Mark stands in the middle of the pit and Hoseok followed reluctantly. Of all people, he has to go up against the nice and gorgeous recruit.

Jin spoke, "Mark, this is your opponent, Agent 49 Jung Hoseok. It isn't fair to have the other recruits fight again in such a short time so we called Hobi in."

Mark looks at Hoseok in surprise and gave him a small helpless smile. What a coincidence.

Jin continues, "however, we recognise that a new recruit like yourself is at a disadvantage in a match with an experienced agent so we will give you some handicaps.

First, Hoseok will not attack you for the first three seconds, but he will be free to defend himself.

Second, we will let you know of some of Hoseok's abilities. He is "light", being able to move at the speed of light and uses light energy to let's say, cut his enemies. Hoseok does not have information on your abilities and I suggest to use that to your advantage.

Third, we will give you one minute to strategize. It is your win if Hoseok is unable to land a hit on you in the match. When you are ready, give us the signal and we will start."

Mark nods and bites his lip in thought. This will not be easy for him.

Rank 49... Mark easily imagines how Hoseok had made use of his speed on missions and cut through them like butter. Missions are probably a breeze for the agent.

The three second headstart is an extremely important handicap for Mark. After that, Hoseok only needs to move and have his hand on Mark's throat and it will be over in literally a second. Mark will have to make full use of the three seconds, but how?

Light, huh? Well he could try...

Mark nods to the judges, "I am ready, sirs."

All the recruits craned their neck to see what Mark would do. Jackson is back to sitting beside Jinyoung in his human form, Bambam is beside him with an icepack on the bruise on his head while leaning on Yugyeom's shoulder for support, and Youngjae and JayB sat side by side, all sipping on the energy recuperating jelly drink provided by the first aid crew.

But all Mark did was to stare ahead for the three seconds, his eyes flashing an electric blue.

"He just used up a lot of energy, at least half of what he should have," Jungkook, highly attuned to energy movements due to his abilities, whispered to Taehyung and Jin.

Hoseok frowned. The three seconds are over and his gut feeling tells him that Mark did something, but what? He hopes it was something good because he wants the recruit to leave a good impression, along with the other recruits, of course.

Hoseok exhaled. He has no choice, he has to move. Hoseok raises his hand, light rays from his fingertips sweeping around the pit to uncover...nothing. Nothing is hidden and nothing triggered his senses.

Jin smiled.

Hoseok took a single step forward and Mark looked at him nervously. Can he last the full three minutes?

"Wow, he's like an anime character. Like Dragonball. That's the coolest anime," Youngjae exclaimed as Hoseok turned into such a bright yellow, his features could not be seen, eventually looking like a light with a man's silhouette.

JayB disagrees, "you can't forget onepiece."

The recruits erupt into a heated discussion, "Naruto" and even "Pokémon" being thrown into the mix.

Hoseok ran forward, straight for Mark. His light could cut through anything in this world. If Mark put up anything, Hoseok would slice through it.

"Ouch!" A resounding "bang" was heard throughout the pit as Hoseok slammed headfirst into an invisible wall.

"Sorry..." Mark apologised from where he was standing and walked backwards to the edge of the pit as Hoseok gathered himself.

Alright, there is one thing in this universe which Hoseok cannot cut, so he finally knows what Mark's ability is, "telekinesis...and you set up a barrier with it."

But Hoseok would not be rank 49 if he would be taken down this easily.

Hoseok was a blur as he moved continuously, hitting the barrier from every angle and Mark's breathing quickened, each hit translating to a direct attack on his control of the barrier.

"Your barrier is sphere-shaped. I can't jump over or dig under it. Very thoughtful," Hoseok praised.

"Thank you, uhm, sunbae-nim."

So Jungkook, Jin, and Taehyung are "sirs" and Hoseok is "sunbae-nim"? It seems that the favouritism is two-way.

"That's not enough, though," Hoseok said and he hit the barrier at the same spot over and over again at the speed of light and Mark finally gives in, letting the barrier break.

One minute left.

Hoseok ran forward again, and he was stopped by another barrier three steps away from the recruit.

But both Hoseok and Mark know that Mark is running low on energy and he needs more time to recover from attacks to his mind control, such as the one just now while Hoseok has more than enough energy. 

Hoseok breaks the barrier again.

Thirty seconds left.

Hoseok was so close when he finds himself being dragged backwards across the floor away from Mark.

This is Mark's last defense. He pours all his energy to drag Hoseok backwards with telekinetic waves and it was a fight of willpower as Hoseok runs forward at the speed of light.

"Ah..." Mark groaned softly as his energy runs dangerously low and he feels the pressure on his control build as Hoseok fights against him. Hoseok is closing the distance between them.

Three seconds left. Sweat drips from Mark's temple.

Two seconds. Mark shuts his eyes tight for one final burst of energy.

One second. Hoseok arrives in front of Mark and reaches out.

The timer rings when Hoseok placed his hand on Mark's shoulder and he beams at the recruit, "good job. Hey, no no, don't cry please, you did well!"

"That is technically not a hit. We said that it is Hoseok's win if he hits Mark, yes? That was a touch," Taehyung said.

Mark snaps his head up and Hoseok stops wiping Mark's tears for a second, his thumbs catching the last of them.

"I agree," Jungkook said immediately and Taehyung couldn't control a snort.

Jungkook's consistent eagerness got to him this time, ahem, but Taehyung would like to say, only this time. Jungkook grins at Taehyung and Taehyung raised a fist to cover the building smile—joy is contagious— and directs the attention to Jin, "what do you say, hyung?"

"Well, we also said that winning or losing does not matter as much but to answer the question. Technically... Mark did not lose."

"Woohoo Markie!" Cheers erupted from the other recruits, they are proud of the fight Mark put up.

A breathtaking smile spreads across Mark's face and he wasn't thinking when he hugged Hoseok, "I did it, I did it!"

If Mark was listening, he might have heard the skip in Hoseok's heartbeat.

Hoseok smiled as well, sincerely happy for the recruit. Mark was still grinning when he let go of the hug and faced the judges.

"Outstanding strategizing skills. You made full use of the three second handicap by setting up the shield to impede Hoseok's movements.

Then you set up the second shield. I have a guess as to why but I would like to hear it from you," Jin said.

"Yes, sir. The first shield was to delay sunbae-nim and to measure how much energy is required to withstand sunbae-nim's attacks.

I used exactly half of my energy supply to set up the shield and to maintain it until it broke, which was a total of one minute and fifty seconds.

But sunbae-nim figured out that hitting the same spot would break it quickly, so instead using half of the energy I have left to hold sunbae-nim for the last minute with the second shield, also to confirm my calculations from before, I was down to the last quarter of my energy and with thirty seconds on the clock.

I tried to max out the space between us  by going to the edge of the pit but in case sunbae-nim could get over that as well... from the start I had wrapped telekinetic waves around sunbae-nim's limbs to pull him away as a last resort and as a change in strategy. I figured it might take sunbae-nim by surprise and give me a few seconds more.

Lastly, the telekinetic waves moved in zigzag lines because since sunbae-nim was so fast, I was hoping the change in direction would slow him down or cause him to go towards another direction entirely."

Hoseok piped up, "it did work, although by just a bit, and that was what helped you to the last second."

"Truly impressive. You made use of every single element from your understanding of Hoseok's abilities, to using the space given to you, even the clock, your mental calculations and had displayed foresight and flexibility in your thinking. Every move was both an attack and a defense. Your IQ is," Jin moves his sight down Mark's profile, "148. Pretty high, a common side effect or trait of telekinetic users.

You would make an excellent partner as well, whether as the main agent or as a supporting partner in a mission. Anything else we should know?"

"Thank you, sir. Uhm...the generic things they telekinetic users can do, such as lift things with my powers but I can't do it now, my energy is fully consumed. That's about it?"

"Okay, thank you. Have a rest and dinner is prepared for everyone tonight at 7pm. There will be a show for you new recruits. Go now, shower, find out who your roommates are from the administration office, have fun, flirt, whatever," Jungkook clapped his hands and gestured them to go, and the recruits shot out of the room before Jungkook finished his sentence.

- a/n -

Really proud of this chapter and I love writing this story. Science and math majors please come at me kindly 🥺

Currently working through the details of the final arc and the in between chapters leading up to it (relationship development, setting up the base for the epilogue, dropping hints, etc). So tiring and so fun.

Stay safe friends ❤️

- rsv (resha)