He let out an impressed whistle, "Wow," it was far off in the distance, but he could see the faint orange glow of a fire miles and miles away from the base," That's a huge fire." Due to the flat land, and his position on top of the roof, he could easily see the forest fire that was going on in the next province. He could even see the smoke until it drifted into the night. It had to be at least 15 miles away, the distance only proving how large the fire was.

Han-Gyeol was standing next to him, a pair of binoculars pressed against his face," Man, it is pretty big," explosions were faint pops with the distance, but they could still recognize the telltale signs of a fight," I guess some idiots accidentally started a fire during battle."

"Ah…what a bunch of fucking idiots." Major Kang's words made Han-Gyeol snort. It was well known that a forest fire in the middle of a battle was certain death. If it wasn't the enemy that killed you, then it was either the fire or the exposure to the fire that got you. "No matter," Major Kang turned on his heel and started to walk back inside, calling over his shoulder as he did so," Tell night watch to keep an eye on it. We might have to evacuate our outposts." And that was going to be a pain if they needed to evacuate their outpost and potentially lose said outpost to a fire.

Han-Gyeol dutifully saluted the man.

"Yes sir!"

It was one of those mornings when he woke up with an odd feeling in his stomach. it wasn't like the times he woke up with a bad feeling, it was more of a feeling that had him questioning if he was getting sick or if it was his gut feeling.

Regardless, it was enough to put him on guard.

It was completely silent as they drove into the burnt forest.

While the fire hadn't spread to the outpost, it had spread to the rest of the forest. The only saving grace was that it was monsoon season, the heavy rains doing all of the heavy lifting and it put out the fire before it could get any worse.

But the damage had already been done. Everything was charred, their tires bringing up ash and dirt in the air as they traveled further into the forest. The smell of smoke permeated the cabin, the air filters doing nothing to get rid of the smell.

It was somber the further they drove in, even more so when the fire had caused multiple trees to collapse and block the path. Slowly, they rolled to a stop, all of them staring at the downed trees that their Humvee most definitely couldn't drive over.

Major Kang sighed in annoyance," Put on your masks," He ordered firmly, pulling the face cover from his neck, to the bridge of his nose," I don't want anyone to be breathing in dust. Let's see if we can move those trees." There were muttered confirmations as they exited the Humvee, everyone walking out with their faces covered as they took up their positions. The smell of smoke was stronger, and he couldn't help but scrunch up his nose at the smell. The forest that was almost buzzing with plant and animal life was silent, no doubt due to all of the animals fleeing from the fire.

With the others standing guard, Major Kang joined Sung-Ho and Ji-Hoon in inspecting the fallen trees.

"Yesh," He looked at the trees up and down, the two trees weren't longer than 15 feet, but they were thick and dense. It would be difficult to wrap your arms around it and have your hands touch," think we can move these?"

Ji-Hoon gave the tree a solid kick with his heel, breaking away the charred bark, only to see untouched wood underneath," Probably not Sir," He said truthfully, trying to push the log with his heel, only for it to not budge in the slightest.

" Maybe if we had some chainsaws and a few hours to kill." Sung-Ho added quietly, observing the way the tree had carved out a mold for itself in the dirt.

He sighed in annoyance," Dammit." This was one of their main roads that they used for patrol and travel, it couldn't be blocked off like it was," Fine. We'll go back and grab what we need. We can't leave it like this."

"Understood." Although they didn't say it, he could tell that Ji-Hoon and Sung-Ho weren't exactly ecstatic, not that he blamed them. It was going to be an absolute pain to cut and move the logs since there had to be people on guard, so not all of the men were able to work at the same time. Even more so since chances would be high that more trees would fall later on, potentially while they were working, posing yet another threat to them. He had to restrain a groan upon realizing that since it was monsoon season, the trees were going to be heavy due to the water, meaning that they were going to have to cut the tree into even smaller pieces so none of them would hurt their back.

Great.

There was a sharp whistle, and within seconds, everyone was at attention, their hands holding onto their weapons as they looked around to find whatever had caused the alert. A few seconds had passed until they heard the distinct sound of footsteps further down the path. They could tell that whoever was walking, was shuffling around as if they were too lazy to pick up their feet properly, but they kept on waiting, waiting for the person to walk out of the dense trees and into view.

After a few seconds, a figure walked into the path.

The first thing he noticed, was the figure, a boy now that he looked, was rather small, too small, and too thin to be a full-grown man. The second thing he noticed, was that the boys pant lower leg was covered with blood, and so was his shirt where his ribs were. At last, he noticed the various weapons the boy was carrying, and that was enough for him to put his guard back up.

He may have been young, but a gun was dangerous even in untrained hands.

The boy shuffled across the path, his injured foot getting caught on a small patch of dirt, causing him to hit the ground in a plume of dust and ash. It was so quiet, that they were clearly able to hear a distinct," Fuck me." Come from the boy.

It was Korean.

The boy just spoke Korean . In a land where they were hundreds of miles away from their homeland. Hundreds of miles away from where it would be normal to hear Korean.

They exchanged looks.

Korean was not a native language in that region, as one might expect. So the chances of the boy being anything but a Korean national was exceedingly low.

The boy groaned loudly, his hands pushing him off the ground a few inches before he collapsed back onto the ground. He didn't move after that.

"Major," Ji-Hoon said lowly, his head on a swivel just in case it was some sort of trap," What do you want us to do?"

Well, he wasn't going to make someone else stick their neck out.

Besides, it looked like the kid was running from something, so he somewhat doubted that it was an ambush.

"I'll go and check on him," If anyone disagreed, they didn't voice their opinion," I heard him speak Korean. I can't leave him out here." Without waiting for them to agree, he approached the fallen figure.

He stepped towards the kid cautiously, his hand on his gun (but not the trigger) as he got closer, "Hey," He made sure to call out to the boy, lest he startles the boy into drawing a weapon," Are you okay?" The boy twitched but made no move to look at him. Taking that as a sign to get closer, he stood at the boy's feet and took in the boy's appearance.

He looked even worse up front, he could see smudges of blood and ash all over the boy's body, soiling his clothes and skin. But despite that, he was able to notice the multiple knives and packs that were strapped around his waist and legs.

Okay.

So he was young, but obviously, he wasn't stupid enough to be short on backup weapons and supplies.

He nudged the boy's boot with his own, the boy's boot moving limply. The boy groaned from under his head covering," Just…kill me…not going…back." His words were slow and pained, yet, they lacked the distinct bass that even a late teenager would have.

Concerned flared up in him, and he kneeled to pull the head covering off, revealing dirtied, light-colored hair. His chest tightened when he saw the boy looking up at him, the dark-colored pupils looking at him through his hair and blood.

With the boy watching his every move, he pushed his hair out of the way, revealing a face that was much younger than he thought. Despite the grime and blood that was covering the kid's face, he could tell that he was looking at a Korean teenager.

In the time it took to call Dae-Hyun over, the boy's eyes slipped closed," Hey kid," He started to take off the boy's weapons out of precaution. He could tell that the boy was awake, especially since he resisted when he had to pick up the boy's leg to take off the holster," You're Korean. Right?" Dae-Hyun had arrived, as some of the other men as everyone else stood guard.

The boy groaned lowly, flinching away from Dae-Hyun after the medic had touched his shoulder," don't…know…" the boy gritted out, a short cry of pain escaping his lips when they rolled him onto his back, revealing even more blood stains and injuries on his front.

"Don't know what?" Dae-Hyun asked, frowning when the boy let another cry of pain when the medic prodded his ribs.

"What do you mean you don't know if you're Korean?" Major Kang asked almost accusingly as he helped pull off the boy's vest," You're speaking Korean."

The boy was fading fast as Dae-Hyun looked over the boy," Accident," The boy whispered out," lost my…memory…can't," Major Kang tapped the boy's cheek, trying to rouse him and keep him away as long as possible. His eyes opened sluggishly, allowing everyone to see his dark, almost black eyes that were a trait among Asian people," can't…remember."

The boy finally passed out, falling completely limp under their hands. Leaving them to process what they just heard. He and Dae-Hyun exchanged looks.

"We can ask him questions when he wakes up," Dae-Hyun said simply, his hand wrapped around the boy's wrist," Until then, we better take him back to the base. He's going to need more than first aid."

Two days later, and after a few arguments with the higher-ups to keep him on the base, the boy finally woke up. According to Dae-Hyun, the young man was suffering from broken ribs, stab wounds in his leg and shoulder, along with burn wounds on his back. He was at least 10 pounds underweight for his age (Assuming they were even right about that), leaving him looking like he was skin and bones until you saw his developed, somewhat small, muscles.

He walked into the med-bay, and he had to admit that he was surprised to see the boy sitting up, completely alert as he watched everyone moving around the med-bay. If it wasn't for the bandages wrapped around his head, and the bandages sticking out of the gown collar, it would have looked like he was completely healthy and ready to go.

The boy noticed him within seconds, his dull black eyes watching each and every move that he made. The eyebags had gotten smaller, but it still looked like the teenager would benefit from another couple of days of solid sleep. It felt awkward to walk up to the boy under his watchful eye, but he pushed past the feeling to offer the boy a handshake with a bright smile," I'm Major Hamchan Kang."

The boy leaned away from his hand, a distrustful look in his eye as he eyed the extended hand.

Okay, maybe that was too forward of him.

Accepting that he wasn't going to get a handshake, he sat down on the nearby stool and asked," What's your name?"

It was silent for a few seconds, the teenager staring at him as he slowly said," I don't have one," Kang blinked in surprise," Call me what you want."

Oh…well this was kinda weird.

"Okay," How did he not have a name? he was old enough to pick a name for himself already," What do you want to be called?" because surely there was something that he liked to be called.

The boy looked at him as if Kang just said that he liked to lick walls. It was tense as the boy stared at him before finally saying," I don't care." His answer made it sound like he was almost annoyed.

Damn.

For some reason, Kang had an inkling that the boy truly didn't care what they called him.

"Okay," Maybe he should just get straight to the point, he leaned onto his knees, and let the smile fall off his face," I wanted to talk to you about what you said when you collapsed," That seemed to help the boy relax somewhat," You said that you got into an accident and lost your memory. Would you mind answering some questions?"

That made the boy suspicious again, his eyes narrowing," Why do you care?"

Honestly, he needed a reason to keep the boy on base. Some of his superiors were questioning why they were using some of their resources for him, especially since they usually ordered just enough supplies for the base. But he wasn't going to say that because he had a feeling that it wasn't going to make the boy at least put some trust in him.

"You look Korean, you speak Korean, but yet, you don't know where you're from," Major Kang said slowly, as if he was speaking to a young child rather than a teenager," I want to help you," The boy recoiled slightly, surprise flickering across his face before he hid it away.

"…Why?" The boy was eyeing with suspicion," How can you help me?"

"It depends what you tell me."

For a long time, for a least 30 seconds, the kid did nothing but stare at him, staring deep into his eyes as if he was trying to find a single hint of malicious intent towards him. Just as it got to the one-minute mark, and just as the major was starting to get exceedingly uncomfortable,"…it was a plane crash. I don't know how old I am, but it happened six years ago. I can't remember anything from before the crash."

Ok, so that was a lead.

A very good lead the more he thought about it.

There weren't many plane crashes in the world. Since the kid was here in the Grian area, he could assume that it was an international flight. He eyed the kid for a few seconds, noting the way the boy had to be around 13 or 14 years old, so that meant he would have been roughly eight years old when the accident happened. It wouldn't be bad to assume that he had been traveling with his parents.

The only thing he didn't know was if the boy was truly from Korea, or if he and his family lived somewhere else. But all he had to do was find out what international flights crashed in the area six years ago.

That also explained what he meant by him not knowing his nationality, from what he said, the boy seemed to have long-term memory loss, which was going to pose a problem as he couldn't give up any information about his past.

"Okay," He nodded his head slowly, already thinking of ways to look into the boy's past and the plane crash," Okay. I'll look into it. Thanks squirt." The kid leaned away when he stood up, still wary of the older man even as he smiled at the teenager," Listen to Dae-Hyun. Take it easy until he clears you."

He walked out with a pep in his step and his neck prickling.

The teenager stared at him the entire way out.