| seventeen | saranghe

i hope you feel what I felt
when you shattered my soul
cause you were cruel, and I'm a fool
so, please let me go

Kim Chi-yeol was going through the videos he had recorded of his classmates. The way Ilha was mad at him, or how I-rak and Bo-ra would keep bickering, Jang-so's and Se-yon's conversations, the class complaining about being trained tirelessly and everyone beating the heck out of Deok Joong for being dramatic.

He was missing them dearly that morning, hoping they were somewhere safe and sound and that one day they would meet again.

For now, the only thing he wanted for for the ten of them stranded in the house to be safe and home. He was worried for Sae-bom. They had been the only adults who seemed to care for them.

Everyone had deceived them, the military, their school, the government and their families but only Yoon Saebom and Jung Yi-Hyun were with them. Plus Nara and So-cheol deserved to have a happy ending with their parents.

Kim Chi-yeol sighed, wiping the teary eyes of his to stop himself from crying and skipped through the videos until he came across one which seemed different. He frowned, pushing his spectacles on his nose and was about to click it when Tae-man and Woo-taek rushed inside the house. They were filling water from the tap outside and had rushed in with a scared expression.

"Its falling," They yelled, pulling Ae-sol, waking the other lady and readying with whatever they could take, rifles first and then the food. "The spheres are falling, one fell far across but we could feel the rumble and the other-"

But they were cut off when the entire house shook with tremors, all of it soon in a cloud of dust and seemingly a sphere had fallen almost on the edge of the house.

It was a blessing they were not crushed.

At once the kids screamed, Kim Yoona took hold of a rifle and put Ae-sol behind her while Nara and So-cheol were out of the room, followed by a limping and exhausted Saebom and a furious Yi Hyun.

There was silence, the calm before the storm as Yi Hyun pushed the kids behind him as he approached the huge purple sphere that crushed the back of the house.

"Class President, Woo-taek, Tae-man and Ae-sol," Yi Hyun said his rifle aiming at the huge round thing which was moving from inside and emitting puple light, "move out of the house and get the jeep started." His voice was enough to snap them out of their fear, "NOW."

They nodded and rushed out of the house quickly, "Yoon-ah shi, please take them to safety." He said, putting Saebom behind him.

"But-"

"Jebal, the kids need someone. We'll take cover here." Yi Hyun said, assuring the woman who had no choice but to move out with the rest of the kids.

"So, Ra and Kim-Chi, cover them from here. We wait till they settle in the jeep and then you three will proceed. Arachi?"

"But Omma? and you?" Nara asked, focused on the spheres trying to get out So-cheol gulped, his hands were shivering but he knew he had to do this. "We are not leaving without the both of you."

"Nara," Saebom managed to speak, she was trying her best to not fall off and focus on the spheres, "move when we ask you to. We'll talk about this later."

Nara and So-cheol took a deep breath, whilst standing with backs against their parents. Saebom and Yi Hyun were aiming at the purple sphere, the twins were aiming outside so the others could get to safety with Kim Chi and Yoona helping to clear the pathway.

However, the others had to stop in the middle when a herd of spheres attacked them.

Gunshots were immediately fired, Yoona and Kim were helping to clear as many spheres as they could. Tae-man and Woo-taek had made it inside the jeep, but the girls were stranded under a tree. Ae-sol had no rifle with her, neither did the class president, so they were pinning their lives on the others. Yoona and Kim Chi were joined by the twins who helped clear as many spheres as they could but they only kept multiplying for some reason.

There the giant sphere was finally bursting open and Saebom took a step ahead of her husband.

"Hyun-ah," She said softly, tears welling in her eyes, "gomawo for being with me..."

"Sae..."

"You and me both know that if we both die here, the twins will die, and the rest of them too." Saebom held her breath, blood oozing out of the open wound, "keep your promise to me... keep your promise jagiyaa..."

"Where are the twins?"

"resting," Saebom said, she was so mad at herself for being negligent enough to cause their twins to almost lose their lives.

The thought of her kids dead scared her for a week straight, so much that she had to take a leave of absence from work to get over the fear.

"They say their okay now, but Nara does not cry out loud and So-cheol lies."

"Bom-ah," Yi Hyun held Saebom's hands, helping her sit on the sofa, "what happened was not your fault. They are kids, kids fall, they get up and they..."

"I was on the phone, and they fell. They fell from the top of the stairs, hit their head and almost got kill... what if something happened to them... the thought of them lying in a pool of blood scares me." Saebom was in tears, something she rarely did.

For a SOU squad leader who has seen more blood than surgeons do, her kids death sure was the tripping point.

"How can I go about after knowing I failed to protect them..."

"Yoon Saebom," Yi Hyun held her shoulders, making her face him, "get yourself together. The twins are fine now and they are okay. And you have be okay now. You get that?"

Saebom nodded, wiping her tears as her husband hugged her, caressing her hair.

"I am sorry... I put them in danger."

"Ani, yeobo," Yi Hyun hugged her worries away, "I promise, I swear, I will do anything to protect them henceforth. You don't have to worry about them." He was awed at how the fearless Saebom was to the world and very vulnerable towards her kids.

"I promise, and you know I never break my promises. I will take care of them, arachi?"

"take care of them for me, arachi?" Saebom said, limping as she took closer steps towards the huge sphere.

The gunshots and screams of kids echoed with the snarling of the spheres and the reloading of rifles.

Yi Hyun gulped, he had to make a decision now and as much as he would want to fight alongside his wife, the one he loved dearly, he had to keep his promise and help his kids to safety.

So-cheol and Nara were killing the spheres that almost got to Ae-sol and Yoo-Jung but they did not take into account the ones that were approaching them, from the side.

Kim Chi and Yoona were outnumbered, and Woo-taek and Tae-man were surrounded by spheres trying to break in the car.

The loud burst of the spheres from inside the house made Nara turn, taking her focus from the spheres to her parents who were inside, but So-cheol held her hand and prevented her from going inside. Kim Chi shot the spheres besides the twins, whilst Yoona kill the ones surrounding the car.

"Get the jeep moving, bring it closer to the girls." Yoona screamed and the boys shuffled inside the jeep, whilst Nara tried moving inside the house.

However, their father ran out, shooting the spheres inside and around them and holding his twins as they moved out of the house.

"Where is Omma?" Nara asked, trying to get out of her father's hold, "Omma!"

Yi Hyun had tears in his eyes, as the trio watched their mother from inside the other room, before they could leave the house, she raised her hand at them.

A soft smile, a whispered goodbye and spheres around her and that was when Yi Hyun shut the door to prevent them from crawling out.

Nara yelled for her mother, and So-cheol was sobbing as Yi Hyun helped clear the spheres around.

The boys had turned the jeep towards them and Yi Hyun and the twins cleared whatever spheres they could from around the jeep, helping the girls and Yoona to sit in the jeep, Kim Chi following them inside.

Nara and So-cheol were crying, as Yi Hyun cleared the pathway for them, his vision was blurry and heart aching but he had to keep his promise. He threw the rifle Saebom had at Yoona who caught it from the window of the jeep and helped clear the path.

"I am not leaving without Omma." Nara said, shaking and trembling, "I don't care."

She was pulled by So-cheol, "So..."

"Please, I cannot lose you to too."

Her twin helped her stay inside the jeep whilst Woo-taek zoomed in circle around Yi Hyun, who held two rifles, on on each arm and kept shooting the spheres.

"Start the jeep and go," He yelled at the kids, who hesitantly looked at each other. "PALI... LEAVE. I'll take care of them from here. Seoul Junction, in two hours, GO."

"ANI..." So-cheol yelled, almost running out of the jeep, "APPA YOU HAVE TO COME ALONG PLEASE."

The others were in tears, yelling shooting, ears shut, and lips trembling.

"Your omma and I," Yi Hyun said amidst the shooting, looking at his twins, "are thankful that you two chose to love us as your parents, and that we are proud of you."

With that Yi Hyun shut the jeep's door, and Woo-Taek turned the jeep around, on the road as they took off.

Yi Hyun shot all the spheres on the jeep, taking them out one by one while Nara and So-cheol looked at their father from the shut glass of the jeep.

They held hands, having nothing else to cling onto whilst their father kept shooting the spheres around him.

"We'll see you again," Yi Hyun yelled at them, "saranghe."

That was all he could say when they saw the spheres surround him and in a flash of a second, he was on the ground, tentacles pierced in his chest and heart ripped off.

"Saranghe," Saebom had told him, smiling at him with teary eyes, "tell the kids that they were the best thing that happened to me and that I truly was happy with our little family."

It was silent again.

Because the only thing they could hear was their hearts breaking into a zillion pieces.

The one thing that made no noise, but was enough to break them.

I love you so,
Please let me go
_