*Beep beep beep...*

Jessica’s heart was racing as the sound of an alarm and the lights switched on woke her up. She looked around hastily as if there was a reason for the alarm but the other people in her room were just taking their things to get ready for the morning. Rubbing her eyes a few times, Jessica lazily got out of bed so she could join the others in getting ready for her first time in this new routine. Jessica removed her key from her neck so she could open her chest where she saw the blue trainee uniform Taeyeon said she would have to wear starting today since she was to start training right away.

Looking around, Jessica saw that most of the other people in the room were wearing the same uniform as her so it was true that this room was mostly for new people who needed training before being assigned a job. It made her feel better that she wasn’t the only one new to this whole new world.

With a quick shower and brushing her teeth, Jessica got dressed so she could follow the others out for breakfast. When she looked at the dining area, Jessica was surprised how many people were here. Of course she ate here yesterday with Taeyeon but there seemed to be many more people today, “Are you sleeping while standing up? That is a great talent.”

Jessica was shocked to see Taeyeon standing right there in front of her, “Huh? I-I wasn’t...”

Taeyeon flashed a smile, “I was joking. Did you need help getting food?”

Jessica shook her head as she walked into line with Taeyeon, “Alright. I just wanted to point out my table is over there. You should join us once you get your food okay?”

Looking over at the table, Jessica recognized a few people she remembered from her first encounter with Taeyeon, “O-ok.”

“Great!” Taeyeon skipped back to her table and Jessica resumed in getting her food. Step by step she got closer to her food which was not much. It seems like she could get eggs and oats which was probably a luxury to be able to get something like this every day for most people above ground. She remembered her even more luxurious life at the bakery to have bread every morning, but that was something only the Party would get she assumed.

With her tray in hand, Jessica looked around a bit before finding the table Taeyeon was at. She took a huge breath right as she went to walk to the table. Of course, Taeyeon saw Jessica first and scooted over to have her sit next to her, “Jessica! Welcome!” Jessica looked around, “Everyone this is Jessica, she is new to the Resistance.”

“Yo Tae she looks familiar.”

Shaking her head happily, “Because you have met her before at the warehouse Yul. Anyway Jessica, this is my little group of friends. I am not sure if you remember Yuri but she and Go Ara here are my roommates...huh...you will meet my other roommate another time. She is sleeping from a late night call. Anyway, back to introductions, this is Yunho, Siwon, and Junho they are in the same unit as me and lastly is Sooyoung, she works with Yuri most of the time.”

Jessica stood up to bow politely to all the people making a few laugh, “Jessica just relax. From what we hear, you are around our ages...well except Yunho who is the oldest out of all of us.”

Yunho slapped Siwon, “Like you are much younger.”

“At least I have the good looks!” Siwon smirked.

Blushing in embarrassment, Jessica took her seat again, “N-nice to meet you.”

Taeyeon rubbed Jessica’s back hoping to quell her nervousness, “You will see them a lot if you stick with me. Think of them as your friends like me.”

Yuri leaned forward, “So Jessica, Taeyeon only told us how you met, but why did you join?”

Taeyeon flicked some of her eggs in Yuri’s face, “That could be private. You all know we have reasons.”

Yuri gave Taeyeon the evil eye, “I was more curious to why she followed you here Taeyeon...bad choices in...”

Again Taeyeon flicked more eggs at Yuri causing her to huff in annoyance while the others at the table laughed at the girl who was now covered in eggs. Yunho leaned back after he caught his breath, “Taeyeon are you doing private training later?”

Taeyeon decided this time to eat her eggs, “Yea...you know Jessica is my trainee.”

Yunho smiled, “We all know...Junho was mine.”

Jessica was shocked with the information because she remembered Taeyeon was in a high level, “How did you get up so high?”

Junho and Yunho laughed, “He has the skills. I picked a good recruit! I have eyes for greatness!”

Taeyeon rolled her eyes, “There goes his ego.” Meanwhile, Junho ducked his head to eat his food, “Jessica just remember, experience is one thing but doing well in training can do wonders. Junho was the top of his class back in the day so he progressed pretty fast, however, Yunho was not and it took many years for him to get where he is at now.”

“Yunho you just got burned!” Yuri laughed loudly.

*Beep, Beep, Beep...*

Jessica looked up to hear the alarm again, “Jessica eat up quickly. That is for training to start in 10 minutes. Most of us do some kind of morning training. We have to be ready for anything. You will have basic training while we do training for our specific jobs.”

Jessica nodded as she tried to finish her food fast. Taeyeon continued to talk while Jessica finished up her food, “Okay.”

Taeyeon smiled when she saw her tray empty, “Okay guys, Jessica and I will leave first.”

“Have fun Jessica!” “Bye!” “Don’t listen to Taeyeon!”...

Taeyeon glared at Yuri before the two went to put their trays away and walk to the training hall, “To not confuse you, you will be in training room A. These signs here will help direct you so you see the training rooms are in section B2. That means we have to go down a level.”

“Wow this place goes down further?”

“This is like a middle level...the rooms and food are all middle level, upper level you saw when you came in where we sell basic goods and such. You won’t ever have to go to the other bottom levels any time soon so those aren’t important.” The two continued to walk through the maze of hallways and rooms, “Well here we are, training room A.”

Jessica opened the door to what seemed like a classroom, “I thought I would be fighting or something?”

Taeyeon smiled, “Maybe in the afternoon. Morning is information. You just joined so you have the most to learn here.”

Jessica took a seat near some of the other students and their mentor, “I liked school.”

Taeyeon took her seat, “I hate to say it, but other than basic math and writing skills, forget everything the Party taught you. None of that will be of use here.”

“I was trained in military tactics mostly.”

Taeyeon raised her brow in interest, “I almost forgot you are from a family of government workers. Maybe this training could be cut short for you.”

Just then a senior officer walked in, “Welcome those who are new, I am Ji-Hoon the primary instructor here. You will get to know my name and see me often. Since it is your first week, your mentor will be with you, but after that, you will be solely in my hands. How about introductions?”

While the introductions were going, Taeyeon leaned over to whisper in Jessica ears, “He used to be a top ranked officer, rumored level one until he got injured. I recommend not to get on his bad side.”

Jessica nodded while she looked up at the man in awe, “Next!”

Jessica stood up as Taeyeon did the introduction, “Level 2 Kim Taeyeon with Level 9 Jung Jessica.”

Ji-Hoon wrote down a few more things before taking some books out, “I will be letting you use these for in class use. These were made before the Party took over. They are extremely valuable and all but a few hundred are still around. They were burned along with other valuable books in history. Your first lesson will be history about pre and post Party occupation. Can someone tell me what you learned about the World War?”

A boy in the front row rose his hand immediately, “The war lasted seven years and destroyed our nation. It was then that the Party led the country to victory and rebuilt the country.”

“Alright class, that is the end of what you will need to remember from your history class the Party gave you. The rest you will be relearning here from me and these books. You may question why I am giving you a whole new history lesson that will sound almost completely contrary to what you learned in school, but I will make one thing clear here. We are here to offer the truth. If you don’t like the truth we offer you, then you can leave. The process is simple, we have a drug that the Party developed to erase your memory depending on the dosage we give you.” The man held up a vial, “This here is what we will give you. No more and no less. It erases about one month of your life. If your mentor thinks you need a longer period erased from your memory, then we will. Any questions?”

A girl shakily raised her hand, “That stuff is real?”

Ji-Hoon smiled, “There are many secrets of the Party.  From here on out, we can tell you what they keep hidden because our founders were not given this medication. Most of your parents were alive when the Party came to order, but why have they never told you what life was like before the Party?”

The class thought for a while but no one gave an answer, “It is because they don’t remember. Almost a year after the Party was formed and the Resistance started, this medication was in experimental form and was passed out to the people as a vaccine. Since then, the Party ruled and sought to control how our people thought, acted, and supported their society.”

“Bull!” The boy who answered the first question protested, “How do you expect us to believe you?”

“You came here for the truth and I offer it. Your choice to leave or stay.” Ji-Hoon sat back in his chair to let the trainees and their mentors talk. This was the first way to leave the Resistance.

Jessica looked at Taeyeon who, like always, had a gentle and reassuring grin on her face, “Is this the truth you wanted to show me?”

“Is this the truth you wanted to find?”

Jessica thought for a while as she opened the old book. She saw the copyright was a little over 35 years old, matching the fact that it was before the Party. After paging through the book a little more she looked up at Taeyeon who was watching her movements, “This thing is real?”

Taeyeon scooted closer so she could open the book to a particular page, “You see here former Leader Yang, the one who started the Party, was only part of the regular government body. 5 years later he will start the Party and 24 years later, he will pass it on to his son, Yang Hyun-Suk...the Party’s current leader.”

Jessica looked at all the pictures, “The pictures look so real.”

Taeyeon laughed, “Because these are. This is the real thing.”

Jessica looked up into Taeyeon’s eyes to only see sincerity staring back at her, “Ok...”

“Ok?”

“I want to stay. I need to know more about the truth.”

Dimples were showing with how big Taeyeon’s smile was, “Then there is a lot to learn.”

------------------------------

The class went on for another hour and a half until the trainees were given a free period before lunch. Of course, Jessica was found on her bed engrossed in her thoughts about what was in that book. She wanted to read longer and finish that book in one day, but her instructor was advent that they couldn’t have the books outside of class. The reason they were given a free period was because the instructor had to go to a meeting around that time so there was no chance to even do a free period in the classroom.

“What are you thinking about?”

Jessica was surprise that Taeyeon found her, “Aren’t you going to your group training?”

Taeyeon shrugged, “I figured the first day might be hard for you...did you want to talk about it?”

Jessica scooted over on her bed to let Taeyeon sit down next to her. The two of them were sitting upright, leaning against the headboard, “That was a lot to take in...why couldn’t we take notes?”

“Security is our top priority. Although we want to spread around what really happened, we can’t let the Party know we have this information. Paper can get out easier than a person. We try to memorize everything such as mission plans, strategies and so on. I hope your memory is amazing.”

Jessica nodded, “I didn’t understand the difference between a dictator and what was it? Democracy? The book said we had a democracy but Ji-Hoon said Leader Yang was a dictator. I don’t know what all that is.”

Taeyeon giggled, “Interesting how something so simple could be complicated huh? Dictator is a leader that has ultimate control. His command must be followed. Democracy is where the people choose the leader, but the leader doesn’t have all the power. Instead, the people will gather and say what things the nation should or shouldn’t have.”

“Is the Resistance a democracy or dictator?”

“We want to return the nation to a democracy so we live that way here too.”

“I was told Chansung was the leader here. Isn’t he the dictator?”

“Chansung? So that is what they are telling you...huh...the history of the Resistance will come later. We need you to understand the Party first.”

Jessica puffed her cheeks cutely while shaking her head, “So we never had a say in the Party?”

“I am afraid not.”

“The book was written during the Great War...they saw Leader Yang as a new hope with his ideas...is that true?”

Taeyeon looked up to think, “He was in the beginning, but he didn’t want to give up his power.  So he took control of the people to take control of the nation.”

“Ah...a dictator.”

“Yes. I think you are getting it.”

Jessica closed her eyes for a bit before putting her head on Taeyeon’s shoulder, “It is making my head hurt a bit...I am getting tired.”

Taeyeon felt the weight on her shoulder but gave a shy smile, “Then rest. I will wake you before lunch.” Hearing a soft snore, Taeyeon carefully removed Jessica’s hair from her face so she could look at the younger girl sleeping. She wondered if she really wanted to wake the girl for lunch. Everything seemed so peaceful this way.

Author's Note

Someone asked if romance is coming...trust your author ;) Everything and more will come in due time.

So I think it is bad when your author has to start taking notes because she knows she will get confused later on due to the complexity of the story. Thus, author was nice enough to help you out with pictures!!! Yay! I didn't say the name of Taeyeon's 3rd roommate, but if you can guess from the picture, go for it :)