Transfer Orders Received!
I had spent two years learning the Moyong Clan's martial arts, and now here I was, trembling from head to toe.
"Don't be so scared, Sogaju-nim. Everyone else has to go too, you know."
"You don't understand the military, Nari. That's the problem."
It's a place where common sense doesn't apply.
Nari's words bounced right off me, and I kept right on shaking. She gave me a look that said she found me more than a little pathetic, but what could I do? I had to report to the Cadet Corps for induction next week, and I was nowhere near mentally prepared.
No — it wasn't that I hadn't prepared myself. It was that I *couldn't*. When you'd lived through the kind of freak-show army I had in my past life, how was anyone supposed to steady their heart?
The mere word 'military' dredged up the memories before I could stop them.
'Ah.'
It was summer. I was approaching my mid-twenties, and all I wanted was a stable home.
Everyone around me was pumping out three, four kids and raising them fine, while the only thing under my care was the patch of weeds in the front yard. So I enlisted to secure a steady job and a family of my own. And it turned out to be the single greatest mistake of my life.
If there was no battle, it was labor. If there was a battle, it was *also* labor.
The days were so brutal I honestly couldn't tell whether I was a soldier or a slave. I regretted it every single morning I woke up, cursing myself for not just living the idle life of a layabout instead.
Recalling my past life, I shed yet another round of hot tears. I'd honestly lost count by now.
'This time, I swore I'd never get tangled up with the military again.'
But in this insane family, every member of the royal bloodline was required to enter the Cadet Corps.
How does anyone justify sending in a kid who isn't even of age yet?
As I shuddered this time with hatred and loathing for my own clan, Nari let out a long sigh and spoke up.
"What on earth are you comparing the Cadet Corps to? It's basically just a school."
"Huh?"
What was this now. The military wasn't... wait, what?
"It's called a 'corps,' but it's really no different from an academy that teaches both scholarship and martial arts. The only remotely dangerous thing they do is the occasional tiger hunt."
She rambled on — about how tiger hunts were always conducted under an instructor's supervision with a full squad of ten cadets attached — but none of it reached my ears.
"Hold on. Then why didn't you *tell* me any of this?"
"Because... you're cute when you're like that."
"I'm sorry, what?"
When I asked her to repeat that nonsense, Nari fixed me with a look that had turned distinctly dangerous.
"Watching the Sogaju hide under his blanket for the past week was just too adorable. And since you never leave your room, I get to stay with you the whole time, and—"
*This is bad.*
Nari had been getting stranger for a while now, but this was a full-blown departure from sanity. I cried out to Ansong, who was standing outside the door. He rushed in immediately.
"What's the matter, Sogaju-nim!"
Ansong swept the room with his eyes and shouted, only to meet Nari's ice-cold stare.
"Uh-oh."
"Please leave."
"But the Sogaju called for—"
"I said leave."
"...Yes, ma'am."
Wait. What? Why are you leaving?
"Ansong! Get me out of here!"
I screamed at the top of my lungs, but Ansong had apparently already been subdued by Nari's aura; he was too busy backing toward the door. Then he muttered something that made no sense at all and bolted.
"Well then, enjoy your time together! I'll go make my patrol rounds."
Ansong, the boy isn't even of age yet. What is wrong with you?
And so, as always, I was forced to give Nari her hug that day too. Ever since I collapsed after taking that Hoyong Divine Pill, the habit had stuck.
One week later.
"Sogaju-nim! You have to come out now! The induction ceremony is about to begin!"
"I know, I know. I'm coming."
I opened the door of the waiting room and stepped outside. The other inductees were already lined up in formation on the grand parade ground; I was the only one left.
Thud. Thud.
When I emerged and walked out at an unhurried stroll — not even bothering to jog — every head turned toward me. Behind me trailed my honor guard, Nari included.
Nari hesitated a moment, then murmured under her breath.
'Even for the Sogaju, dragging your entire guard detail along is a bit much, isn't it?'
I answered quickly, to put her mind at ease.
'No, it isn't.'
'Pardon?'
'Sogaju or first-rank heir, right now I'm no different from any one of those kids over there. Just another inductee, same as the rest.'
'Then why on earth...?'
Nari pressed the question, but I had no answer for her — we had already reached the ground where the inductees stood in formation. I slipped in among them and climbed the steps to the platform.
I could feel sharp, resentful stares burning into my back as I went. The others didn't like that a fellow inductee had shown up late on purpose, and that he'd brought his personal guard along to boot.
'They must think I'm throwing my weight around.'
To state the conclusion plainly: yes, I *was* throwing my weight around. Because of my past conduct, I had precious little recognition within the clan as it was. In that situation, I needed to make it clear who the Sogaju was, and so I acted accordingly.
The proof was that Wang Inho simply sat there in silence no matter what I did. Cheok Hwaryeon, seated beside him, wore an expression that could not have been less pleased.
I climbed the final steps, walked to where Wang Inho and Cheok Hwaryeon sat, and knelt on one knee. Wang Inho gazed at the crown of my head for a moment before speaking.
"You've grown."
"Yes, Father. I turned thirteen this year, after all. I keep getting taller."
That was not what he'd meant by "grown," of course, but I played dumb and gave him a deliberately off-target answer.
"Heh."
Wang Inho apparently hadn't wanted the expected reply anyway; he laughed once and said nothing more. That was when Cheok Hwaryeon cut in.
"Sogaju. Are you doing this on purpose?"
Her expression was as sour as ever. There are times to assert authority and times not to — and this was clearly one of the times not to.
"Yes, Mother. Because I am the Sogaju of this Wang Clan."
Something in those few short words seemed to strike her; Cheok Hwaryeon let out a low hum.
After the induction ceremony ended, the new cadets made their way to the Cadet Corps hall under my direction. The thought that group living at the corps was about to begin made every moment I'd spent with Nari feel all the more precious.
As I walked along with that thought, the senior cadets came into view. The moment they spotted us, they scowled as if to say, *what took you so long?* Then one of them bellowed at me, who was walking at the front of the column.
"Why aren't you running over here?!"
The new cadets behind me immediately elbowed and hissed at me, telling me I ought to hurry up.
And why, exactly, should I?
I kept walking with a perfectly blank expression. The new cadets, who had been trailing at my heels, reluctantly followed along behind me.
The whole time, the senior who'd shouted kept ranting at the top of his lungs.
Where do you get off yelling like that, you little bastard.
Today, tomorrow, or on that scum's dying breath — whenever it came, I swore I'd land at least one solid punch on him. But I was forced to rescind that vow almost immediately.
Because a few of the other seniors recognized my face and started beating the loudmouth senseless. The remaining senior cadets quickly grasped the situation and joined in as one — apparently reasoning that if I graduated from the Cadet Corps someday, they could all suffer for it later. And their reasoning was exactly right.
'A shame, really.'
I'd been looking forward to a fine display of insubordination.
The incident passed in a moment, and we arrived safely at the Cadet Corps training ground. I turned to one of the seniors, who was watching us with nervous eyes, and asked.
"What are we supposed to do now?"
"You just wait until the Corps Commander arrives, sir— I mean, wait until he arrives."
You switched from honorifics to casual speech at the very last second and I *saw* it, you bastard.
Well, no real complaint, I suppose. Now that I'd entered the Cadet Corps, I wasn't the Sogaju — I was just one of the cadets. That said, if anyone tried to rough me up the way that senior had, I fully intended to put him down without mercy.
"Understood. Then we'll stand by here."
I ordered the new cadets to rest, then went looking for Wang Seolha. At fifteen by now, he'd probably be holding a fairly senior position.
I was scattering my qi sense in every direction, the same way I'd done the last time I went looking for him, when I spotted two figures approaching from the distance.
'Who's that?'
As I squinted to make them out, the senior I'd spoken with moments ago barked out in a panic.
"All personnel! Form up!"
"""Forming up!"""
"What? Why, all of a sudden?"
"The Corps Commander and the Vice Commander are here! Form up, now!"
"Ah. Yes."
Feeling more than a little baffled, I took my place in formation. There was genuine fear radiating off the senior cadets.
I mean, even for a Corps Commander — from what Nari had told me, the Cadet Corps was essentially a training institution that prepared the clan's young before they were assigned to the Four Gods Pavilions or the Royal Guard. The drill instructors held far more actual authority than the Commander did. And yet these men were *afraid*.
'Just how formidable is this guy?'
As I was thinking that, the Corps Commander and the Vice Commander came to stand side by side before us. I tried to get a look at their faces, but the seniors standing in front of me blocked my view entirely.
"Is everyone assembled?"
'Hm?'
That voice sounded familiar somehow.
"I believe I was told new cadets would be arriving today. Am I right?"
"""Yes, sir!"""
When all of us cadets answered in one great shout, the Vice Commander beside him spoke up.
"Representative of the inductees, step forward."
I had no idea what was coming, but I stepped out to the front anyway. And then I could finally see the Corps Commander's face.
"Huh? Wang Seolha...?"
"Sogaju?"
Why is *that guy* my commanding officer?