"AAAAAH!!" Hyun-Jae suddenly opened her eyes wide as she rose from her bed with a loud yelp. "Hah! Hah!" Looking around her urgently, she realized that she was back in her room now. The familiar ceiling and the warmth of the bed engulfed her again but didn't do much to ease her terror.
Her heart was beating in her ears, and her chest was heaving up and down as if she had just gone through a horrible experience. But, it was all a nightmare, and she realized that very quickly when she sat there, trying to calm down.
'What was that?' She asked herself. 'What did I see?'
Her calm demeanor was struggling to keep her still because what she had witnessed truly shattered her brain. Sitting there silently, she remembered every single detail of the nightmare vividly, especially the face of that person that she had been longing for.
"Dammit... Dammit..." Cursing under her breath, she found herself completely lost for words. There was nothing she could really say or do at that moment that would perhaps make things better.
The lack of understanding of this nightmare made her even more frustrated. Mainly because the dream itself felt far too real to be a mere nightmare. Even for a vivid lucid dream, this was just far too real. Everything she felt in those few moments was real and Hyun-Jae didn't even question that.
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'Does this have to do with Talon? Is this trying to tell me something?'
For a moment there, a glimpse of hope flashed across her eyes. The fact this happened had given her this suspicion that perhaps Talon wasn't really dead. That mere sentence alone sent a chill down her spine. Just the idea of Talon being alive sent a feeling of excitement in her heart that she hadn't felt in a long time.
However, she quickly realized that this wasn't as simple as that. After all, this insight she had wasn't a positive one by any means.
'This was a bad dream... No, a horrible sight.' She thought to herself as she looked out the window. 'Whatever it is, it's trying to tell me something. But, what it is? And why did I see it now? What am I missing?'
Questions piled on Hyun-Jae's shoulder, making her feel even more pressured. But, she sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm down. There was really no point in trying to ask these questions when she had no basis to answer them. So, she decided that the most logical move now was to leave them for when she could find the answer.
With that, Hyun-Jae slowly moved back to her position to fall asleep again. It was still very early in the morning and she had at least 30 more minutes of sleep. Usually, Hyun-Jae would sleep 1-2 hours daily ever since she had taken full control of the army. She had a huge amount of work and responsibilities on her shoulders so sleeping was out of the question now.
As she tried to close her eyes and sleep, she suddenly heard a loud knock on her door. The noise snapped her out of her daze and she looked up with a frown. Hyun-Jae was already suffering from a strong headache and now that noise disturbed her even more.
"Who is it?" She asked coldly.
"Hyun-Jae? Are you awake?"
"Chin-Hwa?" Hyun-Jae replied. She noticed that the young man's voice was urgent and quite panicked which was something rare for someone like Chin-Hwa. However, considering how the world was at that time, Hyun-Jae was already ready for the worst to happen.
"Hold on a second." She replied calmly.
"We... We don't know. There is no more contact with Busan yet. We're trying to establish it again, but we aren't getting any results."
"Did you contact Gwangju? How is the situation there?"
"They're fine. It doesn't seem like they have been attacked by anything. But, we increased the security and alert status in both cities and nearby settlements." He replied.
"Good. Keep that in check. I don't know what will happen next." She said as she stepped forward and stood in the middle of the room. The people there were simply out of control. Nobody knew what to do, and even those who did know what to do failed to contain the fear in the hearts of everyone else. It felt as if there was really nothing anyone could do.
Looking around her coldly, she inhaled a big breath before she spoke.
"Everyone, calm down!!"
Her voice boomed in the room, reverberating across the walls, and making everyone stop in their tracks as they looked at her. The entire place was submerged in silence in an instant. So, Hyun-Jae nodded and continued.
"This is no time for panic. The situation is bad indeed, and it could get worse, but making it chaotic will only add more trouble. I want you to be calm and collected. Whatever happens, we are going to deal with it appropriately and effectively. You are all capable people that were chosen by me and... Talon.
I don't want you to lose that capability due to mindless fear."
Although her words were short and very simple, the result of it was surprising. The people in there started looking at each other. The realization had suddenly hit them hard and they became aware of how wrong they were acting.
"The president is right... Why are we panicking when we need to be calm?" One person said.
"We can't let our emotions control us like this." Another replied with a nod.
Quickly, everyone started agreeing with her words. In fact, they felt quite flattered by them as she had said they were capable people chosen by the legend Talon himself. The leader that started all of this.
"We're really sorry, president."
"We weren't aware!"
As they started apologizing to her, Hyun-Jae coldly nodded her head and turned around to walk behind her desk. Meanwhile, Somin, Chin-Hwa, and Shin-Il watched her with complicated expressions. Deep down, they knew that their president was on the verge of breaking down if she hadn't already broken down.
Yet, she hid that effectively from everyone around her. That, however, didn't make them any less worried. Because, if Hyun-Jae fell, it was the end for all of them.
She was their friend, hero, and their last hope in this dark world.
A//N: Thanks for reading.