“Okay class. Follow the leader.” Leeteuk had ordered the group of soon-to-be soldiers. One by one, they all marched behind him and a few other helpers. The walk wasn’t too long, but they had arrived to a track field where a bunch of girls were located. Leeteuk turned to them with his smile still plastered.

“Okay, kids. You ready to start?”

“Yes, Sir!”

No one besides Donghae had answered. Everyone was still confused whether this cute thing of soldier could actually be their captain. Well, everyone except for Donghae. Siwon was still astonished how excited a person could actually look when looking at Donghae with a comedic sweat running down his temple.

“Well, it’s nice to see that someone is interested.” Leeteuk explored the eyes of the 38 boys in front of him. He quickly did the math and concluded 4 groups of 7 and 2 groups of 5 will run. He may look “nice” and “innocent”, but what a great weapon for a soldier to fool his opposition, right?

“I want all of you to get into four groups of seven and two groups of five.” He screamed loud enough for the trainees to hear.

The trainees quickly did what they were told.

“Siwon-Ah, whatever this first exercise is, I’m gonna kick your !” Donghae had a wide grin on his face.

“Wanna make a bet? If that happens, I’ll give you my desserts for a week, but if not, you sleep outside the dorm a week. Deal?” Siwon used his wit for his benefit.

“Yah! That’s a terrible deal. But, I’m gonna kick your anyway. So deal. Hah, I can already taste the desserts!” He his lips.

“Pfft, whatever loser.”

“Okay, settle down everyone. As you can see, we are at a track field. Your first exercise will be a speed competition. Throughout the six months of your training, you will be ranked based on your performance during these exercises. Which will eventually add up, to see who is worthy of achieving the rank of “soldier” and who’s not.”

Leeteuk waited to see the reaction of his students. Truth is that there was no ranking, but as an experienced soldier, he knew that sometimes competition is the best way to bring out the best.

There were some nervous faces, but the faces Leeteuk liked the most were the brave ones.

“You hear that, Donghae? I guess I won’t have to hear your snoring for a whole week now.”

Donghae irked at Siwon’s evil laugh. It’s true, when it came to speed Siwon was better. But, that wouldn’t stop the determined Donghae.

Back to the girls

Four of the five rounds had already been done. The fastest time so far had been 220 seconds. The girls were so into it that the pressure was eating Jessica alive. She was up next and her palms were literally leaking from sweat.

“Alright, last group. Im Yoona, Kim Hyoyeon, Jessica Jung, Lee Soon-Kyu, Choi Sooyoung and Seo Juhyun. In order!”

 Jessica was so nervous that she didn’t even realize Yoona coming up to her.

“Jessica! Good luck!” Jessica looked up to see a smiling Yoona. She didn’t even know Yoona was in the same division as her and how could she be so happy? They were about to run a death race!

“You too, Y-Yoona-shii…”

The girls got into their position; the whistle was just about to blow before everyone heard a voice.

“Taeyeon-Ah!” All heads turned towards the voice. Theirs eyes met a man who also seemed to be a trainer. Behind him were a bunch of other men, except they were trainees like them.

“What is it, Leeteuk Oppa?” Taeyeon had gone over to where he was to speak to him, so that no one could here.

“Is it okay if we use this field, the others are taken?”

“After this round.” She sternly replied and went back to her trainees.

Leeteuk smiled at her before turning to his trainees. “Okay, kids. You guys are up for a treat. You all will watch the last group of females compete before you go on. So enjoy the show.” He smiled again.

The boys walked over to the track to see the six girls. Donghae and Siwon noticed Yoona and vice versa.

“Yoona-Ah!!” Donghae screamed over to her, waving his hand in unison.

Siwon just gave her thumbs up, which not just sparkled Yoona’s eyes, but the fan girls as well.

“Thank you, Fishy-Oppa, thank you Siwon-Oppa!” She yelled so they could hear, which caused a hint of jealousy from the crowd. Even the guys were mesmerized by Yoona’s beauty.

Donghae smiled until he noticed “that girl” from yesterday. The gloomy one that was standing at the last line. He hadn’t caught her name before, so he couldn’t call out to her.

“Siwon, look! It’s that girl from yesterday!” Donghae pointed towards her direction and Siwon followed his gaze.

Siwon didn’t find her interesting at all. She was just a girl with a problem. He had only seen her twice and he can already tell she suffers from depression “Yah, so what?”

“Nothing, she just looks funny again.”

Siwon sighed. His best buddy was nothing more than just an idiot.

Jessica realized how Yoona and the other girls were focused on the newcomers. But, her attention was all on the track.

Again, the girls got into their position and waited for their Q. “3, 2, and 1…Beep!”

As soon as the beep was heard, the six girls ran with all their might. The crowd cheered as they raced, but most of the cheers were only meant for Yoona.

Jessica ran with everyone thing she had in her. She didn’t look back, she didn’t hesitate and at that moment her face was brightened with a smile.

The crowd watched in awe as the girls did their rounds. They had to run three times around the track and they had already completed one. They were all fast and looked beautiful when they ran. But, it wasn’t Yoona; it was Jessica that caught their eyes. She was in the lead followed by Yoona and Hyoyeon. Siwon and Donghae were both amused. Especially Donghae, Yoona was known to be the fastest runner ever since they were in elementary school, but right now she was actually in second place. This Jessica girl might not be as weird as she seems to be. Unknowingly, a smile formed on his face.

Taeyeon was busy timing, until she was interrupted by Leeteuk.

“That girl in the lead… she kinda reminds me of you during our training period.” He chuckled.

Taeyeon only glared at him before retuning her attention back to the runners.

Jessica had finished two rounds, now only one more round left, she actually felt like she could do this. She estimated the time passed was only about 120 seconds. If she kept her current pace, she could be able to beat the lowest time. But, she didn’t let it go to her head; she kept all her focus towards the track. Until she felt her feet suddenly losing their control. One foot in front of the other, one ankle interwined with the other and before she knew it, her balance was gone and she fell to the dirt with only her yelp to be heard.

The crowds eyes were widened, the girl who was just winning 5 seconds ago was now down. Donghae, almost had the urge to go help her, but Siwon restrained him.

“Dude, this is a race. Don’t ruin it for her.” Donghae understood and just nodded.

Jessica wanted to get up, but her feet just wouldn’t comprehend. They hurt so much and she winced in pain, tears almost escaping her eyes.

Because of Jessica’s fall, Yoona took the lead now and was the first to finish; breaking the record for 180 seconds. Followed by Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Soon Kyu and Johyun. Jessica was still down and no matter how hard she tried, the sprain in her ankle restrained her from moving at all.

Jessica thought that it was over. The others must have already finished the race and now, she probably couldn’t finish the race even  if she wanted to.

“Eo-Eo-mma… I’m sorry…” She silently whispered to herself through her tears. All was quiet around her world, her eyes slowly started closing until a loud voice snapped them back open.

“YAH, YOU! DON’T GIVE UP LIKE THAT! GO ON! YAH! THERE'S NO POINT IN THIS RACE IF YOU JUST GIVE UP LIKE THAT!” Jessica’s eyes widened… "Th-That…"

 

“Sooyeon, you don’t want Appa to be disappointed again, do you?”

“Aniyo, Eomma… I want to make him p-proud… *sniff* l-like K-Krystal...”

“Then go on my little girl! Get up and go finish that stunt like the amazing Sooyeonnie you are!” Her mother cheered for her with her fist pumped up.

Jessica’s eyes shined because of her mothers words and her cheeks went rosy red. “Yes, Eomma!”

 

That sounded just like what her Eomma had once said…

That was it. Jessica had it. She got all her might, not holding back anything. She carefully pushed herself back up. She tried once, but she fell back, she tried again and she fell back again, but she decided that this time no matter what she wouldn't give up. When she finally got back up on her feet, all the trainees were in awe once again.

The girl looked had looked like she was finished a couple minutes ago, but now she was on her feet. She was limping her way to the finish, but she still didn’t give up.

Even Taeyeon and Leeteuk were amazed.

Jessica was limping, and it killed her right ankle more than anything right now, but it didn’t stop her. Whoever had screamed over to her had pulled a trigger in her that reminded her of the Eomma that had also supported her the same way.

Don’t give up now Jessica. Don’t give up. You can do this. She mentally told herself.

Eventually she reached the finish, and she was relieved. She stumbled down to the ground again, but this time someone had caught her. The arms were strong because they held her up, but they made her feel very protected.

When she looked up to see who it was, her eyes grew wide.

“Yah, you did it…” He softly said to her and even though she was embarrassed, at that moment she knew who the one who cheered for her was; Lee Donghae… yeah, that was his name.

 

***

It had been ten minutes since the last race and everyone waited for the results. Jessica leaned against a tree to rest her ankle with an ice pack that was given to her by one of the medics.

She was still pretty disappointed in herself, but at least she showed perseverence.

“Alright. The results are in!” She heard Captain Kim’s voice and she started to pay close attention.

“In first place; Im Yoona…” She continued naming names and Jessica wasn’t surprised when she hadn’t her name for a while. “Finally, our last place… Jessica Jung. Finishing with 4 minutes and 54 seconds.” There it was… her name, Jessica shut her eyes completely, and she could hear laughs and mockery from the crowd. But, she deserved this. This military didn’t want losers… just winners.

Tears slowly started escaping her eyes and before she could even inhale another breath she heard a voice over from behind her… that same one.

“Yah, don’t feel bad…”

Jessica looked behind her… and that's when her cheeks went rosy red again.