Dark Matter | JJK

32. Panorama

Kim Taehyung squinted with one eye through his M22 binoculars, scanning the expansive green fields in front for movement. Things had been quiet on the other side of the electric barbed wire fence separating North and South Korea. A little too quiet for his liking (given the highly tense situation between the two nations), so he continued to keep watch in spite of how badly his arms were aching due the countless hours they'd been held up for.

As if his agony were physically palpable, a soldier tapped two fingers on his shoulder from behind, signalling the end to his four-hour duty shift. Barely able to contain the relieved sigh that left him, Taehyung dropped his binoculars to hang limply around his neck, and walked long strides up the steep plateau that led to the side gate of the Korean Demilitarised Zone. He walked past armed officers in green uniform and stopped by the water filter, filling his mug and drowning the life-saving liquid in a single gulp.

"Hard at work, boss?"

Wiping the back of his mouth with his wrist, Taehyung turned around and grinned. "When are we not?"

Seungwoo, his fellow officer of the Special ops, chuckled lightly and followed Taehyung out to the back of the building, towards a desolate patch of land overlooking another side of the barren fields that extended to the horizon. They both studied the cloudless sky as peaceful silence settled between them.

"How long has it been since we were out there?" Seungwoo asked suddenly.

For men in the army, out there could mean only one thing.

Busy pedestrians commuting past even busier sidewalks. Honking cars and humming subway engines. Prim and poised businessmen walking with their shiny leather shoes into towering skyscrapers. A buzzing metropolis. A city that never sleeps.

What others called the real world.

"Two weeks, but it feels like forever," Taehyung replied. "What do you think's going on out there?"

"The last time I talked to my family," Seungwoo said, "they told me that bread in the market isn't brown or white anymore. That they barely get out of their home, and when they do, it is only for grocery shopping in padded, sterilized suitcases. They dress in masks and protective gear and always have a rifle on them. As if any of that will protect them from what's bound to come."

"It's good that you at least got to hear from them. I don't even remember the last time I heard from some of mine." Taehyung inserted the tip of his boot into the damp soil, sprinkling grains of sand to make a small hole as though if he dug deep enough, he would find the big brown eyes of his youngest brother staring back at him.

"One of your friends was a trainee with us, wasn't he?" Seungwoo asked. "Park Jimin? It's been years since I saw him last."

Taehyung couldn't help the fond smile that pulled at his lips at the mention of the name. "Jiminie's is busy man."

"That lad went a long way, didn't he?" he remarked. "Superintendent of the blimming police force." The momentarily astonished smile of Seungwoo's face faltered a bit, his voice lowering by a few octaves. "You two were so inseparable back then, we all were sure you would grow up to work together, too."

We're still inseparable, Taehyung wanted to add, but refrained from doing so to spare himself another barely bearable bout of nostalgia. "Jimin always had a leader in him. I knew from the start he'd go much farther than any of us."

"But you were deserving too, you know," Seungwoo started, and Taehyung wanted nothing but to avoid the direction this conversation was taking. "You were one of the most exceptionally skilled trainees in class, just as skilled as him, if not more -"