There was a surge of adrenaline through Sungmi as she sprinted out after Baekhyun and Chen, her limbs almost getting too ahead of themselves despite her instinct telling her to be anywhere but where the fighting was. She stumbled but was able to save her footing before she fell.

All around her were soldiers panicking and shouting, almost to the point where no actual words could be heard. Sungmi couldn’t work out where she should be, or what exactly she should be doing but she knew that the siren she had heard meant that there had been a breach somewhere. The enemy was here, and no doubt wanted blood.

The three of them were essentially newbies on the block, and all felt well out of their comfort zone right now. In fact, their comfort zone was so far away that they couldn’t even see it anymore.

“Where should-- what should we do?” Chen yelled at them so that they could hear him.

“We need to be there,” Baekhyun replied, all sense of joking gone now as he pointed to the mound surrounding the camp with sharp wooden palisades surrounding it. “That’s where they’re trying to get in.”

The three dashed forwards, and Sungmi would be lying if she said she wasn’t hiding in the shadow of the other two just a little bit. She was terrified.

On their way to the mound, they collided with Captain Minseok and Sungmi couldn't have been any more relieved to have some sort of instruction. He wasted no time in telling them to move it and get to the front now. Apparently he thought his team were being idol all this time.

When they were within ten metres of the mound, they could clearly see the fighting. One man had pinned another to the ground, a knife mere metres from his face. Another was attempting to fight two at once, and although this was their base camp, the numbers invading were exceeding the fighters at the camp, yet Sungmi’s side were holding their own. There was a sort of disorder amongst the fighters, almost like no one was really all that sure what exactly they were supposed to be doing. It was a clear sign of their limited training.

There was a foreign tongue being yelled out, and although Sungmi couldn’t be sure, it sounded like the brash tones of the west nation.

Before Sungmi could register anything else, a man was coming at her, a small knife in his hand. If the adrenaline and survival instinct hadn’t been coursing through her like hot liquor right now then she probably wouldn’t have even thought of taking out a weapon of any sort, but as it stood she plucked out a circular shuriken of her own, hands trembling wildly as she did so. It wasn’t a weapon meant for killing, more for stalling.

The man lifted the weapon, pointing it at her but because he was still moving forwards it took longer than normal to steady it onto her. Using this small gap, Sungmi leapt to the side, trying to throw the man off. It worked for a moment, and gave her enough time to flick the shuriken at him. But the second she did, her shaking hand lost all its power and couldn’t quite get the strength to launch it like it should have been done. It missed completely.

Now locked onto her, the man steadied his knife again and moved to the attack. Then, suddenly, he was on the ground, a cry leaving his lips as his knife fell to the ground and into the mud. The man that had shot him came to Sungmi, slapping her hard on the back. He was a higher up, based on the fact that he had a firearm.

“Don’t zone out like that!” the senior man warned, disappearing before Sungmi could even thank him.

There were so many of the enemy here, and there just seemed to be more and more of them coming. All around her, there was a struggle. And that was the first time she realised what it meant to defend your nation. There was the price that so many paid, and it was utterly terrifying.

She stumbled up, trying to see what she could actually do to help. Aiming another shuriken at the foot of one of the invaders, she launched it. Call her a coward, but she hadn’t yet developed the cold nature needed to kill another human. The man fell, clutching his foot and the man that he was fighting moved to finish him off – a job Sungmi would gladly leave to him.

A hand grabbed Sungmi’s shoulder, causing her to spin and pull out a knife, pointing it straight at the person’s face, only to drop it a moment later when she realised that it was Baekhyun. His face was grave.

“I need your help,” he said seriously, grabbing her arm and dragging her with him. Although she didn’t really have much choice considering he was dragging her, she willingly allowed herself to be taken by him. If there was something that she didn’t want, then it was to stay here where people were falling left, right and centre.

“What are we doing?” she asked as he dragged her to the side of the camp, crouching low with her.

“Scheming,” Baekhyun replied, reaching into his pocket and pulling what looked like a little box out of his pocket.

Sungmi frowned down at it, not sure what it was. “What is that?”

Baekhyun snorted once as if this situation was funny. “Have you ever been to a dance?” Nodding hesitantly, Sungmi waited for whatever explanation Baekhyun was about to come out with. “So you know what a boom box is, then?”

Sungmi felt her brow crease a little as she thought about what he was saying. “Something that plays music?”

Baekhyun smirked a little. “I’m going to make my own music with this.”

Not asking for further clarification, Sungmi instead chose to watch as Baekhyun began twiddling with the wires of the box, grinning to himself as he did so.

“I need you to watch my back as I set this,” he said as he carefully secured the back of the device. “Chen and Kyungsoo know what to do on the surface,” he said as he grabbed her arm again, leading her to the side of the camp and holding out his hand for her to step onto and over.

“What about Sehun?”

Baekhyun shrugged