SILENCE | ATEEZ

6 | Steel And Shadows

"How can we train then? Yeosang clearly stated that we need ten members to be able to access the training sector."

San shakes his head profusely before he steps forward towards a closed sector which is empty. Nothing is inside the particular sector, no weapons, no simulators, just a space fit for quite a number of people. The walls were painted white and a scoreboard displayed on one side of the wall. San lifts his thumb and puts it onto the scanner right beside the door, and it blinks into green.

"We can only use this sector to train," he says, walking into the room as he holds the door, motioning for them to come in. Neither of the newbies move except for Mingi as he steps inside, feeling in the emptiness that engulfs the sector. His eyes trailing the scoreboard, searching for either one of their names.

"Are you not coming in?" San lifts an eyebrow to the remaining members as he feels his arm getting a bit sore holding the door. Arin side steps in and follows Mingi to wander around the room as the other newbies still find themselves staring at San without moving their limbs. San sighs.

Only when Elenna sees the way his expression changes, she shuffles quickly into the room, dragging Wooyoung with her. Jongho is lucky enough to move in just in time when San let go of the glass door, frowning as he walk inside and closing the door behind him.

For a good moment, all of them just stare blankly either on the white walls or the scoreboard, wondering if they're ever going to make it. That is until they heard footsteps of someone running in one place, all of them turn to look at San who is already running as he gradually increases his speed. Elenna looks at him weirdly before walking closer, inspecting him from head to toe.

"What are you doing?"

She receives no response as San keeps on running back and forth in his pace, they can also see him trying to hold his breath between running. Elenna rolls both of her sleeves up, as she decides to follow San on whatever he is doing. It's better than doing nothing and wondering how their fates would be different if they hadn't been here in VESTRA.

Things have already happened, and it's the matter of time they start to learn on how to adapt to it.

Elenna jogs at her own pace, going circles around the room unlike San. Her heartbeat gradually increases as she feels her breath getting heavier. Never in her life had she gotten used to being able to run without having Mingi shoving the inhaler to her mouth right after a few minutes, and this had made her even more frustrated. Mingi watches Elenna as she jog around, and eventually slowly follows her behind.

The others start to feel restless as they watch them moving nonstop. Arin then decides to stand on her feet as she moves towards Wooyoung who is now blinking at her, confused. She reaches out a hand over him and he catches it on time as she pulls him to stand. Arin grabs a knife from beneath her uniform, handing it to him as he stares at her with mouth open.

"What—"

"Come on, try to stab me with it," Arin says calmly. Wooyoung's eyes go even wider.

"Are you joking this isn't a toy—"

"Do you want to train or not?" she asks before pushing his shoulder harshly. Arin ducks her head after and her legs bend, standing readily as her eyes fixed on the blade in his hand. Wooyoung feels challenged as he lunges towards her, luring the blade right onto her right arm but within seconds a splitting scream escapes his lips as he feels her knocking down the blade by hitting his elbow with a slight punch. Arin grabs the knife from the floor and tosses it at Wooyoung again, nodding at him.

"Again."

Wooyoung quickly grips the blade and swings it sideways to Arin before he ducks his head as he senses her arm swinging right towards him. Arin engages again by aiming his chest before the blade but Wooyoung is quick enough to block it with his other unarmed arm and pushes her off. She immediately recovers from Wooyoung's defence as she swiftly maneuver, sidestepping just in time to avoid his incoming swing of blade towards her face. With a calculated spin, she faces him again as her gaze lowers waiting for him to strike.