“She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.”

— J. D. Salinger, “A Girl I Knew”

The Order came before anyone could react. She was having a meeting when those people in uniform tried to them out.

Jessica was the first to decline. As one of the more important figures in the city, the woman was quick to fend them off and buy her colleagues some time.

“Irene, here.” Her voice was quiet but stern. Irene then followed the older woman to her office when the others fled with their belongings, not even looking back.

It still made Irene uneasy standing at the door of Jessica Jung’s office. A few years ago, she barely worked her way into this renowned firm and now she is one of the assistant attorneys in town. And so, Irene cast her curious gaze on the French windows instead of the woman who was fumbling for something on her desk.

Which was a rare sight nevertheless, Irene thought to herself. Miss Jung was always the cool and composed one. But the rumbling noise of the military helicopters outside reminded her that something extraordinary was bound to happen.

“You might have already known we have to leave,” Jessica managed to open a hidden compartment of her desk and turned to Irene with a small smile. “But we have to make it out safe. That’s the problem here.”

Irene had been a simple girl with a delicate mind. Fighting her way from Daegu to Seoul could not have been easy on a girl who just turned legal age back then. Choosing this career path was another story, so was living alone in a city she did not grow up in.

Safety. Irene suddenly found herself stuck in her own memory. It was not entirely her choice to leave her hometown and her family behind. She thought this was how she was going to save them all. But, clearly, her sister begged to differ because she refused to greet her one last time when she left home for the train station many years ago. Would they be safe as well? Her parents? And Jiyeon?

“Hey, don’t freak out just yet,” Jessica called out to her and pressed a tiny metallic plate on her palm. “Hold onto this. I happened to have two of these so let’s get out of this damned place before we go down with it.”

Irene could only nod in response. Thankful she was but everything was so overwhelming—Jessica decided to save her, out of all the employees in the firm; Jessica had some kind of connections that clearly reached beyond the government; and, not everyone could survive the order safely.

“Thank you.” She finally muttered as the elevator door closed.

Jessica threw her another smile and pressed the button to the top floor, “No, you’ve earned it yourself.”

There were questions but Irene decided not to ask at that moment. Even if Jessica Jung was one of them, she was saving her life. But who was she with really? She knew too little. Could it be The Spectres? The icy metal burnt her skin a bit along with such thought.

She looked up just to see the elevator open, revealing an entire platoon of armed national guards on the roof just to welcome their arrival.

“I’ll see you around. And good luck, Irene.”

They took Jessica first. Which did not seem like an apprehension. A tall woman in military uniform approached Irene as soon as the first helicopter departed. So, she quickly handed her the plate.

The other woman gave her a look, her tense jaw only told Irene that she was not out of danger yet. “I see. And now ma’am, I have to ask you to come with us.”

“Okay.” She shortly complied. As if she would have other options in the first place. They, and five other guards, boarded the second and last helicopter flying to some unknown and hopefully safe place.

Heights had been Irene’s biggest enemy and the other woman noticed so. She hummed after inserting her plate into a portable machine, “It shall be a short ride, ma’am.”

It was definitely not the right time to be embarrassed. Irene wondered if she was having the “special treatment”, if everyone else would be left to strive for survival on their own. Her constant shifting eyes caught on something—​​​​​​​the tag on her chest. The woman’s surname was Kim. Did she have a family? If so, had they been secured already?

Irene daren’t to think of how much this Kim person knew about The Order. Either way, she trusted nobody under The Order. No one. A guard with his mask off came and offered her a cup of water. Again, she could only down it in a gulp. She could only do what they said.

Soon, drowsiness came to her and forced her to rest. The guards were still whispering to each other and the static noise from their intercom served as the weirdest lullaby ever. Irene tried not to lose consciousness but still ended up losing her orientation due to her failing senses. Damn, it must be some sort of special sedative drug from the military.

Silhouettes and lights flashed before her hazy eyes. All six of them, including the pilot, were gone without a fight. Struggling to get up and grab the handgun under the seat next to her, that she had been eyeing at since she was there, she was sent to straight to the floor with a thump by her weak limbs. Irene took a deep breath, ready to meet her fate.

“Easy, tiger. I ain’t gonna hurt you.” A strong arm pulled Irene back to her seat and strapped her down with a seatbelt and a handcuff. “But I ain’t taking you with me neither.”

It was Kim, whose face was now smudged with red spatters but eyes remained bright.

“I didn’t want you to witness this. I’m sorry.”

The woman took off her jacket and removed all the military badges on her remaining clothing. Irene felt blood drained from her face as soon as she saw the necklace she was putting on next. There went the notorious emblem of The Spectres.

“If you survive, or want any shelter…… Come and find me. Name’s Minkyung, Kim Minkyung.”

The last thing she ever saw was Minkyung jumping out from the plane with a parachute.

-

The autopilot was on but Minkyung had tampered with the destination, so Irene just woke up in a completely remote place with six corpses. Nonetheless, Minkyung was kind enough to leave Irene the handgun. Perhaps the rebels were not as bad.

It might not be the worst-case scenario since Irene recognized this place. It was the university she used to go to. Well, at least she was alive, breathing and walking.

The Sun was awfully dim and Irene could only grasp onto the handgun tighter, trying not to let her mind wander off the logical limits. The area which she faintly remembered as the driveway at the back of university, seemed completely deserted. And somehow she was glad.

Trust no one under the Order, the Judge once told them. But it went against Irene’s morals. Back when Irene was still Joohyun, trust was such a basic thing like bread and butter. Her mother told her that all men are born kind, even though Jiyeon clearly did not agree—​​​​​​​especially when she yelled at Joohyun after not standing up for her against the bullies back at middle school. It was just a small town in Daegu, a small town where Joohyun left without ever looking back. But back then Joohyun was still a soft-spoken child, who people adored her because of her lovely complexion but not who she really was.

It was never Joohyun’s choice though, despite the very fact that she did choose to leave in the first place. Joohyun knew she could not provide for her family and she knew better that if something ever happened, civilians like them would most likely to be left on their own. So Joohyun, who loved her family dearly, decided to go against the odds and became someone she never imagined she could be. Just so she could be strong enough to make her family safe. Still, the Order came earlier than they thought. Or maybe it was a deliberate call.

Irene never had the chance to go back to that small town. She wondered if she ever had the chance to meet her family once again.

Maybe Jiyeon was right, she would be the good and responsible daughter that her parents needed instead of her. Joohyun was never the good sister she wanted to be for Jiyeon. She loved her but it was not in the way Jiyeon needed. Joohyun was not there when Jiyeon needed her. She failed Jiyeon, she failed her parents. Terrible life choices were made.

Perhaps, all men are born good but not all of them would do good.

Still, Irene seemed to survive the order so far. Some people called it the doomsday backup plan, some conspiracists accused it to be a genocidal massacre. Speaking of which, she could be pretty sure by then that The Spectres was not just a conspiracy. Oh, and about Jessica, was she with them anyway? Was she…… alive as well? But if so, where was she?

Minkyung must have sent her here for a reason. And Irene was determined to find out because she must stay alive in order to find her family. It was her priority. To hug her parents, to say her sorry, and to tell Jiyeon that she was glad to have her as her sister although she probably did not feel the same way.

Irene made her way through the intricate passageways hidden among the buildings and was only chilled to the bones that the signs of hasty evacuation were just at plain sight. It chilled her to the bones even without any more corpses. It chilled her to the bones when she recalled how Minkyung murdered those guards at such ease.

She knew legal justice was just a fantasy in times like these. But what was justice after all? To that, Irene had no answer. There was a time where she had to send a son to jail as he brutally butchered his father for killing his mother. Evidences were only environmental and never enough to press charges on the father so the son eventually decided to bring justice on his own. The son was sentenced to life imprisonment since most of the jury did not buy his story. Irene found it hard to call it justice, none of those.

She still remembered the empty look in his eyes. They all knew he was long dead inside. But it was her job, where she had no control of really.

“Ma’am?”

Irene turned abruptly and tried to point her gun at the stranger looking as intimidating as possible.

“Woah, easy there.” The girl who is in some sort of tactical uniform raised her rifle in the air and shot Irene a friendly smile, probably having noticed Irene’s shaky and untrained hands. “Hey, I am not those bad guys you see? I’m a drug task force officer…… Well, at least I was.”

The professional lawyer learned her lesson and took a quick glance at the other girl’s tag, “Okay, Kang? Look, I mean no trouble but my experience with people in uniforms isn’t exactly pleasant.”

“Yes, and hey! I’m Kang Seulgi.” The girl slowly stepped closer as Irene lowered the tip of her gun. “And you are?”

“Irene.” Remained much alerted, she kept her reply short.

Seulgi was quick to pick that up as well, “Hi there. Well, I understand. I didn’t mean to stalk you or anything! I just happened to volunteer to stand guard today but then I heard some sort of explosion so I came and checked. I just followed the smoke and then it led me to you! I’m just really glad to see some more survivors! We are holing up in the lab. You can join us if you want.”

“Wait. Slow down for a bit now.” Irene stared at the mono-lid girl who seemed to be in her mid-20s and frowned. “What do you mean by ‘bad guys’? How many survivors are there? How long have you been here?”

“I got exactly the answers, ma’am.” Seulgi left her rifle dangle from her shoulder and looked into the distance with a tensed expression. “Based on what you’ve just said, you must have met the national guards, right? I swear I saw them forcing civilians onto military trucks on my way here. We haven’t met any of them here in the university yet but we aren’t letting our guards down. It has been a week already and, so far, there are around 20 of us. We are still searching though.”

“A week!?” Irene raised her voice unknowingly in great shock. Even though she was no medical professional, could it be possible for her to have passed out for a week after the plane crashed? “It can’t be……”

Seulgi softened her tone, “I know. There are a lot of things that cannot be explained for now. Just like I was supposed to a backup for another squad but the last command from HQ to me was to get here, the national university, instead of reaching out to any of my teammates. It just made no sense……”

“Okay,” Irene recognized the look on the female officer’s face. Those eyes might look sharp at first glance but they were gentle. A look of a trusting soul, a look that a law professional almost forgot. “I’ll join you guys. But first, I think you might want to take a look at that crashed chopper.”

-

Amber happily introduced her lab as the best emergency shelter in the university and Taeyeon reluctantly agreed. There was a staff dormitory conveniently located on the top of chemistry building but there was no such arrangement for the music department.

The two lecturers pulled through everything to gather around the surviving students and keep them safe. Irene was in awe that everyone welcomed her with bright smiles and open arms instead of distrustful eyes. Yes, she did omit the part about the metallic plate Jessica gave her. The group did not probe further anyways.

None of them knew why this university seemed particularly important and safe from the destruction outside (at least it was the only place where people existed). And they used to deem no one would be coming until Irene showed up with six dead national guards.

Not being able to have a full grasp of the situation here, the group decided to move on to a more urgent task at hand – securing food and other necessities. Chaeyoung explained to Irene that they had sent ten students out yesterday and only six came back. And that was why the group willingly let Seulgi, who was the only one with a gun, stand guard for the day.

“Jeongyeon, Mina, Eunbi, and Sojeong should be back by now. Though they told us they would be spending the night at the girl’s dorm just in case. You know, moving at night is risky.”

Taeyeon kept fidgeting on her spot, and Amber could only ask Seulgi to head out again to find the girls.

Irene, on the other hand, had the same weird gut feeling.

-

Irene is right. Leaning onto the locked door of the medical room, she quietly watches the officer looking all ready to shout someone’s head off.

Even though she is a gentle soul, Seulgi is feeling strongly against what the girls just did.

“No, you didn’t just knock someone out and bring them here without talking to us first!”

While the other three girls have their heads ducked down realizing how bad things could have turned with their reckless stunt, Eunbi looks up and grumbles, “But-”

“Hey,” Taeyeon softly steps in and interrupts, followed by Yerim the well-trained houseman who is bringing in some more meds and pills. “We have been through this already. What’s done is done. Now we have to fix this lady up even though we don’t know who she is.”

“Fine.” Seulgi huffs as her anger is slowly wearing off. “Please, just promise us there won’t be a next time. We…… I really don’t want see anyone get hurt.”

The girls all nod in response before leaving to reunite with their friends.

Walking past Irene and looking through the window of the medical room, Yerim heaves a sigh, “You guys are lucky that I’m here. Or else those girls would have killed someone.”

“Come on,” Taeyeon giggles. “It isn’t that bad.”

“Still,” Seulgi speaks up again. “We don’t even know who this girl is, all we know is that she was sleeping in a random dorm room when they found her. What if she was there for a reason? What if we messed up something?”

“You’re thinking too much, Kang. Slow down for a bit. It’ll hurt your cute little brain.” Sooyoung joins them at the corridor after helping the students to allocate their newfound resources.

The girls did hit the jackpot, other than hitting a girl in the head of course. The trip to the girl’s dorm was more than fruitful. A single block has already provided them all sorts of necessity they could have asked for.

“Let’s just focus on treating the girl first, shall we?” Yerim stops the physicist in the making aka her best friend from teasing the officer, who is already blushing.

Irene, again, is in awe that someone could still be flirty at times like this.

“Hm, Irene?” Taeyeon spots the woman who seems to be in her own thoughts a lot and calls for her. “Can you do us a favor? Amber, Sooyoung and I will be having our hands full today. So can you please help me keep an eye on the girl in there? Seulgi and Yerim will be here too.”

“No problem. I’m just glad to help.” She gives the older woman a small smile. She has her questions but she knows Taeyeon will talk when the time comes. Taeyeon looks like someone who knows what they are doing, just like her boss.

Irene looks around and wonders where Jessica would end up at.

-

“My name is Wendy.”

The girl tries to introduce herself but that is all she knows, or, remembers.

It has been an hour since Wendy woke up and Yerim is totally taken aback by the odd condition she is in. Never had she think of her concussion could be this serious.

When the houseman has rushed off to prepare a more detailed check-up, Irene is left with Wendy, who is still cuffed to the bed, in the room.

“What’s your name?”

Asks Wendy. She has been awfully calm and understanding to the treatment she is getting. Seulgi helped explaining most of the story but hesitated when it came to the part where the students basically kidnapped her after hitting her with a broomstick.

The officer has been called to attend some urgent matter and Irene overheard that it is about the flight recorder they retrieved from the helicopter yesterday. There are some tech-savvy kids among the students, so it did not take them long to gain access to the info stored there. Hm. They must have found something important.

“Irene.” She turns around just to find out that Wendy has been looking at her all this time. Whose expressions is so childlike, untainted and genuine. As if she has nothing to hide, nothing at all. Pretty much unlike herself.

“So, Irene,” Wendy takes a quick glance at her right hand that has been cuffed to the bar of her bed. “Am I a bad person?”

It sounds just like a child asking for forgiveness. But Irene has literally no idea. She, therefore, looks away, hoping Yerim or Seulgi to come back soon.

“I don’t know.”

“I must be.” Wendy rests her head on the pillow and stares deep into the concrete ceiling.

Irene simply doesn’t understand the sudden turn of events, “Why?”

“Something just came to me. When I closed my eyes just now.”

“You remember things?” She panics for a bit, nor sure if she should be ready for a confession or something.

“They told me I have done terrible things.” Wendy blinks very slowly as she is trying very hard to recall a distant piece of memory. “They told me things. They said, what demented thoughts would lie behind those deep eyes where you can see no end. I remember.”

“Wendy?” Carefully, Irene inches closer to her bedside. Things are just getting more and more cryptic by every second. Terrible things? But most importantly, “Who are ‘they’?”

“People who locked me up.” Blatantly states the girl on the bed. “They locked me up just like this.”

At this point, Irene still could not be sure if Wendy used to be in prison or a lab rat for some secret experiment. Either way, it scares her. What has Wendy been through? What kind of person she really is? Is she…… even a person? Who are those people who locked her up and called her demented? Who are the good people there?

It, however, does not change the fact that Wendy is looking at her again, with her ever limpid eyes.

Those deep eyes where you can see no end.

Sorry for the delay. Writing my sample chapter for my thesis did not go as smooth as I planned.

Well, this chapter is definitely not going to answer the questions you have. But, it will give you a broader sense of the situation there. (And more characters!)

Let me know how you think!

Anyway, I will update the Chekhov's Gun very soon. Stay tuned.

xo