The Taste of Knowing the Future
The feeling of knowing the future—was this what it was like?
The Third Platoon, having completely seized the Imperial Army’s outpost, was finally enjoying a long-overdue, honey-sweet rest. Imperial corpses lay scattered all around them, but to the recruits who had spent the past several days dancing on the edge of life and death, that was hardly worth noticing. On the contrary, chewing on the high-quality emergency rations and jerky the Imperials had left behind while sprawled lazily inside the barracks felt like heaven.
Tae-oh slung the backpack he had packed with spoils over his shoulder and walked over to Rolls.
“Hey, let’s not head back to the main unit for a while.”
Rolls, who had been gnawing on a strip of jerky, turned his head with a look of utter disbelief.
“What? You suggesting we desert?”
“I’m saying we should stock up properly here before we go. The forest is still full of ingredients. If we leave now, when the hell are we gonna get another chance to gather this much material?”
“You actually planned on going back?”
“Yeah, why?”
“What the fuck are you thinking? If we go back like this, we could end up dying like dogs.”
When Rolls frowned and asked, Tae-oh’s mind spun quickly. He couldn’t exactly answer honestly with I know the future. He needed a plausible excuse that would naturally steer the situation.
“Think about it. Alright, pretend you’re Commander Carlo. And you’re secretly working with Knight Commander Valik. You’re the bastard who sold us out as meat shields.”
“So?”
“Then would you really act like the real Carlo?”
Rolls narrowed his eyes.
“…What?”
“If Carlo was completely in bed with Valik from the start, there’s no way he would’ve given us any chances. He would’ve tied us down from the very beginning.”
“Chances…?”
“Exactly. If it were me, I would’ve cut off every single variable to make sure the experiment succeeded. But he gave us access passes to wander the forest freely, gave us time to gather alchemy ingredients, and even let us train. Hell, he went so far as to give a bunch of green recruits their own separate barracks so we wouldn’t have to worry about the regulars. Honestly, Carlo has done a shit-ton of favors for us.”
At Tae-oh’s words, Rolls’s pupils trembled. Now that he thought about it, it was true. For soldiers who had only just become regulars, they had been given far too much freedom and far too little oversight. It almost felt like someone had deliberately set the stage so they could thrash around as they pleased.
“Isn’t that just because of the assassin? Maybe he put us in a remote barracks with no guards on purpose to make the assassination easier?”
But Tae-oh had already prepared his counter-logic and began fitting that piece into place as well.
“The assassin part is weird too. Didn’t I tell you clearly? That guy’s target was me.”
“……”
“If the goal was to quietly wipe out the entire platoon at once, they could’ve just sprayed sleeping gas and set the place on fire. The fact that the assassin came at me specifically with a dagger means I was the one who bothered them. The assassination target was just me.”
Once Tae-oh threw out that bait, Rolls began piecing the situation together on his own. He had always been a sharp guy; once you pointed him in the right direction, his mind spun at a frightening speed.
“So what you’re saying is, Carlo doesn’t actually want to be actively involved in this scheme and is hoping we create some kind of variable? He can’t openly defy Valik’s orders, so he can’t help us directly, but he left just enough room for the board to be shaken?”
“Exactly!”
“And the assassin… Carlo deliberately didn’t post any sentries and just looked the other way because he didn’t want to get tangled up with Valik either? So we could somehow avoid the assassination on our own?”
“Exactly! Damn, you really are perfect when you’re not high on drugs. Your situational awareness is crazy fast.”
When Tae-oh clapped his hands in approval, Rolls let out a deep sigh.
“What kind of… bullshit are you spouting?”
“What do you mean?”
“Dude, come on. The part where the assassin specifically targeted only you doesn’t make any fucking sense. You’re just a lucky grunt who survived. Why the hell would they prioritize taking you out?”
“Because I’m insanely competent?”
“What?”
“Be honest, you think so too, right? I took down a squad leader during the great rotation, and I took down a War Wolf. If Valik and his crew wanted to eliminate variables that favored the Rose-rion side from the start, then—?”
“Haa… Fuck. When you put it that way, it actually makes sense again?”
“From their perspective, I’m a walking variable. Even without the magic beast experiments, the mere fact that I exist is helpful to the Rose-rion Kingdom. Don’t you think?”
It was a somewhat forced and flimsy logic, but there were no clear holes to poke in the reasoning. When you considered the impact a single alchemist or mage could have on a battlefield, Tae-oh would indeed be one of the people the Imperial spies would want to eliminate.
“For now, let’s go back and see how things look. If the atmosphere is completely fucked, we can just blow everything up and desert then. We’ll set off all the smoke bombs and tear gas I made and run to the other side of the forest. How’s that sound?”
Rolls gaped at him, stunned.
“What? Are you actually insane? You think desertion is like taking a casual stroll around the neighborhood?”
“We’re gonna die if we go back quietly anyway, so what’s there to lose? When your life’s on the line, who gives a shit about military law?”
“…Goddamn it…”
Rolls swallowed a string of harsh curses and roughly tousled his own hair. It sounded crazy, but there wasn’t a single thing that was wrong. In fact, it was strangely convincing—so much so that even he couldn’t find the will to argue.
“Just trust me this once. That bastard Carlo isn’t a traitor to the bone. I’ve got pretty good instincts about this kind of thing.”
There wasn’t a single flicker of doubt in Tae-oh’s eyes. Faced with that gaze, filled with the certainty of someone who had seen the future, Rolls finally raised both hands in surrender and nodded.
“Haa… Fuck it. There’s no other way anyway, so let’s do it your way. Whether we squeeze every last drop out of this place or end up deserting, I’ll trust your gut for now.”
And so, Tae-oh’s platoon turned the Imperial Army outpost into their base camp and bought themselves time.
Using the herbs and Mana Stones scattered throughout the forest, Tae-oh upgraded every existing potion to the highest tier.
◈ All existing potions upgraded to Tier 2
◈ Enhanced recovery and effect potency
‘Oh! Tier 2 items!! Hehehehe!’
With Mana Stones, item tiers could be raised. In other words, the potions had all been upgraded to the next level.
The rest of the platoon also armed themselves with the sturdy leather armor and high-quality steel swords left behind by the Imperial elite soldiers. They were transforming into an entirely different unit.
Once their preparations were complete, Tae-oh’s platoon finally shouldered their now-bulging backpacks and decided to return to the main force.
The guard post at the unit’s main gate was thrown into complete chaos at the appearance of the Third Platoon. The soldiers looked like walking rags, covered head to toe in blood and filth. Yet the weapons in their hands belonged to Imperial elite troops, and above all, the massive wolf head that Tae-oh and Rolls were carrying on their shoulders was enough to stop everyone’s breath.
“…They killed a War Wolf?”
In the company commander’s tent.
Sitting behind his desk, Carlo’s face—usually marked by that indifferent expression—now showed clear, deep bewilderment. His gaze was fixed on the enormous War Wolf head lying on the floor and refused to move.
“Yes, sir.”
Tae-oh answered briefly while carefully observing Carlo’s expression.
“For real…?”
Carlo asked again, as if he couldn’t believe it. There was a faint tremor at the end of his voice.
“Yes. After we killed it, we had to deal with the remaining beasts and gather evidence, so it took quite a while in the forest. I apologize for the delayed return.”
Carlo was at a loss for words.
‘A bunch of guys who only recently went from conscripts to regulars managed to do this?’
If it were a knight like himself who could wield aura, taking down a single War Wolf might be a bit troublesome but not impossible. But to those ordinary, aura-less greenhorns, a 500-kilogram magic beast would have been nothing short of a walking disaster. Moreover, the fact that the entire platoon had returned alive with zero casualties completely shattered Carlo’s common sense.
“Alchemy? You used that to kill it?”
Carlo asked, barely regaining his composure.
“Yes, well, something like that. My swordsmanship is terrible, but I do have a knack for mixing drugs. I happened to know a recipe for a poison and paralysis mixture that works like rat poison on wolf-type magic beasts and anything with a sharp sense of smell. The terrain worked in our favor too.”
Tae-oh shrugged with a sly grin, as if he were a hunter who had luckily caught a tiger in a trap. Carlo scanned the battered bodies of Tae-oh and Rolls with complicated eyes. Their armor was torn, crusted with blood, and there were still traces of dark blood that hadn’t been wiped from the corner of Tae-oh’s mouth. The marks of the desperate struggle they must have endured in the forest were undeniably real.
“Truly… astonishing. In any case, you have returned safely after eliminating the Empire’s horrific weapon. Well done. You have achieved a great feat.”
Carlo cleared his throat and straightened his attitude.
“I will exempt you from training and duties for a few days. Rest well in your barracks and recover. I will speak to you again about your rewards after I report to the higher-ups.”
Since they truly looked like walking rags, Carlo gave the order in the manner of an exceptionally generous commander. After all, there was neither justification nor reason to send them straight back into the jaws of death.
“Thank you, sir! We’ll rest well!”
Tae-oh gave a crisp salute, inwardly cheering, then left Carlo’s tent with Rolls, both of them smiling.
As soon as they stepped outside the tent, a cool breeze swept across their foreheads, cooling the sweat. Tae-oh stood at the entrance, looked up at the sky, and let out a long breath.
‘Ha, now I finally understand for sure.’
The hazy questions that had lingered like fog finally became crystal clear.
Why Carlo had acted so passively. Why he had pushed them into danger yet still left strange openings. Why, even while following Knight Commander Valik’s orders, he couldn’t openly take their side or kill them outright and could only watch cautiously.
It was all because of one person who had always stuck to Carlo like a shadow.
‘Raymon. That bastard is Valik’s spy.’
Tae-oh’s gaze locked onto a soldier wearing a silver helmet who was patrolling around the tent.
Raymon.
The quiet soldier who had guided and monitored them under Carlo’s orders when Tae-oh first arrived at the Reconnaissance Scout Unit’s Third Platoon. The one who always stayed close to Carlo with an expressionless face, silently observing everything that happened in the unit.
From Carlo’s perspective, with Valik’s watchdog disguised as his direct subordinate watching him day and night, he couldn’t carelessly make any moves or defy Valik’s orders. In a situation where everything was under surveillance, the best Carlo could do was turn a blind eye to Tae-oh’s group entering the forest and plant the tiniest seed of a variable.
And the most decisive evidence that allowed Tae-oh to be certain of this fact was—
‘It wasn’t there before.’
The strange phenomenon visible only to Tae-oh’s eyes. The very thing that had floated above the first squad leader, the rainbow rabbit, and finally the head of the War Wolf—the magic beast tamed by the Imperial Army.
Right now, a vivid, bright red heart was floating clearly in the air above Raymon’s head.
What that heart signified was obvious.
‘It’s that guy. That bastard is the boss of this stage. If I take down that spy, I’ll get another heart and be able to move on to the next stage.’
So this was what it felt like to know the future. This was what it felt like to read the flow of the board.
Just how strong would that guy be?
In a Souls-like game, humanoid bosses were notoriously difficult. It was safer to assume he was stronger than the War Wolf.
Fear surged in, but an even greater emotion overwhelmed it—anticipation.
At some point, Tae-oh had begun to truly enjoy this romance-fantasy-turned-Souls-like world.
His lips twisted upward in a crooked smile.
‘A humanoid boss sounds fun! Khehehehehehe!’