A few dozen kilometers from Seoul, three soldiers were patrolling along the Demilitarized Zone, the DMZ. In the middle of the night, it was difficult to make out their faces, despite the lampposts positioned at regular intervals along the fence. They were just three shadows walking confidently along their assigned patrol area.

     These three young men had three major things in common. First, they had been doing their military service for almost a year. Secondly, they were three Korean idols temporarily separated from their respective groups. And finally, they were all the oldest members of those groups : BTS, BtoB and Monsta X.

    Kim Seok-Jin, 22 years old, Seo Eun-kwang, 24, and Son Hyun-Woo, 22 (more commonly known as Jin, Eunkwang and Shownu) each wore their military uniforms and protective helmets because they were in such close proximity of this zone of military tension they had to be cautious. Wearing heavy rangers boots, the three boys also each carried an assault rifle that they carried on each patrol and whose strap weighed heavily on their shoulder.

    Beneath their helmets, their once so silky and colored hair had been shaved off and where now all black. Nothing identified them as the visual of BTS and the leaders of BtoB and Monsta X anymore.

    Normally, they would have been patrolling with their sergeant and other more senior soldiers, but increasingly the three youngest soldiers in the unit stationed there were sent out on patrol alone while the older ones, taking advantage of their position, remained at the outpost to get drunk and sleep.

    However, the situation was tense between the two countries of the peninsula. For several decades of course, but even more so in recent months because North Korea had ceased its nuclear test firings and it was feared that tensions would worsen. No one was talking about the outbreak of a new "war" because officially, the first Korean war had never ended since the ceasefire of 1953, no armistice having been signed between the two countries.

    All South Koreans thus lived with a rather hazy awareness of this war, which persisted while being without consequence for them and because of this, the North Korean attacks were not taken very seriously by the soldiers stationed around the DMZ many of whom were young people in military service. Therefore, after a few months of North Korean fire in the Sea of ​​Japan, the oldest soldiers no longer took the threat seriously and did not hesitate to send the young recruits alone on patrol.

    This apparent detachment had ended up contaminating the young soldiers who were now convinced that nothing would ever happen during their patrols and who therefore showed little commitment to their mission, preferring to discuss and have fun along the fence rather than really watching the other side, the side of the enemies.

    That night, the three young soldiers faced off over a prank game: whoever managed to make the other two laugh won a point, whoever failed to do so had to pay a pledge. It was the turn of Jin and his dad jokes:

    "Which is the ideal place for all military personnel to buy their shoes?" he asked with the greatest seriousness.

     "I don't know, you tell us," Eunkwang answered.

    "They all buy their shoes from the boot camp! Ha ha ha ha ha !"

    Jin burst out laughing but the other two remained unmoved, even if the so particular laugh of Jin - which sounded like the whine of a damaged windshield wiper blade - almost made them laugh with him involuntarily. 

    Then, Eunkwang's face split into a smile and turned to Shownu : , the winners' satisfied look was painted on their faces. Disappointed, Jin stopped laughing and pouted.

    "You both have no sense of humor," he declared. 

    "No, we just don't have the same one as you," Shownu scoffed.

    "I told the hyungs earlier and they laughed!" 

    "That's exactly what I mean! They are old while we are young: you have an old man's sense of humor!"

    "That's not true," Jin retorted. 

    "Keep being a kid but you're making unfunny jokes, period," replied Shownu.

    "I know I'm funny and you're too serious." 

    "Do your dongesaeng laugh at your jokes?" the other taunted.

    Jin frowned and Eunkwang rushed to interrupt their childish argument.

    "Okay, that's enough both of you, it's time to set Jin's pledge, don't you think Shownu? I have an idea: since he failed to make us laugh with his foot joke, Jin will have to walk barefoot for two kilometers."

     "No, three," Shownu corrected with a smirk, "and then Jin, I want to see you put your dirty feet back in your clean socks."

    "No way, it's too cold and the ground is muddy!" Jin complained, pointing to the muddy ground their boots were sinking into.

    "This is exactly what makes things more fun! Now, stop complaining, princess, and take off your shoes," Shownu replied implacably.

    As a good player, Jin complied and he slowly started ton untie his shoes. Standing on one foot, he took off the first shoe and then his immaculate sock before setting the now bare foot on the icy muddy ground. 

    The spongy sound of his foot sinking into the mud drew evil laughter from the other two. When he had taken off the second pair of shoes and the muddy earth seeped between all his toes, he heard overplayed sounds of disgust from the other two:

    "Errrk, disgusting," Eunkwang grimaced.

    "If only the fans could see World Wide Handsome right now! Well, I think Jin deserves a new nickname," Shownu added thoughtfully, "WWDF for World Wide Dirty Feet or just... D. Feet, ha! ha!"

    Jin couldn't help but burst out laughing at this unworthy but very funny nickname according to him. However, he wasn't going to let Shownu get away with this so he took off his helmet and threw it at his friend's head who caught it in midair. But as an amused grin appeared on Shownu's face and the young man was about to retaliate by throwing both Jin's helmet and his own, Eunkwang grabbed his arm to stop him.

    "Hey kids, shut up, don't make any more noise!"

    Called out by the urgency of his voice, the other two stopped their game and saw him peering intently through the fence and the darkness.

    "What you saw?" Jin whispered as he moved closer and squinted, unable to see anything in the darkness.

    "Shhht, I'm hearing something too," Shownu whispered, pricking up his ears.

    "Guys, I'm going to light the area, stay on your guard," Eunkwang warned them, still whispering.

    Lighting a flashlight was risky because it made their position easier to reveal to their potential enemies. However, with the noise they had made before, he was sure that if an enemy was there, he would have spotted the small group by now.

     The instant the BtoB leader lit the torch attached to his rifle, a form leapt against the fence, inches away from them.

    "AAAAAaaaaah!" Jin yelled in fear as he fell to the ground while his two comrades, more frightened by his scream than by the silent enemy, briskly backed far away from the fence.

    The shape let out a roar of pain as it hit the electrified fence and fled because it couldn't reach its prey.

    "It's just a tiger," Eunkwang sighed, quickly turning off his flashlight.

    Being an uninhabited place for so long, the DMZ ended up becoming a sanctuary for the preservation of fauna and flora. Some species in danger of extinction had been implanted there, less for their preservation than to serve as a natural obstacle to those who would try to cross the area. This is how there were now both tigers and snow leopards who reigned supreme there.

    The three idols had seen them a few times and were no longer surprised, but it was rare despite everything that these felines approached so close to the fence that they knew was electrified.

    "No wonder you're embarrassing your dongsaengs," Shownu called out to Jin who stood up on his bare feet that were now the same color as his battledress, one hand resting on his pounding heart. "You are absolutely nothing like an oldest member and nothing like a soldier. You really are the biggest coward, D. Feet."

    "But that's what makes me so-" Jin started to retort.

    However, the other two never knew what he was going to say. This time around, the BTS singer didn't have time to let out a cry when, in the dark of night, a hand slipped through the fence and wrapped around his throat as he was still as close as possible to the electrified fence, the roar of which suddenly grew louder.

    The abnormal noise startled them all but it was too late to react. Jin, was roughly pulled back by the hand that gripped his throat with a sort of bestial force.

     In front of his two friends frozen in horror, his back then hit the electrified fence.