PROJECT: SEVENTEEN. seventeen au

PROJECT: SEVENTEEN-training

"That's it?"

A boy with curly black hair clad in a striped sweatshirt and designer pants stares at the girl beside him, mouth hung open in disbelief. A smug smile is fitted on her lips as she shrugs at the boy.

"Yep," she beams, placing her hands on the white marble kitchen counter in front of them. Her brown eyes glisten at the sight of the boy's shocked expression, almost enjoying the way he reacted to her talk. "You expect too much, Kiro. You know, one day, that's gonna hurt you."

The boy-Kiro, groans and shakes his head. He stares at the counter-or more accurately, at the things on top of the counter. Several brown folders, all opened. Some are loaded with papers. Others hardly have any documents on them at all. Whatever the case, he still stared back and forth at the folders, and at the girl beside him who beamed sweetly. "This couldn't be it, Jieun." he says, and lifts a folder-revealing a picture of a boy...picking his nose? He sighs and put it down immediately. "Among all the teens around this country, you choose them?"

Jieun shrugged again. Her straight bangs didn't seem to move at all. "Not my fault. Ask the boss. She chose them. I was just monitoring them."

Kiro scoffs, managing to roll his eyes. "Yeah, right. The boss." He spat out the word like it was some kind of wretched, poisonous food. "She doesn't even help us out on this thing."

The girl hops on the counter and sits. Jieun disregards the various utensils and cutlery neatly arranged on it, not giving even half a fuck if she cuts herself on them. She peers out from underneath her dark bangs as she studies the boy closely. "You gotta lower your standards, man," she says. "You haven't even seen how well they do."

Kiro rolls his eyes again. "Jieun, could you tell me what should I expect from a bunch of..gamers and street rats and high school conspiratists?"

The girl blinks at her. Kiro could only run his hands through his hair in frustration-because Jieun doesn't seem to get it. "How would we even move forward with this project with these low-budget nuggets?" he sighs, and picks up a folder. It showed a picture of a younger, more youthful boy, with sharp eyes and a big smile, wearing a school uniform for his yearbook picture. "Have they even graduated from high school yet?"

Jieun leisurely swings her legs back and forth on the counter. "Don't know."

Kiro squints at a file-there were handwritten notes from a former classmate, documents from a school, typewritten reports, and a picture. He squints at another, much emptier file-only containing a live birth certificate. He could only sigh again. This batch is an interesting bunch.

"Their knowledge and experience of the world is limited. And how you described them to me earlier doesn't match the facts here," he says pointedly. Kiro looks at Jieun with a frown. "What does an expert in intelligent tactics and outsmarting opponents have to do with being a gamer? It doesn't make sense, Ji. What if they fail? More than three teenagers are dropouts. The ones sane enough to stay in school are literally out of their minds."

They are silent for a moment. Only the hurrying cars out on the bustling street below made noise, along with the few curious birds out in the pool garden. Jieun stares down at her feet with a tiny pout, the laces of her blue sneakers already undone.

"The kitchen's not really an ideal place to discuss this," she mutters under her breath.

"What?"

"I said, you have to see what they're capable of." said Jieun, tone growing annoyed. "Stop judging them by what you see there, Ki. You gotta trust me, and the boss. Seriously. My intuition's great."

Kiro scoffs again, but he couldn't resist the grin spreading on his lips. Typical Jieun, he thinks. "And what else did the boss say about this?"

Jieun picks up a knife and toys with it in her palm, again, not giving even half a fuck. "She says this week's gonna be a second screening since we couldn't choose from the first one," Jieun replies, legs and shoelaces swinging back and forth. "whoever can stick around by the end of the week, they're gonna go."

Unconsciously, Kiro nods. He still doesn't understand his boss' or Jieun's tactics-why can't they just choose a better, more willing group of teens? But from where he stood, going against Jieun and his boss was like being a beginner boxer and competing with a champion. The least he could do was properly train these boys and listen to whatever Jieun and the boss says.

Kiro could only sigh. Again. For the millionth time. "Alright, then. We'll go with that."

Jieun almost drops her knife as her eyes widen. "Really?"

Kiro nods and lets a small smile erupt on his lips. "Yeah."

Jieun squeals in delight and leaps off the counter to hug him-he's thrown off guard for a moment, yet he manages to pat her softly on the back.

"You're the best, man!" she grins at him, and leans forward-wait, what is she doing?

Kiro internally panics, malfunctions, then finally steps backward. "Yeah, I-uh, I guess I am." he forces out a laugh. What was this jerk thinking? Was she going to kiss him on the cheek?

Nevertheless, Kiro managed to dispose those thoughts into the dumpster in his mind as the color pink dusted his cheeks like a wildfire. He resorted to watching Jieun skip away happily, standing by the kitchen's tall windows and observing the outside world.

Kiro takes a breath, trying to stop the blush spreading on his cheeks. "You know, I was thinking,"

Jieun steps back and turns around. "What?"

He gulps and swallows the butterflies in his throat. "You-"

The sound of rumbling motorcycles catch Jieun's attention, and (unfortunately) she hurriedly peels her attention off Kiro and peers out the window, eyes glued to the newcomers already causing a ruckus as they make their way up the steps of the Block House.

"They're here," she says in a little excited whisper, almost loud enough for Kiro to hear.

The boy's smile falters.

I meant to say your shoelaces are undone, he internally groans, placing his hands on the smooth, cold surface of the counter.

Eventually, Kiro looks up, and sees a motley of teenagers of all noises and sizes making their way through the pool-slash-garden in front of the kitchen. Whether he and Jieun were seen, he didn't know. The boys (or only some, because only certain ones made noise) left noise and chaos in their wake, still gawking at the meticulously tendered garden and the towering white building. They were all striking and unique in their own appearance, Kiro observed-starting from the way they walk, the way they dress, and even the way they observe the surroundings around them. Some of them were obnoxiously loud and whiny and talkative, which made him shudder. And even more of them preferred to walk quietly on their own, or talk in small, excited whispers with their friends beside them.

But still- no matter who he's having a glimpse of now, he knew that it would take a lot of convincing from them for him to change his mind about this project. For they were a handful, after all, just by looking at their files.

Kiro could only sigh and massage his temples.

They don't know about the mess they're walking into.