SOLDIER | K.TH

Natural Sniper

YOUMIN

"Instructor?"

"Yes, I'm here."

I look up with wide eyes, quickly scrambling up to my feet when I see him come in with a huge gun.

A sniper.

"W-What..."

Is this why he'd told me to meet him at the shooting range today? Not at the lake grounds?

He sets the gun up, and tosses a small pistol to the floor in my direction.

"Pick it up."

I quickly do. I'd never touched a gun in my life, and now my arms are completely tense as I handle the armed pistol.

"Aim, shoot. Brace for the recoil."

Looking up at the human-shaped targets on the end of the range, I hold the pistol in trembling hands and try to aim.

He growls when I hesitate.

"Pull the damn trigger, Jimin. You'd already be dead if those targets were real."

So I pull it.

The gun jerks, and I stumble back a step as I stare at the small bullet hole I'd made on the target's stomach.

"Again. For the head."

I shift my gun a little bit up.

This time it goes through the head, and I'm surprised that it actually does. V nods, moving me to a further target.

I do well there, too.

"Switch guns. Rifles."

It feels uncomfortable the moment he shifts it onto me. The weight is pressing on my shoulder, and I try to calm my hands as I aim at the target.

I press my finger to the trigger.

The recoil takes me aback. But the thing that shocks me the most is how fast the bullets spray out from the gun, and I almost lose control.

I would've lost control if it hadn't been for him.

He jerks the gun from my hands, roughly pushing me back. Then he locks it, jaw flexing.

"Not for you."

I'm just thanking God for not shooting him by accident when he suddenly puts down a sniper. It's so heavy that it makes a little crash against the stand.

He points to a little dot against the woods.

"Look through the scope."

I swallow. He wasn't really expecting me to get that, was he?

"What do you see."

His voice is suddenly so much closer. The deep, husky tone makes me shiver a little bit, but I make myself focus.

"A t-target."