They were truly in a state where words wouldn’t get through.
Was he blinded by results?
Or was he really that single-minded?
He was pushing ahead, insisting his way was right.
In Taesu’s eyes, the backs of the captain and co-pilot came into view.
Flash.
Taesu’s gaze gleamed coldly.
He immediately approached behind the captain and co-pilot.
Step.
Positioning himself between them, Taesu placed a hand on the captain’s shoulder and said in a low voice,
“Up.”
“Dr. Choi, ngh. Again……”
Frrrddddd.
The vibration of the fuselage grew stronger and stronger.
The captain’s displeased words could not continue.
Grip.
He was holding the control stick with both hands, locked in a push-and-pull with the air currents.
But Taesu was not.
“Up.”
“Huuup, huff.”
“Why the hell are you doing something this hard? Raise the nose already.”
Taesu shouted.
But the captain’s stubbornness was no joke either.
“Hrrrgh.”
Even with his teeth clenched and his face flushed red, he kept piloting the helicopter.
In the end, Taesu had no choice but to use his last resort.
Persuasion, urging, irritation.
The last resort?
Action.
Abruptly.
Taesu suddenly pushed himself between the captain and co-pilot.
It was an extremely dangerous act.
But he had something to trust in.
The fact that not only the captain, but the co-pilot could fly the helicopter as well.
He pushed forward on that one point alone.
And that action was?
Taesu slammed his own helmet into the captain’s helmet.
Bang.
He simply rammed it with all his strength.
“Ghk.”
The captain’s groan of pain rang out.
Taesu paid it no mind and kept his helmet pressed against his.
“Up.”
“……”
The captain gave no answer.
Control of the helicopter had already been handed over to the co-pilot.
Right now, the captain’s eyes were filled only with Taesu, who was glaring at him coldly.
Even so, the captain did not rescind his order.
Seeing him endure Taesu’s devouring gaze, he was not a soldier for nothing.
Right now, Taesu and he carried different weights on their shoulders.
With that alone, Taesu spoke boldly.
“If we flip this helicopter like this, maybe there won’t be an avalanche at all.”
“You, what you just said……”
“There are a hundred people below the mountain. There are ten here. Then who should we choose?”
Flash.
Taesu’s eyes flashed coldly.
It was not merely a warning.
It was a threat that he would put it into action.
And Taesu’s hand was ready to move at any moment.
That was when it happened.
The captain, who had been facing him with icy composure, finally changed the order.
“……Raise the nose.”
At the same moment,
the co-pilot immediately pulled back on the control stick.
The descending helicopter changed direction and began rising again.
Thududududu.
Because its direction had changed, the rotor noise changed as well.
At that sensation, Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon let out long sighs.
“Phew. Looks like we avoided the avalanche.”
“Haa. There’s a stubborn bastard like someone else over there too.”
That relief lasted only a moment.
Sparks crackled again in their eyes.
They felt like openly tearing the captain to pieces with their words.
At times like this, speaking in Korean was best.
“Is that stubbornness, or just obstinacy?”
“Is he saying he only has to do his job, no matter if everyone else ends up in danger or not?”
“Could it be because of the injured?”
“You’re saying someone that important came to a country at war to go mountain climbing? That’s nonsense.”
Kim Hyeokgwon grumbled with a bitter expression.
No matter how they thought about it, Kim Hyeokgwon’s words had more credibility than Jeong Minsu’s.
Squad Leader Sam, Sergeant Ryan, and Private Anthony only then relaxed the tension they had been holding taut.
But there was still one place where the tension continued.
Between Taesu and the captain.
A chill hung in the air, cold enough to freeze it over.
Taesu was impressive, but the captain who faced him was no pushover either.
That was how directly the captain was staring into Taesu’s beast-like eyes.
Still looking Taesu straight in the eye, the captain said in a low voice,
“If it hadn’t been an order from the Director of External Cooperation, and if you weren’t the hero of Ijambak…… I would not have backed down like this.”
“No matter who you were, I would have made you change course.”
“The control stick is still under my command even now.”
“I trust you won’t make the same mistake twice.”
Taesu warned him heavily.
At that, a chilling thought flashed through the captain’s mind.
What if Taesu made up his mind and acted with malice?
The captain had no way to respond.
On top of that, Taesu was not even a soldier.
Squad Leader Sam was not on the captain’s side either.
Right now, inside this helicopter, the captain’s back was completely defenseless.
Drip.
Cold sweat ran down his back.
Even so, the captain did not blink once as he said,
“I hope today’s meeting is both our first and last.”
“Thank you sincerely for raising the nose.”
Rustle.
Only after offering a bow that was not quite a bow did Taesu pull his helmet away.
Then the captain’s question reached him.
“Then how are you going to save the injured now?”
“Mm.”
“I hope you make a wise judgment.”
The captain’s voice was heard no more.
But it was clear that his words were an attack aimed at Taesu.
Taesu did not refute him.
Why?
Because, to be honest, it was true that he had no alternative.
They had raised the helicopter’s altitude and prevented an avalanche, but they urgently needed a plan to rescue the injured.
Taesu quickly made a decision.
Now was not the time to think alone.
They had to put their heads together.
Taesu immediately asked for help through the helmet radio.
“Let’s find a way.”
“……”
No one could answer.
They had heard the request to find a way, but their bodies did not know how to react.
That was how sudden it was.
In truth, Taesu was the same.
This was Taesu’s first time responding to an emergency by helicopter too.
He did not know what was inside the helicopter.
Whip, whip.
He was looking around the interior, but that was all.
It was hopeless.
‘Damn it.’
Taesu’s face twisted.
He had raised the helicopter’s nose to prevent an avalanche.
Other than that, every other situation had gone in a bad direction.
Soon, Jeong Minsu’s dark voice came through the helmet.
“It’s been about three minutes since we arrived here.”
“After all that chaos, only three minutes?”
“I think we should call that a good thing.”
Kim Hyeokgwon picked up Jeong Minsu’s bitter remark.
“It is a good thing. It hasn’t even been ten minutes since we took off.”
“I’m worried about the injured.”
“A place to set down again…… Hey, Cap. You’re listening, aren’t you?”
Kim Hyeokgwon suddenly called out to the captain.
They had been conversing in English for communication, so everyone should have understood.
And since Kim Hyeokgwon had called him out directly, the captain’s displeased reply came back.
“Are you telling me to look for a place to land again now?”
“That’s your job, isn’t it?”
“After being threatened like that……”
The captain’s voice cut off in an instant.
Meanwhile, the captain was looking at the co-pilot with a puzzled gaze.
It was because the co-pilot had lightly touched him with his hand.
“……”
As he stared silently, the co-pilot pointed to one side.
Slide.
The captain’s gaze followed the tip of his finger and then stopped short.
The snow piled on the opposite mountainside had split apart like parched earth.
“Hmm.”
The moment he saw it, agitation stirred across the captain’s cold expression.
When he had looked around just before descending, it definitely had not been there.
That meant it had formed while they were descending.
The captain had no memory of it.
When they descended just now, he had detected an abnormality in the air currents and been on high alert, so he had not had the leeway to look around.
Only now did he realize.
Everyone’s concerns had been right.
He had no choice but to admit that his field of vision had been narrow then.
“……”
His mouth clamped shut.
His expression made it impossible to tell whether he could not accept it, or whether he had many thoughts running through his mind.
What was clear was that his eyes were trembling faintly.
At the same time,
as the captain’s silence dragged on, Jeong Minsu’s expression twisted fiercely.
“That bastard is really putting on a show.”
“Isn’t this what they call a bumper crop of bullshit?”
“A bumper year.”
“Either way, he’s definitely got a full-blown case of bullshit disease.”
Kim Hyeokgwon criticized him bluntly.
Backbiting was always done in Korean.
Then Taesu spoke in English, cutting through the voices of the two.
“Let’s look for something like a long rope.”
“A rope?”
“We have to go down, don’t we?”
“You want to go down?”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s expression stiffened as he asked again.
Taesu paid no mind and answered while looking around.
“Then are you going to tell the patients to crawl up here?”
“If that were possible, I don’t think they would have asked us to save them.”
“That’s why we have to go.”
Taesu answered curtly, pressed for time.
Kim Hyeokgwon was not hurt by that tone. However, seeing Taesu’s serious expression, he muttered quietly,
“He really means to go down.”
He seemed a little dumbfounded.
Despite that, he did not voice any complaints or dissatisfaction.
If it was Taesu, he was more than capable of doing that.
It was not only Kim Hyeokgwon’s thought.
Jeong Minsu, Squad Leader Sam, and the other soldiers all considered that reaction natural.
Soon, following Taesu’s request, everyone began searching the interior of the helicopter.
Rustle, rustle-rustle.
They were scouring it thoroughly with many eyes and hands. However, nothing satisfactory was coming into their grasp.
From impatience, Taesu’s face was already crumpled.
‘Damn it.’
His head felt so stifled that he wanted to tear off the helmet and throw it away.
But then it happened.
The captain’s blocked-up voice came through the helmet.
“Dr. Choi. Are you truly saying you’ll go down?”
At that, Taesu was so dumbfounded that he deliberately grumbled in Korean.
“Is that bastard joking right now?”
“I think he’s a little strange.”
“Don’t mind him. Just tell him to fly the damn thing.”
“Yeah, at least he’s flying it.”
Jeong Minsu also spoke in Korean and openly tore into him.
Of course, since the other party could not understand, he would not even know they were cursing him.
Even as they spoke, their hands continued moving.
Just as the captain’s question was about to scatter into empty air,
Squad Leader Sam glanced around and opened his mouth in Taesu’s stead.
“Captain, Dr. Choi is……”
Before a proper answer could follow,
the captain immediately cut him off.
“Squad Leader Sam. Did I ask you?”
“No, sir.”
“I’ve heard about the relationship between your squad and Dr. Choi.”
“Sir.”
“Even so, do you think it’s right to forget even your own position?”
“I’ll stay quiet.”
“Maintain that same stance in all conversations from now on.”
“Understood.”
Squad Leader Sam answered and clamped his mouth shut.
That exchange, too, had been heard vividly by everyone over the radio.
Taesu already disliked the captain, and now that he had even rebuked Sam, he liked him even less.
‘Rude bastard.’
Irritation piled on top of irritation.