The sounds of the bugle echoed through the chilly morning air, and Kyuhyun groaned and rolled over in his sleeping bag. For a few precious moments, he squeezed his eyes tightly shut and imagined that he was still at home in his warm and comfortable bed. But soon that moment passed and he forced his eyes open, rising to his feet and stretching, his hands grazing the top of their small tent. 

Kyuhyun examined the lump on the ground next to him – his friend and comrade, Ryeowook, was still fast asleep and completely hidden beneath his sleeping bag. Sighing, Kyuhyun bent down to wake his friend. What would Ryeowook do without him.

“Ryeowook, come on, time to get up!” Kyuhyun said, now completely alert after only a couple minutes of being awake.

“Arhmmmm just a sec okayhmmmdmmdd…” Ryeowook trailed off, mumbling incoherently as he slowly raised himself from the ground.

Hurriedly, the two men dressed and left their tent to join their fellow soldiers as they began their usual morning routine. But today, instead of going about their normal business, something was going on among the soldiers. There was a certain apprehension in the air as some news seemed to travel amongst the men.

Hardly a moment after they stepped out of their tent, a man came running over to them.

“What’s going on, Shindong?” Kyuhyun inquired of the man with urgency. Ryeowook was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Everyone is to report directly to the general’s tent – he has an important message for us!” the soldier Shindong said excitedly, immediately running off to tell the soldiers at the next tent.

Kyuhyun and Ryeowook exchanged surprised glances. What could possibly be going on?

After several more minutes, all of the men were gathered outside of the general’s tent, anxiously whispering amongst themselves.

Soon, the general himself appeared – an intelligent and confident looking man named Leeteuk, or General Park as the soldiers knew him.

“Attention!” the General called out, and immediately all of the soldiers stopped their whispering and fixed their gazes on Leeteuk.

Satisfied, the General continued, “Men, as you all know, we have spent the past months training hard for battle. We all knew what was coming, and today, the day has come. We have been traveling closer and closer to the border, and today we will finally achieve that goal. I have received news that a North Korean troop is stationed in the hills outside of a small town that we must travel through to reach our destination. They, of course, do not know that we are aware of their position. They are hoping that they will catch us unaware and destroy us…”

Leeteuk paused, and looked around at his soldiers, giving them a serious look. “This will NOT be the case! Men, we will do whatever it takes to destroy them before they even know what hit them! Yes, this will be our first experience in a real battle. But you are all more than prepared, and we will succeed in our efforts!”

After this speech, Leeteuk began to go into the details of their battle plan, showing exactly what they were ordered to do to destroy this North Korean troop.

Meanwhile, Kyuhyun was trying to remain calm on the outside, when in fact his mind was racing. So tonight would be their first real battle! He had been waiting for this day for months now. He could still remember clearly the way his family congratulated him when he first joined…

His father had gone on about how proud he was of his oldest son becoming a military man, while his mother had smothered him and insisted on throwing a party in his honor. Kyuhyun himself had felt extremely proud and courageous to be fighting for his country and his people.

The only person who hadn’t seemed happy with the news was Kyuhyun’s little sister, Eunhee. She protested the war to begin with, but when she found out her own brother was going to war, her heart broke as she realized she may never see Kyuhyun again. Her brother sensed this in her sad tears when he left, and it made him second guess what he was doing.

This little bit of doubt and fear threatened to return to Kyuhyun now, until he shook himself a bit and forced himself to concentrate on the task in front of him. Leeteuk had finished presenting the plan of action, and now a soldier was questioning an aspect of it.

“Excuse me sir,” the man asked hesitantly. “But it seems to me that if our plans go awry, we could possibly cause harm to the innocent people of this town.”

The General almost sighed, and looking more serious than ever, he turned back to his troops. “Men, I won’t tell you that it’s right to hurt innocent bystanders during a war. But we have to remember what we are fighting for! We are fighting for our people, for our nation! We must do whatever it takes to win this war!”

All of the soldiers cheered and Kyuhyun cheered half-heartedly with them. But he still had that feeling of doubt within him.

Then he thought about what Leeteuk had said, and he thought of his family back home, and the pride of his country, and his resolve strengthened. He knew exactly what he must do, and he promised to do it to the best of his ability.

_________________________________________________________________________

Sungmin sat completely still, listening to the silence of the hills around him. The sun had set just moments ago, leaving the area around him almost completely in the shadow of the trees. Night was coming quickly, and Sungmin’s heart began to beat a tiny bit faster as his mind became more alert, preparing for what was to come.

The South Korean army would be marching through this land trying to invade their country soon. The job of Sungmin and his comrades was to destroy the South Koreans and stop them from entering their nation and performing horrible deeds. This much Sungmin knew – if South Korea were to win this war, terrible things would happen.

Sungmin tried to stretch his legs a bit without moving too much. He held in a groan as he felt his aching and stiff muscles. He had been stationed here for hours already, and they weren’t expecting the South Koreans to arrive for another two hours.

Earlier that day, Sungmin’s General, Kim Heechul, had warned that there was a possibility the South Koreans could be expecting their attack. Therefore it was of the utmost importance that they remained hidden until the moment was right. Then, they were to fight with everything they’ve got and be willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their country, if necessary.

Easy for him to say, Sungmin thought to himself, scoffing slightly. General Kim was probably locked up somewhere safely now, protected from harm and too important be involved in things like surprise attacks on enemy troops. Or too lazy to bother with them. Sungmin immediately regretted this thought. He shouldn’t think badly of his General. But it was true – sometimes he felt like Heechul only had his own best interests at heart.

Again, Sungmin tried to find a good way to stretch out his aching body. As he moved, he turned as quietly as he could to look for his fellow soldiers, all hidden in the trees just as himself. He looked to his right and could barely make out the closest soldier to him, Yesung, as still and patient as Sungmin. Everything past Yesung was slowly fading into the darkness.

As Sungmin stared into the forest, he thought he saw movement somewhere straight ahead of him. His heart skipped a beat and he tightened his grip on his gun. Could this be it?

It’s just your imagination, Sungmin told himself, attempting to steady his breathing. They can’t be here yet, and besides, what I saw looked way too small to be a soldier. It must have just been an animal…

Sungmin shut his eyes tightly and gave his head a quick shake, trying to get his thoughts straight again and get focused on the task ahead of him. When he opened his eyes again, he saw something that made his stomach drop.

Two little eyes were staring back out at him from among the trees.

Sungmin suppressed the urge to make a noise, simply staring back and remaining frozen as he tried to make out the figure standing in the shadows.

But then the eyes disappeared as a single gunshot was heard in the distance, signaling the start of the attack, and Sungmin was forced to turn away and hold his weapon ready for battle.