Amongst The Living

"In quick summary, once Yaelume became a militaristic country, it turned its resources towards war, weapons, and wasting. The scattered villages stayed villages and fell out of touch with the booming capital. They became divided into territories by self-proclaimed lords. Your textbook says that most people were for the war effort. That's bull. Even though they were cut off from much of the communication outside, most of the villages rejected the war. Your textbook also says that they willingly supported the war with men for soldiers, food, and other items. That's also bull. They were forcibly drafted and taken by the government, or drafted by the villages' lords and then given to the government. Yes, you have a question?"

"Professor, how come everything we read in the textbook you call bull? I thought the school would promote good will and pride for our country. Are you not patriotic?"

The class chuckled, but the professor remained unfazed and smiled.

"This school and your textbook does promote patriotism. I promote the truth, Byun Baekhyun."

The class rolled into a wave of 'oohs' and burn noises as Baekhyun scrunched up his nose in defeat.

"Then Professor Lee, why aren't you teaching us the biased information like the textbook we had to get?" Zitao asked.

She paused for a moment.

"So you want biased material?"

"No!" Zitao said a little too loudly, the class chuckling. "I mean, I'm just curious why the professor told us to get this textbook, when you're teaching us the opposite."

She stared at Zitao for a moment, and the class came to a deafening silence. He thought he would physically shrink in size from the force of her gaze, but then she spoke.

"What is right and what is wrong is judged by those in power. As a country, Yaelume is still struggling to come to terms with its loss and restructure its sense of morality. There are still many that would rather spread lies then admit to their faults. Humans often believe what they hear, but who would want to believe that their country or home was once the leader of the global conquest that sentenced so many lives to the fields of lament? You will hear many sides, most of which are pleasant to hear. It is books like these that try to paint the war as an effort agreed to by the people, when in fact it was directed by a few that forced its citizens to work and die to satisfy the arrogance of those few. Mr. Huang, you and everyone else in this room and out in the world must hear these things, and then hear the things that truly happened in order to wholly recognize the truth. Never listen to only one side." 

She glanced at the clock.

"Remember your test is next class. If you would like to know about this test's extra credit opportunity, come talk to me. Otherwise, you are dismissed."

People shuffled their belongings together and left the classroom. Zitao started packing his things when his friend nudged him.

"Are you going to do the extra credit?" Yixing asked, the dimple appearing in his cheek as he chuckled. "You'll probably have to write another fifteen-page paper again. And then only get five points for it."

He gave him a look. "You're not helping my motivation, Ge."

"Hey, don't speak in Talean. I can't understand you guys," Baekhyun said as he came up to them, backpack slung over his shoulder.

"We were just talking about the extra credit, which you probably also need, Baekhyun ge."

"Especially after the professor called you out," Lay laughed.

"You can't blame a guy for trying to understand the lady. Let's go already. The others will be waiting for us."

Zitao sighed. He wanted to walk out the door, hang out with his friends, and forget about history until the test on Monday, but with his grades and his parents watching every point drop, he couldn't afford a wasted extra credit opportunity. 

"I'll catch up with you. I really should do the extra credit."

"Or you could just not," Baekhyun said.

"You're not helping either, Ge."

Zitao waved to them as they exited the room and crept slowly to the front of the class. Six other students had beaten him to the professor. She was explaining and handing out instructions for the extra credit, and Zitao inwardly groaned when he overheard the eight-page paper worth five points. Maybe if he just studied his head off, he could earn five extra points.

As the students started to walk out the room, Zitao followed behind them.

"Mr. Huang."

He stopped in his tracks and turned, hoping against all hope she wouldn't give him the extra credit and make things awkwardly obvious that he wasn't going to pass her class.

"Yes, Professor Lee?"

"You're failing my class."

He cringed at the words.

"I know. I'm trying. I just have a lot to do and other classes, and the language I'm still learning."

"I realize that, so I will give you this extra credit opportunity to help your grade."

He expected her to hand him the extra credit sheet, but instead she whipped out a pack of sticky notes and jotted down strings of letters and numbers before giving him the note.

"Your extra credit assignment for this test is to go to the library's audio section. Tell them you want this specific series of tapes and listen to them. Afterwards, you will turn in a one-page paper on your thoughts about the tapes."

Zitao couldn't believe his ears.

"Only one page?"

"Correct. I will give you four points for this. But this is only for you, Mr. Huang. If your friends wish to earn extra credit, then they must write the eight-page paper."

"Isn't that favoritism? And illegal?"

"You are earning less points for a more... stressful activity. I do not think that is favoritism."

Listening to tapes was more stressful than writing an eight-page paper on whether the people under the Yaelumian Allies were supportive or not? He only had to write one-page about it too. Zitao couldn't believe it. He looked up to see the professor had already left the classroom, and he rushed out the door to see her half-way down the hall already.

"Professor Lee!"

She turned around.

"Why is this only for me?"

"There are many sides to history, Mr. Huang. And I believe that you especially will be interested in discovering just how many sides there are."

It was hard to see the details of her face, but he could have sworn that she just winked at him.

He was still wondering if maybe he had seen wrong when he met up with his friends in their usual spot. Behind most of the buildings, there was a grass field dotted with trees that Yixing had discovered and showed Tao. It was quiet, and the autumn breeze made the leaves dance.

He jumped as a pair of hands smacked down on his shoulders.

"How long are you going to keep staring at the clouds?" Yifan asked, looking at the sticky note in his hand. "What's that for?"

"Is that a phone number? Should I have stayed for the extra credit after all?" Baekhyun said.

"It's the extra credit assignment, specifically for me."

"Specifically for you? What does that mean?"

"Professor Lee said that I had to listen to some tapes and write one page on it instead of writing the eight-page paper."

"What?! That's not fair. I would totally listen to some tapes instead of writing an eight-page paper." Baekhyun crossed his arms and pouted.

Yifan grabbed his lips and yanked on them, and Baekhyun stretched his face muscles at the yank.

"You're going to become a duck if you keep doing that."

"I'm only getting four points though, instead of five."

"That's better than nothing," Yixing said.

Tao nodded and sighed, looking out at the field. "Where are the others?"

"Minseok's collecting flowers at the greenhouse," Yifan said.

"Jongin said he would be a little late from dance practice," Baekhyun said.

"And Joonmyeon just texted me saying that he's on his way," Yixing said. "Probably from swimming."

"No way. I bet that this time, it was from biology."

As his friends started betting snacks and boxes of ramen, Zitao smiled. Something about the day just made him think about how he had met all of them. He had moved from Talea to Yaelume for university. He didn't have any friends, and moving to an entirely different country with basic language skills didn't help his nervousness around people. One day, he had given his bus seat to an elderly woman and decided to walk to the park. While strolling through a whole foods market on the way back, he cut himself on a particularly spiky fruit, earning a long cut across the back of his hand. He couldn't walk around at the back of his hand, but he also didn't have any napkins. He hopped from vendor to vendor asking for band-aids and considered just wiping the blood on his black pants. Just as he moved to do so, someone shouted in Talean, grabbed his wrist, wiped his hand down with a napkin, and placed a band-aid on the cut. That was how he met Yixing.

When Zitao first saw him, he felt so inexplicably happy. Even though he had never seen or heard of Yixing before then, he was just so glad to see him, as if he was seeing a long-lost brother. They became fast friends, now that he thought about it.

When they realized that they went to the same university, Yixing quickly introduced him to Yifan and Minseok. It also helped that both of them spoke Talean and would help him with his Yaelumian. He eventually met Baekhyun and Jongin through them also. With Yifan, Minseok, Baekhyun, and Jongin, he felt the same inexplicable happiness wash over him.

But when he met Joonmyeon, Zitao felt angry. He didn't know why, but he felt wronged and hurt when he saw his face. He had stormed across the IKEA store he and his friends were meeting at, took Joonmyeon by the shoulders, and hurled him across an example living room. Then he started to cry. Tears wet his face, and his anger was replaced by relief. Zitao still wasn't sure what he was relieved for. It could have been from Joonmyeon managing to not get Zitao banned from the furniture store, but he somehow felt that that wasn't the reason.

When Zitao could say a proper apology, Joonmyeon stopped him and told him to not worry about what happened. Apparently, the others reacted similarly when they first met him. Yifan and Baekhyun had punched him in the face, Jongin had kneed him in the gut and tied his hands behind his back, and Yixing had taken his wrist and slapped it. Minseok had remained relatively not-violent, though he did dump his ice water over Joonmyeon's head.

He chuckled at the memories and thought of how they had become such close friends and how they had helped him enjoy his time in Yaelume and at school. He was sure that if he hadn't met Yixing that day, he would have continued living in anxiety.

"Thanks, you guys," Zitao said aloud.

The bets for snacks and ramen quieted. He saw that Minseok, Joonmyeon, and Jongin had arrived, and they were staring at him along with the other three.

"Thanks for what?" Baekhyun asked.

"For being my friends."

They all looked surprised, and it took Zitao a moment before he realized the utter cheesiness of his words.

"Oh my gosh, he's blushing. Zitao is blushing. I repeat, Zitao is blushing," Jongin said into a pretend microphone.

"Look how red he is!" Yifan squeaked over his laughter.

Zitao buried his face in his hands as his friends laughed. They would never let him forget such an embarrassing moment, but he found himself glad that they were happy. When they calmed, he saw that Yixing was looking out onto the field, glaring at something in the distance.

"Yixing ge, is something wrong?"

"No. Nothing's wrong." He snapped his head back and shook his head, but his eyes wouldn't meet Zitao's.

"Of course, there isn't, because youuu lost the bet." Baekhyun high-fived Yifan.

"Let's pig out at the expense of Yixing hyung's wallet!" Jongin cheered.

The three raced down the field and in the direction of downtown. Joonmyeon chuckled and gave Yixing's shoulder a squeeze before jogging after them. Minseok sighed.

"And I thought we were all grown men. I'll help you pay for stuff, Yixing."

"My wallet thanks you," he laughed.

"And Zitao, thank you, too. Everything became complete when we finally met."

He smiled and started walking across the field behind Joonmyeon.

Zitao looked at Yixing again, who was narrowing his eyes at his hands.

"Ge, what's wrong?"

"Is it complete? If it is, then I wouldn't be seeing such impossible things, right?"

"What kind of impossible things?"

Yixing opened his mouth, but then he looked like he changed his mind.

"Nevermind, Zitao. Forget that I asked."

He gave Yixing a look.

"It's nothing you need to worry about. C'mon. We got three small pigs to feed."

He started down the field, and Zitao sighed. He knew Yixing well. He knew he wouldn't tell him if anything was wrong. Yixing was that kind of person, but Zitao hoped that he was right and that it really wasn't anything to worry about.

*******

The first thing Zitao did when he woke up the next morning was groan into his pillow. He had to do the extra credit assignment this weekend, because the library would be closed the week of and after the test, which was when extra credit was due. He didn't get why renovations couldn't happen during the summer or during breaks when there were less students to be bothered by the construction.

He also had homework for other classes and studying for the history exam. With another groan, he sat up on his bed and got ready for the day, brushing his teeth and putting on a decent shirt. He managed to finish the majority of his homework by the late afternoon, but he had absolutely no progress on history. Zitao had enough of staring down at countless papers and studying and decided to do the extra credit instead. He stretched back, put on a coat, grabbed his backpack, and headed out of the dormitories. He was half-way to the library when he heard Yixing shout his name. He stopped and waited for him to catch up to him.

"Yixing ge, I thought you had a weekend session."

"We got out early, so I'm free. I just happened to see you."

He was talking to him, but his eyes were looking at something behind Zitao. He looked behind him to only see trees, pathways, and a janitor with a cleaning cart. He waved as they made awkward eye contact and turned back to Yixing.

"Anyways, Zitao, what're you doing?"

"The extra credit tapes. I have to do it now, because this week and next week the library is closed."

"Great. I'll come with you." He took him by the wrist and dragged him toward the library, not letting go until Zitao had to dig in his backpack for the sticky note.

The librarian handed him a stack of cassette tapes, a CD, and an audio room key. Finding the assigned room, Zitao unlocked the door and opened it. A yellow light flickered on as he and Yixing stepped inside. It was a small windowless room with two chairs, a desk, and various devices for different forms of audio. Setting the cassette tapes down, he looked at Yixing. He was looking back out into the library.

"Ge?"

Yixing whipped around and shut the door behind him.

"Let's listen to those tapes."

Though Zitao wanted to know what Yixing was looking for, he started putting the cassette tape upside-down into the VCR player, and Zitao wasn't about to pay three-thousand dollars in damage fees.

The first tape was an introduction, stating that this series was part of a collection of soldier interviews, analyzations of orders and what actually happened on the battlefield, and eye-witness reports. When he flipped it to the next side, the actual content started. He groaned and knocked his head into the table.

"I don't think I can go through another six tapes like this."

"Each side is twenty-three minutes too."

He groaned again.

"C'mon, Zitao. Just think of the extra credit."

"It's not worth it."

"How about the satisfaction of being the professor's special student?"

"She said she doesn't consider this favoritism, and now I agree."

"Then how about your grades?"

"No."

"Your parents?"

Zitao sighed and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Fine."

He kept listening. A few stories and tactic ideas interested him, and he jotted a few notes down, but overall it was hard to stay awake through the tapes. He lightly slapped his cheeks, pinched himself, drank his entire water bottle, and he was still nodding off. By the time he got to the sixth tape, he was practically sleep-listening. Yixing had already fallen asleep, arms crossed on the table and head tucked to the side. Zitao wished he could do that.

But he swapped the fifth tape with the sixth and pressed play.

There was some static and sounds of people shuffling and helping someone into a chair. Zitao felt his head lean against the desk and his eyelids sliding down his eyeballs.

"This is the first of interviews documenting the eye-witness of the secret military unit within the Yaelumian Allies, brought to you by the Stories Of People organization as well as the main contributor to discovering that such a unit existed in the first place, Mr. Chen. Now, a little bit of background on this unit; We know that this secret unit was based in Yaelume. They were successful test subjects in highly illegal biofusion and bioreconstruction experiments with an alie