Night Watch on Cheonghaejin and Landfall in Port Elizabeth
Sergeant: Baek Jaesung 13
In the 1st Landing Battalion's combat company, we have duty shifts for the troops. If you're on duty, even after the regular schedule ends, you have to hole up in the command and control room and pull an all-nighter.
It sounds fucking annoying just hearing about it, but since we rotate, everyone ends up doing it sooner or later. Today was my turn.
"Good work today."
Afternoon training wrapped up. Normally, I'd grab dinner with the guys, then crash in the room scrolling my phone—amazingly, satellite comms give us internet—or watch a movie. But not tonight.
I strolled casually over to the C2 room. I'd learned from the company commander how duty works.
"Sergeant Baek Jaesung on duty today?"
The operations officer at the computer looked up and confirmed my face. Colonel Park Youngsik. Not a hunter—just a regular guy. Even in the same unit, there's this weird distance between civilians and hunters. Like, they don't quite feel like superiors.
"Yes, sir. Burning the midnight oil?"
Operations always seems to have overtime. That's why Jueun and I rarely get dinner together. No wonder the ops folks all look sharp-featured and intense.
Colonel Park Youngsik is one of the nicer ones, face-wise. Word is, that post is a hot seat—most who pass through get promoted to general without a hitch.
"Here, your duty armband."
His attitude was even more polite than to a subordinate. He knows there's no upside to pissing off a hunter.
"Thank you, sir."
The ops officer personally fastened the armband on me. The front wall of the C2 room displayed feeds from surveillance cameras all over Cheonghaejin. One of the 1st Landing Battalion's jobs is maintaining shipboard security.
Cheonghaejin's a massive ship, so fights break out among the crew sometimes. Civilian-on-civilian is manageable, but if dungeon hunters clash? Trouble. Happens in the special peacekeeping forces now and then, apparently.
"Duty officer, sir. Need your signature on the duty log here."
The situation specialist stiffly handed me a printed A4 sheet. I signed next to the duty commander's spot. Duty officer is right behind duty commander.
"Who's duty commander today?"
"Logistics chief, sir."
Duty commander rotates among HQ company officers.
For reference, HQ company's only hunter officer is the battalion commander. So all duty commanders are civilians.
Maybe that's why there's this subtle gap between duty commander and duty officer. Like, they can't speak freely.
"Hello. Logistics Chief Captain Jang Yongho."
"Sergeant Baek Jaesung. Nice to work with you."
At least this logistics chief had a silver tongue—not as loose-lipped as Hwang Cheolmin, but good at light banter. The easygoing type. Wish all duty shifts had guys like him.
"Go grab some dinner first."
"Ah, thank you."
Wonder what's on the menu? Craving pizza.
*-*-*
"Mm...!"
I jolted awake, feet propped on the desk, drool pooling at my mouth.
Checked the clock on the front wall. 1 a.m.? I swear I was up till 11...
"Snore..."
The duty specialist next to me and the duty commander in front were both out cold. Army life's taught me this place runs pretty loosely sometimes.
"Ahem!"
I cleared my throat and nudged the duty specialist. The guy, head down snoring, startled awake.
"Yaaawn~! Was I asleep?"
"Yeah. Fucking sawing logs."
The kid blinked in shock. If enemies boarded now, this C2 room would be toast.
"Got any snacks?"
"There's duty rations in the fridge. Want me to grab some?"
"Nah, I got hands."
The fridge was stuffed with snacks. Just looking made me feel full. Duty's boring as hell—gotta keep the mouth busy too. Grabbed some sweet chocolate ones.
"Want some?"
"Thank you, sir!"
The duty specialist happily munched. I chewed a chocolate biscuit while scanning the cameras.
Over 100 surveillance cams across Cheonghaejin. All feeds right here—like being in traffic control.
Brrring!
Suddenly, the military phone's red light flashed with an ear-piercing ring.
"Urgh!"
The duty commander wiped drool from his mouth and picked up.
"Communications security, 1st Landing Battalion duty commander Captain Jang Yongho speaking. How can I assist? Yes. Uh-huh. Yes. Ah, got it."
He glanced at me while talking. What’s up?
"Yes. Yes. We'll send someone up. Okay."
He hung up and spoke.
"Officer, sorry, but you might need to head up."
"Up? Where?"
"Tenth deck. Radar picked up something weird."
"Weird?"
Sea monster maybe?
That'd mean a maritime dungeon nearby. If it's a kraken on radar, that could be a pain.
"Monster, maybe?"
"Possibly. But if so, it's not close. Battle stations would've sounded otherwise. Go check it out."
"Roger."
Hope it's nothing. Took the ship elevator to deck 10. Light leaked from the ops room in the central corridor. Knocked on the door.
"1st Landing Battalion duty officer Sergeant Baek Jaesung here. You called?"
Creeeak!
Door opened right away.
"New face."
Cheonghaejin's duty captain was a woman—surprisingly hot, too.
Not on my girls' level, but she'd get plenty of likes posting a no-makeup selfie online.
"What'd you need?"
"Our radar tagged a lifeform identified as a monster. 11 km dead ahead."
"Mm... what do you need me for?"
Not telling me to punch it barehanded, right?
Though if she begged naked on her knees, I might oblige.
"Nothing big. Just hold the fort here till we maneuver around."
Whew, easy ask. Backup for unknowns.
"Run into sea monsters often?"
Struck up convo to build rapport—talk's key for progress.
Luckily, the duty captain seemed bored and answered fully.
"Yeah, oceans are full of maritime dungeons. But don't worry—we spot 'em on radar early and evade. Sea's big enough even with all those dungeons."
Dungeons still spawn and vanish in uncharted spots. Some expand till hunters raid 'em fully; others fizzle out. Most maritime ones are the latter. Rare cases need hunter response—like that Panama Canal one recently.
Cheonghaejin dodged the blip smoothly. Wanted some fun chat with the cute captain, but no time before parting.
Tch.
I'll remember her. Plenty of chances on the same ship.
*-*-*
Took about 14 days. We finally hit South Africa's Port Elizabeth. Company commander said fewer monsters and dungeons en route sped us up. Faster's always better.
Port Elizabeth is a big harbor city—packed with large freighters like Cheonghaejin. We docked a bit away from the civilian piers.
"First day in port's usually a holiday. But don't wander far—AWOL's a court-martial offense, you know. No brawls with locals, obviously. Stay safe, chill near the port city."
Finally on land. The salty sea air mixed with earth smells—familiar now.
Seeing workers hustle around the docks really drove it home. Engine roars felt welcoming.
Hard concrete after two weeks? Emotional. Cheonghaejin's huge, so you barely feel the roll, but land's land.
"Jaesung, where to?"
Sujin and the girls disembarked, faces lit with tourist excitement.
"Eh, short leave, so maybe stroll downtown."
What’s South Africa like?
Not the Africa I pictured. Neat buildings, smooth roads, cars zipping by—like Europe.
Blacks and whites about half-half. Knew North Africa like Morocco has more whites, but here too. Complicated history, probably.
"Whoa, way prettier buildings than I thought! Let's head that way!"
Mood-maker Jisu bounced excitedly. But no Jueun.
"Where's Jueun?"
"Ops has a mountain of work post-docking."
Poor Jueun.
We'll have fun for her.
"They said bring dollars, so I exchanged a ton. My treat today!"
We followed bouncy Jisu like rabbits, sightseeing the port city.