ONE

When it gets quiet enough, Lee Ji Young likes to imagine that he can hear the voices of the trees. There's the faint murmur of an oak, cavorting next to the more innocent maples. They syllabicate in shushed murmurs, speaking just quietly enough that Ji Young can't quite make out what they're saying.

The most likely situation is that they're saying something along the lines of, "You, Lee Ji Young, are fucking crazy." Which, unfortunately, is starting to feel a little too accurate for his liking.

Ji Young lets out a sigh and tips onto the back two legs of his wooden chair, scrubbing at his eyes as they burn from staring out of his binoculars all day. One look in the small mirror propped up against the windowed wall in front of him tells Ji Young that, yes, he does have circular imprints from the device pressed around his face. And some stubble growing, Ji Young frowns. It'll have to be taken care of later, when the sun is high enough in the sky to ensure safe passage to and from the supply-drop box all the way on Taeyeon's side of the forest.

As it stands, it's much too early for him to attempt shaving himself without accidentally slitting his throat in the process. The sun is barely beginning to peek over the mountains in the distance, casting its rays of golden-yellow out in a blanket of tentative warmth. The light glints over the dew-laden treetops and turns them into a glittering display of liquid starlight—one that also blinds Ji Young's retinas when he stares for too long.

Ji Young stands to stretch his legs and feels his lower back twinge in complaint. He must've accidentally slept at the desk yesterday. It'd certainly explain why his neck feels like he's been run over by a tractor. It probably also explains the smudges of ink resting on his left cheek, smeared from the latest report that he'd been writing. Tentatively, Ji Young picks at the front of his ranger's uniform and gives it a surreptitious sniff. He grimaces—he smells like a wet dog.

As Ji Young hobbles over to his small chest in the corner, praying that he's got another spare uniform left because he really, really doesn't want to have to venture down to the stream to wash all of his laundry today, his walkie-talkie spits to life on his desk.

"This is Kim Taehyung from Snowshoe Pass Tower, clocking in at precisely five-thirty in the morning," Taeyeon's morning-gruff voice announces in a wave of static. "Currently, I'm watching Lee Ji Young's electrifying performance of 'How Many Times Can I Trip Over My Rug Before It Becomes Obvious That I'm A Toddler?' For all you folks at home, the answer is two."

Ji Young glowers, rubbing his tailbone as he sits on the floor. He had indeed just tripped twice over the corner of his red-brown rug and landed ass-first on the cold hardwood floor. Ji Young stands and shoots a middle finger towards his westward-facing window, snagging his walkie-talkie with his free hand.

"You know, it's considered bad manners to spy on people when they're getting dressed," Ji Young bitches through the receiver.

A garbled snort comes out from the other end. "Is that what you were doing?" Taeyeon laughs, "It looked like you were auditioning for a role in Swan Lake."

"Would it hurt either of you to consider someone other than yourselves for once in your life?" Jinwoo's voice interrupts on the channel. There's a yawn and then he adds, "Not all of us wake up at the crack of dawn just to have private conversations on the public channel."

Jinwoo is situated in the northernmost tower—Bear Creek Tower—and is one of the least morning-type people that Ji Young's ever met. "Hyung, as your subordinate, I feel that it's necessary to remind you that you were the one who instituted the five-thirty wake-up ordinance."

"And I feel it necessary to ask why neither of you assholes fought me harder about the mandate," Jinwoo's reply crackles right back.

Ji Young chuffs good-humoredly and sets down his receiver as Taeyeon and Jinwoo begin their daily mid-morning scuffle. Drawing the wooden blinds to retain whatever small vestige of modesty he might still have, Ji Young strips off his green-and-tan ranger's uniform. The actual process is more like peeling an onion because the uniform clings to Ji Young like a second skin, partly because it's already stiflingly humid in the tower and partly because Ji Young is soaked through with sweat.

He doesn't have to search through the recesses of his mind to know that he had another nightmare—and from the amount of moisture wicking off his clothes, it was a bad one. The shapes of it still loom in the forefront of his thoughts, another cloudy mix of past and present sent to remind Ji Young of everything he'd left behind.

With a determined shake of his head, Ji Young rummages through his chest. He finds one spare shirt smashed underneath his running sneakers. 'Ranger's Camp, '87' the shirt announces proudly as Ji Young attempts to smooth some of the worst wrinkles out of it. It's a bright, electrifying shade of yellow stamped with bright red font, and it lacks a collar, a breast pocket, or any note of formality.

With a quick glance over his shoulder to ensure that Jinwoo hasn't materialized out of thin air to tan his backside about maintaining decorum, Ji Young fights the t-shirt into submission. It's several sizes too small by now, having seen its heyday back when Ji Young was still a gangly sixteen-year-old, and Ji Young is more than a little glad that Taeyeon can't see his undignified one-footed hopping as he wrestles it over his shoulders.

He's also glad that the blinds hide the way his face falls as he catches sight of his torso in the small mirror on the desk as his eyes fall on the little crisscrossing scars on his chest—and the wicked one that slices down in between his ribcage.

Ji Young tugs the shirt over his chest and swallows hard.

"-and that's why, in my opinion, we should be focusing more on the social aspects of reintroducing native bears to the forest," Taeyeon concludes from over the receiver.

Jinwoo's sigh is long-suffering and heavy with the weight of two idiotic subordinates. "'Because I want one' isn't a sufficient reason for reintroducing a new type of fauna," Jinwoo reminds Taeyeon. "We've talked about this."

"I just feel like if you really considered my point of view for once-"

"Are we going to get any actual business done on this call, or are we going to attempt to put Jinwoo in an early grave all day?" Ji Young pipes up, rolling up the blinds again. He sifts absently through the stack of topographical maps on his desk and runs a hand through his hair.

There's a creak from Jinwoo's end as he presumably rolls out of bed and onto the floor, and then, "Just the usual. Fire danger is set to 'Moderate' for today, so be sure to adjust the dials on your lookout tower. We're also experiencing an influx of tourists down at the West Bay, Taeyeon, so keep an eye out for bonfire smoke and illegal fireworks. The display last summer nearly burned us to the ground."

"I remember," Taeyeon sighs. Ji Young grimaces at the memory too, though the flames hadn't crossed the river dividing the West forest from the East. He still remembers the burnt-umber glow of the flames in the distance and the thick smell of smoke trailing up into the midnight sky. The scars of the fire spread from just behind Taeyeon's tower directly to the rear of it—he'd been lucky to escape with his life.

Ji Young remembers the panic he'd felt as he watched the search and rescue helicopter turn in impotent circles as it attempted to locate Taeyeon amid the chaos. Thankfully, Yun Sue, the pilot, is hellishly good at his job, and Taeyeon had made it out with no more than two burnt eyebrows and some smoke inhalation.

"Oh, and be on the lookout for Long-Horned Beetles. There's been a spike in the population, and forestry has asked us to keep a close eye on the whole situation," Jinwoo adds, effectively wrenching Ji Young from his thoughts.

"Beatlemania!" Taeyeon hoots through the static. "They're taking over again!"

Rolling his eyes, Ji Young chimes in before Jinwoo can give himself an ulcer. "Did Hee Jun drop the supplies yet?" he asks. "I know he's just coming back from vacation, but I'm in desperate need of a razor. I haven't shaved in a week, and it feels like my chin is trying to light itself on fire."

"Doubtful."

"He did the drop-off last night," Jinwoo talks over Taeyeon's attempted jibe, "Supplies for the week should be ready to pick up at Box Four-Oh-Four. Oh—the cookies are for me, Taeyeon, and if you want your own, order them ahead of time like any responsible adult."

Ji Young's eyebrows flick up in surprise. "How'd you convince Hee Jun to deliver during the night? I thought he said he'd rather slide down a trail of razors into a pool of hydrogen peroxide before he walked through the forest at night."

"Level ten persuasion," Jinwoo clucks proudly. There's a momentary pause, and then he adds, somewhat worriedly, "Taeyeon, did you hear me about the cookies?"

When there's no immediate reply, Jinwoo starts, "Ji Young-"

"I'm on it," Ji Young replies with a snort. "No one touches your cookies without a fight."

He's absolutely certain that, at the first mention of Jinwoo's precious supply of frosted animal crackers, Taeyeon had peeled out of his tower in the hopes of beating Jinwoo to the box. It's been an ongoing feud, starting two summers ago when Jinwoo had accidentally taken Taeyeon's mother's homemade strawberry bars from the drop box. It had quickly escalated into all-out snack warfare with Ji Young caught in the crossfire.

"You deserve a raise, kid," Jinwoo says gratefully.

Ji Young hefts his hiking backpack onto his desk and rummages through with one hand, checking his supplies. "A new blanket would be plenty. Mine is covered with moth holes, and I'm pretty sure it was fabricated during World War One."

"New blanket added to the list. Good luck today, Ji Young. I'll check in with you both later tonight. And if you see Taeyeon at the drop box, drop kick him for me. Jinwoo signing off."

"See you," Ji Young says, but Jinwoo's already dropped off. Ji Young is alone in his tower once again, surrounded by the small desk and the wooden bookcase and the sealed cherrywood chest that hides underneath the bed, out of sight and out of mind.

But Ji Young decided a long time ago that he's not one to dwell on the past. He's learned from experience that looking backwards, even for a moment, can be pretty catastrophic. So Ji Young spends as much time as possible immersed in the present and looking forward to tomorrow. And right now, he's focused on saving Jinwoo's cookies from Taeyeon's thievery.

Without a second thought about the box of memories hiding under his bed, Ji Young checks his climbing gear, harnesses, air horn, and miscellaneous survival accoutrement. He clicks his walkie onto the belt loop of his pants, slaps the matching emerald baseball cap onto his head, and heads out the door into the wilderness.

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