~

그댈 잊는다는 건 나를 잊는 거니까

나는 안돼 꼭 너야만 해

그래 너 그래 너

나 지금 너에게 간다

조금만 기다려줘 날

너 아니면 안돼 난 안돼 난 안돼

Forgetting you means forgetting myself,

I can’t go on, it needs to be you

Yes you, you

I’m going to you right now,

please wait a little for me

I can’t go on if it’s not you

~

“Are you sure this is a good idea..?” Dongwoo asked, even though he already knew that there would be no turning back. 

The underground tunnel was dark, and the fresh smell of dirt was pungent. 

The walls were packed with soil.

The floor was a darker colored dirt, and the lamp-torches that were lighting the way down the tunnel were carelessly hammered into the soil wall.

Deciding to move deeper into the tunnel didn’t look very promising. But there was no way to escape, either.

“I feel like this tunnel could collapse on us any second,” Sungyeol remarked, earning himself a glare from Myungsoo.

“Don’t scare Dongwoo!” Myungsoo whispered into Sungyeol’s ear.

Everyone just stood there as the time went by. One minute, five minutes, ten minutes. It was if everyone was rooted to the ground, looking ahead into the tunnel before them. 

Finally, Jinhee snapped everyone out of their daze.

“We should move forward now,” Jinhee said. “We don’t know how much time we have. I’ll lead the way.”

Howon quickly followed after her, and soon everyone was venturing deeper and deeper into the underground tunnel.

There wasn’t much to see. It wasn’t like anyone could see well, anyways. Even though the tunnel was dimly lit with lamp-torches, no one could see more than five yards in front of them.

But for Somi, everyone marched on silently. No one exchanged any words, but everyone was united.

Sungjong didn’t even complain about being tired. Myungsoo and Woohyun were starving, and they didn’t say anything either.

After what seemed like hours, Woohyun’s sharp eyes saw something in the distance.

“What’s that? It looks like a subway train!” Woohyun exclaimed, and sprinted forward towards the massive white figure in the distance. Everyone began to fill themselves with hope and sprinted after Woohyun.

“They actually built it. So their technology has improved as well..” Jinhee muttered to herself, as everyone finally reached the transportation vehicle.

The vehicle was quite small compared to a usual train or subway, but more than enough to fit Jinhee and the six boys. It was like a single train car. 

“What exactly is this?” Sungyeol raised his eyebrows at his girlfriend.

“You know how there’s a KTX train that can run from Seoul to Busan in only a few hours? This vehicle is built with the same technology, except it runs on fossil fuels and operates better underground, where the air is less polluted and more dense,” Jinhee said. “It’s designed to travel long distances in a short amount of time.”

“So where exactly is this vehicle going to take us?” Myungsoo asked.

“To Somi noona, of course!” Sungjong said.

“Yup. This will be our ride to North Korea,” Jinhee patted the white vehicle with her hand, feeling around for some sort of button. She lifted up a tile on the side of the vehicle and stared at a keypad.

“Hmm..” Jinhee thought for a second, and punched in a four-digit number. 

To everyone’s surprise, part of the vehicle slid open, allowing everyone to climb inside. 

Once everyone was in, the door automatically shut.

The vehicle was exactly like a KTX train. There were seats in rows, about fifteen rows of six seats. There was also a giant green button on the wall at the front of the vehicle, and a smaller red button right next to it. There were also a few control switches.

Jinhee walked over to the front of the vehicle and bit her lip. She flipped a few control switches and pressed the giant green button. The vehicle began to move, and Jinhee sighed and plopped down into a seat.

“I’m not sure how fast this thing is,” Jinhee began. “But it will surely take a while. So everyone, get comfortable and rest up. We won’t know what will awaits us when we arrive.”

Sungjong automatically made himself at home. He curled up into a seat, and slipped into dreamland. Myungsoo and Dongwoo followed suit.

Sungyeol went to sit by Jinhee and ended up laying his head down on her lap and falling asleep. Woohyun and Howon sat near the back of the train in silence, each in deep thought.

Howon thought about Somi, and Woohyun thought about Sunggyu.

“Maybe I’ll be able to see Sunggyu hyung again,”  Woohyun hoped.

“Somi-ah.. I’m coming for you right now. So don’t worry, I’ll save you.” Howon thought, as he decided to go to sleep. He would need his energy.

Woohyun soon began to nod off as well, and slept with his head propped on the wall.

Jinhee was now the only one awake, sitting in her own thoughts. She thought about her childhood. She had spent the beginning of her childhood in North Korea. Later, she was sent to Jeonju with her brother for his mission. 

As she grew older, she realized how immoral North Korea’s values were as a country, and how terrible their government was. Jinhee didn’t want to kill people. It just wasn’t right. 

Jinhee cut off all communication with her home country. They didn’t care. They didn’t need her, anyways.

She never expected to be going back so soon.

~~~

“Officer Kwon. Officer Kwon Jiyong. We have unexpected guests.”

Private Choi Seunghyun was in charge of watching the transportation systems that left and entered North Korea. He especially kept his eyes on the tunnels coming in from South Korea. It was his job to look for unscheduled arrivals on the radar.

As soon as he saw a sign of abnormal activity, he reported it to his officer immediately.

“How much time until the vehicle gets here?” Officer Jiyong asked Private Seunghyun.

“They should be arriving here now, if I’m not mistaken,” Seunghyun said. “I think you should head down to the station, sir.”

“Will do. Thanks. Continue to keep watch,” Jiyong nodded, and walked towards the station. He arrived just in time to see the white vehicle pull in.

“Men, come over here,” Jiyong demanded, and ten of his men stood around the vehicle’s doors with guns, waiting for the people inside to come out.

~~~

The vehicle came to a screeching stop.

“We stopped. We must have arrived,” Jinhee whispered to Sungyeol, and he went to wake everyone up.

The ride to North Korea was a quiet one. Everyone slept, except for Jinhee. They had to get rest for whatever awaited them across the DMZ.

Suddenly, there came a knocking sound on the vehicle door.

“OPEN UP!” yelled a voice. Jinhee recognized it immediately.

“No way.. Jiyong oppa?”

The doors of the vehicle easily slid open. Jinhee looked at her former friend in surprise.

“Wow. Look who it is. Kim Jinhee. It’s been.. over ten years. The last time we were together, we were children playing with BB guns,” Jiyong sneered, holding up a gun.

Sungyeol stepped in front of Jinhee.

“I don’t like the way you’re acting,” he said.

“Ooh. You’ve got yourself a boyfriend? Our Jinhee has grown up!” Jiyong mocked, still aiming his gun at Jinhee’s chest.

Now, everyone was awake. No one knew what to do.

“We have no choice but to listen to them,” Jinhee declared to everyone.

Sungjong and Dongwoo whimpered.

“Smart girl,” Jiyong said. “You should all follow quietly, the less you fuss, the less we will hurt you.”

Jinhee was grabbed and handcuffed by Jiyong, and then Sungyeol was as well. They were handed off to Jiyong’s men who were standing around the door of the vehicle, allowing no one to escape.

Dongwoo closed his eyes as he was being handcuffed, and Sungjong just sighed. Myungsoo went without a word as well. Woohyun glared at Jiyong, and soon Howon was the only one still on the vehicle.

Everyone else was looking at Howon, while they were helplessly being held by Jiyong’s men.

“Please.. Howon hyung.. Now is not the time to be stubborn. They all have guns,” Sungjong prayed.

Jiyong roughly reached for Howon’s arm, and Howon slapped his hand away.

“Don’t touch me with your filthy hands,” Howon snarled at Jiyong.

“Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?” Jiyong glared back at him.

“The hard way,” Howon said, punching Jiyong in the nose. Two of Jiyong’s men sprang forward and handcuffed Howon.

“I could’ve shot you, but I feel nice today,” Jiyong pinched his bloody nose with his left hand.

“I would’ve gladly shot you, but I don’t have a gun today,” Howon gritted his teeth.

Jiyong merely laughed. “You’re a cute kid. Alright soldiers, let’s take them to the general.”

“No need to,” said a voice.

Woohyun’s ears perked up at the voice he had longed to hear for years.

“I’m already here,” Sunggyu grinned at Jiyong.

“Sunggyu hyung!” Woohyun called out, all too excited.

“Woohyun..” Sunggyu looked shocked. He didn’t know that he would see Woohyun.

“Why did he have to come..?” Sunggyu looked at Woohyun. 

He looked at Sungyeol and Myungsoo, his old classmates, as well. Finally, he made eye-contact with his own sister.

He quickly looked away. The fire in her eyes was something he had never seen before.

“All I needed to do was get Somi out of here. These idiots are making it so much harder. Now, I have to save them too,” Sunggyu sighed.

Howon shot Sunggyu a dirty look.

“So this is the guy who Somi fell in love with. He looks cheap. He looks like a yangachi,” Howon thought.

“Kim Sunggyu,” Howon spat onto the floor. “You took her heart away from me. You took her away from us. You’re a disgusting piece of trash.”

Sunggyu walked up to Howon’s shoulder with a gun. He dug the head of the gun into Howon’s shoulder.

“This is our first meeting. And you’re speaking to me like this? A piece of trash, am I?” Sunggyu purred, completely at ease.

Before Howon could open his mouth to reply, Sunggyu pulled the trigger.

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

*Author’s Note: OMG SORRY GUYS FOR NOT UPDATING ㅠㅠ I’m really busy these days and school has got me doing all this stuff ;~; I already took an exam, a test, and two quizzes and I’m so exhausted :c I have a lot of Running Man to catch up on as well.. This chapter was really short too.. SORRY :c I’ll update as soon as I can! I’ll try to finish this story before 2015 is over.. :DD