ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴇᴀʀ ᴇɴᴇᴍʏ || ᴊ.ᴡʏ + ᴄ.ꜱ

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟗

With all 1,400 of the new enlistments out on the field, taking up the entirety of it, the lead soldiers went over the marching technique once more, having them practice before they were tested and evaluated by the camp's commanding soldier.

This was the second time Wooyoung and Yunho were seeing each other since all the boys were gathered there and Yunho along with San wouldn't pass up the rare chance of getting to hang with each other.

Yunho craned his head to look past San at Wooyoung. "Hey, I hope I didn't offend you too much. That wasn't my intention just so you know." He flipped his eyes towards the lead soldiers to make sure they hadn't caught him talking and when he returned his gaze Wooyoung was looking back at him, cold and uninterested.

"That shit hole on your face unloads more than the one on your ass, doesn't it." Wooyoung looked away, bored of the conversation before his eyes focused back on San's apparent friend. "Should I rip it off since you don't need two?" The words were hushed but the threatening tone was loud and clear.

San gawked at him in disbelief. Wooyoung's quiet whispering of the threat made it all the more menacing.

Yunho's face lost all sincerity, having decided that Wooyoung wasn't worth it.

"The only reason I said sorry is because San said I should."

San's eyes squeezed shut, wishing his friend knew the difference between what was okay to say and what wasn't.

Wooyoung had figured originally that San had been the one to propose the apology without hearing it from dummy number three. San being one, Seonghwa two. It's no shocker for him to be meddling in someone else's business per usual. The kid just couldn't help himself.

Focusing all of his attention back strictly on the soldiers, he saw they were reiterating the correct way to hold the salute. The right hand straightened with the tip of the pointer finger at the edge of the eyebrow.

"And you say I don't pay attention...you aren't doing it right." San saw in his peripheral that Yunho's salute was off. His salute was accidentally in a form similar to the soldiers in North Korea, which was a big no-no. He didn't miss Wooyoung's judging side-eye at the situation either, feeling a jolt of annoyance at Wooyoung's persistent need to act like a jerk, especially when just a minute ago he wanted nothing to do with Yunho but now watched him with judging eyes.

Yunho quickly fixed the salute and muttered amusedly something along the lines of how San was so picky. San smiled at his foolishness, finding it funny how similar they could be at times, and focused back ahead of him as a higher-ranked soldier monitored their salutes in the line, having glared at a few who were particularly shaky.

"When demonstrating in front of the commander, he won't appreciate these weak constitutions!" One soldier shouted, obviously targeting a trainee that San recognized from another group. Fear consumed his eyes as he shut them and traveled to his weak fingers, making them tremble. The soldier gripped his wrist to hold his hand to his brow, creating a firmer stance.

"That's better don't you think?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"What's that?" The soldier released his wrist then, expecting him to repeat himself with more purpose.

"Yes, sir!" He shouted more confidently that time, and San took the opportunity of temporary distraction to ease up on the firmness of his salute.

"Slacking?" A deep voice growled behind San's head and he quickly corrected the lax nature of his hand, praying the owner of the voice wouldn't relay these small mistakes to Kai.

"No, sir." He coldly swallowed, and a harsh grip of the shoulder was Taehyung's response, lingering for longer than he probably should have.

"What's that about?" Yunho dared to whisper and San shut him down with a dart of his eyes in the other direction. San could tell there was something off about the way Taehyung handled him, but if he let any of that get to his head he'd be stuck daydreaming instead of doing anything purposeful with the reality in front of him. The reality that consisted of repeated menial exercises he was almost positive he had mastered by now, but there would be more and of course, that was all besides the point. He needed to focus for the sake of his family's pride. Living up to Kai took more effort than some fancy footwork and a few salutes.