Scope of Life || Yeonbin

chapter 1: the meet cute

Soobin's POV:

My alarm is at six every morning, groaning when I finally wake up. It's colder than it normally is, not that I ever feel warm in the first place. I brought my hands up, rubbing my eyes to try and help the headache already forming, but it's no use. It's the same every day, taking a deep breath as motivation to get out of bed. I usually make myself something small for breakfast since I've never really been a morning person, brewing some warm tea too. I put it in my to-go mug, having packed my work bag already last night.

My drive to work is only ten minutes, but I always find myself getting lost in my thoughts. I'm not sure if it's because I woke up so early or the extent of my job. I'm a sniper for Team One, the top swat team in South Korea. Basically, we respond to calls of armed crimes like robberies, bomb threats, kidnappings, all types of things. It depends on the situation, but my job is to look down a scope and keep my eyes fixed on the target. My boss tries to calm them down in an effort to arrest them peacefully. But, if I'm given the command, I pull the trigger within less than a second. It's only for specific things, like if the person is actively shooting at us or another person, or if they suddenly point the gun at my boss.

Scorpio.

The command for me to shoot. It runs through my head the whole day, slowly eating away at my mental state. My job is depressing, really taking a toll when you get paid to kill people. My therapist thinks otherwise, and I'm just trying my best to understand that what I do is actually saving people instead of the other way around. The problem is that the only people who can really understand what I'm talking about are the rest of my team. It makes dating difficult, because once they find out what I do, they get scared and run away. I don't know how my teammates manage to get married, but I guess I'm still young.

I shook my head, taking a deep breath as I pulled into the parking lot. I gripped the steering wheel once I parked, closing my eyes, and taking another deep breath to calm myself down, "Yesterday was just a lot. Today will be better..." I whispered to myself, remembering how my boss had given me the command yesterday when we responded to a call, "You did the right thing. He was going to kill people if you didn't do anything." I whispered again, beginning to sound like my therapist.

I took another deep breath, a tip from my therapist that actually seems to work. I'm new to the world of therapy, and I honestly thought it was stupid at first, but now I like going to see Dr. Hwang every week. The government pays for it because my boss could see how I was struggling to cope, and he got it to go through our insurance. He's too nice to me. I definitely don't deserve it.

I opened my eyes, slowly letting go of the steering wheel and grabbing my tea. I hopped out of my car, grabbing my duffle bag and walking into our headquarters. I have to use my swipe card to get in since it's for employees only, giving a little wave to Yuna, our receptionist. I don't think 'receptionist' really fits her role since she plays a vital part in making sure everything runs smoothly. She answers the calls coming in from the emergency response line and debriefs us quickly before we head out. She constantly looks up information while we're on calls as well to make sure we have all the knowledge about the people we're dealing with. She stays in our earpieces the whole time, and it's somewhat comforting that there's someone else looking out for you other than your teammates.

I went to the locker room once I passed her desk, needing to get changed in case a call comes in. Our shift technically doesn't start until seven since there usually aren't any calls before that, but you never know. There are some days that go by and we don't get a single call, and then there are other days when we have five calls and work twelve hours straight. It really just depends on the day.

The lights were off when I walked in, flipping the switch; I guess I'm the first one here. I made my way over to my locker, placing my duffle bag down and changing into my uniform. It's nothing special, just cargo pants, boots, and a black tee shirt tucked into the waistband. Then, when a call comes in, we have to sprint to put on our vests and gear. I tucked my shirt into my pants since it makes it easier to put the vest on over it, and then started stuffing my pockets with everything I needed. I almost have a routine at this point, putting my multi-tool knife in my left leg pocket since my leg holster goes on the other side. I put my gloves in my back pocket for when I need them, and then put my dog tags around my neck. The last thing is the sweatband I tie around my head. It's almost like a good luck charm, needing to lift up the hair falling into my eyes to put it on properly. I wear it because my parents got it for me a long time ago when I was just a private in the army. I guess I wear it so that I know they're always with me.