Part Two: D-Day

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Yoo Si Jin woke up to the loud bellows of men jogging around the Tae Baek’s base grounds.

“Red Velvet, saranghae! Yeongwonhi saranghae!”

“Red Velvet, saranghae! Yeongwonhi saranghae!”

His room was about ten to fifteen meters away from the grounds, but it did seem like their voices were blaring within a few steps away. Yoo Si Jin got up from his bunk bed and peered at the bedside window to see Seo Dae Young leading the group of about a hundred soldiers from the Special Forces unit.

“Ten more rounds until we freshen up for the program, soldiers!” Dae Young yelled loud and clear as he continued on jogging and leading the whole group, “You better shape up before Red Velvet arrives at the base,”

“Yes sir!” A jointly reply from the soldiers, and then they repeated the whole chant from the top, “Hana. Deul. Se. Ne. Saranghaeyo, Kang Seul Gi! Yeongwonhi, saranghae!”

Kang Seul Gi.

Kang

Kang Mo Yeon.

A picture of a very mad female doctor popped in Yoo Si Jin’s head. Shaking the thought out of his mind, he walked to the shower room. “Aiyoo…” He mumbled, “This was going to be harder than I thought,”

Later on that morning, as the rest of the soldiers were having their meals, Yoo Si Jin and the rest of the Alpha Team gathered at the function hall for a final briefing. As the five of them entered, they could all see the fruits of their labor during the week: the lights were all set and the audio system did sound better than it normally does. Red balloons of different sizes were distributed on each chair, and some of it were also scattered on the floor. The physical set-up was just as Yoo Si Jin had described. ‘You did decorate it like a man would. This is perfect,” He said with his eyes trailing all over the place.

“Me and the soldiers who helped me didn’t do that much,” Dae Young knew the question was directed on him.

Si Jin glanced back with a smirk, “Precisely,”

“Captain,” Sergeant Im called his attention and pointed back at the lined-up rectangular cut-outs and handwritten signboards below the stage, “We got them dried up early this morning. Are the captions okay?”

Si Jin peered to see what was written:

Red Velvet is sweeter than an angel

Red Velvet is better than my girlfriend.

Everything written on it made him chuckle, “It’s good. I think everything’s doing great, now we get to plan on the guests’ entrance,” He then laid out the blueprints of the whole Tae Baek military base, pointing the route as to where the media and other VIP guests would pass by. Everything was well-instructed and looked after by Si Jin, which made all things work according to plan.

Big Boss remained inside the function hall, making sure things were doing fine, while Piccolo along with Harry Potter stayed outside to lookout. Wolf and Snoopy were situated at the entrance to meet the guests and safely them inside. Once the last batch of guests—Red Velvet—arrived, the team retreated back inside and made the backstage area as their rendezvous point, as instructed by Si Jin.

“But why backstage?” Sergeant Choi asked the captain using their earpiece.

“To orient the ladies,” Si Jin replied, “And to personally meet them. We deserve a reward for doing a great job,”

“I’m really a fan of your music,” Seo Dae Young spoke formally as he stood on guard while the girls were preparing for their number. They stayed on guard while waiting for Yoo Si Jin to arrive backstage.

Irene, one of the members, gave him a aegyo smile, “That’s really nice to hear from a soldier, oppa,”

Oppa. Dae Young’s heart melt. How come Myung Joo doesn’t do so much aegyo expressions?

“Ya, I didn’t know the oppas from the Special Forces could be this handsome,” Joy mused, staring at the four soldiers standing in line.

Sergeant Im bowed his head, trying to conceal the blush on his cheeks, ‘Wait till you see Captain Yoo,”he mentioned, pressing the radio of their headset in order for Yoo Si Jin to hear.

“Wae?” Kang Seul Gi, who was getting her mic prepped up asked, “Who’s he?”

Sergeant Choi noticed that it was the captain’s most favorite member who asked. “Of all the people who’d ask about him….” He whispered to Dae Young, careful that the girl wouldn’t hear.

“He’s the Alpha Male of the Alpha Team,” Sergeant Il said, also pressing the radio of their headset.

“Jinja?” Joy was all ears, “Wah, that’s pretty interesting for a description,”

“He’ll arrive shortly to brief you with a few things before the program starts—ah, he’s here,” Sergeant Seo stated as the Captain made his way inside. From the four men’s perspective, it did seem like Si Jin heard everything through their headset device; he calmly walked with a macho feel—his hand rested on his waist belt, giving justice to the ‘Alpha Male’ description his soldiers had given moments ago.

Indeed, that entrance captured the girl’s attention.

“I’m Team Alpha’s Captain Yoo Si Jin,” Focus. Focus. Focus. You can’t fanboy in front of them. Not now. He yelled in the deepest part of his mind when he noticed the young girls’ eyes were all focused on him—especially his favorite among the five, Kang Seul Gi.

“Anneyonghaseyo, Yoo Si Jin-oppa,” They greeted him with a bow.

He blinked, his heart beating fast. He wanted to take a picture. He wanted to get their autographs. He badly wanted to sing their songs in front of them.

But a man’s ego is irrevocable, and he didn’t want to give in that easily. And most of all, he knew his beloved Mo Yeon would get mad if she could see this with her own eyes.

If only she’d understand….

“Ah, erm, anyway…” he cleared his throat, “I’m here to orient you about a few things regarding our safety precautions here at the base, You girls are famous, and we wouldn’t want to make a mob both in and out of the base,” He had hoped he looked manly and reliable as he said those words.

“Okay, soldier oppa,”

“First of all, in behalf of our battalion commander, we thank you for coming here today despite the bad weather. It really means a lot to the soldiers here. I hope you pull a good show just like you always do—“

“Yoo Si Jin!”

Everybody glanced at the door in surprise when they heard someone yell from there. Si Jin, upon seeing the distraught look on their Colonel’s face, “Colonel Park?”

“Ya, I