Before Hana could even get around to shyly thanking Hyeon and her subtle kindness, however, a shocking piece of news greets the students the next day. Everything was, in fact, not all okay. Word quickly spread that the spheres were dropping all over Korea, and one had fallen right onto campus grounds, destroying their school gymnasium, which had caused the deafening thud they heard the previous night.
However, even if such a discovery causes an uneasy feeling to settle in the hearts of each student momentarily, it isn't enough to startle everyone. And it certainly isn't enough to stop the antics of the students and their mission to study and train at the same time.
As the crowd of her classmates disperse after Woo Heerak and Joonhee's little scuffle, Hyeon turns away, subtly hiding her chuckling behind a closed fist, only to see Chiyeol's looming expression. It was quite odd for her to see the boy with anything but a flustered, playful, or awkward expression. Before she could process her confusion, however, a figure brushes past her, bumping her shoulder. Kwon Ilha, lost in his own thoughts does not even seem to register even making contact with the girl, his head slightly bowed as he stumbles back to his desk.
What the…
---
The spheres may be dropping, but that doesn't change the fact that they are now full-time student soldiers. However, it’s obvious that everyone is distracted by the unexpected news of the descent of the spheres, especially coupled with the endless sirens that resonate throughout the school grounds.
“So, study hard and work hard. Understood? Do everything hard!”
Their Physics teacher's words seem to be a bad omen for them, as lessons don't get any easier and neither does the training.
They get a firsthand experience of what the different instalments on their previously barren field are meant to do. From squirming on their backs underneath a barbed wire frame, crawling on all-fours through a metal tube, hopping over an intricately set-up of rubber tires, to using their rifles to hit at a tire propped up on a wooden frame - Hyeon is feeling more than a little cheated that their training regime seems less and less like a student soldier’s, but rather a normal soldier’s. She has never felt weaker than when doing push-ups with her rifle, the firearm suddenly seemingly weighing more than 10 kilograms.
Hyeon briefly admires Chiyeol’s commitment to his role as the Class Clerk, when he asks her for a short interview.
Tugging at the scuffy and wrinkled garment around her waist, Hyeon glares into the lens of the camcorder. “This skirt…”, she has to take a deep breath to calm herself down, “Why do we have to wear this damn skirt when training? It’s such a hassle.”
She’s halted by a tap on her shoulder. Looking up, she meets eyes with Park Soyoon, with bangs frazzled and hair unkempt.
“Hey, Hyeon, do you have an extra hair tie?”
Plucking the black elastic that she always keeps on her wrist, Hyeon nods, passing it to the other girl.
“Thanks, man,” Hyeon watches as Soyoon tries to secure her stray hair with the hair tie, only to repeatedly fail, her forearms too sore from their previous drill. “Shit, why isn’t this working.”
“Should I help you?”
“Please, god.”
Without another word, Soyoon plops down onto the ground in front of Hyeon, adjusting her collar to give the former a better view. She uses her fingers to comb through Soyoon’s shoulder-length hair, quickly gathering it into a fistful before pulling the elastic over it.
“All done.” “Thanks! If it comes out, I’ll seriously… kill that platoon commander…” “At this point? I’ll help you.”
Giving a small smile as Soyoon walks away, Hyeon looks back at the camcorder, which Chiyeol is observing their interaction from behind.
YOU ARE READING
pumped up kicks
Fanfiction"Death doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes. And we keep living anyway; we rise and we fall, and we break, and we make our mistakes. And if there's a reason I'm still alive when everyone who lov...
