Sinhyeok got up from the sofa and headed to the kitchen.
“Still, you’re getting better day by day. Aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not. Coming here just makes me regret it more. Everyone’s so good, but I can’t do anything. If I try to do something, they tell me to stay still, and if I don’t, they say I don’t have to.”
Ichan muttered with his face pressed to the floor.
“It’s not like I’m living like this because I want to.”
Sinhyeok found his muttering and his words very familiar.
‘That sounds really familiar. I used to say that a lot too.’
“How many packets of ramen?”
“Two plus two. Protein too, please.”
“You brat, so picky.”
As a bonus, Sinhyeok took some meat out of the fridge and grilled it.
Sniff, sniff.
Ichan turned around at the fragrant smell of meat.
Sinhyeok came over carrying a large pot of Gong·Gan Special topped with grilled pork belly.
“Ooh.”
Ichan, who had been lying on the floor, sprang up and cleared the table.
“Trivet!”
“Y-yeah!”
He hurriedly laid out the pot stand and welcomed the ramen and meat.
Ichan quickly got up, brought chopsticks, and set them out.
“Let’s eat!”
At the command, the two began a combative mukbang.
Only after wordlessly slurping down the ramen and inhaling the meat did their mouths open again.
“Huaaah, I’m full.”
“Heeeh, I feel alive.”
Ichan seemed to be in a good mood, leaning back against the sofa and grinning.
“It’s good.”
Sinhyeok chuckled at the sight.
“Weren’t you depressed earlier?”
“Ah, right……”
Ichan immediately furrowed his brow and pretended to be depressed.
“Wipe your mouth first. You’ve got something on it.”
“Ah!”
He hurriedly wiped his mouth.
“No, I really was depressed. Earlier.”
Sinhyeok chuckled and flopped down onto the sofa.
Ichan lifted his head and looked at Sinhyeok.
“Hyung.”
“What.”
“Should I just get discharged?”
“You haven’t filled your four years.”
“Wouldn’t they let me go if they found out my age?”
“Probably not. On your resident ID, you’re an adult.”
“Hiiing.”
Ichan slowly slid down and lay on the floor.
“Damn Ministry of National Defense.”
“Pfft.”
Sinhyeok burst out laughing as he watched Ichan naturally curse the Ministry of National Defense.
“Just endure it. If you endure, everything will get better.”
“I don’t think so. It’s already like this, so how would it get better?”
“It will. I’ve been through it all.”
Ichan gazed up at Sinhyeok.
“Old man.”
“You little— What do you mean old man? How many years apart are we? If anything, you’re older.”
“By elven age reckoning, I’m younger.”
“So what.”
At that childish remark, Ichan couldn’t help but laugh.
Sinhyeok offered advice to Ichan, who was struggling.
“Show them with your effort as much as they look down on you. If you show them you’re improving and changing day by day, they’ll acknowledge you too.”
“……”
Ichan rolled around on the floor, tossing this way and that.
Seeing the strange reaction, Sinhyeok wondered if Ichan had broken.
After rolling around for a long while, Ichan stopped and looked at Sinhyeok.
“Really?”
“Yeah, everyone here knows, you punk. If you’re curious, ask one of your seniors. Someone who’s served at least eight years.”
“Ask what?”
“Who Hongik’s worst deadweight and biggest troublemaker was.”
“Hmmm.”
Ichan took those words to heart and got up.
“Whew. I’m going to sleep. I have to do well tomorrow.”
Sinhyeok looked puzzled at the words that he had to do well tomorrow.
“Do well at what?”
“You don’t know, hyung?”
Ichan looked at Sinhyeok as if asking how he could not know.
“There’s an individual combat power assessment tomorrow. I heard it’s a big deal if you don’t pass the standard.”
“God damn it.”
Ding-dong.
Just then, his phone chimed with a text.
When he checked, it was an urgent message from the logistics section chief.
— Hey, hey! Your combat power assessment is tomorrow! You have to do well on that!
Seeing it, Sinhyeok let out a sigh on its own.
“Haa, damn military.”
“It really is the damn military.”
Ichan, too, agreed wholeheartedly and went into his room.
“Ugh, then I should sleep too. At least I need to be in good condition.”
‘What were the categories again? I don’t even remember.’
Sinhyeok entered his room and flopped down on the bed.
“What’s with a combat power assessmentttt~”
He stretched and yawned, but something felt empty.
“Why does it feel empty?”
He groped beside him, but something that should have been there was nowhere to be seen.
“Ah! Blue!”
Startled, he sprang up.
He immediately left the room and looked for Ichan.
“Hong Ichan! Have you seen Blue?!”
Hong Ichan, ambushed, rubbed his eyes and said,
“I haven’t. Didn’t you leave him at the training center?”
“Huh?”
Sinhyeok returned to his room and retraced his memories.
‘At the end, Blue was asleep and wouldn’t wake up, so I stuffed him into the duffel bag.’
“Oh no.”
He immediately checked the duffel bag he had stuffed him into and never opened.
At the very bottom, in the farthest corner, Blue was curled up asleep.
“Haa, you scared me.”
He poked him with a finger, but there was no reaction.
“Why are you sleeping so deeply?”
When he still didn’t wake no matter how much he poked him, Sinhyeok gently took him out and placed him beside the bed like a decoration.
“He’ll wake up when it’s time.”
* * *
The next morning.
Sinhyeok woke up a little early and headed first to the logistics section’s workshop.
“Haaam. First, I’ll tease the old man, then go get my combat power measured.”
He immediately knocked on the dwarf’s workroom in the workshop.
Boom, boom, boom.
“Uaaagh! Who is it?!”
When he turned the doorknob, the door opened by itself.
“What? You don’t even lock the door?”
Aurumstone, dressed in dirty work clothes, stared at him with an incredulous expression.
“Why would I lock it? Nobody comes in except that idiot.”
“Honestly.”
Sinhyeok looked at the workbench. He spotted another full set of armor that had been brought out.
“Are you repairing that too?”
“Yeah, I am, but I’ll work on it later. There’s still time before work, right?”
“Now, watch closely.”
Sinhyeok first checked the waves.
“Hmmm. Is it this one?”
After confirming it carefully, he immediately headed to the storage room. Aurumstone looked puzzled as he watched Sinhyeok act strangely first thing in the morning.
“What’s with him?”
Sinhyeok found the materials in the storage room and tossed them into the furnace.
“Melt well.”
“Has Idiot Two lost his mind?”
“I haven’t lost all of it yet.”
He took out the fully melted materials and tossed them at the full plate armor.
“Hey, hey. Be careful, it’ll splash!”
He grabbed the cracked full plate armor and the materials and immediately attempted synthesis.
‘Weave together the mana of each material.’
Tightly and meticulously.
[Attempting synthesis.]
[Synthesizing Broken Holy Full Plate Armor with Well-Discarded Iron Ingot and 2 other types.]
[The grade is not high, so the success rate is high.]
A faint light shimmered from the full plate armor.
Soon, the materials melted smoothly into it, wove together as one, and the armor became sleek.
“Done.”
Sinhyeok set it down on the workbench and left the workshop.
“Success. I’m going to get my combat power measured today. Don’t look for me.”
Aurumstone rubbed his eyes to check whether he had really seen what he had seen.
“Hey? Hey, hey!”
Crash, bang.
Aurumstone slipped off the bed and checked the full plate armor on the workbench.
‘It’s smooth. Perfect. There’s no sense of mismatch. Everything has fused perfectly into one.’
“It’s even better than before!”
He whipped around and called for Sinhyeok, who had already left.
“Hey! How did you do that! Hey! There’s no way this should work! Why did it work?!”
* * *
Sinhyeok felt a thrill at the shouting of a certain dwarf from behind him.
“Ah, that feels good. Now I can enjoy the combat power assessment.”
In a good mood, he headed to the logistics section office.
When he arrived, the logistics section chief was already at work.
“Loyalty. Chief, you’re already here?”
“Yeah. I have to organize what I went through yesterday. Wow, I went all the way to Haenam for emergency supplies yesterday. Man, those guys are really…”
He shook his head as if he was sick and tired of them.
Sinhyeok smiled silently at the word “Haenam.”
Captain Ryu Jihyeon looked at the smiling Sinhyeok and predicted the future.
“Laugh while you can. It’ll be your future before long.”
“……”
For some reason, Sinhyeok felt a chill at the chief’s insistence that it was his future.
“Anyway, once the workday starts, go straight to the parade ground. Leave the workshop alone and go get your individual combat power measured. Focus only on that for a while.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sinhyeok recalled the individual combat power assessment he had taken in the past.
‘It wasn’t easy.’
As he thought of the assessment, he remembered the record he had set back then.
“But Chief, has my search record been broken?”
Captain Ryu Jihyeon recalled the assessment that tested the search category and smiled.
“Why, are you curious?”
“I am. It’s been eight years, so I’m curious how much it’s been broken by.”
Seeing the chief keep smiling, Sinhyeok could somehow predict the answer.
“It hasn’t been broken?”
“As if that could be broken. I don’t know about the other categories, but when it comes to ‘search,’ you’re the best in all of South Korea’s army, navy, and air force.”
At the chief’s firm answer, Sinhyeok felt good, but also worried.
“I’m happy, but I feel like the atmosphere will be brutal when I go today.”
“Kekeke, of course. The five- or six-year guys who don’t know you well are all itching for it. Be careful today.”
At the logistics section chief’s ominous warning, a chill ran down the back of Sinhyeok’s neck.
“If I make one wrong move today, I might really get slammed into the ground.”
“Kekekek. It’s about time. Get going.”
Sinhyeok stood up, saluted the chief, and left the office.
* * *
After leaving the official residence, Ichan reported to the 1st Company and headed to the 1st Company office with an awkward expression.
“Loyalty.”
“Yeah, Ichan.”
The administrative supply officer and the company commander greeted him.
Ichan scanned his fingerprint to record his arrival, then headed straight to the 3rd Platoon waiting room.
“Loyalty.”
When he went inside, he saw Baek Arin, who had arrived before him, along with other seniors.
“Yeah.”
Everyone gave rough greetings and nodded.
With an awkward expression, Ichan went to his own locker and put his phone away.
Soon after, the 3rd Platoon leader appeared.
“Good morning.”
He came straight in and greeted everyone.
“Loyalty.”
Everyone saluted briefly and greeted him.
He looked over everyone and said,
“Today is the long-awaited combat power assessment day. This year, not many people applied for the second half.”
At the platoon leader’s words, the NCOs and officers with quite a few years of service chuckled.
“We’ve got a long way to go before promotion~”
“Yes, sir. I think I should raise my level more before applying, then it’ll be just right. Getting promoted is, whew, way too hard.”
At their groaning, the platoon leader gave a wry laugh.
“Come on, if you older brothers say that, what are the kids under you supposed to do, crawl?”
“Kheuheup.”
The platoon leader exchanged some light small talk, then looked at the newly appointed sergeant who had applied for the combat power assessment and the two who naturally had to take it.
“Our junior who applied, and our two sergeants who obviously have to do it, Baek Arin and Hong Ichan, will go to the parade ground later and carry out the assessment.”
“Yes, sir.”
The platoon leader briefly briefed them on the day’s schedule and announced the important points.
“Right, there’s also an urgent notice.”
At the words urgent notice, everyone’s attention focused on him.
“The first round of analysis on the nationwide Gate Breaks that occurred yesterday has been completed.”
Everyone swallowed hard and concentrated.
“The so-called dimensional integration phenomenon—what we just call the ‘End’ among ourselves—has apparently sped up by one tempo. The distances between multiple dimensions have become considerably closer. Because of that, the existing criteria for judging breaks have been compressed and shortened.”
Everyone’s expressions soured. What the platoon leader meant was—
“So our workload is going to increase overwhelmingly for the time being. So use your annual leave in advance and go on vacation. You won’t be able to go home for a while.”
All of 3rd Platoon reached enlightenment.
“Damn it.”
“Ugh, I should visit my parents’ place in advance.”
“I should take the kids and visit my parents beforehand too.”
Everyone grumbled and predicted the next operation.
After finishing the notice, the platoon leader instructed the sergeants.
“Start getting ready and head out.”
Everyone slowly got ready and began to leave.
The 3rd Platoon encouraged the juniors who were leaving.
“Everyone, good luck. Especially you, Arin. Do well.”
“Yeah. It’s your first time meeting them, so you should make a clear impression.”
When Ichan passed by, everyone spoke lightly.
“You too, Ichan. Good luck.”
Hong Ichan felt somewhat complicated in this strange atmosphere.
They didn’t say much, but he could feel everything in their gazes, their tone, and the way they treated him.
‘A bomb. Fear. A problem soldier who could go off at any moment.’
He felt not like a comrade, but like a potential operation target.
“Whew, let’s do well.”
Ichan recalled the advice his hyung had given him yesterday and encouraged himself.
The 3rd Platoon leader placed a hand on Ichan’s shoulder as he was leaving.
“Hup? Platoon Leader?”
“Ichan, why are you so nervous? It’s just a combat power assessment.”
“Nothing, I’m just worried. I feel like I’m going to mess it up.”
The 3rd Platoon Leader looked at him worrying in advance and massaged his shoulders.
“Just do it. There are plenty of guys worse than you.”
“But not in Hongik, are there?”
“Khhup, no, there aren’t.”
The 3rd Platoon Leader walked alongside Ichan as he headed off alone.
“You’ll do fine anyway. The battalion commander must have had a reason for picking you.”
At those words, Ichan’s mood sank again.
‘I suppose so. But maybe not.’
Ichan looked at the platoon leader, remembering what Sinhyeok had said yesterday, and asked.
“Um, Platoon Leader.”
When the platoon leader saw Ichan looking at him as if he wanted to ask something, he met his gaze.
“What?”
“Do you happen to know who Hongik’s biggest screwup is? The worst deadweight?”
At the question about Sinhyeok, the 3rd Platoon Leader burst out laughing.
“Pfft. Who did you hear that from?”
“From… Sergeant Bu Sinhyeok.”
“Kekekekek. That punk is exposing his own dark past? Good grief.”
As they left the main building, the 3rd Platoon Leader spoke lightly to Ichan.
“If Sinhyeok mentioned that, he probably wanted me to tell you a few things.”
Ichan stopped for a moment at those words and looked at the platoon leader.
“That guy failed his first combat power assessment. In other words, he received a grade that should have gotten him immediately discharged from Hongik.”
“What? There’s someone like that?”
“Kekekekek.”
The platoon leader held back his laughter as he looked at Sinhyeok approaching from afar.
“There is. He kept getting scores like that for nearly a year. And yet he didn’t leave. No, he couldn’t leave. He heard all kinds of crap even from the other members of the unit, but he held on stubbornly.”
Ichan’s ears perked up at the story, which sounded exactly like the tale of a complete problem soldier and deadweight.
“And he still kept going?”
“Yeah. And in the end, he pulled it off.”
“Wow.”
Ichan gained a little courage from those words.
“Who was it?”
The platoon leader grabbed Ichan by the shoulders and adjusted his direction.
“Now, a little more to the side. More to the side—no, left. Straight there. Now, who do you see?”
When Ichan followed the direction, what he saw was Bu Sinhyeok trudging along.
“Sergeant Bu Sinhyeok?”
“That’s right, him. I was talking about him. A guy who came to Hongik without even awakening. Aside from his search ability, he scored the lowest in everything. But after hanging on for a year, he became a dragon rising from a ditch.”
Bu Sinhyeok saw Ichan and the 3rd Platoon Leader staring at him and waved.
“Hey, look at that. Hongik’s biggest screwup is saying hello. Hurry up and go. Get all the best tips from him.”
The 3rd Platoon Leader pushed Ichan on the back.
Ichan looked back for a moment at the 3rd Platoon Leader who had pushed him forward.
“Sergeant Hong Ichan, don’t lose heart. Overcome their prejudice, and prove yourself with your ability. Go show everyone.”
From the platoon leader’s hand pushing against his back, Ichan felt a faint trace of divine power.
A warm heat seeped into his body, rippling through him and calming the overflowing wraiths and curses within.
“Loyalty!”
The platoon leader welcomed Ichan’s spirited shout.
“That’s just right. That’s how the youngest member of our platoon should be.”
Gaining courage, Ichan ran over to Sinhyeok.
“Hyung!”
“Yeah. You’re here?”
When Ichan saw Sinhyeok, he called out happily.
“I heard you’re the biggest screwup!”
“Kup.”