The alarm rang loudly in her ears but she turned it off and went back to sleep. Sunye was a heavy sleeper but all night, she thrashed around, unable to sleep a wink. SD's words were echoing in her ears and she only fell asleep an hour ago after a lot of twisting and turning.

Suddenly, a loud siren rang making her jump awake. The siren was ringing repeatedly without stopping and Sunye tried to block her ears with the pillow only to no avail.

​​

"What the hell?" she cursed. To her surprise, Orea entered the room perfectly calm and wide awake. She took out a remote control from her pocket and pressed a switch to turn off the siren.

"SD told me to use the emergency siren if you don't wake up," she stated. She was also carrying a pair of training clothes and sneakers.

"Why would you do that?" Sunye gritted.

"It's training time sis!" Orea cheerfully declared. "No slacking off! He's very strict about it."

Ugh! She thought in dismay. Sunye was so sleepy that for a moment she forgot that she was supposed to be training. It was 4:45 AM so she had only fifteen minutes to wash up.

"I'll be down in a minute," she yawned.

"Alright," Orea said. "But come on time. SD threatened that he's gonna barge in naked into your room if you don't arrive on time."

Sunye, who was about to fall asleep for five more minutes, jolted up. "I'm awake!" she declared. "Tell him if he dares to do that, I'll kill him!"

Orea merely shook her head and left the room. Cursing SD with all the slangs she knew, Sunye got off the bed and washed up in the bathroom. She changed into the training clothes which were tight leggings and a plain t-shirt. Tying up her hair into a braid, she went downstairs where Orea was waiting for her.

"Where are we going to train?" she asked. SD's apartment was big but she did not see any training room there.

"Follow me," Orea smirked. She unlocked the front door and they left the apartment. Unlike other lavish apartment buildings, SD's one was quite...unique. In fact, from the outside, it looked like an abandoned eight storied construction site.

When Sunye was brought to the house for the first time, she was surprised by the exterior. There were no outer walls and structures were left incomplete at various places. Unfinished cement walls encased some of the areas and other than the inner apartment, no other place was lighted. Orea was using a torch to find her way forward.

The site only had one finished apartment where SD and Orea lived. According to SD, they deliberately left the outer construction incomplete so that no one could suspect there were hidden units inside. Their apartment was situated deep and that too on the top most floor. There were no elevators built but there were two staircases. One was the main staircase which led to the other floor but the other one was situated at the back as an emergency escape. If any enemy trespassed, SD and Orea could use that staircase to escape.

He also mentioned that the building had a self-destruct mode which he had designed so that once they escape, he could use the remote to blow it up and kill anyone in it. They had hung a danger sign outside the building, claiming that due to weak foundation, the building could collapse any moment. This was to keep people away but SD claimed people sometimes entered the place anyway.

Hence, Orea designed the system so that the cameras could recognize only her, SD and now Sunye. If anyone else tried to enter on their own, the path to the front entrance would be blocked and a loud siren would ring, alerting everyone inside. If the inhabitants of the building were out, then a warning would be issued to their phones.

"Where is the training room?" Sunye asked as they descended the front stairs.

"You never explored this area fully, did you?" Orea realized. "Well the training room is on the third floor. You see, each floor has a different unit. We live on the eighth but there are other rooms scattered throughout the floors. There's a monitor room on the seventh floor, the sixth floor has a game room for fun. Then on the fifth floor, I set up a larger place for my computers and inventions. On the fourth floor is SD's private study and as you know, the training room on the third. The second floor is our planning room and there's a small pool on the first floor. Cool right?"

"How did you guys get so much money to build this?" Sunye frowned. "This is like a spy center!"

"It is," Orea replied. "Have you seen the security here? It's national level stuff right here! Every inch has been covered with CCTV and I even set up traps as caution. One wrong step, and people will fall to their deaths. Or get cut up if they're on a lower floor."

When Sunye looked shocked, Orea laughed and said, "Relax! As long as you know the code to each trap and type them within ten seconds, you'll be fine."

She led Sunye to the lower floors until they reached the third level. Like all other levels, there were no outer walls there either but at one corner was a large apartment like unit made of brick and mortar.

"That's the place," Orea said. "The code is 5784. Good luck."

With that, she waved at her and ran off, leaving Sunye to deal with SD. Sunye took a deep breath and headed towards the door. She typed in the code and the door clicked open.

Inside was a large gym, almost as big as SD's apartment upstairs. In one room were jogging machines, cycling equipment, body building materials and other exercise equipment. Just along the gym was another room where a large training arena was built. It was round and the floor was made of hard foam. Above her were a series of rings which trailed from one side to another.

There was another room across from her, where Sunye peeked at a large rock climbing wall but before she could explore that place, SD appeared from that room, blocking her way.

He was wearing a tight t-shirt which highlighted his muscles and lean body. His sweatpants hugged his fit legs and the way he was sweating, it seemed as if he had been training for a while himself. Sunye could only gape at him as he wiped his hair, looking like a supermodel who had just stepped out of a photoshoot.

"I'd have let you ogle at me all day long but you have training to complete," he said in a smug tone. Sunye pursed her lips.

"What are we doing today?" she asked.

"Analyze your strength," he stated. Putting away the towel, he picked up a pair of bandages and threw it at her.

"Wrap those around your palms and hit me," he ordered. Sunye wrapped the bandages and raised her fists.

"Are you sure you want me to hit you?" she asked, feeling hesitant. "What if I hurt you?"

"Trust me, if your punches couldn't hurt me for the past eight years, they won't hurt me now," he stated. "Come at me!"

He thumped his chest and raised his hands to the side, leaving his chest exposed. Sunye braced herself and lunged forward to punch him-

"Slow," he muttered. Before she knew it, he used one hand to grab her underarm and the other to hold the back of her waist and flipped her hard, throwing her on the ground.

Sunye grunted when he pinned her down, towering over her. She struggled for a few seconds before he let her go.

"Again!" he ordered when she stood to her feet.

"AGH!" she yelled and marched at him but once again, he easily tossed her over and threw her to the ground. This pattern repeated for almost twenty minutes, with Sunye trying to land a hit but SD dodged them easily as if he was cutting cake.

"Han Sunye, have you ever hit a gym in your life?" he scoffed when he threw her on the ground for the hundredth time.

"I only did freehand stretching," she panted trying to get up but winced. Her back was aching after being thrown around like a rag doll. The object of her anger was still standing on his feet, unaffected by her feeble punches.

"You're pulling back your punches," he noted. "Your attack level is weak and so is your defense. We'll have to put you on a stricter routine."

Sunye gave up trying to stand and simply sat on the ground, wincing in pain. SD handed her a paper which turned out to be a diet chart.

"Eat exactly what's written on this paper and on the said times," he instructed. "No skipping meals. And everyday, you'll be jogging for an hour straight. After that, we'll continue to spar for another hour."

"And you'll also be doing a lot of the heavy house chores," he continued. "No washing machines, dishwasher nor vacuum cleaners. You'll be using your hands."

"What does house chores have to do with training?" Sunye frowned.

"To train your muscles and mind," SD shrugged. "You'll thank me later."

Smirking, he walked away. Sunye wanted to hit him but her muscles were aching so badly that she no longer had the energy.

But she knew that whatever he planned was for her safety. She would hate it if SD or Orea fell into any trouble simply because she could not protect herself.

"Let's do this!" she sighed.