𝐂𝐎𝐆𝐍𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐍𝐓 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐮

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟗

it was sumin's first official day as a runner and she was ready to go out into the maze but apparently, jaemin had different plans for her when she woke up early to meet him at the doors.

"you, greenie, are not joining us in the maze." he said.

"what? what the shuck do you mean? why am i even a runner then?" she questioned.

"you didn't think you'd get to go into the maze straight away, did you?" he chuckled. "you need to train first."

"train what?"

"endurance, strength, your body, breathing... everything basically." he replied. "and we have the perfect person to help you with that."

"who?" she asked and he pointed to jeno whose eyes widened.

"you're mad! absolutely crazy! i'm not training with him!" she exclaimed, shaking her head furiously.

"i don't even want to be in the same space as her for five minutes. she's insufferable. i refuse." jeno said.

"if you feel that way then greenie, you can just go ahead and become a medjack and jeno, you can run with chase for however long i decide instead of me."

"not chase." he groaned. "he's so annoying!"

"so either you train the greenie for a week or you can deal with chase for a whole year if i decide on it. and greenie, you still adamant about not training with jeno?" jaemin turned to sumin who had gone quiet. she wasn't about to jeopardise her life in the glade because of some guy.

"i'll train with him." she said, knowing she'd regret it later.

"then go on. i'll be back in the evening to see the progress!" he waved at them as he ran into the maze with another runner covering for jeno. sumin stayed in place, waiting for her trainer to say something but instead, he walked off.

"greenie, let's go!" he called and she hurried after him.

"what are we doing—"

"don't speak." he cut her off. "rule one, only speak when i say you can or if i ask a question. rule two, do everything i say. rule three, you can only take a break when i say "

"this is stupid." she said and his head snapped to face her.

"the shuck did i just say, shank? if you want to be a runner you have to listen to what i say. jaemin's my friend and he'll believe what i tell him so quit your whining."

sumin had to bite her tongue and hold back from snapping a response as they stopped next to a wall.

"first bit of training, i want you to run around the entire glade, staying close to the walls. you don't have to go into the deadheads, just run in front of it."

"for how—" sumin bit her tongue again when he glared at her.

"for as long as i say." he replied and held his hand out, stopping her from starting. "stretch first. you'll pull a muscle."

sumin did some basic stretches and then started off jogging close to the wall, muttering not-so-nice words under her breath. she made it all the way around and back to jeno who was standing with his eyebrows furrowed.

"what the hell was that, greenie? i said run not jog."

"if i start off running i'll get tired too quickly."

"well, i said to run so run! go!"

and sumin was gone again, running around the glade. she made it back to jeno quicker this time but he sent her off again. it was a cycle that seemed like it was never going to end and sumin was getting drained. other gladers felt bad for the poor girl as they watched her but thought she somewhat deserved it for wanting to be a runner. though, in the maze, runners spent more time jogging as ironic as it was. so it felt horrible having to constantly run with no breaks.