A black car moved down the road.
The only car on it.
Ahead, the forest waited.
Soldiers blocking the road in a line.
The car stopped.
Far from them.
In the sea of grass beside the road, the world was quiet and blue and green and wrong for what was happening inside it.
Chi-Long stepped out first.
Weapon in hand.
Ha Joon and Eun Byol followed from the back seat.
Eun Byol's eyes moved.
Just for a moment.
Toward the soldiers.
The blocked road.
The guns.
Then back to Chi-Long.
Chi-Long moved forward.
They followed behind her.
Clear blue sky above.
A river of grass on either side.
Ha Joon and Eun Byol looked at each other.
Held their breath.
Weapons tight in hand.
The noise came through the trees.
Distant.
Wrong.
Chi-Long stopped.
Her eyes moved.
Swept behind her to the two following like shadows.
Then she moved again.
---
A truck emerged from the tree line.
Soldiers inside.
They'd seen them.
The truck drove toward them and stopped hard.
Two soldiers jumped out.
Guns up.
Aimed.
Pointed at all three of them like extensions of their bodies.
Natural.
Practiced.
"You're under arrest. Put your weapons down."
Ha Joon and Eun Byol looked at everything.
At the guns.
At the soldiers.
At the blue sky above it all.
Fear moved across their faces.
Not for themselves.
For the soldiers.
Chi-Long stood still.
Her eyes didn't move.
Didn't blink.
An instant.
Just an instant.
Everything went quiet.
Then they continued moving forward.
Behind them, the grass turned red.
The soldiers lay down in it.
The truck sat empty.
The road stretched on ahead.
Clear.
Open.
And Chi-Long walked forward without breaking stride.
Ha Joon and Eun Byol followed.
The blue sky watched.
Said nothing.