"On Friday, a week ago..."

On Friday, a week ago, I stepped out of the Little Kings (that's the name of the English school) office into the main loby. I was amazed at the chaos that greeted me. The usually quite main floor was swarming with several officers in bright orange organizing everyone and no one, fully armed police men, and men in full camo gear with gass masks. Sirens were screaming and a string of Korean words were being shouted over a loud speaker. A large crowd of SCG employees was gathered to one side, silently watching. Of course, I had no idea what was going on. The building might at this moment be colapsing around me, for all I knew, and at one point it occurred to me that, if I'd ever wanted an excuse to panic, this might be it. But there were still classes to be taught this afternoon, and lessons to be prepared. So after making sure that I had been seen (just in case, in all the commotion, they should forget about my presence), I stepped back into the other room. I heard the sirens and shouting continue, off and on, for several hours, and saw many soldiers running by the window outside, before Namsoo came down. He looked at me quizically, "What is happening?!" His manner was one of such studied, deliberate amazement that he communicated the exact opposite of what he had intended, and I immediately guessed reason for the comotion. "It's just a demo, isn't it?" If he was dissappointed, he hid it well, affirming my guess. I was later told that the SCG building was chosen at random for this "how to respond to a terrorist attack" drill. The commotion eventually subsided, leaving all as peaceful and quiet as before, so that one was really not sure if it had even ever been.