Yihyun shut the boot of the car. "You've got everything you need?" He turned towards his kids as they organised their suitcases, rucksacks and backpack.
"Torches? The pagers we gave you just in case you need to contact us? An emergency first aid kit?" Saebom went into mum mode as she fussed over them.
"You gave them a first aid kit? The army will have plenty," Yihyun looked amused.
"You never know what might happen and they need to be prepared," Saebom argued stubbornly.
She and Yihyun were dropping the kids off at school before heading off to work, knowing this might be the last time they will see them for a long while.
"We've got everything," Nara assured her mother.
Saebom looked at her two children before pulling them into a hug. "We're going to miss you. Remember to stay safe and to look out for one another, okay? Can you promise me that?" She asked.
The twins both nodded, pulling away to give their dad a hug too.
"Stay safe, stay alert and hopefully, if all goes well, we'll see you in four weeks," Yihyun kissed the top of their heads gently.
"We will," The twins chorused.
Nara grabbed her suitcase and, waving goodbye to her parents, she walked off to join her friends.
Soo Cheol was about to gather his stuff when he hesitated. Turning back to his parents he engulfed them both in one last hug.
"Stay safe too, okay?" Soo Cheol whispered, "Don't die, please?"
"Cheol-ah, what's wrong?" Saebom asked, brushing her son's hair out of his face.
"I heard your conversation last night, about the spheres and that lots of people had died in an attack," Soo Cheol confessed, hugging his parents tighter, "I know this military drafting has something to do with it."
Yihyun and Saebom exchanged sad glances.
"You're right. It is," Saebom said quietly, "But you can't tell anyone, do you understand? We can't send everyone into a panic while we only know so little about it. The spheres are much more dangerous than people think it is."
"I promise I won't say a word, not even to Nara," Soo Cheol nodded. He and Nara told each other everything, from the littlest things to the more secretive ones. He even knew about her crush on their classmate, Kim Chiyeol.
"Go on now, or you'll be late," Yihyun smiled, patting his son's shoulder gently.
Soo Cheol took hold of his suitcase and waved goodbye to his parents before entering through the school gates.
Yihyun pulled Saebom into his arms as they watched their two kids making their way up the road towards the school's front door.
"When did Soo Cheol become so grown up?" Saebom murmured softly, leaning her head back into her husband's chest.
"I don't know, but I do know one thing," Yihyun rested his chin on top of her head, "he'll definitely make sure that Nara or his classmates won't get hurt if the spheres ever attacked."
As soon as the twins were out of sight, they hopped back into their car, making their way to the SOU base.
Kim Chiyeol was surprised to see all his classmates when he entered room 3-2. He had thought that most of the girls would plead to stay at home. Dropping his bags at his seat, he craned his neck, searching for someone.
Just then the person he had been looking for walked into the classroom, pushing along her suitcase. Nara quietly placed her bags on the floor and sat down.
Chiyeol felt a small smile play at the corners of his lips.
Deok Joong looked at him as if he was crazy. "Why are you smiling?" He asked.
Chiyeol just shook his head. He then stiffened when he saw Soo Cheol laughing and taking selfies with the other classmates. Soo Cheol was very popular among the girls in their class. He also knew that Soo Cheol was very protective of his younger sister and would beat up anyone who dared to hurt her.
One of the reasons why he was hesitant to ask Nara out was because of her brother. If he accidentally hurt Nara in any kind of way, or made her upset, he knew without a doubt that Soo Cheol would beat him up.
He watched as Soo Cheol sat on his luggage and watched as Tae-Man stacked up packets of gum. Jo Young-Shin , Im Woo-Taek and Jo Jang-Soo were chatting off to the side.
Chiyeol took a glance towards Nara again. She and So-Yeon were quietly talking to each other. Probably talking about the military training.
Taking another look around the room, Chiyeol's forehead scrunched up in surprise. Everyone one was here, even Bo-Ra, Il-ha and Hee-Rak, which was a surprise as he thought they would do anything to just stay at home.
Chiyeol decided to organise his stuff around him as neatly as possible to avoid anyone tripping.
Mrs Park then entered the room, followed closely by a guy in uniform.
"Everyone, take your seats!" She said.
Everyone scrambled towards their respective seats.
"Kwon Il-Ha!" Mrs Park looked at the troublemaker who rolled his eyes and got up from where he was lounging to return to his seat.
So-Yeon was staring at the stranger.
"All right. I have someone to introduce to you all," Mrs Park began, before she turned to the soldier, giving him the go ahead.
"Loyalty," The guy saluted. He paused, looked around the class before speaking again. "Nice to meet you. I'm First Lieutenant Lee Chun Ho, who will be Class 3-2's platoon leader," He introduced himself.
"First Lieutenant Lee will explain about the training," Mrs Park said.
"Hey, he has a diamond on his forehead," Il-Ha whispered to Hee-Rak, a smirk on his face. The two boys burst out into quiet fits of laughter.
"You'll be assigned to the Second Platoon of the Sungjin Division Combat Unit, and I'll be your platoon leader," Lieutenant Lee explained, "Most of the training will take place after school, when your regular classes are over."
The class burst into quiet whispers.
"What?"
"After school?"
"We'll be tired, though," Deok-Joong whispered to Chiyeol. Chiyeol just kept his mouth shut. They did say that they would be having military training alongside their classes. But after school? They'll be drained of energy once all their lessons are done.
"On days when you have agendas, training will take priority over classes," Lieutenant Lee continued, "So don't get confused later. Class President." He called out.
Yoo-Jung immediately rose from her seats. "Yes?" She asked, standing up straight.
"You're the senior trainee starting today," Lieutenant Lee said, gesturing towards her.
"Sorry?" Yoo-Jung was confused. Did she hear that correctly?
"What's a senior?" Ha-Na asked, turning around in her seat to ask Hee-Rak.
"I don't know," He replied, giving a small shrug.
"Do you know?" So-yoon turned around to her friends.
"What's a senior trainee?" Soon-yi asked.
"Next up is..." Lieutenant Lee continued, not bothering to answer the questions, "assigning the role of record keeper who will be recording the process of your trainings and the video for your parents." He raised his hand. "Any volunteers?" He asked, looking around the room.
Everyone began whispering, not daring to look up in case they got chosen.
"You should do it," Deok-Joong whispered to Chiyeol.
"Why should I?" His friend replied.
"No volunteers?" Lieutenant Lee looked around the room. "Broadcast club?" He asked. Still no one raised their hands. "All right, then. Your attendance numbers." He opened the file that was laid out on the lectern.
"Platoon leader teacher," Mrs Park tentatively spoke up. Lieutenant Lee turned to look at her. "Could I recommend a student?" She asked.
The platoon leader closed the attendance records as a silent permission that she may do so.
"Ah, Yeong-Hoon," Mrs Park said, after looking around the class, "do you want to give it a try?"
"Me?" Yeong-Hoon looked startled.
Mrs Park smiled kindly. "Yes, in my opinion, I think you'll have lots to learn from it," She said. She was trying to get him to do it in order for him to do something other than study all the time.
Yeong-Hoon's eyes darted all over his desk before he looked up and asked, "What do I need to learn?"
A scoff as heard from the back of the room. "Jung Yeong-Hoon, just do it. It's nothing major," Il-ha snarked.
Yeong-Hoon turned in his seat to look at the boy. "You can do it if it's nothing major," He fired back.
"Well why don't you try first and I'll change it for you if you don't like it," Mrs Park tried one more time to get Yeong-Hoon on board.
"I need to study," Yeong-Hoon said, without hesitation, "I don't want to waste my time." The pressure from his mum didn't allow for diversions like this. He had to get into Seoul National University. The extra credit points being given out for this military training was the only reason why he was here in the first place. To better his chances of getting accepted into the university that his mum wanted.
"What a rude punk," Someone whispered.
"I'm telling you he's weird!" Ha-Na mouthed to her friend.
Soo Cheol could only shake his head. If only everyone knew why they were doing this boot camp in the first place. Studying for the CSATs and getting extra credits would be pretty pointless if they all ended up dead.
He clenched his fist. He promised his parents that he would tell anyone. He had to keep the secret from everyone, to avoid panic. Looking at their platoon leader, he noticed scars running along his arms.
Soo Cheol didn't know, but he guessed that Lieutenant Lee Chun Ho was part of that unit that was attacked by the sphere his parents were talking about. And if that was true, then this guy was one of very survivors according to what his mum had said.
Mrs Park made a move to try and persuade Yeong- Hoon but was stopped by the platoon leader.
"It's fine," Lieutenant Lee said. He looked around the classroom again. "Over there. Trainee," He pointed in the direction of the back desks by the windows.
Everyone turned to look at who he was singling out.
Chiyeol turned to look at the boy, Woo-Taek, behind him.
Woo-Taek looked at everyone else before he looked back at Chiyeol. "You idiot. He means you," He said, almost exasperated.
Chiyeol turned to the front. "Wait, m-me?" He stuttered, pointing at himself.
"You're now the record keeper," Lieutenant Lee gave him the role, "Any objections?" He asked.
Chiyeol was in a practically in a state of shock or panic, he couldn't tell which. Why was he chosen to be the record keeper?
"Well..." Chiyeol started hesitantly, "No, I don't."
"Instead, three reward points," The platoon leader told him.
Yeong-Hoon's head shot up in horror.
"What?" Everyone exclaimed.
"Same goes for Senior Trainee," The platoon leader added, looking at Yoo-Jung.
"What?"
"Wait, that's -"
"Why are you just telling us that?"
"There's a reward point system separate from CSAT extra credits," Lieutenant Lee began to explain, "You get awarded according to your training results and attitude. Ten reward points become one extra CSAT extra credit."
Chiyeol looked over at Yeong-Hoon. The latter boy looked like he was mentally kicking himself. If he had taken up the role of record keeping, he would have gotten three reward points to help him get accepted. Chiyeol knew that getting into SNU was the boy's top priority.
"On the other hand, 30 demerit points will get you discharged," Lieutenant Lee added, "You'll also lose all your CSAT extra credits." He looked around the room.
"What's this?"
"Makes no sense."
"All right, then. To your barracks at once," Lieutenant Lee commanded.
"Barracks?"
"Where's that?"
"What's he saying?" Deok-Joong whispered.
"Barracks?"
"There's such a thing here?" So-yoon asked.
Soo Cheol sighed. Did they honestly think that the army would build a five star hotel for them to stay in while they did their training?
Na-Ra looked at her brother. He looked like he was in deep thought about something and slightly stressed. She brushed it aside, not think much of it. He was probably just thinking about the reward system and the CSAT extra credit stuff.
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Soo Cheol looked around. One of the classrooms had been converted into a dorms room for them. Mattresses had been laid out and arranged neatly by the walls, with lockers beside each one. Gear such as helmets and ammunition belts were placed neatly on top.
"Yah, how are we supposed to sleep on these? They're hard."
Soo Cheol turned to see that his best friend, Young-Shin was testing out his mattress.
"Attention!" Lieutenant Lee's voice broke through the chatter.
All the boys quietened down to turn and listen to him.
"Promptly finish unpacking, gather exactly in 30 minutes at the field for personal firearms handling. Understood?" The platoon leader ordered.
Chiyeol nodded quickly.
Hee-Rak and Woo-Taek mock saluted in response.
Soo Cheol had already started to unpack, looking on as the platoon leader stopped the guy standing beside him from going to teach the two boys a lesson.
"Dismissed," Lieutenant Lee said, before he and the other guy left the room.
Putting away his clothes and stuff away neatly, Soo Cheol checked the time. Fifteen minutes more to go. The others were goofing around, not taking the order seriously. Putting away his empty bags and suitcases, he stood up.
"Guys, hurry up. We only have fifteen more minutes to finish up and get down to the field," He said, already pulling on his ammunition harness.
"Come on, Soo Cheol. We don't have to take him to seriously, right?" Woo-Taek laughed at his friend's seriousness on the matter.
Soo Cheol said nothing as he tightened the straps and clipped all the buckles. He had visited his mum at her SOU unit and knew how things worked around stuff like this. Just because they were high schoolers doesn't mean that the instructors were going to be easy on them. It didn't work like that.
He grabbed his helmet and strapped it on securely. Too loose and it could get knocked off, to tight, and it could restrict the movement of your head. His mother had taught him how tight helmets like these had to go on.
Because of his parents line of work, especially his mum, he had experience with things like this. When he and Na-Ra were in their last year of Elementary school, their parents had taken them to a shooting range and they had a go at shooting gun at clay targets. Over the years, they learned how to handle, dismantle, reassemble and fire a gun. However this was only in shooting ranges or at his mum's unit. They were never trained how to fight with guns, only to shoot at clay targets.
When he made his wait out of the dorm, the others were only half done, and they only had less than ten minutes to go.
In the girls dorm, the female instructor for their class was reprimanding them severely for thinking that they were on some kind of camping trip. She had them all gather their make-up products and dump them in a bag where they would be kept away from them.
Bo-Ra got into trouble for bringing cigarettes. So-Yeon got in trouble for bringing perfume.
All the girls, except for Na-Ra, Yoo-Jung and Aeseol got into trouble for not getting unpacked quick enough or getting ready.
"Here, let me help," Na-Ra began tightening the straps as much as she could on Aeseol's harness. However the girl was just really small, so left shoulder strap kept slipping off.
"Thank you," Aeseol whispered.
Na-Ra smiled. She liked helping people. Even though she was quiet and an introvert compared to her older brother, she was kind towards everyone and wanted to help in anyway possible.
Since she knew the sort of things that were going to happen during training, she wanted to help her classmates as much as possible.
As she, Yoo-Jung and Aeseol left their dorms with three minutes left on the clock, they passed by the boy's dorms and saw that they had already finished and were already making their way down to the field.
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Chapter 2! Hope you all enjoyed reading this!!! For the purpose of this book, Na-Ra and Soo Cheol know how to handle guns, just not expertly. You may have also noticed that Soo Cheol in this book is slightly different from in the drama. That's because he knows what's going on.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all in the next one!
Clara x