Empire | ATEEZ

014

I was pulled from the world of sleep and dreams and all good things the next morning as San burst through the door to my room and pulled me off the bed, brushing off my complaints and cries of pain as he dragged me into the hallway outside and through the house.

Everything from the bright morning sun to the voices of the others and the trip itself was a blurry haze of sounds and impressions until we finally came to a halt in what seemed to be a gym or training room. I stumbled forward a bit, frowning down at my pajamas and squinting at the light from the windows taking up the wall opposite me before turning to San as he let out a heavy sigh and gestured at the room.

"This is where we do all of our training," he said, his voice much too bright and delighted considering the fact that I was barely awake.

"Now, my role as an assassin requires me to be here quite a lot because I'm mostly in charge of the dirty work and controlling that our partners and other involved individuals stay loyal and don't stray or betray the group," he explained. I simply nodded, biting back a yawn.

"Jongho, being our fighter, also handles physical conflicts and business with other gangs and sorts out, well, fights, obviously. His job is often mainly physical as he protects and defends Empire from outside conflicts and threats."

I furrowed my brows, "Wait- he fights off people on his own? Then how am I supposed to-?"

San chuckled, "No, we have a lot of people working for us as well but as a member of the inner circle he controls that aspect of our organization. I mainly work alone, though."

I went quiet at that, taking in the ebony-haired man for a moment, noticing how his shirt hugged every cut and curve of muscle. Muscle that I didn't have and still wouldn't have by the time I had to meet Hongjoong's deadline.

I squeaked in surprise as I was ripped from my thoughts and stumbled across the floor as San grabbed my wrist again and guided me further into the gym, explaining about each machine and all of the equipment; how they worked, what they did, and how I was going to use them.

"We're going to be training one-on-one or single-combat as Hongjoong mentioned. Normally, we always carry weapons," San said, tapping his belt where a gun had been secured, "But we'll get to that later. Learning how to defend yourself is just as important, especially in our line of work."

"But I'm not here to learn how to defend myself, San," I said, yawning as he let go of my hand and taking the chance to rub my eyes, still sleepy, "I'm here to learn how to beat you-"

My words were cut off by a sudden cry of surprise as something heavy was dropped into my hand. I stumbled forward in an attempt to regain my balance, my eyes going wide as as I looked down at the hand weight before staring up at San with mixed disbelief and betrayal.

"We'll start small," he said, dusting off his hands before gesturing at me with a small smile, "We've got plenty of time and, besides, this is only day one."

〄

"San, I'm still in my pyjamas," I sighed an hour or so later, already completely exhausted, "I can't fight-"

"Just show me what you can do," the ravenette said, "Then we'll work from there."

"But why-?" I began but San cut me off before I could whine any more. "Because I want you to join," he stated, "I've never seen anyone stand up to Hongjoong like that, disrespect him like that. Not even Seonghwa. If it stood to me you'd already be a part of the family," he said.

The corners of his lips tugged slightly upwards in a playful smirk as he added, "I bet Seonghwa is rooting for you as well."

I furrowed my brows at the mockery in his voice, taking a step forward with a small huff. He might have been stronger than me, more experienced than me, but that didn't mean he could tease me. San cocked an eyebrow at me, "Well, come on then. Show me," he said, gesturing for me to come forward as I pulled my arm back."