【Original】The Forgotten Lights

----Chapter 23

*Hansol's POV*

I am happy and glad the enemy hasn't attacked this base yet. It's a new record. Though, they probably went home for the 25th of December, which Dad keeps telling me. Apparently the enemy celebrates it, kind of like the day we celebrate the Korean New Year. We haven't done it in a while, but I guess the enemy has their own celebrations. Of course. They are human too. Dad has been teaching everyone about them. I now know that the enemy actually has a name, other than 'the enemy'. Apparently they call themselves Americans. Sounds like an unusual name. Even Dad thought so. Their soldiers all had names like 'Tom', 'James', 'John' or 'Harry'. Wow, they did sound weird. Their language sounds complicated too. 'English'? They have their own country. It is called America, and it is far away from Korea. Why do they even want to attack us anyway? What is the use? Apparently they attacked our sister countries, China and Japan, too. The enemy obviously has nothing better to do. My father and I found a library, and we stole a few books on the Americans. Apparently they have attacked other countries because of loss of land. One of their old leaders made them go broke. That is still no reason to kill the innocent. Their old leader sounds like a mean old man. It was a long time ago though. They used to call themselves the USA, and they even used to be friends with Korea!!!! The book had a very old picture of the Korean president and the American president shaking hands. I was a little shocked. How come they are attacking us now? What did our government do to deserve the punishment the enemy was giving us? I read in some of the books that the enemy even used to kill their own people, just because of what colour they were. It really boils me to read this. Though, apparently Korea wasn't in a good state back then either. We were divided into North and South Korea. The South Koreans were more open to the world, and was a reasonably free country. The North however was shut in. No one was allowed in, or out. I was reading through the history books, and both halves of Korea in the end, they both combined- and ushered peace. They just became 'Korea' after that. At least our country solved its problems. America apparently only had a small time of peace. It was during the 2000s. They then got a new leader around 2017 or 2018-ish, and it all went downhill. "I certainly wouldn't want to go there." I muttered. Then I read something. The 25th of December... it was called 'Christmas', and a lot of countries celebrated it. It was to do with their religion, and beliefs. There were pictures of happy children receiving gifts from a man named 'Santa'. Wow. I wish Santa came to us. I would have liked to experience a Christmas. It would've been a day to remember.

I had been reading the books for a long while, learning more and more about the enemy. They didn't sound much different to us, citizen wise. They had families, wives and children, schools, hospitals, shops and many more things. They sounded interesting. I picked up the last book. I was stunned by the cover. It wasn't in hangul. I was curious, so I opened the book to the middle. It was all in hangul, and some other language. I turned all the pages back to the first page. It said in hangul 'A Korean to English Dictionary'. A dictionary? We had digital dictionaries, I never knew there was book versions. Our sister country Japan supplied us with all the fancy technology, we hardly ever use books. I turned the page. Reading the first word, I immediately attempted it. "Hel-lo. Hello." It taught me how to say hello in English! I hadn't realised anyone else was in the room, but Siha started laughing. I looked up. "What?" I questioned. He looked at me. "You said something weird. It sounded funny coming from you. Only Kris says weird things." He replied. I frowned at him. Kris scrunched up his nose at us. "I do not say weird things, Siha!!! Stop telling lies!!!" He exclaimed. I chuckled, looking back down at the book. Then I attempted the second word. "Hi." I said aloud. That was simple. Apparently it was an informal way to say hello in English. English was easier than I thought. So, I went to the next line, which was a whole sentence. "Huw... ar... yu-yu-yoo???" I said. That wasn't meant to sound like that, was it? Siha started laughing again. This time Kris was laughing too. I wish they'd be quiet. "You know you two are not helping my concentration." I exclaimed. They both started laughing louder. "What concentration???" Siha laughed, holding his stomach. Even my father was laughing quietly to himself. What was so funny? Did it not sound right? I knew it didn't. They all calmed down in a small while, so I decided to attempt the next sentence. Maybe I'd have luck this time. "I cannot... speaku... Engirisu...?! I cannot speaku Engirisu!" I exclaimed. The others laughed again. But louder. "What the hell are you trying to do, Hansol?!" Siha laughed. Kris was wiping his eyes, and my father was laughing loudly too. "I was trying to speak English." I replied. They stopped laughing. "What is English?" Kris asked, chuckling. My father stormed over, and snatched the book out of my hands. "It is the enemy's language." My father said, replying to Kris' question. They all stopped laughing as my father sat down with the book. He closed it, and put it on a shelf that was behind him. "You are not to speak it again, understood?" He growled. I looked to him. "Why not?" I whined. I wanted to learn it! Why was he suddenly being so angry? "Because, we are not the enemy. I will not have my son speaking like one." He replied, his voice booming through the room. I was scared. This was not the same man that we met a few weeks ago. In fact, he was different since arriving at the new base. "B-But..." I started to say. "No 'buts'!!! There will be no acting, speaking or pretending to be the enemy!! Understood?" He yelled. I nodded. "Say it!!! And stand up!!" He yelled. I nodded, standing. He was scary. I felt like I was going to cry. "Say it!!!" He yelled again. "Y-yes sir." I squeaked out. My knees were shaking slightly. I looked to Kris and Siha, whom were looking at me with saddened eyes. "D-Dad, I- I didn't mean to. I j-just wanted to..." I started to say something else. He stood and walked over to me. "Do not bring it up again." He scowled, leaving the room. I collapsed to the ground. Kris and Siha ran over to me. Kris pulled me close to his body, and held me tight. "K-Kris... that was scary." I muttered. He combed my hair with his fingers. "Yes. I know." He replied.

It was dark, and I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop think about how my father reacted when I told him I was speaking the enemy's language. What was the worst that could happen? I sat up, and quietly stood. I quietly snuck out, and down the hall. I needed to take a breather. I was just walking, and before I knew it I was a good distance from the base. I walked toward a lamp post so I could sit by it, but I was grabbed. My arms were held by my will behind my back, and tied together. Before I could scream, tape was stuck over my mouth. I suddenly heard the alarms in the base going off as I was dragged away from the base. My muffled screams weren't going to help me.