The Army Chief of Staff’s face darkened when he received a sudden phone call while waiting for permission to enter.
After hanging up, he simply looked at Sinhyeok.
“Sir?”
“Damn it. Sinhyeok, it’s already over.”
At the words “already over,” Sinhyeok imagined the worst.
“They joined hands with the Association Chairman?”
The Army Chief of Staff nodded.
“I’ll look into the situation. For now, return to your unit.”
Lee Gangyeol accepted it without a word.
The Army Chief of Staff watched his lonely back as he turned to leave, then stopped him.
“Gangyeol.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Lee Gangyeol and asked quietly,
“What will you do next?”
“What can I do? A soldier must wait for orders.”
Seeing the look in Lee Gangyeol’s eyes, which said he had no intention of doing any such thing, the Army Chief of Staff chose his words sparingly.
“Call me if you need anything.”
“Yes.”
As Lee Gangyeol turned away, he spoke as if making a plea.
“Gangyeol……”
Lee Gangyeol looked at him without saying anything.
“Our duty is to protect the people and the security of this nation. Never forget that.”
“I know.”
He answered as if it were obvious, then turned and went on his way.
When he came outside, Cha Gicheol was waiting.
“It fell through?”
Lee Gangyeol nodded.
“Damn it.”
Cha Gicheol let out a sigh and stared at the Blue House in the distance.
“It’s always the bastards at the top who are the problem.”
“Gicheol. Start making the calls.”
Lee Gangyeol spoke as if steeling himself.
“Tell them to get ready.”
“Yeah.”
Just like that, Cha Gicheol drove Lee Gangyeol back down to his unit.
By the time Lee Gangyeol arrived at Hongik, many of the personnel were returning.
“Battalion Commander?! What is going on right now!”
“Why are we returning!?”
“Battalion Commander!”
The personnel returning one after another asked, voices filled with confusion and urgency.
Lee Gangyeol walked past without a word.
At that silence, many of them guessed the situation.
“That’s how it turned out. Everyone, go home for the day. Go home, see your families.”
At those words, most of them wore blank expressions.
Lee Gangyeol was about to enter the barracks, then stopped and looked back.
He gazed at the members of Hongik Battalion and said quietly,
“Should we all go on a trip or something? Bring our families too. We’ve been so busy, I don’t think we’ve ever spent time together.”
The operations officer, who had been returning, forced a smile at those words and nodded.
“How about we do it soon? It seems like we’ll have some time to spare.”
“Good. Major Baek Seokhun, prepare it. Everyone, go home. You’ve all worked hard.”
When Lee Gangyeol entered the battalion commander’s office, the Command Sergeant Major was already waiting.
“It fell through?”
“That’s how it turned out. Seems we were a little slow.”
“Slow, my ass. We let them go. We had plenty of chances.”
At her sharp criticism, Lee Gangyeol gave a lonely smile.
“Still, we’re soldiers, aren’t we? Even if we throw everything else away, we shouldn’t throw away our honor.”
“What a joke. Honor, my ass.”
Kim Hyeonsuk watched him flop down onto the sofa and asked,
“What’s that bastard’s next move? Do you know?”
“No. Gicheol will check and let me know. Or maybe the Chief will secretly find out and tell me.”
Bzzzt.
Lee Gangyeol checked the notification that had just sounded.
As he read it, his expression grew more and more serious by the moment, until he finally burst into laughter.
“Puhahaha!”
“Why?”
Lee Gangyeol, whose laughter was mixed not with joy but with disgust, disbelief, and rage, quietly pressed down his anger.
“Looks like that Association Chairman bastard is making his move out in the open.”
He showed her the text.
“Crazy bastard……”
“He says he’ll awaken the entire nation.”
“He’s openly saying he’ll crawl beneath the devil’s crotch. That fucking bastard!”
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!
As she exploded in anger, a powerful wave of energy burst out in an instant.
Lee Gangyeol immediately stretched out his hand and suppressed the energy.
“Hoooop.”
Kim Hyeonsuk forced herself to hold back her anger and stormed out of the battalion commander’s office.
Bang!
“Where are you going?”
“To loosen up. I’m going to have a bout with that cat god.”
Lee Gangyeol shook his head.
He could already imagine the “Nyaaang!” that would soon be heard.
“Tsk.”
Lee Gangyeol sat alone, thinking about what the Association Chairman was about to do.
‘Should I move right away? No, not yet. If we move now, we’ll be the ones who get hit.’
“What to do. Haaaah. If only we could get some justification.”
Knock, knock, knock.
“I’d like to rest today.”
Someone ignored the battalion commander’s words and flung the door open.
At that brazen behavior, the battalion commander thought of someone.
“Sinhyeok, what’s going on?”
Sinhyeok looked at the battalion commander with a horrified expression.
“Did something happen with the Command Sergeant Major, sir? I think we need to issue Jindo Dog One for the base right now.”
At those words, the battalion commander chuckled.
“Leave her be. Come in and sit.”
Sinhyeok sat down across from him.
“What’s wrong, sir? You look seriously pissed off.”
“Does it show?”
Lee Gangyeol touched his own face and tried to force his expression to relax.
“It shows a lot.”
“Ugh.”
He gave up, leaned back on the sofa, tilted his neck back, and looked up at the ceiling.
“You look very exhausted.”
“I am exhausted. Not a single thing has gone the way I wanted.”
For some reason, those words felt strangely out of the blue to Sinhyeok.
“Sinhyeok. If you hadn’t become a soldier, what were you thinking of doing?”
“Convenience store owner?”
“It does suit you.”
Lee Gangyeol thought of him working part-time at a convenience store and let out a small laugh.
“When you’re discharged, open a convenience store.”
“I’ll consider it.”
Seeing his faint smile, Sinhyeok stood up and asked,
“Should I go buy some beer?”
“Sounds good. Get some snacks while you’re at it.”
“I’ll be right back.”
As he left the battalion commander’s office, he spotted the Command Sergeant Major returning, fuming.
‘Oh boy.’
“Where did that cat go!”
Kim Hyeonsuk was huffing with anger when she noticed Bu Sinhyeok.
“Where are you going?”
The look in her eyes as she asked where he was going was no joke.
“Sergeant Bu Sinhyeok. By the battalion commander’s orders, I’m going to the con-convenience store. To buy beer.”
“Mine too! No, go and sweep up all the alcohol! I’m so pissed I could die.”
Then she barged into the battalion commander’s office.
“Auuugh! I’m burning up!”
“I’d better hurry.”
This was a special danger alert.
Sinhyeok rushed to the convenience store and swept up all the alcohol and snacks.
When he returned, he saw the still-fuming Command Sergeant Major and the battalion commander slumped limply.
“Here it is.”
As he took everything out and laid it out, the Command Sergeant Major immediately cracked one open and gulped it down.
“Kyaa! That’s refreshing!”
Lee Gangyeol slowly lifted his head and picked up a can of beer.
He leisurely took a sip, then grinned.
“Keuuh~ That’s good.”
Even though there was no way they could get drunk, the two of them enjoyed the mood.
“Can you feel it?”
The two laughed and said,
“We’re just getting into the mood, punk.”
“If you can even smell the alcohol, that’s getting drunk, punk.”
Seeing the two of them being perhaps exactly alike, Sinhyeok found himself smiling for no reason.
Lee Gangyeol and Kim Hyeonsuk toasted each other and drank again.
“Keuuh.”
“Kyaa.”
Lee Gangyeol leaned back again, turned his head to the side, and looked out the window.
“I miss that bastard Chanyong.”
“Hey, hey, why are you bringing him up?”
The Command Sergeant Major grimaced and grabbed a handful of snacks, stuffing them into Lee Gangyeol’s mouth.
“Mmph!”
“Let’s only talk about happy things.”
Sinhyeok smiled softly and carefully opened a can of beer.
“Then can you tell me about my father? How did the three of you—no, the five of you—end up meeting?”
At Sinhyeok’s sudden question, the two of them choked.
“Cough.”
“Kup.”
The Command Sergeant Major coughed roughly and waved her hand.
“Kup, you tell him.”
Lee Gangyeol sat up, wiped his mouth, and looked at Sinhyeok.
“You don’t know?”
“I don’t. My mother never really talked about it either.”
“It’s nothing special. You already know most of it.”
“Come on, still, please tell me.”
At Sinhyeok’s urging, Lee Gangyeol reminisced about the past.
“How did we end up meeting?”
As he pondered, Kim Hyeonsuk put a snack in her mouth and said,
“We met at the end of the program, didn’t we? When exactly seven? No, six of us were left. We introduced ourselves then, remember?”
“Ahhh. Right. That’s true.”
Lee Gangyeol simply revealed information that was classified.
“Before Yggdrasil declared the System, nations around the world were secretly conducting experiments to create superhumans under her cooperation.”
“Ah, were those the first Awakened?”
He nodded.
“Yes. That’s why me, her, and the ones from Cheongnyong and Hyeonmu don’t have status windows.”
“Oh, that’s new.”
“Your father was there too.”
Sinhyeok’s ears perked up at the story of his father, who had been there at the starting point of their meeting.
Kim Hyeonsuk finished chewing her snack and mentioned another person.
“He was there back then too. That bastard Cha Gicheol was there with us. He and your father were close too.”
“What?”
When Sinhyeok looked puzzled, Kim Hyeonsuk chuckled.
“What did he call him to you? Secret friend? No, he always called him something.”
At those words, Sinhyeok searched his memory.
He definitely remembered his father sneaking out to meet someone when he was young.
Each time, his father had said this.
“A friend I can’t talk about?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s it.”
“Ah, that was Deputy Director Cha Gicheol?”
“Yeah.”
Sinhyeok reminisced about that time.
“Every time that happened, my mom got really annoyed. She’d say, ‘That man’s crawling out again.’”
“Kup.”
“Pfft.”
Lee Gangyeol smiled as he enjoyed the memories of the past.
“Ah, those were good times.”
Kim Hyeonsuk agreed.
“They were. We caused some huge incidents too. You know that, Sinhyeok?”
Sinhyeok was tearing into some jerky as a snack when he raised his head and looked at her.
“Your father was always the first to step forward. That bastard, honestly.”
At her expression, as if he had been a real handful, Lee Gangyeol and Sinhyeok snickered.
“I’ve heard that. My mother always said he was a real troublesome man too. She said he kept sticking his nose in everywhere.”
“Kkkup.”
Lee Gangyeol covered his mouth and laughed silently.
Kim Hyeonsuk laughed like mad and nodded vigorously.
“Hahaha! That’s right, he stuck his nose into every damn place.”
Remembering those days, Lee Gangyeol began to speak of the past.
“When they almost disposed of the program participants. When they told us to abandon a Gate Break. He butted in time and time again.”
“Did he?”
Sinhyeok looked fascinated by the misdeeds from his father’s past that he was hearing for the first time.
Lee Gangyeol spoke of Bu Chanyong.
“That man always led us. He wasn’t simply a soldier who followed orders. He put honor and conviction into practice.”
Kim Hyeonsuk wore a joyful expression as she remembered that time.
“Every day was hard, and even when it felt like we were going to die, we were able to endure because of his conviction. His belief that even if we died, we should save at least one person before we did.”
As Sinhyeok listened to the various memories and stories about his father, his chest grew warm.
“Sounds like he lived pretty well.”
“Of course he did.”
Seeing Lee Gangyeol immersed in happiness, Sinhyeok asked the thing he had wanted to ask most.
“May I ask about that too?”
For some reason, Kim Hyeonsuk grew uneasy at the question and slowly got to her feet.
“I’m…… going to the restroom.”
Left alone together, Lee Gangyeol avoided his gaze and only looked out the window.
“I want to ask about my father’s final moments. You’ve never told me once.”
Lee Gangyeol kept glancing at Sinhyeok.
“Do you have to?”
“Yes. I do want to ask.”
At the firm look in his eyes, Lee Gangyeol sighed and straightened his posture.
“Fine. I might not get another chance to tell you anyway.”
He recalled that time and rubbed his face.
“Sinhyeok. Have you ever heard of an S-rank Gate?”
Sinhyeok looked bewildered at the mention of an S-rank Gate, which had never appeared until now.
“Hasn’t one never appeared?”
“It has. Just once, a place known as the ‘Demon Realm’ opened. It would be roughly nineteen years ago now.”
As he recalled that time, Lee Gangyeol’s chest grew tight.
“It was when we still hadn’t properly grasped the concept of demons. When Yggdrasil told us, everyone ignored it. They said, ‘Would something like that really exist?’”
He was blaming their own ignorance.
“We faced them for the first time. The majesty of demons, said to stand at the opposite end of gods.”
Recalling that time brought the horror back to him, and he exhaled deeply.
“Of the nearly one thousand Awakened soldiers who entered, only six survived.”
“……”
Sinhyeok somehow had an idea who the survivors were.
“Are they all people I know?”
Lee Gangyeol nodded.
“That man said this. Since he was the strongest, he’d at least buy us time.”
At the story of what had happened back then, so horrific, Sinhyeok’s chest grew heavy.
“I wanted to say it wasn’t true, but I couldn’t. I was terrified. We were annihilated by someone who claimed to be not a demon, but a Demon King. We were utterly powerless.”
Lee Gangyeol blamed himself and regretted it.
“Chanyong was the only one who stepped forward. He was the strongest among us, at least.”
Looking at the battalion commander, who could not even meet his eyes, Sinhyeok asked,
“Is that why you looked after me so much?”
“I’m sorry.”
Seeing Lee Gangyeol staring only at the floor, Sinhyeok simply held out a can of beer to him.
“What can we do? It’s already happened.”
“Just curse me instead. Then I’d feel less sorry.”
“I don’t want to. If I did, my dead father and mother would curse me. They’d say they raised their son wrong.”
At that, Lee Gangyeol felt as if a heavy stone had settled inside his heart.
“You really… grew up well.”
“Yes. Thanks to someone, I grew up very well.”
When Sinhyeok gave a faint smile, Lee Gangyeol smiled along with him.
“But who was the other person who came out alive? I don’t think Deputy Director Cha Gicheol would have gone in. He’d have been an NIS agent, after all.”
“……”
When Lee Gangyeol heard the question about the other survivor, his expression stiffened.
“The Association President. That bastard.”
“What?”
He hesitated to speak, then simply let it out.
“You’ll find out someday anyway, so I’ll tell you now. Earlier, the command sergeant major almost said there were seven of us, didn’t he?”
“Huh? Yes, yes.”
“There was originally one more. That bastard, Association President Seo Suhyeok, was with us in the beginning too.”
As Sinhyeok recalled what he knew about the Association President, he was filled with questions.
“I don’t think he was ever exposed to the media?”
“His abilities were insignificant. He pursued both swordsmanship and magic at the same time, but he had little talent in either. So he never drew much attention.”
“Ah.”
Thinking back to that final moment, Lee Gangyeol spoke.
“The person who remained in that gate until the very end was him.”
“What?”
“We don’t know how your father died. Only that bastard knows. After the gate disappeared, he was the only one who miraculously came out alone.”
Recalling that time, Lee Gangyeol crushed the beer can in his hand.
“There’s only one thing I know. After that day, he awakened black mana and grew exponentially stronger. Then he was discharged and founded the Association.”
Sinhyeok was left dazed for a moment by the shocking story.
“So be careful.”
Bzzzz.
At the sudden vibration of his phone, Lee Gangyeol checked it.
“Sinhyeok, I’m sorry, but I have to go. Looks like I need to get back to work.”
“Ah? Yes, sir. I’ll clean this up before I go.”
“No. Leave it. If you get sleepy, drink some more.”
He got up, nodded, and left.
After confirming that Sinhyeok had gone, Lee Gangyeol answered the call.
“Yeah, Hochan, it’s me. Start preparing now. It’ll be soon.”
* * *
Sinhyeok left the room and headed toward the quarters with an uneasy expression.
“Ah, this really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Enough to make me want to go kill him on the spot.”
The image of that unlucky bastard kept flickering in his mind, leaving him feeling deeply unsettled.
When he returned to the quarters and was about to lie down, Ichan looked at him with a startled face.
“Hyung! Did you see this?!”
Reeking of beer, Sinhyeok focused on the phone screen Ichan showed him.
“What?”
“Ugh, the smell!”
Reading closely, the contents were as follows.
- The government, in cooperation with the Association, plans to carry out nationwide awakening.
“The Association is going to awaken the entire nation? All of a sudden?”
Ichan mentioned something even more important.
“But it’s black mana. They’re all abilities related to demons. They say you can even choose.”
Then he added something even more shocking.
“And they’re stopping all raids on the gates currently appearing.”
“Why?”
Ichan tapped the news article and showed him.
“The gates currently appearing are the Demon Realm, and the government of the Republic of Korea plans to pursue an alliance with the Demon Realm.”
At the breaking news article, Sinhyeok wore an utterly dumbfounded expression.
“What kind of bullshit is this, like boiling the guts of the Ten Symbols of Longevity and eating them?! You son of a bitch!”