94, 12, 24. His ID number. Go Nam Soon looked at his student card worried. When his birth date comes, he'll be 20. Then the new year will push it up to 21. That's how the Korean Age system works. With a sigh of frustration, he put the card back in his wallet and reached for his phone.

"It's me. Can we meet?"

Nam Soon waited by the slide at the playground, watching as his breath hung in the winter night air. He looked up to see a figure coming towards him. It stopped a few feet within him. Park Heung Soo looked at him annoyed.

"It's late. Why'd you call me out here?" he asked.

Nam Soon looked at the ground then back up as he leaned against the jungle gym.

"I, lied to you." he said.
"What?"
"There's something I'm more afraid of then you." he told him.
"What is it?"
"When's your parole up?"
"Hey, don't change the subject." he scolded him. "On the New Year, why?"
"What was it like, in Juvie?"

Heung Soo sighed and looked into his eyes. Nam Soon kept fidgeting with anything he could touch.

"It's not as harsh, as adult prison. The most I spent in there was a month. But still, it was scary. Compared to you, the bullies in there were more scary."
"Oh. I see."

Nam Soon kept his eyes on the ground as he pushed around the dirt with his shoe.

"I see." he repeated. "Adult prison is worse."

He then started to walk away. Curious, Heung Soo followed him. Nam Soon gently kicked along a can as he walked. Tho a little distance away, Heung Soo could still hear him. Repeat what he had said before. They past the ramp to the bridge walkway and rounded the corner. Up the steps they walked to the apartments and to his door. Heung Soo paused, watching as Nam Soon unlocked the door and went inside.

"What's with him? Is he, depressed about his birthday, coming up?"

Heung Soo shook it off and turned around headed back to his place.

At a military base outside of Seoul, a solider who was cleaning bumped into a folder. He turned to see it fall as the papers landed across the floor. Cursing under his breath, the man knelt down to pick up the papers scattered around the desk. The captain looked over at him.

"Solider, hand me that folder once you've picked it up."
"Yes Sir."

The solider put the papers in the best he could then handed the folder to him. As the soldier went back to cleaning, the captain opened up the folder.

"Aish, that newbie. It's not in order. Um? What's this?" he asked.

On the first page on top of the pile, was a file. And the name on it was, Go Nam Soon.

A man knocks on a door. On the other side, Nam Soon is curled up in his bed, hiding under the covers. Nam Soon is awake, but closes his eyes as he curls tighter into a ball.

"Nam Soon. Come out and eat something. I didn't buy a cake or party supplies. I didn't even buy a present. It's just another normal day, right?"

Nam Soon slowly uncurls as his head appears out from under the covers. He looks around and sighs then gets out of bed. Walking over to the door, he unlocks it. The door opens and his father sees him still wearing a t-shirt and pj bottoms. Nam Soon looks at him, and nods. His father leads him into the kitchen where dinner is already on the table. A pot of ramen, a container of Kimchi, and cut up meat lay in the center, ready to be eaten. Go Nam Soon sits down and picks up his chopsticks. He takes some ramen and starts to eat. Behind him on the wall is a December calendar with the block 24 fully blacked out by a permanent marker. As he eats, he looks around to see if any presents are hidden in plain sight. He takes a bit and looks up at his father.

"There nothing? Not a single one?" he asks.
"Nothing. Why? Did you want a present?" he asks surprised.
"No." Nam Soon pouts.

He then goes back to his meal, as his father smirks and looks towards Nam Soon's room. After they finished their meal, they sit around the TV and watch crime/gangster dramas. Nam Soon gets up during the commercial and goes over to the fridge. He opens it, surprised to find ice pops inside. He looks to his father, then takes two out and goes back to the TV. He hands an ice pop to his father as the drama comes back on. After the show ends they head back to their rooms and close the door. Nam Soon reaches down to pick up his pillow and pauses. For under his bed, is a present. Throwing his pillow back on the bed, he pulls out the present. The present is small enough to fit in his hand. Sitting on his bed, he unwraps it. His eyes tear up as he takes it out. He starts to cry as he holds it in his hands. For in his hands, is a beach necklace, handmade by him, his father, and his deceased mother when he was a child. Later on that night, Nam Soon is fast asleep with the necklace around his neck. Made from cord, plastic colored beads and a fake shell, the necklace is just barely hidden by the collar of his t-shirt.

A red hat jumped out of the way, as the cleaning solider ran down the hall with his hands full of folders. He burst into a room and put the folders on the table. The captain and other high ranks grabbed the folders and went back to looking for something. Some were on the phone, others were searching the web and the rest were flipping through the folders. The captain looked over at the first year.

"Newbie!" he called.
"Yes Sir!"
"Get on the phone and contact Seoul MPD! Find any clues to the whereabouts of this boy!"
"Yes Sir!" the newbie grabbed a folder and raced over to a phone. He dialed and waited for someone to pick up.

[Hello Seoul MPD.]
"Hello, this is military base #. We are looking for the whereabouts of a boy."
[What is is name?]
"His name is-"

"Go Nam Soon!"

Nam Soon turned to see Kang Joo waving him down. Not in the mood to deal with her, Nam Soon continued to ignore her despite her attempts to get his attention. Going around to the back, he ran then jumped up onto the wall with the gate. Grabbing hold of the gate, he easily climbed over. By the time she had come around to the back, he was already in the building. Walking down the halls, he found the students crowded around the bulletin board. Hearing whines and complaints, he squeezed his way through for a look. What he saw surprised even him. On the board were the assigned homerooms. He looked and easily found his homeroom.

3-5

Go Nam Soon

Park Heung Soo

Kim Min Ki

and so on. Leaving the crowd, he walked up the stairs to the third floor. But he missed one very important part on the board. 3-5 Kang Se Chang.