- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ [𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲] ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
it was quiet
i didn't know what date it was. or how much time had gone by after the explosion
it was a month, i think
and in my hands, was none other than a gun, getting ready to fire the upcoming spheres deok-jung will lead to us later. i was alone in my designated spot, hearing a whistle as i swiftly pulled the trigger as much as i could until most of them perished away
deok-jung was riding a scooter, luring the spheres away until he was out of my sight
"damn it" i cursed, seeing as there were more i couldn't shoot on, glancing back at na-ra who sent me a nod. we ran across the rooftop, spotting more spheres as we shot them all until no sounds could be heard
"let's go" she said, leading us to another building according to the plan yu-jeong and jang-soo had came up with. along the way, we stopped either to shoot the remaining spheres or going through the trash hurdles
i glanced at the stairs where tae-man, jang-soo, il-ha, bo-ra and ae-seol were arriving for another wave of spheres led by deok-jung. we sent a nod at each other, leaning behind the wall and crouching for cover before shooting
"fire!" we heard deok-jung yelling, us standing up in sync and pierced the bullet through the spheres. i kept silent despite deok-jung exclaiming arrogantly against the spheres, killing them all including the bigger ones
and soon, the shooting stopped
"i thought they'd be weak in cold environments. how come they're still so strong?" tae-man asked as we all stood together at an abandoned bridge, il-ha leaning on his precious motorbike while i stood silently apart from everyone
"they're adapting to the weather pretty well. how annoying" bo-ra replied as i checked the bullets i still had left
"i think we got rid of them all in this area. let's do a status report" jang-soo said, taking off his bullet case while i exclaimed
"i have two left" the others also stated their report, ae-seol suddenly saying
"i'm empty"
"what?" deok-jung asked in surprise as the girl replied
"i'm out"
"then... my fuel tank is empty too" il-ha said, checking the meters on his bike while deok-jung followed after
"and my stomach too. it's empty" i softly chuckled, hearing bo-ra sighing
"i'm with you"
"me too!" ae-seol said out loud, earning a laugh from all of us as i slinged the gun on my shoulder
"let's go back and eat" they nodded, smiling while deok-jung sang a song happily for the upcoming food that will be served for us. i adjusted the gun's strap, na-ra patting my arm as i sent her a small smile
i looked at il-ha who was hesitant to leave his bike, tae-man patting his shoulder
"let's go" i said, pulling his arm as he sighed with a smile
"wait for us, deok-jung!" tae-man yelled, chasing after him and his scooter while we chuckled. we spent almost an hour walking, arriving first before the search team as we looked up at yeon-ju and su-cheol who were guarding from the rooftop
they waved at us, reporting of our arrival through the walkie talkie. he sent me a smile, waving excitedly making me chuckled. i waved weakly, joining the others who were already inside
i made my way to the barracks, putting the gun away with a sigh while we waited for the search team to arrive
it was an hour later. my eyes darted across the room upon hearing their voices, hee-rak complaining as usual making me roll my eyes. i quickly closed the book i was reading to greet them, walking out
"hee-rak, did you get the clam chowder i asked for?" i heard deok-jung asking as i flinched when hee-rak suddenly yelled
"no clam chowder! get lost!"
i scoffed, going to il-ha and tae-man who were fooling around with a guitar we found a week ago. i once again flinched at the horrible singing, them looking at me excitedly when i sat beside them
"cho-yeong, listen to our new song. you'll like it" tae-man said, nodding at il-ha as they started the song again
"i hate the spheres" il-ha rapped, followed by tae-man after every sentence
"i hate them"
"i really hate them"
"ow!"
"i despise them"
"ooh!"
they seemed to enjoy themselves, but i only want to do one thing after hearing it
if i could hit them with a wooden spoon, i'd make sure to get their heads bruised cause what the hell was that?
"it's nice, right?" il-ha asked to me, asking for my opinion while tae-man danced on his seat. they both were looking at me and waiting, but i only formed a small smile
"it's nice..." i lied
"let's play it to the others" il-ha said, excitedly after hearing my words with tae-man nodding repeatedly in agreement
"no. please, don't-"
"joon-hee, listen to our new song. in 1, 2, 3, 4-" tae-man said, ignoring me as the girl snapped in anger
"get lost" she walked away, annoyed. the others who were back also followed her from behind
"seo-yoon, 1, 2-"
"seriously?!" the girl snapped again while i cringed when yu-jeong arrived
"hey. did you do everything you're supposed to?" she asked before they could play the guitar again, sending me a smile before walking away as i sighed when they looked at each other cluelessly
"what?"
"i don't know"
"you guys didn't do it" ae-seol said, patting tae-man's legs as soon-yi also said
"you were supposed to fix the leak" their eyes widened, making me scoff as i quickly walked away from them. i made my way to the exit, alone and secluded from everyone else
the cold breeze immediately brushed through my hair, taking a deep breath before going back for another status report. every day after our mission, we'd store our guns safely for another mission
i stood at the end of the line, gripping on the gun tightly while waiting for my turn. i looked at the ceiling where the leak was still unfixed, dropping every excess water into a bucket covered with cloth
i sighed softly, giving my gun to su-cheol and yu-jeong who inspected the bullet magazine
"what about the radio? still not working?" i heard yeong-su asking beside me, earning a hesitated look from both su-cheol and yu-jeong. i raised a brow at the sudden change, su-cheol answering
"no" yeong-su cursed under his breath, su-cheol managing my gun next as i looked at yeon-ju who dropped a box on the table
"the search team brought this back, but most of it is useless. a lot of people have frostbite"
"there's a hospital nearby, so let's search it. i'll plan a route late" yu-jeong said as su-cheol held my hand to gain my attention. i looked at him, raising both brows as he spoke
"you must be hungry. let's go and eat something" i formed a weak smile
"it's fine. i think i'm gonna skip dinner today"
"no, you're not. let's go" he hissed, pulling me to the kitchen where most of them were waiting in line for a canned food we've been eating for the past month
i sighed, obeying anyway and he stood behind me
"did you get hurt?" he asked, looking at my face and to my hands as i shook my head
"i didn't, don't worry"
"i'm hungry. let's eat! it's finally dinner time" tae-man suddenly said, trying to convince himself of the tastiness of the canned food making me chuckled. i looked at su-cheol to say something but he had already been staring at me
i furrowed my brows, asking
"what is it? is there something on my face?" he shook his head, although his expression was showing concern
"what is it, then?"
"are you okay?" the question caught me off guard, just a little. but i could make out what kind of questions that has been running through his mind- through everyone else's mind
ever since chun-ho died, they all had been taking care of me through the weeks, until now. like deok-jung who suddenly shared me some of his food, although it would be impossible to others. chi-yeol had also watched over me whenever we went to mission together, making sure that i'm keeping up
tae-man and il-ha would sing me a song they'd come up with, while seo-yoon, joon-hee, and soon-yi would share me some of their stuff and snacks. jang-soo had even given me an extra canned food without the others' knowing. so-yeon, bo-ra and yeon-ju also treated me better than they did to everyone else
yu-jeong and na-ra would always stay by my side at night, making sure i'm grieving without any disturbance- and made sure i'm eating well
and su-cheol gave me a drawing of chun-ho, me by his side as if we were smiling at a camera. the bear i was gifted was in my hands, eyes closed with a wide smile plastered on my face
i burst into tears when he gave it to me
but despite all that, i still changed. i talked less, smiled less, laughed less, and would cooperate with full attention only when briefing about missions. some of them would include me in their activities, but i'd either zone out or lazily participate
su-cheol noticed that, of course. it probably triggered him to be worried over me
"i'm fine. better, actually"
"are you sure?" he asked, narrowing his eyes playfully as i chuckled
"yes"
"cho-yeong" jang-soo called out, smiling a little as he gave me a slightly bigger tuna canned from the others. i scoffed with a small smile, thanking him either way and waited for su-cheol to get his portion
we made our way to tae-man who was fussing over his food while ha-na cheered. but we didn't eat right away, going to the memorial we built for the deaths of our loved ones as usual
bo-ra had drawn multiple people who had meet their deaths, hanging them with a cross sign under
from yeong-hoon, to ms. park, woo-taek, in-hye, and lastly... chun-ho
i stepped forward, putting the necklace tag of chun-ho's around the cross before stepping away. i stood with su-cheol behind me, his fingers lacing around mine as we held each others' hand and closed our eyes while yu-jeong spoke
"the time we spent today, is a gift from friends, teachers and sergeant that left before us. thank you for keeping us safe for a month. please... continue protecting us"
there was a short silence as we prayed, but a grumbling sound could be heard from deok-jung's stomach. my eyes fluttered open, looking at the boy with a deadpan face
"come on"
"seriously, deok-jung?"
"really?"
"i only had one meal today. it's no surprise i'm hungry" he said earning another silence as we all agreed. he looked down at his stomach and tae-man spoke
"that's it. next is the second most important thing. let's eat! where's our chef no 1?" we all looked at ae-seol as yeong-sin shook her shoulders with a smile
"here she is" the others also walked away, excitedly guiding ae-seol to the table with all of our canned foods gathered. i gave mine to su-cheol who handed them to yeong-sin
su-cheol was hopping up and down with a smile making me laugh a little. he smiled at me, bringing me closer as he guided us both to the table. the others were fussing over their tuna, ae-seol saying
"wait a second. i'll mix gochujang here and ssamjang here" she pointed the wooden spoon at both bowls as deok-jung suddenly asked
"can i have half and half?"
"i want gochujang"
"i want ssamjang"
i formed a chuckle upon their fussiness, su-cheol asking for gochujang for both of us. ae-seol started to mix them all in both bowls, the others cheering in excitement as su-cheol gave me a spoon
"be patient, deok-jung" i said with a small laugh, seeing as he was watering over the tuna while both su-cheol and il-ha beside him cringed
"gross" il-ha said, slapping his arm while the boy confusedly looked at us. we laughed, waiting for ae-seol to finish up
━━━━━━━━━━
i had just finished up wearing my pajamas, stepping up to see deok-jung opening up his own barber shop with chi-yeol as the customer. normally, i would leave and go for a walk instead, but i decided to stay
i looked at bo-ra who was standing up, saying
"what are you drawing?" she smiled, showing me her sketchbook which had ha-na's face smiling with flowers on it. i scoffed with a chuckle, amazed at her talent
"you're so good at drawing. gosh, i'm jealous" she chuckled
"thanks. do you wanna watch deok-jung?" she asked, touching her hair as i nodded
"yeah, i was bored. are you thinking of getting one? a haircut?" she shrugged her shoulders
"i think so. you should get one, too. you'd look good with short hair" i glanced at my long hair that had reached my sternum, nodding
"i think i might"
"let's go" she said, linking our arms together as i raised a brow in surprise when i saw su-cheol present too. na-ra, joon-hee, yeon-ju, and ha-na were watching from the side
deok-jung was circling chi-yeol while snipping some of his hair off, but it didn't look bad at all- like i expected
"he's good, right?" ha-na asked to us as we nodded
"he is" bo-ra said as i scoffed in amusement, watching as he went to trim chi-yeol's sideburn next. but the boy had already backed away
"hey, leave my sideburn"
"don't worry, it's almost done" i chuckled, looking at bo-ra who was still touching her hair as i untied my hair. na-ra glanced up to see me, saying
"you're here too"
"i just got here. do you wanna get a haircut too?" she thought for a while, shaking her head
"nope. i'm just here to watch" i smiled, nodding as deok-jung suddenly spoke
"you're done" he took off the cover from chi-yeol's body, earning a cheer from us. the others clapped their hands while i smiled at the commotion, deok-jung looking at us with a proud face
"nice" ha-na commented, giving him a thumbs-up while i ran my hand through my hair
"it's not bad" chi-yeol said, checking himself out and formed a satisfied smile. he wore his glasses and stood up, doing their created fist bumps that many of us hated
i laughed a little when they moved their bodies like squid, joon-hee exclaiming in annoyance
"seriously. what's with them?"
"cut my hair too" bo-ra said, surprising ha-na who spoke
"just cut it at a hair salon later"
"we don't know when we can go. and it's annoying since we can't wash our hair. just cut it off" she said with a sigh, sitting down while joon-hee exclaimed in hesitancy
"but still... i'd be sad"
"me too" yeon-ju also agreed as i pulled my hair into a lazy bun. deok-jung was getting ready, saying
"don't complain afterwards"
"i won't"
"all right, then" deok-jung draped the white cloth over her, leaving us cringing in fear
"what should we do?" ha-na asked to both na-ra and me as we shook our head
"no idea"
"i can't watch this" su-cheol said, covering his eyes while joon-hee said
"men and women have different hair, though..."
"i'll cut it short" deok-jung announced, preparing his scissor as i looked at na-ra who shrugged her shoulders. we watched deok-jung gathering bo-ra's hair, cutting it short making us all cringed
i was hesitant, but decided to wait until deok-jung finished designing her hair. we watched as he worked his magic, which soon turned bo-ra's hair into a decent cut
bo-ra seemed satisfied with her new haircut, her hair short like a pixie cut and it suited her
"okay. done!"
"nice job, deok-jung" yeon-ju said, amazed at the unexpected result as i looked at na-ra excitedly
"should we?" i asked, earning a nod as she stood up
"can you give us a haircut too?" she asked, standing beside me as both chi-yeol and su-cheol exclaimed in shock
"what?"
su-cheol immediately went to me, eyes wide
"why would you cut it?"
"because i want to?" i asked with a chuckle, looking at na-ra who had seated herself on the chair. chi-yeol was trying to stop it with deok-jung hesitating, making me chuckled
"but your hair looks pretty like that"
"i won't cut it as short as bo-ra's. i want it to just stop at my neck, like yu-jeong, and probably some curtain bangs. i'm sure deok-jung can manage that"
"yeah, but still-"
"shh"
i covered his mouth using my hand, looking at chi-yeol who immediately stopped deok-jung when he was about to cover na-ra
"what's with you, kimchi? who are you to tell her not to do it?" joon-hee asked with her arms crossed while i held in my laugh
"well... just because. she already looks so pretty. i don't want her to ruin her hair"
"right. but why are you worried about her hair?" joon-hee asked again while the others also nodded in agreement. na-ra looked at me and sent me a 'should i not do it?' look
i shrugged my shoulders, leaving her to choose by herself as chi-yeol stuttered
"well..."
"chi-yeol, why are you so against it?" i asked, hiding my teasing tone with su-cheol furrowing his brows. chi-yeol looked at me nervously, scratching the back of his neck while na-ra looked at me with a hint of smile
"go ahead and cut it, deok-jung" she said and chi-yeol seemed to be troubled, deok-jung thinking of something and suddenly exclaiming in shock
"oh no! the scissors are broken" i scoffed, looking at su-cheol who smiled in relief, sending a thumbs-up to deok-jung
"should we do it another time?" he asked to na-ra who nodded
"sure. let's do it another time" she stood up, walking away with bo-ra and ha-na who were laughing. joon-hee seemed to be figuring out why chi-yeol was acting like that, while the other two boys celebrated in success
i rolled my eyes playfully, pinching su-cheol's waist making him yelped. i walked away with a small smile, hearing his footsteps catching up to me
"wait for me" he said, chasing me as i fastened my pace and ended up leaving him alone
━━━━━━━━━━
"i know that some of you are still confused. write 'O' if you think we should stay here on our own... and 'X' if you want to go home" yu-jeong said as all of us took our own piece of paper to vote
it has been an occasional event each week to decide whether we should stay or leave on our own
i had always chose to stay, calculating the danger we'd encounter to reach seoul like the others had fussed over. i just thought that it's be safer to stay instead of moving around with no definite information
i drew an o at the corner of the paper, sighing before folding them neatly and looked at su-cheol who was hesitant. i furrowed my brows, looking away before he could catch me staring
since two weeks ago, he has gone quieter too- well, a bit talkative than me but i noticed the change in his behavior. it was like he was hiding something from all of us
but i couldn't seem to make out what it would be
"aren't we done?" sun-yi asked with rush and looked around as jang-soo replied
"think carefully before you decide"
"think for what? what's this, a presidential election?" he said and quickly submitted his vote into the box. su-cheol stood up, taking ha-na's vote with him and walked with me to the box
soon, all of us were done with voting
the others stood up while i remained seated, watching as su-cheol handed yu-jeong each ballot submitted from us
"stay" she announced, showing us the ballot which was written with an 'O'. the ones who were eager to go back sighed in frustration, sun-yi hitting hee-rak's chest as i waited for another ballot to be announced
"leave" they cheered, yeong-su raising his arms in frustration as su-cheol looked at me for a second before tearing his gaze off. i let him be, crossing my arms with na-ra and yeong-sin beside me
the last ballot would determine everything
yu-jeong opened it, controlling her expression as she showed them the written 'O'
"damn it!"
"what?"
"not again!"
i sighed in relief, na-ra nodding as we both had reached into an agreement to stay since a week ago. thankfully, she had the same idea as me to stay because of the danger outside. nonetheless, we looked down and prepared for another wave of complaint and yells