~

많은 게 변했고 또 변해가겠지만 

널 향한 이 맘을 잡아둘게 

Many things have changed,

and many things will continue to change

but I'll keep a strong hold onto my feelings for you

~

“General Kim Sunggyu. Please get out of bed. Report to the front of the training center. I repeat, report to the front of the training center.”

Sunggyu got right out of bed and pulled on his uniform. He checked his pocket for his shotgun and made sure it was loaded.

He took the knife set on his nightstand and slipped it back into its case. As he pulled on his shoes, he looked at himself in the mirror.

He had changed a LOT since the last time Somi saw him. He was less skinny, and a bit more well-built. His hair was black, and cut short. His eyes were small as always, and he hadn’t smiled in a while. 

He pulled on his shoes and marched down to the front of the training center.

“General Kim Sunggyu. Present,” Sunggyu said to the guard, who punched in a code and let Sunggyu into the training center.

“Hello, General Kim. I trust that you have been training your special forces team well. It is almost time,” the main army leader said.

“Yes, sir. We are almost ready for the invasion. We will start by taking down the DMZ, the small cities around it, and eventually Seoul. General Ok Taecyeon will start sending his soldiers down to take down Busan in a few months' time. I’m sure that Seoul will be ours by then,” Sunggyu responded to his leader.

“I’ve heard. I assure you that the tunnels are almost done and ready. Also, have you any news on our correspondent in Jeonju? Is he going to finish off the girl?” the general said.

Sunggyu kept a straight face. “I am not sure, but I will get back to you with that later, sir.”

“Okay. Your team is waiting for you in the third hall,” replied the leader.

“Yes, sir.”

Sunggyu quickly made his way to his team.

“Things are progressing well. We need to be well-trained for a successful takeover,” Sunggyu said to his troops, who looked at him with respect.

“You cannot be afraid to kill. Remember, if we are to succeed, South Korea will be ours. Then, we can live on as one big nation again. The North, and the South together. But who are the enemies standing in the way?” Sunggyu asked his troops.

“THE SOUTH KOREANS!” shouted his soldiers.

It was the same talk Sunggyu gave every day.

“That’s right. And we will annihilate every single one of them!” Sunggyu shouted back.

“Do not take pity on a single person. Not even a woman, not even a child. All of them are scum, and deserve to be killed,” Sunggyu continued.

“Active soldiers! Set out! Don’t be afraid to kill. Privates, let’s begin our training for the day.”

~~~

The day Sunggyu disappeared..

Sunggyu roughly pushed Somi forward, and with that, she ran off towards the fence, not even looking back.

“Please stay safe..” Sunggyu thought.

A helicopter came into Sunggyu’s sight. A ladder dangled down and an all-too-familiar man jumped down.

“No..” Sunggyu thought, and started to run as fast as his legs could carry him.

“We warned you, Kim Sunggyu.”

Sunggyu could hear someone saying from a megaphone, on the helicopter.

He looked back at the man, who was running after him.

“NO! PLEASE!” Sunggyu screamed, as he continued to run.

Sunggyu ran and ran, but it seemed like he was going nowhere. The man only came closer and closer to him. Sunggyu reached a tree and realized that he was at a dead end.

“DON’T FREAKING TOUCH ME!” Sunggyu screamed at the man.

“Oh, Sunggyu. You’ve grown well,” said the man, with a creepy smile on his face. “But we warned you. You couldn’t even carry out the small task we gave you, and now, you will be punished for it.”

“But.. my mission. If I’m to return home, who will take care of it now?” Sunggyu asked the man.

“Don’t worry, my boy. We have it all taken care of. Someone will be sent in place of you, to accomplish the task. The important thing is, you have broken your promise, and you shall be punished,” the man snarled, putting a white cloth to Sunggyu’s face.

Everything went black.

~~~

Sunggyu woke up about an hour later, still on the helicopter. He was laying facedown on a board. His feet were shackled and his hands were cuffed. His shirt was off, and he was still in his school uniform pants. He stretched to his pants pocket. He prodded it, and found that the key was still there.

“S-Somi-ah..” he mumbled, which caused a pair of eyes to turn to him.

“You stupid boy!” a voice snarled, and Sunggyu felt a whip come into contact with his back. Sunggyu yelled out in pain.

“You.. have.. disappointed.. all.. of.. us!” the man who had been watching Sunggyu whipped him as he said every word, and Sunggyu could only bite his tongue and let his tears fall silently.

“We sent you to Jeonju for one reason. For one task. One tiny task, and you couldn’t do it? Does it take so much effort to kill two people and then dispose of the bodies?” the man said. “Are you a weakling, Kim Sunggyu? Do you think your parents will be proud of you now?”

Sunggyu was whipped again, and he could feel his own hot blood running down his back.

“I’m sorry.. I’ll do better,” said Sunggyu.

“Did you think we weren’t watching you? Did you think that we were stupid? Did you think that we didn’t know you were falling for one of THOSE people?” the man asked.

“I’m sorry..” 

Those were the only two words that Sunggyu could bring himself to say.

“You cannot be afraid to kill. Remember, if we are to succeed, South Korea will be ours. Then, we can live on as one big nation again. The North, and the South together. But who are the enemies standing in the way?” the man asked Sunggyu.

“The South Koreans,” Sunggyu weakly said.

“Your parents would’ve been proud of you, Kim Sunggyu. It’s a shame they’re gone now,” said the man, softening his tone a bit.

“Gone?” Sunggyu blinked his eyes.

“Yeah. Two years ago, they were killed. You very well know who killed them,” the man said.

“AND NO ONE TOLD ME?” Sunggyu screamed.

“No one had the heart to. Plus, it's YOUR FAULT THAT THEY DIED! YOU STUPID KID!” the man whipped Sunggyu for the 7th time.

“Who is the enemy?” the man yelled.

“SOUTH KOREANS!” Sunggyu responded.

“That’s right,” the man said. “We will send you back in there after some time. Even though you may be soft-hearted, you are skilled. You’re a prodigy, Sunggyu. You have the brains, and the capability. You just can’t be afraid to kill. You just can’t trust in people so easily. You can’t even trust in your own sister.”

Sunggyu thought of Jinhee. She had always disliked the idea of taking over South Korea. She had always badmouthed her own family, her own roots. She had always talked about breaking away and living in the south forever.

“Jinhee..” Sunggyu said. He was starting to become angry.

“She’s a lost cause now. She won’t cooperate or anything. We already cut off all communication with her. Forget her, Kim Sunggyu. She’s a girl. She’ll die like the rest of them. She doesn’t know enough information to do anything, and no one will take her seriously,” the man said. “It was a waste of time trying to train her as a kid. She may know some things, but not enough.”

Sunggyu thought for a second. He was so overwhelmed, and to find out that his parents were dead made him even angrier at the South Koreans.

He took a deep breath and said, “Screw Jinhee. Screw Somi. Screw Woohyun. Screw South Korea. I’ll come back and kill them all. I’ll grow stronger, smarter, and more powerful, and KILL THEM ALL! Every single one of them. I WON’T STOP UNTIL THEIR DIRTY BLOOD IS SPILLED!”

The man smiled. “That’s my boy.”

~~~

“General Kim. We have captured one of the South Korean soldiers from the DMZ. What should I do with him?” one of Sunggyu’s active-duty unit soldiers called him.

“Bring him here. Let him be a lesson for one of the private soldiers. They are still new, and hesitant to kill,” Sunggyu coldly said.

Two of Sunggyu’s best soldiers, Jang Wooyoung and Kim Minjun, marched a buff looking man over to him. The man was proudly wearing a South Korean uniform.

Sunggyu read his nameplate. “Soldier Ahn. Jae. Hyun.”

Sunggyu said every syllable of the soldier’s name with disgust, and spit onto the ground.

“You North Koreans think you’re all that. Strong, powerful, and great. But guess what? You’re not!” Jaehyun yelled. “DAEHANMINGUK!”

Jaehyun was way taller, buffer, and manlier looking than Sunggyu. Not to mention, handsomer. Sunggyu didn’t care.

“Yell that one more time, and you’ll die.”

“DAEHANMINGUKMANSE!” Jaehyun yelled. “I’ll die for my country!”

“Okay then. You asked for it,” Sunggyu smirked, as he gestured for Wooyoung and Minjun to follow him.

Wooyoung and Minjun followed Sunggyu to the training field, where the newest recruits, aka the private soldiers, were practicing shooting at moving targets.

“Here,” Sunggyu gestured to a board, and Wooyoung and Minjun tied Jaehyun down.

Jaehyun was still yelling, saying that it would be an honor for him to die for his country, South Korea.

“Kim Woobin. Come here,” Sunggyu called over a private soldier. Woobin slowly walked over to Sunggyu, his gun still loaded.

“Shoot,” Sunggyu demanded, pointing to Jaehyun.

“Shoot?” Woobin blinked, scared. He did not want to take a person’s life.

“Yes. Do you know where to aim?” Sunggyu asked, impatient.

“In the heart..” Woobin quietly said.

“That’s correct,” Sunggyu couldn’t bare to look at Jaehyun.

The other soldiers who were training looked at Sunggyu, Jaehyun, and Woobin curiously. They wondered if Woobin had the guts to kill a man. A human being. They looked at Sunggyu in awe. Sunggyu didn't even flinch a bit when he demanded Woobin to shoot Jaehyun.

“You’re such a coward!” Jaehyun screamed to Sunggyu.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to be saying that to me,” Sunggyu harsly said. “Look at you. You’re minutes away from your death.”

“You look weak. Why are you making someone else shoot me for you? Are you scared, to kill someone? Do you feel guilty? I think.. I think I can see guilt in your tiny eyes. Are you scared to take a person’s life? Is someone as cowardly as YOU a general for the North Korean army?” Jaehyun jeered.

Sunggyu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Woobin. Now.”

Woobin pulled the trigger and the bullet went straight into Jaehyun’s heart. Sunggyu didn’t open his eyes to look.

“Good work, everyone. Let that conclude our training for today,” Sunggyu turned around and marched away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Author’s Note: So now Sunggyu finally makes his appearance again! YAYY! *throws confetti* So yeah.. He’s part of the North Korean army. And apparently, they want to take over South Korea. Do you think he even thinks about Somi anymore? Is Somi’s love for him one-sided? Mwahahaha only I know :3 나만 다 알지롱~~ Btw I can't imagine Sunggyu being evil or killing anyone! He's too adorable for that^^