002

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TW: choking

Rin's POV

I struggled to keep my face straight as the Chief droned on and on about the mission. My mind kept thinking about what I found and I was itching to ask him about it. The words were on the tip of my tongue but I forced them down to focus on the briefing. I had no idea what it was that I found but I didn't want to say anything now before going through it myself.

*15 minutes earlier*

Before I could flip through the page, a shrill sound shot through the air and I dropped the file on the ground in fright. The shock had still not disappeared and it took me a few seconds to gather myself before I registered the sound of my ringtone blaring before it stopped. I took out my phone with shaky hands and looked to see that Mark had been the person calling me. A few seconds later, a message came in.

Where are you, boss? Chief wants everyone at his office now so he can brief us on the mission. Text me back when you see this.

- Mark

I had to gather myself for a moment before picking up the folder and headed towards the Chief's office.

Unfortunately, after the briefing, we were told to pack our bags and meet back at the launching pad in 30 minutes. I hadn't realized that so much time had passed by and we had to leave soon. It seemed that I had spent quite a while in the storeroom. Both Jaein and I headed back to our office to pack. We usually kept some clothes here so we don't need to go back and forth between the office and our homes. I was dying to tell Jaein what I had found in the storeroom, but the words were stuck in my throat for some reason.

"Hey, Jaein–" I started but got cut off.

"Rin! I'm so excited about this mission! I can't wait to leave and see what it will be like over there. Do you think they have animals like Earth as well? Cute and cuddly animals?..." Jaein gushed on and on about the mission in excitement while I tuned myself out. She seemed so excited that I didn't have the heart to tell her. Jaein did not stop talking until we packed finish and were about to head towards our separate ships. Usually, when we headed on missions, they would always put us in a single ship to not waste money but for some reason, we all had our separate ships this time round. Before Jaein headed towards her ship, I grabbed her wrist in my last attempt to tell her.

"Hey, Jaein I need to tell you some–"

By some terrible luck, I was once again cut off. This time it was the engineers who were rushing us to get ready and go. Jaein hesitated looking and waiting for me to continue my sentence but at the same time, the Chief was currently making his way to us. I knew that with him around, I couldn't say anything since he might have known about this as well.

"Nevermind. I'll see you later Jaein." I gave her a reassuring smile and nudged her in the direction of the ship. Just as she left, the Chief called out my name and I stiffened. I forced myself to relax and turned around to face him with a fake smile plastered on my face.

"Make us proud alright Rin? I know that you guys will definitely succeed this time." This time...?

"Huh? This time?" I echoed. *What did he mean by this time?* The Chief seemed to have caught onto his mistake because he had a flustered expression on his face before relaxing.

"Ah, I didn't mean to say that! I was thinking of other things. Anyways it's time for you to go." He laughed it off and gestured for me to head to my ship. Seeing his reaction, it meant that he knew about the file that stated the previous mission had failed. I eyed him skeptically before bowing and telling him that we'll succeed before heading off.

It's a relief that I didn't mention it because I don't want to know what would happen if I let it slip that I knew. I stepped into my ship clutching onto the strap of my bag that held the file I managed to snatch from my desk before Jaein could see anything earlier. My steps felt heavy and I had the extreme urge to back out of this mission but the contract and the promised spots made me stay rooted to the floor.

The door had shut behind me and I made my way to the flight deck to wear my suit and strapped myself in for the launch. I double-checked all the controls to see if its all in the right place when a voice came through my headset.

"Test... I assume you all would have been strapped in already. Since it isn't your first time, I won't go through the briefing. You all should know what to do after you are out of low Earth orbit. It should take you guys approximately 10 days to reach. We'll set the ship to launch in 10 seconds. With that said, I wish you all a successful mission and a safe journey."

I gulped at the engineer's words and clutched onto my seat. It wasn't my first launch but I was feeling nervous this time round. I felt the ship slowly rumble and soon it launched us straight into the sky. I watched through the windows as the surroundings changed from the inside of the launch pad to the slowly darkening sky to the darkness of space. I could see my bag slowly floating in the air before I grabbed it and tied it to my chair. Slowly the ship started moving a little slower and that's when I knew that we were out of the low Earth orbit.

I quickly turned to look at the control deck in front of me turning the ship to the correct direction of LP 080-4 before setting everything on auto so that I wouldn't have to sit here the whole 10 days controlling the ship. I unstrapped myself, untied my bag, and brought it to my room. Even though this was a one-man ship, it honestly looked like it could house around 10 people. That's how big it was so I still have no idea why they would let us use 5 of them.

I tied my bag to the table that was drilled into the floor so it wouldn't float upwards and took out the file that had been on my mind since the moment I discovered it. I sat down and flipped over to the first page and it contained the same information that was in our file. The data and explanation on the planet and how it matches with Earth. While ours contained our contract, the next page after wasn't a contract. Instead, I was staring at the face of someone.

[Kim Junmyeon]

Rank — Commander

Born — May 22, 4955, Seoul South Korea