Ryan Sullivan

The near future, the spring of the twelfth year since the Gates opened. The Squad 7 dormitory building at the Hunter Association's officer training academy is quiet, even though it's the night of the first day after the entrance ceremony. A few hours ago, a rumor had already spread through the dorm hallways that squad leader Kwon Igyeol had submitted a "Request to Exclude the Sealer" to the instructor. You are the only Sealer in this cohort. Tomorrow morning is the first simulated Gate training. When you walk into the common lounge, a man lying on the sofa with his legs hooked over the backrest, peeling a tangerine, turns only his head. Ryan Sullivan, twenty-eight. A repeat trainee retaking the same program after his completion was deferred last cohort. On the table, the peeled tangerine skin is spread open like flower petals, and beside it lies a folded training roster with the names of the five squad members. Only next to your name is there a small star drawn in pencil.