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Getting drunk was certainly not what I'd even remotely imagined would be happening my first night at the Capital Base.

The Capital Base was one massive, sprawling structure of steel surrounded by a high-voltage chainlink fence that stretched dozens of feet in the air. I couldn't decide if it was magnificent or ugly to look at with its flat topped roofs and dull grey metal exterior. Perhaps both.

There were apparently close to thirty levels of this base, both above and under ground. Inside was a maze of uniform polished hallways and numerous doorways that all looked the same. An overwhelming sense of dizziness had washed over me when I first entered the building.

Going off of what Jimin had said, as a trainee I was expected to sleep with the other trainees in four-bed sleeping quarters. I'd met my roommates, three other girls. Two of them were Outworlders, the other a human like me. Tzuyu and Irene were both Outworlders: Tzuyu with lovely midnight violet Marks and Irene with soft baby pink Marks. Krystal was the energy-packed human and had immediately loosened the awkwardness of meeting each other for the first time.

After brief introductions, we'd changed into our standard trainee gray uniforms and skedaddled to the training rooms that was ten levels below us— and trainees weren't allowed to use the elevators in the building because we needed to get exercise in "at all times possible".

The training had been brutal, making me realize just how easy Jimin and Yoongi had been going on me. Nevertheless, because I had been training intensely the past month, I'd performed much better than a lot of the other trainees.

It was the first training session and specially named the Initiation session and it lasted from noon to eight in the evening; full 8 hours of practically nonstop workouts. What made it particularly significant was that any trainees who broke or failed in the Initiation session was immediately signed incompetent and sent home. No second chances, no further punishment. Just signed off and alavida bye-bye.

There had been thirty-two other initial trainees in my temporary training unit. At the end of the training, twenty-four trainees remained.

I'd been aching all over and was painfully dragging myself back up the stairs to my room. I'd made it four levels before Krystal appeared out of nowhere, somehow still filled with energy, and whisked me away into a maze of hallways and through several side doors which lead to more doorways.

Maybe if I hadn't been so exhausted and sore I might've stopped her or at least considered if she was planning to murder me.

As it was, I'd allowed her to pull me deep within the base and finally into what appeared to have been once a large sleeping area with abandoned old cots sprawled everywhere. Except at the moment, it wasn't abandoned.

I gaped as no less than a hundred trainees lounged around on the ground or on the cots. I didn't know if I was more shocked because of the large number of people hiding in this secret part of the base, or because of all the alcohol and bottles lying everywhere and being passed around.

"What is this?" I slowly turned to Krystal who was grinning like she won the lottery.

"It's a tradition." She swept her arm about. "It's to... salute the trainees who've passed the first training. The senior trainees bring in the bottles and spread the word. I thought you heard about it?"

I shook my head. "I didn't hear anything about this." A clearly tipsy girl fell into an equally intoxicated girls' lap, giggling. I quickly looked away as the two began to cuddle and kiss. "Do... the trainers know about this?"

"Who cares!" Krystal flung her arms in the air and immediately winced at the action. No matter her energetic aura, her muscles were still sore.

My own arm felt entirely immobilized from exerting it with my still fresh shoulder injury. I'd been hoping for a hot shower to loosen it but I didn't know if I could find my way back to the sleeping quarters without getting lost. I still hadn't even come close to begin memorizing all the base.

"The trainers probably do know," Krystal was saying. "But as long as we don't bother them, they don't give a shit. Now come on, loosen up! I want to introduce you to some guys in our unit."

She dragged me towards a couple of good looking guys lounging on a cot along the far wall. I immediately felt anxiety just staring at the way the mattress of the rusty bed bent precariously down under the boys' weights, looking ready to break at any moment.

"Jiyeon, meet Suho and Yuta." Krystal pointed to each one.

Suho grinned, which immediately softened his—what I would describe as— suave features. He raised the bottle in his hand towards Krystal and I. "Pleasure to meet you," he said, words ever so slightly slurred. "Damn, are you a baddie? You got a nasty bruise on the jaw."

I forced a little smile. "I... uh, fought a Reformist."

Suho immediately whooped. "Get this baddie a drink. Hope you kicked that Reformist's ass back into hell where they belong."

My smile easily disappeared. Oh boy... My mind was still worried about what the iron-minded trainers might think of their trainees getting drunk silly. Or more like, what a certain silver-haired trainer might think of all this.

While Suho was human, Yuta was an Outworlder with dark orange Marks that immediately made me tense. His Marks were nowhere as fiery as the ones in my memory, but it still brought a little sting in my chest.

Just like Suho, Yuta had a youthful grace to his face, which was dopey at the moment as he was clearly much more drunk than Suho. "Welcome... to Initiation night," he slurred, yet grinning sweetly. "Where we test not only your physical strength but your tolerance strength as well!"

"If you couldn't tell Yuta's a bit of a lightweight," Suho laughed, clapping a solid hand over Yuta's shoulder, causing the poor Outworlder to wince.

"Bottoms up." Krystal handed me a bottle that I didn't even know where she'd gotten from. Without further ado she tipped her own bottle in hand and drank deeply.

"I really shouldn't." I grimaced recalling the last time I drank around Outworlders.

"Don't be so tense!" Krystal nudged me. "It's just some fun and with a war going on who knows when the next time we'll be able to do this will be."

Well, she had a point there. I exhaled— and tipped my own bottle up, drinking deeply.

Liquor. Strong liquor. Running fire down my throat and immediately setting my whole body tingling. I liked that feeling.

"Atta girl!" Krystal laughed, leaning against me.

"You are such a terrible influence," I muttered. But I was already starting to feel a little lighter.

As time stretched out and became meaningless, I was soon laughing freely. Muscles that had been tense began to relax and the pain my body was dulled. Yes, this was better than taking a hot shower. The laughter and hoots seemed to only increase in volume and echo throughout the room as everyone drank more. I had no idea where the bottles were coming from but I didn't care.

I soon realized why we were specifically in this room. There was no way any of us were going to make it to our sleeping quarters. I could see a few trainees passed out already on some beds or right on the hard floor.

At some point I found my own self lounging on the mattress with Yuta's face inches from mine. Through the senseless haze that had fogged over my mind warning bells began to go off. I shouldn't be this close to his face.

But why? His face was nice. He was smiling. No. There was a different reason why. I slowly turned my head and found a different face inches from mine.

This face looked angry. This face was not smiling.

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