Heimat

CHAPTER 24

If anyone else were to travel through this part, it would have scared the life out of them already. After travelling for hours, at the crack of dawn, the group entered the mountains. As expected it had snowed heavily in the region too. As the altitude began to climb, breathing got difficult, the cold not helping at all. Pine trees stood tall and mighty, spread across acres and acres of land. Temperatures had dropped very well under zero degrees.

There were red ribbons tied to the trees for the soldiers to follow to the camp. Normally the road was visible due to constant feet falling on it but now, because of the snow, it wasn't visible at all. If that wasn't enough, they had been greeted by a pack of wolves at the base, causing them to loose one of their medicines bags and a horse. A soldier was bitten on the foot by a wolf, so he was in no condition to walk. Thankfully, Suho had provided medical aid in the nick of time, so it hadn't gotten much serious.

Exhausted after a long trek, the men decided to rest a while. They found a good place near and river and decided to crash. Because it was cloudy, it was difficult to say what time it was but they guessed it sometime afternoon. Five of them, Suho, Hanbi, Yoonsook, Minho and Gyeon volunteered to stay up first. A fire was lit and after a hearty lunch, the soldiers crashed.

"When did you try out for military Minho-ssi?" Gyeon asked as he fed the horses. "I was twenty when I first tried out. As you all know, it's not easy to get in so it took me four tries to pass the test" said Minho. "How many tries did you take?". 

"I took two sir. First time, I couldn't pass the physical examination so I had to prepare myself for that for a year. Me, Hanbin and Yoonsook gave our exams together, so we all took two chances".

"Suho-ssi, we're running a little low on water" Hanbin noted. "Already?!" he exclaimed. "Yes" someone has been drinking a lot of water here...". Suho glared at Minho who shrugged and smiled guiltily. 

"We'll go to the lake nearby and get some water" Yoonsook suggested. "Fine. Both of you go together and get back fast". Both of time nodded and ran off with a bucket in hand.

"So, where were we? As yes! As far as I know, all the men take at least two tries to pass the test. No one has passed it in the first chance" Minho muttered. "Two have" Suho interrupted. Immediately, all the eyes were on him. Suho gave Minho a smirk as he wiped his sword. "Me and Namjoon gave the test together and passed in our first try". 

"Really!" Gyeon exclaimed. Minho rolled his eyes in irritation. "We both wanted to try out for Hwarang. Even though I couldn't Namjoon went ahead and passed it too. But after a year or two, I don't know why, but he dropped out and came to the military".

"Did something happen?" Gyeon asked him. "I don't know. He never really spoke about it. Many of us asked him the reason but he refused to answer, saying he wants to forget it". "Must have messed up somewhere" Minho muttered, receiving and annoyed look from Suho.

On the other side, Hanbin and Yoonsook walked to the lake, chattering. "Get the water quickly while I keep a look out". Hanbin held the high above his head and hit it onto the icy surface. "Careful. We can't have you falling in" Yoonsook warned. "Relax". With repeated strokes of his axe, Hanbin could see cracks forming onto the ice layer above the water.

Yoonsook meanwhile was busy looking around. "As far as he could see, all he saw was a blanket of snow and trees. Just then he spotted something. He moved forward a little, climbing up, hoping that his mind was just playing tricks at him. 

"Oh no". Behind the bark of a tree, Yoonsook was sure that he saw a tail. A tail of a wolf. He carefully looked around, and all of a sudden, they weren't alone. Slowly stepping back, he recached down, where Hanbin was ready with the bucket full of water.