My chair was pushed and I jolted awake fo the fifth time. Tuan gave me a glared and went back to the work on his computer. 

"Maybe if you actually talked I wouldn't fall asleep so much. I thought you were giving me work to do or something." 

"Guard Duty." I rolled my eyes.

"I have one more week till I leave. You're wasting precious moments with me." I got no answer back and I looked the cuticle across from us. Youngjae and Junior sharing donuts and coffee and a workspace. Here, I'm handcuffed to a desk leg on a wooden chair for everyone to see. They were even laughing together.

"Why does Youngjae get treated like a prince while I'm here, guard dog to the king with a stick up his ?" 

"He helped." 

"You don't even give me a chance to help!" I pulled on the handcuff and made the desk move. Others looked over as the leg squeaked on the tile and Tuan and I glared them off. 

"Mark, I go to museums to see pretty things, but I don't go more than once." My face lit up as Jackson walked in. He was holding another file and his left hand was stuck into his pocket. If it weren't for him coming in every day at two, I would have died of boredom already. 

"It's because they get boring," I said back and he smiled. 

"I have to talk to them, you have to uncuff her, Mark." Without looking up from his work, he took the key out of his pocket and gave it to Jackson. Once the cuff was off my wrist I hopped out of the chair and looked down at it. A thin bruise was still showing itself all the way around my wrist. A week of being handcuffed to the same spot gets redundant and painful, good thing I'm used to it.

"Do you have something for me to do today?" He shook his head.

"Youngjae," I froze in my spot and didn't look at him walking over. It's been a week since the party nad I haven't talked to him once. I haven't seen him outside of this workplace. For the first three days, he came up to me every day at least three times. Every time I hit him away with my free hand or ignored him completely. I guess you could say that the bruise on my wrist wasn't just from sitting there all day. He even brought me lunch because Tuan doesn't eat, but it just ends up in the trash can at the end of the day. Youngjae wasn't just trying to make up for the party, but he was trying to make up for lost time and face. Time he was never going to get back. It's was almost like he didn't realize what happened. He didn't realize that when the letters stopped, I stopped. 

"Where are we going?" Youngjae asked. I waited till they walked five paces before I started. 

"Informational meeting about this Saturday. There are others there so behave." That comment was directed to me, but I was just staring straight ahead. That's when I noticed that we were heading for the doors. The meeting was outside and Tuan was trusting Jackson with me? Or did he know Youngjae would come along? I inwardly scowled at Tuan and walked through the metal detector behind Youngjae. It beeped, but no one stopped to check me. It had been a week of the same thing. 

"Where's the meeting?" Youngjae asked and opened the car door. 

"At a restaurant. There'll be more than a few people. Why are you standing there? Move." I realized he was talking to me and I looked in front of me. Youngjae was holding the backseat door for me.

"Shotgun," I said, glaring at him and walking around to the other side of the car. Jackson laughed before getting in. Youngjae was the last. I couldn't avoid him now, but I could be unresponsive.  

"You both are going to get the army experience, you excited?" I rolled my eyes at Jackson trying to lighten the mood. 

"No." He sighed.

"I meant the South Korean army experience. Comradery and lasting relationships." 

"I bet they're all wimps." Youngjae slipped out and Jackson groaned.

"Alright you two, these people know who you are. You aren't allowed to get into fights over who's strong or what not. Just be quiet and take it like you did in the North. It might not be challenging or hard for you, but the South Korean army is a citizen army." 

"I was one."

"We were in the top one percent, I shook the bastards hand!" I froze up when Youngjae let out that yell and looked around. 

Why can't you say it, Choi MeeYon? Who is Kim Jong....

"I thought you said both of your parents were dead, Hye-In?" I jumped and turned to Jackson.

"Yeah." 

"Before they died?"

"Yeah."

"Her mother died befor-" I turned to him quickly, grabbing his collar. That little...

"You have no right to talk about my family when you're one of the reasons they're like this!" Youngjae's eyes widened and we were thrown against the side of the car by Jackson swerving. I was forced to let go of Youngjae and cover my head. Unfortunately, Youngjae did the same and almost yanked my head his way as well. 

"We're here. No more of that." Jackson got out of the car and it took a moment to realize that Youngjae was touching me. I threw his hand off my head and glared at him before getting out. It might have been childish, but it was Youngjae. I'm petty around him. 

I walked up and joined Jackson. Youngjae was the one walking behind. 

"You have to sit next to him, so ignore him? For me?" I side glanced at Jackson and sighed.

"I'll try." A bell above the door rang when we walked in and Jackson made a sharp left down a hallway. As we got near the end room, it was getting louder and louder. 

"The noise is the same," Youngjae muttered under his breath and Jackson let out another small laugh before opening the door for us. That's when the noise stopped and eyes turned to us. There weren't a lot of people, maybe fifteen. One thing I noticed, all of them were men. It's mandatory only for men, I forgot about that. 

"Greet them." Jackson nudged me and I glared a bit at him. 

"Hello, I'm Kim Hye-In." I bowed and then went back to staring back at a wall. 

"Yoo Youngjae." 

"Sit." I saw that there were two spots open at the head of the table and B-lined it there. Youngjae did the same and I groaned at everyone's close proximity. Two months. 

"The meeting will start in another 30 minutes when your commander gets here." Jackson took another bow before walking out. My eyes widened and I knew he had just thrown us into the lion's den.

"So you two are North Korean, huh?" The one adjacent to Youngjae spoke up. He was overweight and looked like he sweats a lot. He'd do good on propaganda against South Korea. 

"Yes. But we're all people aren't we?" Youngjae let out a soft smile and I rolled my eyes. Here comes that Youngjae. He's going to try to make friends before he obliterates them. I'm just going to skip the obliteration part. 

"Depends. What do you favor more?" The one adjacent to me said. He was skinny, but not handsome. None of them were really that handsome. Then again, the only videos of South Korea I had seen before coming here were dramas. 

"I'm going to an army camp for two months and an NIS training camp after that, what do you think?" That let out a couple laughs, but the attention was turned to me by the same guy. 

"What about you? North or South?" All eyes were on me and I just kept staring at the wall like I was deaf. Youngjae elbowed me under the table and I didn't even glare at him. 

"Kim Hye-In sshi?" Youngjae leaned down a bit and I had to resist the urge to punch him in the face. For Jackson. 

"MeeYo-"

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"How can we be sure you won't kill us in our sleep?" The one by Youngjae caused a few laughs and I turned to glare at him. That made him shut up real quick. 

"You won't be sure." Youngjae grabbed my arm and I turned to him with the same glare before yanking out of his grasp. 

"She's feisty. You two know each other?" Another one from a bit farther down the table spoke up and that caused more laughs. I don't get South Korean humor. 

"We have a past." That made them laugh even more. Great, Youngjae. Fueling the drunk men's fire. 

"That's a lie." I mumbled and the guy next to me "ooh"'d. 

"If you don't have a past with him, how about a future with me?" That brought more laughs and I looked at the soju in front of me. These people are driving me to drink. 

"If you don't have a future how can I be in it?" The laughed stopped and turned into more "oooh"s. 

"Hye-In, I said be nice." Jackson walked in with two people behind him who were dressed in military dress. 

"I am." Everyone stood and bowed to the first guy who walked up except Youngjae and I. Everyone looked at us when they sat down and I made eye contact with the guy. 

"Sorry. North Korean."

"North Koreans have no respect for their officers?" 

"Pretty sure I was an officer..." Youngjae said and I smirked for once. I was all for Youngjae sassing the officials. Kiss- Youngjae was gone. I wonder what filliped the switch. 

"What's your excuse?" He turned to me and crossed his arms. 

"I was beaten for insubordination over twenty times."

"Twenty? I counted thirty." He shook his head at us and I could hear Jackson's heart drop. 

"Well...you two are going to be fun." 

"Yoo, Kim." It was a short warning from Jackson but I looked behind us at him. 

"I'm trying." I gave him and smiled and he shook his head. 

"Everyone, as you can see we have two new additions to our squad. I would like them to introduce themselves and add a fun fact about themselves as well." 

"Ex-Captain Yoo Youngjae, ex-member of Alpha Troop 54. Fun Fact: I was Pyeongyang nobility." He sat down with a smirk on his face. Youngjae was quiet wen he needed to be and loud when he needed to be. I'm not sure what he needs to be right now. I know that Jackson wants me to stay quiet.

"Ex-Coronel Kim HyeIn, ex-member of Alpha Troop 54. Fun Fact...I don't really have any...I graduated from Korea University." I sat down again and everyone was silent. 

"You give me two Alpha 54's, really Wang sshi?" The commander looked annoyed and I looked at his nametag. Park TaeSung. 

"Is there a problem, Park sshi?" 

"We know him," Youngjae said out-loud and my mind sparked in remembrance. Youngjae stabbed that guy right in the liver and Daehyun broke his hand. No one died then, but I'm pretty sure I put a bullet through on of s from my nest.

"Great," I mumbled. This was going to be hell for us now. 

"Please take care of us, Master Sergent Park." Youngjae did a little bow and I groaned again. We're dead. That's why Youngjae was acting like a cocky prick. 

"I didn't know Alpha 54 had a woman officer in their ranks." 

"I did." The second guy spoke, a hand going to his shoulder. Sergent First Class Kim TaeHee. Just my luck.

"Well, since we're doing with introductions, we can go over the rules for our new recruits. We can learn everyone else's name later." He looked to TaeHee. 

"We are your commanders, therefore what we say goes. Insubordination will no be tolerated. It is hell month and hell week is in three weeks, so I need everyone on their best. We never know when the generals or the lieutenants will come over and assess. Clear?" 

"Yes, sir." Everyone shouted over me, but I had made sure they had seen my lips move. I don't know about Youngjae.

"Are we clear Agent Yoo Youngjae sshi?" He didn't say it. It's weird to see Youngjae like this to authority, but one, it was the guy he stabbed, and two, they weren't his army. 

"Yes, sir," I said and he glanced over at me and looked me up and down. 

"What made you want to join Kim-sshi?" Park TaeSung looked me right in the eyes. He was either trying to size me up or intimidate me. I crossed my arms.

"Freedom." 

"That wasn't my question." Why did I join in the first place? I sighed and looked at the table full of half-finished food. 

"Well, that was my answer. I didn't think my personal life would be included in your rule set, Commander." He smirked before completely removing his attention from Youngjae and me, droning out the rules for everyone to hear. It was pretty much like Tuan's house, but I actually got a weapon to hold. I hopefully get a weapon to hold. Maybe Tuan should be a military commander instead of an agent. 

"Are you all ready for your last two months of training?" Commander TaeSung asked and everyone agreed with a smile. They've been training for two years? With their physical fitness? The South must be like a kindergarten compared to the North. 

"Everyone eat up, this food is on the Army." There were cheers and people continued eating. So did Youngjae. I remained still, staring down at the wooden table. 

I joined for freedom, but not my own. And that promise has been broken. 

I stood up and started walking towards the door, dialing the only number that was on my phone. I knew one of the two were going to go after me, but I needed to be gone and away from them. The guilt was already piling too high. 

"I said this was only for emergencies, and I'm driving. This better be good, Kim." He was annoyed. Someone to yell at me instead of asking me questions or giving me pity.

"If you don't show up here in 5 minutes, I'm running. I know how to get the tracker out of my neck, and I can deal with pain." 

"I wish you would run away." It was a challenge and I was willing to take it. 

"4 minutes." I hung up and leaned against the side of the alleyway that led to the door of the restaurant. The sun was slowly fading in the distance and the sounds of Seoul were still there. I closed my eyes and breathed in the air. The two Koreas were so distinctly different. Where did I stand on that dividing line? 

"Running gets you nowhere in life." I kept my eyes closed because if I opened them, he might as well be dead. 

"It got you to South Korea." 

"Whats going on in your head? You're not the MeeYon I know." I took a deep breath and turned so my back faced him. 

"You never knew me, Youngjae. You need to get that in your head. You knew the Military General's only daughter, the tragedy of Pyeongyang. Now, you know Kim HyeIn, the tragedy of everyone's life."

"My parents are coming on Thursday." That struck a chord in my heart. My parents won't ever come. My brother's arrival might not ever happen. I joined for freedom, but not my own. 

"I have no interest in meeting them. Give them my congratulations." 

"On what?" 

"Their freedom." A black car drifted into an open parking spot and I knew Tuan had his eyes locked on me. It took him 2 minutes to get here. 

"Why do you want freedom? You...You have it, but-" A honk cut off Youngjae and I was grateful for the second time in my life to Tuan. 

"See you on Saturday." I put my hands in my pocket and walked to the car, opening the door. The heat flowed through my body, making my skin tingle all over. I didn't have the right clothing for March. 

"You threatened mutiny because of Youngjae. You hate him that much. I can't be-"

"His parents are coming on Thursday." 

"That bastard's parents are st-"

"-I want to be out of Seoul when they arrive." I turned to look at Tuan and he had no emotion on his face. He was probably thinking of possible reasons why. 

"You don't like your in-laws?" I was too tired to yell at him. 

"They don't like me."

"I have an operation on Thursday to take down a gang in Busan. You said you wanted to do some work and prove yourself. We need bait." I nodded and leaned my head on the window. 

"I'm used to it."