Outside the training center.
The convenience store where Sinhyeok had slaved away.
“Phew. Sitting around after so long makes me feel antsy.”
The convenience store owner sat leisurely, watching over the store.
He got up, tidied the counter, and mulled something over.
“Should I try hiring a part-timer for about five months?”
“Boss, I’m here.”
The owner grinned at the part-timer who had come for the shift change.
“Phew, hurry up and check the register so we can change shifts. Trying to sit still after so long is killing me~”
The part-timer laughed and teased him.
“Come on, if you’re struggling, what does that say for the rest of us?”
“Hey, I’m struggling too. Wait until you’re my age. At this age, I’m just grateful I can still walk.”
Laughing, the owner slipped out of the convenience store.
Having left in a good mood, he was heading home when he suddenly thought of Sinhyeok’s studio apartment.
“Did that kid lock up properly before he left?”
‘I should go check.’
He changed direction and headed toward Sinhyeok’s place.
“I should go tidy up a bit. He’ll be back in six months, after all; it wouldn’t be right if it got moldy and dusty.”
He walked and arrived at Sinhyeok’s home.
“Geez, it’s a climb. Why does this kid like this rooftop room so much?”
*Groan.*
The owner groaned and puffed his way up to the room.
“Let’s see. The passcode.”
He touched the door lock, but the door was already open.
‘Hm?’
“Is he already back? On leave?”
He quickly opened the door and ran into a mysterious man standing inside wearing shoes.
The man, wrapped up tight in a black hoodie and black mask, glared at him ferociously.
“Uh, u-um, oh my~ I opened the wrong door! I’m sorry.”
As he hurried to close the door and leave, the unidentified man in black lunged at him.
“Euaaack!”
*Bang!*
The door was forced open, and the owner was thrown back.
“Uwaack!”
The owner, suspended in mid-air, had braced for impact, but everything was silent.
He slowly opened his tightly shut eyes.
When he opened them, both he and the lunging man in black were frozen in place.
Someone was coming up the stairs.
“You’ve had it hard, Boss.”
The convenience store owner flinched at the middle-aged man in military uniform climbing up.
‘I Gangyeol.’
He was speechless at the clearly visible name.
At Gangyeol’s flick of a finger, the convenience store owner carefully descended.
*Tap.*
Brigadier General I Gangyeol spoke to the owner who had gone down to the first floor.
“Please return home just like this. And try not to come here again. Understood?”
The owner hurriedly nodded.
“Then please be careful on your way home. There will be no other dangers in your daily life. Don’t worry and head home.”
At his words, the convenience store owner glanced back repeatedly as he ran off.
Once the owner disappeared, Brigadier General I Gangyeol used magic.
“Illusion.”
An illusion enveloped the surroundings.
He glared briefly at the eyes of the black-clad man frozen in mid-air and spoke.
“You don’t even bother hiding your dark mana anymore? You filthy demon bastards.”
The bound man trembled and struggled to break free.
“Should I at least free your mouth?”
*Tap.*
With his mouth freed, he spat out a curse.
“The great Demon God and Archdemon will not forgive you!”
Brigadier General I Gangyeol smirked at the predictable words and grabbed the demon’s mouth.
“Urrmph!”
Grabbing the demon’s tongue, he pressed down hard and spoke.
“Say something different for once. Why do you bastards always say the same thing, huh?”
I Gangyeol’s fingers glowed with a blue light.
“Fire.”
It soon turned into faint flames and slowly burned the man.
“Kuaaaack!”
“Shh. Silence.”
All sound in the area was sealed away, and Gangyeol took his time toying with him.
“Now, ready to talk?”
“Kuh, wh-what… are you… doing?”
“Yeah, you can’t. I know.”
Gangyeol immediately unleashed his mana and crushed him.
“Kuk!”
The man’s bones broke all over his body, his heart burst, and he slumped over.
*Thud.*
Dropping him to the floor, Gangyeol looked at Sinhyeok’s room stained with blood.
“Quite a simple room. Why is there absolutely nothing here?”
He stepped over the corpse and looked around the room.
A TV, a bed. That was it.
There were no other belongings. As if someone was ready to leave at any moment.
“Hey, Battalion Commander, sir, you should handle things quietly when you’re in someone else’s house.”
A woman of the sergeant major rank followed him in and chided him.
“Command Sergeant Major Gim Hyeonsuk, I did try my best.”
“Work harder, you punk. Look at the state of this room, ugh.”
She looked around the room and sighed.
“It’s like the room of someone about to die. So clean that you don’t even need to tidy up.”
At those words, I Gangyeol’s expression turned bitter.
“The attacks have definitely become brazen. Is it because of the Awakening?”
“Probably. For now, it looks like the Association is indeed the source of the leak.”
At his words, she tentatively concluded the demons’ background.
“Then it’s most likely the Association. The data we’ve gathered so far points to it too.”
“For now, it’d be best to pull Sinhyeok out to the 99th Regiment.”
Command Sergeant Major Gim Hyeonsuk of Hongik let out deep sighs.
“And after that?”
“…….”
“You know he’s going to try to pull him into Hongik. Did you explain it to him? Did he say he’d come?”
At the silent response from I Gangyeol, Command Sergeant Major Gim Hyeonsuk sighed even deeper.
“What are you planning to do, Gangyeol?”
“I’ve prepared a way. He won’t like it, though.”
She eyed him suspiciously and spat out.
“Persona?”
Gangyeol nodded slightly.
“You crazy bastard. If Sinhyeok finds out, he’ll go crazy.”
“It can’t be helped. War is right around the corner now.”
She turned her back.
“Ugh, you idiot….”
She muttered a curse under her breath and left the house.
I Gangyeol endured it without a word.
“I’m sorry, Sinhyeok.”
He quietly asked for forgiveness from the one who wasn’t there.
* * *
The next day arrived without fail.
“Ah, what a drag.”
Sinhyeok stood at the front of the running formation, sprinting at a crazy speed.
He turned around swiftly and, as always, unleashed a wide-area taunt.
“Haaaaaahm~ I’m sleepy~”
The NCO trainees immediately fell for the provocation.
“Kuaaaack!”
“Uwaaaaack!”
“Somebody stop that old man!”
“Not today! Not today!”
Sinhyeok laughed and arrived effortlessly in first place.
“Finished! Number one is me!”
The instructor at the finish line said with a smile.
“First place again today.”
“Yes, sir! These small fries are a long way from catching me.”
Right behind him, trainees Baek Arin and Hong Ichan arrived.
“Huu.”
She breathed heavily, and Hong Ichan wiped his sweat and spoke.
“Hyung, let’s go together for once.”
“You’re the slow one. Hurry up and get moving.”
A few minutes later, the trainees arrived, gasping heavily.
“Aaaaack! Again!”
“Why is he so fast!”
Everyone fumed as they headed to the cafeteria.
The instructor checked the final records and smiled in satisfaction.
“Everyone under thirty-five minutes again today.”
He smiled, thinking of Sinhyeok who had led the pack.
“A sly veteran. Teasing them while keeping an eye on the juniors’ stamina.”
Smiling, he cleaned up and left.
* * *
Sinhyeok, who had arrived at the cafeteria first, picked up his tray with a smile.
“Ah, smells delicious. This is why I run in the morning, hahaha!”
Baek Arin, who followed right after, scolded him.
“Stop teasing the kids. That’s why they chase you like crazy.”
“You guys need to run more. In the Gate, what matters is speed. You have to dodge and run fast.”
“Goodness.”
As they sat down, the other trainees soon arrived, huffing and puffing.
Hong Ichan laughed awkwardly at the sight and gulped down his food.
“I bet they’ll be out for blood today.”
Sinhyeok laughed and waved his spoon.
“Anyway, they said we can’t interfere today.”
*Swish, swish.*
“Aaauh!”
“So annoying!”
Baek Arin shook her head at Sinhyeok’s behavior.
“I don’t know what he’s thinking, acting like that.”
* * *
The second day of mock tactical training arrived without fail.
They gathered at the same back mountain as yesterday.
“Today we train squad tactical maneuvers. You all roughly know what that is. If there are any curious trainees, raise your hands!”
The instructor playfully explained the all-too-obvious training content.
“The know-how is simple too. Just move while maintaining vigilance. Easy, right?”
However, the trainees’ expressions were dark.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s not that easy. I’ll also teach you how to respond in various terrains. But there’s nothing difficult about it. Hide if you can hide, dodge if you can dodge. That’s the core. Understood?”
No one nodded.
“Kekep, first of all, formation—that is, position setting—is important. What does a standard raid team look like?”
At the instructor’s trick question, Baek Arin raised her hand high and answered.
“Dealer, tanker, and support.”
“Correct, trainee. That would be the standard for an ordinary raid team, but we’re different. How are we different?”
The instructor took out a prepared piece of paper and briefly drew as he explained.
“Dealer-slash-tanker and scout-slash-support. Just two structures. A structure where you move while placing the scout at the center and protecting them. This is the basic of the Awakened Army.”
Everyone spaced out at the strange structure, so the instructor gave Sinhyeok—who was spacing out in a completely different sense—a look.
“Now, let the experienced one enlighten these foolish mortals.”
‘Ah, come on.’
As always when his name was called, Sinhyeok immediately explained.
“Generally, raid teams acquire all information beforehand before moving, so there is no unknown danger. On the other hand, the Awakened Army mostly enters for the first time, so everything is an unknown variable. Therefore, we take a form where the scout, who serves as the radar, is placed at the center and protected.”
“Now, does everyone understand?”
Everyone nodded at his clean explanation.
“For this reason, the above structure is the basic foundation. The reason people die is simple. It’s because they get hit from behind. To prevent this, you ultimately need to know the enemy. In that sense, the most important role is the scout, and the Awakened in this position is the most important.”
The instructor neatly rolled up the paper and grinned.
“So that’s just something you should know. Today, you’ll practice how to deal with unknown situations. The location is right over there.”
He smiled and pointed at the back mountain.
“The instructors will play the role of monsters, and the trainees just need to get to the summit quietly. Easy, right?”
Everyone made awkward expressions at the instructor’s unusually smiling face.
“Don’t worry~ We’ll make sure to send you back down alive.”
He smiled and foretold hell to the fledglings.
The instructor waited a moment, then suddenly remembered something and hastily explained.
“Ah, right. I almost forgot. There is an additional rule.”
Everyone made puzzled expressions at the words “additional rule.”
“Trainees can additionally volunteer for the monster role. In exchange, the more monsters there are in the squad conducting the drill, the higher their score will be.”
At the strange rule, everyone looked toward Baek Arin’s squad, which had taken first place yesterday.
Someone raised their hand and asked.
“If all the trainees volunteer to be monsters, and that squad can’t even go ten meters, do they still get points?”
“Ah~ No, they don’t. No matter how much the score increases, you have to go at least ten—no, thirty meters for points to be awarded.”
Everyone grinned ominously.
On top of that, they especially stared at Baek Arin’s squad.
Sinhyeok frowned at these blatant smiles.
“Damn it….”
Baek Arin let out a hollow laugh and spoke to Sinhyeok, who had been throwing out wide-area taunts since morning.
“Just run today.”
“Sorry.”
Once preparations were more or less complete, the instructor immediately shouted.
“Today we’ll start with the 4th Squad. So sit and wait! Or if you’re volunteering, raise your hands!”
Several people raised their hands high.
“Everyone come out and line up. We’ll let you know when it’s your turn, so don’t worry and go have fun. Got it!?”
“Yes, sir!”
Baek Arin was dumbfounded at the thunderous reply.
“Tsk….”
Ichan looked around and quietly asked.
“Wouldn’t it be better if you and Hyung went out and swept them all so they can’t take a single step?”
Sinhyeok objected.
“I’m support. My fists are cotton fists.”
“I’d have a hard time too. Damn. There are too many.”
The situation was too unfavorable.
And for good reason—the squads to either side were sending overly blatant stares as well.
Sinhyeok laughed awkwardly and said.
“Everyone… l-let’s calm down, huh?”