Jihyun watches as the first of her friends walk through the door, Jisung and Chenle sending her small smiles as they take their place in line. Her face stays cold and emotionless, but inside she's extremely nervous.
Soon it's Chenle's turn. He draws Wooyoung, Mingi, and Yeosang to fight. Jihyun silently lets out a breath of relief. They're all outstanding fighters but San and Hongjoong are the aces, no one has even come close to beating them yet.
Chenle does surprisingly well, first knocking out Yeosang and then Mingi, using the taller boy's height to his advantage. When he goes to face Wooyoung, he eventually yields with his arm pinned behind his back. He gets up and dusts himself off, his lip bleeding slightly. He bows to his opponents, then turns to the evaluators and bows deeply.
He makes eye contact with Jihyun as he lifts his head up, a small smile pulling at his lips. Jihyun keeps her cold glare, but nods her head ever so slightly so that no one else picks up on it. Chenle notices and smiles before quickly covering it and stepping back into line.
Jisung steps up next, drawing Seonghwa, San, and Hongjoong. Jihyun feels a pit in her stomach, knowing that there is no way for him to win this fight.
Despite his unlucky draw, he does well. It's the first time she's seen him fight with full strength, not holding back in his hits and she's impressed. He is able to take out Seonghwa and even pin San for a few seconds but is eventually pinned, stepping off the mat with a cut under his eye and a few bruises.
When he finally looks at her, she quickly sends him a wink, making sure that no one else saw her. Despite only beating one member, she knows he performed well enough to pass this exam. She almost smiles as she sees Chenle and Jisung fist bump in excitement afterwards.
Renjun is in the next pool, pulling Jongho, Yunho, and Hongjoong to fight. He is able to beat Yunho but is quickly overpowered by Jongho, walking off with a limp and a dejected smile. Jihyun feels her stomach churn. He didn't do that well, to be honest. She can barley pass him as he performed right about the middle of the students so far, but she passes him nonetheless.
At last it was the final pool of the day, the last 10 students walking into the room, both Jeno and Jaemin among them. They sent her small but nervous smiles.
"That's your boy, isnt it?" Mark leans over and whispers, nodding towards Jaemin. She responds with a small nod before taking her spot at the end of the mat, close to the action to observe and also throw students back into the fight. After a few exams, Jeno steps up.
He ends up drawing Seonghwa, Yeosang, and San. She sees San stand up from his seat on the sidelines, stretching his arms with a cool smirk. Jeno casts a nervous glance at Jihyun. Taking a deep breath, he steps up onto the mat, a focused look on his face as he cracks his knuckles.
Jihyun watches, holding her breath as Jeno takes on Seonghwa first. He falls into default mode, his nervousness gone and his senses heightened as he swiftly avoids Seonghwa's attacks. After being on the defense, Jeno changes the pace of the fight and overpowers Seonghwa, sending him flying across the mat with a kick to the side, the older boy yielding and sliding off of the mat.
Jeno wipes the sweat off his forehead as Yeosang steps up. Jeno does well but Yeosang is fast, he is able to get more hits on Jeno, bloodying his face. Jeno lets out a huff of air before tackling Yeosang. Jeno's able to get his arm behind his back, forcing him to yield.
Jeno stands back up, wiping off the blood from his nose and lips as he turns to face San. The older boy stares at Jeno, a wicked smirk on his face as he attacks. Jeno might be strong, but so is San, and San's reflexes are unmatched. Despite his best efforts, Jeno isn't able to land any hits on him.
Jihyun sees his focus leaving him, his strength starting to deplete as well as his moves become slightly sloppy. San knocks him to the ground, Jeno catching himself right near Jihyun. In a move so small that you would miss it if you weren't within a few feet of her, Jihyun takes a deep breath, signaling with her hand for him to calm down and think.
He's done well so far, enough to pass, but beating all 3 members would essentially guarantee him survival, no matter how he did on the other exams.
Seeing Jihyun's gesture, he feels the energy return to his muscles, turning around and swinging at San, catching him off guard. However, San is quick to react and soon Jeno is back on the ground. Jeno lies on there, barely moving as he pants for air.
San saunters over to him, ready to pin him and force a yield. As San leans down, Jeno quickly slides to the side, knocking San's legs out from under him. Jihyun's eyes widen as she fights back the smile on her face.
Flashback to three days ago.
"Ok Jeno, one thing you have to remember, I know you're very strong, but eventually you'll get tired. When you get tired, you get sloppy and have to think about fighting smart rather than with force." He nodded to her, listening intently.
"Now, when most people think they've exhausted their enemy, they relish in winning the fight. Not only were they more skilled, but they didn't even have to kill you yet, you just couldn't handle them, essentially. It happens to even the very best of us" she explains.
"If you feel yourself giving out, use it." She lies on the ground, remaining still and breathing hard as Jaemin walks over to pin her. As he moves to grab her shoulders, she swings her legs around, knocking him over and pinning him.
Shocked, San rushes to get up but Jeno pins him down, using all his strength to restrain him. With wide eyes, Hongjoong steps up, pulling Jeno off of San.
"Congratulations, you won." Jeno tries to control his smile and fails as he turns to bow to Jihyun, beaming. He walks off the mat, drenched in sweat and out of breath, his clothes having drips of his own blood on them, but smiling nonetheless.
He walks past Jihyun and she hands him a water bottle and a towel.
"not bad" she says with a cold expression, but he can hear the genuine happiness in her voice. He smiles brighter and takes his spot back in line, Jaemin giving him a high five.
"Alright, and the final student, Na Jaemin. Go take your draw." Jaemin steps out of line, a determined expression on his face. He steps up and pulls out Jongho, Mingi, and Hongjoong.
The first two fights go fairly smoothly. Jaemin trips up a few times but is able to defeat Jongho and Mingi, moving to face Hongjoong with only a few bruises and a bloodied up lip.
Facing Hongjoong, however, is a different beast. He doesn't hold back at all on the students. None of them have any experience fighting him, as only San ever spars with the students. He's incredibly quick and hits hard, and no student so far as been able to beat their other opponents to fight him. Jaemin, being unfamiliar with his fighting pattern, has a hard time keeping up.
Jihyun quickly realizes that Jaemin won't win this without some kind of miracle. Hongjoong isn't like San, he's more experienced and mature, his focus won't waver in the same way.
With a loud crack, Hongjoong lands a punch straight into Jaemin's jaw, sending him flying across the mat and landing right in front of Jihyun, blood now flowing from his nose, as well as his lips and some fresh cuts around his face.
Jihyun steps up to grab him by his collar and throw him back into the fight, as she does with all students. Bending down and grabbing his shirt, she hurriedly whispers in his ear.
"He's going to try and kick you to finish you off, grab his leg and throw him as hard as you can." She rushes the words out of her mouth, speaking quietly and quickly so no one notices as she chucks him back into the center, hoping he understood her.
He lies there, clutching his jaw in pain. From the corner of her eye, she sees Jeno looking between her and Jaemin in horror, silently urging her to do something. All she could do was watch and hope that Jaemin heard her, Hongjoong never allowed students to yield.
Seeing the boy, Hongjoong quickly walks up to him, drawing back his leg to not waste anytime. Jihyun winces as she watches Hongjoong kick towards Jaemin's torso with all his strength.
Suddenly, Jaemin's arms shoot out, grabbing onto Hongjoongs leg before he can make contact, he turns, using all his strength and body weight, throwing the older boy across the mat. Hongjoong lands with a thump, clutching his side in pain as Jaemin scrambles over. Hongjoong tries to sit up but Jaemin has him pinned, throwing one last punch to his face to seal his victory.
Hongjoong wipes the blood from his lip, slightly smiling at Jaemin as he mutters out a 'congratulations'.
Jaemin stands up, a smile on his bloody face as he bows to everyone. As he looks up, the entire world starts to spin as he almost collapses. Jihyun's eyes widen slightly before she quickly composes herself.
"You" she snaps, pointing at Jeno, "take this kid to Twice to get his wounds treated." Jeno quickly nods, helping Jaemin to his feet as he limps out of the room with Jeno's support.
Jihyun lets out an exhausted sigh now that the exams are over. She and Mark make their way to her office, collecting reports from other council members and instructors along the way. The two of them begin to go through the papers, making sure every observer's evaluation is there.
"I saw you." Mark says, not looking up. Jihyun freezes at his words.
"What?" She asks quietly.
"I saw you during the exam." She quickly brushes it off, clearing her throat with an indifferent look on her face.
" I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Ji" Mark says, putting down his papers, "I know you helped him." He stares at her, a serious expression on his face as Jihyun gulps, her skin turning pale.
"Don't worry" he says, a playful smile making its way onto his face. "I'm not gonna tell anyone." She lets out a breath of relief.
"Thank you. I know I shouldn't have done it but I-"
"It's alright. I would probably do the same if it he was you or Donghyuck, so I get it. He was a pretty good fighter either way, I'm sure he would've made it. But you saved him a broken rib or two." Mark says with a smile.
"I can finish up here. Most of the students and instructors will be gone by now, go check on him. And grab the evaluations from Chaeyoung while you're there, we're missing hers" he says with a smile.
Jihyun stands from her seat, quickly giving Mark a hug around his shoulders before exiting the room. She walked straight to the medical room, thankfully not running into anyone. When she opened the door, she was met with Chaeyoung's smile.
"I was just about take these to you," she says, handing over her papers.
"Thanks, Chaeyoung. Heading home now?"
"Almost, just finishing up with this last student. Hongjoong bloodied him up pretty bad" she says with a small laugh.
"You've had a long day, why don't you head home. I can finish up here for you." Jihyun offers with a smile.
"Are you sure?" Jihyun nods in response, "ok then, thanks Jihyun. I look foreward to seeing the rankings and new assignments tomorrow. Please send some good kids over to the medical unit!" with that Chaeyoung turns and head down the hallway towards the parking lot.
Jihyun enters the room, carefully closing the door behind her. She sets the papers on one of the tables and turns to look at Jaemin.
"Hey, Hyunnie"
"Hey, Nana."
———
Yayyy double update! For the few of you reading this, I hope you're enjoying it!
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