When everyone was bustling about, the squad that included Sinhyeok was different.
They sat very leisurely in front of one of the gates, carefully operating their equipment.
“Ooooh. Hey, this is insane. This drone takes off on its own.”
Baek Arin watched the man beside her marveling at it with a deadpan expression.
“Just how ancient is this guy?”
“You try coming back to the army after eight years. It’s amazing.”
The drone lifted off by itself and slipped right into the mock gate.
“So we just wait like this?”
“Yes. If we wait, the drone comes back out on its own. Then we sync it to that phone and transmit the data, and that’s it.”
Sinhyeok looked at the arbitrary portal called a mock gate and stuck his hand inside.
“Ack! Mister, don’t stick your hand in like that! What if you get penalized!”
“I have to see it with my own eyes anyway. That’s the only way to be accurate.”
At his insistence that he needed to see it, she asked,
“Isn’t the whole point not to go inside?”
“That’s true. But you’ll understand once you’re in the field. You can’t use this equipment on every gate. This stuff breaks down at the drop of a hat. And what if it goes in and doesn’t come back?”
She realized what he meant.
“You’re right. That’s why the instructor called it a good tin can.”
“Exactly. In the end, it’s a job for people. Someone has to die for someone else to live.”
At Sinhyeok’s bone-deep words, Baek Arin and Hong Ichan fell silent for a moment. Sinhyeok looked at them and spoke.
“That’s what this job is. I have to sacrifice myself for the people to live. That’s how it has to be. Giving up everything I have.”
Sinhyeok closed his mouth, a painful past rising hazily within him.
“But when is that thing coming back?”
“They said it takes at least ten minutes for one loop.”
“Ugh, that’s going to take a while. How long is training today?”
Baek Arin sat gently on the ground and waited calmly.
“Until nine tonight.”
“Urk, so we’re eating here?”
“Of course. From today until right before graduation, it’s going to be like this.”
“Aaah, I hate this.”
Sinhyeok leaned against a wooden post and looked up at the bright sky.
“To think I’m getting jerked around in the army on such a nice day.”
Hum.
Just then, the drone that had gone beyond the portal returned automatically.
Immediately, Ichan stepped up, grabbed the drone, and synced it with the terminal.
Beep.
‘Syncing data.’
Ding.
‘The grade of this gate is F.’
“Hyung, I think it’s done?”
Ichan shared the information displayed on the terminal with the two of them.
“Wow, that was easy. So it’s over if we just wait?”
“Right? There’s nothing much to it. Is this the end, then?”
“No, we have to mark the base camp location. The synced data has topographical data, right? It probably scanned the map. Mark that on there too.”
Sinhyeok gave them orders with practiced ease. Ichan and Arin fiddled with the terminal and pulled up the topographical data.
“Hmm. Around here?”
“No, you idiot. You have to find a place with maximum concealment. You want everyone to get wiped out if you set it up out in the open?”
“Hmph! We’ll just camouflage it!”
“You going to sit there camouflaged all day, you moron?!”
Ichan glared at Arin.
“Hey, hey, stop it. Anyway, did you mark it?”
“Yes.”
Sinhyeok stopped the two of them as they tried to get up.
“Why are you getting up already?”
“Huh?”
“We have to do a final check.”
He stuck his hand in and checked the mana he could feel.
‘It seems to be around F grade. But the flow is a bit fierce. Unusually irregular.’
Sinhyeok pulled his hand out, thought for a moment, then stood up and spoke.
“Let’s go in and take a look. There aren’t any real monsters, right?”
“Do we have to go that far?”
“I feel like we need to see it. Let’s just go in for a bit.”
At Sinhyeok’s suggestion, everyone put down their equipment for the moment. They quickly hopped through the portal.
The instructors watching nearby nodded at the sight and exchanged glances.
“Veterans really are different.”
“Right? Look at those kids. Crazed over points, just going beep-beep, mark-mark, and gone, beep-beep, mark-mark, and gone. Sigh, what kind of nonsense is that.”
“We use this method because it’s a mess even when explained properly, but it’ll change again next year, won’t it?”
“Probably. First entry into a gate is an eternal problem.”
* * *
Sinhyeok entered, looked around, and nodded.
“Ichan, report it one grade higher.”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
Ichan and Arin were bewildered by Sinhyeok’s words.
“Why?”
“Look carefully. Do you see any monsters? Anything decorated to look like them?”
Looking closely, they didn’t see any.
No—to be exact, there was one. Just one.
Sinhyeok pointed at something roughly put together like a scarecrow and spoke.
“There’s just one. They matched the mana amount to it, so look at the mana flow in the atmosphere right now. It’s unusually irregular. Like a typhoon.”
“Aah.”
“Ah, you’re right.”
Sinhyeok quickly scanned the area and walked back toward the portal.
“If there’s only one entity in a space this size, it’s a bit strong. So report this as D. I think that’s the right call.”
After coming out, Ichan immediately made the correction.
Beep.
‘Modifying grade.’
“Mister, that’s amazing.”
Coming out last, she was moved by his seasoned experience.
“I guess you do earn your pay.”
“Great! Let’s head to the next one right away!”
With an excited face, she aimed for the next gate. Sinhyeok followed her and asked,
“But what’s so good about getting those merit points?”
She quickly scanned the surrounding gates and spoke.
“The top three in merit points get recommendation letters, and first place can go anywhere.”
“Oh, that’s novel. Then can they pull me out to some cushy rear post?”
Baek Arin spun around at the absurd remark.
“Are you crazy? Why would you go to some backwater place? You should go somewhere like Hongik.”
“Hahaha. Hongik? Hongik? Hahahat! Hongik? Ooooooh!”
Sinhyeok let out a hollow laugh at the sudden mention of Hongik and then poured out jeers.
“What’s with you! Hongik is the Republic of Korea! How amazing would it be to go to Hongik!”
“Ooooooh!”
She was dumbfounded by the baseless jeering.
“Goodness. First time seeing someone who dislikes Hongik.”
“The army is the same everywhere. Equally crappy, equally full of morons.”
“Mister, you still shouldn’t badmouth Hongik.”
Sinhyeok took issue with that.
“I can. It’s legal. And I got permission.”
“Huh?”
At the mention of permission, she stared at him dumbfounded.
“Hey, look over there. That spot’s empty.”
“Yayaya! That’s my spot! Move!”
At Sinhyeok’s words, she ran.
Having claimed the spot, she hurriedly started operating the equipment first.
Hum.
Watching the drone go right in, she broke into a wide smile.
“Great. Let’s keep this up!”
Two hours passed.
She was glaring around with an annoyed expression.
“No, does this even make sense! There are no gates left for us! Why is everyone like this!”
The surroundings were unusually blatant.
Every trainee was vigilantly blocking and interfering with Baek Arin’s squad, as if they had conspired together.
“Does this mean we’re in last place?”
At Sinhyeok’s remark from behind, she exploded.
“Words have a way of coming true, you know!”
“Calm down, kiddo. The gates aren’t going anywhere.”
“But if others already measured a spot, we have to go somewhere else! No matter how accurate we are, if we only finish a few, first place is out of reach!”
She had a point. Sinhyeok scanned around and pondered.
“To get the highest score, we have to do a lot of them, or solve the hardest problem, right?”
She nodded.
“What, do you have a way? The others have taken all the high ground by now.”
“The hidden gates. Let’s find those. Doesn’t look like anyone’s discovered them yet.”
She looked at him doubtfully at Sinhyeok’s words.
“Can we do it?”
“Hey, do you know how much experience I’ve got?”
“Less than two years.”
“……”
She was right about that too. Sinhyeok quietly pulled a canteen from his inventory.
“Just trust me, damn it.”
As he took a sip from the canteen, murky dark mana flowed in.
She grimaced at the sight of him drinking dark mana.
“Hey, mister, why are you drinking that? It’s disgusting.”
Ichan, who had been staying still, flinched for no reason.
“Kuh. Bitter, so bitter.”
His entire body woke up.
His body shook, and the rigid mana began to move.
‘Focus……’
He focused and moved a grain-like mana with a pop.
[Mana Mapping initiated.]
A single grain popped out and swam through the air. Sinhyeok sat still and closed his eyes.
“Huh? Mister, are you going to take a nap too?”
“I’m not sleeping.”
Ichan retorted at the familiar line.
“I’ve heard that a lot. It’s always dads pretending not to be asleep.”
“Damn it. I said I’m not.”
Sinhyeok swept the mapping probes in all directions and detected remotely.
‘Not here.’
He focused, scanning all the gates.
Four hours passed.
She briefly looked up at the sky.
“The sun is nearly at its peak.”
Ichan glanced at the terminal and told the time.
“Lunch passed long ago. It’s three in the afternoon.”
There was still plenty of time left, but the surroundings were quiet. Baek Arin looked around and spoke.
“Everyone’s in a wrapping-up mood. It means they’re mostly finished.”
Ichan also looked around and nodded.
“At this point, it means there’s nothing left.”
The two looked at Sinhyeok, who wasn’t saying a word, and simply waited.
Another five hours passed.
Now everyone had gone down the mountain. The only squad left was Arin’s group.
“It’s getting dark.”
“And I’m hungry.”
Ichan and Arin held their growling stomachs and waited on the darkened mountain.
“Hyuuung, I’m huuungry.”
Sinhyeok finally opened his eyes and spoke.
“I’m hungry too, so don’t whine.”
“Mister!”
“Hyung!”
Sinhyeok stretched and cracked his joints, giving coordinates as he stretched.
“One gate at one o’clock, two at six o’clock, one at eight o’clock. They’re all hidden gates. Mark them as new and report them on the way down.”
Her eyes widened at the mention of hidden gates that had never been reported before.
“That many?”
“Yeah. Looks like everyone was just beeping and marking.”
“You can see that?”
“More or less.”
The two thought back to Sinhyeok just sitting there earlier and were puzzled.
“Hyung, you were just sitting there earlier. How?”
“I was working, damn it. It’s my secret.”
Sinhyeok hurried down and spoke.
“Let’s get going! I’m hungry!”
“Yeah!”
“Yes!”
When they came down the mountain, an instructor was waiting.
The instructor spoke to Trainee Baek Arin.
“Submit your terminal and return immediately to eat.”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
The instructor was puzzled by Baek Arin and Ichan’s unusually bright expressions.
“Why are you so bright? You should have failed. Knowing Trainee Baek Arin’s personality, you should be crying or running wild by now.”
He turned on the terminal and was checking the list when he briefly lost his words.
“First Platoon Leader, what is it? Did they not enter anything?”
“No, haha. This is crazy! How did they figure it out? Look at this.”
He showed the other instructors the data measured by Arin’s squad.
“Wait, there aren’t many. Hold on—hidden gates? How many are these! All four?!”
Everyone looked at Sinhyeok running ahead with bewildered expressions.
“Could even an active-duty soldier not do this?”
“Active duty? Even the famous Hongik couldn’t find all four of these. When they tested it, they found exactly three. The remaining one had the gate portal itself hidden.”
Everyone watched Sinhyeok bouncing around up ahead in admiration.
“What on earth did that man do at Hongik?”
“He’s insane……! That man.”
* * *
“I’m huuungry!”
Sinhyeok shouted and ran.
“Mister! We’re definitely first place, right?!”
“I don’t knooow~”
Sinhyeok arrived at the mess hall and despaired. The mess hall was being cleaned up.
“Ah.”
He plopped down on the spot. The mess hall lady said with a pitiful expression.
“Oh dear, what to do. I thought everyone was finished, so I cleaned up.”
“Hyung, what are we going to eat.”
Ichan, arriving right after, also plopped down at the sight.
“No way.”
Growl.
Baek Arin mentioned the PX.
“Let’s go to the PX.”
“Oh? Can we?”
“But I think we need permission.”
She quickly ran off to get permission.
Shortly after, she shouted with a smile.
“They said yes!”
“Great! The army is all about the PX!”
The three ran side by side.
They grabbed the PX soldier who was about to get off work and shouted.
“No!”
“No!”
“No!”
The surprised PX soldier stepped aside from the door.
“Sweep all the frozen food! Grab drinks too!”
“Yeah!”
“Snacks! Mister, don’t forget the snacks!”
They hurriedly gathered everything, paid in a flash, then snuck away with their haul and met in Sinhyeok and Ichan’s room.
“Phew, I feel like I’m going to live.”
Sinhyeok, having happily scarfed everything down, leaned his back against the wall and rested.
Arin hummed as she ate her snacks.
“First place~ first place tomorrow too~”
Watching her happy about first place, Sinhyeok asked about tomorrow’s schedule.
“Do you even know what we’re doing tomorrow?”
“It’s probably squad tactical maneuvering.”
She welcomed it, mentioning tomorrow’s training.
“They won’t be able to interfere with tomorrow’s training. Since everyone does it separately anyway.”
Sinhyeok welcomed the fact that they couldn’t interfere.
“That’s a relief. Then we just have to do well among ourselves.”
“But they say it’s extremely hard. They say it’s unusually harder than actual combat.”
At the words that it was unusually hard, Sinhyeok asked curiously.
“Why?”
Ichan took a long drink of cola and spoke.
“The instructors won’t leave us alone. They say they torment the skilled kids especially and raise the difficulty?”
Sinhyeok let out a hollow laugh.
“Ah, fucking hell. The military.”