June 9, 2337

I wonder what people are saying about our disappearance.  Maybe they think we were captured or perhaps killed by the Resistance.  Are they looking for us?  Do they miss us or mourn us?  The ones that are most important to me should know where I am and that I'm safe but the same cannot be said for my friends.  In our short lives, it's important for us to spend as much time as we can with the people that we love but we also have to be able to sacrifice that time for the greater good.  I hope Siwon will find a way to understand that.  He barely spoke at breakfast this morning.

I can understand why they are angry.  All three of them are just as useful to the cause as I am but that doesn't mean they have to like the fact that they've been ripped away from their lives.  What we're going to do is dangerous and some of us will not come back alive.  I wish that I could—

***

Minseok interrupted me when I was writing to bring me back to my apartment.  The Commander has decided how I will be useful.  I am to go back to my old life, mostly.  I suppose I should be happy that I'm finally getting that promotion that I have wanted ever since I graduated from the academy but for some reason it's not the same.  I know what this means.  I'm going to be deep undercover.  I will be surrounded by political figures that support the AHA and I have to pretend to be interested in their cause.  I will have to report this all back to the Resistance and I'm the only one that can because I'm new to this, a player that they don't have intelligence on.  I'm the wild card that they never saw coming.

I've haven't had much training for undercover operations but apparently that's where Minseok comes in.  He's going to be my partner and he'll coach me throughout the operation about the right things to say and do.  The Commander still needs his best agent to stay in hiding but Minseok told me he'd break that rule if I was ever compromised beyond safety.  That gives me a bit of comfort.  Soldiers always look out for each other over all odds.

"Make sure you stay alive and just don't let them catch you," Minseok said, after the Commander shut off the comm link.  

I frowned.  "I'm not entirely confident but I need to do something.  And how exactly are you going to be of help if you can't be seen out in the open?  Even coming here without the tunnels must have been risky for you."

Minseok merely laughed off my questions.  It must have been amusing for him for someone like me to question his skills.  "Don't worry about me.  I might be dying but they can't bring me down so easily.  I'll be there for you, Hyunae, whether you see me or not."

I opened my mouth to protest but he shushed me.  I just glared at him then and considering he was nearly seven years my senior, it was definitely disrespectful but thankfully he didn't hold it against me.

"Is there any antidote or cure to this disease?" I asked, changing the subject.

Minseok seemed surprised that I changed the subject.  He shrugged and turned his back towards me but I could tell he knew more than he wanted to reveal.  To my surprise, he ended up telling me instead of just brushing it off.  "We have people working on it though we suspect that the ones who created this disease are the ones that have the cure.  Luckily it isn't exactly fatal, but we cannot risk the general public finding out about it."

"If it isn't fatal why would you claim that you're dying?" I asked.  I had been under the impression that really going to die.

Minseok seemed uncomfortable for a few moments.  I could tell he knew more than what he was willing to tell me but I persisted and repeated the question.  If my mentor on this mission had the potential to drop dead any second along the way then I had to know about it.

"I guess I'll tell you.  If you don't find out from me, someone else will tell you anyway," Minseok sighed.  "The disease is slow acting.  From what we've gathered, it brings you as close to death as possible over a long period of time and then once you're on the verge of death it starts to do what it was created for.  It targets the part of us that's in tune with nature and it ea