About a week had passed and a sense of normalcy seemed to settle at school. As Hae Won became more aware of her feelings, she began to realise the special connection that she and Jae Hyun had. Wanting to put an end to the pointless competition between Sung Ho and Jae Hyun, she decided to have a conversation with the class monitor after school.

"Hey Sung Ho," she handed Sung Ho a blue teddy bear, "This is for you."

"Oh... thanks..."

"Can you... take it as my apology?"

"What do you mean?"

"Sung Ho, I... I don't think I wanna date you right now," she sighed, "It's not that you did anything wrong... I just... like Jae Hyun... I guess..."

"Ah... I see. It's fine," Sung Ho meekly smiled.

"Are... aren't you sad? Or disappointed?"

"Well... just a bit... But as long as you're happy then I'm good," he chuckled and patted her shoulder.

"Can we still be... good friends after this?"

"Sure. Why not?" he grinned at her, "Then... I hope Jae Hyun will be nice to you."

"Mm-hmm," she puckered her lips and looked down at the floor, "I'm sorry... and thanks for always being so nice to me."

"This idiot... stop saying sorry," Sung Ho laughed and knocked onto her forehead, "But remember, if he does anything bad to you, you can always tell me. I'll be there for you."

"I will," she nodded her head, "I'm sure you'll meet a better girl than me... so hwaiting!"

"Are you going to the Lit class tomorrow evening?"

"No, I told the teacher that I'd go to the training centre."

"Oh, I see... I won't go either."

"Really? Why?"

"I have Math Olympiad tuition."

"Oh... I see," she nodded her head and then waved her hand at him, "OK then... I gotta go so see ya!"

"OK! Remember what I said, if Jae Hyun disappoints you, you can turn to me as a replacement. I'm fine with that," Sung Ho half-jokingly said.

"Sorry but I'd prefer Ji Woo," she teased him.

******

That evening, the complete squad of super agents from the North had assembled in Namwon and their first victim was the unlucky principal. The five professional agents, with years of training, had no difficulty breaking into his house and attacked him. Home alone, he was totally defenceless. Within a couple of minutes, he was captured and tied up in his room.

"Tell us, what's the password of your phone," the operation captain sat in front of the principal's face.

The principal refused to speak at first. However, he was beaten up so badly that he eventually spilled it out.

"Come on, man," the captain scoffed, "If you cooperate, you'd suffer way less than this."

"It... it... is... 01020304..." he painfully heaved out the words while blood kept gushing out from his mouth and his nose.

The phone was then handed to another agent, who then sent a text message to So Hyun and Ju Won saying that the principal wanted to meet them the next day for discussions regarding their children.

"Hey Bumblebee," the captain beckoned Yoon Ah's brother, "Shoot his head!"

"Excuse me?"

"I said shoot him. Don't you hear that?"

Yoon Ho did not want to kill people. However, neither did he dare to go against the higher-ups' orders. Pulling out the gun, he aimed it at the man grunting and leaning on the wall. A "bang" sound was heard as the bullet hit the principal's forehead. To make things more bearable, he reminded himself that he was only trying to end the unfortunate man's suffering.

A few minutes later, Yoon Ah also arrived at the venue.

"What the hell?" she made a quick glimpse at the corpse on the ground while cold sweats began to trickle down her spine. "You killed him?" she gaped at the captain.

"No, your brother did. We wanted to spare his life but... this sweet looking old man is a bit... recalcitrant so I ordered him to..."

"You son of the b..." Yoon Ah clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, grabbing the captain's collar.

"Hey, put your goddamn hands down. I'm your captain," the captain shouted at Yoon Ah while some other teammates aimed their guns at her. In the end, she still had to let go of the man she resented the most.

She then turned her to Yoon Ho, her brother, in terror while he was guiltily averting his eyes not to meet her gaze.

"So... because you all have been here and given your codenames, the operation starts tomorrow, after the remedial class," the captain flatly said, "And Mantis, I'll assign you an easy task: get Park Sung Ho here."

Yoon Ah responded with a fierce silence and a devilish glare.

"Me, Cheetah will stay at the school. Bumblebee and Grizzly, you guys station inside the school to back me up," the captain continued.

"What about me and Ray?" Colonel Ri asked, "What are we supposed to do?"

"Well... lemme see... We've got some really interesting things for you guys to do," the captain scoffed and scanned through the students' file.

After the short briefing ended, Yoon Ah then brought Yoon Ho back to her house in Namwon to stay overnight.

"I gotta talk to you," she grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the house, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I attended an agent training course and was selected to come here. But I... have no idea that things will turn out like this..." he heavily sighed.

"That's why I told you not to!" she yelled at him, "Why do you never listen to your big sister?"

"We are twins so stop acting like you're older than me," he grumbled, "I just... don't wanna live a miserable life anymore."

Listening to Yoon Ho's words rendered her totally speechless. It was wrong of her to scold him like that. All he wanted was only to have a better life. After all, him and her, they had suffered enough throughout their childhood.

"Yoon Ah, I'm sorry," he heavily exhaled and looked down at the ground, "I just... want to change my life... and perhaps your life too... I really don't wanna kill people."

Without a moment of hesitation, Yoon Ah approached Yoon Ho and gave him a tender hug. She pressed her face against his chest, looking for a few moments of peace that only he could offer her. Overwhelmed by all the emotions she had, she started sobbing in his embrace. Feeling his shirt being dampened by her tears, Yoon Ho also understood how tough his sister's life had been so far, rubbing her back in the hope that it might bring her some comfort.

"Let's survive, OK?" he gently stroked her hair, "After the operation, when we come back to Pyongyang, let's quit being an agent. We'll be ordinary people again. I don't care about what being an agent can give me. As long as you're with me, I'm good with that."

"Mm-hmm," Yoon Ah nodded her head, "Promise me that you won't die tomorrow."

As the emotional talk went on, it was disrupted by a funny incident when Yoon Ho's stomach growled.

"Haven't you got dinner yet?" Yoon Ah inquired.

"No, I haven't," Yoon Ho chuckled.

"Then have some ramyeon. I put them in the cupboard there."

Yoon Ho came and took out a cup. However, it was his sister's favourite flavour and when it came to food, literally none of them gave a damn about the other's feelings.

"Hey, is that the beef flavour one?" Yoon Ah peered at her brother.

"Yeah."

"Hey, put that down!" she rushed over, "I only have one beef left, get the chicken one."

"No, I also like beef," he used a finger to push her face.

"It's mine, get the chicken one," she heartily laughed and tried to fumble on the noodle cup in his hands.

"Nope, you can't get it. It's mine now," he said and raised the cup up high in the air, making Yoon Ah unable to reach.

"It's mine. Come one..." she grunted while tiptoeing to reach the cup in vain, "You piece of sh*t!"

And the argument was to be continued...

******

The next day, things still proceeded as usual in the school. Not to raise suspicions, an agent used the principal's phone to tell his colleagues that he was ill and would be absent from work for that day. Unbeknownst to everyone, a disaster was about to go down.

After lessons, Hae Won and Jae Hyun, as usual, rode the same bus away from school. Yet today was different, not only because they were going to the sport centre instead of heading back home, but also because Ray and Eagle were following them.

"Get off at the next stop and come back to school to back Cheetah up. I can handle both of them myself," Eagle texted Ray.

Meanwhile, Hae Won still did her training with Jae Hyun's help, unaware of the danger she was facing. After the sit-up sets, both of them lied on the floor besides each other and began chatting.

"Hae Won-ah, do you like me?" Jae Hyun inquired.

"Me?" Hae Won chuckled and affectionately looked at him, "Do you think I like you or not?"

"I'm not sure. That's why I ask you."

"Then I'll let you figure things out yourself."

"OK then," he smiled at her, "By the way, how long haven't you cut your hair? It's so long now."

"I don't know but it should be very long ago," she said and poked his cheek. "Jae Hyun-ah, do you think I look more beautiful with short or long hair," she sat up, smiling at him and running her fingers through her hair.

"Both, it doesn't matter how long your hair is... You're just pretty..."

"Wow! Thanks," she bursted into laughter, "You're so different from the Jae Hyun I knew before."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You know how to flirt now and you can control your power much better. Imagine me asking you such a question a month ago, you're definitely gonna fly off."

Jae Hyun did not know how to respond, and he did not know why she told him that either. Yet there was a thing that he knew: his body was floating again.

"Oh shoosh," Hae Won grabbed his feet and pulled him back onto the ground, giving him an awkward smile, "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine," he finally calmed himself down.

"Can you help me buy a bottle of grape juice please?" she held his hand and said with a baby voice, "It's at the convenient store nearby."

"Uh-huh," he stood up and prepared to leave.

"Wait wait wait," she gave him a 5000-won note, "Here's the money, buy something for yourself too."

"Oh... OK..."

While Jae Hyun was not there, Hae Won took her time to do some running exercises.

"Hey kid, you run quite well. How many laps did you run?" a man suddenly approached her.

Turning her head back, she could see him levitating above her. He was Eagle, the scar-faced man.

Thank you very much for making it this far! If you enjoy reading my story and are excited to find out what is going to happen next, don't forget to click the star to vote for me as well as recommend my story to your friends. You votes really motivate me a lot^^