, he thumbed the pill into his mouth.

The water wasn't nearly as cold as he wanted it to be as he washed down the pill. It was tepid, the lukewarm water nearly making him gag as the nausea returned in full force.

Or perhaps it was because he was taking a pill on an empty stomach.

Probably.

Ijin sighed as he took out a ration bar from his pocket, a grimace on his face. He hated them, they were like protein bars but somehow ration bars were both gummier and sandier, more likely to fall apart when you bite into it and then turn into a nauseating mass in your mouth. He's been eating them for over a decade by that point and he still didn't find them appetizing. By coincidence, Ijin also knew that it was not fun to throw up a ration bar.

"Another one." Ijin didn't even turn around, nor did he answer, he just grunted as he washed down the disgusting mouthful with a gulp of the lukewarm water. He didn't need to answer him, not if he didn't want to. It was his business and his business alone.

002 didn't let up. "You've been taking a lot."

"So have you." Ijin shot back, more concerned with the map that was in front of him. At least he didn't have to worry about 004 anymore. It had been a touch-and-go situation with him since 004 got hurt. There had been a few times when 004 passed out from blood loss or the pain and they barely managed to get him into the truck before Forest attacked their last base. If it hadn't been for 006 and 008 running into their still incomplete blockade, then Ijin had no doubt that they would have ended up leaving 004 behind to preserve their own lives.

"Not as often as you. Besides," 002 leaned an arm onto the table, craning his head down to look at Ijin in his eyes, "you're going to get addicted to them at this rate. If you're not already."

Annoyed, Ijin pushed 002 away with his forearm, though 002 didn't move, "I need to figure this out. I don't have time to sleep." Besides, that was all he was using it for. He needed to sleep less and work more. He needed to hurry up and take care of Forest, or their superiors, whoever was prompting the attacks. And that was before he found out that someone had taken Seokju. All that did was add to his mental load.

"They're affecting you." 002 said, leaning in closer as if Ijin's forearm wasn't there as a physical barrier, "When's the last time you slept? You would have shoved me away by now." If that's what he wanted, Ijin had no problem obliging.

Ijin shoved 002 away, though that did little to nothing to the man. 002 was still taller than him and other than a step back, 002 wasn't affected. "What are you getting at?" If 002 was just going to bug him about the uppers, then he could fuck right off. He was fine.

"Last time it was painkillers, this time it's uppers. What is it going to be next time? Heroin?" 002 drawled out, his demeanor portraying a sense of carelessness, but with the way 002 was making eye contact with him, Ijin knew that he was anything but careless. "How long did it take you to break the habit last time?"

"Last time I checked, you took just as much painkillers as I did." Ijin snapped out, more than annoyed that 002 was bringing up his old addiction. As if their very existence wasn't pain itself at the time. As if Mad Dog didn't run all of them into the ground, offering nothing more than painkillers just so they could think without being distracted from their aches and pains. Ijin knew for a fact that he wasn't the only one who had gotten addicted, nor was he one of the Numbered who got addicted to an Opiate, which did nothing but heighten his annoyance. He broke the addiction when he defected, and Ijin knew that he could do it again.

He could live with struggling with addiction for the rest of his life. He couldn't live with being the reason his family and friends were killed. They didn't have the time. Dayeon and his grandfather didn't have time and Seokju certainly did not.

002 stared, unimpressed by Ijin's words. "Go to sleep. I refuse to work with you while you're like this, we need you to be all there, not surviving off uppers."

Ijin scoffed. "What do you care?" The 002 Ijin remembered was more likely to let them waste away as long as they did what they were assigned to do. Ijin was doing just that, he was still leading the team and coordinating everything smoothly and he would continue to do so. He had to. He had to take care of Forest and their leaders before they found out that he still had a family. Before they found out that all they had to do was track the right people and then they would figure out where Dayeon and Grandpa were and then that was that, Forest had a way to get to them.

The worst part is that Ijin wouldn't even know. He didn't know where they were, he didn't have any lines of communication with them, or with anyone outside of the Numbered. Ijin wouldn't find out if something happened to his family until it was too late.

He had to take care of Forest.

002 wasn't fazed, "You're doing this for your family aren't you? Then do them a favor and stop. Before you have to go back to them, and they have to deal with you going through withdrawal." Ijin just turned back to the map, he didn't have time. He needed to get things done. He dealt with withdrawal once and he could do it again. He knew he could.

"We're wasting time. If you're not going to help me figure this out, go fuck off." Besides, it wasn't that bad. He wasn't getting high, all the upper was doing was keeping him awake, giving him enough clarity to push through the exhaustion and keep on working.

He didn't have time to sleep and he couldn't waste time for both Seokju and his family.

002 huffed. "Don't think we're done with this." That was all 002 said before he dropped the topic, smoothly switching topics, "Your friend. How long do you think he can last?"

Ijin would have liked to have faith in him. "Not long. He's a trained bodyguard and aide."

"What type of training?"

"Civilian."

"Yeah, he's not going to last long." Ijin already knew that, but it was a different type of guilt when he heard 002 confirm that Seokju was not going to last. As hard as it was, it was just a fact. Seokju was mentally strong, stubborn even, but he had no reason to have the mental fortitude to withstand torture, to withstand interrogation from anyone other than law enforcement and a particularly nosy client.

All Ijin could do was hope that Seokju's mental fortitude was stronger than they gave him credit for. He just needed to hold on long enough until they got him back.

The table loudly vibrated, Seokju's phone being the source as the screen lit up, displaying the text he had received from his mother.

It felt like it was another punch in his gut to see Seokju's mother wishing him a safe trip home. It just showed how close Seokju was to safety when he thought it was a good idea to text his mother that he was on his way home.

002 flipped the phone over onto its screen. "Let's figure this out." He said that, but beyond waiting, there wasn't much they could do. They had to wait until the others finished scouting so they could narrow down locations. It was going to take a few hours until that happened but in the meantime, all they could do was make backup plans, creating a file of where they could meet up if something went south, who was going to be the next in command if either one of them were taken out. nonetheless, they planned until there was nothing else to plan.

It wasn't until noon that it felt like a train had barreled into him.

Unfortunately for Ijin, 002 seemed to know the moment the stimulant had worn off, the man helpfully reminding Ijin that it had been over forty hours since he had slept.

With a sigh, 002 put his hand onto the map, covering nothing but a portion of it, but the intent was still being put across, "Go to sleep. Now. I don't want to work with a fucking invalid because you're too stupid to go to sleep." Even the man's crude words weren't enough to rile Ijin up, his brain was far too sluggish to think of an apt response. It didn't help that his body was rebelling against him, practically demanding that he listen to 002 and go to sleep.

Letting out a sigh, Ijin pinched the bridge of his nose, "Fine." He dragged out, hearing the exhaustion in his voice. "Wake me up when the first reports come in." he said that but when the way 002 agreed a bit too readily, he had a feeling 002 wasn't going to do that.

"I will. Sleep."

"Stop nagging already." That was the only response he gave as he walked out of the room. Ijin had a feeling that even if he took another stimulant, it wasn't going to work. He was just too tired, his body was already past running on empty.

Nearly stumbling into the room, Ijin picked the cot that was next to Kang and barely taking the time to take off his firearms, he collapsed into it.

---

As soon as he opened his eyes, he knew that someone had decided to go against him and didn't wake him up. He should have woken up in the early evening at the latest, but when he opened his eyes, there was no sunlight to be seen. It was completely dark in the room, the moonlight illuminating some of the Numbered who were off the patrol shift. The gentle breaths of his comrades filled in the silence, someone in the room shifting in their cot.

Ijin sat up, a jacket that had been laid over him while he slept fell from his shoulders and Ijin didn't have to think hard on who had done it. None of the Numbered would have draped a jacket over him while he slept, it was Kang who had tucked him in like a child.

He had to suppress a spark of irritability at the thought. Kang was just being his usual, kind, self. Kang had not put the jacket over him in an attempt to infantize him or belittle him, he just did it out of care. It hadn't done any harm either way.

Taking the jacket and picking up his gear, Ijin waited until he was out of the room before he put his firearms back on. It was late, which meant that the others had to be back and he needed to listen to their reports. 002 was probably still looking over the maps and plans with the others, he better have had a few things figured out already, that was the only thing that could excuse ignoring his orders to wake him up.

Walking into the room, Ijin was not surprised to see 002 still pouring over the maps, though he was surprised to see Kang right next to him. 002 barely spared him a glance, but Kang smiled at him, even more so when Ijin handed back his jacket. "Finally awake? Good, we need your opinion."

He got right to the point. "Why didn't you wake me up?" Ijin directed his question to 002, who gave him a raised brow.

"I did. You don't remember? Your friend over here," 002 motioned towards Kang with his head, "told you to go back to sleep when he saw you. You said okay and went back to sleep." All Ijin could do was stare. He didn't remember that, at all.

Ijin looked to Kang for confirmation, only to see Kang just shrug a shoulder. "You really needed it if you don't remember." Fuck, he didn't remember doing that. He wouldn't have known that he had woken up and walked around earlier if it wasn't for the two of them telling him that he did.

Was it a side effect of the stimulants? Or was he just truly exhausted? Why couldn't he remember it? It wasn't the first time he had stayed up for that duration, but it was the first time he had ever heard about something like that. He woke up, walked around the base, and listened to Kang when he was ordered back to bed so why couldn't he remember it?

His eyes drifted over to 002, who made eye contact with him. 002 seemed to know what he was thinking because all he got was a shrug that managed to portray 'this is what you get' or even 'I told you so'.

Ijin narrowed his eyes. Did 002 know something? Did he know the stimulants would affect him like that?

"What do you think?" Kang started, either oblivious or dismissive of the staring contest Ijin and 002 were having, "The others were able to narrow down Forest's base to two locations, but they're both problematic." With an internal promise to interrogate 002 later, Ijin finally looked down at the map. All of the other circles had been crossed out, except for two. They looked to be about thirty miles apart, both equally remote from the nearby cities. Both locations had noted that they were in heavily forested regions and upon asking for the topography map, they were in semi-flat areas.

For location one, the ground seemed to be flat, with small hills in the area, but it wouldn't be enough to conceal them properly. It wouldn't be farfetched to assume that the nearby trees and brush had been cleared out around the perimeter, a decent amount at that. It was standard to clear out the vegetation like that and they probably cleared out enough so it would be nearly impossible to sneak up on them. Even if they didn't, they were going to have to operate under the assumption that the perimeter was set up like that.

Drumming his fingers on the table, Ijin started to gather information. "Who went and what did they say?"

"005 and 006 went. Cleared perimeter, fifty feet all around. Tall grass, no trees. No blind spots." Fuck, he knew it. He went over the topography map again, but there was nothing they could use to their advantage. The only way they could sneak up on the base was probably going to be through a convoluted plan that relied solely on distractions.

He looked to the other location, and it was slightly better. It was nestled into what looked like a small cliffside. Not the best place to attack unless they got onto the cliff and infiltrated from the top. Even then, that was a bad idea because if there was pushback, they would be cornered into the upper levels and that meant their only escape route would either be out a window or off the rooftop.

The downside to each location and each plan was that they had the potential of holding Seokju.

If they cornered Forest, they could use Seokju as a bargaining chip, or worse, cut their losses by killing him and then fleeing. To make it worse, assuming that they even picked the right location, the one that had Seokju, it was going to have to be a quiet infiltration. A small group, less than four people, in and out. It was going to have to be so covert, chances were high that they wouldn't be able to extract Seokju, all they would be able to do was confirm his location before leaving.

It was risky. Ridiculously so. There were so many ways it could go wrong. 006 and 032 said that they would keep Seokju alive, but Ijin had no idea how loyal the forest members were. Hawthorne was loyal, but according to the brothers, Forest were the kind ones, they hadn't been cruel to them. But that still didn't fix anything because Seokju was not like them, he wasn't like any of them. He was just a well-trained S.W. trainee.

Either Seokju was killed, or if Seokju wasn't killed, then he was going to come out traumatized in some way, shape, or form. Assuming none of them were killed in the effort to save his friend.

"What are Forest's demands?"

002 raised his eyebrow. "Your head. Mine too, and just about everyone else's. They want all of us dead."

"You can't give yourself up kid." Kang said sternly, his expression informing Ijin that Kang more than disapproved of his line of thought, "A life is a life, yours is just as important as Seokju's."

"Yeah, well Seokju isn't as fucked as the rest of us," 002 cut in, his arms crossed and his weight resting on his back foot as he made eye contact with Ijin, "Anyway, it is a shit idea 001. I'm embarrassed for them that they had to stoop as low as to involve a civilian. They can't even take care of us without taking hostages." 002 said with a touch of amusement in his voice, pride almost. Ijin would like to argue that they had taken 006 and 032 hostage for a few days, but Ijin knew what he meant.

It was embarrassing that Forest needed to take advantage of civilians to get an upper hand on him. It was one thing to use a teammate as a bargaining chip, it was another thing to bring in an uninvolved person.

Kang just moved on without acknowledging 002's words. "Okay, no trading. Or bargaining, if they took Seokju they will do anything to get an advantage. You said that 032 is good at hacking, how good is he? Maybe the facility has cameras."

"We would need to get close enough for that to happen." The internet out there was nonexistent, they were going to have to connect to the facility's internet, if they had any, to do anything with their tech.

"I know. But, if we have a range extender, that might work. 032 has drones right? Slap the extender onto the drone, use the drone to connect to the internet and then broadcast it back to 032's location so he can hack it. Then we can find out if they have surveillance cameras or not."

"We would still be putting 032 at risk on an assumption. Even if 032 does manage to get into their network, if 032 can do it, Forest probably has a Tree that can do the same. They probably have someone assigned to keep an eye on their network. 032 will be fucked if they can track him back to his location before he leaves."

Ijin let them discuss the Wi-Fi extender while he mulled over everything. They couldn't do anything until they found out what base Seokju was at. It would be easy to just throw a bunch of explosives off the cliff at location two, but they would be dooming Seokju if he was in there.

Though that was an idea. 018 was called Napalm for a reason. 018 could make an explosive that would remotely detonate on one of 032's drones, land it on the rooftop, chaos with minimal risk. But they needed to find out where Seokju was before they did anything.

Ijin cared for Seokju, he really did but that fucking idiot needs to learn how to mind his own business. Or at least he needed to try harder to not get fucking kidnapped. He should have an idea of how to avoid that after working with Yeona since childhood.

A vibrating sound brought all of them out of their thinking, the three men looking down at the table to see whose phone was vibrating.

002 picked up Seokju's phone, the screen showing a text from an unknown number. After scoffing, he tossed it towards Ijin, "Wait. I'll get 032." Ijin didn't understand why 032 was needed until he read the message. The screen displayed a simple 'Let's talk.' In English.

Considering that any texts Seokju would have gotten should have been in Korean, it was obvious who it was.

"Forest?" Kang asked, earning the soldier a nod as Ijin put the phone back onto the table with a deep sigh. Getting a text like that meant that they knew they had Seokju's phone and that meant that they had been able to wrangle Seokju's phone number out of him. Either that or Seokju gave it up willingly because they had told him some type of lie to placate him. Ijin was going to hope that Seokju gave it up willingly. "What do they want?"

"To talk." 032 still had traces of fresh drool on his face when he entered the room behind 002 and after a few minutes, they were ready.

032 tapped away at his computer, "Alright. I'm ready," 032 reannounced, "But they probably have someone on their side trying to trace our call as well. If I can get theirs, they can get ours." Got it. It was going to have to be a quick conversation. Long enough for 032 to trace the call, but short enough so their location wouldn't be revealed, all while trying to get information that Seokju was safe.

Ijin already knew that it was going to be a pain.

His eyes drifted over to 002, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Go wake up the others," 002 ordered Kang, who nodded in response. "Tell them we're leaving in fifteen minutes."

"Got it." With Kang closing the door behind him, and another confirmation from 032 that he was ready, Ijin called the number.

It was answered on the second ring. Ijin put it on speaker and put it on the table. On the other side of the table, 032 was already typing away on his laptop.

"001." The voice greeted, and Ijin found himself wondering how they knew it was him. Not that it mattered, because just like they knew it was him, Ijin knew who he was talking to.

"Sequoia." Ijin returned, his voice just as emotionless as Sequoias had been. "What do you want?" He just got straight to the point. It was obvious that Sequoia knew that Seokju was involved with him, with his identity as 001 to be more specific, and Ijin didn't want to waste time in figuring things out.

There was a hum, the connection crackling just the slightest bit. "The boy. He didn't know as much as I thought he would. Considering that I saw him with 004 and another man." Sequoia had a pondering tone in his voice, but Ijin could tell that it was false, just a show to help with the impact of the conversation.

"He's not involved with us. He owed me a favor and that was it. He's a civilian." Ijin had to keep himself from stressing that Seokju was a civilian. He had to make sure that he sounded as detached as possible because as difficult as it was, he needed to sound detached to prevent them from using Seokju as a bargaining chip.

He hummed. "I see. He acts like a civilian." Ijin swore he could hear Sequoia bobbing his head side to side as he took in the news that Seokju was not like them.

That was what he was trying to say. "He is a civilian." Ijin repeated. He glanced over at 032 and 002, who was standing behind 032 as he typed on the laptop. 002, noticing his look, shook his head, signaling that 032 still hadn't traced them. Good, Ijin still hadn't gotten enough information either way.

"We have no use for a civilian." Sequoia commented idly, "I have no use for a civilian. Our superiors on the other hand. Everyone is given a purpose. Whether they like it or not." Sequoia finished, and Ijin had to pretend he didn't feel a spark of panic when he heard Sequoia's words. Sequoia was inferring that while he would have let go of Seokju, he wasn't going to do it either way because of their superiors.

He knew that Forest was supposed to be the better, second iteration of the Numbered. Though it was obvious that Forest wasn't on the same skill level as the Numbered, Ijin had no idea if the Forest handlers had been able to do what Mad Dog couldn't.

Instill a strong sense of loyalty to the company, a loyalty so strong, it was akin to an unshakable faith.

Obviously, if Sequoia was pointing out that he would have let Seokju go, instead of pretending that it was also in his interest to have a hostage, the Forest handlers had done an equally shitty job in instilling loyalty.

It was a card Ijin was going to hope was valid. Ijin kept his voice level. "Do you really think you can use him against us? He has no worth." It was cruel, but in terms of combat, Ijin was right. Seokju would be a burden rather than an asset when it came to their type of fighting, he already was a burden. Seokju wouldn't be able to contribute a single thing. Ijin just hoped that Sequoia's superiors would also agree that Seokju didn't have any worth.

Sequoia hummed. Beyond the doorway, Ijin could hear the others moving around, packing their equipment once again so they could leave once the phone call ended. "I see. We're going to have to clean things up on our end in that case. Loose lips do sink ships." Shit.

Ijin closed his eyes, clenching his jaw tightly as he tried to keep his reaction to a minimum. Hearing that they were going to kill Seokju to wrap up loose ends nearly made him panic. Instead, Ijin let go of a controlled breath and opened his eyes, making brief eye contact with 002 as he did so. "What do you want?" there wasn't a point in pussyfooting around anymore. Sequoia knew that Seokju was important, to Ijin at least, and it was obvious that Sequoia was going to take full advantage of it.

"For what? For the worthless civilian we have with us?" Sequoia feigned confusion in his voice, "Either he was trained well, or he truly doesn't know anything. Even our specialist wasn't able to get anything out of him." It was just a provocation, it was most likely empty words. Ijin knew how easy it was to find out who knew what, it was easy to break the wills of the untrained, but likewise, it was far too easy to go overboard. There was a delicate balance between breaking a person's will to conceal a secret, and just breaking their will completely.

Unfortunately for Ijin, he had no idea if Sequoia was just saying empty words, or if their 'specialist' really had tried to wrangle information out of Seokju, and he didn't know if their specialist had the brains to realize that Seokju truly didn't know anything.

"He doesn't know anything," Ijin confirmed, in hopes that they would leave Seokju alone, alive at least, "I wasn't lying when I said that he was worthless."

"He's worthless to you, or worthless to us?" Ijin stayed quiet, letting the threat linger in the air. Sequoia was damn near declaring that they knew Seokju's worth and that his worth was that Ijin was willing to cooperate just to keep him alive. "A life for a life? An innocent civilian for a murderer sounds like a fair trade." At last, 032 and 002 motioned that they got Sequoia's location, and 032 made a cutting motion with his hand to hurry up and end the conversation.

"Sequoia," Ijin said seriously, "Is your training so lacking where you need to use a bargaining chip like this?"

There was a contemplative hum. "No." Sequoia commented as if he was talking about the weather, his light tone a stark contrast to the situation. "I believe your training is the one lacking. For you to care for a civilian so much. It's a burden and a bargaining chip that anyone would take advantage of." There was a noise in the background, a second voice that was too distorted to understand. "Take better care of your toys 001." He hung up. The motherfucker.

032 stood up almost immediately, "He probably has our location. We need to go." He was right. There was a reason Sequoia had hung up suddenly like that. There was no doubt about it, they had their location and they had theirs.

"Were you able to track them?" Ijin asked as they walked into the main room. For the most part, most of their shit was packed up, everything in the main room waiting to be thrown into the trucks.

"Yeah," 032 shouldered a couple of duffle bags on top of carrying his computer case, "They were closer to the second base, but not exactly, they probably moved locations before calling you. Make sure you turn off the phone. They can track us from it now that they pinged it." Fuck of course they did. If they had the time, Ijin would have done the same thing. Ijin would have relocated them somewhere in the forest before he answered the phone call. Ijin forced the battery from Seokju's phone, whether it would continue to work afterward was a matter left for later.

If there was one thing the camp had taught them, it was efficiency, within a minute of finishing the phone call, they were leaving the base behind. Ijin, 005, 018, and 032 were in one truck, and 002, 006, 008, 016 and Kang were in another. They didn't have time to sort out who was going with whom, so while it would have been preferable that Kang was with him, Ijin knew that Kang would be alright with them.

005 was driving as Ijin and 032 spoke in the back. "Here," Ijin unfolded the map until it was focused on the second location, trying his best to ignore 005 as she communicated with 006 over the radio, coordinating the route to the next base. "Mark where you pinged them." Ijin handed over the map to the teenager, also giving 032 a marker and a flashlight so he could see in the dark cabin. "018, were you able to get those traps set up?" 032 marked down the point as 018 answered from the front seat.

"Yeah. I set up the mechanisms and the explosives after you guys walked out. They'll be triggered if they walk into the main room and look through our shit." There was a chance that civilians would trigger the mechanisms themselves, but that required someone venturing far into the forest, finding the base, getting in and exploring it, and then trying to look through their stuff. By that point. The forest members should be the only ones exploring the base out there. It wasn't going to be their fault if they set off the traps 018 had installed.

"Good." That was all the praise Ijin offered before he turned back to 032, who was handing him the map after he marked it.

Ijin nearly cursed when he saw the map. The location 032 had marked wasn't close to either one of the marked locations. In fact, it was closer to their next base than he would have liked. "Are you sure it was right there?"

032 nodded. "Positive. Do you want me to have my drone check the base later on?"

"Yes." Ijin relayed the plan to 005, who relayed it to the others. They were planning to stop a few miles before the base so 032 could use his drone to make sure they weren't walking into a trap. It was going to be a pain in the ass, but Ijin was willing to make everyone wait for a couple of hours just to keep everyone safe.

Ijin continued to pour over the map. It was such a shit show. He and his team were durable, but they were moving bases faster than he would have liked. They only had one more base after the new one, after that, they were going to have to be on the move constantly, something that would no doubt wear down the team and tempers the longer it went on.

A particularly vicious throb made Ijin's hand go up to cradle his head. Ugh, his head was killing him, and it didn't help that the inside of his eyelids felt like sandpaper. Maybe it was a good thing Kang had ordered him to go back to sleep, it felt like he still needed to sleep for a good couple of hours, days even.

But at least the good news was that they could infer that Seokju was at the second location and hopefully, within a few days, they would have all of the information they needed to plan everything properly.

Ijin just hoped they had the time, that Seokju would be able to wait for a few days.

Turning off the light, Ijin put away the map and settled into his seat. It was going to take them another couple of hours for them to get to the next base. There wasn't anything he could do but think.

Ijin sighed. He was just so tired of everything, of the fighting, of the planning.

He wanted to go home. He was just so done with the battlefield and he was so very done with the way his past kept on trying to drag him back into the trenches. Ijin tried to leave it behind, he physically left the entire country where he used to operate, yet apparently that wasn't enough.

When would it be enough? when the Numbered eventually forgot about him once they moved on with their lives? Once Forest was dealt with? Once all of their enemies were dealt with?

He licked his lips and paused when he realized that he tasted blood, even more so when he felt something warm dripping down onto his upper lip.

Using his thumb, he wiped off his upper lip and held out his hand into the moonlight. It was dim, and with the way they were under the tree canopy, all Ijin could confirm was that his thumb was wet with something. It was too dark for him to discern anything else.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Ijin's sense of taste was more than enough to confirm that it had been his blood on his thumb. He scrunched up his nose in disgust. Great. A nosebleed, for apparently no fucking reason too.

Huffing out a sigh, Ijin held his hand against his nose, slowly feeling the fabric of his gloves grow damp as it absorbed the blood. It was a good thing it was so dark unless 032 turned on the flashlight or the cabin light, it was too dark for anyone to notice what he was doing.

That didn't mean they were deaf.

"What's wrong?" 018 asked and Ijin could barely see the faint outline of 018's head turning towards him from the front seat.

His glove was damp, and he flipped his hand over so the fabric on his palm could start to absorb the blood. It was bleeding a lot.

"Nothing."

The blood had dried by the time they got to the base- after 032 made sure it was safe of course- and with a bit of water from his canteen, Ijin was able to wipe the blood off before anyone saw. He was even able to enter a light doze for some time, after dry swallowing enough painkillers to make his liver hate him.

Ijin knew that morale was low when they trudged into the new base. Everyone was exhausted and yeah, they were trained to operate until they were collapsing, but that didn't mean Ijin liked running his men into the ground like that. He needed all of them to be in their best condition and for the past week, they were not.

They were silent as everyone moved their stuff into the new base. Everyone knew what they had to do, going off into pairs as select members secured the perimeter and the others doing whatever they were assigned earlier. Unfortunately for them, the new base wasn't hooked up to the power grid, so they were going to have to make do with flashlights and lanterns for the time being.

Ijin settled into the corner he picked. He was going to be running the night shift from the looks of it. That was fine, that meant he was going to have enough alone time to be able to plan without any distractions. With help from the painkillers, his headache was gone, and he was well rested, which meant he should be in ideal condition to think logically and rationally.

The sound of a silenced gun shooting a single round went through the base.

Slowly, Ijin turned to look at the source, raising his eyebrow when he saw 016 looking at him, an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry. But it was for a good reason I promise." Well, it better be, considering that 016 could have risked one of them by shooting in the base like that.

Other Numbered streamed into the room, holding their flashlights. "What happened?" 002 sounded annoyed, his flashlight moving around the room as he looked for the reason.

"I was startled, but," 016 paused as he walked out of the room, the sound of something being dragged accompanying his voice, "at least we have dinner now. Must have gotten in somehow." And with their flashlights focused on 016, they watched as 016 dragged out a boar?

Color him surprised because out of everything, Ijin was not expecting 016 to drag out a boar from the room, leaving a trail of blood on the cement.

"It looks like it jumped through the window to get in. Anyone know how to skin this thing?"

"I got it." 008 said as he stepped forward, easily picking up the animal by its hind legs. "I'll skin this once I'm done."

For the first time in a while, smiles started to go around the room. "Finally. Some real food." 006 groaned out, "Alright, let me finish up with my stuff and I'll start the fire."

Realizing that they were going to get the boar prepared for eating, Ijin focused back on his stuff. The others didn't need him to hold their hand. Besides, it's not like Ijin knew what to do with the thing.

Though it was good that the boar was there. It had been weeks since any of them had a decent meal. After a few weeks of eating nothing but MREs, some actual meat would help morale, along with their energy levels. That meant the likelihood of someone making a mistake was lowered.

An amber glow started to fill the room as the lanterns were set up. 005 was covering the windows, and 006 was starting a fire in the fireplace, easily catching a spark with the dry firewood that had been left inside. The others were somewhere outside and 002 was making his way over to Ijin. "Think of any plans yet?" Ijin nearly scoffed at the question.

There were no more plans to think of. At least not any good ones. "Not any good ones. They're all shitty."

"Yeah, well we're in a shitty situation," They relocated to an adjacent room, the door cutting them off from the rest of the base and the general chatter of the others. Amber filled the room as 002 turned on the lantern, the two of them working together to cover up the window as they spoke. "The best I could think of was sending an infiltration team to confirm where your friend is and then moving on from there."

Good to know they were on the same line of thought. "I was thinking the same, though they won't be able to extract him. Once we find out where he is, we can launch a joint attack." They didn't even have to destroy the bases at the same time, all they needed to do was attack at the same time so neither of the bases could provide the other backup. not to mention, Seokju was most likely going to be with Sequoia, and Sequoia was most likely going to be with the head of Forest. Theoretically, finding Seokju meant that they would find their main base.

"006 came up with the idea of 018 using his explosives to distract the second base while we focus on the main base."

"Does 018 have enough for something like that?"

"I'm sure he does. The vegetation is dry there, if 018 can set it up where if a forest fire breaks out and surrounds the base, that will take care of it. 006 also mentioned that they keep their truck by the tree line, so those would be a good place to set some charges."

"Wipe out their trucks and surround them with fire…that will definitely keep them busy…" and kill them. But that was war so Ijin wasn't too hung up over it.

They continued talking. For the time being, as soon as they checked in with 018, the plan was for 018 to go and set up charges, and sacrifice one of 032's drones to place a charge by the trucks. Assuming they were able to find out where Seokju was.

The smell of meat filled the base, reminding Ijin that it had been a while since he last ate. Probably well over twelve hours by that point. He should probably get a bite to eat.

A commotion brought them out of their thinking.

A loud commotion.

Kang opened the door. "Hey, 006 and 018 brought some people in, he caught them on patrol." Well, that certainly caught their attention.

"Hey hey hey!" a foreign voice called out frantically, "Can you fucking not with the gun!?"

"We came willingly fucking shit!"

They walked into the scene of two strangers pressed up against the wall and with the exception of Kang, everyone had a gun pointed at the strangers.

Ijin immediately zoned in on their uniforms, their equipment, and their fatigues. It was much like the clothes they would wear while they were at the camp and Ijin immediately knew who they were.

"This makes it easy." 002 said lightly, drawing his gun to point at the Forest members. "Now we have our own hostages."

---

"You guys really know how to make someone feel welcome." Sapling drawled out, his legs crisscrossed as he sat in the center of the room, his bound hands in his lap. Next to him, Sandbox was in a similar position, except Sandbox pissed off 005 so he had a bruise on his face. Ijin thought it was Sandbox's fault, he just should have let 005 search him without complaint.

"Oh, shut up Sap. And can you put that thing down? We didn't come to try anything." Sandbox pointedly looked at the gun-guns-that everyone was holding. Even Kang was holding his, though he just had his hand resting on it, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice.

"You two should know what to expect from your enemy." Kang replied, and when Ijin heard 'who the fuck are you supposed to be' muttered from Sapling, he decided to just get a move on.

"What did you come for?" The room fell silent, all of them listening for their reasoning. The only thing that could be heard was the crackling of the fire and the sizzling of the former boar-turned-dinner.

Sapling and Sandbox had to turn their bodies to spot Ijin in the corner, but they seemed to recognize him. "Sequoia sent us. You were right that we have no use for a civilian, and we don't need to stoop to taking one to fight." Ijin raised his brow, so what? They were there to negotiate? That made absolutely no sense.

"The boy is at our main base. The one by the cliff." That made all of them blink in surprise. First of all, why were they giving up information so willingly? And what made them think they were going to believe him?

Sandbox seemed to know what they were thinking. "Our superiors think he knows something, but we know he doesn't. We heard from Alice. We know what our superiors did to your squad. After Alice left, we all decided we're done working with them."

That sounded too good to be true.

Far far too good to be true. To hear that the Trees were also rebelling against their leaders, just like the Numbered did, was suspicious at the very least. Ijin didn't have to have a silent discussion with anyone, he knew that he wasn't the only one who had their doubts. All of the Numbered exchanged looks and when Ijin glanced over to Kang, he got a slight head shake in return.

"Sounds like a load of bullshit to me." 005 said, her thumb pulling back the hammer for her gun, "Do you think we're stupid or something?"

"Do you think we're stupid or something?" Sapling shot back, his eyes narrowed, "Do you really think we're so shit at patrol where we wouldn't notice Blondie and Grungy over there scouting the base?" He said as he gestured towards 006 and 018 with his hands. "Puh-lease. Maybe the mercenaries are that stupid but we aren't.

"You shot one of our own. Why should we believe you?" 005 snapped out, referring to the way 004 had been sniped the previous week, incapacitating the man.

"I thought you would be better than that," Sandbox snapped back, almost leaning forward as he said, "for the group that is supposedly better than us, it was sloppy of him to get caught like that." That made more than a few frowns go around the room.

Even 008 was starting to get upset. "We've been running several missions with little time to rest and blowing up entire bases with only nine people, so excuse us if we slipped up one time." 008 retorted, making Sapling snort.

"Twice," Sandbox pointed out. He gestured to 006 and 032 with his bound hands. "Those two got captured as well." Just that had been enough to make 006 and 032 scrunch up their nose in displeasure along with raising the tension in the room.

Ijin exchanged looks with 002, who only offered a quirk of an eyebrow before he focused back on the Tree's. Well, they weren't lacking in guts that was for sure.

"That's enough." Ijin called out, glaring at 005 when she didn't settle down with the initial warning. It was annoying, both sides were right but that wasn't the objective of the conversation.

They had had a feeling that everything was going a bit too well. For a group that was supposed to be a second iteration of their own, they certainly didn't act like it. Sure, the Numbered were good, but at the same time, it was almost pathetic how a strike force of nine people was able to take down three bases within a month.

"Let's say we believe you." 002 said, his gun still at the ready, "why would you? It's not common for a dog to bite their owners hands."

"Can't be that uncommon. You killed your owner." Sandbox snarked back, earning an almost approving nod from all of the Numbered. Sandbox was right, the Numbered had killed their owner, and none of them felt remorseful about it, Ijin included. "Some of us are in the same boat as Alice. I know they used to hold my mom hostage until she finally died. Sapling used to have a half-brother, until they killed him because Birch fucked up."

"What did Birch have to do with it?" Ijin could hear the raised eyebrow in 008's voice, even though the room wasn't bright enough to light his corner of the room.

Sapling sighed. "Nothing. That's how they kept us in line. They control the relatives we have and the ones who are by themselves. If they fuck up enough then someone else's relative is punished. It's convoluted. Hellborne and Acacia killed each other out of revenge and self-defense on Acacia's part."

"Fucking hell." 006 muttered, his hand running through his hair, "And I thought the camp was fucked…" Ijin had to agree. It was a very convoluted way to control a group and unfortunately, it looked like it worked rather well. If you ignore the fact that two of their members died because of in-fighting.

"Yeah, well let's say they learned from Mad Dog's mistakes." Sandbox's voice was bitter as he said that, glaring holes into the floor as if he were trying to set cement on fire. "The only ones who still have relatives are Hawthorne and Sequoia. There aren't much of us left either so even if we wanted to try to kill Hedgehog Bitch, we wouldn't be able to save their family fast enough."

"Hedgehog Bitch?"

"Our superior. He looks like a Hedgehog and he's a bitch. Hedgehog Bitch. Can we get back on track?" Sandbox looked to Ijin for approval and when he got a nod, he continued. "Anyways. Sequoia has been keeping the boy relatively safe. For now. Hedgehog Bitch is starting to get impatient even though there's nothing we can get out of him. We can't get him out ourselves. But you know. It would be a shame if there was going to be a mistake in patrol scheduling, say around midnight tomorrow. A total shame. Really."

"And why should we trust you? We were the ones who killed Anna." For a group that claimed to be so loyal to each other, they certainly didn't seem like it. Ijin at least wouldn't side with someone who killed one of his teammates, mission or not.

"No one liked Anna. But would you have any loyalty to the man who had your family killed?" Sapling asked quietly, his voice cutting through the silence, his demeanor a drastic difference to the situation. "He's killed our family members and he killed twenty-six of your men." Sapling directed to Ijin, staring right into Ijin's eyes. "You don't have to trust us. Just know that we want him dead just as much as you do." Ijin stared back at Sapling and to his credit, Sapling did not back down, showing that just like the rest of them, he had the guts to back up his statement.

"What's going to happen if you two don't return on time?"

"We're supposed to be gone for another two days. Covert scouting mission. Sequoia knows we're with you." Well, if they were telling the truth, then they made sure to cover up their tracks for their side at least.

Ijin sighed. What a shit show, though hopefully it would be a helpful shit show. "008." 008 perked up, "put the gun down and bring Sapling in here." He said that he pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. And just to make it more obvious that he wasn't planning to hurt Sapling, Ijin gave his visible firearms to 002, discreetly patting his concealed weapons to make sure they were still there. They were. "Wait here. I want to confirm something." 008 nodded and moved forward, hauling the surprisingly passive Sapling to his feet.

He could see the doubt written all over 002's face, but 002 took his guns without complaint. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't." Ijin walked into the room, 008 and Sapling behind him. "Close the door," 008 listened as Ijin pulled out the maps, a clean one that they used to reference without their notes getting in the way, and set a marker down next to it. He motioned towards the map. "Mark the location. If it's different from what Sandbox marks, I'll kill you both." Ijin didn't know if they had the brains to plan for something like that ahead of time, but if they were telling the truth, then it shouldn't be a problem.

If not, Ijin had no problem killing intruders.

Much to Ijin's relief, it didn't seem like a problem. Sapling nodded. "Got it." and with his bound hands, he took off the cap and circled exactly where the second location was. There was little to no hesitation and either Sapling knew exactly where it was, or he was just guessing. "Sequoia and the boy are there." He added on in an attempt to further convince Ijin.

Ijin didn't respond to that, all he did was turn to 008 and tell him to bring in Sandbox while Ijin took out his personal map. When Sandbox saw the map, he was quick to mark down the exact same spot, just as fast, just as accurate.

Well. For the time being, that was enough for Ijin. At least for Ijin to decide that they could live for a bit longer until they figured out if it was better to kill the two of them or not. Though he would have to talk to 002 about it and then Kang, who would be serving as the third, impartial party.

Until then. "008. Go eat and get them some food. You, 005, and 016 are in charge of them for the night." Sapling was Ijin's height and Sandbox was 002's height, both of them were huge and if anything, he wanted to make sure that the trees were going to be outnumbered for the other's safety. Of course. Ijin was going to be on guard as well, but they didn't have to know that.

However, for the time being, Ijin was going to treat them decently by giving them food and water. It's not like they could preserve the food either way, so they had to eat it all or throw it away within the day. If feeding them just so happened to win their favor just a bit more, then so be it.

If 008 had any complaints, he didn't voice them. All he did was take Sandbox back to the main room, only for 002 to reenter the room soon after. "What did you test?"

He passed the maps. "They marked down the same spot. I was planning to kill them if they didn't."

"You trust them that easily?" 002 almost seemed annoyed as he said that, his half-lidded stare was barely visible in the dim room.

Ijin nearly rolled his eyes, what did 002 take him for? A fucking idiot? "No. For the time being, I don't see a reason to kill them yet." They could get some more information out of them if they really wanted to, and if they were telling the truth, then they would be able to help in the raiding of the base. "If they are telling the truth, we can find a use for them."

"So what? You're trying to win their trust, is that why you gave them those shitty restraints."

"Does it make a difference? If they were trained anything like us, the restraints wouldn't be able to stop them."

"It does matter when there are two strangers in the base."

"It's two against nine." And that nine included both Ijin and 002, both of which were plenty strong enough to defend themselves. "I didn't take you as someone who is insecure."

"You know what I'm talking about."

"And I don't care. I'll be on watch."

002 scoffed. "Oh, yeah, because we need some drug addict on guard. Thank you, 001. Truly."

Ijin had to keep himself from spitting out his words. "You were the one who gave them to me. Don't think I don't know that you're taking them too."

"I take them when it's been over twenty-four hours since I've slept. You've been taking them every day." Oh, 002's face was looking very punchable right about then and the prospect of Ijin landing his fist right on his face was very appealing. Fucker was pretending like they both weren't relying on the stupid things to stay awake and keep the team going. As if Ijin wasn't taking them every day because he wasn't sleeping for days on end.

A knock on the door stopped Ijin's scathing retort. "What?" He spat out, wanting to find out who the hell decided to interrupt them.

Kang walked through, two steaming canteen tins in his hand, and not for the first time, Ijin had to smother his anger. They were just being interrupted out of a well-meaning act. It was bad timing, but it was well meaning. "Got you two some food. Here." 002 thanking Kang reminded Ijin that he was supposed to do the same, but other than that, it was silent, the tins ringing dully as Kang set them down on the table. "Try not to forget to eat." Kang said, his hand squeezing Ijin's shoulder, "Take care of yourself some more kid." the soldier's eyes flicked up to Ijin's, but as soon as they made eye contact, Kang was flicking his eyes away. His mouth twisted in that certain way of his when Kang was trying to hide something with a smile, but was doing a terrible job of it.

He knew.

Just as quietly as he entered, Kang left, the door shutting gently behind him.

Ijin didn't know how, but he knew that Kang had found out about the stimulants. A wave of guilt washed over Ijin and he couldn't stop the sigh from escaping him. God dammit, out of everyone, Kang was one of the people Ijin did not want to find out about the stimulants.

002's glare sharpened when Ijin looked over at him. "I didn't tell him shit." Great, probably meant that Ijin wasn't keeping his drug usage under wraps like he thought.

"Your soldier friend is right." 002 said as he plucked the tin off the table, quickly grabbing onto the handle rather than the body when he felt the hot metal. "Eat. Take care of yourself." His words were mocking and it was obvious that 002 didn't really mean that. Sometimes Ijin finds himself wondering how they were able to work together for so long.

Though to be fair, the stimulants probably weren't helping.

Someone called out to 002 when he opened the door, though 002's response was muffled by the door, Ijin could hear 002 starting to tell someone to be quiet and eat as he closed the door with a bit more force than necessary.

As much as he hated to admit it, Kang and 002 were right. He needed to eat. It had been a while since he ate anyway, he couldn't remember.

Ijin reached for the water bottle, though that was quickly a lost cause when he knocked it off the table accidentally, the water spilling out onto the floor.

Utterly exhausted, Ijin just stared at it, annoyed at the same time. He didn't even understand how he managed to knock it over but he quickly moved on. Grabbing the tin and ignoring the way it shook in his hands, he shoved a few pieces of food into his mouth. It was salty and fatty, and by those standards, it was rather plain. Though the salt was something that he very much needed and by god did it taste delicious.

Or it did.

Nausea washed over him, it was so strong that Ijin had to force himself to swallow the mouthful before he took in a few deep breaths as he leaned against the table. The salty meat had turned bitter in his mouth, his mouth filling with saliva as the urge to vomit got stronger. His head gave a particularly strong throb and he felt something dribbling down onto his lip again.

Ijin didn't even find the energy to sigh.

Wiping away the blood, Ijin forced the rest of the food down his throat, nearly gagging when he wasn't able to chew through a tough piece of meat fast enough. but he was able to get through it.

He was just thankful that his shirt was black, so it was able to hide the blood when Ijin used it to wipe it away. Once again, he was lucky that his nosebleed went unnoticed because he didn't have the time or energy to try and hide it beyond cleaning himself up.

Pulling out the maps, both the one the Trees had marked down and his maps, Ijin started to put something together again. A mistake in patrol scheduling huh? A glance down at his watch told him that it was four in the morning. So, he had twenty hours to get him and his men ready for the raid.

His nose still hadn't stopped bleeding, it was bleeding more that time around, a second time in less than three hours, nonetheless. Ijin just held his shirt against his nose. He didn't want to stain the maps with his blood.

Twenty hours…Twenty hours and then they could infiltrate the main base and get Seokju back, along with taking out the head of Forest. Twenty hours to rest, plan, coordinate and execute.

He could handle that.

---

"How is the kid?" Ijin asked, purposely not using Seokju's name because even though Sapling and Sandbox said they were on the same side, Ijin wanted to cover his ass.

Sapling hummed as he drew out a layout of the base. It was the morning already and who would have known that the Tree's and Numbered were similar. Giving the Tree's two meals of meat in a row was enough to have them cooperating some more. The confusion that had appeared on 018's face when he handed them their breakfast and earned a very sincere thank you had been priceless.

Perhaps they were really there so the Numbered could kill their leader, whatever the fuck his name was. Sandbox called him Hedgehog Bitch, so Ijin was just going to go along with a similar variation.

Since Sapling was still drawing out the layout, his brows furrowed in concentration, Sandbox answered for them. "Sequoia has been overlooking his interrogation. He's a bit roughed up, but we can tell that the kid doesn't know anything. And that he's not trained at all." Good, so Seokju was alive, maybe he wasn't okay per se, but he was alive. Ijin already knew that but having it reconfirmed sure helped.

018, 006, and 032 were already out at the second location. 018 was setting up charges to remotely detonate and 006 and 032 were out there helping him. it would have been preferable to send more, but not only did Ijin want to keep the Trees outnumbered at the base, just in case, but 006 and 032 were the only ones who had the patience for explosives. 005 was more likely to just slap it together and call it a day, 008 was too big to sneak around and his fingers weren't delicate enough. As for the others, they just didn't know enough to be able to help.

But everything was finally falling in place and ever so slightly, the burden that had been placed onto Ijin's shoulder started to lighten. Just enough to remind Ijin that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, he just had to plan well enough to be able to reach it.

"Do the rest of you know the plan?" 002 asked, his hand resting casually on his knife sheath, his eyes scrutinizing the men, taking in their reactions and body language. It was an important question. There was no point in taking in such a huge risk of infiltrating if the rest of the Trees didn't know about the plan. They could deal with the mercenaries, they were much easier to kill, the problem would be the Trees suddenly attacking the Numbered because they had been left out of the loop.

Sapling nodded. "Yeah. Everyone will be doing their part, but they won't start until we know you're in the base. If you guys bail out at the last second and they already took out a bunch of the Mercs, then we're fucked." Great, Ijin didn't know if he was going to take that as a huge, blaring sign for a trap or if it was a level of security for the Trees.

Either they were going to be a special type of stupid for going along with their plan, or they were going to have the opportunity of a lifetime.

Ijin glanced over at 002 and upon making eye contact, they knew they were thinking the same thing. Everyone would either go very wrong or very well, but they wouldn't know until they were halfway up shit creek. "How will they know we're on the base?" because the plan was to do it quietly. Get in quietly, get Seokju, and blow up the place once they are out. Of course, that was the plan and it was subject to change, but the point is that they didn't want anyone to know about their arrival.

So, it was either do it themselves or go along with the plan and risk being killed.

He had to restrain a very aggravated sigh from escaping him. Fucking Seokju. Fucking Hedgehog Bitch. Ijin was starting to understand why Sandbox called him that.

"I know what you're thinking." Sandbox said when he saw the way Ijin and 002 exchange looks. "It's not a trap. I know we can't prove that right now, but I promise that none of us are planning to kill you guys. Not after the way you helped Alice escape."

"We killed Alice." Ijin said bluntly, earning him a scoff.

"Please. We know you didn't. We're not stupid. Forest suddenly lost track of her little brother and all of a sudden she died? We know you guys helped her in some way." Sapling had a knowing smile on his face. Ijin wanted to snap at him to keep on drawing instead of talking. "You killed Anna, but you saved Alice. It sounds even to me and besides, Anna was a giant Cunt anyway."

Sandbox barked out a laugh. "Anna really was a bitch. Sequoia would have gotten rid of her if the Hedgehog didn't favor her." Ijin blinked in surprise.

That was surprise. In fact, it was more than a surprise, Mad Dog didn't favor any of them. He didn't even favor Ijin or 002 and they were the ones who kept the Numbered in line. To hear that the leader of Forest favored one of their men because of their obedience was a bit odd.

"Yeah," Sapling supplied when he saw their looks. "Anna was the only one who would listen to him without fail. It wasn't like that in the beginning but she pretty much betrayed us to get favor from him." Oh, so she was a traitor from the very beginning. That did explain why none of the Trees seemed particularly intent on revenge.

Anna was the one who helped Mad Dog kidnap Ijin's grandfather and Dayeon so maybe Ijin wasn't that surprised after all. But with the way his own squad reacted when they thought Ijin killed the twenty-six Numbered, Ijin thought their feelings towards Anna sounded about right.

"That doesn't prove anything." 002 was stoic as he said that and Ijin had to agree. Either they were telling the truth or Sapling and Sandbox were putting on the performance of their life.

They shrugged. "We know. But we both want something from each other. You want the boy, we want our superior dead and we both want Forest to be wiped out."

"You should have seen the way Birch laughed when he found out that you guys killed Mad Dog. He thought it was the funniest thing ever." Sandbox nearly snickered out, reaching over to draw a few details that Sapling had missed. "You made us realize that we can do the same to our superior and well, we're not the type to say no to help." They didn't get a chance to mull over it further before Sandbox was pushing the paper towards them. "There. The boy is in that room." He circled something in the building, writing a small '3rd floor' next to it. "And Hedgehog Bitch is right here." Moving just a few inches over, he made another circle. Ijin felt his eyebrow go up when he realized that Seokju was right next to their superior's office.

"They're keeping the boy right there?" even 002 was surprised and Ijin understood why. It was standard practice to keep the prisoners on the ground floor. No one wanted to haul a body down the stairs or to clean up the mess that's left behind. It was odd to hear that Seokju was being kept right next to their superior.

"He knows the boy is important to you guys." Ijin ignored the way 002 leveled a look at him. He could already hear the way 002 would give him shit about bringing in a civilian into the mix, despite the fact that they needed Seokju to get 004 back to Korea for treatment. "It's only going to be a matter of time before he starts to interrogate the boy himself. Sequoia was sensible, he won't be." Oh, even better news. Ijin really wanted to cuff Seokju over the head and curse him out at that point. Maybe if he had done that in the very beginning, Seokju wouldn't have been caught and would have left before he got caught up in their shit.

002 sighed. "Other than that, what else do we need to know?"

Sapling just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you guys are efficient, that's for sure. There's less than fifty men at the base and that hit you did on our supply trucks did work because there isn't a lot of ammo left at the base. Same thing for the second location, they probably have even less." Alright. Ijin had to admit that he was just proud that their attacks had been working. It was good to hear that they were able to wear down Forest like that, and it was even better to hear that the base was understocked ammo-wise. That meant most of the fighting was going to be hand-to-hand, giving them another advantage. "Most of them are mercenaries, it should be easy for us. Including our team, that's like what? Four kills per person? You guys have worked under worse conditions." That was true. They had launched bigger attacks against bigger bases. That had been with the help of 018s explosives and just like then, they were going to have that help once again.

They kept on talking. The trees marked down everything that was of significance, where they needed to hit if they wanted to get rid of the base's weapons and ammo, where the gap in patrol would be, and how and where the best place to get into the main building itself.

As they planned, and as Ijin and 002 adjusted the plans, Ijin realized that the offer to team up was genuine. Sure, Sequoia and his men could have planned a trap, but with the way Ijin and 002 were changing the plans, adjusting them to fit the situation better, they were bringing up points that Sequoia hadn't thought of, or at least points that Sapling and Sandbox hadn't thought of. With the way they were changing the plan, it would be difficult for the Tree's at the base to predict their moves. As long as either one of them didn't try to sneak off to communicate with the base, something that was near impossible considering that 032 found and took away their electronics, Ijin was confident that there was going to be no backstabbing.

If the tree's were tired, they were doing a good job at hiding it, that or they were used to it. It wasn't until 006, 018, and 032 were back from their job that Ijin realized just how long they had been talking. They had started around sunrise and it was almost midday, after staying up overnight. Maybe Ijin should give them the chance to rest. Sapling and Sandbox were not part of his squad, but that didn't mean he wanted anyone to be less than one hundred percent.

According to the report from 018, it had gone smoothly. The charges were set and ready to go. 018 was going to spend the rest of the morning preparing the rest of the charges for the attack at midnight. 006 and 032 were going to be on patrol while the others got some rest.

Sleep sounded so good at the moment.

Ijin batted the thought out of his head before it could form further, there was no point. He had to stay awake so he and 002 could continue to go over the plan, without the presence of the trees just to have another level of security.

They left Sapling and Sandbox under the supervision of 005, 008, 016, and Kang. Apparently, Kang was quite good at buttering up anyone and everyone because he was having a pleasant conversation with Sapling and Sandbox. 002 said that Kang would have been a good spy with how friendly he was, and how his friendly demeanor could get almost anyone to relax. Ijin agreed. Kang wouldn't have been able to win over Ijin's trust if he had been an uptight asshole.

As if Kang was trying to prove the point he didn't know about, he walked into the room with lunch: more ration bars and water. "Here." He set them down on the table and again, Ijin was grateful that at least someone remembered about food. He and 002 certainly didn't. "What's the plan so far?" They told him the plan. Kang hummed as he looked over the map. "This is your team. Where do you want me?" oh, that was a good question.

For some reason, Ijin didn't think of it.

Ijin chewed as he mulled over the question. Ijin was confident in Kang's abilities, and in his ability to be a team player, he did lead his own squad after all. What Ijin wasn't confident in was Kang's ability to mesh with their team. Three days wasn't nearly enough for Kang to learn how the Numbered fought and vice versa. The best scenario was that it would go perfectly if Kang got into a firefight with them.

The worst-case scenario was that Kang was going to get in the way and would either cause his own death or another's death.

"Any good at sharpshooting?" 002 asked after drinking some water and that was an idea. If Kang was good at sharpshooting, he could probably be with 016. 016 was going to be up on the cliff doing this thing and would be relatively safe up there.

Kang nodded. "I got fifth marksmanship when I was in training. I'm good." Kang added on when he saw their blank looks.

"Alright." Ijin pointed at a spot on the map, "You'll be there with 016. He'll tell you what to do so go and ask him." If Kang wasn't helping 016 with the sniper work, then he would at least be protecting 016 from anyone who managed to track them down.

"Got it." They stood in silence, the three of them around the table. 002 raised his eyebrow when he realized that it looked like Kang wanted to say something. "Can I talk to Ijin?" 002 nodded, not moving at all as he stood there looking at Kang, as if he was waiting for Kang to start. "Alone." Kang clarified and Ijin ignored the way 002 was purposely being obtuse.

002 just shrugged and after grabbing the water bottle off the table, he walked out, closing the door behind him.

Just with the way Kang looked at him, Ijin knew what he wanted to talk about. Maybe he still had the chance to leave as 002 did. Kang wouldn't be able to keep him in the room if he didn't want to stay. But at the same time, Ijin didn't like to run away from his problems, even if Kang was just about to bring them up.

Kang sighed, a deep and weary sigh that Ijin didn't know if it portrayed his disappointment or exhaustion. Probably both. "How long have you been taking them?" Kang asked and immediately, Ijin knew that it would be easier to just go with it.

He shuffled on his feet, resisting the urge to put his hand into his pocket – he still had a few left if he remembered right - as he averted his eyes. "Not that long." It really hadn't been that long.

"Less than a month right?" Kang looked like he disapproved of everything at the moment and he probably did. "Right?" The soldier stressed when Ijin didn't give him an immediate answer.

Ijin confirmed with a nod. "Just the last two weeks." He started taking the stimulants after the second week in Cambodia. When he realized that after six months of having little to no sleep deprivation and a very consistent sleep schedule, he was struggling to stay awake like he used to. Ijin used to be able to stay awake for at least two days without a problem, that time around, he was getting sleepy by midnight. Hence the need for stimulants. With the stimulant's help, he was able to keep up with the others.

Kang scrutinized him for a few seconds and even though he had to resist the urge to squirm, Ijin stood still. It was never fun to be put under Kang's scrutiny but Ijin knew that he deserved it that time around. "002 is also on them right?" Kang asked and Ijin found himself wondering how Kang knew that 002 was on them too. As far as Ijin knew, no one knew they were taking stimulants. "After so many years in the military, you start to learn how to pick up on things like that." Kang clarified and that only made Ijin wonder what made it so obvious that they were using drugs. "Are you going to stop as soon as we go back home?"

Ijin nodded. "I'm only using them to stay awake longer." Ijin didn't know how 002 was able to find a stimulant that did just that. It did make them a bit jittery, but it didn't change their state of mind, and it increased their concentration. It was honestly a jackpot that 002 had managed to get his hands on a drug like that.

At last, Kang nodded in approval. "Okay. Well, I'm not your father kid, and you're a legal adult here so I can't tell you what to do. Just promise me that if you need help, you'll call me. I've seen addiction kill good men and I don't want that to happen to you." Kang was sincere as he said that, his expression letting Ijin know that if he needed help breaking it, then Kang's door was wide open for him.

Ijin sighed in relief. "I will." He appreciated it, but hopefully, that will be the end of the talk for the time being. "I promise I will call you if I need help." Though Ijin was hoping that he wouldn't.

"Good. Thank you." There was another awkward pause and in a burst of random energy, Kang ruffled Ijin's hair roughly. Ijin couldn't deny the surprised squawk that escaped him when Kang did that at the same time as pushing down his head. "I'm going to go and find 016 now, make sure you eat." He opened the door and after telling 002 that he scared the shit out of Kang by standing out the door like that, he left.

002 reentered the room. For some reason, Ijin had the feeling that 002 was going to be annoying. "At least someone cares about you."

He was right.

"Be quiet."

---

Ijin tossed the duffel bag to Sapling, the man nearly buckling under its weight. "All of your stuff is in there. Talk to me if anything is missing." Though everything should have been there, the Trees didn't have anything they didn't have.

"Oh," Sapling looked between the bag and Ijin. "Thanks. I didn't think you were going to give us gear." Well, that was dumb, considering that they were going to need the Tree's help to get into the base.

Besides. "I wanted to make sure you weren't going to back stab us. And your equipment wouldn't make a difference either way if you do." Ijin was confident in his ability and his team's ability to take out Sapling and Sandbox should they betray their truce.

Ijin couldn't see their faces since he had his back to the Tree's, but he heard 006's laugh. "Don't worry about it." Ijin frowned as he fumbled the magazine, dropping it onto the table while he was trying to shove a bullet in there. It was fucking sloppy and the knowing hum from 002 did not help. "He's always like that. He is right though." 006 continued as Ijin glared at 002, willing the man to shut the fuck up.

"I never said he wasn't…" Sandbox said quietly, trailing off as Ijin heard the distinct noise of a zipper opening up. Ijin was happy that they had an agreement in that aspect.

Everyone fell into silence, all of them concentrating on their equipment and upcoming mission instead. Low mutters filled the room as 002 and Ijin checked in on everyone, ensuring everyone knew what they were doing, where they were going, who they were teaming up with, and everything that was involved with their mission.

They were all concentrated on their upcoming task, no one said anything to each other until they were getting out of the trucks, over five miles away from the base. Even then, it was just quick orders and reminders before they were spreading out and starting their march.

The moon was hidden behind the clouds and that combined with the thick canopy, made it almost impossibly dark. They had to navigate through touch and the occasional flashlight. They were five miles away from the base, and sure, maybe Forest didn't have enough men to send patrol that far out, but they were going to be careful either way. Complacency has killed people and Ijin didn't want them to join that number.

The miles went by and it wasn't long before they were able to see the distant glow of lights. As soon as they were close enough, they broke off into their groups. 018's group branched off to the other side of the base, while Ijin's group remained on track.

A branch cracked under his foot. He cursed to himself. He needed to pay more attention to his surroundings. 002 shot him a look, one that Ijin ignored in favor of watching Sapling and Sandbox. He had been sloppy lately, but as long as he kept it to a minimum, he would be fine.

Even the forest seemed to know that something was up. The insects had long stopped chirping, the frogs hiding and hunkering down into their burrows. It knew that there was something off about the energy of that night and they were right to hide as a result. The only thing Ijin could hear was the sound of the wind rustling the leaves and the sound of his and his teammates breathing. 005, 006, 008 were with him, 002 and the Tree's. If Ijin didn't know better, he wouldn't have known that the others were with them, and it was because of that he needed to step up his game.

Ijin thumbed his radio. It was off, he had turned it off after 018, 032, 016 and Kang confirmed that they were all in position, so there was no need to keep on checking on it. Just to keep his hands busy though, Ijin pulled the Shemagh tighter around his face, making sure that only his eyes were visible.

He was ready. They were all ready. They all had the equipment they needed, most of them were freshly rested, the stimulant was doing its job, and everything was going according to plan.

They were less than a quarter of a mile away from the base, but with how quiet the night was, any sound had the potential to carry. They had to be careful, he had to be careful that he didn't expose their position before they even started.

Sapling held a branch out of the way for Sandbox and when he saw the way Ijin was motioning for him to continue, he moved forward. Ijin didn't know if it was just a kind gesture, or if it was an attempt to get behind them but Ijin was not going to risk it either way.

The closer they got, the louder it became. They heard the sound of idling engines, and doors opening and closing as the mercenaries called out to each other. Barking orders to each other, or arguing, Ijin couldn't tell the difference because of the distance. He looked down at his watch and when he saw that it was five minutes until midnight, he motioned for the group to stop.

They were in the right place where Sandbox said there would be a gap in patrol. They just had to wait.

Less than a minute later, their eyebrows were raised when they saw a giant, who was obviously one of the Tree's, walking out with a smaller man.

"Wait. Birch will handle him." Sapling whispered to them, his eyes focused on the men. Just as the men passed by some crates, Sapling let out a low whistle. Quiet enough where Ijin wondered if Birch would even hear it in the first place.

The man heard it, and without missing a beat, Birch's arm was wrapped around the other's neck, the smaller man becoming limp rather quickly. And like nothing had happened, Birch threw the man over his shoulder and returned the whistle before going on his merry way.

"Go." Sandbox whispered to them, running to the wall and after a moment of deliberation, Ijin and 002 were following them. The trees were efficient, because by the time they caught up with the two of them, Sapling was already on top of the wall, reaching his hand down to pull them up.

Sandbox went up and with no other choice, Ijin went up after him. If they were going to get betrayed on the other side, Ijin wanted to at least be able to let the others know.

His feet thudded against the ground on the other side, they were in a small corner where their infiltration was covered by the nearby trucks. Not to mention, like it had been promised, there were no patrols in sight.

002 landed right next to him, then 005 and 006. Sapling and Sandbox had stayed at the top to help 008 up and once 008 was over, the Tree's were landing next to them.

"Okay." Sandbox whispered, kneeling behind the nearby truck and they all copied him. "This is our last chance to talk. There isn't a patrol inside the building, but people are roaming around."

002 nodded. "We got that covered." They had figured that they were going to need a way to lure the men out of the building, so with 006 handing something to 002, 002 was placing a charge under the truck. However, the charge was bigger than Ijin thought. Did 002 tell 018 that the charge was going to be used to blow up a truck?

Ijin turned. The butt of his gun hit the side of the truck, a loud and resounding thud went through the courtyard. Immediately, everyone stilled, all of them freezing when they heard the sound. It was loud and in the silence of the night, it would be hard to ignore if anyone heard it.

Cautiously, 005 scanned the courtyard, signaling them that they were in the clear when she didn't see anything. A sigh of relief went through them.

"Get it together." 002 hissed out, and just like that, the others were pretending to be deaf, leaving Ijin to face 002's well earned fury by himself. "You god damn invalid." Fucking dickhead. Ijin was still 001 and he did not appreciate 002 talking to him like that.

006 quietly cleared his throat, cringing when Ijin and 002 snapped their heads over to him. "018 set it up to go off in five minutes." 006 whispered to them, his head nodding towards the building, eyeing the two of them nervously. Ijin just grunted as he pushed down his anger, they could butt heads later, and 002 was right, he needed to get it together. "So, we have five minutes to find somewhere to wait before everyone comes out." 006 said slowly, tacking onto the end. "We probably have four minutes left now." They needed to get a move on and Ijin needed to get it together.

Sapling and Sandbox looked surprised, at what, Ijin didn't know, but it was going according to plan. "Well okay. We have somewhere we can wait. We just have to get inside. Come on." They took off, and with no better choice, they followed. They had no idea when the next patrol would come around and they didn't know if there would ever be a gap again.

They ran up to the crates, the ones that Birch had knocked out his partner by, and moved them out of the way, revealing a cellar door. "Who knows how to pick a lock?" 002 moved forward. Ijin took up watch as 002 started to do his thing. It was still cloudy, and while there were still lights outside, it was still rather dark. In their position, they were just out of reach from the nearby spotlight.

A low whistle cut through the silence, a low drone before it picked up in pitch.

"Hurry up." the gentle clicking of metal got faster when 002 heard that. "That's Hawthorne, she's on her way and she's not alone."

"I got it." 002 took off the lock and thankfully, the door was well-maintained, swinging open silently. They streamed into the cellar and immediately, Ijin was flicking on his light, making sure that it was not a trap. The cellar door was closed at the same time Ijin realized that it would be difficult to ambush them in an empty cellar. There was nothing in there, not even supplies. Likewise, it would make it difficult for them to get cover if they needed it.

Ijin held his breath as footsteps went past the cellar door before they faded away. "How much time do we have left?" He didn't take note of the time before 006 set up the charge, but there shouldn't be too much time left in the five-minute window.

"A minute." 008 had to slouch to fit in the cellar. 002 looked like he wanted to continue the conversation from outside, but Ijin ignored him. "How strong did 018 make it?"

"I told him to make it strong enough for a distraction." 002 explained, who was busy making sure his knives were at the ready and his sidearms already had a bullet in the chamber. Ijin would have done the same if he didn't do it already.

Ijin's eyebrows went up. "Did you tell him it was to blow up a truck as a distraction?" because there was a difference between using enough C4 for a truck, which didn't need much as long as they placed the charge by the gas tank. And there was a difference between using the charge to blow up a wall as a distraction.

To 002's credit, his hands barely stopped moving, there was only a minute pause in 002's motions. "No." The idiot.

An explosion made the ground shake, Ijin nearly lost his balance with how strong the initial shake was and dust rained down from the ceiling. Following the initial explosion were smaller ones, which were no doubt the nearby trucks meeting the same fate because of the heat or impact from the first charge. They could hear shouts from their position along with the sound of feet pounding against the floor above them.

"Well," 005 said lightly, "the distraction definitely worked."

"Yeah, no shit." Sandbox snapped out. "What if Birch and Hawthorne got caught in the explosion?!" Just the aggressive tone in Sandbox's voice was enough to make all of the Numbered straighten up, already getting ready for a fight right then and there.

"They'll be fine." Ijin cut in before tensions could rise further. "I saw the size of the charge. 018 used enough for a wall, not for a building. Besides, Hawthorne knew we were here, she should have gotten out of the area quickly."

Ijin got a glare for that, but Sapling just turned on his radio for the base. After lowering the volume, Ijin along with the others were able to hear the Tree's checking in, all of them confirming that they were still alive and where the explosion was from. "See? They're fine." 005 snarked out, earning a fierce glare from the trees for that.

"Enough." 002 said as he shoved his sidearm into the holster. "Your men are fine. But we won't be if we wait too long."

Ijin agreed with that, the sooner they got Seokju, the faster they could take down the base when they were safe.

The Tree's settled down with a grumble before they fell into silence. There was no need to talk anymore. The moment the footsteps stopped overhead, they were going to leave.

The door opened before they could leave themselves. Within seconds, multiple hammers were being pulled back, all of the Numbered and Trees included pulling out their silenced weapons, aiming them towards the doorway.

The Tree's were the only ones who relaxed when they saw the newcomer. "Sequoia." Sapling breathed out, his shoulders falling in relief when he realized that the man who was taking up most of the doorway, and who had to crane his head down to look at them, was his leader. "You scared the shit out of us. How did you know we were here?"

Sequoia opened the door further, motioning for them to come up. "Hawthorne. 001?" Ijin stepped forward, Sequoia's eyes settled on him, his face obscured by the way the light was shining behind the man. "Here." Ijin barely caught the keys that were thrown at him. "Third floor, last door. Roman has the boy with him."

"Who the fuck is Roman?" 005 asked, stepping out of the way so Ijin could walk closer to the stairway.

"Roman is Hedgehog Bitch." Sandbox supplied. "Why does he have the boy?"

"He wanted to talk to the boy. I suspect to try and make a deal with him. But the moment he realizes the Numbered are here. Roman will kill him." Sequoia said flatly. Ijin started making his way up the stairs.

"Move if you're not going to help." Sequoia moved, allowing them to step into the building. Ijin could smell smoke and gasoline, meaning that they most likely had a decent fire on their hands outside. It would help them escape. "Has 018 set off the charges for the second base?"

005 shook her head. "Not yet. But he will soon, he said that the charges were going to go off ten minutes after we start." Okay, they technically just started a few minutes ago with the explosion.

Sequoia seemed to have the same line of thought. "That means you have ten minutes to get to the boy before Roman realizes that this is an attack rather than a stupid accident. Roman has the codes ready to threaten our family, so me or my team can't help. I can't take you there either, I need to go outside before they notice how long I'm taking."

"That's fine." Ijin stepped towards the doorway, the one he saw lead further into the building. "We'll take care of him. Do what you have to." Ijin would handle their side, and Sequoia would handle his. It was simple and it needed to be fast.

Sequoia nodded and turned away. "Make sure Roman doesn't see you." Sapling and Sandbox nodded at the orders, and just like that, Sequoia was gone. He was going out of the door and they were going further into the building. They didn't bother clearing out the building, all they did was go straight up the staircase to the third floor. There were a few men who were taken care of quickly with their pistols.

Sandbox and Sapling had said that there were only two rooms that were in use on the third floor. And that was their leader's office, and Seokju's holding area. Still, they paused at the doorway to the third floor, listening hard for anyone walking down the hallway.

Gunfire exploded outside.

They all exchanged looks. More gunfire joined the mess and they could hear the occasional burst of a rifle going off, followed by another one. There was 016 and Kang most likely, only sniper rifles made loud booming bursts like that.

Something must have happened. One of the Numbered outside must have been noticed, or something similar because at the same time, they could hear the door to the stairwell burst open below them. Sapling glancing over the railings confirmed that there were people coming up the stairwell.

"Go!" 002 hissed at him, everyone repositioning themselves closer to their stairwell rather than the door. "Go get the boy!" Ijin didn't have to be told twice.

Ijin ducked his head down as bullets started to fly everywhere behind him. Sequoia said that Seokju was with the leader, so he just had to go to the room at the end of the hall.

The man who stepped out of the second room was dealt with quickly. It was quick, but in that short moment when Ijin was cutting his throat, he heard a scream cutting through the gunfire.

His heart leaped into his throat when he realized it was Seokju.

He ran faster towards the second door and as soon as he was close enough, he kicked the door open, the door bouncing against the wall.

Blood filled the small room. His scream was guttural, chock full of negative emotion as Seokju sunk the knife into the man's body over and over again. The knife squelched each time Seokju buried it into the man's chest, blood going everywhere each time Seokju took it out, and lifted it over his head before bringing it back down.

Ijin rushed forward. Blood was everywhere. Ijin couldn't tell what was Seokju's and what was the man's blood. He couldn't tell what were Seokju's injuries. It was everywhere, on his face, his arms, his shirt, everywhere.

Seokju did not stop. Nothing short of Ijin physically grabbing him and dragging him off snapped him out of it. "No!" Seokju swung the knife towards Ijin and Ijin barely had time to catch his wrist before it could make contact. "You-"

"It's me Seokju." Seokju squirmed in his hold and Ijin let him, only using enough strength to keep the knife away from him. Ijin recognized the techniques Seokju was using, it was the same ones the Team Leaders had taught them to use in a pinch, but with the way Seokju was trembling, more focused on using power rather than technique, it was pointless. "Seokju, it's me. It's Ijin." That wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to knock Seokju out of his state.

"Seokju-" Ijin called out to him, hoping his voice would be enough.

It wasn't.

"Get away get away get away get-!" Seokju chanted, twisting his body left and right as he tried to get leverage to escape.

They did not have time for that and if experience told Ijin anything, a solid slap to the face would fix that. Seokju needed to get it together.

Ijin raised his hand. Seokju threw a punch before he could do anything, his voice raising in pitch and fear as he leaned away, trying to use his bodyweight to help wrench his hand out of Ijin's grip. Great that did nothing to make it better, and Seokju was more frantic than before.

He barely managed to dodge Seokju's second punch. "Get away get away get AWAY-!"

"Seokju!" Ijin shouted, grabbing Seokju's shoulders to force the teenager to face him. "It's okay. He's dead Seokju." He was more than dead, he was sure the man's chest looked more like minced meat with what Seokju did, but the point was that he was safe. "You're safe Seokju. It's okay." But they weren't going to be okay if they stayed there any longer. They had to go, they had to leave. Ijin already fucked up by raising his hand and they really did not have much time left.

Seokju had blood dripping down his face and his face alone was covered with bruises, bruises forming on his cheekbone and jaw. But at last, there seemed to be some moment of clarity when he made eye contact with Ijin. "Ijin…?" His words were whispered as if Ijin's name itself terrified Seokju. "You… you're here…?'' There was a burst of gunshots nearby and that was a cue that they needed to go and soon. That same burst of gunfire was enough to make Seokju's breathing pick up pace again, his head snapping towards the door as he tried to pull away from Ijin.

He grabbed the hand with the knife. "Seokju, let go of the knife." They needed to go but Ijin didn't trust Seokju with the knife. Seokju was more likely to trip and fall onto it in his state.

"N-no-"Seokju shook his head frantically, pulling away once more, "he-he's going to-"

"He's dead Seokju." Ijin stressed out and he took it upon himself to get the knife out of Seokju's hand himself by trying to pry off Seokju's fingers. As soon as they got it out, the faster they could leave and the faster Seokju would be safe and-

It was a shard of glass.

Seokju had an iron grip on a shard of glass. The tighter Seokju's grip became, the more blood dripped down his hand, Seokju didn't even seem to realize that he was hurting himself. He had to let go.

"Seokju, let go."

"I-I need it! He-he-"

"Seokju. I need you to let go of it-Fucking let go!" Ijin snapped out. The gunfire was getting closer and it was getting harder to keep his voice calm. Seokju's grip was getting tighter, more blood dripping down his arm.

Ijin didn't know what to do. Every time Ijin tried to comfort him, every time Ijin touched Seokju, Seokju flinched like he had been struck instead. But he had to do something because they had to go.

He racked his head for something to say. Something that would ground Seokju long enough for him to realize that he was safe, that he didn't need the glass shard anymore.

He laid his hand over Seokju's. "Please Seokju," Ijin said earnestly, trying to keep his voice calm even though he could feel his heart thudding against his ribcage. Seokju whipped around to look at him, his eyes wide as saucers. Ijin repeated himself. "Please let go." Ijin's' assumption that no one had ever used manners with Seokju while he was captured was accurate. It was clear after a few days of captivity, or perhaps it was his mental state, Seokju was genuinely shocked that Ijin had told him please.

The glass clattered to the floor, landing in a puddle of blood with a dull splat. The success reminded Ijin that he needed to calm down and recenter himself. At the same time, 008 burst into the room, his gun in his hands.

"We need to go 001." 008 hissed out urgently and Ijin could hear one of the others shouting something from down the hall in between the gunfire. Great.

Ijin looked over at Seokju and Seokju's mental state was far more delicate than Ijin thought because just that small moment was enough for Seokju to mentally check out. His eyes were glazed over and the fine shiver had become a full-body tremble. Ijin recognized the look from some of his past clients and there was no way Seokju was going to be able to get out on his own two feet.

Ignoring the pitiful cry, Ijin jerked Seokju to his feet and damn near dragged him across the room. He let go of Seokju in favor of pulling back the hammer to his gun, if it wasn't for 008 grabbing Seokju's arm, then he would have collapsed. 008 gave him a confused look. "Carry him. I'll cover us." 008, to his credit, did not miss a beat. Within a second, 008 was slinging his gun over his shoulder and cradling Seokju into his arms, paying no mind to the blood that was dripping off of him. Seokju had flinched at the initial contact, but it wasn't long before Seokju was curled up in 008's arms, holding onto 008's vest for dear life, scrunching up his shoulders as he ducked down his head. Thank God, 008 was in his group, Ijin wouldn't have been able to carry Seokju out himself.

Ijin nodded. "Alright. Let's go." He leaned around the doorway and confirmed that they were in the clear. 005 was at the end of the hallway, kneeling as she returned fire around the corner. She didn't even spare them a glance.

"018 already got the charges set, he's on standby." Okay. That meant everything was according to plan. 018 was going to blow the place up once they were clear and whoever got caught in it was shit out of luck. That didn't mean they could take their sweet time, however. Knowing their luck, a stray bullet would hit one of the charges and set off the explosions early.

Something around the corner made 005 duck, causing Ijin and 008 to do the same. An explosion rocked the area, shrapnel breaking up the cement walls and sending plumes of dust into the air. With a quick check that everyone was fine, Ijin was leaning around the corner to see what was happening, his gun at the ready.

Any of the stragglers that had survived the grenade was being taken out by a single figure in the dust, the flash of the muzzle giving Ijin a rough estimation of where they were. "It's me." 032's voice rang out and it wasn't long before 032 was emerging from the dust, a much taller figure following him. Ijin didn't have to see their face to know that it was one of the Trees. "Sequoia is with me." That checked out. No one was as tall as Sequoia.

They walked out from behind the corner. "What do you want?" Ijin got straight to the point, they needed to after all, they did not have time to spare.

The sound of coughing made Ijin glance back at 008, but with the way 008 was pressing his bandana onto Seokju's face, he knew that it had been Seokju who coughed. "I'm here to finish the job. Did you get the boy?" Sequoia's voice brought Ijin's attention back to the front, he had to crane his head back just to look up at the giant. Carefully, keeping emotion out of his voice, Ijin answered. "He got him. He already killed your leader by the time we got there."

A pause. "The boy killed him?"

"Yes."

"…I'll go and confirm his death." The dust settled, leaving a fine layer of grime all over them, allowing Ijin to see Sequoia's equally passive expression. "The south wall was knocked down. Use that to escape." How helpful of him.

Ijin nodded and with Sequoia stepping to the side, they were able to walk past him. "The charges are set. We'll be setting them off in less than ten minutes."

Sequoia returned the nod. "We'll be gone by then. Consider us even."

"We will." The Numbered helped kill their leader and let them know about the charges. The Tree's kept Seokju alive and let them know about the south wall. That sounded pretty even to them.

Ijin relayed the information back to his team and with the chaos and mayhem they had caused on the way in (Along with gunning down most of their enemies) it was easy to get back outside.

002, Sapling and Sandbox met up with them on the bottom floor. There were no more men left in the way since those three had made their way down, at the same time as 032 and Sequoia making their way up.

Sandbox and Sapling were the first ones out. "The south wall is that way," Sandbox said as he pointed off to the right. "We're going to go and get the others. Be safe."

032 was the only one who parroted Sandbox's words. Ijin didn't find a point to it as that was going to be the last time any of them saw them.

They stuck close to the walls, but most of the men had been taken care of by the firefight outside, inside, and by their snipers. There were little to no obstacles as they ran out of the base. "How's the kid?" 002 asked as they ran. Next to them, 018 was telling Kang and 016 to rendezvous back at the trucks.

Ijin pointed to the back. "008 has him."

002 looked behind him and there was a long pause when he saw 008 and Seokju. When he saw the way 008 was cradling the bloody teenager. "He's alive." 002 said simply before they fell into silence.

Ijin had to agree. Seokju was alive. He wasn't going to be okay, not with the scene Ijin had walked into. Something must have happened where Seokju reacted like that. But he was alive, and that was all Ijin could ask for.

"001." Ijin nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the crackle of Sequoia's voice. Not only was he not expecting it, but how did Sequoia get access to their channel? He didn't get a chance to question it further because 032 was passing his receiver to him.

"What?"

"You have my thanks. Our squad will stay out of your way if you stay out of ours."

005 scoffed from the back and Ijin decided to just ignore her. It didn't sound like a bad idea, not at all. However, that was up to 002, since 002 was still in the mercenary business while Ijin was living peacefully in Korea.

He sighed as he turned his head to 002's general direction. "002?" 002 was the only one who could answer that.

There was a long pause before they heard and Ijin was sure that he was able to feel 002's stare boring into the side of his face. "Fine by me." 002 answered into the receiver, "I'm sure you know what will happen if you break the deal."

"I know. We won't." and just like that, Sequoia ended the conversation and Ijin handed the receiver back to 032. That seemed to be the end of that, thankfully.

The further into the forest they went, the quieter it got. There was no one left to follow them, most of the mercenaries had been killed off and if they weren't dead, they were at least injured and trying to escape the flames from their base. No one was particularly injured, 032 had a bump on his head because of some reason Ijin didn't bother paying attention to. Seokju was…alive…Ijin could hear Kang talking to 008, their voices were too low for Ijin to understand, but considering that he could hear the occasional call of Seokju's name, he figured Kang was trying to bring Seokju back to reality.

"So…we're done?" 016 asked, a hopeful tone in his voice.

Ijin sighed. By then, they were already out of the danger zone, not that anyone could follow them considering that 018's charge blew up most of their trucks. All they had to do was get back to the base, resituate themselves, and then they were free to go.

"Yeah. We're done."

---

It was silent as they got out of the trucks. Everything had gone smoothly, especially with the way the trees had helped them out throughout the entire process.

Seokju hadn't let go of 008 the entire time, nor had he stopped trembling. Even though Kang had tried his hand at trying to get the teenager to let go, it hadn't worked. It showed just how traumatized Seokju was if he didn't want to let go of 008, a man that he barely knew.

"008." Ijin caught his attention and motioned for the man to follow him, humming in approval when 008 did just that. After dropping his shit in the doorway, they were walking around to the back, where there were a few barrels full of water. Ijin knew from experience that it wouldn't go well if Seokju came out of his state and was covered in blood. It would be enough to send him into that shocked state if they were unlucky and Ijin didn't want to test their luck.

008 got an idea of what was happening because while Ijin was skimming off the top layer of plant debris out of the water, 008 had set Seokju down on his feet. Seokju refused to let go of 008's vest and all 008 could do was give Ijin an apologetic look when he turned around.

Ijin sighed when he got a better look at Seokju. His shirt was ruined. Ijin already knew that there was no saving the formerly cream-colored shirt. Blood was crusted over on the fabric and some tears would even have a skilled seamstress advising to get a new shirt.

Seokju was still visibly trembling, completely and utterly mentally checked out as he trembled in 008's hold, the older man keeping Seokju still with his hands on the boys shoulders. 008's voice a low treble as he spoke comforting words that kept Seokju from sinking below the waves of desolation.

Quietly, Ijin walked around Seokju until he was behind his friend, and taking care that he didn't make too much noise, Ijin peeled the blood-soaked shirt off Seokju's back, the action breaking the suction the blood had on his skin.

Just that little contact had Seokju curling in on himself, 008 shushing and comforting the teen in response, though that did nothing to help. Seokju was still just as unresponsive as when they left.

There was no point in preserving the shirt, no amount of scrubbing and soap would return it to its original state. Using his knife, he cut through the collar and after sheathing it back into his holster, he started ripping it down its length with his hands. He knew that Seokju didn't have the mental capacity to take it off himself and he knew that just trying to pull it off would make Seokju go into a panic again. It was crude, but it was the path of least resistance.

Seokju didn't even seem to register that Ijin was ripping his shirt. All Ijin got was a shudder when the cold air hit his exposed skin.

From the tear that went down the shirt's spine, Ijin tore a horizontal line until it reached the sleeve cuff and then did the same to the other cuff. That allowed 008 to be able to pull off the shirt easily from the front, the man discarding the fabric to the side.

There was so much blood. Ijin couldn't tell if Seokju had a hidden wound on his back or not. Taking up the plastic cup, Ijin slowly poured the water onto Seokju's back. Seokju shuddered at the contact, but he didn't move.

The water cleaned away the blood, revealing a somewhat clean canvas under it. Seokju had some dark bruises but he had no wounds on his back and Ijin allowed himself to feel the slightest bit of relief. Perhaps most of the blood was not his after all, perhaps Seokju was just suffering from the shock of murder rather than the shock of intense torture. It made sense, that Seokju did not have the mental endurance to tolerate something such as murder, especially murder he committed with his own hands.

With great coaxing from 008, they were able to get Seokju to let go of 008's vest, Seokju held onto himself instead as he faced Ijin, his eyes staring at nothing as his brain and body tried to process recent events. From what little Ijin could see, he couldn't see any wounds on Seokju's chest, or his arms, which helped the knot in his stomach get the slightest bit smaller.

Ijin grabbed Seokju's arm to pull it away, Seokju still had a lot of blood on his arms and hands, and Seokju violently flinched.

They let him go through the motions of retreating, Seokju taking a wobbly step back before he stopped once more.

They exchanged looks. Ijin had to be careful. No more grabbing his arms like that.

Giving Seokju a break, Ijin started to pour water over his front. The cold would slowly coax Seokju out of his fugue state, but he had to be careful that he didn't make Seokju retreat into himself.

"Seokju," Ijin muttered quietly. The water was washing away the blood, the water dripping down onto the dirt and his pants. It was fine, Ijin had an extra set of clothes he could give his friend. "Your mom texted you back."

A full body shudder, a slight crinkle in Seokju's brow.

Slowly, Ijin grabbed Seokju once more, pressing their palms together after he wormed his hand under Seokju's.

Seokju gripped his hand, a shaky breath escaped his friend as he did so. Good, he was accepting that form of contact.

Ijin made sure that he was slow as he pulled Seokju's arm away from him, meeting little to no resistance as he held onto Seokju's hand. "She said she's happy you're coming home." Seokju made a strange noise, one that Ijin couldn't quite decipher. The water washed away all of the blood again, revealing that most of the blood on Seokju's hands was also his own. His bloody and cracked knuckles and his cracked and missing fingernails showed how hard Seokju had fought to survive.

Ijin had no idea what exactly had happened in that room, but he had a rough idea, as much as he hated it.

Taking advantage of Seokju's outstretched arm, Ijin poured more water onto his chest, cleaning away what had been hidden behind his arm.

Seokju didn't want to let go of his hand even though he needed it to clean off his friend. Guiding Seokju's hand to his vest, Seokju gripped onto it for dear life. Ijin accepted it as he guided Seokju's other arm to be outstretched. That hand was worse. It was his right hand, and it had been in direct contact with the glass shard. Ijin had to hold Seokju's hand carefully, the back of Seokju's hand being cradled in his own. Seokju had a long gash going down the center of his palm, his knuckles were bloody and cracked with Seokju missing the fingertips to a few fingers. They were going to have to wrap those up before they got worse. They were going to have to take Seokju to a doctor before they left. Most of the time they would have just stitched it up before moving on, but with all of the tendons and nerves that ran through the hand, they couldn't risk it. Maybe Seokju should go with Kang to the city to get treatment. No one should be left from Forest to be able to recognize Kang and Seokju.

He kept on going. Maybe they would clean out his hand once Seokju was more aware of everything. "Your mom said that she loves you and she'll see you soon."

"Mom…?" At last, Seokju was responding to external stimuli, his voice horse after everything that had happened to him.

008 hummed, his giant hand landing on Seokju's head. 008 seemed to know that Seokju needed a bit more help to come back to them. It was slow and rhythmic as 008 ran his fingers through Seokju's hair.

Ijin hummed as he looked down at Seokju. There was still a lot of blood that had to be scrubbed off with a rag, blood stuck in the fine grooves of Seokju's skin, his fingernails, his knuckles. "Yeah. She said that she misses you."

Seokju let go of him, "Ijin…?"

He blinked in surprise. Looking up from Seokju's hand, he was greeted with the sight of Seokju focusing on him, his bloodshot eyes flickering from place to place as he tried to process what was happening.

Slowly, Seokju pulled his hand out of Ijin's grip, revealing that the tremor in his hands had not been solved with awareness, and again he held onto himself. "Whe-where-you-"

008 set his hand onto Seokju's shoulder, the teenager flinching, but not pulling away as he looked up at 008, "We're back on the base. 001 is washing the blood off you."

He frowned in confusion, "Blood…?" he muttered, his gaze going back to his hands.

Seokju lost all color in his face. His fingers splayed widely as he stared at the blood that filled the fine grooves of his skin, the blood that tinted his skin a slight red that wouldn't come off without soap and scrubbing. "I-I can do th-at myself-"The tremor increased and spread to his entire body as he turned ashen.

They barely had the time to support Seokju before he nearly folded in half, dry-heaving wracked the teen's body as he threw up what little he had in his stomach. All Ijin could do was support his friend through the tremors and tears that were ripping through his body. Slowly, Ijin and 008 started to lead Seokju to the nearby seat, a crate that was hardly a seat, and set Seokju down on it.

"I-I-He was-he tried-" Seokju stammered out through his tears, shaking his head frantically as he tried to beg for forgiveness from someone only he knew, "I had to-"

"Seokju," Ijin cut in firmly, accepting the shirt from 008 before his teammate went back inside, "It's okay. You did what you had to do." Ijin knew it had to be a situation of life or death, Seokju wouldn't have killed his captor in such a brutal way if it hadn't been.

Seokju refused to look at him, his hands balling up the fabric of his pants as his entire body shook. Ijin found himself wondering how that didn't hurt considering the state of his hands. "He-he," he cut himself off as he swallowed loudly, "He was going to kill me…" Seokju whispered out, horror saturating his voice.

All Ijin could do was nod and set his hand on Seokju's shoulder, pretending not to notice the way Seokju instinctually flinched away from him. Ijin knew how difficult it was to cope with a first kill. He didn't blame Seokju for having such a reaction.

Honestly, he was almost relieved that Seokju was reacting like that. All that showed that up until that point, Seokju had lived a life of relative safety, where he hadn't been forced to sully his hands in such a way.

Guilt washed over Ijin. He had been the reason Seokju had to kill someone. If it hadn't been for him, then Seokju wouldn't have been kidnapped.

"How did you do it?" Seokju whispered, his hand going up to cover the lower half of his face, "How long have you been doing this?" He was horrified. Seokju was horrified after he had gotten only a taste of the life that Ijin had lived for years on end. He had only killed one person, out of desperation at that, how did Ijin do it?

All he could do was shrug his shoulder and give Seokju's shoulder a gentle squeeze, he put his hand down, and the two of them sat together. "You get used to it," Ijin said simply, but there was no other way to see it. At one point in time, it was either you or them, and like the common person, Ijin picked himself. "He would have killed you if you let him. And he wouldn't have felt bad about it, you just would have been another number to him." Once Ijin realized that, it got easier. It was easy to kill the people who would have killed him heartlessly and likewise, it was harder to kill people who wouldn't have hurt him in any situation.

Seokju's leg was leaning against Ijin's, allowing Ijin to feel the tremors that continued to plague his friend. "Is…is it bad that I don't remember?" Seokju asked slowly, his arms wrapped around himself. "I don't even remember getting here…"

"No." Ijin said honestly. He didn't blame Seokju for blocking out the event. Not at all. "It was self-defense Seokju. It doesn't matter if you remember it or not. You did it for self-defense." And Ijin truly hoped that Seokju would never have to do it again. He never wanted Seokju to be forced into such a corner again, not after the way they saw Seokju stabbing that man over and over again until he was pulled off.

Seokju swallowed hard enough for Ijin to hear it. "Do you remember everyone you killed?" he said slowly, carefully sounding out each syllable in the question.

"No. I don't." Ijin almost didn't want to answer the question, it sounded callous of him, but he knew Seokju was grasping at straws, desperate for comfort that Ijin could hardly provide. "I only remember the people who didn't deserve it, the ones that I would have left alone. I don't remember the people who tried to kill me." Ijin added on, hoping that it would help Seokju in some way.

He was silent for a long time. The moon started to go down, and the mosquitos coming out for their second dinner seemed to be the catalyst for Seokju to start speaking again. "That man…how do you know when they deserve it or not?"

Ijin answered within seconds. "He deserved it, Seokju." Forest orchestrated everything. From the killing of the Numbered to the hunting down of what remained, to the attacks for whoever paid the most. Ijin certainly wasn't in some type of moral high ground, but at least Ijin could confidently say that he was not the mastermind behind an elite organization of soldiers for hire that had only been formed after hundreds of trainees had been culled.

His answer didn't seem to help. Seokju curled tighter on himself. "Who are we to judge?"

"His targets. He got what he deserved. You killed a man who has killed thousands more, who has caused the death of thousands." Ijin returned flatly, he had tried to soften his tone but with the way Seokju flinched, he knew he had failed. "A life is a life, but there is a point where a life isn't enough to overlook someone's mistakes or actions. He crossed that line decades ago." Seokju didn't look any more convinced and Ijin found himself sighing.

That had to be the first time Ijin wished Seokju was a bit like the Numbered, at least in the way that they were able to kill in self-defense without guilt consuming them.

"Look. You can feel bad." Ijin sure felt bad when he had to kill one of his fellow trainees in a fight. The two of them had been fighting to survive the purging of the group and Ijin just so happened to be better, and faster, but that was not to say his opponent had a lesser desire to live. The only difference was that the trainee had been in the same shitty position as him and Ijin didn't try to kill his opponent as a power move. But he was just going to keep that to himself. "But don't feel guilty. That prick of a-" Ijin cut himself off when he felt Seokju stiffen up next to him, and reminding himself that Seokju didn't need crudeness at the moment, he took a deep breath. "He doesn't deserve someone mourning him like that." Ijin finished. He really needed to get a hold on his temper.

Seokju looked over at him, still as desolate as ever. "So, mourn what I did but not who I did it to? That sounds heartless Ijin." Seokju said quietly, though Ijin could hear that hard undertone that he correlated with the teenager.

"It's not heartless. Killing a civilian because he lost use for them is heartless." At last, Seokju was silent for a long time, his brow knitting up as he mulled over Ijin's words.

"…I think I know what you mean now…kinda…" Well, it was better than nothing. It at least showed that Seokju was starting to understand that it was fine to regret the fact that he killed someone, but it was not fine to mourn his victim. At least not in Seokju's case.

Ijin's radio crackled to life. "001. Come and get some food." 006 said, making Ijin realize that while he was talking to Seokju, everyone else was probably getting ready to eat.

He stood up, pulling Seokju onto his feet as he did so. "On our way. Come on," Ijin pulled a little bit harder when Seokju tried to dig in his feet, finally managing to pull his friend along. "Let's get something to eat. If you're not fine with pork, ask 032 to share. He doesn't like eating meat after a fight and will have something." Probably a protein bar, but that was better than nothing. He would rather Seokju eat that than try to eat pork just to throw everything up.

"…Ijin…?" Seokju called out, sounding oh so vulnerable, to the point where Ijin stopped walking and stopped pulling Seokju along. "Thank you…for saving me. I know it must have been dangerous to save me…"

Ijin thought Seokju didn't have to thank him. They were friends, it's not like he would have let Seokju stay with Forest, or die for that matter. "I would have done it either way. But don't follow me again. This wouldn't have happened if you waited for me to come back." Granted, Seokju had expedited everything, but Ijin didn't find the risk worth it.

Seokju muttered something, and Ijin couldn't tell if he really had heard Seokju mutter 'jerk' under his breath, or if it was the lack of sleep getting to him again. "I realize that now. But still, thank you."

Ijin just hummed. "You're welcome." He stuck his hand into his pocket, his fingertips grazing against the plastic bag that had the stimulants, reminding him that they were there. The sound of Seokju's footsteps behind him also reminded him that he didn't have a reason to take them anymore. Forest was dealt with, Seokju was safe, and they were able to go home.

He tossed the bag into the fire as he passed by it, the fire momentarily flaring up as it consumed the chemicals.

It hadn't gone unnoticed and Ijin could hear the frown in Seokju's voice, his footsteps stopping as well. "What was that?" It was none of his business.

He kept on walking. "Nothing." He needed to go to sleep. It had been days since he'd slept and the stimulant had worn off long ago, reminding Ijin just how exhausted he was. How long has it been since he went to sleep? A day? Two?

Ijin tried to walk further into the base, to do what, he didn't know, but Kang grabbed his arm before he could. The soldier pulled him off to the side and when Kang ruffled Ijin's hair, a sad smile on his face, Ijin's couldn't help but lean into his hand ever so slightly. "I'm done." Ijin mumbled. He was done. He was finally done with everything. There were no more problems to solve, no more people to think about, no more plans to form. He was finally done.

Ijin ignored the way he could feel eyes on his back. "I know you are kid." Kang led Ijin into an adjacent room, a steadying hand on Ijin's shoulder. Almost no one had set up their cots. The only one who did was 002, who had gotten a head start on sleeping. Ijin didn't remember the last time he heard of 002 going to sleep. "Just sleep for now. I'll wake you guys up when it's time to go." Kang muttered something about the two of them needing to take care of themselves more, but Ijin decided to ignore that. They would do that in the near future, when they didn't need to take stimulants to stay awake for their team.

The firm grip around his arm helped him not fall into the cot. "Can you wrap up Seokju's hands?" Seokju really needed to get his hands treated, but Ijin felt like he couldn't even lift his head even if he wanted to. He was so tired. "Give him my clothes too." No one else's clothes would fit him, maybe 006's, but Ijin knew for sure that Seokju would fit in his.

A shiver went through his body as the jacket was laid over him. It was warm and comforting. "Sure kid. Just get some rest." That was a good idea.

Ijin was asleep before Kang closed the door.

---

"How are 001 and 002?" 018 asked as he walked in, handing the others a bag full of rations and protein bars.

"Still asleep." 008 took the bag and after digging through it for a few seconds, he was passing it onto 006 and 016. "002 mentioned that they were taking stimulants to stay awake. They're probably exhausted."

"For real? That explains their temper." Their temper had been shorter as of recently, though 006 had thought it was because of stress and the overall situation. It also explained why 001 had been sloppier as of late, 001 hitting his gun against the truck being the most notable example.

Of course, when 001's friend was taken, none of them were surprised when 001 became more distant, though they all knew that he was busy thinking everything through, but it didn't exactly help their stress. At least not 001's stress.

But the stimulants did explain why they were suddenly sleeping like the dead. Most of the time, 001 and 002 took turns sleeping, but since both of them were asleep, that meant that 006 and 008 were in charge. Not 005 because she wasn't exactly known for being calm and patient when it came to dealing with others.

005 ripped the plastic open, and 016 was surprised she didn't drop the bar with that technique of hers. Fast reflexes he supposes. "Speaking of 001," She paused as she took a big bite of the thing, "Where's the kid?"

"His name is Seokju." 008 sighed, just the way he opened up his bar was a drastic difference from the brash 005. "Wasn't he with 001's soldier friend? Hank?"

That earned him a smack from 018. "He's Korean why the fuck would his name be Hank? It's Kang. And no. I haven't seen the kid. Isn't he with 001 and 002?" he asked, his hand absentmindedly running over the burn scar on his cheek, a habit he did when he was thinking.

"No. The only ones in there are 001, 002, and 032." They were the only ones sleeping, 001 and 002 sleeping off the drugs, and 032 was sleeping off his concussion. 006 had helped his brother go to bed and the others were already in there when he did. Considering that no one else had entered the room since then, 006 knew Seokju wasn't in there.

"Wait," 016 paused as he looked around the room, "So no one knows where 001's friend is?" They all exchanged looks. Sure, it wasn't their job to babysit the kid but 001 was going to be pissed if he woke up and something happened to his friend because none of them couldn't be bothered to keep an eye on him. 016 just sighed. "Alright, I'll go look for him. It's my turn for patrol anyway." The base wasn't that big, so it would be quick to go and find him.

Though they were going to have a big problem on their hands if he wasn't able to find Seokju.

With a grunt from 005, the others bid 016 farewell.

First things first, 016 made the rounds outside. Yeah, the kid was important but making sure that they weren't getting ambushed was a bit more important in 016's opinion.

He rounded the corner, spotting 001's soldier friend. "It's just me." 016 said quickly, before either one of them could mistake each other for an enemy. That was the bad thing about having new people in the group. All of the Numbered could identify each other just by the sound of their footsteps and silhouettes. They've been working together for years and Kang, who had barely been with them for about a week, obviously couldn't.

Kang laughed nervously. "016 right? Man, you scared me." However, that was not to say 016 did not appreciate the soldier's light-heartedness. It was a welcome difference compared to everyone's usually brisk attitude. "Going on patrol?"

Kinda. "Yeah. Just realized that none of us know where 001's friend is. So, I'm going to go look for him once I'm done out here."

If it had been light enough, 016 was sure he would have seen Kang blink in surprise. "Seokju? He asked me to leave him alone after I wrapped up his hands, he should be in the side room." Ah, that was good. So, one of them did know where the kid was after all.

"He's probably still in there." None of them had mentioned seeing the kid walk around so he was probably still in the side room. "I'll go and check on him right now."

"Alright. I would do it myself, but I don't think he wants to see me." Kang said lightly, though 016 heard a slightly knowing tone in his voice.

"Why do you say that?"

"Oh, you know," 016 could barely see Kang scratching the back of his head, a slightly nervous tone in his voice, "You know are teenagers are. He got a bit teary with me. He's probably embarrassed to see me."

"Ah." That made sense. There were a few times when 032 had gotten teary-eyed with him back in their camp days and then avoided him like the plague. There were also a few times where that had happened to 016 with 008…yeah, the kid was probably going to avoid Kang. "Alright. Thanks." After Kang hummed something out, the two of them were going on their ways. Kang kept up his patrol, citing the excuse that he needed to do something and couldn't sleep, and so did 016. Once he confirmed that the perimeter was secure and that Kang was alright to keep on watch, he went inside.

The others had left while 016 was gone, so he went straight to the side room. Kang said that he should have been in there, so he was going to check there first.

016 frowned when he saw a figure sitting in the corner and if it wasn't for his life experiences, he would have jumped when his flashlight revealed that it was Seokju sitting in the corner. So, there he was.

The teenager had wedged himself into the corner between the wooden box and the wall when the light beam landed on him, Seokju looked up at 016. "Get that off my face." Seokju muttered, his bandaged hand going up to cover his eyes as he turned his head away.

He turned off the light. Guess he was disturbing the teenager's angst session or something. "Sorry." 016 listened and after a moment of deliberation, 016 hopped onto the wood crate next to Seokju, the wood creaking as he settled in. "Still beating yourself up over it?" It was a valid question, 016 knew he and the other Numbered weren't exactly normal for moving past murder on the daily.

A sharp inhale, "Are you saying that I shouldn't?" Seokju nearly hissed out, his expression hidden under the darkness, though 016 had a good idea of the look Seokju was giving him. "I killed someone."

"Yeah." 016 said plainly, he could feel Seokju staring at him, maybe trying to drill holes into his face with his stare alone. "He had his men kidnap you and hold you hostage to use you as a bargaining chip. That would be enough for me to kill him." Of course, that was because they probably would have tortured him for the time being, but that didn't change his opinion. They fucked around and found out. Seokju didn't want to do it, but he showed what happened when his captor tried to mess with him.

Seokju's voice was a mix of horrified and scathing. "Your morals are nonexistent." He didn't understand how 016, or all the Numbered for the fact, including Ijin, were all so casual about killing people. They said it like it was something normal, something that was to be expected once they were slighted. The only one who was normal about murder was himself and Major Kang.

Though…in their line of work, maybe it was normal to react like that when they were slighted…

016 nearly laughed. "Oh, we have morals," he said almost happily, internally reminding himself that while they had shit morals, they still weren't the worst ones around. "We just have morals for the battlefield. We don't have morals for civilian life. We're all terrible people compared to you. 001 included."

016 could feel the frown Seokju was giving him. "Ijin has better morals than all of you." Another scoff from 016.

"No, he doesn't. He's still like us. He just knows how to switch between the battlefield and home." 016 was confident in that. In that moment where 001 had taken the time to wash the blood off Seokju, something that was so out of character for the 001 they knew, it was an excellent example of the personality 001 had developed outside of the battlefield. 001 was a hardened leader, a soldier who would do what he had to do to accomplish their goal and to keep the team alive. 001 showed it again and again. Once the Numbered were formed and a few mercenaries were stupid enough to try and hurt some of the lower Numbered, those mercenaries always, always disappeared within a week. More often than not, they disappeared when they were on a joint mission with 001, 002, or both of them. 001 was truly a leader who would do almost anything to keep his men alive.

Ijin on the other hand, the one they had seen with Seokju, was kind and patient. Granted, 001 had always been kind and patient, buried deeply under his façade as their leader, but it was different. The caring qualities that had been buried for so long, had come out with Seokju. They had seen the way 001 kept Seokju grounded until he had come out of his trauma-induced daze and the way he comforted the teenager until it was time to eat.

The only difference between 001 and them, was that 001 would switch demeanors when needed.

"Ijin is nothing like you guys." Seokju sounded faintly offended and once again, 016 was scoffing.

"001 has changed, I'll give you that." primarily that 001 had no problem actually having a conversation with them, and that he was more outright with his ideal of keeping all of them alive, even if that meant that 001 was a bit too reckless with his own life. But otherwise, he was still the same in some aspects. "But I bet he hasn't changed that much." No one could change that much within five years. Four years working as a mercenary and a year being a normal student? After their upbringing, there was no way in hell that was enough to make 001 so drastically different. But that wasn't the original objective of the conversation. "Anyways. Don't feel too bad. He would have killed you just to spite us. You killed him to survive." Seokju would one day understand that the saying didn't apply when it was the life of a mercenary against the life of a civilian from a first-world, safe country.

"Ijin said the same thing…" Seokju said quietly, his voice trailing off. "I don't think I'll ever understand you guys."

016 snorted. "I hope not. That means you are just as fucked up as us if you did." A bird of a feather flock together and the only people who could truly understand the Numbered, were the Numbered. No one else seemed to fully understand the way of thinking, or their tendencies to trust each other full-heartedly even though they still didn't know each other's name.

"Look at it this way," 016 said, a light tone in his voice, "001 goes home faster this way and so do you." 001 was more vengeful than he looked like and even worse, he was good at hiding it. There were a few instances in the past where 016 thought that a mercenary being killed was just someone running out of luck when really, it was 001 taking his time to put someone in their place, whether that be in the hierarchy or the ground.

016 had no doubt that 001 would have done the same thing if Forest had killed a civilian, his friend no less.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Point in case that 001 was good at hiding his vengeful tendencies. Not even his own friend knew about it.

016 paused, would it be in his place to educate 001's friend about it? Or would he be needlessly crossing the line and potentially pissing off 001?

He made a decision. "Murder is common in this line of work and you pick up a few things over the years." As long as 001 didn't find out, then it was going to be fine. The boy didn't seem to be a blabber mouth so it should be fine.

Seokju didn't make a noise, so 016 was going to go ahead and assume that he was listening. "001 is right. You shouldn't feel bad for that dickhead. If you don't want to see it as payback, then see it as revenge for the people who were living peacefully, for the ones who wanted to live a good life. Don't feel bad for the assholes who work in our field. Trust me, they don't deserve it."

"Doesn't that include you guys…?" Seokju asked slowly, his voice full of apprehension and confusion.

016 huffed out a laugh. "Oh, definitely." They were a bit of a special case, considering all of them had been forced into the Camp and then forced to survive, but it wasn't any different. The Camp was dissolved, had been dissolved for a while, yet they were still intending to keep on working as mercenaries. It's not like they knew how to do anything else, and it paid well anyway. "We're in the same boat. That's how I know that you shouldn't feel bad. If you think we're bad, he's worse."

Again, Seokju didn't say anything, mulling over his words as they fell into silence and 016 let him. The kid needed to realize that the Forest leader was not a man that should be mourned.

But that was up to him. "I'm going to piss off for now." 016 said as he hopped off the crate and turned on the flashlight. He had been on patrol originally, and someone was bound to notice that he was taking a long time to finish a single loop. It was a good thing both Ijin and 002 were still asleep because if either one of them were awake, they definitely would have noticed. He confirmed that the boy was alive so that was enough for him. "Try to get some rest."

Not wanting to push his luck, started to leave Seokju alone in the room. It seemed like the kid needed to face his thoughts by himself, something that 016 understood far too well.

"Wait." Seokju suddenly called out, and with the way the kid was huddled in the dark corner, 016 could barely see his outline when he looked over his shoulder. "Was Ijin really taking drugs?" 016's eyebrows went up, he didn't know the kid heard their conversation. Then again, it's not like they were trying to be quiet.

016 nodded before he reminded himself that Seokju most likely couldn't see his nod. "Yeah. He and 002 were taking stimulants to stay awake. They're probably going to wake up in a shitty mood." The only good thing was that 001 and 002 were very good at hiding and controlling their emotions, so chances were high that their frustration wouldn't be taken out on any of them.

But at the same time, the Numbered weren't going to push their luck and 016 knew that he was going to avoid their leaders in the morning.

Seokju 'oh'ed before falling silent. 016 was positive that he didn't have to look at the kid's face to know that the kid was probably full of self-loathing at the moment. "They were already taking them before Forest took you," though he was sure that 001 started taking even more after he was taken, that was about when he started to become snippier, "So don't worry about it. They'll be fine." Besides, even if they weren't going to be fine, that was business for Numbered, an outsider like the kid didn't need to worry about it too much.

"If you say so…" Seokju trailed off. "Thank you." He said suddenly, thoroughly surprising 016. "For helping Ijin save me. Major Kang told me how everyone helped."

016 waved off the boy's thanks. "It was an order from 001 and 002, and it aligned with our goals anyway." It's not like they did it out of the kindness of their hearts, well 016 didn't anyway. Saving 001's friend aligned with taking down Forest, and 001 was the one who orchestrated everything so they could save Seokju. All 016 did was follow his orders.

"Still. Thank you." Seokju said determinedly, earning a hum from 016 as he finally left the room, the door swinging closed.

Seokju pulled his legs tighter to his chest, his chin resting on top of his knee as he heaved out a sigh. The Numbered were weird, too blasé in some topics and too interested in others. They were far too casual about murder. He didn't understand how Ijin was anything like them.

He didn't understand how he was supposed to overlook the fact that he stabbed someone to death.

Though…maybe they were right…about his victim…

---

By the time Ijin woke up, Kang had already gone to the city and gotten their plane tickets, along with getting Seokju treatment for his hand. Apparently, he and 002 had been asleep for a little bit over a day and as much as Ijin would have to sleep longer, he couldn't.

He woke up because the craving to take another stimulant was strong, strong enough where Ijin found himself itching for something to do, something to distract himself. The only saving grace was that 002 had woken up in the same state, so after a quick long run around the base and an equally fast spar, the two of them felt better.

Ijin felt like his skin was crawling, simultaneously too cold and too hot, and based on the way everyone was avoiding him, he wasn't doing that great of a job at keeping the sour look off his face. Though in his defense, on top of everything, he had a blaring headache, along with a little whisper in the back of his head that told him that everything would be better, once he got his hands on some more stimulants.

As hard as it was, he ignored the voice. There was no point in giving into the voice, not if he wanted to break the habit. The biggest issue at the moment was the way there seemed to be lapses in his memory, or perhaps it was lapses in his focus. One moment they were piling into the trucks, finally ready to leave the country behind, and the next moment, they were in the airport, Kang's hand on the back of his arm as he led him through the gate.

They had to look bad because after they boarded, 008 handed him a bottle of painkillers and after Ijin swallowed enough to make Seokju stare at him like he had a second head, 008 handed it to 002, who did the same. "Um…Ijin…?" Seokju said quietly, "Should you really take that much?"

Ijin just grunted as he leaned his head back against the seat. "I'll be fine." Though that conversation made him realize that he should probably check on Seokju. He hadn't since he had gone to sleep…

He'd do it after his headache goes away.

As one might have thought, because of the way withdrawal worked, the headache never went away. The entire flight, the whole eight-hour flight, his headache never stopped hurting, not even once. Ijin had closed his eyes to try and block out the light, and even though Kang handed him his eye mask, it wasn't enough to help. However, it did help the time pass faster because before he knew it, it was time for them to get off the plane.

They all looked like shit. Ijin knew it and to make it better, they all felt like shit too. Save for the bandage on his cheek, all of his other wounds were carefully hidden under his clothes. That was not to mention the shoddy haircut Ijin had given himself week two into being in Cambodia. And the fact that he was still craving the upper. That or he needed to go to sleep, he wasn't sure.

Though Ijin was sure that he was going to have to detox for a while.

Maybe he should stay with the Numbered. He always got into a foul, foul mood when he was going through withdrawal, it had happened when he defected, and it would surely happen again. The biggest difference was that if he stayed in Korea, he would be surrounded by people who cared for him and would try to help, even though the only way Ijin fought off his cravings was with physical exercise.

Yeah, he was going to have to stay with the Numbered. At least until he got over the worst of it. He didn't want to make his family deal with his withdrawal symptoms.

It was silent as all of them walked through the airport. They had to be the least inconspicuous group ever. Between all of their obvious injuries, the obvious foreigners of the group, and 008 the giant, they were all garnering attention.

Ijin was so tired, he just didn't care.

Seokju was the first one to break away from them, and after dropping his bag, he practically sprinted towards his mother, the two of them meeting halfway. Seokju looked on the verge of collapsing in his mother's arms, and if it wasn't for the man, most likely his father, joining the embrace, Ijin had no doubt Seokju truly would have collapsed.

With a sigh, Ijin swooped up Seokju's bag, wincing momentarily as the motion made his head throb. He could see Seokju's shoulders shaking from his position, so it wasn't a good time to give Seokju his bag back.

005 scoffed, "Must be nice." Ijin didn't bother saying anything. Despite the way 005's comment sounded belittling of Seokju's reaction to his parents, he could see a faint longing in the woman's eyes.

Ijin didn't blame her. He was sure that he wasn't the only one who wished they had been coddled like that after their first mission, after their first kill that left them shaky for days. The ability to confide in someone like that certainly would have made some of the Numbered less thorned in the long run.

Kang nudged him, motioning with his head for Ijin to look at something.

It was like all of the tension left his body when he saw his grandfather and sister waiting anxiously by a peeved 004, Ms. Jiyeh, and Mr. Park. Dayeon and grandfather looked like the very definition of worried, and nervous, but they were safe.

Somehow, just being able to see his family safe and alive, made the past month of non-stop action worth it. Ijin couldn't quite put it into words, but the utter relief was truly indescribable.

After earning a nod from 004, Ijin wasted no time in getting to his family.

The grandfather embraced him, no doubt worried after the month of no contact and his state. It took everything Ijin had just to not melt into the embrace. He wanted to, he wanted to melt into his grandfather's hold and just stay in his arms for a few minutes. To take in the fact that all of his hard work had truly paid off.

But Ijin didn't let himself. If he did, Ijin knew that he wouldn't be able to leave them a second time so with an ache in his heart, he broke the hug. "Oh Ijin," Grandpa pulled back to look at him, a worried look in his eyes as he cupped Ijin's cheek, looking at Ijin up and down, "What happened to you? Are you okay?"

"Did you get hurt?" Dayeon added, her eyes lingering on the bandages that stuck out from under his shirt collar, "004 said you were talking to some people." Oh?

Ijin's eyes drifted over to 004, who shrugged as best as he could with one shoulder in a sling, "They kept on asking for you." That made sense, that must have been the lie 004 told them to stop worrying over him.

Well, technically, it was the truth. Ijin was talking to some people to get his life and his family's safety sorted out.

It just so happened that he didn't spend all of his time talking per se…

"I fixed everything," Ijin finally said, but he didn't allow them to get excited before he added, "I'll be able to come back in a few months." A few months should be enough to get his withdrawal and temper under control. Not to mention, the Numbered would help him control his cravings, 002 in particular.

They looked dismayed, "A few months?" Grandpa asked, a devastated tone in his voice, "I thought you fixed everything?"

"He did," Ijin looked over his shoulder when he heard 006's voice. He had a bright tone in his voice as 006 slung his arm around Ijin's shoulders. Ijin already felt annoyance rearing its head. "But your brother is an idiot. He wouldn't sleep for days on end and used stimulants to compensate." Ijin dragged his hand down his face as 006 said it a bit too loud for his liking. But it was the truth, even though Ijin had to ignore the shocked stares he was getting from his family, Mr. Park, and Ms. Jiyeh, "It would be better if he went through withdrawal with us. He gets a bit mean, right?" 006 said as he leaned in closer, a teasing tone in his voice.

004 scoffed. "Again?"

"Shut up 004." Ijin shot back almost immediately, and the way 004 just rolled his eyes really pissed him off more than it should have. Besides, he wasn't even the only one, 002 had done it too and if Ijin checked, he was positive that they were not the only ones. They were probably the only ones who used stimulants though.

It almost instantly annoyed him and 006's breathing reminded Ijin how close 006 was. Ijin held no remorse as he shoved 006's face away from him, purposely trying to make it hurt, "Get off." he grumbled out, trying to rein in his anger as he turned to his family, "I'll be back in a couple months. I'll be fine." It was a shame that 004 was going to be healing at that time because Ijin was sure that 004 would have happily sparred against him when Ijin needed to blow some steam, but it was a good thing that 002 was in the same boat and would be just as challenging.

Understandably, his family just could not move past that "Withdrawal?! Stimulants? Are you really going to be okay?" Dayeon sounded worried sick and not for the first time, Ijin felt incredibly guilty that he was the one who was causing her worry.

"Shouldn't you enter a detox program instead?" Mr. Park cut in, his eyebrows knitted in concern, "S.W. can fund it, you don't have to leave." That was enough to make Grandfather and Dayeon look up at Ijin hopefully, hoping that he would take the offer just so he could stay.

He sighed. "I'll be fine. This…this isn't the first time I'll be doing something like this." Ijin slowly admitted, internally cringing when he saw everyone's face warp from confusion, realization, and then concern once more.

"What?" His grandfather sounded completely and utterly horrified and Ijin regretted saying anything at all.

"What he means," 002 cut in, walking up to their group with an easy gait, "our handlers got us addicted to painkillers when we were younger, all of us." Ijin tried to ignore the way everyone, the way everyone who was involved seemed to look at Ijin and the Numbered, with worry and pity marring their features. That was over and done with, there was no need, nor did they want their pity. "It was the only way we could have survived. We broke the addiction then and 001 can do it again, I'll keep him in line. Besides, 006 is right, 001 gets pissy like a prissy little-"

"002." Ijin nearly snapped out, glaring at the man and his stupid easy-going smile, as if he hadn't been pestering him.

"I think that just proves his point 001." 005 added in and for a split second, Ijin almost wished they hadn't gotten comfortable with him just so they could shut the fuck up.

Instead, all he allowed himself to do was pinch the bridge of his nose as he looked down at the floor, his eyes scrunched up tightly as he heaved out a sigh. "You are all being fu-…annoying. You are being annoying." The fact that he was only proving their point somehow pissed him off even more.

Reigning in his temper, Ijin gave his family his attention once more. "I will be back in a couple of months. 006 is right, it would be better if I got over it while I'm with them." Besides, Ijin knew that if he stayed in Korea, he wouldn't be able to distract himself with exercise like he would have to. The Numbered cared just enough about him to make sure he wouldn't die, his family cared too much and would probably try to cap his exercise out of concern. No one cared when he and 002 walked in with bloody fists after the single spar they had before they left Cambodia, but his family most definitely would.

His voice was quiet, just barely audible over the general chatter of the airport, "Okay." His grandfather said quietly, nodding his head with pursed lips, "Okay. We'll be waiting for you." Ijin nodded, and the offhanded mutter of his name caught his attention.

Ijin's eyes drifted over to Seokju and his parents, who were still holding onto each other. He had an idea of what they were talking about, but with the way eyes drifted over to Ijin, Seokju's father to be more specific, Ijin knew they were talking about him.

He sighed. It was time to swallow the bullet.

Taking a step towards the Koh family, Ijin walked away from his family and approached them. As soon as he was close enough, Ijin sank into a deep bow. "I'm sorry. Seokju was put in danger because of me." He truly meant it. It was because of him that Seokju was kidnapped, and it was because of him that Seokju had been in Cambodia in the first place.

He stayed in the bow, only straightening up when he heard a gentle voice telling him that it was fine to stand up again. "It's okay." Still, Ijin kept his gaze on the floor, guilt washing over him when he heard the way there was a tightness in the woman's voice. She said it as if it was a struggle to forgive him.

"Mom," Seokju started to advocate for him, his voice strained with emotion, "Ijin tried to keep me safe. He really did. I've been hurt worse in Korea." He was telling his parents that if it wasn't for Ijin, then he wouldn't have made it home. As if Ijin wasn't the reason he got into that mess in the first place.

"If it's any consolation," 002 called out and Ijin found himself asking a higher presence for patience, "001 started taking more of those stimulants once your son was taken. I had to force him to sleep until we got your son back."

Slowly, Ijin turned to look at 002. Out of all the times, for 002 to be talkative, the usually silent asshole decided to be quite chatty at the worst moment possible.

002 smiled. "I'll look forward to our spars." Oh, it wasn't going to be a spar, it was going to be a genuine fight. One that Ijin was very much looking forward to as payback for 002 not shutting the fuck up.

"Hey," 018 cut in quietly, adding to the conversation for the first time, "002, can you stop trying to piss off 001…? You're probably the only one who can fight him and not get your ass kicked."

002 looked entirely unapologetic with his response. "Train harder." 018 almost deflated at his cold response.

004 and 005 seemed to be offended. "Hey, fuck you," 005 growled out, her aggressive step towards 018 making the man sigh, "I can beat 001's ass just fine."

"I can do it even with one arm." 004 followed up, which did nothing to help the situation.

"Guys. Guys." 016 stressed out, his eyes focused on Ijin as he watched Ijin's face become more stoic by the minute. "Stop it." 008 was just about to follow up on 016's words. 004 and 005 were snarking back and forth about who could beat Ijin faster, 002 was smiling, which honestly his inactivity did nothing to help and Ijin looked like he was going to lose it.

"I already told you-" 005 stopped as a chill went down her spine, her head whipping around in tandem with 004 to look at Ijin.

His expression was blank, but his eyes were glaring daggers into them in a way that had both of them almost straightening up under his gaze. "Both of you." While Ijin's voice was flat, the undertone of anger was unmistakable, "Shut up. Or go argue somewhere else." Honestly, he was trying to apologize to his friend's parents, and he didn't need those fucking idiots arguing in the background.

004 and 005 didn't look cowed, but they nodded, their argument falling away as they settled back into silence. That didn't mean they were getting along as they were still glaring at each other, silently blaming each other for pushing Ijin to that point.

"See this is why I stayed over here." 006 whispered to Mr. Park, earning a confused look from Mr. Park because he had no idea who 006 was, "001 is so pissy right now."

All the civilians could do was stare at Ijin, who was the apparent leader of the circus show that was playing out in front of them.

"Ijin," Seokju called out in his croaky voice, and Ijin had to take a moment to recompose himself before he turned to face his friend, "I have no idea how you can ever deal with-" Seokju gestured to the Numbered as a whole, "That." Ijin sighed. Seokju had no idea how difficult it was trying to lead the team at times. Combat was fine, but when it came to their downtime, when there was absolutely nothing to do, that was when it was a pain to keep the peace.

Ijin started his apology to Seokju's parents again, in that time, 002 went to Dayeon and her grandfather to hand them a slip of paper. "That's my phone number," the elder took the paper after a moment of confusion, his eyes lighting up when he heard that it was 002's phone number. "I know 001 won't keep you updated, I'll send you the occasional update and when he can go home."

The elder grabbed 002's hand before he could pull away, "Oh, thank you, truly." Grandfather didn't notice the way 002 stiffened up when he bowed, 002's hand still clasped in his own as he tried to show his gratitude. "Thank you so much for keeping Ijin safe. Thank you."

Although he had to resist the urge to jerk his hand away, 002 was able to control his reaction in favor of pulling away, thankful that the old man got the hint and let go. "No need to thank me." There wasn't a need. Just like 002 was using Ijin to help wrap up a few loose ends, Ijin was using 002 to do the same. It was mutual like it had always been.

"Erm. Mr. 002? Is that your name?" Dayeon asked quietly, almost shrinking when 002 looked over at her.

"002 is fine." Though he had to admit that Dayeon won some of his respect for putting an honorific on his name like that. She was just as polite when she wasn't being saved from a kidnapping.

She blushed. "Oh. Okay. Uh…can I ask what Ijin was taking…?" her gaze went down to her fingers, picking at the skin as she shifted nervously on her feet, "If you know I mean…"

Time for him to lie again.

"It was nothing worse than Adderall." In reality, they had been taking a stronger stimulant, 002 was the one who gave it to Ijin after all, but there was no reason to tell her that. It wasn't going to change how long until Ijin would be away getting over his addiction after all. "He's only been taking it for two weeks, he'll be fine in a couple of months." 002 had faith that it wouldn't be too hard for them to break the addiction. It just so happened that they were the type to replace cravings with exercise and as long as Ijin didn't straight up die, 002 had no problem with Ijin running himself into the ground.

But he didn't need to tell them that.

The pure and utter relief Dayeon and her grandfather had only solidified that 002 was right to lie. "Oh, thank god." Dayeon sighed, her shoulders dropping as the tension left them. "Thank you. For everything." Her voice was sincere and 002 even found himself smiling at the gratitude.

"It's no skin off my back," the back of 002's neck prickled, and he knew exactly who was staring at him. "I think I better go. 001 doesn't seem very happy that I'm talking to you two." A turning of his head confirmed that Ijin was glowering at him, his apology to Seokju's parents seemingly finished as he walked over to them. "I was just answering some questions." 002 called out when Ijin got close enough, but he could tell that Ijin didn't care.

"It's almost time for our flight. Hurry up and get to the terminal."

"I'm going, I'm going. No need to be so protective." Ijin's glare sharpened and even though 002 wasn't scared of Ijin, it was his sign for him to fuck off for the time being.

002 gathered up the others, 004 wasn't thrilled to hear that he was going to stay in Korea to continue treatment but was placated when he heard that 018 was going to stay behind with him. Everyone shuffled off to the terminal peacefully. 016 and 008 took the time to say goodbye to Seokju and Kang, other than that, the Numbered were as obtuse as usual. All of them waited for Ijin to join them in their departure.

"What did 002 tell you?" Ijin asked almost immediately, taking note of the way his sister and grandfather exchanged looks.

"He just gave us his number," The elder lied, patting Ijin's arm in a way that made Ijin's suspicious look fade away. "I know you have to go but please be safe. Take care of yourself Ijin."

"I will." Their grandfather initiated the hug, the two grandchildren holding onto the elder and each other for the little time they could. "I have to go." Ijin said, breaking off the hug faster than they could have liked.

Before Ijin could take a step towards the awaiting Numbered, his grandfather grabbed onto his arm, stilling his movement. "Come back healthy Ijin." He said firmly and Ijin knew that his grandfather was talking about his addiction.

Ijin returned the nod. He was going to come back. He did not go through that entire month of battle just to prolong his return.

"I will. I promise."