Chapter 3: Best of the Best
"Good afternoon, recruits. I am Franky, and I'll be your evaluator for today." A man in his mid-twenties, dressed in plain black training attire, stood on a box in the middle of the field where the recruits had gathered. He looked down at the tablet in his hand,
"I'm sure all of you are aware of why you're here. All of you were recruited by active or past operatives who thought you had what it takes. However, that remains to be seen. I suggest you all approach the next few days as if your life depends on it. Because it does." The man looked up from his tablet and smiled.
"What do you mean?" A young man responded.
"Exactly what I said. If you fail the evaluation, what do you think is going to happen? You just go back to your everyday lives while knowing of a secret global security group operating under Tokyo?" Franky asked sarcastically.
"Can't you just erase our memories or something?" A nervous woman asked.
"This isn't Men in Black. But we could, we definitely could. However, it's cleaner and more cost-effective to just kill you. That way, we don't have to worry about the effects wearing off or you rediscovering us." Franky said with a smile on his face.
"You're insane. You good damn Americans think you run the world, treating us like cattle?" Shouted one loud mouth recruit.
"I'm Indonesian, first off. Franky is an alias, not my actual name, 2nd we work with the U.N, not the United States. Third, what part of SECRETE GLOBAL SECURITY GROUP are you not understanding? I know it's not getting lost in translation? I'm quite fluent in Japanese."
"Just don't be useless. How hard is that?" A fiery young woman said as she looked over at the recruit that shouted.
"She's right. 40% of people pass the evaluation, and this group is filled with notable talents. The best group so far. At least, that's what the chart says. So yeah, just don't shit the bed, and you'll be fine… maybe…" Franky said rather nonchalantly, clearing his throat.
More than half the people failed these evaluations, and failure means death. Even if this group was special, some were bound to fail. Kenji looked around the group of recruits with a bit of trepidation. Everyone here was in their late teens or early twenties at the lastest. He looked over his shoulder to see Devin and Zac happily chatting with each other while most of the recruits seemed to be going into a panic. He wondered how they could treat life so lightly.
"You said you're the evaluator for the day? So will we have different ones each day?" Kenji asked with a sigh.
"Finally, an actual question. Usually yes. However, this time around, our Head of Finance will be overlooking your evaluations. He won't be able to stay long today, he has somewhere important to be, so I'll be in charge of today's examination." At Franky's words, Kenji turned his head toward Zac's Direction.
"Hi." Zac waved sarcastically.
"Fuck'in great," Kenji mumbled to himself.
He was planning to do the bare minimum to pass. So he could survive long enough to see his father and live somewhat normally. He knew that was not an option now.
"Are there any more questions before we begin?"
"Exactly how many days is this going to take, and will we be stuck here the entire time?" A very petite young lady asked.
"7 days. It should be over next Friday. And no, you'll be allowed to leave at the end of each session." Franky responded, and the young lady let out a sigh of relief.
"You're letting us go after each session? What about all the Secret Security Organization stuff you were talking about? How can you just let us leave after all this each day?" The same loudmouth recruit as before blurted out.
"40% of recruits pass the examinations," Franky said with a smile.
Knowing how to keep your mouth shut was a hidden task for the recruits to follow through on. Running their mouths could put not only themselves but the ones they told at risk. Talented individuals gathered here, but only 40% passed. Many hidden dangers may await the recruits. Every step they took could be their last. The mood got noticeably gloomier. As everyone here now understood the magnitude of what was transpiring. They didn't want just talented individuals. They wanted the best of the best. Franky asked for more questions, but all that met him was silence.
"Great, then we can begin. In this box that I'm standing on is training gear. Find something that fits, and run around the track 20 times. You have 30 minutes total to complete both tasks. Begin!"
Franky hopped off the box and jumped away. As soon as he did, the group of 30 recruits rushed the box. All except for 4 individuals. Kenji, the fiery young woman, the petite young woman, and the loud mouth. All four of them sprinted toward the track's starting line and began to run.
"It seems we all had the same idea." The petite young woman said with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, he never said which order. Let those idiots fight over the training gear." The feisty woman responded as the group of four began their run. They all had been recruited and had high expectations aimed toward them. Obviously, there would be training gear available to fit them all. What was the point in fighting to get yours first?
"Heh." Kenji chuckled to himself. He was sure that if he was going to make the time limit, he would need to make the most of it. He didn't want to get caught in the mad scramble and would have made do with whatever was left over. Plus, he figured he'd need a head start. He never did any physical activities outside of what was mandatory at school. Even then, he just went through the motions.
This looked like a standard track and field track. 20 times around meant 8000 meters in total. Running that in 30 minutes was already pushing it as far as he was concerned. Those thoughts of doing the bare minimum were no longer applied. He seemed to have underestimated what they expected from them. For now, he'd do his best to keep up.
The 4 of them finished their first lap and saw that there were still quite a few people fighting over training gear in the middle of the field. Some were frantically putting on the gear, and others were knocked out. Kenji shook his head.
"They might as well have killed them. What are they thinking." Kenji said to himself.
The group of 4 finished their 3rd lap, and all 4 seemed to keep pace. This came as a shock to Kenji. He was sure that the other 3 would have widened the gap already or that he would need to take a quick break after instinctively trying to keep pace with these other 3. He could feel his breathing picking up, but he was sure he could keep going. Not only that, he felt that he could go a little faster.
They rounded the 10th lap, and Kenji felt that he would collapse if he continued to try and keep pace with the group. He was too far in now; he knew that if he stopped, he might not get back up for a while. He grit his teeth and pushed forward. The 14th lap came and went, and Kenji could see nothing but the track in front of him and could only hear the sounds of his pants. He stopped keeping track of the other 3, having long since given up on trying to keep pace with them. He was just pushing his legs with all their strength to keep going.
"15…16…17." Kenji called out the laps as he completed them. He had lost track of time. No, he erased the concept of time from his mind. If he was too focused on that, he knew it would cause him to panic.
"Just keep pushing forward, just 2 more." He told himself as he rounded his 18th lap.
"You seeing this, Zac?" Devin elbowed Zac in his side as they looked at the track.
"Yeah, I see it. It's not outside of our expectations."
"I guess. It's one thing to say, but seeing it, " Devin responded.
"20!" Kenji shouted as he passed the finished line. He doubled over after returning to the center, placing his hands on his knees, trying his best to catch his breath.
"Hands on top of your head, recruit! Stand up straight!" Franky shouted out at Kenji, who quickly changed his posture. He turned and saw Devin, Zac, and Franky walking toward him. Zac tossed a bundle of clothing at him and said,
"Congratulations, kid. Franky, keep me posted." Zac walked past Kenji.
"Will do, boss man." Franky waved as Zac left the training area. Kenji looked down at the gear and smiled.
"Right, he said to get one that fits, not necessarily put them on." Kenji looked up at Franky with a blank expression.
One little sentence caused everyone to go crazy when things could have gone very smoothly for everyone. This was one of the skills needed for a Chaser. Making a target move how you want. Whatever allowed maximum results with the most negligible risks. Kenji was in deep thought and looked around and noticed that he was the only one standing there. Everyone else was still running the track.
"Wait, where are the other 3 I was running with?" He blurted out as he looked around the center of the track.
"They're still running. You lapped them… 3 times." Devin said with a smile on his face.
"What?! No way!" Kenji looked at the track to see the other three still running. On the other hand, the three of them looked at him like he was a freak.
"Wait, how much time was left when I finished?" Kenji asked.
"12 minutes and 3 seconds. Your time was 17:57. Congratulations, you beat the previous Company-wide record for recruits by a whole minute." Franky said.
He and Devin began to clap with deadpan faces. Kenji was in shock. Not only because he had broken the record but because there was such a record in the first place. 8000 meters in 18 minutes was an inhuman feat in itself. He broke a record like that, but he had never done any kind of physical training before in his life.
Why hadn't he done any physical training before? His mother! His mother had always been against him doing anything too dangerous. He always thought that she was overprotective because his father wasn't around. Was it because she knew? Kenji placed his hand on his forehead, as all of this crashed down on him like a cold shower. Then a sudden thought came to mind, someone else was capable of superhuman feats.
"Wait, who held the record before me?" Kenji asked, but he was staring at Devin. From what he remembered last night, those goons were terrified of him. If anyone was superhuman as a recruit, it had to be him.
"The previous record holder, huh? He just left." Devin chuckled.
"Zac?! Shit!" Kenji mumbled under his breath.
Zac didn't seem entirely too thrilled with Kenji's outlook on this situation. Now that Kenji had broken his record, he was sure that Zac wouldn't let him just go through the paces. Kenji groaned,
"How is this even possible?" He said to himself. He began to doubt his existence up till this point when an energetic voice entered his ears.
"Yeah, that's what I wanna know, you little freak!! Were you training for the Olympics?!" The excitable young woman shouted as Franky tossed training gear toward her. She snatched it out of the air and sat on the ground in front of Kenji. Her green eyes stared up at Kenji, looking for answers.
"Ah, no. I don't even work out."
"I find that improbable. Your build is quite robust." The petite young lady spoke while catching her breath. Her dark brown eyes checked out Kenji's body.
"I won't lose to you next time!" The loudmouth wasn't far behind as he shouted at Kenji. The two of them grabbed their gear from Franky. All three sat down in front of Kenji; they all looked exhausted. It was only then that Kenji noticed that while he was tired, he wasn't what one would call exhausted. He looked down at his clenched fist and could feel a burst of energy flowing through him. What the hell was he? Was the only thing echoing through his mind.
"You guys should take this time to put on your gear; we'll start the next evaluation once the 30-minute mark is reached. So you have about 5 minutes." Franky told the four of them. Kenji looked over at several individuals still knocked out on the ground.
"What's going to happen to them?" Kenji asked.
"That depends on them." Franky responded.
"Tsk, I'd say you'd better worry about yourself, but seeing how freaky you are, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about." The fiery green-eyed girl said as she began to strip down in front of everyone.
"Whoa!!! What are you doing?" Kenji shouted.
"You see a changing room around here? What? Haven't you ever seen women's underwear before? I'm Hanabi Akiko, by the way. You can call me Akiko." The fiery young woman said as she held out her hand towards Kenji.
"Ah… Suzuki Kenji. You can call me whatever you want." Kenji shook her hand a bit shyly.
"I am Chiba Ume; feel free to call me what you like." The petite woman bowed toward the three of them. She seemed to have changed into the training gear without anyone noticing.
"Takashi Genkei." The loudmouth gave a simple introduction as he stripped. He was a head taller than Kenji and seemed to be packed with muscle. After putting on his training gear, he looked over at Akiko,
"You're part foreigner?"
"My mom's german. Is that a problem?" She asked as she glared at Genkei.
"Ah, no, I was just curious," Genkei said as she shrunk back at Akiko's aggressiveness.
"What about you, freak? You're half Korean?" Genkei turned his attention towards Kenji.
"Yep." Kenji gave a simple response. As he put on his training gear.
"You have a nice body. Mr. I don't work out." Akiko said as she stared at the half-naked Kenji.
"I bet he just says that to impress girls," Genkei chuckled.
"If Akiko's expression is any indication. It's working." Ume said with a smirk.
"Shut up!" Akiko turned away from the group.
Kenji just shook his head.
"Guess the 3 of them think the 4 of us will definitely pass, so it's best to stick together. I won't turn away from help." Kenji thought to himself as he looked at the 3.
The training gear didn't seem to be anything special, as far as he could tell. It fit a little snugly, but other than that, it seemed like a black one-piece training suit. However, after putting on the training suits, Kenji felt a tingle run through his body and lines of green light flashed aroused the bodysuit for a moment before fading away. Kenji's group continued to chat with each other as the recruits began to pile in as the deadline neared.
"And that's time! All of you who haven't finished, finish and wait here. The rest of you come with me." Half of the recruits managed to finish on time. That wasn't surprising, considering several were still knocked out on the ground from the initial scuffle. The group of 15 didn't have to follow Franky too far. As they arrived at an obstacle course inside the training facility.
"Line up facing me, arms width apart." Franky gave a simple command, and everyone followed.
"You all will be running this obstacle course as fast as possible. I don't care how you get through it but get through it. But first, we will be performing the Five 20s."
"What's the Five 20s?" One of the recruits asked.
"The Five 20s are 20 rounds of 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, 20 half burpees, and 20 full burpees, performed in succession. Immediately after the 20th round, you begin the obstacle course. Those training suits will monitor everything you do to ensure you finish everything. No slacking."
After Franky finished speaking, everyone looked like they had seen a ghost. They didn't understand what kind of hell they were trying to put them through. That 8000-meter run was just a warm-up. Now the actual assessment was going to start.
"God dammit." One was the recruit mumbled.
"God dammit, indeed. Round 1 20 push-ups, go!"