"this is a sphere detector,"
"is it a prototype?,"
"what is that?,"
"something that hasn't fully developed yet,"
ji-wan widened her eyes and looked to her left at na-ra. "we're going to entrust our lives with a prototype," she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "i'm sure it'll be fine," smiled na-ra, comfortingly. "the radius on this is 1 km in open areas. in the city of villages, it'll only be 500 to 700 m. so, always be alert," said lt.lee before him and the sergeant went off somewhere by themselves. joon-hee tapped yoo-jung and the group circled around the girl. yoo-jung turned both of the screens on, making everyone 'ooo'. "the people high up aren't just sitting back and watching," bo-ra said, satisfied. "you're right. why didn't they give this go us earlier?," scoffed ha-na. ji-wan looked at the two best friends who smiled at each other. 'they could totally be a couple in secret and i wouldn't even know,' ji-wan thought bitterly.
bo-ra looked over at ji-wan, making eye-contact. ji-wan quickly looked away to tae-man who was asking why the device wasn't detecting anything. bo-ra was left confused as she found ji-wan's behaviour a bit odd. she was in a different group but thankfully they wouldn't be separated for too long. "divide into your squads and get in the vehicles," said lt.lee. ji-wan was about to run off to the left truck but someone held her back. ji-wan turned around to see bo-ra, "be careful," said bo-ra. ji-wan looked back at her truck to see that everyone was still trying to get in, "yeah. you too," she said before walking away. bo-ra stood there, dumbfounded as she watched na-ra help ji-wan up onto the truck. bo-ra stood there, watching them in confusion before yoo-jung called out for her.
the scenery quickly changed from an empty long road to empty grassland to a ruined city very quickly. the truck stopped but they weren't there just yet so it confused ji-wan. they were told that they would have to walk the rest of the way so everyone started getting down, one by one. ji-wan was about to hop out the truck but na-ra put her hand out. ji-wan smiled widely before holding her hand and getting out slowly. ji-wan and na-ra were walking side by side down the slope.
the two were making small talk and from a bit ways back, bo-ra was glaring a hole at the back of na-ra's head. the two groups split up, going seperate ways for just a bit. as ji-wan was walking down, she felt na-ra's shoulder rubbing against hers. a small smirk appeared on her face as she turned to face na-ra. "why are you so close? are you scared?," asked ji-wan, giggling at the thought. na-ra raised an eyebrow, "nope. i just want to keep you close in case there are any spheres around," she said. ji-wan smirked, "lee na-ra, you don't have a crush on me, do you?," smirked ji-wan, making na-ra's cheeks turn a light shade of pink.
before na-ra could reply, hee-rak shouted in excitement and ran towards a vending machine. ji-wan jumped a bit, unknowingly moving closed to na-ra. "does it working?," asked ji-wan, quickly rushing next to hee-rak. "yah, help me shake it," said hee-rak. ji-wan nodded before the two started shaking the vending machine which was quite noisy. "woo hee-rak, jang ji-wan," said lt.lee, appearing out of nowhere. the two widened their eyes and stood in front of the machine, pretending to act normal. "what are you doing," the man asked. "nothing, sir!," hee-rak said quickly. ji-wan just stood there, looking at lt.lee with wide eyes. "lieutenant," said sergeant won-bin. the man looked back at the two before following him.
once lt.lee left, hee-rak banged his hand on the vending machine. a can of coke fell and hee-rak bent over to grab it. "holy shit!," cursed hee-rak, holding up the can. ji-wan cheered, grabbing it out from hee-rak's hands. joon-hee and so-yoon rushed forwards, asking for a sip. "i'm going to save it so get away from me," hee-rak said, snatching the can out of ji-wan's hands. "how is it yours?," asked ji-wan, snatching the can back. "because i got it out, duh?," said hee-rak, snatching the can back again. "i shook the vending machine too, asshole," she spat, snatching the can back once again. "yeah but it hit it. just go away," hee-rak said, putting it in his pocket. "give it back, selfish jerk," ji-wan said, reaching into hee-rak's pocket.
"oh? lieutenant," young-shin said, holding up the device. the two men rushed over and the group circled around young-shin and the beeping monitor. everyone turned to look at the direction at which the spheres were detected before they slowly walked towards it. ji-wan's eyes flickered around in paranoia, she almost felt like a sphere would jump out at her from any corner. the group ended up in a cross way. ji-wan exhaled, turning her head to another direction when she saw a dead body on the ground. when they stopped, ji-wan peaked over at the device in young-shin's hands. her jaw went slack at the amount of spheres that were detected in the area. ji-wan blinked, looking around in fear.
lt.lee sighed for the group to separate and go different ways quietly. ji-wan moved swiftly along with the others, standing next to the back end of the white car and aiming her gun toward an uncovered area. lt.lee grabbed a toy car which started noisily rolling towards the middle of the street and starting turning around with an alarm playing loudly. suddenly, everyone tensed up as the screeching of the spheres pierced through the silence. ji-wan's eyes widened when the spheres started crawling out of holes and crevices from a building. "get ready to fire!," said lt.lee. everyone started to panic since the spheres were getting closer and lt.lee still hadn't ordered anyone to fire. "alright! open fire!," shouted lt.lee after what seemed like forever. ji-wan pressed on the trigger, shooting at any sphere that came into her sight.
the sound of the gunshots were deafening. ji-wan quickly reloaded and held onto the trigger, taking out more spheres. the tiny creatures screeched before they scurried off into the buildings. the rest stayed back when lt.lee, na-ra and so-yeon carefully walked out a bit into the street. "behind you!," shouted ha-na, making jang-soo turn around and shoot at the sphere. no matter how many shots they all collectively fired, it seemed like the sphere was expertly manoeuvring and dodging them. the sphere quickly leaped up into the air and landed in the centre. it quickly made it's way towards the white car. ji-wan screamed as she got pushed away by il-ha before he ran to move hee-rak away from the sphere. the small sphere screeched and jumped inside the black car where it was shot dead by lt.lee.
ji-wan clutched her chest, breathing heavily as her heart had started pounding. her breath turned into mist as soon as it left her lips. what the fuck just happened? "what are you doing? take your position and search your surroundings," said lt.lee. ji-wan joined chi-yeol and deok-joong as they started searching their area. ji-wan's ears picked up on a low screeching from her right side. she looked over to see a sphere on the wall, leaping to jump onto chi-yeol. ji-wan quickly aimed her rifle before firing and hitting the sphere just before it could latch itself onto chi-yeol. the two boys to her right ducked down, covering their heads due to the sudden shots. chi-yeol looked at the remains of the sphere before looked to his left at ji-wan with wide eyes.
the corner of ji-wan's lips started turning upwards when chi-yeol and deok-joong put their thumbs up in unison. they both had the same expressions on their faces. "lets go already," ji-wan said, about to start walking when a loud gunshot went off to her left. ji-wan covered her ears and crouched down in shock before turning around. the remains of the sphere drifted in the wind as she looked up to see where the shot came from. up on a rooftop of a building, bo-ra looked up from her scope. bo-ra's amber eyes glinted in the sunlight, her porcelain skin being kissed by the sun which illuminated her blood red lips. ji-wan was star struck as she looked up at bo-ra. the two made eye contact for a bit before deok-joong grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.
the three of them entered a small pathway before they jumped over a short wall and their paths crossed with sergeant won-bin. the four of them, as well as ae-seol made their way into an apartment unit. ji-wan followed deok-joong, her rifle out and looking around as the others parted ways from them. deok-joong looked back at ji-wan before gesturing at a door. ji-wan nodded, holding up her gun as deok-joong slowly reached out for a door handle. he opened the door and walked inside, ji-wan was about to follow him but deok-joong screamed and fell backwards. he came down with the door and a sphere crawling on his body. ji-wan quickly took aim and before the sphere could attack, she opened fire on the sphere, killing it immediately.
chi-yeol, ae-seol and sergeant won-bin rushed over. chi-yeol sat beside deok-joong, asking if he was okay. suddenly, beside ji-wan, sergeant won-bin hushed the small group. the all went silent before sergeant won-bin pointed towards another room. ae-seol slowly made her way towards the room before ji-wan stopped her quickly. "i'll go," she whispered, looking at the scared girl. ae-seol nodded, following behind as ji-wan took the lead. as soon as they walked into the room, all eyes fell on a small cabinet on top of some stairs. ji-wan looked back at sergeant won-bin who nodded. she slowly made her way towards the stairs and crept up. with every step she went up, the faster her heart started pounding in her chest.
ji-wan slowly reached her shaking hands up to the sliding door and held it for a second. she took a deep breath and then slid it open. ji-wan's eyes grew wider and wider the more the opened the cabinet. her jaw dropped as staring back at her was a girl who was crouching down, holding onto her rifle. she looked scared as her eyes flickered between the five of them.