Wordlessly, Sungmi trailed after Baekhyun all the way back to the camp, where it seemed like things were already clearing up, just as the first traces of morning light began to illuminate the place. As soon as they were back, one of the commanders came up to the pair, stretching out his hand in congratulations. “That was astounding work, Byun,” he told Baekhyun, shaking his hand firmly. “I haven’t seen explosion expertise like that in a long time. You’ll be a real asset here.”

Baekhyun thanked him, an almost tired smile on his face.

“And you’re Han Sunghee, correct?” the commander asked, holding out his hand to Sungmi.

Nodding once with a little salute, Sungmi took the man’s hand. “Yes, sir.”

“We seem to have a very impressive cohort of new soldiers,” he commented, glancing over his shoulder. “Minseok undersold you all to me,” he said with a chuckle.

Sungmi and Baekhyun followed his line of gaze to where Sehun and Chen could be seen standing in front of Minseok. Although they couldn’t hear what was being said, it seemed like they were being praised for something. They both looked fine.

“I’m looking to see big things from the pair of you,” the commander said, turning and leaving the pair then. The two of them watched him leave, then looked to each other.

“So, we’re alive,” Baekhyun said, his voice almost light. Although he hadn’t seemed overly nervous at the time, it was now quite apparent that he had been. He just happened to be able to hide it better than Sungmi could.

Right now, Sungmi couldn’t really think of a response. Lifting her feet forwards, she made her way through the camp, seeing the damage that had been done. Although she was concerned about every death and injury caused, there was a face that she had to see was safe before she worried too much about the others. 

She broke into a little run, eyes searching frantically. The place that she ended up in was the medical unit, but before she entered it she found herself closing her eyes tightly and whispering small pleas that Kyungsoo wouldn’t be in there.

Slowly stepping in, her eyes swept the place in a frenzy. All around there was anguish and pain. Men were crying, swearing and bleeding. The medic staff were frantic, all shouting and rushing around in a hurry to save as many as possible. The sight of all the injured there sent a cold jolt through her. Whilst there was peace in the main camp, here the battle was still raging on.

War was nothing like she had envisioned it being, not that the idea had been all that nice to begin with. But it was somehow so much worse seeing everything up close. And the most frightening thing to Sungmi was that this was only day one.

She was jolted from her trance-like state by someone calling her name. Blinking almost helplessly, she turned her head in a daze to try to find the source. When she saw him, she felt like all the emotions from the night came exploding out of her and she burst into tears, running forwards towards the exit to the medical unit where Kyungsoo was fighting through the people to get to her, still calling her name.

Seeing him was like someone had washed a wave of relief over her, overwhelming everything else. His bloodied lip didn’t even bother her at the moment, nor did the fact that he was covered to the point of being drenched in mud.

When she finally managed to fight her way through the crowd to him, they hugged each other tightly. Kyungsoo rubbed her back, trying to soothe her gently whilst leading them out of the way of the entrance.

“You’re ok,” Sungmi breathed out repeatedly, gripping onto him tightly. “I thought…”

“So did I,” Kyungsoo replied, and from his voice Sungmi could instantly tell that he had been just as terrified during the attack as she had been. Neither of them were ready for war.

Kyungsoo’s brow then furrowed a little, and his gaze moved to her arm which was still bleeding. He gently reached out his hand and moved away the fabric that lay in the way there. Sungmi moved to stop him, but he held her firmly in place.

“What happened?” he asked, eyes going back her face with worry.

“Nothing, I just got scratched,” she tried to say, but Kyungsoo was already looking for a member of medical staff.

“Excuse me,” he said, grabbing the arm of a passing medic. “My friend’s been hurt. Please look at–”

“I’m busy,” the medic snapped, shaking his arm free from Kyungsoo rather roughly. “There’s a queue for these things, you know.”

Kyungsoo was not dissuaded though, and quickly grabbed the arm of another but was swiftly told the same thing. Sungmi got the impression that the two of them were just in the way here, so she firmly grabbed onto Kyungsoo before he could even approach a third medic.

“I can treat it myself,” she told him as she tried to drag him from the area. “We’re just in the way here.”

“But you need treatment too,” Kyungsoo countered, looking back into the cabin he had just place pulled from.

“This,” Sungmi said, motioning to her arm, “won’t kill me. Those people in there might lose their lives. For a medic, it has to come down to who needs it more.”

Kyungsoo bit his lip, not looking convinced.

“Don’t fight me on this,” she told him, tugging down her sleeve. “I know what I’m doing.”

When the pair of them returned to their cabin, the other three were already there. They all seemed to be unharmed.

“Are any of you hurt?” she asked, looking around the faces. Baekhyun didn’t bother answering, but the other two shook their heads.

“We’re good,” Chen replied, slinging himself onto the bed beside Baekhyun’s.

Sungmi nodded, moving to her own bed but was very aware of Kyungsoo’s eyes on her as she did so. It made her feel oddly uncomfortable; a strange sort of uncomfortable for her to feel with Kyungsoo being involved.

Reachi