Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Inspection
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“Hoo.”
Sirens echoed in the darkness. After slamming into the final barricade and barely coming to a stop, he lit a cigarette inside the vehicle and quietly mulled over old memories.
‘It ended up just like that time.’
This time, he’d been fully alert, determined to figure out exactly what went wrong. So what the hell was the problem?
“Even without the physical prowess, my transcendent senses are still intact, so why is the outcome so similar to before?”
Moments later, soldiers rushed in urgently and trained their guns on him.
“You’re surrounded! You’re surrounded! Hands up! Move and we shoot!”
“Yes, I know.”
He stubbed out his cigarette and raised a salute through the window.
“Loyalty. Private Lee Seung-hoon, reporting for duty with the upper echelon unit. Purpose: regiment’s routine ration run.”
“......What?”
The commander at the front of the gun-wielding squad—clearly visible even in the dark despite his captain’s insignia—shook at the shout.
“Get down right nooow!!!”
“Six barricades destroyed, east fence at the comms shack completely smashed, twenty-seven field cables severed? How the hell did you even cut those!? They were buried over a meter deep!”
The regimental officer recited the tally of damage he’d caused, one item at a time.
“Left wall of Ammo Depot Three completely demolished, large quantities of stored ammo spilled out, multiple grenades and rifle grenades detonating for unknown reasons, Outpost Seven destroyed, Outpost Eight destroyed......? Hey! Who the hell wrote this report! The cables earlier, and now Outpost Eight—what is this crap? Outpost Eight’s in a spot no vehicle or even a person could reach!”
At the officer’s shout, a soldier came running with paperwork. From a quick glance, it was printed with photos documenting the devastation he’d wrought.
“......This possible? With a vehicle? A deuce-and-a-half?”
“Yes, sir. And if you look at the back page......”
“......Wild deer: seven dead, wild boars: five dead, eagle: one dead?”
“And here......”
“......Hm.”
On the final page, beyond the CCTV footage, the truck he’d been driving looked downright spectacular.
“What’s this? A deuce-and-a-half jumping cliffs? And this...... flying through the sky?”
“Not flying, sir. Estimated to be leaping from one cliff face to another.”
“An action movie? This doable? And not even a sports car—a deuce-and-a-half?”
Well, there were slight differences from his past self, but the end result was the same: trouble.
‘My past self caused even more of a mess. Back then, it ended with crashing into the regiment HQ ops room.’
This time, he’d obediently stopped after hitting a rear-mountain outpost, so wasn’t this a victory for his current self? A hopeful sign that humans evolve and improve, ultimately?
“Private Lee Seung-hoon, you know this is a huge deal, right? Honestly, looking at what you did, it’s full-on infiltration agent territory. This isn’t something the regiment can handle—it could blow up to the whole Sixth Division!”
“Yes, sir. I know.”
“Why’d you do it?”
He laid everything out honestly. From heading off to wake up Sergeant Yeom Seong-su, to the man being drunk and telling him to do whatever, all the way to their connections and Sergeant Lee Hyung-seok’s backers.
“......Hold tight for now.”
The regimental officer left the interrogation room. Bound as he was, movement was awkward, but his senses were unaffected, so he pressed his ear to the wall and picked up the vibrations.
『Holy shit, you believe this? Not some god of destruction, and he did all that solo?』
『Perp’s a rookie from the independent company, they say. Was driving alone and it happened.』
『Jason Bourne? Or the Asian quota in Dominic’s crew?』
『This ain’t regiment-level. It’ll go up to division.』
『Sixth Division’s got its own personal destroyer now.』
Snippets of soldiers’ chatter filtered through.
『If we don’t fix this now, we’re all done for! Got it!?』
『Get the Baekseokbong company commander here now!』
『Them again!? Again!? That Lee Hyung-seok prick? No?』
『Yo, how do we handle this? Word’s already hitting division.』
Officers’ fury-laced groans came next.
『Yes, yes, understood. Yes? Uh, yes.』
And then the voice of the regimental officer who’d just left—the highest-ranking major he’d met today, handling his interrogation—on the phone.
『Bury it somehow, but this isn’t the kind of thing you can just......』
『You idiot! If this gets out, you and me both lose our uniforms!』
Even the roaring from the phone’s other end carried through the wall, loud as it was.
『One month. Just hold out a month—you’ll transfer out somewhere else, and I’ll be promoted and gone by then too. We just tough it out till then!』
『But eventually it’ll all come out......』
『You moron! What’d you learn in your service time—eat it out your ass!? Bury it good! We know nothing, mouths shut tight among us, and no matter how much those backers bitch, it’ll pass like water off a duck’s back! What the hell have you been doing all these years!?』
From context, it sounded like the regimental commander.
‘So that’s how I got off scot-free back then.’
Not just because he was a lowly private—the regimental commander had his own mess.
『But don’t we have to report to division too?』
『I already briefed the division commander. He gave the okay. Repairs from reserve stocks, fudge the numbers a bit. Division commander said bury it, so you all just follow orders!』
『......Yes, sir. Understood.』
And orders from the division commander to boot.
‘This is interesting.’
Who’d have thought such behind-the-scenes drama? He’d suspected back then, but suspicion and hearing it confirmed with his own ears were worlds apart.
‘Came here for the right call.’
In the end, the interrogation fizzled out. As if trying to erase the day’s events from existence, he received no punishment and came face-to-face with the company commander—pale-faced and arriving late, someone he was seeing for the first time.
“Ha, haha, y-you’re Seung-hoon, right?”
“Private Lee Seung-hoon.”
“Yeah. Let’s head back.”
Captain Ryu Se-hyun.
His expression—like his very soul had been ransacked—was truly pitiful.
“Yes, yes! Y-yes, uh, yes!”
Until returning to the unit, the company commander wrestled nonstop with his phone. Once back, he only had a brief talk with him before rushing off busily.
“Seung-hoon, you might be out soon?”
Upon arriving at the unit and meeting the admin officer, the man cut straight to it.
“You know Green Camp? You’ll probably go there. A few stints there, and you could discharge?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Seung-hoon, please just lay low till discharge, yeah? Please—I’m begging you as your admin.”
“Understood.”
His military service had just two major incidents, one now resolved, with two weeks until the next—so he enjoyed some peaceful days for the time being.
‘Only two weeks in now.’
Two weeks left till his discharge. Sergeant Lee Hyung-seok and his cohort were off on terminal leave, leaving the remaining unit members in utter tranquility.
“Hey, you nuts? Who washes a mop like that? Hey, shove your head in it.”
But even without them, those who’d learned the ropes from them had formed their own mini Lee Hyung-seok family, repeating the same nonsense.
‘History repeats. Until someone definitively cuts it off.’
Back then, he spent his days pondering how to trigger an incident even more outrageous than the previous “Sixth Division Destruction Event”—something to enlighten them all.
‘Today? That day?’
An ordinary weekday like any other. But suddenly, the officers sprang into motion, and the soldiers trembled in anxious confusion.
“Hey, what’s with the officers?”
“Dunno? Someone go AWOL?”
“Another North defector sneaking in?”
Soon, the admin officer assembled every soldier on base.
『Listen up! The Minister of National Defense is here inspecting our unit!』
Everyone except him and his watchdog.
His sharp hearing caught every bit of the commotion outside without missing a beat.
『Do it right! Anyone who slips up even a little, I’ll make sure you don’t see leave till your discharge day—no matter what it takes! Think I’m kidding? Try me!』
The company commander’s speech followed, and the soldiers—now ramrod straight—dispersed to their duties.
『Ah, fuck, why’s the defense minister coming here.』
『Because of that, probably. The defector.』
『What’s that got to do with anything.』
『You not watch news? Defectors blabbing on TV. One said waited forever for contact, none came so hopped the fence into base. Another said the sentry was asleep, almost went back to the North.』
『For real?』
『Dunno? No proof, so it blew over. But conspiracy theories keep popping up, so this is probably for show. Tighten discipline too.』
『All show. Yeah, defense minister’s more politician than soldier anyway.』
The news he’d seen in the admin office on his first day.
Now tied to the defense minister’s surprise inspection.
‘Finally, the day’s here.’
He tuned his ears to the outside din and bided his time.
“Chuuuuwuuuungseeeoooeoeoeong!!!”
“Chuuuuwuuungseeeoooeoeong!!!”
Amid the thunderous salutes, the awaited figure arrived. Sounds of bustling hither and yon went on for a while, followed by the voice he presumed was the Minister of National Defense.
『Everyone, thank you for your hard work. With defections on the rise alongside continued North Korean provocations against the South, it puts my mind greatly at ease knowing you all toil tirelessly for our nation’s defense.』
『Thank you, sir!』
『Division Commander, how’s the recent GOP alert posture?』
『Yes, sir. Taking soldiers’ morale and stamina into account, we divide duties among three shifts while......』
Voices upon voices. Mentions of “Sixth Division” and various regimental commanders piled up in sequence.
『Hm. I’d like to see the soldiers’ conditions myself.』
『Yes, sir! This way to the barracks!』
Noises from the corridor filtered into his ears.
『Surprise visit, right? How’d the division and regimental commanders get here?』
『Light stop at theirs on the way. We’re the last.』
『Phew, thank goodness. If we’d been first......』
Roaring soldier salutes and the defense minister’s kindly praising tones.
And just as they were about to leave, the minister asked:
『Saw it in the regimental admin office earlier—didn’t a new recruit arrive here two weeks ago? Stuck in my mind as the last one. Where is he now?』
『......』
『Company Commander?』
『Ah, yes! In that barracks over there. Still in rookie holdover, acclimating with vets from other barracks.』
The footsteps of a massive crowd drew near his barracks. Moments later, the door opened.
“Chuuuuwungseeeoooeong!”
“Hm. At ease.”
“At ease!”
The defense minister—having received salutes from the most senior soldier watching him—patted his shoulder and asked:
“You’re the new recruit?”
“Private Lee Seung-hoon.”
His reply came in the usual flat tone, and the faces of the horde of star-studded officers and brass behind paled.
‘Please, I beg you, Seung-hoon!’
‘Please, just let it slide!’
The company commander and admin officer’s expressions screamed it especially.
“Any hardships adjusting to unit life?”
He fell silent. Back then, this is what he’d been thinking.
‘Even the intelligence colonel and division commander can’t block this man. Can’t miss this chance.’
For the sake of everyone in the unit.
To etch this incident into history forever, enlightening all so no more injustices occurred.
“Minister of National Defense.”
“Yes, speak up. If it’s something I can fix, I’ll......”
“I accuse you.”
He declared it boldly.
“The charges: neglect of unit management and incompetence.”