THE HELICOPTERS CAME AND WENT.

    I stayed at the village. I wanted to know before I left. Hwayoung said she’d stay with me but I asked her to go home with the others.

    Apparently, one night, there was a huge explosion. The elder ordered the villagers to go check things out right away. Turned out it was a helicopter crash. They have no idea how things ended up like that except for the fact that there was a huge explosion in the desert. When the villagers when to check, they found eight bodies. Three already has left the world while the others were barely surviving the explosion. They brought the five over and started treating them right away.

“And how long have they been here for?” The elder and I sat at his place. His wife offered me a glass of water and I accepted it. Then she said something and left.

“Over five months. Your partner was the first one to recover. As you saw, the other two are still unconscious. We did everything to try to keep them alive.”

“Why didn’t you try to contact anyone?” I asked.

“No one from this village leaves the village.” He spoke in a firm voice. “Plus… wars happen in this country all the time. People, like you, come and go time to time. We saw something happen, we did our duty by saving them. At that time, we didn’t care if they are fighting for us or if they are fighting against us. They are human, so we helped save their lives.” He took a deep breath.  

“Yes, but people come in and out- like the guide who brought us here. Why didn’t you send something about them?”

“How would we know what the outside world would do if we handed them five almost-corpses? What if they try to kill them?” I blinked a couple of times. “We don’t know if they are on the same side or not. I will never take that risk. That is why we waited for at least one of them to wake up. And your partner was the first”

“When did he wake up?”

“Two months ago. From the moment he woke up, he kept calling ‘Iseula’. Once his hand was better, he wrote that letter to you. But we got no reply. He wrote another. Just in case…”

    I stayed still. Was I even in the position to question the people who saved our men? Without them, our team would have been- Don’t even think about it, Kim Iseul. They are all safe and sound.

“Thank you” I stood up and bowed.

“You know, he has so much faith in you. He said you’ll be the one to save them, and he was right.” I looked up to see the elder smiling. “And tell the others to rest asure. Every one of them have life in them. They will not leave this world any time soon.” A chuckle rolled along with his words.

***

When I arrived in Korea, everyone was at the airport. I mean, everyone. Including the Lieutenant Colonel and all the higher positions. One look and I wanted to go back into the aircraft. Ah, I can’t escape this one. Taking a deep breath, I walked forward with my backpack in my hand. Once I reached the officials, I dropped my bag.

“Reporting: Daewi Kim Iseul returning to the home base after rescuing the five members of the Special Forces that were missing-” Soryeongnim stepped up and pulled me into a hug.

“Um… Soryeongnim, are you allowed to do this?” I asked as he hugged me.

“Oh shush. I’m just so proud of you. Your dad is so proud of you. The nation is proud of you”

“Oh Soryeongnim, that line sounds like a line from a Disney movie.”

“Yoon Myungjoo liked that movie ‘Mulan’ when she was little. I’m currently living that famous scene” He said and moved away. I bit back a smile. “Go greet the others.”

“Yes, Sir” I waited for him to stand back at his place.

“Well done” Said the officials as each and every one of them shook my hand. At the back stood the team that went with me along with the Black Widow and my own team.

“Please tell me I don’t have to shake your hands too” I said as I stood in front of Jeong Daewi.

“Please. Shaking hands are too cheesy” She said as she pulled me into a hug. “This is better” She said as she let out a sigh.

“Sunbae” Hwayoung pouted behind Jeong Daewi. Then she joined in on the hugging. One by one, everyone joined in.

“I can’t breathe.” I yelled.

“Ya ya, shut it and just enjoy this moment” Myungjoo yelled back.

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