Their week of leave had passed faster than Yeontae had thought and before he could tell, they were already back to the training camp.

That morning, Yeontae’s eyes shot open at the sound of the siren.

“Trainees must be ready and standing to attention in 15 minutes.”

He felt like breaking the speakers into pieces. It was way too early for this.

“Babe, move.” He heard Jinkyu’s husky voice from above him.

He was standing next to his bed. How was he already awake and dressed ?!

The younger winked then threw clothes at him.

“Good morning to you too…” Yeontae sighed in a whiny tone.

Suddenly Jinkyu had his face right in front of his. “Go shower, babe.”

He then caressed his cheek before sitting next to him to lace his boots.

Saying Yeontae was a little flustered was a euphemism. He wanted the other to kiss him so badly but everyone else was still in the dorm, getting dressed or making their bed.

“Yeontae, move, you sleepy head !” He heard Inho shouting at him.

And now he wasn’t sure what was worse between him and the speakers.

The sergeant instructor was staring at the trainees as they were all aligned in the yard in front of him.

“Soldiers, I’m gonna call the ten best trainees in age order and they’ll come with me: Jung Yeontae, Lee Sangwook…”

Yeontae understood that what he had dreaded was happening today.

“Hwang Inho, Tak Jinkyu…”

His mind was blank.

“The others are going to their training as usual. You better work hard, particularly the ones who just came back because I don’t want any lazybones !”

The rest of the trainees left the yard, leaving only the ten of them.

“Soldiers, come with me.”

They followed the sergeant instructor in silence. Only the boots scratching the ground could be heard.

Yeontae felt Jinkyu’s hand pressing his for a split second. And it reassured him a little because now he knew the younger knew he was worried about this mission.

Jinkyu knew how Yeontae needed him in this very moment.

And that was enough.

The instructor left them in a meeting room where another officer already was, looking through the window. He looked younger than the others and probably wasn’t more than 23 or 24.

The ten boys stayed in line without moving an inch.

“I’m instructor Kim Hyeonjin.” He eventually turned around and faced them. “But from now on, you’ll just call me Kim.”

Yeontae gulped.

“No rank, no ‘Sir’, just Kim.”

He sounded so serious.

“Anyway, you’ve been chosen because you’re the ten trainees who ranked the highest during evaluations.”

Yeontae took a quick look to the side: Jinkyu was still next to him. He felt a little less nervous.

“The government wants you to serve as an experiment. You won’t be able to talk about what you’re doing here with the others. You can’t tell anything.”

Oh well…

“Tomorrow, we’ll go on an exploration mission in the quarantine zone.”

Gasps around him.

“Calm down, if you remember your training and do as I say, everything’s gonna be fine.”

Yeont