He's having a dream.

Haerang feels full of adrenaline. There's blood running off his face, but the mask blocks anyone from seeing his face. He laughed in freedom, no one here cares that he is the general's son, no one wants him to be the best— better than Won Ryuhwan.

He loves this—this betrayal of the so called Party, he loves the freedom it provides. He remember that one guy, Choi Minwoo or sonething, boasting about his beautiful sister. One of those beautiful, broken, little things that he got out of the Camp, the pretty kid soldiers in there that he almost bombed.

He had to bargain, to plead, to sell most of his pride and almost kill a bunch of people before the General( nope. Not his father. Never his father.) finally agreed to send him to the South.

He dyed his hair orange. When his Comrade General asked, he just replied that it suits his cover story.

It does, but it's not the real reason. It never was.

As he ran and laughed in exhilaration, he never thought about the consequences. The salmon will die after it returns home anyways.

Once they were far enough from the concentration camp, he stopped. The pretty broken sister of that Choi guy stopped him. "Please be careful, Comrade oppa." She begged.

He smirked, and caressed her cheeks." Of course I will. "

But he could feel a headache coming, so he ran. He ran as fast as he can to the dock, and boarded the ships that will carry him to the South, that will carry him to his freedom.

"Be careful, oppa. Please don't die!" She called before he ran off.

Somehow, Haerang could feel his body again. Is is what hell feels like? Feeling the pain from his body, infinitely?

He groaned, and blinked. "그새끼..." He cursed. (this bastard...)

"Comrade Captain. You are awake." The boy sounds very surprised.

His body feels like lead. He never wants to move. "Shut up......" He snapped at the voice.

He can smell the hospital's disinfectant, the sharp smell irritating his nose. It hurts. His whole body hurts. He's not sure where he is. Is he is North Korea? In custody, waiting for execution? No wait. They won't be kind enough to allow him the luxury of lying down. The General would have come to slap him around already.

"Lee Haerang. Captain of fourth squad, 5446 Unit. Son of general Lee Moohyuk. You are in the custody of South Korean National Intelligence Service. I am Chief Seo Soohyuk. " he flashed his badge, and sat down beside his bed. "We were waiting for you to wake up."

Haerang blinked at him. "We?"

"You have been unconscious for a long time. You were in coma for 198 days." Haejin replied. "Captain Won was waiting."

He felt like laughing. "So the damn guys is still alive, huh?" He stopped abruptly. "Is Colonel Taewon still alive?"

Chief Seo shook his head. "No. He died upon impact on the ground. You were lucky. We had a large number of type  O blood bank. The blood transfusion was done right away."

Haerang pushed himself up, and gasped. "Ah .... Shame. Where's Ryuhwan?" Haejin crossed the room in large strides, and tried to push the man down. "Please lie down, Captain. You will strain the stitches." He fretted in worry.

"Where's Ryuhwan?" He repeated." Is he dead?" He asked bluntly.

The South Korean shook his head. "No. He is alive. He is with the director right now. He will try to negotiate with him for the best course of action in the future." He replied carefully.

Haejin stiffened. "Chief, you never told me." He said slowly.

Soohyuk rose he hands up in defeat. "Forgive me, Haejin-ya.  I did not think that you would have liked to know."

Watching Haejin slowly become angered, Haerang decided to interfere. "Chief, if you would please excuse us...."

Captain Seo inclined his head, nodded, and left by the door wit a click. "Haejin, please calm down." Haerang ordered.

The kid's shaking, he noticed. "Captain Lee, h-he never told me! He said Captain Won was resting! He said he was too tired to do anything!" His voice was also shaking.

Haerang can feel the anger radiating from the kid. He himself was shocked that Ryuhwan was ordered to see the director already.

"Quiet, Lee Haejin!" He ordered firmly. The brat paused." Y-yes, Captain."

"Think about it for a moment, Haejin. What is Ryuhwan for you?" Haerang demanded. "If he wasn't thinking about you, who do you think he cares about the most?"

The kid's eyes averted to the ground. "I don't know.... Captain was in his room this morning, but then Seo Soohyuk came in..... He told me to go out and come find you......"

Haerang cursed again. "That idiot...." Already thinking about all the negative consequences, his breath quickened. He could suddenly hear footsteps outside the door, just a faintest sound. The uneven sounds stopped, and the door beeped, and opened, revealing a suit clad, slouching man.

"You're finally awake."

Haerang smirked. "Who dies  harder than me?" He laughed. "So how's our so called normal life in the South is gonna go?"

"How are you feeling?" Ryuhwan asked coolly.

"Ya, loosen up. I'm fine." He winced as he smirked, and cursed again.

"Captain, you are not fine." Haejin furrowed his eyebrows.

Ryuhwan limped forward slowly, and sat down on the chair. Haerang snorted. "Stop treating me like an invalid, bastard."

"Do you still want to be a idol?" Ryuhwan questioned.

There seems to be stars of amusement dancing in his eyes. Of course he does. "Why won't I?" he fired back.

"If you still do, please cooperate with us. "The same man from earlier came into the room again.

"Oh. It's you again." Haerang wrinkled his nose. Where did that guy come from? "Seo Soohyuk was it? I heard you were in the 5446 before."

"5446 Unit is now disbanded. Lee Moohyuk can no longer support the troop, since their all of the agents are dead. The trainees have already been transferred to the North Korean Official troop. They have no more reasons to continue." The man pushed his square glasses up, reporting it in an emotion they can not distinguish.

"Are you happy about it, Chief Seo?" Haejin questioned.

He shrugged. "Perhaps." He said flatly. "This will be beneficial to our country."

"But are you happy, Chief?" He pressed.

The emotions in his eyes betrayed him. He closed his eyes. "Yes. I am."

The phone beside the bed interrupted the moment. Seo Soohyuk picked it up, furrowed his eyebrows, and turned it off. "Director." He explained." Wants to see Haerang."

Ryuhwan pushed himself off the chair. "No."

Haerang snorted. "If an old bastard wants to see me, then just come with me."

"Yah, Lee Haerang." Chief Seo said sharply. "You just woke up. You are going to harm your body." He watches as the young man tries to push himself up again, this time struggling with less effort. After six months with no workout, his body is weak and fragile.

He remember when he found him, underneath all the filth and metal boards from when the construction workers left. The batch of long grass under his body was alreadya stained with a dark red, the wounds from his leg and waist are still oozing blood. The explosion left a still fresh scar of the left side of his face. As soon as they put him in the car, they had tested for his blood type for a transfusion.

The transfusion was done immediately upon return. The whole of NIS questioned Seo Soohyuk's strange protectiveness over the three North Korean spies, but no one can get a clear answer from him.

Not even the director.

One week later, Ryuhwan recovered just barely.

One month later, Haejin was able exercise normally.  

Three months. Haerang is still in coma. The entertainment company has called them, asking why Lee Haerang did not come for further audition. They could not answer. They just told the company to wait a few weeks.

Weeks turned to months.

Five months. Same. Ryuhwan started the meetings with the director.

Six months. Haerang woke up.

57 days later, Below ground level in NIS HQ

In a room full of practise dummies, a teenage cracked his knuckles. "I'm ready." He announced.

Theres still three silvery lines on his face, never to come off. There's still a noticeable limp to his steps, but he is determined to pass this. Ryuhwan and Haejin passed this months ago.

It feels like he's back in square one, back in his trainee days where it is simple, bloody. Where all he does all day is wake up, train, eat a stale bread, train, train, and train until he can not longer feel his body.

It is no longer as simple.

He had gone to see the Director; or more like the director came to see him. It was not a pleasant experience. The moment Haerang saw him, he knew he would be one of the major stumbling blocks in their 'maybe' future South Korean life. He didn't get his hope up.

He was right. Before he could even get one word in, the director began his expectations. If not for the chief interrupting him, 'politely' if he might add, he could have gone on forever. Haejin can be seen clenching and unclenching his fist.

Many of his expectations were cut down, but they are still like birds in a cage. The salmon in them is almost all gone.

They are all trying to be in the best condition. The chief has already warned them of the director's possible betrayal, so they need to train up fast.

On the third week he woke up, he began his beginner 'conditioning' , as he calls them.

What it really happens is that he goes against an increasing number of NIS agents. At first they held back, but on the second day, they gave their all to the agent from the North.

There's already a solid rumour that the three wild dogs from North Korea had already sent three to five agents to the Emergency Room, but that was later squashed down. No one could sent someone else to the emergency room after waking up for only a few weeks.

One month has passed then, and they moved on to the dummy room, where the dummy is motion sensitive, and attacks whenever you move close.

With the limp, no one believed that he will pass it. No one except him, Ryuhwan and Haejin.

He his dry lips and smiled with bloodlust. "Come on, Chief. Give me the best with it." At a speed that they were all shocked at, he set off.

The whole course is 1000 meters long. There is about 15 dummies positioned strategically in every meter. The last ones are equipped with laser tags that will shock you in contact.

Within a minute, they heard the first grunt of pain. At three hundred meters meters, he was shot by a dummy. The clip went into his arm, but he kept on moving.

There's a fire burning where his leg was shot once and shattered when he fell. He ignored it. He already had twenty something years of practise to ignore any sort of pain. Trainees of 5446 weren't taught pain.

At the end of the course, he was just heaving slightly. After six months of no movement, he had to essentially began learning to fight again.

He remember when he was barely thirteen, in a similar course, racing against an even younger Ryuhwan. He remembered the jealousy he felt when he was the only one that was as fast as him. And the guy even ignored him!

All he ever wanted was to be the best. But it seemed as if he will not be. That moment when their blunted, rusty training knife almost cut through each other, he knew Won Ryuhwan is better.

And then they were almost friends, something that does not happen easily in the North. A friend could easily be killed. A lover will be worse. Soldiers of 5446 have to have no attachments.

As he the blood from his lips from when the dummies punched him, he thought about this. What is the purpose of living here in the South anyways? All they were taught was to kill for the Party, live for the Party, serve the Party, protect the Party ..... To live, would be an honor. To die, he will die as a legend.