To Reenlist or Not to Reenlist
Whether asleep or awake, always beware of fire. Even an extinguished flame deserves a second look. The veteran soldiers of the Daesun Ho exchanged glances and began gesturing with their fingers. It was proper sign language. Their eyes darted back and forth as fingers spread, fists clenched and opened, and palms struck in the motion of a hammer, all in complete silence. The fact that their hand signals had reached this level of refinement—just for concealing their presence—made it immediately clear how elite this unit truly was.
- Halt. Civilian obstacle ahead. Two watchposts, one breach point. No sentries.
- Halt. Prepare steel crossbows. Scout team, approach and observe.
- Civilian obstacle sealed. No sentries. No enemy presence. Breach?
- Judgment withheld. Maintain silence and listen.
A long silence followed. Roughly one gak later, the scouts pressed flat against the closed wooden gate sent another series of signals.
- No enemy presence detected.
- Hold position.
The general and his adjutant then began whispering their field assessment in voices as soft as the wind.
“They must have seen the wildfire and evacuated, no?”
“There are several plumes of smoke rising.”
“They might have left without properly extinguishing their fires.”
“The smoke from farther away is far too thick for that. It doesn’t look like an accidental blaze. Someone must have added fresh firewood to stoke the flames.”
“What are your orders, sir? Shall we force our way through?”
“This is a civilian village. It’s not the time to stir up unnecessary trouble. Call out to them first. If there’s no response, then we break through.”
“Understood.”
The adjutant raised both hands high and advanced toward the village’s wooden gate one careful step at a time. They had reported no enemy sentries, and indeed no presence could be felt. The adjutant drew in a deep breath and unleashed the booming voice of a northern warrior.
“I aaaaam—!!”
At the exact same moment, the gate creaked open with a long wooden groan.
The adjutant blinked. What? He hadn’t even finished announcing himself, let alone given the order to open the gate.
Cheong was equally startled. What the hell? What’s with this guy? He was just standing quietly in front of the door and then starts yelling the second it opens?
The Imperial Guards were currently resting on the north side of the village. Cheong had taken the opportunity to slip out through the south gate. The moment the gate opened, some lunatic had screamed right on cue.
With a chest harness strapped on and a cart parked conspicuously behind her, one hand still holding a roasted sweet potato, Cheong found herself in an incredibly awkward staring contest with the stranger.
Crunch. Cheong chewed the sweet potato once, then took a step back. Crunch. Another step. Crunch. A third. Crunch. A fourth. Her backside finally bumped into the cart.
She shoved the cart backward with her hips, then quietly began closing the gate again.
The wooden barrier creaked shut as if trying to pretend none of this had ever happened.
The adjutant shouted in a panic. “Stop! Stop or I’ll shoot!”
Gulp. Cheong swallowed the half-chewed sweet potato in surprise. Fortunately it was raw, so it didn’t stick in her throat. The threat of being shot didn’t particularly move her. The reinforced village gate was made of thick planks; even if a bolt managed to pierce it, the arrow would have lost all its momentum by then. The real problem was the noise. If it drew the Imperial Guards, everything would go to hell. And if they got surrounded from both sides… yeah, that would be bad.
Cheong decided to obey and stopped moving for now. In truth, a gate like this was only sturdy against fights between commoners. Against a proper martial artist it was a flimsy obstacle that wouldn’t even buy a few steps of time.
She racked her brain. Should I pretend to be a refugee woman? Say I’m fleeing with my sickly old mother and my foolish, sickly younger brother. Though it would be suspicious for refugees to head toward the burning southern mountain instead of using the perfectly fine northern gate… Plans thought up on the spot were always as shallow as a puddle.
Cheong cleared her throat with a loud hem-hem—
“Come out. So that’s who it was. The rickshaw puller dragging a cart, I see.”
Someone on the other side spoke as if they knew her. A man wearing a thick blue coat. There were no women in the military, so it had to be a man. Cheong’s vision was still blurry, but she could make out silver glints outside the coat—acorn-sized iron studs arranged in neat rows. What looked like a thick coat was actually a form of armor, with iron plates quilted into the lining beneath each rivet head.
“Ah, now I remember! You! You’re the bastard who kicked me!”
The adjutant, seeing Cheong’s build, immediately recalled the rickshaw puller as well. Peasant winter clothes weren’t anything special—just cheap cotton padding stuffed inside until it puffed up. The cotton wasn’t even distributed evenly, so some parts were thick and others thin. An honestly crude garment. Since she couldn’t tighten a belt over her swollen chest, the result was a hulking brute wearing an inappropriately delicate cotton veil over his face.
The adjutant exploded with indignation, yet for some reason his attitude wasn’t particularly hostile.
Cheong gave a deep cough and imitated a male voice. “I-I’m truly sorry. But saying I kicked you is a bit unfair. I was worried I might injure you, so I only gave you a light push with my foot.”
“What? A push with your foot!? Two of those and you’d kill a man!”
“There was fire chasing us from behind, I was in a panic and couldn’t see anything, so… um, I’m sorry, but I don’t have anything else to offer. Would you like a sweet potato—”
“What is this, are you mocking—”
“Enough. In an emergency, such things can happen.”
The general cut off the adjutant who had cut off Cheong, nodding his head.
The adjutant immediately cried out in grievance. “General! But this bastard kicked me square in the chest! After all the loyal service I’ve given, how can you treat me this way!”
“That’s something for the parties involved to resolve themselves. Now then, you. What is your name?”
Cheong thought for a moment before answering. “Uh, this lowly one is called… Eon Yeonyeong.”
“Eon Yeo-nyeong?”
“Eon. Yeon. Yeong.”
“Eon Yeo-nyeong? Is it Eon or Eo? What did you say?”
“Eon clan, Yeo-nyeong… wait, no, Eon Yeonyeong. Wait, Eoneo-yeong? Ah, now even I’m getting confused.”
It really was a difficult name to pronounce.
“Whatever your name is. So, are you interested in military service? I saw your strength earlier. You’d fit perfectly in my army. Will you come with me?”
“Thank you for the offer, but—”
The general raised his hand. In perfect unison, with deliberately loud clicks, the soldiers fanned out in a semicircle and leveled their crossbows. Or at least appeared to.
“It seems you misunderstood me. I wasn’t asking for your opinion. Who in this world would willingly buy a military position in the Northern Army? Most would rather die. So which will it be? Is it better to live and take the position, or would you rather die?”
Want to join my army, or want to die? Want to reenlist, or want to die?
It was a truly difficult question. This must have been what that Western king muttered to himself right before his reenlistment—To be or not to be, that is the question. Because living as a soldier wasn’t really living. To live as something less than human, or to die as a human. That was the famous dilemma of reenlistment versus death, the choice between a wretched life and a peaceful end.
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer…
Amazingly, Cheong was a military service veteran and an absolute beauty. Wouldn’t it be better to die than go back to the army? No matter how much people complained about the military these days, this place was even more primitive and barbaric than that era. If it was shit then, it would only be shittier now. However, according to the law of the land, women could not hold military positions. The reason such a law had been enacted was simple—far too many people broke it. In this era, every household had a military quota. If one didn’t want to go themselves and didn’t want to send their precious son, the daughters—who were originally meant to be sold off to other families—were the ones left over.
When a daughter married, the husband’s family had to send gifts to the bride’s family. That payment was called the “betrothal gift.” In other words, daughters were raised carefully only to be cashed in for a fat betrothal gift. So if one gave up that gift, they would instead dress the girl as a boy and send her to fulfill the military duty.
Anyway, Cheong thought, Women can’t hold military positions. So I can just say yes for now, get Jayu and Yeon Pa to safety, and then—sorry, I’m actually a woman—and slip away.
“Um, General. I have a sick old grandmother and one sickly son tagging along. I was in the middle of taking my grandmother to her maternal family in Seonnyeong because her health is very poor. Would it be all right if I escort her there first before reporting for duty?”
“Ah, I see. So that’s why you were pulling a rickshaw. You weren’t a soldier? I did think such strength was too much for an ordinary unknown soldier. You must be caring for your ailing grandmother.”
The general nodded as if impressed. Even the displeased adjutant softened his gaze at those words, showing a hint of warmth. Even if the man had dared to kick the heavenly adjutant’s chest, if it was because he was desperate to save his grandmother, it was hard to blame him.
“Good, good. It’s fortunate you have another child. Even if you serve, there will still be someone left to support the family. Seonnyeong, was it? Three li. I’ve checked the map.”
“If it’s Seonnyeong, it should be nestled against the western foothills.”
“Then we can stop by Seonnyeong before returning to the capital. All troops, form up. We’re still within the fire demon’s influence, so let’s move quickly.”
“Ah, excuse me. General?”
Cheong called out to stop him.
“What is it?”
“There are some rather suspicious fellows staying in the village right now. I definitely heard them mention something about the Imperial Guards.”
The general’s expression immediately soured. In contrast, Cheong’s face brightened a little. Oh? They don’t get along?
“It wouldn’t do any good to run into them. Hm. You seem to know the geography of this area well. You’ll know a path to Seonnyeong or wherever that keeps us out of sight, yes?”
“That I can do.”
An inconspicuous path just meant cutting across the wilderness to the west. So it wasn’t exactly a lie.
“Good. Then you take the lead.”
Just as Cheong grabbed the cart and prepared to lead the way, a shout rang out.
“Halt!”
No matter how lax the Imperial Guards’ discipline was, they had multiple Super Peak experts with a Harmonious Realm master in command. There was no way they could have missed the adjutant’s booming voice echoing from the south gate. Of course, they had only come out reluctantly. They had ignored the rough voice at first, thinking it was just returning refugees, but their thoroughly irritated commander had thrown a tantrum, demanding how they could sit around after hearing suspicious noises.
Yet sometimes such tantrums bore fruit. The Imperial Guard warriors had just spotted the Daesun Ho of the Northern Army—the very unit that should have been burning to death right about now.
Thus, through the wide-open south gate, the elite warriors of the Imperial Guard’s special forces appeared, arrogantly lining up shoulder to shoulder.
Outside the south gate, the Northern Army soldiers had already formed an encirclement.
“Well, well. If it isn’t General Jang. I believe I delivered His Majesty’s strict command. After confirming the traitor’s death once the fire line had burned, you were to return.”
“The wind was fiercer than expected, so the fire spread much faster than planned. The mission was completed as ordered, so there is no need for concern.”
The tension in the air was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Cheong chewed her sweet potato with loud crunches as she watched the unfolding drama.
“That doesn’t make any—”
“What exactly doesn’t make sense?”
“The logic doesn’t add up! We only entered this village half a gak ago! If you people are already here—”
“Did His Excellency see it with his own eyes? I personally witnessed the fire line burning before withdrawing. Yet here you are, leisurely lounging about in this remote village, speaking such words.”
“You—how dare— what? Lounging? You dare show such disrespect to your superior—”
“There is a clear chain of command. As the Ho Commander, I have no reason to accept casual speech from you, sir. Please show proper respect to the military.”
After three consecutive interruptions, Makseok’s face turned beet red.
“Fine. It seems you truly wish to die. Today shall be your unit’s memorial day. All troops, draw swords!”
Shing. The Imperial Guard warriors drew their blades. The general also raised his arm, and the soldiers—who had already formed a semicircular encirclement—lifted their steel crossbows and took aim at the warriors.
Cheong’s eyes sparkled. Her mouth never stopped moving—crunch crunch crunch.
Ooh. Are they really going to fight? Are they going to kill each other?