"Happy now?" Their companion spoke up, his eyes darting from the children to your face and back again. He glanced from left to right and let out a sigh of relief. "Loosen your faces kids, coast is clear."

     As soon as he finished the sentence, one by one the children's faces lit up with a wide smile that went from ear to ear. "UNNI!!! NUNA!!!" The children cried out in unison. "We missed you!"

     "Awwh I missed you too!" Tears of relief leaked out from the corners of your eyes. "I thought you guys were.. were..."

     "... dead?" Hyowon continued. He let out a nervous giggle. "We almost were, but this hyung saved our necks!" He pointed out to the soldier standing idly behind them.

     You looked at him with a puzzled face. The soldier was tall, an average height for a man his age. He looked youthful, probably in his early 20s. His brown hair was swept, or more it seemed like, ruffled into a messy-but-handsome tousle. The soldier's complexion was a bit tanned, but you thought that would be usual in between soldiers who trained continuously under the hot, scorching sun. His body build was decent, not too skinny and not too bulky. Kind of like, the perfect fit. But what mesmerized you the most was his hazel brown eyes that quite matched his hair, and when your eyes met his, you swore he gave you some sort of a brief eye smile.

     You pulled away your gaze. And blinked.

     "Mmm oppa? Aren't you gonna let us in?" Eunri tugged at the soldier's uniform. He smiled down to her, and pulled out from behind him a ring of keys. He unlocked the lock and the cell door swung open. The children flooded in as you threw your hands open to greet them. "Oh! Are you all alright? Did he hurt you?"

     "No, not at all! This hyung is really nice! Unlike the other green people that had watched over us before him.... He's different. I like him!" Hyowon exclaimed. From the outside, the soldier smiled as he heard Hyowon praising him, and as soon as you shot him a fierce glare, the smile instantly faded away from his face to turn into a rock hard face.

     "Hyowon, my dear, listen." You put your hands on his shoulders. "Soldiers WILL be soldiers. If they don't go rough on you now, eventually they will, sooner or later. NEVER trust an enemy soldier, okay?"

     The little boy listened intently on your words. He glanced towards the soldier, and although quite hesitatingly, gave you a reassuring nod. You smiled and ran your hand through his hair. "Good boy."

     The sound of heavy footsteps made you turn your head. The soldier's eyes widened as he turned around to face you and the children, face kept emotionless. He made some kind of a signal by holding his hand up to his face and waved it twice. Then he turned back, falling into a steady position. You frowned, tilting your head to the side, trying to figure out what the signal meant. But you noticed the children's faces weren't the bright glow anymore, they were back to the sulky gloom earlier.

     "Evening, soldier." The veteran soldier reappeared, greeting the younger soldier in front of your cell.

     "Evening, Sergeant Hwang." The soldier greeted back.

     "I received an order to... mentor a rookie soldier. I wasn't expecting it would be you. You know, thought you'd be mentored by the big man himself." He paced to and fro in front of the cell, hands at his back. "Nevertheless, I have been entrusted with this responsibility, therefore I will execute it properly. Training starts instantly." He stopped right in front of the rookie soldier, head being level with the rookie's nose.

     "Yes sir!" The rookie saluted him, and he saluted back.

     "So, first lesson..." He continued pacing. "... every soldier knows this, and you must keep it in your head too. WE, have no mercy. In OUR dictionary, MERCY does not exist. That is, if we read dictionaries anyway."

     The rookie soldier smirked. What a sarcastic statement.

     "What are you smiling for, rookie? I am certainly not making jokes here!"

     "Forgive me, Sergeant."

     "So when I say that we are merciless, it means we ARE merciless. NEVER give way to the enemy. And also, never go soft with prisoners..." The sergeant's eyes trailed into your cell and met yours. Your heart skipped a beat. "... even if they're women, girls, or children."

     You lifted your gaze and settled it on the rookie soldier. He was giving you a horrified look.

     A horrified look as in to say, "He's gonna play hard on you."