This chapter is inspired by a family I knew very well whose relatives were killed in WW2. Part of Shima's story was alive. I'm not against the Japanese or anything, this is just a chapter wirtten based on the real events of WWII, so if you have weak stomach for these things; or you're a hardcore manga fan (actually I like manga) who can't take any criticism of the Japanese. Don't read it.

But to those who do, hope you like it. Though it's depressing, it'll lighten up! Cuz these following chapters are gonna be darker, to clarify why the units left in the first place.

To those who have stuck with me all the way, thank you so much.

[Flashback : Yongguk]

Yongguk treaded past lush foliage and under damp canopies, brushing away mosquitoes and only stopping when there was a sound other than the forest orchestra or the sound of his soles crunching on dead leaves. He could remember the way to the little cabin well, he had perfect bearings and sense of direction. The sun was starting to set, casting red-gold rays between leaves down onto the winter forest, making it glow a surreal tone with a tinge of chill. He liked it – the forest, the units didn't have anything like this back in their planet. They didn't have the colour green.

But he had other things on his mind now.

The hut materialised before him once more for the first time in 2 nights and he sighed to himself, it was still a dusty mess. He pushed open the creaky door falling halfway off its hinges, and saw, with a strange pang, that the candle was still there. Unlit, but still there.

He leaned against the paper sliding door, and slid down slowly, eyes closed and his breathing rhythmic, in time with the song of crickets and rustling leaves. The sun was setting faster and faster, until the purple of the room was replaced by a Russian Blue. Then, there was a sudden crack and a gentle cackle of weak flame. He opened his eyes and almost started – there was a faint, curling mist in the house, invincible in the day but clear in twilight. He breathed in the cold, but could not feel fear. For some reason, there were goosebumps on his arms and neck, and he found it slightly harder to breathe.

So this is how human fear truly felt like – Yongguk thought, but he was not human, and he could not fear her the way people could. He exhaled slowly and turned to look at the door. His eyes twisted slightly to avert his view and through his peripherals, he caught, very suddenly, a pair of red eyes watching him a little too closely on his left. He started, twisting his neck accidentally as he scrambled away from Shima, heart thumping from surprise.

"," he breathed heavily as she crouched on the floor, "you scared the out of me."

"You came back," she said, eyes vacant, "why?"

"I wanted to see you again," Yongguk straightened up, heart calming down, "and I was right – you seriously have no idea how to live. This place looks like crap." Shima looked surprised.

"What?"

"Look at the depth of dust here," he went on, flicking up a layer of dirt from the layer of the floor with a finger, "how do you survive without getting asthma? And seriously, the same creepy red robe," he gestured towards the thin red material on her back, and she glanced at it from her own sleeves, "you'd scare the living daylights out of anyone."

Shima looked up – her eyes were black this time.

"Yongguk," she murmured, "I have succeeded in scaring every human being that came here, aside from you... why aren't you afraid of me?"

Yongguk looked surprised. He took in her pale complexion, her bright red lips and dark hair, the way they seemed to pierce into his eyesight under the red robe. She was the strangest Earthian he had ever seen, but something felt familiar. There was something in her eyes when they were normal, the way the pupils dilated when she saw him, the way she always looked away when he spoke brusquely to her, though remembering someone who used to know that. Her actions were shy with him when she knew that nothing she did could scare him, and he couldn't tear his eyes away when she turned from the candlelight and her skin appeared less fair, and everything seemed to stick out less, and she looked a little more normal – like a young girl who just didn't know how to dress.

"I don't know," he finally said, "I guess there's something about you that makes me want to be friends."

She smiled. Then, she sat down and hugged her knees together, patting on the floor next to herself, gesturing for him to sit down. He did so.

"You told me about your friends," she murmured, "now can I tell you a story I've been wanting to tell someone for a long time?"

"You know I'm not going anywhere till morning."

"Will you wash my hair for me this time?"

Yongguk looked startled, but when she met his eyes, he couldn't say no.

"When I was 16, I met a boy called Dongwon," Yongguk listened to her quiet, soothing voice with the gentle background of splashing water as he smoothed her hair into warm water, "he was 17 and the neighbour's son. He looked slightly like you, and he was always teasing me, about my fair complexion and rod-straight hair. But I didn't know why I liked the way he did it, like he was trying to get my attention. Needless to say, I fell for him."

"A part of this forest used to be our village, we were protected by trees and hills, so that we were free from unwanted eyes. Dongwon and I used to sneak into the deeper parts of the woods and play there near the waterfalls. Then, one day, he left. His father said he was forced to enlist for the Korean battalion to fight foreign soldiers. All the young men left."

Yongguk smoothed her hair out of her face and went on trickling water down the black curtain, "I promised I'd wait for him. We were supposed to get married when he returned. My father, the head of the village and my grandfather, ex-militant Kim Hansok had already agreed. But 2 days after departing, I got word that he had been killed en route to report for duty, and the foreign soldiers were on their way to pass through our village."

He saw a tear form at the corner of her eyes, and he the temple of her head with lukewarm water, smoothing strands into his palm. He felt a strange pang in his gut hearing this story. He had been part of the militia for so long, protecting his country for so long from all kinds of aliens that he realized that the ugliest of the human race was their capability of brutalising their own kind. All his life, a motto had been pounded into his system – protect your own, leave none of the danger alive.

"Well they found our village, and burnt down all our houses. They ripped children out of their mother's arms and bayoneted them. Girls between 5 to 50 were violated in the worst way possible, and all I could do was watch. At least, until they found my family hidden underground. You have no idea how horrifying it was, watching their contorted faces leering directly at us, scanning though our heads looking for targets. They picked me out."

Yongguk froze.

"My grandfather killed the first 2 who tried to pull me from my mother, but 4 more came and all the men were killed before they took us. It was horrible, what humans did to others. They did everything they could to me, and when they were done..." she trailed off, eyes drenched with tears, and she sat up, as though lying down any further would make her drown. Her shoulders starting to shake with racking sobs, and she hugged herself as closely as she could to herself, her crying ricocheting against the walls like a contorted melody. Yongguk leaned forwards and pulled her in, and held her tight against his chest.

"It's over," he whispered, "it's all over. They're gone, they won't ever come back."

"I see them every day, I still remember the faces of the my dead family, the grins of the devils..."

"It's over. It's all over."

"Blood in the breeze, fire to my home, fire to my clothes and skin..."

"And I vowed revenge, as I burnt, I vowed revenge if I lived...."

"But you didn't."

Shima stiffened in his arms.

The night before, Yongguk had consulted Junyu about Shima, about the girl in the red robe and flashing eyes and his expression had blanched.

'Yongguk," Junyu slapped a palm on his shoulder, "never, for the the life of me, never, go back to that cabin again."

"Why?"

"What you saw..." Junyu looked positively disturbed and at the same time, rattled at the alien's stupidity, "...isn't human."

"You mean she's an alien like us?" Yongguk had looked surprised, "nah, can't be."

"No, she's..." Junyu lowered his voice as Hyoyeon walked past him, "...she used to be human. But that was a long time ago."

"What?" Yongguk raised his voice and Junyu shushed him urgently, "...Shima... Shima's a ghost?"

"That would be pretty obvious to anyone but you, apparently," Junyu groaned inwardly; seriously what the hell would the aliens meet next? First the damn bear, now this, and oh look, Zelo's found a hedgehog den.

"What do you mean?"

"In WW2," Junyu actually, literally sat him down and explained, "when the Japanese invaded Korea, they were inclined on undergoing a mass genocide under the rule of a dictator, and Muju forest was one of their highways where they marched prisoners through. There used to be minority villages here and they were all destroyed, burnt to the ground."

"Shi-Shima was killed?"

Junyu pulled out his tablet and slid through his word documents, "my grandmother owns these parts of the forest," he said, "they were inherited from her grandmother, who was sister to General Kim Hansok and ruler of most of these parts. The forest lands were awarded to the General as a token of rescuing a famous governor back then. Well, the General was murdered trying to protect his family, as well as his only son. And you know what they did to women back then," Junyu snapped the tablet shut, "I did a paper on this once for my school and they had to bar my entry because apparently, I was dragging Japanese name through mud."

"Wait, what did they do to wome..."

"I have nothing against Japanese anymore, but I still don't want to talk about it," Junyu shut him off, "but it was disgusting. It's best you didn't know."

Shima looked up at Yongguk questioningly, tears still streaming down her eyes.

"Yongguk, what?"

"You were killed in that massacre, Shima," Yongguk said quietly, "you never made it. And those foreign monsters that came and killed your family... they returned to their country 60 years ago to rot."

Shima's upper torso was tremoring violently, for she saw truth in his eyes. Salt of her soul poured out in grieving torrents down her cheeks and her eyes flashed red.

"All these years, staying here. All you did was scare innocent locals who never did a thing to your family. You're staying here in vain, just let it go."

She shook her head, and cried in a voice so pained, Yongguk thought her weeping would cut a hole in his heart.

"You're suffering here, just let go and be at peace."

"How?" she screamed, "how do I be at peace?"

"Forgive."

"WHAT?" Shima's eyes glowed red and her face was contorted with evil rage. Her nails were razor sharp again and she grapsed Yongguk violently at the collar, "my kin was slaughtered. My sister had a baby! A baby girl who was ripped out of my sister's stomach and burnt. Because of them, there is nothing of us, no memory, no memorial, no story..."

"Shima."

"I want them dead. I want them dead so horribly, but I am trapped in this house I was raised in for all eternity. I can't leave, and no matter how..."

"Your blood lived," Yongguk whispered, gazing into those red orbs calmly, "you remember the genius I was living with? The boy with a beautiful sister? He's your cousin, and he's building machines to make the world better."

Shima's fire vanished and she knelt there, still holding his collar and black eyes wide.

"...what?"

"His name is Kim JunYu, his sister is Kim EunChae. They are great-grandchildren of Kim Hansok's sister, Kim Jaehee."

Her lower lip trembled.

"They remember you, they are 4 generations down and they remember the names of your family that were killed, including yours – Kim Shima, because they are all engraved in a monument erected in a private shrine in Seoul City 2 hours from here by Kim Jaehee. And till today, history of the Korean massacre is being taught in private and public schools, and written down by technology into a kind of paper that the whole world can read."

Yongguk had read up on WW2 in Asia thoroughly, sickeningly thoroughly on the internet. He had found Kim Corporation's website and asked Junyu about their rememberance shrines. He had teleported there with Youngjae to find her name, and had found it – next to her mother's. He had even looked for Dongwon's name, with Daehyun's help (none of the units knew what he was up to, they just thought he had harboured a new hobby), found it.

Yoo Dongwon died 12 years ago – meaning that he survived the attack, and brought officers back to the village to find a tomb of what was his home. All the bodies were given proper burial and he was the one who took the ashes of his lover's family's ashes to Kim Jaehee in Seoul.

Yoon Dongwon never married.

He told Shima all this, and whilst she listened, she seemed to fade a little more into herself.

"So I will never see my murderers again," Shima said, her eyes downcast, "they will never return."

"They're most probably dead by now," Yongguk put an arm around her, "meaning that you should rest now."

"I have always waited for Dongwon. I wasn't only focused on vengeance, but I also waited for him. I wanted so much for him to wash my hair in the waterfall again, to tease me about my hair and skin, and kiss my forehead again. I want him back with me, to play me his flute again and play with my hair."

"Then go," Yongguk leaned forwards and brushed her hair out of her face, "your family and lover are waiting for you."

She blinked away tears, her lips pursed from trying not to cry again.

"Your parents, your sister and niece are up there, and they probably wish, and wish that you would go home to them. Go on, and finally marry Dongwon."

She finally looked at him, really, really looked into his eyes and he returned the gaze. Then, she leaned in and kissed him in the forehead.

Then, the candle went off and she was gone.

The night was still young, and the mist had cleared. So he knew for sure, she had left for good. The house was really empty now, and loneliness crashed in. All the sudden, the cabin aged 60 years.

Yongguk stood up, slightly shaken and slowly made his way to camp, thinking about Shima.

If the board knew what Earthians were doing to each other here on Planet B124AP224, he thought with mixed emotions, they would order an extermination right away.

He stopped.

Earthians were so ugly, he suddenly felt sick, they had such ugliness in them that before now, he could never imagine. He had seen all kinds of blood. All kinds of war and casualties, but none of the death he had bestowed on his enemies had been more than a sharp bullet between their eyes. That was the most merciful way to handle them, next to a pardon. To think that a Commando his rank would suddenly feel this wave of nausea rush over him, was humiliating.

But he couldn't help it.

His knees crashed to the floor and he threw up.

Earthians are ugly.

So ugly.

*

[Flashback : Himchan]

When Himchan stepped onto the threshold, the first thing he heard was a frightened scream. This was followed by a blurred view of Junyu's startled face before he fell, face-first onto the carpet. His arms and legs were weak and his head was attacked by waves and waves or searing migraines. Then, he choked thick, sticky, blue blood onto the vinyl. The other units weren't there, so Junyu and Eunchae were the only ones to heave him to his feet and pull him into Junyu's father's study where he kept most of the tools. Junyu set to work, as Eunchae gripped Himchan's hand, pinning him down with painful energy as he twitched and trembled on the work table. Junyu tried to knock him out with chloroform, but it was useless. It took them an hour to find a suitable anaesthetic on the unit's system. Then, Junyu scanned through his head with his mother's UV scanner. She was a vet, and his father a zoologist, hence their frequent travels all across the world with unlimited access to North Korea for their research.

"Chae, scalpel," Junyu called as Eunchae watched in horrified silence, and she gave a little squeak as she was addressed.

"P-pardon?"

"The butter-knife-looking thing there, yeah, that one... no, the one next to it," he directed her as she felt for it in Mrs. Kim's surgical briefcase. She finally handed him the right one and he sliced open Himchan's temple, where he had made a yellow mark with a pen and iodine. Then, he reached in with his own scissors to push aside wires. There was a sickening smell of gasoline as blood oozed out from the cut, and Junyu worked quickly, looking for the damage. He knew he unit anatomy well, he had studied some diagram courtesy of Youngjae during his free time as inspiration for his new robots.

He found the damage soon enough, but the smell was already choking. He told Eunchae to slip on facemasks for herself and him, and she obeyed meekly, never letting go of Himchan's hand. Junyu pulled apart wires, tightening some that were loose from the impact. Then, when Junyu began to stitch Himchan back up again, she breathed with relief. He would never give up on a broken system, never.

Then, he pulled Eunchae aside, and directed DC into Himchan's chest. There was a huge jolt and a spew of blood and Himchan sat up abruptly, heaving deeply as he coughed up whatever liquid that clogged up his throat. Daehyun walked in then, and he froze as he saw the blue liquid on the floor.

"General!"

"Hey, I need you, Yongguk and Youngjae back here to check his cranial arrangements, he was coughing up so much of that thing that I couldn't wait for you guys."

"Oppa," Eunchae gripped Himchan's hand as Daehyun rushed off, "what happened to you?"

Himchan coughed another few times and breathed irregularly loudly, "I-I'm not sure... I was on my way to the workshop when..." he gasped, and spun around wildly, "my briefcase? Where's my briefcase?"

"You came back empty-handed."

"Nononono, there was a briefcase with me. I was on my way to teleport to HQ from the workshop with new reports. Those were hard copies of my research, I didn't have time to send Youngjae soft copies and they're the only..."

"You were..." Junyu tried as gently as he could, "you were mugged, Himchan. They have your briefcase."

"I need to get it back."

"You have to rest first."

"You don't get it! Those were vital pieces due today for our project , without them, my people's lives are at stake. Why would anyone take it? Why would anyone grab something they didn't understand?" Junyu had never seen Himchan so upset.

"It's okay..."

"Yongguk will be furious," he looked away, but Junyu glimpsed something in his eyes, something he couldn't quite place, "he will be so furious."

Earthians Are Ugly.