Attempting to Train [Yong Soo]

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

The academy sure knew how to work its students hard. Not that Natalia had a problem with that. In fact, the Belarusian was extremely grateful for the rigorous training the academy gave the students. It helped prepare them for what they would be facing once they went into the world of spies. Yet at times, training could be quite stressful.

Take for example, the pressure to have a good performance at the monthly Tournament. Doing well at the tournament meant that not only would you gain experience in the field, it also helped you look good to anyone wanting to hire you in the future. And the latter of the two is probably what stressed everyone out the most about the tournaments. You could not possibly brush them off as not being important if you actually wanted to do something with your life. And as the week of the Tournament grew closer, the teachers and trainers worked the students harder than ever.

And that was why the blond female was currently at the beach for training. While the school did have its own training yard on campus, Natalia believed it put her at a disadvantage. Since everyone at school used the training yard, anyone could watch her train and try to size her up for the Tournament. And the last thing the Belarusian wanted was someone overpowering her due to observation. She simply would not allow that to happen to her.

Finding a “no swimming here” sign on the beach, Natalia put a decent amount of distance between her and the sign before pulling out some of her knives and throwing them at the sign. Practice makes perfect, as she was always told. And at this school, every second of practice counted.

[Im Yong Soo]

Across the courtyard, through the entrance, swerving through the forest trails, all done for the sake of going to the beach. All week long, his teachers had been training the students even harder warning them about how the tournament is coming up soon, and that they need to work harder, lest they be killed. Yong-Soo hadn’t really paid attention, he did the work required of course, but he just didn’t want to think about hurting others. He preferred making friends to beating them into submission any day so he kind of tuned out the rambling about different ways to maim. What he did hear however, dampened his normally ecstatic mood and he decided to go to the beach to relax for a bit. Back in his home land, he had lived in a seaside town and had grown accustomed to the salty smell, and seemingly infinite water.

“Ahhh the beach~! It’s so amazing, I bet it was invented in Korea, everything awesome is made there, da-ze~!” he sighed, as he walked onto the sand.

Standing on the beach, he remembered that he hadn’t groped anyone in what felt like forever. That last time he had had any fun, he also got a nice slash to the side with a knife, and a very uncomfortable scar. Still, a little pain and blood isn’t enough to put off Yong-Soo from groping more people; in fact, he felt the urge to grope again already! He subconsciously looked around, hoping to find someone, anyone. His ancestors must have been looking down on today; he believed his luck was so good. There was a pretty girl right on the beach, not 20 meters away! Sure she was playing with knives, but that wouldn’t stop a grope-deprived Yong-Soo!

He sneaked up, keeping his hanbok-flapping under control, paying close attention to not alert his target. His mind went off track for a second as he thought about how awesome of a spy he was being, and how he’d make his foster-parents proud! Brushing his thoughts aside for a moment, he managed to get right behind the blonde girl, his hands reaching in front of him. He lunged, now that he was close enough, shouting, “Your breasts are mine, da-ze~!” like he always did. He was lucky that he had waited until she had thrown all her knives; that would help him when he needed to run in a second.

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

The extra practicing was doing wonders for Natalia's aim. Out of the nine knives that she had brought with her to practice with, only one of them missed the intended target. Maybe I should practice on my own out here more often, she thought to herself. She hadn't felt this relaxed while training since the year first began. And if her practice continued to go as well as it currently was, she was certain she could win the Tournament.

However, such a relaxing and secluded training area brought about one huge problem that Natalia overlooked; her guard was not completely up. Her attention was completely focused on the knives and the sign she was throwing them at. Normally, she would have scolded herself for not paying attention to her surroundings. But she was too busy with target practice to hone in on any of the other skills she needed. Had her parents or Ivan been there right then, they most surely would have looked down on the blond with disprovement. If this would have been a test in front of the school instructors, they probably would have rethought their decision in letting the Belarusian into their academy. But at the moment, Natalia did not care; she was having a good time improving on her aim. However, her lack of responsibility would possibly end up with a nice messy accident.

She had convinced herself that she was completely alone on the beach before she began training, and thus did not bother trying to pay attention for signs of anyone else approaching. After throwing her final knife, she simply stood there to let her throwing arm rest before she collected the knives and repeated her training. It was when she took that short pause that she was groped. Natalia's defense kicked in immediately. She quickly grabbed the hands on her breasts and pushed them away from her torso. Afterwards, the Belarusian spun around to punch her attacker in the face. Facing the Asian male behind her, she did not even bother trying to hide her anger from him.

"Who are you? And what, pray tell, are you trying to do?"

[Im Yong Soo]

"Who are you? And what, pray tell, are you trying to do?"

Yong-Soo wasn’t surprised to hear this reaction, he had heard it tons of times before. He was actually slightly disappointed that he got the same reaction every single time. It was always something along the lines of, “What the hell are you doing, you pervert!” or “Get off of me you bugger!” or “Keep your hands to yourself!”. And that was if he was lucky, most of the times the others resorted to more.... physical measures. When will they understand that all breasts were invented in Korea, and therefore belong to him, he thought, before deciding that the pretty girl glaring daggers at him deserved an answer.

Who knows, maybe he could even make friends with her if he got her to calm down. It would be like meeting Ivan in the science room on his first day! He grinned at the thought, remembering how scary Ivan had seemed compared to this girl. Speaking of which, they seem pretty similar in how they looked, maybe they were related. He’d have to ask her later, preferably after she wasn’t glaring death at him.

“Hi there! My name’s Im Yong Soo, everyone just calls me Yong-Soo, or just Soo! As for what I was trying to do, I kind of have this habit of groping. According to my foster family, I had it since I was since I was 5! I’m trying to stop, but it’s just habit so it’s taking a bit! I can understand if you’re mad, although I hope you won’t hit me like everyone else! How about you, what’s your name?” he said at a high speed, grinning his almost trade-mark grin.

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

The Belarusian continued to glare coldly at Yong Soo as he explained himself to her. However, after hearing his explanation, Natalia wished she would not have asked him. Who would make a habit of groping? And beginning at such a young age! Natalia forced herself not to facepalm in front of him; no matter how ridiculous he was being. She could not believe how anybody could be this obnoxious.

"I hope you won't hit me like everyone else!"

According to logic, hitting someone for touching you without consent was the perfect basis for hitting someone. Why would this person bother asking her to not hit him after groping her? Every part of her being encouraged her to punch the Asian in the face, and if she decided to disregard everything she had ever learned in the classroom, she probably would have done so. Yet out of all the rules she had been taught, one always stuck with her no matter what the situation was; expect the worst from your opponent(s). She just met this man, so she had no idea about his fighting style or his physical strength. And the fact that all of her knives were nowhere near her at the moment put Natalia at a worst disadvantage. So against her better judgement, she retained herself from trying to bring physical injury upon Yong Soo.

With a voice as cold as ice, she spoke to him. "Why would you even make groping people a habit? Furthermore, how exactly do you expect to successfully communicate with others if you go around sexually harassing everyone? And if you must know who I am, my name is Natalia Arlovskaya." She could not help but keep her guard up and took a step away from Yong Soo. She was already embarrassed for letting her guard down in front of someone who could have been an enemy, and she refused to let herself be taken by surprise again.

[Im Yong Soo]

"Why would you even make groping people a habit? Furthermore, how exactly do you expect to successfully communicate with others if you go around sexually harassing everyone? And if you must know who I am, my name is Natalia Arlovskaya."

He tried to ignore the part about why he groped, he really did. It never ended well when he remembered what happened 11 years ago, he always ended up passively-aggressively being pissy, taking it out in petty ways that bugged people more than got them worried about him. His foster-brother told him to actually face his problem, maybe Yong-Soo would do so eventually. As for the rest of the question, he had never thought about how communication would go if he didn’t grope anyone. He never really considered his groping to be a form of sexual harassment anyway, he just thought of it as harmless fun and a way to let everyone understand that their breasts are rightfully his.

As for Natalia, she didn’t seem to be too friendly as of now, appearing down-right murderous, a bit disappointing but Yong-Soo still planned on making friends with her. He’d just have to watch what he said a little better.

“Well as for why I grope... Well that’s a bit of a sensitive subject, da-ze~! It’s a painfully sensitive subject actually, I’d prefer not talking about it to a stranger, no offence! Anyways, I never really thought about that, people don’t seem to mind in the long term and I manage to make friends with everybody, I’m a people-person according to others, da-ze~! I was actually hoping we could be friends, whattya say?” Yong-Soo said again, in his usual machine-gun fashion, grinning his little heart out.

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

“Well as for why I grope... Well that’s a bit of a sensitive subject, da-ze~! It’s a painfully sensitive subject actually, I’d prefer not talking about it to a stranger, no offence! Anyways, I never really thought about that, people don’t seem to mind in the long term and I manage to make friends with everybody, I’m a people-person according to others, da-ze~! I was actually hoping we could be friends, whattya say?”

Natalia had to focus all her attention on Yong-Soo in order to understand what he was saying. How someone could speak so fast, Natalia would never be able to comprehend. But "sensitive subject"? That thought pleased the Belarusian. She knew he probably would not tell her what it was willingly, so she could probably have a field day trying to figure it out and use the information for blackmailing the Asian if she ever wanted to.

However, she once again had to force herself to not facepalm at the fact that he never considered that people would be turned off by him sexually harassing them. Obviously he must have never heard of reading the atmosphere, something that would have been extremely beneficial for him in the long run.

But what surprised Natalia the most was the fact that Yong-Soo was asking her if they could be friends. Having friends while in the field they were working towards? The idea seemed quite amusing at first. Until she actually took a moment to consider the possibilities. Connections would be a great asset when the going gets tough. Since he claimed to be a people's person, he would have many connections that she could use to her advantage. And who knows? Maybe becoming his friend would prove to be of great value. She could learn how to manipulate him and get him to do her dirty work for her. And when it came the time to get rid of him, she knew she could probably do so with no regret. Softening her expression from a scowl to a blank expression, she said, "I think becoming friends is an excellent idea." She felt sick having to agree to this, but it would pay off in the future.

Hopefully.

[Im Yong Soo]

"I think becoming friends is an excellent idea."

Yong-Soo nearly jumped in delight, he loved making new friends. As it was, he did a little shake that sent his hanbok sleeves bouncing into the air. His teachers had tried discouraging him from keeping relationships but their words had just gone through one ear and out the other. Something about surrounding himself in friendly people appealed to him. Although in Natalia’s case, she wasn’t as friendly as she was a good ally, he thought, but she could still make to be a great friend. Unlike the rest of the school who only made ‘friends’ for benefits like protection, Yong-Soo legitimately liked being on good terms with everyone, it made it easier for him to grope them!

He thought Natalia looked a bit odd though, Yong-Soo wasn’t known for paying attention what with his getting distracted easily, but he still caught how quickly she turned from scowling to having no emotion, he thought he could even see her getting a little paler.
“Hey, are you alright, da-ze? You don’t look so good, you kind of look like how Ivan did when we met in the science class! Speaking of Ivan, you two look similar, are you two related, that’d be totally cool if you were, da-ze~!”

Yong-Soo excitedly blurted this out again, not bothering to slow down his speech even after he saw Natalia straining to hear him. He looked at Natalia, attempting to make eye contact with those cold, cold eyes but was distracted by the moon behind her.

“Hey, look at that! It’s the moon, da-ze~! Did you know that the sun and moon were actually two little kids? Of course, they were Korean kids, the very best, da-ze~! Do you want to hear the story that my foster-mom told me?”

He said, grinning, his hair curl bouncing as he spoke. The best way to get Natalia to be more friendly was to get her to talk more, he thought, or at least he hoped so.

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

The amount of energy Yong-Soo seemed to contain was incredible. Why would someone, especially in our field, get so excited over the idea of a friend? The question replayed in her mind as his happiness seemed to clog the air surrounding them. Her stomach churned. I hope I can keep this act up, she thought.

But apparently, the sickening feeling she currently had was not as well hidden as she would have liked it to be, for Yong-Soo apparently noticed. She was about to scold herself for having such weak defenses when she heard something that piqued her interests.

“...kind of look like how Ivan did when we met in the science class! Speaking of Ivan, you two look similar, are you two related, that’d be totally cool if you were, da-ze~!”

“You know my cousin?” Surprise was written all over her face. This man knew her most beloved cousin and future husband Ivan. Suddenly, she herself could not contain her excitement. Did he ever talk about her to others? Did he ever tell anyone about the fact that he was practically engaged to the Belarusian? Or did he deny that there was anything between them. There were so many questions she wanted to ask Yong-Soo, but unfortunately, he changed the subject before she could even get a sound out of her mouth.

“Hey, look at that! It’s the moon, da-ze~! Did you know that the sun and moon were actually two little kids? Of course, they were Korean kids, the very best, da-ze~! Do you want to hear the story that my foster-mom told me?”

The moon? Natalia turned around to see that the moon was already out. She had failed to notice how quickly the time had passed while she was out there. She really did not want to hear anything about the Korean sun and moon. Why was everything he talked about Korean? But she knew that she would need to act interested in what Yong-Soo was interested in if she wanted to keep him as a ‘friend’. “Sounds interesting,” she said, trying to hide her disinterest. “What was the story about?”

[Im Yong Soo]

"You know my cousin?"

Yong-Soo hadn't even noticed that Natalia had spoken while speaking about the moon. Now that he thought of it however, he did remember her face lighting up when he attempted to make eye contact. She did seem fairly excited to hear about him, he wondered how close they were for her to be so happy about hearing his name. He was about to say something, but he was surprisingly interrupted by Natalia saying that she wanted to hear the story! He walked over to a washed up log, sitting and motioning to sit down. He turned to the moon and began his fun little folk tale.

"Well you see da-ze, back a long time ago, there were these two kids called Haesik and Daesun, the first being a boy and the latter being a boy.now they were home alone, and a tiger came to try and eat them, da-ze! Eventually, they end up in a tree and they begged to the heavens for help, and a rope came down from the sky! They climbed up into the heavens and they became the sun and the moon, da-ze! And yes, I do know Ivan, I didn’t know he was your cousin though!" he told Natalia, slowing down his speech just a little bit.

Yong-Soo tried being his most cheery self, hoping that his good mood would be contagious and Natalia would loosen up a little. All of his other attempts at putting people in a good mood had been successful, he didn't see why this time should be any different, he thought grinning his little heart out.

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

Yong-Soo's story was...not very entertaining. Natalia would have much rather talk about her dear cousin Ivan than listen to a story about some small Korean boys becoming part of the solar system. But if she wanted someone to manipulate to her will some day, she needed to learn how to fake an interest.

"And yes, I do know Ivan, I didn’t know he was your cousin though!"

Mentioning Ivan brought her to full attention though. He knows my future husband, she thought happily. However, she then realized what the second half of the sentence meant. Ivan must have not talked about her when around other people. If he did, Yong-Soo would not have said he had no knowledge of their relationship to each other. But then another thought came to mind. He knew Ivan. So maybe...

"I wanted to know; Are you friends with my dear Ivan?"

If they were friends, then maybe that would be enough motivation for her to keep up her act around the Korean. Natalia rarely got to speak to her cousin because he was always running somewhere. Maybe she could use Yong-Soo's love for rambling for her campaign to win Ivan's love. All she had to do was act pleasant around Yong-Soo. Then he would tell Ivan about how wonderful she was, which would make him see how great of a wife she would be. Natalia decided not to contain all her excitement and joy for the moment in order to get her male companion to see a slightly more pleasant side of her. she allowed a small, hopeful smile to play on her face as she waited for his reply.

[Im Yong Soo]

“I wanted to know; are you friends with my dear Ivan?”

For the first time this entire conversation, Natalia finally seemed happy, even showing a smile. My happiness must be rubbing off on her, Yong-Soo thought, grinning to himself. Now that she wasn’t scowling, glaring at him, or looking like she was about to puke, she actually did look somewhat attractive, even though he still remembered her creepy/scary side. Something about the way she said ‘my dear’ seemed kind of weird, but Yong-Soo wasn’t one to judge.

He thought back to when he first met Ivan, how he had groped him and had been slammed on the ground. He winced a bit, remembering the pain but grinned again as he remembered how he ran into him in the hall and seemed to have made up. Something in the back of his mind told me telling Natalia how he met Ivan would be hazardous to his health, he wasn’t too sure why but it seemed like a safe bet. As for him and Ivan, in his opinion, they were friends and that’s all that really mattered to Yong-Soo. He wondered why she was curious though, she seemed a little too excited to know about him and Ivan.

“Yupp, da-ze~! Of course we’re friends, why do you ask? And you should smile a little more often, you look nicer when you smile, da-ze~!” Yong-Soo said, grinning back, hoping even more of his cheerfulness started rubbing off on the girl in front of him.

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

“Yupp, da-ze~! Of course we’re friends, why do you ask? And you should smile a little more often, you look nicer when you smile, da-ze~!”

To say Natalia was happy was an understatement. She was ecstatic! Maybe trying to fake this friendship would not be a complete waste of her time. In fact, this friendship suddenly became much more bearable for the Belarusian. Yong-Soo just might be the key to getting Ivan to accept and return my love, she thought. Her day just seemed to be getting better and better! However, she was not exactly sure if she was okay with him complimenting her on how she looked nicer when she smiled. She was used to reserving her smile for Ivan, and the fact that she had willingly allowed herself to show her smile to someone else made her feel like she betrayed her one true love. Brushing the thought aside, she decided to answer Yong-Soo's question.

"Well, Ivan and I have grown up very close, but because of school, I have not had a chance to talk to him as much as I would like to. Thus, I have yet to find out if he has found any friends. But now that I have had a chance to meet one of his friends, I can at least have some way of hearing about how he has been doing without having to take any overly drastic measures to find and communicate with him."

[Im Yong Soo]

"Well, Ivan and I have grown up very close, but because of school, I have not had a chance to talk to him as much as I would like to. Thus, I have yet to find out if he has found any friends. But now that I have had a chance to meet one of his friends, I can at least have some way of hearing about how he has been doing without having to take any overly drastic measures to find and communicate with him."

Anyone other than Yong-Soo would’ve had warning bells light up in their head, screaming ‘stalker-alert’ yet like the innocent little kid that believed the best in everyone. Even so, something about the talk of ‘drastic measures’ worried Yong-Soo, concerned about Ivan being in danger from Natalia and concerned about how..... creepy Natalia sounded. Something like that couldn’t be healthy for her, she needs to be happier like me, he thought.

We wondered why they were so close, after all, cousins back in his home were nowhere near as close as brothers and sisters. He thought it was a little odd that she wanted to meet his friends, but he waved it off as being over-protective. He looked at Natalia, who finally looked somewhat happy now that they were on the topic of what appeared to be her favourite cousin.

“Well why don’t we go see him then, da-ze? His dorm is only a few doors down from mine, we can go see him! Although.... we may have to wait until morning, it’s getting dark out. What do you think Natalia?” he grinned out, speeding up his speech again. From the amount of grinning and smiling he’s done today, one would think that Yong-Soo’s face would be sore. But if it meant that he made his new friend happy, it’d be worth it. Standing up from his log, he looked at Natalia, waiting for an answer.

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

“Well why don’t we go see him then, da-ze? His dorm is only a few doors down from mine, we can go see him! Although.... we may have to wait until morning, it’s getting dark out. What do you think Natalia?”

Natalia could not help but love how easily Yong-Soo brushed off her obviously unhealthy comment about Ivan. If I play my cards right, I could have just about everything I have ever wanted with this boy's help, she let her wicked thoughts fill her mind as she listened to the Korean's response. If only everyone else in the world was this gullible. But then again, too many gullible people would make this job a little too easy and boring.

She rather enjoyed the fact that Yong-Soo was the one offering to go visit her dear cousin at his dorm. This is so much easier than I thought it would be, she thought happily to herself. Though she was not a big fan of the idea of waiting till the next morning to see her beloved Ivan. However she did understand that logically, it would be easier to see him in the morning due to school regulations. Visiting Ivan in the morning with Yong-Soo might leave an extra good impression an her future husband. Nodding she said, "It is getting rather late. I bet Ivan is getting ready to start winding down his day right about now. I think the morning would be an excellent time to go visit him."