Chapter 253
Chapter 253
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 253
>Chapter Title: Nightmare (3)
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Three black lines slashed across the chest of the combat uniform.
The name "Kim Ki-hwan" written on the opposite chest was all too familiar to Il-mok.
"You crazy bastard. Not answering when a senior calls? Hey."
At Corporal Kim Ki-hwan's summons, Seo Ji-hoon responded on instinct.
"Private Seo! Ji! Hoon!"
"Change into your uniform and get ready for morning roll call right now."
"Yes, sir!"
"I'm watching you."
Seo Ji-hoon felt cold sweat trickling down his back under Kim Ki-hwan's menacing glare.
Somehow, it all felt familiar.
The squad's most devilish senior had singled him out.
How happy he'd been the day that Kim Ki-hwan bastard finally discharged.
But why was this lunatic standing in front of him now?
'Was it all just a dream?'
Discharging from the army, getting stabbed to death while working as a civil servant. Being reborn as Il-mok and joining the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
'Ha. Fuck.'
A curse nearly slipped from his lips.
Maybe he'd dreamed all that because he was sick of getting tormented by that dog of a senior.
Convincing himself of that, Seo Ji-hoon began preparing for morning roll call.
* * *
A day filled with tension dragged on.
"During the march! Sing the army song. The army song is the torch against the commies! Start the song!"
The same old morning run. As the squad leader shouted, the corporals bulged their eyes.
"Our beautiful rivers and mountains~ we'll defend."
Even just running made his breathing ragged. He had to belt it out at the top of his lungs.
If he was caught just mumbling, the day would turn into hell.
"You crazy fuck. What's this? You wanna fuck around?"
From the next squad over, a private got caught not singing and was getting chewed out like a dog.
As if itching to do the same, the corporals' glares grew even fiercer.
After the spine-chilling morning run finally ended.
"Hey."
"Private Seo! Ji! Hoon!"
"What's for breakfast today?"
Cold sweat poured down his back at the senior private's question.
'What was on the breakfast menu...?'
He'd had that damn dream first thing in the morning and hadn't checked the bulletin board properly.
"If you don't know, forget it. Hey. What's for breakfast today?"
The senior private turned away like he didn't care and tossed the question to his counterpart.
"Today's breakfast is bean sprout soup, mackerel fritters, kimchi, over!"
"Ha. Hey, I'm skipping breakfast. You guys go ahead."
With that, the senior private pulled out a cup ramen from the PX he'd stashed in his locker.
"Hey."
Then, a chilling voice came from behind.
"You private fuck, too chickenshit to memorize the menu?"
It was Corporal Kim Ki-hwan.
"You. I'm really watching you all day today. Watch yourself."
"Private Seo! Ji! Hoon! I'll be careful, sir!"
"Careful my ass."
Corporal Kim Ki-hwan feinted a punch to scare him.
Just then, the squad leader's voice came from behind.
"Hey."
"Corporal Kim Ki-hwan."
"Private Seo! Ji! Hoon!"
"Cut it out and get ready to head out."
"Yes, sir!"
On the way to the mess hall with the senior private and the other squad members.
His body shrank involuntarily under Corporal Kim Ki-hwan's constant scrutiny.
"We gratefully partake!"
Amid it all, he had to shovel in food that could rival any mess cop.
Privates had no right to leave scraps.
Especially hopeless when one of these mess cops was around.
"Fuck. This shit tastes like crap."
The squad leader poked at a few bites, spat a curse, and stood up.
Matching him, the other corporals set down their spoons one by one like the food soured their moods and got up.
'You motherfuckers. If you're not gonna eat, let us leave some too.'
He couldn't dare keep his seniors waiting outside, so he crammed the leftovers into his mouth and stood.
He wasn't the only one. The other first- and second-years were the same.
"Gahk."
One guy choked on a mackerel bone from wolfing it down.
'Feels like it's gonna sit like a rock. For real.'
With Kim Ki-hwan glaring nonstop, digestion was out of the question anyway.
He hurriedly stuffed his face and dashed to the dishwashing area.
As he roughly scrubbed his tray with the sponge.
- There's still grease from the mackerel fritters!
- Scrub harder! It's filthy!
Some nagging unease made him scrub the tray like a maniac without realizing it.
Because of that, he rejoined the squad a step late, and the corporals' eyes were sharp.
'That was close.'
A few more seconds, and he'd have caught hell for sure.
Back at the barracks with the squad.
- The angles are all messed up!
- Fix it right now!
His locker was a total disaster.
From the PT uniform to spare fatigues and blanket. While redoing the angles during the leftover breakfast time, Corporal Kim Ki-hwan's voice came from behind.
"Really showing off, huh. Can't you do it right normally, you fuck?"
"Private Seo! Ji! Hoon! I'll be careful, sir!"
He gave Kim Ki-hwan a token reply, but his locker kept nagging at him.
Why did the locker, which usually seemed fine enough, look so filthy today?
He fiddled with the angles a bit longer. Eventually, duty time began.
And for some reason, this neat-freak compulsion carried over into duty hours.
Today was unit cleanup day. Maintaining and sweeping the parade ground and surrounding areas.
- Cleaner!
- Dig deeper! You want it flooding when it rains?
Even a single fallen leaf made him want to sweep it up, and he had to dig the drainage ditches deeper than usual to feel satisfied.
"You private already slacking off?"
The problem was the seniors who lost their shit if he lagged even a little.
To clean perfectly without getting reamed, he had to run like a madman.
Sweat poured down like rain.
'I wanna shower. Shower. Shower.'
His damp combat uniform was driving him insane.
As duty wound down.
"Hey."
"Private Seo! Ji! Hoon!"
"What's today's password?"
Corporal Kim Ki-hwan hit him with a sudden quiz.
"Private Seo! Ji! Hoon! Reporting today's password. Question: sea cucumber, answer: cigarette. Sea cucumber, cigarette, over!"
Luckily, he'd checked during lunch and dodged the trap.
Then came personal maintenance time after all duties ended.
"Hmm."
Kim Ki-hwan glanced over his locker, tsked lightly, and turned away.
"I'm hitting the shitter."
"Yes, sir!"
Password, locker—maybe because he'd hustled through duty too, he barely scraped by today.
But Kim Ki-hwan passing didn't ease his gut.
'Why's the barracks so filthy too.'
Even during personal time, he couldn't stand it.
He grabbed a broom and swept the floor.
'But when did I start getting this neat-freakish...? Because of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword?'
Some inexplicable contradiction.
'Huh? The Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword was something I learned in the dream, right? What does that have to do with anything? Hmm. Was I always like this...?'
He was about to shrug it off when the broom he was using to sweep started vibrating.
Whiiirrr.
"Hm?"
The broom had somehow turned into a sword.
A familiar sword.
The one he'd named "Ascension Sword" in the dream.
'Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword. Side effect. Ascension Sword. Dream...?'
The moment that question arose, a strange energy stirred in his lower abdomen.
A familiar energy.
Finally grasping the situation, he closed his eyes and focused on the energy in his dantian.
"Hey!"
"What the fuck's he doing, stopping cleaning?"
"This guy's lost it."
Shouts erupted around him, but he ignored them and delved inward.
The massive energy of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword raced through his meridians and surged toward the crown of his head.
Forgetting everything around him, he plunged into the depths of his inner world.
No—he realized this was the inner world.
"Hoo."
He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Corporal Kim Ki-hwan was charging at him with a murderous glare.
But it didn't scare him like before.
'If it's a dream, it'll end when I wake up.'
Slash!
Following the arc of his swung Ascension Sword, Kim Ki-hwan's body split apart. No—the space split.
Crack!
At the same time, everything shattered like glass.
Flash!
His eyes snapped open.
"You bastards. There's shit you do and shit you don't. A military dream, of all things."
The worst nightmare had him cursing out loud on reflex.
He turned his head, and a bizarre scene unfolded.
"Ha-yeon sunbae! You can't meet a filthy guy like that!"
"Ha-yeon... why..."
Joo Seo-yeon and Goo Yang-mun endlessly calling for Jin Ha-yeon, dreaming about her.
"Oppa! Please don't abandon me...."
Seon-a, seemingly dreaming something involving him.
"......"
Jin Ha-yeon, lips sealed as usual, but her expression grim.
"Master of Ten Thousand Demons!!"
Even Dam Bin, wandering in search of his master.
'The others, fine, but Team Leader Dam Bin still trapped too?'
High realms usually granted some resistance to illusions. And with Dam Bin's experience, it was surprising at first.
'But come to think of it, I was in danger too.'
Without the Ascension Sword's help, he'd have been stuck for a while.
Moreover.
'Everyone's qi and blood are churning. This is dangerous....'
From his companions' mutterings, the formation trapping them wasn't a mere dream illusion array.
It burrowed into the mind, showing each person's worst nightmare.
And his group, trained in demonic arts, were already prone to mental afflictions.
For those tormented by heart demons or demonic deviation even normally, this was hell.
Even he had nearly been manipulated by his recently dormant side effect.
'First, separate them a bit so they don't attack each other while illusioned.'
He spaced out the babbling group at a safe distance and moved to find the formation's core.
In the process, he ran into Jeong Hyeon, left at the rear.
"Can't find... new friends. Who'd hang with a loser like me...."
He ignored the depressing mutter for now.
Forcing awake those deep in the illusion could lead to horrors.
Whiiirrr.
Using the Ascension Sword's vibrations—like it knew something—and his innate senses, he headed for the core.
'Not the Heavenly Demon's secret passage— the whole White Crane Mountain was the trap from the start.'
The eerie qi flow wasn't limited to the cave entrance. It blanketed the entire mountain.
No formation this scale could be whipped up overnight.
A trap prepped for years at least. Massive, intricate. Plus the sword's reaction.
'Blood Cult bastards.'
He could guess the trap's owners.
Sprinting across White Crane Mountain for a bit.
He sensed someone approaching from the side.
Thinking Blood Cult, he gripped the Ascension Sword in combat stance. Soon, two figures emerged from the brush.
One was a ragged old beggar, the other a sharp-faced middle-aged man.
'Eight-Knot Elder?'
As he noted the eight knots on the beggar's side, the Beggar Clan Eight-Knot Elder spoke.
"That mask.... You're from the Maitreya Bright Cult, I take it. What brings you here?"
To the wary question, he improvised.
"I tracked the Blood Cult here. You heard from Hook Nose, but we're tied to them too."
"Indeed, just as Hook Nose said."
He had no idea what Hook Nose had told them, but the elder nodded, convinced by that much.
Then, a beat late, he cupped his fists in greeting.
"Forgive the late introduction. I'm Chu-gae, Eight-Knot Elder of the Beggar Clan."
"The Incarnation of Maitreya."
"Hmm. You don't use a separate name, as expected."
Chu-gae's subtle reaction shifted as he gestured to his side.
"Ah. And this is the Flying Dragon Pavilion Master, sent from the Martial Alliance."
"......"
He was speechless for a moment.
The enemy who'd taken in Tae-hyeon hyung. His biggest reason for coming to the Central Plains—his vengeance target.
Of all times, running into him here.