Jinseo "Truewis" Park's Workshop

 After three hurried knocks, a young man's voice was heard. "Corporal Kim from the Transportation Battalion reporting for duty, ma'am!" Han quickly closed the last fastener on her jacket, ran to the only door in the room, and swung it open. The Corporal saluted. Han signed. It was a great relief to see another alive human being. After a moment of mumbling, Han managed to say something at last, though in a noticeable drooping tone. "Hi, Kim, please... come in. It's not safe out there." Han felt extremely stupid as these words came out of her mouth. Kim, who was taller than average, looked down at the Technical Staff's rugged cap, figuring out what to say. He stepped back a little bit, afraid of her taking his looking down as rude. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Kim finally opened his mouth. "Ma'am, thanks, but I was ordered to bring you back to command headquarters immediately." Han could tell from the solder's dark bl...

 The sound instantly pulled Han back into the reality. As her mind attempted to solidify the perception, she slowly raised her body out of the wrinkled blanket and her eyes regained focus. Beneath the thick lump of uniform, the gleaming blue rays from the screen of her phone were poking their way out. She pushed the lump out of the way, which fell on the dusty floor with little puff sound, knelt down and examined the screen. The piercing sound of discomfort continued to tremble the surrounding air, and Han painfully felt the shudder of her skull as she stuck her eyes on the screen. A blurry text popped up, which said: Currently, as of 00:12 Standard Time, a nationwide YELLOW ALERT has been declared. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. All citizens MUST stay indoors. If you are outside, find nearby secure building, or stay in your car. All essential civil servants and military personnel must move into predefined positions IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Just as she finished scanning, the annoyin...

 It was a cloudy midnight, even the brightest stars obscured by the city lights dazzling with glory and joy of citizens of Saho, when Technical Staff Han was in sound sleep in her bed, rolled in her blanket that seemed to urgently require any type of washing, temporarily free from the misery her life gave her. Today she heard that the proposal she wrote meticulously, following the long and exhaustive official guideline written by the Army Special Warfare Command six month ago, was finally rejected by the SWC development committee, topped with a few insulting words. It's not that she expected anything else. For the last few months, it became more and more visible that the commander, who was supposed to read and sign her proposal, was not interested in drifting anything under his control away from the current state. Thus, her proposal to relocate underground water pumps as to change in water table made nobody happy. She has long ago accepted that the military doesn't need a singl...

 Even though our lives are obscured with the fog of the future, I feel that pursuing a researcher's career is still filled with dimmer shades of uncertainty compared to other more stable jobs. It might come to mind of some readers that research is actually pretty well paying and not-so-turbulent occupation. I agree, but rather than losing my job or position, I fear not being able to prove myself worthful to other people. In other words, I could not stop myself from pursuing fame.  Some say that the only reason to live is to enjoy. The only reason to research is because you dearly like it. While I mostly agree, I sometimes feel that there is something beyond that: it is religious in some sense, but it does not involve any godly figure. The progression of our world: is it definite and absolute, unlike many other aspects of our lives? If we know the way to change the world into a better place(or even more, the best place), we might be able to conclude that the only type of lives...