If you had asked Seulgi three weeks ago if this was the happiest she’d ever been, the answer would’ve been a resounding “yes!” She would’ve looked at you with her eyes shrinking into little half moons; her face revealing a big grin as she told you how excited she was to finally fulfill one of her life’s goals.

But that was three weeks ago. Three weeks ago when she had no idea what her future really held, only the flimsy idealized notion that she was going to finally make her mark on the world. 

For any adventure photographer, landing a gig with National Geographic was the equivalent of making the Major Leagues. She had a bucket list of goals, and this gig would be the first of many as she attempted to establish herself in the world of photography.

Seulgi had scrambled to coordinate her logistics and prepare her team in the short amount of time given (less than a week), and pack all the necessary items so that she could make this the best shoot ever.

But this was all before everything got flipped upside down harder than the end of a bad Monopoly game. 

Before she met her.

Dr. Bae.

Dr. Irene Bae

She remembered the sheer giddiness threatening to bubble over when she stepped off the plane for the first time.

“Yo Seulgi!” 

A camera lens swung into her face, less than 6 inches from her nose.

“Ya! What are you doing, Joy?” she scolded, pushing the camera away from her. “We haven’t officially started working.”

“I thought I’d document our journey, you know, for our memories,” Joy shrugged. 

Seulgi pursed her lips, but accepted the notion with a nod of her head. Joy was the videographer on the team anyway.

“You need to record the memories because your brain’s too small to hold any of them,” a voice said from behind them.

“Shut up, Yeri,” Joy retorted. 

Seulgi pursed her lips again at the bickering duo, but her happy mood wasn’t the least bit dampened by their arguing. In fact, it only made it funnier when you looked at them.

Joy was the tallest in their trio, at least a couple of inches taller than Seulgi, who was almost three inches taller than Yeri. Joy’s long hair threatened Yeri’s eyesight as she towered over her and it fell into her eyes. 

Soon, their arguing dulled into white noise and Seulgi wasn’t actually paying attention to them anymore. 

As they set up their base camp, Seulgi was pretty sure they were still arguing, but again, she had no idea about what anymore. It wasn’t until she heard Yeri call for her that she even started listening again.

“Yo, Boss Lady!”

Seulgi blinked at looked towards the other girl. Yeri looked pretty irritated. Nevertheless, Seulgi thought it was still necessary to point out, “I’ve told you not to call me that.”

“Why not?” Yeri huffed. “That’s what you are.”

“Yeri-”

“Fine, KkangSeul.”

“That’s not much better-”

“Whatever,” Yeri said with a dismissive wave. “I was trying to ask you what the schedule is for the week. How do you want me to prep the gear?”

Yeri was the equipment manager on the team, as well as Seulgi’s assistant in, well, everything. She did the boom mics if necessary, prepped the tripods and cameras, uploaded the images and videos to servers and maintained the gear so that it was in tip top condition.

Seulgi was a little apprehensive to hire such a young person for the job, but the young woman had proven herself more than capable. 

“I’m not sure actually. The information I was given just said to be ready to go on a short notice and be ready for anything.”

“That’s not even a real itinerary,” Yeri facepalmed.

“Are you sure this is legit?” Joy asked. “I mean, I’d hate to die Mada- freaking -gascar just because my beautiful-but-obviously--at-planning boss didn’t read the yelp reviews on whoever hired her.”

“Hey!” Seulgi exclaimed. “This was definitely legit. It had the National Geographic header! It’s even in conjunction with the South Korean and Canadian government. It’s a joint project.”

“What exactly are we doing here though?” Yeri asked. “I don’t even know what our objective is. Your text just said, ‘Gig for 3 week song in jingle. NatGeo documentary.’ That’s a really long time to be singing.”

“Wait, what?” Seulgi exclaimed. She quickly pulled up her messages and scrolled. “Oh Jesus. That’s supposed to be a ‘doc in jungle.’ How the did that happen?”

“Oh well that makes sense,” Yeri shrugged. “I really thought this would be the worst musical ever.”

“Anyway,” Seulgi coughed. “We’re here to follow a team from the South Korean CDC as they follow some new virus making its way through the population. Supposed to be something similar to Ebola but not as bad.”

“HOLD UP.” Joy froze and turned to Seulgi with an intense stare. “You’re saying you brought us to an Ebola-infected country and didn’t tell us?”

“Not. As. Bad,” Seulgi emphasized, squeezing her fingers to emphasize the emphasis.

“Oh no this Seul.” Joy started throwing items in her bags in a haphazard attempt to pack. “I love you and all but this is bat .”

“Yo, maybe that’s why the job was so last minute,” Yeri said thoughtfully, seemingly unaffected by Seulgi’s revelation. “Everybody else turned it down because they didn’t want to die.”

She has a point, Seulgi thought.

“Wait a minute though,” Seulgi said aloud. “Chairman Kim said he’s going to be here. If it were really that bad, why would the guy funding it come himself?”

“Uhh, cause he’s crazy?” Joy supplied, not pausing in her packing.

“He also said we can’t leave for twelve weeks once we land.”

“WHAT?”

“We can’t leave?!”

“You said three weeks!”

“That was another typo,” Seulgi said unapologetically. “And we can’t leave because we’ve entered a restricted area. The travel ban doesn’t lift until twelve weeks from now.”

“I should’ve packed more underwear,” Yeri sighed.

Joy slumped into a nearby seat, the items falling out of her limp hands. 

“Hope this place has a ton of alcohol at least.”

As if sensing their need for a distraction, Seulgi’s phone pinged. She picked it up and read through the message. It was from Choi Minho, the expedition guide, and from what Seulgi had learned so far, a man of few words, yet serious action.

“Be ready for pick up at 14:00 hours. Base camp location has been moved. Full staff briefing to follow.”

“Oh at least I had already kind of started repacking,” Joy said, motioning to the messy duffel she had thrown things into.

“What time is 14:00 in people hours?” Seulgi asked.

“2:00pm Boss Lady,” Yeri replied, which earned her a frown in response.

“That’s thirty minutes from now.”

“Guess we better pack fast,” Yeri said with a bored shrug.

Forty-five minutes later, they were sitting in the back row of a passenger van, squished between their luggage and each other. In the row in front of them, a tall, broad-shouldered man sat next to another man with not quite as much shoulder. In the front, from what Seulgi could see, two more males sat, but that was all she could make out. As the van rumbled down the bumpy dirt road, the short man turned around to face them.

“Hey,” he said with a smile. His face told her he was young, twenty-two tops, and he reminded her of an over energetic puppy. “We’re the Canadians.” He gestured to himself and his companion with a thumb.

“Hi,” Joy responded with a smile. She always was much better than Seulgi at first impressions. “We’re the Koreans. I’m Joy, this is Seulgi and that’s Yeri.” She motioned to each of them in turn.

“I’m Mark,” the puppy boy replied, “and this is Johnny.” The Johnny boy gave a little two finger wave that screamed ‘I’m trying to be cool in front of this pretty lady but I’m not sure if I’m doing it right.’

Mark continued. “The guy driving is Henry,” who gave a little “Wassup,” without ever taking his eyes off the road. “He’s Canadian too. The guy in the passenger seat is--”

“Didbidibidis,” the man said abruptly. 

“Sorry, what was that?” Joy said.

“My name is Minho,” he said in a low voice, quite stoic compared to everyone else in the van.

“Oh!” Seulgi spoke up. “Choi Minho-ssi! You’re the guide I’ve been in contact with.”

He nodded. Now that she’d met her mysterious contact, Seulgi noticed he was quite handsome, even with his dour attitude. He was probably a hit with all the ladies with that tsundere shtick. If she were into that. Which she wasn’t. A quick glance at Yeri and how the usually disinterested girl had suddenly sat up a bit straighter told her her intuition was spot on.

“Hey Minho-hyung,” Mark called. “How much longer till we get there? And how come we had to move after we set up?”

“It’s another ten kilometers. Everything will be explained there.”

Seulgi sat back, resting her head against the seat. Based on her estimations, they had at least a fifteen minutes remaining, and the bumpy ride was acting like a cheap massage chair. She closed her eyes.

When she woke, they had pulled into a hastily assembled compound. White tarpaulin walls lined the entire complex, which also featured a guard tower. There were armed soldiers and medical staff in biohazard suits and businessmen in regular suits and Seulgi wasn’t quite sure what to make of everything.

“Are you sure you didn’t sign us up for the army?” Joy whispered in her ear. 

Seulgi shook her head.

“What about signing us up as lab experiments?”

“No.”

“Sold our organs?”

“No.”

“What about--”

“Why don’t we just wait for this briefing that will tell us whether or not I royally ed up?” Seulgi asked in frustration, running a hand through her hair.

Joy shrugged. “Fair enough.”

The van parked, and Minho motioned them into the largest tent of all. Upon entering, Seulgi realized it wasn’t a tent at all, but more akin to a small airplane hangar in sturdiness. It had a metal structure and was the epitome of sterility. Everything was white and looked like it was sanitized every hour on the hour. There were tables lined up like a lecture hall with a giant projector screen at the front. Seulgi took a seat on the far right, and her companions followed suit.

Minho stood in front of them and spoke. “We are waiting for the rest of the staff to join us. The medical staff that you will be working alongside with, as well as the people who are in charge of the administration duties. Please wait here for the time being.”

As Seulgi looked around, Joy started talking to someone.

“So if you’re not the medical staff, what do you guys do?” She was talking to Mark and Johnny again.

“Oh, we’re the logistics crew. You know, get you where you need to go, get you what you need to get kinda thing.”

That sounds really broad and vague, Seulgi thought to herself.

“That sounds really broad and vague,” Joy told the boys. People were starting to come in now, filling up the empty seats. Seulgi saw a variety of white coats, people in scrubs with stethoscopes around their necks, some men who looked like they belonged on Wall Street--

“Nah, we’re used to it,” Johnny spoke up. “We know how to get things done and improvise. That’s probably why they asked us. Cause we don’t need a lot to get the job done.” He beamed with pride as he said it.

“Yeah yeah,” Mark said, matching Johnny’s energy, “one time, we even--”

He froze, his mouth half open and words no longer coming out. His companion wore the same matching expression. Seulgi and Joy looked at each other in confusion, neither understanding what was going on. Finally, they traced the boys’ line of sight to someplace behind them, and after a second, Seulgi was quite sure her face mimicked the two boys.

Surrounded by a flurry of white coats and suits was the most beautiful person she’d ever seen. Red lips, an aquiline nose, doe eyes and hair that magically fell in the most perfect way possible.

“Holy ,” Joy muttered from beside her.

“Eh?” Seulgi replied, trying to play off the pool of saliva that had gathered in .

“That woman is gorgeous?” Joy said incredulously, as if she couldn't believe she had to explain something like this to Seulgi. “Like, I know you can be slow on the uptake, but even you couldn’t have taken that long to see how hot she is.”

“Oh yeah,” Seulgi coughed, trying to play it cool. “Yeah she’s pretty.”

“Pretty?” Joy scoffed. “I’d let her examine me anytime.”

Seulgi frowned at her.

“What?” Joy said innocently.

“You’re straight.”

“I’m straight, not blind,” she said dramatically, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “And you’re not, so shouldn’t your be way more twisted now?”

“They are!” Seulgi said defensively, and a half second later, she realized the error of her statement, and in a hurry tried to save herself. “I mean, they’re not! She’s pretty, and I’m gay, but I don’t want her to examine me or anything!” She waved her hands around for emphasis, but all of it was lost on Joy, who was bent over, clutching her sides in laughter.

If Seulgi hadn’t been trying so hard to save herself, she might’ve seen the object of their conversation pause and look in the direction of the ruckus, devoting three whole seconds and a quirked right eyebrow at her before quickly moving on like nothing had ever happened.

Seulgi continued her attempts at salvaging her self-lit disaster, and soon it became clear they were the only source of noise. They froze mid-sentence, and glanced around cautiously. Then, it became clear what had brought about the silence.

The beautiful doctor was striding to the front of the room, making her way towards the small podium set up in the center. The room was completely silent, and Seulgi had the nagging sense that they were all collectively holding their breaths. She couldn’t confirm it though, because her heart was thumping loud in her ears. A few blinks and quick breaths finally stabilized her enough to hear again.

“...for twelve weeks.” The gorgeous woman was speaking now, and her low tone caused a tingly feeling in Seulgi’s stomach. She spoke with an air of regality, meshed with grace. 

“Thank you all for being here. Our mission has great implications. Should we succeed, we will have discovered something truly groundbreaking, and it will put both of our countries at the forefront of Reveluviridae research.”

The woman’s face was devoid of any emotion. Her delivery was robotic, as if everything about her had been programmed not to feel emotion. And yet, Seulgi couldn’t help but stare at her. 

She understood where Joy and the guys were coming from; the woman was insanely beautiful, but if Seulgi was being honest with herself, the doctor was terrifying. 

It’s now that Seulgi realizes she’s seen this gorgeous face before. 

Years ago, she’d dislocated a finger. Pro tip: if you’re chasing moving wildlife and trying to take pictures of them, don’t hold the camera up to your face and block out all other vision. The events that followed led to her sitting in the emergency room for five hours. Since she wasn’t minutes, or even hours away from death, triage rules dictated she wait there forever. 

She began to get well acquainted with the hospital commercial being played every fifteen minutes. On multiple LCD screens around the hospital, it featured what Seulgi would swear was the most beautiful person in the world. She was convinced the woman was an actress because in what universe would that beauty have to slave over textbooks when she could just breathe and people would bow down to her? She also looked way too young to be a doctor, and unlike the person standing in front of her, was smiling brightly.

It wasn’t until then that the object of Seulgi’s study had turned in her direction and was now staring at her. 

As in directly at her. Like into her pupils. 

Seulgi’s eyes widened and in a panic she turned away. She felt her cheeks redden and she didn’t dare look up on the off chance the woman was still glaring at her. 

See! she wanted to scold Joy. It didn’t matter how pretty the lady was if they’re going to die by her laser vision.

No longer distracted by the doctor’s top notch visuals, the words were coming in clear.

“In an effort to document every aspect of our mission, we will have a photo and video crew alongside the medical team. Both teams will be working directly alongside each other. Because of the risks we are going to be exposed to, all personnel are required to undergo biohazard and pathogen training tomorrow. I hope we have a successful time here together."

Seulgi clapped automatically when she heard the crowd applaud. Minho’s throat clearing signaled to her it was safe to look up, and she saw he had taken the center spot.

“Thank you all for being here. I know there has been some confusion due to some last minute changes, and for that, I apologize. We had an update earlier today that the nearby vicinity was experiencing an outbreak. We moved here in an effort to not only quarantine them, but also because early research can only be beneficial to our medical team.” He gave a small nod towards the gorgeous doctor before continuing.

“I have a few house rules to go over. Number one: your safety is the priority. No one is to engage in any activity that puts yourself or the team in any more risk than has already been discussed. I need not remind you how dangerous it is here already.”

Seulgi felt Joy pinch her side and didn’t need to look at her to know she was glaring at her.

“Number two,” Minho continued, “Dr. Bae and I are in charge of the geographical and medical logistics, every objective must be met with our approval.” He indicated the beautiful doctor. “We are not John Rambos or Dr. Houses here; we do things by the book. This is how no one dies. Is that clear?”

A murmur of assents rumbled through the crowd, but Seulgi had other thoughts.

Dr. Bae.

That was her name.

The next week went by fairly event-free and flew by; the training was a bit of a show though. With Yeri spacing out and missing the sterilization steps and Joy shamelessly flirting with every single trainer, Seulgi was just glad they weren’t thrown into a quarantine cell. 

Her laptop lit up their small tent as she settled in for the evening. The days had become somewhat chaotic with its non-stop nature. The schedule more or less became: wake up at dawn, scarf down breakfast, jump into the van, ride to an unnamed village, follow around the medical squad, take pictures, get back in the van, eat dinner, sleep. Rinse, repeat. 

This evening was the first chance Seulgi had to review the images she’d taken. She glanced down at her camera.

1643 images. 

She sighed. It was going to be a long night. Next to her, Joy let out a similar sigh.

“What’s the count, unnie?” she asked Seulgi.

“1643. What about you?”

“Thirteen hours, forty-six minutes and thirty-eight seconds.” Joy moaned as she opened up the first clip.

Seulgi sipped her coffee. “Why don’t you get Yeri to help you sort the video?”

Joy rolled her eyes. “Please. She has a shorter attention span than me. Plus she uses most of her free time to video chat with Heechul back in Korea.”

“Oh, a girlfriend?” Seulgi said with mild interest.

“Really, Unnie,” Joy rolled her eyes again. “Can you please keep up? Heechul is the one who’s been managing our website back home. And he’s a dude.”

“Oh?”

“Remember when I told you we should sell your prints online to make extra cash?”

Seulgi nodded.

“Well, I had Heechul-oppa create a website. We’ve been selling your photos for three months now.”

A light bulb went off in Seulgi’s head. That’s why her bank account seemed a little fuller recently. She really should pay more attention.

“Well no matter,” Joy said her mouse clicked, “Yeri can still help me after. And I can delete any clips you’re in cause you’re no-jam .”*

“Yah!” Seulgi scoffed. “I’m pretty jam .”

“Whatever you say,” Joy shook her head. Soon the air was filled with silence, save for the incessant clicking and the occasional keyboard presses.

As the images came and went, and the Seulgi saw everyone’s likenesses more, she found herself feeling closer to each of them. Mark and Johnny were just as youthful in their pictures as they are in real life. Their eyes seemed perpetually smiling. Minho was forever serious, but undeniably handsome. He even smiled a few times, though the instances were few and far between. He seemed to get even more handsome in these instances.

There were some other team members she hadn’t really interacted with except to photograph. Like the other members of the medical staff: Dr. Son Seungwan and Im Yoona. The former gave off a bright aura, and when surprised, her eyes and mouth formed big O’s. Seulgi found her pictures the most entertaining. Dr. Im was tall and pretty, and with the white coat she looked like she belonged on Grey’s Anatomy. 

More photos, more people she’d grown to recognize. Kim Taeyeon. Jung Jaehyun. Kim Junmyeon (whom everyone called Suho). Lee Taemin. Oh Sehun. Lee Taeyong. More faces she’d yet to learn names for. Some faces she did know.

Henry, their driver, was quite a character, and as such, in almost every photo of him, everyone around him was smiling or laughing, even if he wasn’t. She even saw Dr. Bae smiling in one. Seulgi was impressed, because from the week she’d spent following the doctor around, she had yet to see anything from her that wasn’t cool, calm, collected and precise. 

Like an ice princess assassin.

The photos of Dr. Bae could’ve been something out of a staged pictorial, rather than something that Seulgi shot off the cuff. She was picture perfect in everyone. One photo stood out absolutely.

“Over here, I need some help,” Dr. Son called out. “He’s got a tibia fracture.”

“Yah, Dr. Son, do you think we should?” her nurse, Taeyong asked. “We’re only supposed to be testing and treating Reveluvirus infections.”

Dr. Son smiled that kilowatt smile and simply said, “Remember your oath, Taeyong. We help all. Now can you please find Dr. Bae and bring her here?” 

He rushed off without another word. Within a minute, Taeyong was back, with Dr. Bae two steps behind.

“What is it Seungwan-ah?” her phrasing light like she just asked about the weather.

“Seems like a compound fracture of her left tibia but we’ll never be sure because the nearest xray is machine is five hundred miles away.” They shared a dark look between them.

“So we have to set it here,” Dr. Bae said with finality. Seulgi saw her face set with determination. “Taeyong, please bring us a plaster kit, a small suture set and a bottle of water.”

“But Dr. Bae,” Taeyong stammered, “you’re going to set it here? Outside?”

She silenced him with a glare and Seulgi felt her insides clench up in fear, regardless of whether or not the irritation was directed at her. He scrambled to gather up the items and brought them back quickly to the doctors.

Taeyong carried the young girl, who Seulgi guess was seven or eight, into a nearby hut. Dr. Bae shrugged off her white coat and laid it on the ground. Taeyong set her down on the coat and the team began setting everything up. 

Seulgi was fascinated. They worked efficiently, seeming to sense what the other person was going to need about a second before they asked. In fact, she’d been so taken aback she forgot to take photos since Taeyong first brought Dr. Bae. She quickly brought her camera up to her face and started snapping away.

“Excuse me,” Dr. Bae said. Seulgi kept going, assuming she was talking to one of her teammates. Until finally--

“Excuse me.”

Dr. Bae turned at the exact moment, her eyes burning lasers through Seulgi’s camera into her core. The photographer froze. That voice was ice cold, sending a frozen shot through her stomach.

“Sorry?” she said half questioningly.

“You’re blocking the light,” Dr. Bae nodded with an almost lazy flick of her head, and Seulgi looked around to see she was casting a shadow over their work area. She quickly stammered out an apology and moved.

Three days later, the Dr. Bae of that day was staring at Seulgi once again, and this time, the photographer was staring back. Somehow in that moment, she no longer looked quite as stern, but as if Seulgi had caught her off guard in that moment. She was strikingly beautiful. Seulgi had never been good with words, and in that instance, her mind was failing to give her adequate adjectives to describe the woman on her screen.

But Joy found it for her.

“Mmmm, tasty ,” she hummed over Seulgi’s shoulder.

“Ya!” Seulgi hollered and gave the taller girl a shove. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Same thing you’re doing,” Joy shrugged, her face curled in a smirk. “Checking out the merchandise.”

“She’s not merchandise,” Seulgi said defensively.

“I wasn’t referring to her,” Joy deadpanned. “I was referring to your work, in the photographic sense, since that is our merchandise and all.”

“Right,” Seugli sighed, sensing the sarcasm for once. “I’m going to resume my work,” turning quickly back to her computer.

Joy roared with laughter beside her.

Seulgi clicked her mouse with a little more force than necessary. The next photo came on screen. And the next.

“Aw c’mon don’t be like that Seulgi-ya,” Joy whined.

“I’m your unnie,” Seulgi replied in the sternest voice she could muster. Which wasn’t very stern at all. She clicked again.

“Aw c’mon, don’t be like that Seulgi-unnie,” Joy whined. Another click.

Seulgi sipped her coffee to emphasize her nonchalance. Unfortunately, the ambiance dissipated in an instant as the next image came up for review and Seulgi spat her coffee on the screen. 

“What the?” Joy said in half disgust, half confusion.

Seulgi couldn’t form words at the moment. opened and closed like a goldfish. formed something like horrible gagging sounds. Her eyes bulged. 

Joy looked at her in alarm. Forgetting her honorifics in the moment, she said, “Seulgi, what the hell?” Standing up to look at Seulgi’s screen once again, it took her a moment to see what had flabbergasted the older woman so. 

There on the screen, was Dr. Bae, Dr. Son, Nurse Taeyong and the little girl they were treating. But that wasn’t what the fuss was about. Dr. Bae’s back was to the camera, and there just above her pants line, in all its purple glory, was what was causing Seulgi’s panic attack.

“Is---IS THAT A THONG?!”