“You must be stationed here. That must be why you arrived so quickly.”
“After receiving the intelligence, we were monitoring the area nearby.”
“I see.”
“We sent scouts in under cover of night, with orders to quietly confirm the location of the hideout, but things turned out like this.”
Battalion Commander Valentino narrowed his brow, showing both regret and anger at once.
But when he spoke of responsibility for it, he put himself forward first.
That part certainly left a good impression.
“They’ll all be all right.”
“They will. And with veterans like you participating in the rescue, what could go wrong?”
“We’re veterans?”
“I can tell just by how calm you all look.”
When the battalion commander misunderstood, Taesu corrected him at once.
“We’re extremely tense right now.”
“You’re speaking very well for that.”
“I do often hear that even if I fell into water, I wouldn’t have to worry about running out of breath.”
Perhaps because of his nerves, Taesu needlessly joked.
Battalion Commander Valentino smiled for the first time.
“You seem to have quite the wit.”
“Shouldn’t we stop talking now and find out the current situation and where the wounded are?”
“I’ll explain while we look at the operations board.”
Battalion Commander Valentino led them to one side of the situation room.
There was only a large table there.
On top of it lay a hastily prepared operational map.
Taesu wasn’t surprised that they had obtained a map of the area. With PKO intelligence satellites, it was entirely possible.
Several markings had already been made on the operational map.
At a glance, they seemed to indicate the current positions of the scattered troops, the combat zones, and the locations of the wounded.
Just then, someone approached.
Tap.
At the light sound of a pointer striking the table, everyone looked over.
It was a major with the air of a scholar.
Battalion Commander Valentino introduced the major in his stead.
“This is our operations officer.”
“Good to meet you. I’m the operations officer.”
“Let’s begin.”
“Sir. Then I’ll begin the operational briefing. Operation ‘Wolf Escape’ is…”
The operations officer explained the plan he had drawn up with a solemn look in his eyes.
As he spoke, he pointed with the command baton.
Tap, tap.
On top of that, he even used chess pieces to explain it in three dimensions.
The core of the briefing was simple.
Secure the wounded, administer emergency treatment, then evacuate to a safe location.
He was laying out the entire process of reaching that point, so the explanation grew long.
For anyone who wasn’t a soldier, it would have been fairly tedious.
But Taesu and the other two had no time to be bored.
They themselves were the key figures in this operation.
They pricked up their ears and listened closely to the operations officer’s plan.
After the basic operational explanation ended,
news that made the medical team’s minds flash awake came.
“There are two wounded in total.”
“I heard three men failed to return.”
“One of them is alone, tending to the wounded and keeping watch over the surroundings.”
“Oh, no. So what are the conditions of the wounded?”
Slip.
As Taesu asked, he naturally took out a notebook and pen.
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon did the same.
The operations officer opened up and shared all the information they had secured.
“First is Corporal Aiden.”
“Aiden, yes. Symptoms?”
“He’s reportedly suffered a gunshot wound that penetrated his calf.”
Scratch, scratch.
As Taesu wrote it down, he repeated it once more.
“Peroneal penetrating injury. How much bleeding is there?”
“The volume of blood loss is roughly…”
After hearing the amount of bleeding and the time elapsed, the expressions of the medical team stiffened slightly.
“Then we need to hurry.”
“If this goes wrong, it might even lead to amputation.”
“We may have to pump him full of morphine and carry him out while running.”
The situation was bad enough that words of concern came first.
Taesu directed his next question to the operations officer.
“What about the other wounded man?”
“Private Black was protecting Corporal Aiden when a building collapsed, and his abdomen struck the debris hard.”
“Is there heavy bleeding?”
“We were told there wasn’t any particularly visible bleeding.”
Each of them pictured the affected area in their heads and narrowed their brows.
“There’s a risk of internal bleeding and necrosis.”
“Organ necrosis would be a bigger problem than skin necrosis.”
“Both are injuries that need considerable attention.”
While they were exchanging brief opinions,
Taesu noticed something slightly strange and asked the operations officer.
“By the way, did you say a building collapsed?”
“They say an RPG-7 was fired. They’re still being seen sporadically even now.”
At that, Taesu tilted his head.
“Isn’t that an anti-tank weapon?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“There are really lunatics who fire that into buildings?”
“There are several destroyed buildings.”
Even the operations officer looked visibly dumbfounded as he answered.
Taesu did not want to understand it.
“There really are all kinds of people in the world.”
“If it’s a hideout equipped with that level of weaponry, they may still have considerable firepower remaining.”
“Let’s not sit here racking our brains over it among ourselves.”
For the first time in a while, Jeong Minsu stepped in to mediate.
It was because Taesu and Kim Hyeokgwon were digging too deeply into it.
Taesu, realizing it as well, subtly shifted the atmosphere and asked,
“The wounded soldiers are hidden safely somewhere, correct?”
“Until the last radio transmission, that was certain, but we can’t be sure now.”
“Forgive me for asking, but with battalion strength, couldn’t you simply push in?”
When Taesu asked, Battalion Commander Valentino stepped forward to answer that part.
“I’ll answer that. First of all, it’s difficult to distinguish the villagers from the terrorists.”
“That’s a serious problem.”
“On top of that, even if the terrorists spot residents during a firefight, they don’t stop.”
At those words, Taesu’s expression hardened completely.
“You mean they shoot the residents? People who were their neighbors until yesterday?”
“There have already been civilian casualties.”
“Those rotten bastards.”
Just as Taesu’s anger began to boil over,
Kim Hyeokgwon continued the questioning from beside him.
“Since the PKO’s position is to protect the residents, you can’t fire recklessly unless you’re certain.”
“That’s right. There have been cases where they approached disguised as residents.”
“Now that I hear it, they really are pieces of trash.”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s expression also turned bitter.
Jeong Minsu, who was still maintaining his composure, asked the final question.
“Then how do you distinguish them from the terrorists?”
“If they raise a gun at a soldier, they’re terrorists, no exceptions.”
“That’s true. Aside from that?”
“It’s difficult to distinguish them from the residents.”
“Hmm.”
Jeong Minsu lightly stroked his chin, deep in thought.
Meanwhile, Taesu, having regained his reason, brought the question back to its original point.
“The terrorists can wait. The rescue of the wounded comes first, doesn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
“After we safely secure the wounded soldiers, what happens next?”
It was a question about the escape.
The operations officer stepped forward again for that.
“After securing the wounded soldiers…”
Another long explanation followed, from the preplanned escape route to the points they would move to in an emergency.
Getting into the village, getting out of it—none of it would be easy.
Another ten minutes passed like that.
The operations officer finished explaining the entire plan.
“…That is all.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“We’ll be counting on you.”
The operations officer made the request with disciplined formality and stepped aside.
Battalion Commander Valentino stood in his place again.
He looked over the medical team and suggested in a calm voice,
“Please tell us whenever you’re ready.”
His words were full of consideration.
Because it was such a dangerous operation, involving civilians and doctors was a burden for him as well.
At that moment, Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Kim Hyeokgwon immediately exchanged glances.
Whoosh.
A short, weighty meaning flashed between them like lightning.
And the conclusion?
Nod.
With the same nod, their opinions matched perfectly.
Taesu immediately conveyed their combined decision to Battalion Commander Valentino.
“We’ll depart now.”
“Once you set out, we won’t be able to turn back. You really should consider this carefully.”
“If we start weighing and measuring, we’ll only lose time.”
“You’re right, but are you truly all right with this?”
Battalion Commander Valentino’s concerned gaze seemed to hope for a rational judgment.
But all of them were being perfectly rational.
Above all, the patients’ conditions were not good.
The soldiers had described things somewhat vaguely, but the medical team understood them perfectly.
Since distance and time were required for movement, the sooner they departed, the better.
Otherwise?
The patients would be in danger.
That ran contrary to Taesu’s values.
Having made his decision, Taesu spoke in an even calmer, firmer voice.
“Commander, if we’re going to depart, now is the right time.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Time is now.”
Taesu emphasized it in a concise tone.
At that moment, Battalion Commander Valentino stomped his foot fiercely.
Boom!
Then he shouted to everyone in a powerful voice.
“Operation Wolf Escape, commence!”
“Yes, sir!”
Everyone in the situation room shouted in one voice.
Then they bustled about, quickly carrying out their respective tasks.
Their eyes were resolute.
Along with the solemn determination of going to rescue comrades exposed to danger, they exuded pride.
Taesu nodded at the sight as well.
“Yeah. If it were me, my endorphins would be surging too.”
“Please don’t stand here watching and enjoying some strange kind of happiness.”
“Forget it. Let’s wait outside. Mr. Hyeokgwon, let’s go.”
Taesu immediately led the two of them outside.
Squad Leader Sam seemed to have more to discuss.
The moment they stepped out of the situation room,
Boom, boom, boom!
With the deafening sound of grenades exploding in succession, dust rose into the air.
Rat-tat-tat.
The sound of machine guns and rifles mingled together.
It wasn’t coming from just one direction.
The soldiers who had been engaged first were also firing back.
But they could only hear the sounds.
They couldn’t see who was shooting from where.
It seemed they were hiding between buildings tall and short, engaging one another from cover.
Taesu spoke first as he looked at the battlefield.
“I get the feeling this won’t be easy.”
“If they can’t even properly identify friend from foe, even an easy path will become difficult.”
“They said this is the terrorists’ hideout. They’ll be dug in and know the terrain inside out.”
Kim Hyeokgwon and Jeong Minsu added their negative assessments.
In truth, Taesu’s view had already turned crooked.
His impression of the terrorists, in particular, had fallen to the absolute worst.
They were said to be using innocent villagers as sacrifices.
Those villagers had been neighbors they’d laughed with until yesterday.
‘Bastards who should be tied up with nuclear waste and locked underground for a thousand years.’
Taesu’s curses had evolved all on their own.
Even uglier imaginings surfaced in his mind, but he did not mutter them even inwardly.
He did not want to dirty his thoughts.
It was more comfortable to think of them as something other than human.
As they waited for a short while,
Rustle.
The screen was pulled aside, and the battalion commander came out first.
Taesu was startled as he looked at Battalion Commander Valentino.
“Huh?”
The battalion commander was wearing full combat gear, holding a rifle, and even had grenades hanging from him.
Normally, a commander would carry only a sidearm.
But to Battalion Commander Valentino, such an appearance looked utterly natural.
As he passed in front of the medical team, he said,
“Then we’ll draw their attention and scatter their focus.”
“You’re going personally?”
“Of course. Boys, let’s go!”
After answering in a firm tone, Battalion Commander Valentino shouted loudly and led them forward.