Crossing the River
A moment after the announcer’s introduction ended, another voice soon filled the vehicle, as if the broadcast line had finally connected.
Contrary to what I’d expected, it wasn’t the voice of some military man soaked in his own authority, nor that of a revolutionary brimming with uncontrollable fervor.
It was just the thick, desperate rasp of an old man who sounded as though he’d been weathered by years of storm and hardship.
"Dear citizens, and patriotic soldiers of our nation. I am Army Marshal Song Hak-su, serving as interim commander of the revolutionary army."
The instant that name came out, Seo Yu-jin’s body visibly stiffened.
Seo Yu-jin’s fine brows furrowed, and even the guard sitting in the front seat went still.
"Today we have taken up guns and swords. But these guns and swords are not aimed at people. They are aimed at a rotting tumor.
"I stand here to cut out the foul growth that has festered so long it will kill the entire body unless it is excised now."
"The military has been loyal to the imperial family.
"We were loyal even when we lost the very heartland our ancestors handed down to us. We were loyal even when the in-laws’ clans ran rampant and twisted state affairs for decades. And what else? Even when the Crown Prince, who should have embraced the whole world, sank into selfish desire and rebellion and covered this country in the stench of disloyalty and unfilial shame, the national armed forces remained loyal to the imperial family.
"And now, at last, our army—whose sacred duty is national defense—has been reduced to a plaything in the struggle between the two palaces vying for the throne."
I could only sit there, dumb as a post.
...He’s not exactly wrong.
Viewed through the common sense of a citizen of the Republic of Korea, or from the standpoint of a victim of this makjang drama, he honestly didn’t sound completely wrong.
"Therefore, our revolutionary army seeks to end the corrupt old era by carrying out the Emperor’s final will.
"I am not a man who covets power under the banner of revolution. Until very recently, I was merely an old soldier who wished for the ancient imperial house to endure for all eternity. But I stand here now to save the country from the imperial family.
"The nation must be renewed. The in-laws’ clans must be swept away. The stolen glory must be reclaimed. And this country must once again become the people’s country.
"That is the whole of our revolution.
"I ask only that the people understand a soldier’s loyalty to his duty.
"Long live the revolution!
"Long live the Republic of Korea!"
Click.
Seo Yu-jin shut the broadcast off with a rough flick of her hand.
“A troublesome opponent has appeared.”
“You know him?”
“He’s Marshal Song Hak-su, the Tiger of Manchuria.”
Seo Yu-jin said it with cold scorn.
“I thought he’d gone into the National Cemetery long ago. Apparently he was still alive.”
I stared blankly at the seat in front of me for a moment.
I did agree with him when he said the Crown Prince was rebellious and lawless.
That bastard—no matter how much his own father looked like a fool—what kind of lunatic shouts in his face, “Then at least act like a proper king!” Who does that? That was somewhere around episode eleven, I think.
I’d only ever seen it through clips uploaded with the soda tag, though.
Still, being disloyal and unfilial in the twenty-first century doesn’t mean you get to die for it.
“—Wouldn’t you agree, Secretary Seo?”
“Whatever reason they dress it up with, they are nothing but rebels. Do you truly think there were no innocent lives in Deoksugung?”
Well, no.
I nodded and asked, “Gwak Ji-hun. What do you think?”
“Descendants of Admiral Yi Sun-sin do not rebel.”
“Good.”
With that one line, I shook my head and washed Song Hak-su’s words clean away.
“Then let’s go crush that rotten fantasy.”
* * *
Ilsan Bridge was drawing near.
“We’ll go ahead as the vanguard and check the approach to Ilsan Bridge.”
Marine Captain Gwak Ji-hun.
He hadn’t lived that long yet, but the military life he knew was a wheel where yesterday was today and today was tomorrow.
And yet no soldier, surely, had ever lived through a day as eventful as this one.
If you were thrilled to be escaping your boring routine, then you were unquestionably a lunatic.
Captain Gwak Ji-hun, who proudly considered himself a perfectly normal human being, had been forced to stay on edge from the very beginning in this mad, spiraling situation.
And yet time really did heal all things, didn’t it?
His palms had been damp when he climbed into the armored vehicle and rolled out, but now he could perceive the situation with a much clearer, steadier mind.
Even so, his throat was still parched to the bone.
“Just a little, just a little.”
He cracked the lid and tipped a little liquid down his throat.
“Khhhh… ahhh.”
It felt like something had gone down his esophagus with a searing little stab, but he decided it was probably just the adrenaline of an emergency situation.
Gwak Ji-hun licked his lips and tilted the canteen again.
With each little swallow as he emptied it, the fear seemed to fade strangely, and an inexplicable swell of emotion rose from somewhere deep in his chest.
I’m a soldier escorting the imperial body right now.
How many soldiers in this country had ever dreamed of that?
...Though he had never expected it would become reality like this.
Damn it. What was the point of thinking about it?
He might as well take another sip of that weirdly sweet canteen water…
...The water’s sweet?
Only after the tension had loosened did Gwak Ji-hun notice the taste on his tongue, and he tilted his head.
The oddity wasn’t limited to his tongue.
The liquid sliding down his throat was strangely hot.
A fierce heat rolled heavily down his esophagus and dropped into his stomach.
This smell. This taste.
It’s alcohol...
Gwak Ji-hun’s eyes shook like he’d been hit by an earthquake.
Of course, he sometimes filled his canteen with booze when he was on duty, and he had casually transferred some liquor earlier after opening a bottle, planning to drink it later—but no way had he actually brought that out here, in this situation.
But reality didn’t change just because he wanted it to.
This was insane. Drinking during wartime?
...Before that thought even finished forming, another came first.
Wait… alcohol makes you do stupid things.
But it was too late to take it back. The liquor he’d been sipping like plain water in an effort to calm his nerves was a full forty proof. Alcohol surged through his bloodstream and slammed into his brain with no mercy at all.
And yet even when he was drunk, Gwak Ji-hun’s habit was to look even calmer on the outside.
The frantic pounding of his heart settled down as if by magic. The sweat on his damp palms went cold and dry.
Fear, tension, confusion.
All of it dissolved white in the powerful solvent of alcohol.
In its place came an unnatural calm and a hard, almost frightening resolve.
“Company Commander! Enemy forces sighted three kilometers ahead, at the south end of Ilsan Bridge!”
“Report the situation.”
There wasn’t a trace of trembling in Gwak Ji-hun’s carefully steadied voice.
Unlike his usual slurred, careless pronunciation, his diction was so precise and cold it could have belonged to a newscaster.
“The southern approach to the bridge is completely blocked! It’s packed with troops!”
“Enemy or friendly?”
“Unable to confirm! There are two units in standoff ahead!”
“The bridge approach is fully sealed off. We’ve even identified anti-tank weapons!”
As the subordinate finished reporting, he sneaked a glance at Gwak Ji-hun’s face.
Even in the dim interior of the armored vehicle, it was red enough to look ready to burst.
Veins stood out thickly along his neck.
Company Commander… his blood is surging in revenge for the wrongfully slain former Emperor!
He never once suspected that Gwak Ji-hun was simply trying his best to hold down the force of the liquor turning his face red.
Beep.
The command net crackled to life. It was Lee Jin’s vehicle, waiting in the rear.
[Captain Gwak. Why is the road blocked? What’s going on?]
It was Lee Jin’s voice, and there was urgency in it. Gwak Ji-hun gripped the microphone.
“A large number of Army troops are in a standoff at the north and south ends of Ilsan Bridge.”
[A standoff? Who’s the rebel force?]
Gwak Ji-hun hurriedly turned his thoughts over.
The southern end of Ilsan Bridge fell under the jurisdiction of the Army’s 17th Division, and the northern end under the 60th Division.
And honestly, there was a good chance even they didn’t know which side was the rebel force and which was the suppression force.
So…
[You’re saying we’re stuck here?]
The words stuck here struck Gwak Ji-hun’s Marine soul like a violent electric current.
Marines do not stop.
The liquor had reached its peak. A completely logical and completely insane idea flashed through Gwak Ji-hun’s brain.
“No. We’ll break through the 60th Division, which is blocking the crossing from the opposite side, first.”
Gwak Ji-hun opened the radio net so the entire unit—and Lee Jin’s vehicle in the rear—could hear him.
“Everyone, listen up.”
Inside the armored vehicle, and among every subordinate holding a radio, even the sound of breathing stopped.
“It doesn’t matter whether the bastards ahead of us are rebels or suppression forces.”
Then Gwak Ji-hun declared, solemn as a priest.
“We are the pro-imperial army.”
The pro-imperial army. The army that rises for the sake of saving the Emperor.
That heavy word drove straight through the Marines’ chests over the radio.
[...Captain Gwak?]
Lee Jin called out, startled and confused, but Gwak Ji-hun didn’t stop.
“The only unit directly escorting His Majesty the Emperor is us. In other words, we are the imperial family’s shield and the only legitimate national force.”
So for the pro-imperial army, there was no retreat.
[...Captain Gwak. This is Seo Yu-jin. Then are you planning to go around them?]
“Army bastards can’t cross a river without a bridge. We’re Marines.”
Yes. That was it.
Gwak Ji-hun spoke into the radio.
“All forces, listen.”
The more the alcohol rose in him, the more his fear of the battlefield evaporated completely, leaving only the Marines’ unexplainable stubborn pride.
“Turn the vehicles! We’re entering the river!”
[Aye, sir!]
And the moment he finished speaking, a scream that sounded like it might burst the speaker tore through the radio.
[Aye, sir! First Platoon, preparing for river crossing!]
[Second Platoon! Seal the hatches!]
Whoooom—!
The hulking amphibious assault vehicles all roared at once as they pivoted their tracks.
Leaving the road, the armored vehicles kicked up clouds of dust and thundered across the rough riverbank, then began charging straight toward the black surging waters of the Han River.
His subordinates moved in perfect unison, as if they’d been waiting for this command all along.
“Vehicle commander, prepare for crossing!”
“Check marine propulsion and drainage pumps!”
“All hatches confirmed sealed!”
Even in this madcap atmosphere, Gwak Ji-hun’s expression remained as grave as a headmaster delivering a lecture.
“I’m leading the spearhead. Keep up, all of you!”
Kuooooo—!
The moment Gwak Ji-hun’s lead armored vehicle crested the steep riverbank first, a massive spray of water erupted and the vehicle plunged without hesitation into the black water.
The armored vehicles behind it followed, driving their heavy bodies into the Han at full speed.
“Twelve o’clock ahead, the Ilsan riverbank. Drive straight through without wavering.”
After Gwak Ji-hun’s order came down—
“One minute to landing on the front bank!”
“After landing, spread the armored vehicles wide immediately!”
Gwak Ji-hun bared his eyes in the wildly lurching vehicle.
He couldn’t tell whether it was the liquor or whether some real blood of a man was boiling up in him.
Only one thing was certain.
If this insane day ended safely, his fate would be decided.
He would either become a corpse cut down by rebel bullets.
Or he’d be the first man to be credited with crushing the coup.
“Let’s go.”
The moment the lead vehicle touched Ilsan’s riverbank, Gwak Ji-hun shouted it out.
And every Marine riding inside the armored vehicle roared as one and charged forward.
“Long live the Emperor!”
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