8 people were lined up and they focused on the man in front of them, Yemon. Some of them had face masks on and some didn't.
"Alright!"
*Clap!*
Yemon's loud clap resounded around the spacious room they were in. It was as big as a soccer stadium.
All of the 8 people were fascinated and shocked that there was another huge room like this underground.
There was this room and another which occupied small rooms, each for their purposes. Also, each had their personal rooms.
But this one where they were in, there was nothing.
They all wondered how much money it would cost to make such a huge thing, and that too underground.
It seems like Yemon's boss isn't someone that shouldn't be messed with so easily.
"Shall we start the night?"
"""...."""
"First, run 10 laps of this whole room."
"T-This whole room!?!"
Jo exclaimed with desperation in his voice. He was not even sure that he could run one lap.
"Yes. I would be glad if I don't hear any complaints from you."
"Geh!?"
Yemon's scary eyes and grin took Jo by surprise and did not even think about talking back. Or he would have faced Yemon's wrath.
Virus, on the other hand, did not want to participate in any further exercise.
"Do I have to do this as well? Remember, I am a hacker."
Yemon turned to Virus' disappointed voice and he replied to his unwillingness with the pretence of precaution.
"Even if you are a hacker, there might be some unexpected moments where you will need this."
"But I am one of the best! No one can find me!"
"There will always be someone over you. And did you forget who found you?"
"Tsk! I already reinforced my security."
"Doesn't matter. You are doing this anyway."
"Uh....."
Virus could not be asked about the flow of conversation that was dominated by Yemon. Everything will happen just as he wants.
With that said, Yemon instructed them to run along the edges of the rectangular room for 10 laps. They were all in a starting stance and waited for Yemon's signal.
"Alright. Get set. And go!"
Yemon brought down his arm and the group began to jog, well, there is always one exception.
"ORAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
Jo sprinted past the others in the blink of an eye and was ahead of the others by far.
They all looked at him with dead eyes. Jo proudly declared as he ran with all of his energy.
"The faster I go, the faster I get it done!"
He then turned his head backwards and stuck out his tongue, aimed at Gui.
"Bleeegh!!"
The way Jo moved his tongue grossly and left off on that note somewhat pissed everyone off, especially Gui.
Omocha was running beside Gui effectively and used as minimum energy as possible. Formerly an SMF soldier, he would be way more knowledgeable about exercising like this.
"What an idiot."
".....That guy....." Gui's voice was off.
"In every group, there is at least one of them. I hope that he is the only one. What do you say.......?"
No one was beside him.
He looked up front and saw a wild Gui dashing towards Jo.
"DO YOU WANT TO DIE, JOOOO!!!!"
Jo turned back and saw Gui sprinting for him with a weird look on his face. Suddenly, he felt scared for his life. Adrenaline rushed throughout his whole body and he sped up his running instantly.
"UWAAAAAAH!!!! I'M GOING TO GET EATEEEEN!!!!"
Gui was surprised by his speed. So he tried to pick up the pace himself to catch up to Jo.
"WAIT YOU DONKEY!!"
"HELP MEEEEEE!!!!!"
Omocha looked at the two with indifference but it soon changed with amusement.
"Well, I kind of expected that there would be multiple idiots. Yemon sure has a heck of a job to do."
He glanced at Yemon and thinly sneered at him. Mainly because of the multiple troubles he would be facing in the near future.
"Such a waste of energy, even though they have plenty of them."
Shi enviously looked at the two idiots who indulged in a cat and dog chase. They were more than far away because of their dashing speed.
Although it is ineffective to use so much energy at the start, it didn't matter to them.
Will they even complete half of the number of laps given?
"You talk like an old man."
Shi was made angry at that comment and he lashed out at the one running beside him.
"'Old man! Old man!' Aren't there any other way to call me!?"
Next to Shi was Mara who was jogging at the same pace as Shi. Her belligerent eyes glanced over at him.
"You reek of an old man."
"Hah?! What does that mean!?"
"Even in the elevator. Uh! The thought of that smell makes my nose twitch in horror."
Shi got flustered and tried to alleviate the problem as much as possible.
"T-That is not true!! You are all exaggerating it. It is not my fault if I could not hold it in!"
"The next time you do that, I am going to slice off that old ass."
A scythe-like blade came out of her forearm and she showed it to Shi as a warning.
"Gh-!?"
The pressure weighed down on Shi as the hostility became more blatant and overwhelming.
"Hey! No use of your power!"
Yemon yelled at Mara who detected her using her powers. Mara sighed and retracted the blade.
"Were you even listening!? And I am not old!!"
"You look old so why should I change my way of calling you?"
A vein appeared on Shi's forehead. He was furious and he talked back to her with no hesitation and no remorse.
"Oh is that so? Then by that logic, I should call you Oba-chan because you look fucking old to me!"
*Swish*
The scythe reappeared.
"What the fuck did you say, you old man?"
"You heard me right, old hag!"
Sparks flew by them as their unbudging sights aggressively stared at each other.
*Bam*
Their head collided and each of them was pushing against each other whilst jogging at the same time.
"In what angle do you see me as an old hag?!"
"In the same angle you see me as an old man!"
"Are you trying to be smart with me!?"
"I am just telling the truth!"
"Hah?!?"
"Then tell me your age."
Mara pushed her head harder in Shi's direction. He was finding it hard to push back but he held his ground.
"You piece of shit! You lack manners and delicacy. How could you even ask such a thing from a lady!?"
"That's what you have a problem with??"
Shi's head was filled with rage and then he pushed his head against Mara's. He caught her off guard, as a result, she got pushed back.
"Who cares about manners or fucking 'delicacy' when you are a nasty serial killer?"
"Killer or not. Women must be treated like that."
"What!? That is blasphemy! What about us men. Haah!!? Nobody gives a shit about us!!"
"That's your fate!!"
"What the fuck!?! This is unfair!!!"
From arguing their age to voicing their complaints about the different treatment between men and women, they were not the only angry ones in this huge space.
"Hey! What did I say about using your powers!"
Yemon aimed his discontent towards Mara but she was too engrossed in having a violent debate still.
'Did the effect of me being scary just fade like that?' Yemon was dumbfounded.
He sighed as he looked at the other's performance.
At the front, Jo was still getting chased by a bloodthirsty animal behind him. The fact that Gui was indeed a cannibal who feast upon human flesh, made Jo even scared for his life.
Whilst at the back, 3 of the felons were struggling already.
Yemon was disappointed.
Lumen was leading the slow part of the group. Behind her was Virus who wasn't trying hard because he thought this is pointless.
Finally, at the last position, there was Gello, who was presumably doing his best in Yemon's eyes, was still lacking.
Only Omocha was the one that was running smoothly without any disturbance.
The others, well, they were already tired which made Yemon facepalm.
'This is going to be harder than I thought.'
To add more to his frustration, no one has yet to complete the first lap.
...........
Omocha was stretching, his t-shirt was drenched with sweats and his pantings were a bit faster.
However, he was in the best condition compared to the others.
Jo and Gello, looked at the ground while on all fours. The others sat down with exhaustion, gasping for air.
For the record:
Gello and Virus completed 1 lap.
Lumen completed 2 laps.
Jo and Shi did 3 laps.
Mara did 5 whilst Gui did 6.
Finally, Omocha did all 10 and he was still raring to do more.
"...Hah......haa....haa........"
"....Pathetic."
Yemon's gaze loomed over the criminals that sat on the floor, tired to do more. He glanced at Omocha. With a former SMF soldier, he had no problems.
The rest had some work to do.
He waited for a few minutes for them to catch a breath. He was getting impatient but he composed himself.
"Alright, moving on! Let's do some other basic exercises."
They were subjected to simple workouts like crunches, pull-ups, push-ups and a bit of weightlifting.
The result...
It was lower than his expectations.
The majority did not even complete some of the sets they were given.
And he wondered how they killed so many people despite being weak.
The main reason would be that they were Magic-Users.
But just having powers like that is not going to cut it for his mission. The minimum that they require is high-level combat prowess, great strength and also. various other skills related to infiltration purposes.
This all is a long and thorny road for Yemon and the other 8 felons.
He again strained his eyes due to stress. His fingers wiped off the small droplets of tears that started to well up in his eyes.
'I have a lot more to do.'
"Hey, can we do some more fun exercise? All of this is boring."
Omocha approached Yemon and demanded something more than the norm.
"You are not the only one that I have to manage."
"Oh come on, I am getting bored with all of these weaklings. Come on, fight me and make me feel good."
"So that's your intention?"
"Oops. I slipped up." Omocha grinned as it did not care if Yemon realized it. But Yemon was not going to do.
He scanned the others who were in the middle of doing their exercise at their own pace.
Then he called out to someone.
"Mara!! Come here!!"
Mara, who was doing sit-ups, reluctantly approached Omocha and Yemon.
"Fight him." Yemon pointed at Omocha.
".....Now?" Mara was confused a bit but she did not deny anything.
"Yes."
".....Okay then."
Omocha though was upset about Yemon not participating.
"Oi Oi. Did you not listen to what I said?"
"You can use your powers in the fight."
"....."
Seeing that Yemon had no intention of fighting him, Omocha looked down at Mara, who lifted her gaze and glared at him.
Half of her face was covered with a mask, but it did not hide her hostile attitude towards Omocha.
The others that were exercising, stopped to see what was going on. Yemon was going to reprimand them and tell them to go back to what they were doing but he let them off.
Omocha was not anticipating an exciting match from her, so the most he could do was to make her attack like a death machine.
He leaned closer to Mara and tried to provoke her.
"Don't hold back and fight me as if I am the enemy that ruined your whole life completely."
With that said, Omocha was ready. He could not see what kind of expression Mara was showing but she exuded quite the dangerous aura.
That made Omocha exhilarated.
Neither of them was in a stance. Yemon declared to both of them.
"Let the fight begin!!"