Mission Status - Background
Funny how most people only see what’s on the surface, nothing more, nothing less. There are some that perceive things on a higher degree of thinking, analyzing the incredulous details that most others would ignore. But these kinds of people are rare - the true analyzers, never mind the ones who claim that they can “analyze” as well as a professional on the field.
Fortunately for Suho, this means a better chance of leaving the private life his members and he had built up over a period of hundreds of years.
Suho, real name Kim Joon Myun, came from a long line of protectors. No official name has been made for the group, and they’d like to stay that way to prevent any curious minds from probing around. As said, these protectors have been protecting the earth since ancient times while remaining anonymous to the entire human kind. Unknown to most, they were the ones that the ancient civilizations worship as gods. They were the ones that were, and still are, keeping what scientists today would classify as extra-terrestrial beings from Earth. The governments have not even heard of them or of what they do, and thank heavens they have not.
Between the protectors, silence is not considered golden. It is considered platinum. A protector can hold as much secrets as an entire government conspiracy and not crack under the strongest pressure anyone can muster, even if said protector’s death is imminent. Years and years of training - that’s what they prefer to call the hundreds of years they spent living in what some of them would consider a living hell - will eventually pay off either positively or negatively. More than often though, it pays off both ways.
Suho works together with 11 other people, and he’s known these 11 for quite some time. The first of the 11 he met was a Chinese one, and back when he first met him, Wu Yi Fan worked as a private Chinese imperial warrior who, oddly enough, spoke fluent English in a time period way before English travelers were even travelling that far eastward.
Wu Yi Fan, now known as Kris, has the ability to fly. At first, Kris was raised as a peasant’s eldest and only son. Kris grew as an obedient, clever son, growing taller and taller by the years. It was when he was ten he found out about his powers; he accidentally fell from a tree as he was trying to pick some fruits, and instead of crashing to the ground and breaking quite a number of bones, his body stopped merely inches from the ground. From then on, Kris learned and taught himself how to control his powers.
The imperial patrols caught him once, and believing that he was practicing some sort of dark sorcery, they took him in. News spread of the flying boy, and this news went all the way to the emperor’s ears, which resulted in Kris’ eventual release. He was taken to the palace and was offered a position as the emperor’s personal private guard because the emperor believed that Kris was blessed by the ancient dragons.
Suho, who by that time was already part of the protectors, was sent to recruit Kris, and their first encounter was certainly memorable. True to the emperor’s believes, Kris, unsurprisingly, summoned a dragon to his aide. Suho had some difficulties, but after some time, he managed to convince Kris and take him to the order, much to the emperor’s dissatisfaction. To compensate, Kris promised the emperor eternal blessing for the dynasty from the dragons. But of course, those blessings did no good to the Qin dynasty.
From then on, Kris and Suho worked together under the Elders, training and locating the other 10 they’ve been required to find. The pair split the work, each tracing and recruiting. This mission took quite some time, for the time period when each member appears differ or would overlap. Suho was the first to complete his part of the mission, finding Kim Jong In, Oh Se Hun, Byun Baek Hyun, Kim Min Seok, and Do Kyung Soo. Kris finished his part about 600 years after, finding Zhang Yi Xing, Kim Jong Dae, Huang Zi Tao, Lu Han, and Park Chan Yeol.
Each member, including Suho and Kris, were chipped as soon as they were admitted into the ranks. This chip transmits information into their files, files that are constantly updated as more and more events happen to the members. The twelve learned how to work as a team, and as the years passed and technology became more advanced, their missions became more complex. Not only they have to work in secret, they must learn the ways of the time period in order to minimize conflict and public affairs.
In this new century in which they now live, none of the older generation of protectors can be found save for five Elders, leaving the twelve to work on their own. Rumor has it that there are 10 more of their race, although not quite as refined. But other than those whispers of possibilities, Suho has never been able to even begin to trace even one of them.
“Water Boy to East Dragon, do you copy?”
Suho was making his rounds, checking to see if the others have any updates on the mission they’ve been entrusted for the past several years. Only Kris and he knew of it, but as needs rose, more members were let into what began as a private mission.
“East Dragon reads,” Kris’ replied after a moment.
“Any updates?”
“None. Radars show nothing, no abnormal reports. Hong Kong is as normal as it can be. Liberty’s condition?”
“As free as ever.” I don’t know until how long, though, Suho added to himself.
Another signal came into the mini monitor that Suho had set up; Kim Min Seok, now known as Xiu Min, was checking in.
“Bao Zi checking in,” Xiu Min’s voice came through the speakers. “Down Under is in perfect condition. A little too windy, but I’ll tell Windy over here to calm down.”
Suho chuckled softly; Oh Se Hun was always like that, even when he first met the boy during the war between North and South Korea.
“Alright,” Suho replied to both Kris and Xiu Min. “If anything weird happens, tell me immediately. Stay safe, you two, and tell the others as well. Kris, I need to talk to you.”
“Yes sir,” Xiu Min replied. “Bao Zi out.”
“Yes?” Kris asked once the transmit signal of Xiu Min’s communicator disappeared.
Suho remained quiet as he tried to compose his thoughts. “What do you think of this whole situation?” he asked after a while.
“The aliens haven’t done a thing, as far as we know,” Kris answered, “and based on the message the Elders intercepted, they’re planning something big. Their planet is dying, and they need another power source. If I were to guess, at least one of their kind are on our soil, trying to find out if our environment will be able to sustain their life forms. I hate to draw conclusions, especially if it’s this early, but Suho, I think we may be going into war, and we just don’t know it yet.”
Suho sighed, subconsciously running his fingers through his hair. “Alright. I just hope we’re fully aware and prepared for whatever happens.”
The Korean could hear the former Chinese imperial guard chuckle on the other side of the transmission. “Honestly, I think if we were any more prepared, we’d be able to survive the apocalypse if it were to happen.”
“With what may or may not come, an apocalypse won’t sound too bad,” Suho commented. “Alright, then… thanks Kris. You’re dismissed. Take care of everyone.”
“You, too, Suho.”
The transmission signal from Hong Kong dissipated, and Suho was left in the room with his thoughts.
Yongguk stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist, and made his way to his room. Zelo was sprawled across the leader’s bed, books scattered everywhere as he continued his homework. Watching the younger one from the corner of his eyes, Yongguk took out some clothes from the dresser and put them on.
“Yongguk hyung, why am I in school?” Zelo asked, eyes focused on his papers and teeth biting into the end of his mechanical pencil.
“Because you’re still 15 and humans who are of your age are still in school,” Yongguk simply replied, pulling his shirt on and using the towel to dry his hair.
“But in Africa, humans that are already 15 have stopped school.”
“Well we’re in South Korea, not in a third-world country. Focus on your studies, and don’t give away anything.”
“Yes, hyung.”
Yongguk smiled and walked out of his room, ruffling Zelo’s hair along the way, and made his way to his office. He booted the computers and began the process of contacting his home planet to inform them of the intelligence he’s gathered through the week.
Yongguk came alone from a different planet. He was sent to earth as what began as a harmless expedition to gain intelligence and information about other planets in the solar system. Upon arrival to earth, he learned that what was once quite a number of crew member reduced to one: him and only him, and even though it’s been almost 150 years since it then, he still couldn’t figure out how it happened.
This forced Yongguk to adapt to his surroundings in order to not raise suspicion and conflict, and this was something he did quite well. He traveled across earth, country to country under different names, different background stories, and he’s not even once been detected by the officials for he has the ability to tap into government information without being traced. Through this alone he figured out how the complex web of countries weaved together.
After quite some time, Yongguk decided that he needed some company. Taking a break from his expedition assignment, he spent a good 10 years building and working on Z-1, his humanoid, robotic partner who’s now known as Zelo and was given the name Choi Jun Hoong for official documents. When Yongguk informed the mission leaders in his planet concerning this, they were, more or less, ecstatic, believing that Zelo would be a great asset to the mission
But tides soon turned, and things turned for the worse. Yongguk’s home planet was dying; the past several human years, Yongguk has been constantly informed of the planet’s condition. Death tolls were rising, reports of spreading famine and unknown virus infections increased, and soon enough, the Higher Council found out that their energy source, a star much like the human’s sun, was steadily diminishing. With the threat of a supernova, Yongguk was sent a new mission: scouting and sending the Higher Council information about Earth and its inhabitants.
Yongguk accepted the mission. During his short briefing, he was informed that the Higher Council had planned to repopulate Earth with the information that Yongguk has been updating.
And Yongguk understood that repopulation meant total annihilation of the human race.
“Red Bunny to mission control. Mission control, do you copy?” asked Yongguk as he started the transmission.-
“Green Bunny replying. State your condition, Red Bunny.”
“Aish, Jongup… don’t be so uptight…”
“Then what the fuck do you want, commander?”
“Woah there. Okay, when I said don’t be uptight, I didn’t mean be completely loose either.”
“Fine, fine. Just tell me what information you’ve gathered so I can get this to the Higher Council.”
Yongguk began listing the knowledge that he’s obtained this past week. Temperature changes, climate differences, water conditions, atmospheric levels and status, etc.
“It’s getting warmer here, Jongup. Summer temperature’s starting early this year.”
“I’ll make sure to tell the Council.”
A comfortable silence dawned on both aliens as Jongup finalized his report and Yongguk re-arranged his work space. “How’s everyone?” Yongguk asked, almost afraid of the answer.
“Condition’s getting worse. Youngjae and I have been running around the recovery center. There are only about 200 people in our area who are not infected yet, give or take 10. Everyone’s getting sicker and sicker, hyung, and if you haven’t died from the virus, you’re going to. I think Youngjae might’ve figured out how to stop the virus, but he last told me he’s still working on it.
Also, we’d get flying debris’, and they’re all fairly large and inconsistent, so there are many unfortunate victims.”
“And you yourself? How are you and the rest?”
“The four of us are doing fine. One of the Council members told us that we’re going to be sent down there to help you.”
Yongguk nodded. “Zelo’s getting impatient,” he said, chuckling softly. “Ever since I told him of you four, he’s been dying to see you guys.”
“He sounds slightly immature…”
“He’s just a kid, Jongup.”
“I heard that!” Zelo screamed from outside Yongguk’s office.
“You were supposed to!” Yongguk yelled in reply before turning back to Jongup. “So… how’s the family?”
The other end of the transmission went quiet for a moment as Jongup tried to figure out how to break the news to Yongguk. “Commander,” he began, softly, “your mother and siblings… first off… your residential area was completely wiped out by. Large rocks now cover your house.”
Yongguk’s stomach dropped. “Then…?”
“It was in the middle of sleep hours. No one was awake or aware.”
Leaning back on his chair, Yongguk felt defeated. All the energy he had before the transmission started had miraculously left him. He felt almost sick, and his head began to pound. “A-And… father…?”
Jongup sighed softly. “He was working with Youngjae on the virus, but he somehow got overexposed. Youngjae still couldn’t figure out how because he wasn’t in the room when it happened, and he’s blaming himself for letting it happen. We’re checking the security cameras to see if we can figure out how it happened, but so far, we’ve got nothing.”
Yongguk’s mind was running along with his heart; never had he imagined that it would get this terrible so soon, even it’s been decades since he’s been home. He had no family to return to, no one call mother or father, no one to call sister or brother. “When do you think you and the others can come?”
“Three more human nights. We’re briefing our replacements as best as we can, and as soon as we’re done, we’re coming to help you.”
“Alright then. Be careful,” Yongguk replied. “Red Bunny out.”
“Green Bunny copies,” Jongup responded. “Oh, and commander?”
“Yes?”
“Take care.”
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