"For the first time in your life, is it so hard to use your brains to do something?" Taerim shouted and slammed her report on Eunchae's desk, "god, you're useless!"

Yoonjook stood up abruptly, but Eunchae pulled at her arm wearily, "it's okay," she whispered to her best friend, "it's really okay." Haena looked uncertain, her pen suspended in midair as she glanced from Yoonjook to Taerim.

"Fifty times I must've told you to hand it up to the teacher, and you can't even perform a simple secretarial duty. I ought to have you sacked!"

"Pulling rank again, eh?" Yoonjook tossed off Eunchae's arm and slammed her hand on the table, "forgot how that ended the last time, did you?"

"Back off, class president. Mind your own business!"

"That's what I'm doing, Taerim – so you back off!"

"Please," Eunchae raised her voice, "I'm tired – can we just get through school for one day with peace?"

"Then consider being useful and not such a little turd!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up, Haena!"

"OI," the teacher suddenly appeared behind Haena and everyone lasped into silence, "be quiet, or you're all staying after class for recycling duty. Taerim, go back to your seat or you'll be spending math classes in your father's office." She threw the teacher a dirty look, and turned to her seat, seething.

Eunchae leaned forwards in her seat, her short hair falling over her face. If someone had brushed them back, they would have found a river of tears.

*

"Eunchae, get your coat." Junyu said the minute she stepped onto the threshold. She stood there, mouth ajar at the state of the living room. There were 3 laptops on the floor, as well as a scanning-machine Junyu had piled home from college. He had been working on it for 6 months, as part of his biomedical project in pioneering medical robotics research. There were wires everywhere, trailing like snakes over the floor.

"Oppa, what's going on?"

"Just grab your coat, I don't have time for questions right now."

Eunchae felt her tears well up, "you've been so distracted," she murmured, "so distracted ever since the other oppas left. You haven't been yourself."

JunYu dropped his tablet and cursed as he picked it up, giving no indication that he had heard her. He slipped it into his jacket pocket and laced up his shoes frantically, fingers almost invincible in his effort.

"Oppa, are you sure..."

"When I tell you," Junyu suddenly raised his voice and directed a wild gaze towards his sister with firey speed, "that I don't have time for questions," he finished tying his shoelaces with a vicious tug, "I don't expect so many questions. Now shut up and move." He yanked open the front door so hard that it hit the wall with a violent bang. Eunchae jumped, eyes wide as she registered her brother's expression, a mixture of emotions she couldn't quite place. But she was so tired, so tired of all this rage in her life, from Taerim, from Yoonjook, and mostly from Junyu, her brother whom she knew loved her, but really wasn't coping well right now.

"What are you still standing there for?" Junyu's temper rose and he grabbed Eunchae's schoolbag roughly off her back and tossed it haphazardly on the floor, "hurry up!" he actually shouted the last syllable. Then, he paused, his urgency slightly replaced with guilt. Eunchae had silver lines trickling down her flushed cheeks, her tears flashing like her name under the winter light filing into the room through the window.

She'd had enough of his moods these days, enough of it.

"It's just... I've had such a bad day," she finally choked out.

Junyu, suddenly overcome by grief, reached forwards and tenderly pulled her into a warm embrace, the kind so tight that he felt that their hearts touched. Despite his urgency, his frantic eagerness to rush out of the door and as fast as he could to his workshop, he kept his sister in until she stopped crying. Then, he brushed back her hair, just as their mother always did for them so that she could stare into their eyes.

"I can find them."

Eunchae's tears did not stop, but they flowed on a gradual smile.

*

Yongguk was sitting in a corner of the empty spaceship, leaning against the curved wall and watching the 'brain' sleep. It still glowed blue,whirring silently in its sleep. The other units were outside, guarding for the night. Youngjae was on their pod-shaped spaceship working on something, anything to keep his mind off the results of the trial. Daehyun, on the other hand, strengthened the metal tentacles on the side. Jongup sat on an emerald rock, staring into the purple skies infested with moving stars, resting above him in their orbit.

They all handled their grief differently. The one who took the news worst was Zelo, who reacted with aggression. His anger was evident, and Yongguk thought to himself, that the minute they blew up the Earthian population – he would never be the same again. He remembered the Foreman's words at trial, his voice ringing with the decision of the entire jury.

"Earthians are weak creatures, dominating their habitat with recklessness and ignorance. They poison the very air they breathe. Their incompetence will be the end of their home – and the home of our key to survival."

"You can't exterminate them – they are a living species, an ancient civillization yet to learn about their mistakes and cure them!"

"Ancient? They are germinating seedlings compared to the age of our civillization – would you risk the survival of your own race for the survival of this, this bacteria of a population?" the robed General, who had always kept track of Yongguk's progress intercepted, "would you risk the survival of your brother? Your mother? Your father?"

Yongguk the blade hidden under his rifle, tucked in his belt; resisting all urge to hurl it between his eyes.

"Your parents are trapped in the equator of the planet, trapped by a building under constant attacks of flash freezes, they have been there a year whilst you idle away, defending a species you've gone soft on..."

The blade found its spot two inches from his head, embedded into the painting behind him. Everyone gasped and Hyosung shook her head warningly at him.

"Another of that," she spoke clearly into her ring, and her voice amplified over the room, "and we'll have you demoted to Lieutenant." She had helped him avoid detention, and he knew it.

"You shall leave my family out of this," Yongguk shouted at the General, "you know nothing of the hell I live in my mind. I want nothing but to desperately save them with the energy of the Earthian plant, but I cannot let you kill to save."

"The jury votes," the Foreman spoke, his voice ringing through the courtroom, and Yongguk needn't its amplification to hear the verdict, he could see it in those tired eyes – they all had families out there, out at the equator, "under the 18^th Amendment, that the Earthian species of Planet B124AP224 face death."

The gavel banged.

And there was a crash in the teleportation room. Yongguk was pulled out of his daydreaming, and he looked around wildly. Himchan was faster, he ran into the room and raised his rifle, his eyes scanning through the red smoke circling thickly on the pad. Then, he heard gasping. Wheezing. Coughing. His eyes widened and he grabbed two of the closest oxygen plugs he could find and invaded the smoky labyrinth. He could see them both clearly with his robotic eyes, and despite the circumstances, he felt unspeakable joy. Without a word, he plugged them into Junyu and Eunchae's ears, like ear plugs and an invincible mask enveloped their heads. They started breathing normally again, and Himchan stood there, in awe.

"I knew you were smart," he smiled at Junyu, and Eunchan who gave a delighted scream and hurtled into Himchan's arms, "but not this smart."