It was a long journey to the training camp; Sungmi would have guessed about one hundred miles from her home. And the place was hot - ridiculously so. The ground itself looked barren and there was dust just about everywhere; yet because the air was so still, none of it was blown up into the faces of the people walking around the place wearing their uniforms.

Sungmi hadn’t really been sure what to expect when she arrived at the training camp, but it certainly wasn’t cabins in rows with young men all over the place either looking like they were in pain or exercising to get to the painful stage.

“Not how you imagined it, huh?” Suho asked, appearing beside her with a bag slung around his shoulder as he too looked around the rather intense camp. “Most of the training camps are like this.”

“How many trainees are here?” Sungmi asked, watching as a young man began trying to persuade his friend to give him a piggyback ride back to their cabin.

“Maybe two hundred at a time, and from all over the state. They tend to keep people from the same homeland together, since there will be a sense of brotherhood there and it gives a higher survival rate.” Suho paused to look around for the right cabin before leading Sungmi around the edge of the men as they stretched and prepared themselves for their next session. “This is the same camp I was at before,” he said before pointing to one of the cabins. “And that was where I stayed for my training period..”

“Do we sleep in one of them?” Sungmi asked, nodding to the wooden structures.

“Well, yes. But not together. You’ll be in a special one on your own since, you know, you’re a female.”

Although Sungmi didn’t particularly want to have a private one, she could understand the need for one.

“Here,” Suho announced, pointing to a cabin on the fringe of the settlement. “This is where you’ll be sleeping. If you go and unpack for now, then meet me and the others back at the medical tent in an hour for training to begin.”

Sungmi nodded, oddly excited by the prospect of finally getting to get to start. After all, that was what she was here for. She was also more than a little excited about getting to see Sunghee and Kyungsoo again. The sooner the better, in her opinion.

Running up the stairs, Sungmi pushed open the door to the cabin, not expecting for even a moment that there would be a person on the other side in the midst of getting changed.

When she saw the of another woman, she instantly spun away. “Oh, God! I’m sorry,” Sungmi blurted, making to the shut the door but the woman released a little chuckle without turning which effectively stopped Sungmi’s movements.

“I’m just changing my clothes – there’s no need to overreact like that,” the woman said in a voice that was very smooth.

Sungmi stood in the doorway a little awkwardly, wondering what the best step to take now was.

The woman solved that one for her too. “Could you shut the door? There are two hundred boys out there who really don’t need to see me getting changed.”

Almost squeaking an apology, Sungmi did as the woman asked, leaving her on the inside of the door with nothing to do but avert her eyes.

“You’re new, aren’t you?” the woman asked as she did up her shirt again. She sounded very amused.

Although the woman couldn’t see, Sungmi bowed her head. “I’m Han Sungmi.”

“Oh yeah,” the woman replied, seemingly remembering something. “I remember Minseok saying something about there being a new female medic.” The woman turned towards her then, the full effect of her bobbed hair style showing and shaping her face rather nicely. She also had large, seemingly compassionate eyes. “I’m Kwon Boah, senior medic here and probably your mentor. Nice to meet you,” she smiled softly, extending a hand.

Sungmi took the hand, surprised by the strength the slight woman had. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Motioning behind herself, Boah pointed to the three empty beds in the room. “Pick any one you want,” she instructed, heading to the door.

Nodding once, Sungmi smiled at the woman and watched as she disappeared out of the door. Sungmi was curious about why Boah was working here, but regardless of the reason, she decided that she liked the senior healer. Without further ado, Sungmi moved to one of the beds and slung off her pack, quickly tucking her clothes and equipment away neatly. Boah seemed to be a tidy individual from the state of the cabin, and Sungmi had no intentions of angering her new roommate.

After changing into her working clothes and scrapping her hair away from her face, she made her way out of the cabin again, trying to remember where Suho said he would be meeting her. Asides from trying to find the cabin, she had her eyes open for two very particular boys.

As she scanned through the faces, it became apparent to her that the majority of the boys were around the same age as she was, with a lot being younger too. Only the clearly superior soldiers were older, and had the full attire to match. For the most part, all the trainees wore beige trousers and white t-shirts, some with elastic suspenders.

The air was hot now; a very dry heat. Walking through the camp wasn’t as simple as it might have been for a boy, but most of the trainees only stopped to stare at her for a moment before recommencing their activities. Only three of the boys dared to say anything to her, and two of those had a group of their friends gathered behind them to egg them on. The third one was the same one that Sungmi had seen begging for a piggyback earlier that day.

“You’re a girl,” was his opening line, to which Sungmi didn’t know what to say, so just gave a little nod. “Not many girls around here,” the boy commented, tapping at his chin thoughtfully. “Other than Boah, obviously.”

Sungmi thought back on the almost empty cabin she shared with said female, and guessed that she was the only other female here. “Yeah, I noticed that.”

The boy grinned widely when he heard her speaking, clutching at his chest. “Be still my beating heart,” he gushed, slapping a hand to his cheek. “Your voice is so husky.”

Not able to control her face, Sungmi felt her eyebrows rising at this. She had never before been told that she had a husky voice, and never would have imagined that this boy would be so… into it.

“Byun Baekhyun,” the boy introduced himself, holding out a hand to her proudly as if she should feel glad he was offering her such a thing. “The Great and Mighty Baekhyun, I should say,” he amended with a little smirk. “Some just call me ‘Mr Wonderful’,” he winked.

Sungmi was curious about what this boy thought classified him as either great or mighty, but said nothing, instead took the boy’s hand, allowing him to shake it quickly. “Han Sungmi.”

“So, um, not to sound rude or anything,” Baekhyun began, and Sungmi thought to herself that she had never once heard that said when it wasn't followed by something rude before. “But what are you here for?”

Sungmi held up her left arm which had a green tag around it. “I’m a training medic.”

Baekhyun nodded along like this was the most obvious thing ever. “Yeah, but why?”

At first Sungmi didn’t really understand the question, so merely blinked at the taller boy.

Seemingly clocking on to the fact that Sungmi was clueless about the matter, Baekhyun leaned in closer and whispered, “Are you a cr