Lee Taemin

"Mother?" He whispered, hoarse. He hadn't drunk clean, sanitized water for months now, and his throat was becoming raw and painful.

The tear-stained face of Mrs Lee peeked through the tattered curtain that gave Taemin's room the basic privacy he needed, and he heard her drop all she was doing and watched as she rushed into the room to check on him.

"Omo, Taemin... Are you feeling better now? I'm so sorry...Your father and I... We couldn't get much medication..." She trailed on, her voice trembling with sadness. She felt guilty that she couldn't do anything to help her family whenever anyone of them fell sick, which was often, due to the poor sanitation of Fretown. It had been her choice to move here, when Fretown was still a well-known state for its strawberry-filled mountains. But ever since tourists came and polluted the land, things had gone downhill. A black market was set up to satisfy the ever-growing population of Fretown and inflation rate had increased ever since.

Lost in her thoughts, she was borught back to reality by Taemin's soft touch on her cheek. He smiled weakly and replied, "Umma, I'm fine. Please don't cry?"

Kim Jong Dae

It was one of those days again. Jong Dae's father had various officials over for dinner to discuss the future of ElecKim and he had to be dressed up primly and sit through long hours of endless statistics and factual jargon, even though they all knew he wasn't going to inherit it. He was probably going to die before he could even try leading it. His father knew it, his father's officials knew it, and yet they insisted him to be present at all meetings.

Jong Dae sighed. At least the food would be Japanese, his favourite.

He straightened his tie and glanced at his reflection. His hair was slowly falling. His eye bags had become more heavy. Still, he could imagine his mother saying, 'Perfect, in every way.'

He sighed once more and readjusted his nasal prongs and tucked his mini oxygen tank into his dress pants pocket. "It's okay, Jong Dae. You can get through this." He silently assured himself and stepped out of his room, where his bodyguards lead him to the dining room.

Amber Liu

"Amber! Come on! It won't be fun without you..." Sulli, Amber's best friend cried out over the phone. Amber smiled sadly as she heard her best friend's sad tone.

"I'm sorry Sul... You know I can't meet you guys tomorrow..." Amber gently reminded.

"Why Amber? Is it 'cause your family's finally going to visit you?"

Amber couldn't answer. She daren't reply. An awkward silence hung in the air.

"Oh ! I completely forgot! I shouldn't have! I'm sorry Am! I'm sorry!" Sulli urgently corrected herself. Although she never really knew what it was with Amber and her family, it was a taboo topic and she knew better than to ask her about it.

"I... I have to go Sul... I'll talk to you later 'kay?" Amber rushed her words and hung up the phone before Sulli could answer. Her hands trembling, she grabbed her nearby table and slowly sunk down to the floor. Tears had already begun to form and they splattered down messily onto her clothes.

The word rang in her ears. Family... Family... Mom... Dad... Brother... Sister...

Family...

Jung Yong Hwa

"Ey Yong! Help me with this will ya?" Jong Hyun yelled from across the farm. He was brandishing a bucket of food and gestured towards the pig pen. Yong Hwa frowned. Pig pen duty again. He trudged over wearily and grabbed the bucket from Jong Hyun, giving him a glare. Jong Hyun shrugged apologetically, "Sorry dude, boss' orders." Yong Hwa pouted in reply and headed over to the pig pen.

The stench could be smelt from 5 yards away and the pigs' squeals and grunts were no help to his throbbing head. He quickly dump the contents of the bucket into the pig food trench and half-walked, half-ran out. Not one of the three other helpers had to do pig pen duty consecutively. The boss seemed to always pick on him. He sighed in frustration and dumped the pig food bucket into the wash area, where Min Hyuk was silently scrubbing all the used buckets and rakes.

All of a sudden, a loud blaring alarm rang through the farm. Yong Hwa and Min Hyuk dropped everything they were doing and ran throughout the entire farm, locking down the various mini houses of poultry. Halfway through, they bumped into Jong Hyun and Jong Shin who hurriedly confirmed that they locked the rest of the houses, before they all ran towards the bomb shelter which was their home.

Another raid, another set of bombings and shootings.

This, was his new life.