Tea Leaves and Diamond Bracelets

Dokkaebi

Match Twenty-Two: Dokkaebi:

It's not good enough. Their missiles aren't a match for the monster under the sea. It didn't even do any damage.

Mi-Soon collapsed onto her bed. What were they missing here? Their scientists keep examining every possibility imagined. Mi-Soon began to fear the worst. The one thing they had on their side was that monster was still asleep No activity showed up on the radar. The soldiers didn't know how long that would last. They still didn't have much information on the creature. The size could cover the ocean floor and color blended in with the sand. They couldn't find any features on the body. It amazed the soldiers that no missile could wake up this damned creature. The "testing" turned into a game, really.

The Korean woman picked up her phone. No calls from her brother tonight. He started avoiding her for some reason lately. Doesn't he realize that he is in danger? Did the rest of the family get to him?

At least one person believed her.

And speak of the devil, Mi-Soon's phone rang. Her heart leapt up in her chest before it sank.

"Hello?" she asked.

"How have you been doing?" Wang Ja asked. Mi-Soon sighed.

"Not good," she said. "I fear for us all."

"What's going on now?" her brother asked.

"I can't really tell you," Mi-Soon said. She pushed her bangs from her forehead. Her boss gave her strict instructions not to talk about the mission. Who would believe them? The whole world didn't seem to trust them at all. The didn't like the previous boss. Why would they trust the new guy?

"I don't know what to do here," Mi-Soon said. "How are you holding up?"

"Not so good," Wang Ja said. "I still can't leave this damned place."

"How is your boss?" his sister asked. There was a pause over the other line.

"I think he's up to something," the Hong Kong whispered. "I am not exactly sure what. Are you free tomorrow?"

"Not really." But then, Mi-Soon paused. "I think I can try and get out of drills for a few minutes with information gathering."

"Oh good. Meet me out in the woods near your place."

"Okay." Mi-Soon looked around her room. Her boss kept tabs on all of the workers in their homes. Privacy was non-existent in home.

"Thank you," Wang Ja said. "I will try to come up with an excuse to go out and do some shopping." His sister shook her head.

"No, thank you," she said. "Good night."

"Good night," he said back. Mi-Soon held her phone to her chest after she hung up. Maybe Wang Ja could be the key to saving her twin from the appending apocalypse coming for them all. Mi-Soon rolled over to her other side. Brother, wait for me...

The next day felt so cold, too cold to be summer. Mi-Soon wrapped her jacket around her body. She and Im Yong used to play out in these woods when they were younger. The trees were their castle.

"You will be my queen," her brother said. Mi-Soon felt so happy to hear him say that. The trees hadn't changed at all after all of these years. Mi-Soon felt like twirling around with her hands out. But, she didn't have time to relive her simple childhood. She paused when she heard footsteps approaching her.

"Brother?" Mi-Soon asked. She glanced over her shoulder. Wang Ja walked up the hill of the dry grass.

"Yo," he said, putting up his hand.

"Are you along?" she asked.

"Yes," Wang Ja said. Mi-Soon turned around. The Hong Kong man stood with his bags of groceries in his hand. Mi-Soon raised any eyebrow.

"Are you planning a party?" she asked.

"No, it's a cover," he said. "I told my boss I would get ingredients for dinner." Wang Ja looked behind him and all around.

"I will make this quick. I don't have much time," he said.

"Okay," the Korean girl said in a whisper. Wang Ja pressed his lips together.

"Before I say anything, promise me that you won't tell anyone," he said. "I could get people in trouble if anyone knows that I said anything. I don't care about my boss. But, I can't let anything happen to Lin Yi. This is all Yao's fault that we're involved with the boss! She doesn't deserve any of it! Okay, maybe Toris too. And those other two guys. The point is, I don't want to put us all in danger if this gets out."

"I understand," Mi-Soon said.

"Thank you," Wang Ja said, bowing his head. His sister shuffled her feet for a little bit.

"What did you want to tell me?" she asked. Her brother took a deep breath and started to talk. Mi-Soon pushed her focus through the wind blowing through the trees as Wang Ja spoke.

Im Yong took slow breaths in his room. Lately, he's starting to have headaches. They started off as minor and easily to cure. Within weeks, the headaches began to get worse. The medication wasn't working anymore. Even his classmates started to notice that something was wrong.

"What's the matter, Im Yong?" Jin-ho asked.

"I don't feel so good," he said in a soft voice. He got up and walked out of the classroom.

"Im Yong?" she asked after him. This morning, his headache was so bad that he didn't go to school. The poor boy couldn't breathe or get out of bed.

Why is this happening to me?

The headaches weren't the only thing plaguing him. Last night, Im Yong could've sworn he heard whispering from the hallway. He tried to ignore it, but the whispering kept going back and forth. They sounded like two little kids trading secrets from each other. That shouldn't be possible. Who the hell got into my house? Im Yong got up from his computer and took a look in the hallway. As expected, there was nobody there. The Korean boy looked around with a confused look on his face.

Am I going crazy?

No, he wasn't going crazy. In fact, it was about to get worse.