As if he had read Taesu’s thoughts, the pilot’s voice came through once more.
“I have no personal feelings against Squad Leader Sam.”
“…….”
No one responded.
As if it didn’t matter, the pilot called Taesu by name and asked,
“More importantly, Dr. Choi, I’ll ask again. Did you say you were going down yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Are you serious?”
When the pilot asked again, Taesu’s eyebrows shot up.
‘Oh, come on.’
Was he asking for it?
Taesu’s expression hardened at once.
There was no reason to hold back, so he didn’t.
“Do you think I’m sightseeing inside the helicopter because I’ve got time to spare?”
“You just blocked the first stage of the operation—”
The pilot tried to say something.
But one word grated sharply on Taesu’s ears.
Taesu cut him off and snapped,
“Operation? What operation?”
“We’re in the middle of a patient evacuation operation.”
“You mean some classified operation where, even if it fails, you get a few words of reprimand and a light disciplinary action?”
“PKO does not take any life lightly.”
The pilot’s voice was filled with force.
At that moment, anger surged all the way to the top of Taesu’s head.
“Was that forced descent just now unrelated to the village below?”
“I apologize for that.”
“So what I’m saying is… what?”
Taesu, who had been about to lash out, doubted his ears for a moment.
Everyone wore the same expression.
“…….”
The helmet radios fell silent on their own.
As if he knew it was time for him to step forward, the pilot added briefly,
“I confirmed the problem area just now.”
“I’m sure you did.”
“Dr. Choi’s actions were not wrong. It was my negligence for failing to notice it.”
“R-right.”
Taesu answered with a bewildered expression.
If the other party admitted his mistake, there was nothing more he could say to that.
More than that, everyone was taken aback by the sudden shift in mood.
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, the pilot read the atmosphere precisely and continued.
“It’s been a long time since I was on a civilian rescue operation, so I was impatient.”
“Well, we both know the circumstances, so…”
“I looked for a place to descend again, but it isn’t feasible. That’s why I asked.”
The pilot wrapped up the explanation cleanly.
At this point, it became inappropriate for Taesu to raise his voice.
He couldn’t know exactly how sincere the pilot was.
But at the very least, he recognized that they had to cooperate with each other right now.
As long as that one thing was clear, the rest didn’t matter.
Taesu recalled the question the pilot had asked earlier.
It was out of the blue, but he answered now.
“I’m going down. I mean it.”
It was right after Taesu answered.
Swoosh.
The pilot turned around.
It seemed he had handed the controls over to the copilot for a moment.
He quickly looked for Squad Leader Sam.
“Squad Leader, you’ll see a groove in the ceiling there.”
“I found it.”
“Pull it.”
“Sir.”
Following the pilot’s words, Squad Leader Sam put his hand into the groove and pulled downward.
A metal panel opened, and something came crashing down.
Thud-thud-thud.
Corporal Ryan, who picked up what had spilled onto the floor, was startled.
“Carabiners, descenders?”
“Rope fell too.”
Private Anthony answered, lifting a long line.
Lastly, Squad Leader Sam, who was staring at the ceiling, spoke.
“There’s a motorized winch cable too.”
At their surprised reactions, the pilot said in a low voice,
“Did you think an emergency transport helicopter wouldn’t have at least that much?”
“Captain.”
“Don’t talk to me. The air currents are looking bad.”
Swoosh.
The pilot responded indifferently and turned his gaze forward.
Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Kim Hyeokgwon were dumbfounded by what had just happened right in front of them.
“What the hell is with that pilot?”
“He could’ve told us sooner.”
“He might even think he looks all cool and aloof after pulling that.”
The backbiting was, without exception, in Korean.
But it was true that he had provided exactly what they needed right now.
Then Squad Leader Sam pointed to the motorized winch cable hidden in the ceiling and said,
“We can use this to pull the stretcher up.”
“It’s thick and looks solid.”
“And if we use that rope, we can go down.”
“Will it be long enough?”
The moment Taesu asked,
Thud-thud-thud.
The helicopter began descending again.
Taesu’s gaze turned toward the pilot.
It was strange that he would apologize just now and then descend again.
At that moment, the pilot’s sudden voice came through.
“The rope is roughly 350 feet. The helicopter will descend to 300 feet and then hover.”
“…….”
“Squad Leader Sam, have you forgotten Operation D in the Balkans?”
The pilot immediately followed up with a question.
Whip.
Taesu and everyone else’s eyes turned toward Squad Leader Sam.
It was because the question carried a nuance suggesting they had known each other for some time.
The eyes of Squad Leader Sam, who was holding the rope, shone with determination.
“No, sir. I remember it clearly.”
“We’ll be arriving over the point soon. You’ll have to hurry.”
“Sir.”
Squad Leader Sam answered heavily.
Then he gestured to Corporal Ryan and Private Anthony.
Whip, whip.
It seemed to be hand signals understood among soldiers.
In accordance with those signals, Corporal Ryan and Private Anthony moved quickly.
The medical team could only look at them in confusion.
“What’s Operation D?”
“Why do they call everything a point whenever they open their mouths?”
“So what are we supposed to do?”
Not knowing anything only made them more frustrated.
They felt even more awkward, like sacks of barley set off to the side.
Soon, Squad Leader Sam approached the three of them.
“Please pay attention for a moment.”
“Go ahead.”
“When the helicopter hovers, I’ll go down first with the stretcher.”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll tie the rope to a nearby tree as diagonally as possible, so you can come down along it.”
Clack.
Squad Leader Sam handed Taesu three carabiners.
Taesu took them, not knowing exactly what they were for, and blinked.
“What are these?”
“They’re called carabiners. They’re used when rappelling.”
“Ah, rappel… what? Are you telling us to rappel right now?”
Taesu asked, his eyes wide.
Squad Leader Sam answered in a short, clear voice.
“That is correct.”
“You mean descend from the helicopter to the ground relying on that rope?”
“Exactly. Then we’ll proceed as soon as preparations are complete.”
Whip.
As soon as Squad Leader Sam finished explaining, he turned away.
It seemed he had a lot to do.
Then the pilot’s voice came through the helmet radio.
“That’s the only way to get down immediately.”
“Ha, haha.”
“I wish you luck… ten seconds to point.”
As soon as the words of encouragement ended, he put force into his voice and announced the situation.
Taesu was already glaring at the back of the pilot’s head.
‘Thanks a damn lot, you bastard.’
Irritation surged, but he couldn’t express it outwardly.
Because of what he had said earlier, he couldn’t show complaints now.
Taesu’s pride would not allow him to take it back.
Now it was a matter of stubbornness.
Rappelling?
Fine, whatever.
Squeeze.
Taesu gripped the carabiners firmly.
But Jeong Minsu’s eyes were trembling.
“You’re telling me to entrust this massive body to one thin little biner? Isn’t that unreasonable?”
“I said I’d follow you around in this world, not all the way to the next.”
Even Kim Hyeokgwon, a man with nerves of steel, showed firm refusal.
Taesu had no intention of saying anything.
Rather, he fully understood how the two of them felt.
He had to say something.
But there wasn’t even time for that.
The sensation of the helicopter stopping in midair hit them strongly.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
“Hovering point reached. Opening rear door.”
At the pilot’s shout, the rear door opened.
Whooosh.
“Ugh.”
The sudden blast of wind made it hard even to open their eyes.
Taesu roughly blocked the wind with one hand and opened his eyes to slits.
The moment he saw the outside world, his mouth fell open on its own.
“Hah.”
Everything on the ground below looked smaller than dots.
On top of that, there was nothing between them and the ground.
No matter how he searched, he couldn’t find anything that resembled a safety device.
If he fell from here, he would be saying goodbye to this world, no question about it.
It was a height where he would die without even getting a squeak out.
‘Wow, shit.’
A curse almost burst out of him on its own.
Even Taesu, who had been acting out of sheer stubbornness, honestly felt his legs tremble.
They were going down there hanging from a single rope?
No matter how he thought about it, this was wrong.
“Sam, can’t we find another—”
Taesu called out to Squad Leader Sam in a low voice.
Squad Leader Sam was already at the edge of the rear door.
The moment his eyes met Taesu’s,
“Squad Leader Sam, descending.”
Whip.
Relying on the rope, he leapt backward and vanished.
Seeing that, Taesu felt more indignant than dizzy.
“I was talking, and you just go?”
Even though he shouted, it was already too late.
Now things were truly flowing in a direction that could not be turned back.
Taesu’s heart also began to sink into despair.
Poke.
Someone jabbed him in the side.
Taesu flinched and looked that way, then quickly turned his gaze in the opposite direction.
“…….”
It was because Kim Hyeokgwon was glaring at him with a fierce look.
Right now, the best thing Taesu could do was avoid his gaze and pretend not to notice.
But there was no way Kim Hyeokgwon would let it slide.
At that moment, Kim Hyeokgwon’s helmet struck Taesu’s helmet.
Thock.
“Urk.”
Just as Taesu flinched, Kim Hyeokgwon’s chilling Korean came through the helmet radio.
“If this is only going to end after someone dies, then let’s have you take the initiative.”
“Please… spare me.”
“Don’t resist. Move quietly. At least if there’s a rope, it won’t be a free fall.”
Grrr.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s face, shoved right under his chin, was filled with nothing but sincerity.
The problem was that he was too sincere.
Taesu chose rappelling instead.
It was definitely a far better choice than resisting and ending up in free fall.
Still, he said one thing.
“Please don’t think I’m enjoying this situation right now.”
Taesu was also sincere.
Then Jeong Minsu approached the two of them.
After thinking deeply about something, he asked seriously,
“This is definitely an unfamiliar situation, so why does it feel not unfamiliar?”
“What nonsense is that now, Dr. Jeong?”
“Rappelling from a helicopter… Ah, right. The dream.”
When Jeong Minsu reminded him, Taesu flinched hard.
“The dream I said I had in Sahad?”
“Yeah. That damn dream.”
“Back then, everyone clearly landed like they were used to it, and very precisely… I’ll shut up.”
“Good thinking.”
Even Jeong Minsu was showing strong hostility toward Taesu.
But Taesu himself found it a little absurd too.
He had thought it was just a dream.
Naturally, he had assumed it would never come true.
What deranged doctor would rappel out of a helicopter?
And yet that doctor was himself.
The situation was clearly different from the dream, but there was no question that he had to do the same thing.