2995.

I was born when the war had already started.

I grew up being used with the sound of machine guns, bloodcurdling screams and the sight of corpses full of blood.

The peace that the old people were telling us back then, seems like a fairytale to us.

We laugh at it as if it was some kind of pathetic joke.

How am I supposed to believe something, that's almost impossible to happen?

I have tried to imagine it, but then I look around.

No chance.

 

Sometimes, living in a world like this makes me think,

Is it worth it?... to continue to live?

Too many people are involved.

And I’m here, weak and scared, forced to join unstoppable trainings before joining the real war.

I’m just a kid who wants this to end.

Why can’t it?

Isn’t everyone sick of living like this?

To protect their country from enemies, and at the same time, also crushing them?

Why are they so greedy for ascendancy and power?

Don’t they want to live together in harmony?

Is it that fun, to kill and watch people suffer, under your victory?

With many more questions of frustration that come towards this sick world you call home.

It’s leaving me to choose.

To stop it, or to die.

 

 

***

 

 

The sun shines brightly, refracting the light through the window of the room. It moves so slowly, to the wood of the window, the bunk, the pillow, then his closed eyes, waking him up from his not-so-peaceful sleep. He let out a groan as he felt nothing but pain in his body. Did he even get 4 hours of sleep? All of his body parts are sore and numb. His bruised arm and leg has not yet recovered, but he still needs to do his daily activity today. He attempts to sit up, slightly wincing at the pain of his fresh bruises. He rubs his eyes as he also tries to recollect his soul back into his body, before beginning to lift up his eyelids, slightly opening his small pair of eyes.

 

Where am I? He questions himself, looking around curiously at his surroundings. He doesn’t seem to remember being in here yesterday, correction—3 hours and a few countless minutes ago. He is still half awake, but is aware enough to realize that this is not his room. So where is he now?

 

Guesses on his mind disappears as he hears a creak of from the doorknob. He recognizes him immediately—the pair of familiar eyes and the infamously known mouth mask. His fringe covers a little of his eyes, but not long enough to hide them. His smiling eyes gives an oddly fascinating feeling that has the power over anyone who sees him stare in awe without realizing what he has done, with the guns he hides all the time. This aura he gives...  is mysterious yet thrilling. He is one of them, Kim Himchan.

 

“Himchan hyung,” he whispers his name, but fails to make his voice louder. Yesterday was  hell. Apart from being forced to move, he almost lost his voice from screaming too much. He failed on a training battle, but there was no tolerance for them to lose. They are the chosen ones. They cannot lose in a training battle even only once. As the consequence, his leader beat him up by himself. No mercy was shown, no usual warmness, just anger and disappointment.

 

Wasn’t yesterday enough? Are they sending Himchan to give him another set of torture?

 

Himchan sat down next to him and he began to speak. “If you’re thinking that I’m here to continue Yongguk’s punishment, well, I’m not. Relax.” he gave him a reassuring smile. Somehow the way he spoke made him calmer. He then relaxed his 'obviously-look-so-tense shoulders' and gave a little smile at him back.

 

“I know Yongguk was a bit too much yesterday, but you should keep in mind that he is doing that because… you know.” Himchan paused and decided not to finish it. “...Anyway, you must be wondering why you are in here. You can see you’re sleeping in a small room with only one bunk of bed. This is your punishment as well. You’ll be using this room from now until you’ve succeeded in doing an assignment for a period of time, depends on how fast you are. All you have to do is—”

 

“Beep!” they were interrupted with the sound of the announcement alarm. Both Himchan and himself rushed to the training field, even before they could even exchange glances. Looks like he won’t be having anything for breakfast.

 

“B.A.P, gather around!” commanded the typical voice of the leader, as he sat down on a large pile of wood. But this leader, is not your typical leader. What makes him different is that he has got the eyes that are just as sharp as an eagle and a provocative aura radiating from him that you can sense, soon as you see him. The way he speaks has this deep, husky tone which  makes everyone feel intimidated. He never fails. He never loses. He is their leader. Bang Yongguk.

 

Within 7 seconds, all of them have arrived in front of Yongguk.

 

Almost.

 

“Where is Zelo?” Yongguk asked.

 

They stared at Yongguk cautiously, with no one moving a muscle.

 

“Where is Zelo!?” he repeated with a louder voice.

 

“I’m here, sir!” Zelo ran to their direction. He stopped halfway to catch his breath before rising up his arm.

 

“Why are you late?” he asks, stone-faced.

 

“Charging, sir!”

 

Yongguk blinks at his answer, but quickly changes back to his poker face again.

 

“Today we’ll be searching for a new type of disease and gather as many data as possible. It’s located in an inland somewhere within the radius of 300 km, closest to Daejeon. That is our only clue. I’ll divide us into two teams. Team one are Himchan, Daehyun and Youngjae, and team two are me and Zelo. Contact each other soon as one of you find the source of it. Bring only necessary equipments and don’t get caught by enemies. Prepare for 7 minutes and come back here immediately. Now dismissed.” Yongguk said, jumping off of the pile. All 4 ran back to their preparation room, leaving only Yongguk and him alone.

 

He didn’t mention his name, did he?

 

Now what? He holds his breath in anticipation. Whatever is coming, he is ready.

 

“Come here, Jongup.” Yongguk commanded him with a gesture to come closer. Jongup’s jaws are hardened as he steps closer to Yongguk. At his surprise, Yongguk doesn’t do anything. He only looks at him with an… unreadable stare.

 

“Are you okay?” he asked, secretly inspecting Jongup’s bruises. Jongup nods.

 

Yongguk dug down into his pocket. “Take this.” he dropped a small tube on his palm filled with capsules. “Youngjae is the one who made this. He’s worried about you but he is too stubborn to admit it. He said you’re a bothersome so he always has to be there to help out.” Yongguk let out a chuckle. “This is a regeneration medicine. You can get rid of those bruises in no time, but it takes some of your life span depends on how serious your injuries are. You can keep it for future purposes but use it wisely. I think it will only take one day of your life for your bruises.”

 

Jongup gripped the tube. “If you give this to me then why didn't you put me in the team today?”

 

Yongguk gives an 'isn’t-it-obvious' look but Jongup looks completely clueless. He sighed before answering him. “Do you want me to humiliate you in front of the other groups again? Your fault yesterday is B.A.P’s first failure. You’ll die in my hands if you insist to join us today.” it seems like Yongguk is joking, but he isn’t. “It helps you to recover but you still have to go to the Medical Department to get some checkups. Make sure you won’t do the same mistake next time. Recover soon, kid. And train with some fellows after that. We’re waiting.” he patted his shoulder before waving at Jongup, stepping out to somewhere.

 

Jongup chuckles, watching Yongguk’s back disappears from his sight. That is just one of the examples why he admires his leader. He likes the way he acts towards everything and how he conditions himself in a right way in every situation.

 

He looks down at the tube. “But you’re still not cool, hyung.”

 

 

***

 

 

Jongup walked through the corridor of the main hall, and stole quick glances of some little kids who were being introduced to use various types of guns. He let out a disappointed sigh out at the sight. The more he thinks about it, the more he is pissed of himself. Even little kids who suppose to be learning how to interact with others and play together—like what his grandmother told him about the past—cannot get their freedom and happiness in their childhood. Their brains are being washed with sorrow and violence. Every knowledge and act they know are being controlled. It’s saddening that they look more like lifeless robots than living little human beings, which sadly reflect him in the past. Controlled. No freedom, just training and training everyday. If it’s not because of his friends in B.A.P, he is sure he would have gone crazy. He loves B.A.P. They are like his blood brothers, but he just hates how they formed B.A.P only to be the strongest unit among all of the departments.

 

That’s right. His country has many branches of departments. The medical department, spies department, and his department, the battle department are some examples. If they learnt subjects like mathematics and physics in order to work in one subject back then, today they are forced to learn straight to every basic of at least 10 departments related to theirs, no matter which department they are in. They are not allowed to be what they said ‘stupid’—even that word is now banned—because then you will be eliminated from the world. You won’t be able to survive without superior skills. You need them to achieve one thing. To win the real battle.

 

He is sick of it and he wants to stop it. No, he needs to. He hates violence, but to stop violence, he has no choice but to use the same. He needed to improve. He blamed himself for being weak. For losing pathetically in their training battle yesterday. How can he achieve his aim, if he still being a weak human like this?

 

It’s getting on his nerves as he kicks the so-called unbreakable glass door of the Medical Department. Slight crack.

 

And this doesn’t even satisfy him the slightest bit.

 

“Jongup… seriously, stop breaking everything. You’re becoming like Yongguk oppa more day to day.” a girl said behind his back, thus making him turn around, only to find his childhood buddy standing with a frown on her face. Jongup chuckled a little bit.

 

“Sorry.” he said whilst inputing his password and his fingerprint. The scraping sound of the automatic doors gave him the sign to step in. He then took a lab coat and placed it on, followed by his fellow behind him.

 

He looks around the building, inspecting every side and details of it. This is Building B, where the Medical Department is located. It is the most isolated and the cleanest department in the institution. The temperature is controlled from Building A and they have the most advanced automatic air cleaner, so oxygen in here is possibly the freshest one you will ever inhale. They have simple decorations but yet the futuristic add more plus point for it. Rather than the mix of lab and hospital, they set it as 'homey' as possible to give comfortable feelings. No wonder Youngjae likes to stay up in here than sleeping in his own room.

 

Jongup stopped his step as he read the familiar door sign in front of him. He turned his head around, grinning at the girl. She only shook her head and walked into her medical room.

 

“Are you here to do some checkups?” she asked him as she tied her hair up into a bun. He nodded before sitting on the edge of the bed near her office desk. He took off his t-shirt and positioned himself more comfortably before lying down to wait until she finishes preparing her equipments. A few minutes after, she walked towards his direction and started the diagnosis.

 

“Everything is fine. No serious injuries. I suggest you to get a rest for a few hours, you can sleep in here if you want.” Minji said, releasing Jongup’s wrist and making her way towards her office desk. There, another person Jongup admires. Lee Minji. She might be a girl, but even guys can’t look down at her. There was one time when they had a training battle in co-ed teams, and Minji almost succeeded to win their bet to beat more people than Jongup did. She aces almost everything, speed, power, techniques, but lacks in stamina, which is why she likes to improve her medical skill than go on a training battle.

 

“Alright,” Jongup jumped off of the checkup bed and searched for a more comfortable bed to sleep. He does an 'eenie-meenie' before finally jumping onto the chosen bed. Minji laughed at his little act. He isn’t the little Jongup anymore, but sometimes he acts like a total child.

 

“They haven’t changed the bed sheets for three months, you know.” she said, handing him his shirt back.

 

“Nice try but you didn't get me. The people from the cleaning department are clean-freaks. Besides, this is the cleanest department, unlike mine.” Jongup shrugged, wearing his shirt back before lying down. She chuckled as she sat on the edge of his bed, patting his tummy.

 

“You sure have had a serious work out there. Where are the fats going to?” she asked while laughing.

 

“Nuh uh, I never had them.” Jongup pats the spot next to him. Minji raises her eyebrow. She ignores him as she gets off of the bed instead.

 

“Where are you going?” he asks.

 

“I have to help Jieun unnie, we need to finish a project before 9 PM today. Sleep well there.” Minji salutes as she is about to walk out of her room, but his voice called out for her. 

 

“Minji,”

 

“What again?”

 

“We can win this right?”

 

Minji pauses, thinking for a moment.

 

“Anything for the peace.”

 

 

 

 

 

------

 

 

Author Notes:

 

holy god, 100 subscribers for only forewords ;; i'm touched guys. sobs. thank you, you are my source of power <3

 

thanks to rina (chaerin_x3) for beta-ing my crappy grammars. i love you bb.

 

anyway.. save your questions, cause i won't be answering any unless it's realy necessary x) you'll get the answers eventually so stay tune~ sorry for making you wait! aside of writer block, i'm also pretty busy with real life so i can't update fast, but please continue to support this story. thank you ;)