SONG REC: "MANIAC" - STRAY KIDS

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Late at night, she was sitting on her bed, reading a book Felix had let her borrow. It was interesting, but it was a cheesy love story that made her cringe at some parts. Reading this was torture at points.

She would never tell Felix that, though. He said he loved the book, and she would say that too. In fact, he had said that Yun was the only member who read the books he liked, and he wanted to rant with somebody. That somebody would be her.

At one point, there was a character that reminded her of Lee Know, and she slammed the book shut.

"Ew," she mumbled to herself. Lee Know's disappointed face kept on flashing in her head, and she wanted to shove her face into a pillow.

She wasn't sure if she was holding a stupid grudge or a valid one. But she was pissed. How dare the stupid guy lecture her and Felix just because they were friends and different genders? Was it some dumb 'alpha male mafia boss' thing? Her lips curled at the thought.

As if she manifested it, the annoying man himself knocked on her door and came in.

He was holding a box of chocolates in one hand and looked apologetic enough. "I'm sorry for getting mad earlier. I hope you understand how important this job is and the risk of liking somebody and getting distracted is too dangerous to ignore."

She glared at him, even though there wasn't much anger behind it anymore. "Felix is one of the only people I feel safe with...and I just wanted to bond with him. I know how dangerous love is. I lived on the streets."

He handed her the box of chocolates. "I know. I hope you forgive me. This is the last box of chocolate in the base so eat sparingly."

Her face remained neutral but she took the box without hesitating. "Thank you. Maybe I'll forgive you," she said with a hint of amusement.

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There was good news and bad news. Good news: Yun would start being trained for missions. Bad news: Lee Know was training her.

To be fair, it wasn't horrible to be working with him, but she didn't like how difficult he was to read, and how he never showed emotions. He was probably a sociopath.

They were in the gym, getting ready to start her first practice. He would teach her how to throw knives, hide, shoot, and kill, even better than she did before, but today's focus was on knives.

"Are you ready?" asked Lee Know.

She shrugged. "As ready as I'll ever be. Besides, it's only practice. There's not much to be ready for, right?"

He spun his knife. "You'll see," he said, and handed her a training knife. Simple and basic, it was still extremely sharp and maintanenced.

Lee Know then set up multiple stuffed dummies across the room, varying in size and distance from her. He returned back to her.

"Now attack," he said.

She looked at the nearest dummy and threw it quickly. It impaled the dummy's chest, right where the heart was supposed to be. She turned to look at him. He was frowning.

"Go get the knife."

She looked at him funny. "You don't have extras for me to use?"

"You won't have extras in a fight since you're carrying light. Get the knife."

She grumbled but went over to the dummy and tried to pull out the knife. It was stuck in there. She kept on pulling, ignoring the weird shuffling sound behind her.

Finally, the knife popped out, and she fell onto the floor. Which probably saved her from bodily harm because the dummy behind her had thrown a punch, knocking the recently-impaled dummy's head off. She scrambled onto her feet and jumped away from the dummy.

"They're robots?" she shouted at Lee Know.

His eyes followed her as he rolled up his sleeves. "You let your guard down. Never let your guard down."

"I didn't know the stupid dummies would–" She cut off, distracted by the two robots advancing on her a lot quicker than the stereotypical robot should've been able to.

She punched a robot's head, and it snapped back, wobbling back and forth like a bobble head. She stabbed the other, making its red eyes fade into black. She pulled the knife out and threw it at another robot farther away but missed.

"Damn it!" she shouted, running after the knife. She slid on the ground at the last second, making the robot miss her. She grabbed her knife, twisted around, and stabbed the last robot. She was breathing heavily. She had shut down five robots.

Lee Know walked over to her, eyes criticizing. "You're already tired?"

She pressed her lips into a thin line. "Yes."

"You're in bad shape for somebody who lived on the streets alone. You also have horrible aim and horrible posture when throwing the knife. There's hardly any additional power to your throw."

She flinched with each insult. "Sorry?"

"My dear, 'sorry' won't cut it." He pressed a button on the remote in his hand, and the robots all moved to different spots after picking up their lost parts. "Now again."

She rolled her neck. "Okay."

The robots all came charging this, making her panic. There was too much going on. But she held her ground, and as all five robots ran at her, she backed up. They were slowing down now, and she risked a glance behind her. She would be cornered soon.

She spotted a low chair in the corner, and an idea sparked in her head. She continued backing up, until her back was pressed against the wall.

The robots took their chance and swung at her in sync. She jumped off the chair in the corner and over their heads, kicking two of them into the wall. The robots collapsed. Two down. She spun around and threw her knife straight at another robot's chest. With two robots left, she wouldn't have time to retrieve it, so she backed up.

She got the last two robots to be on opposite sides of her, and dropped onto the ground and rolled away as they spat poison from their mouths. She didn't know if it was real poison or not, but it smelled and looked like it. The robots' faces melted.

She stayed on the ground, gasping for air.

Lee Know stepped in front of her. She looked up, expecting approval, but he was scowling even more than before.

"You realize chairs won't always be conveniently there? And that you only have one knife? Again, your posture was horrible, and you moved quite slow. Just a bit slower with the last two and you wouldn't be so pretty anymore."

She tried to lighten the mood and cover her surprisingly hurt feelings. She had always believed she was a good fighter but that was proven false with Lee Know.

"You think I'm pretty?" she joked.

His eyes widened slightly, as if he didn't realize that he said that. He quickly wore a neutral expression. "No. But you probably like having a face. And don't ignore my critics. You need to use all of your weight when throwing your knife. Stabbing and pulling is better when in combat with multiple people. And don't wait so long before attacking. Go offense. You're slow. Work on that."

She struggled to her feet and looked him in the eye. They were nearly the same height, and she was glad that it gave her some feeling of power.

"You know there are other fighting styles? I only survived to this day because of my fighting. I used my surroundings to help me. And you're rude. The way you're saying everything – it's rude." She poked his chest and immediately regretted it. One, because his eyes hardened even more, and two, because he had a nice chest.

"My bad," he said drily. He turned around and started walking towards the exit.

"Where are you going?"

"Getting you a new teacher, since you don't like working with me."

He disappeared without another word, and she threw her knife onto the ground.

"Stupid mafia leader!" she shouted. The walls were soundproof, so she wasn't worried. But then she remembered the cameras, and looked up into the main one.

There was a crackle before Seungmin's amused voice filled the room.

"We're sending Changbin right now."

"Good."

Seungmin laughed. "You're doing great, Yun, remember that." He turned off his microphone.

She grumbled and sat down on the exact chair she jumped off of before. If she was doing great, she'd better hear it from Lee Know soon.

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Lee Know ran a hand through his hair. Why was he so strict with Yun? She was right: he had been rude. And he was...sorry. Again.

Something about her made him want to provoke her, make her struggle a bit. He wanted to bring out the fighter in her. His instincts told him to trust her, and treat her well. So he did the opposite. He was always tense around her and pushed her limits.

After all, it was the only way he could keep his attraction towards her under control.

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pov: the male lead has daddy issues (i'm joking his backstory is a lot more intense)