EP.149 The Path Flows With the Traveler - 5
We passed through two waypoints along the way. The medic disembarked at the mining waypoint with a polite salute. Asking until the very end if anyone was injured seemed less about concern and more like regret at missing a chance to show off his skills.
Some people got off, but no new passengers boarded. We gradually grew closer as we talked to one another.
Whether in physical distance or psychological distance.
Humans form societies. What humans need most is usually something other humans possess in the greatest abundance, and such resources grow more efficient when shared.
Light, warmth, knowledge, fences, stories.
All such things, the more they gather, the greater the share that returns to each person, which is why humans have lived in communities for ages.
...Of course, some who value utility over efficiency prefer killing and taking over living together, but anyway.
Gathering our lamps and sharing stories, we were now listening to the words of an old engineer.
"...When they built this meta conveyor belt, my older brother passed away. It was a terrible accident. The ground hadn't even fully solidified, and he stepped in confusion and got ground up just like that. The sight of being buried in the flowing earth... kuku. I hope you never imagine it. I couldn't even express it in words if I tried."
Whether intended or not, the way he trailed off made our imaginations work harder.
The image of a person being crushed by flowing earth flashed through people's minds. Red blood spread like lava inside the flowing earth...
The old engineer, recalling the past, looked at the meta conveyor belt with moist eyes.
"My brother was an excellent carpenter but not an excellent stonemason, and he didn't exactly know what flowing earth was... He probably knows well now. Being closest to the Earth Mother God. I suppose I'm moving by riding my brother's corpse."
"Oh my..."
"After my brother passed, I couldn't get any work done for a whole year. Working blank-minded, I almost died too. Back then, our brothers were the only carpenters in that unit, so we were always the first to be called when building walls. When my brother died, I was the only one left to do the work. Doing the work of two people alone, it was only natural the wooden palisade collapsed..."
After the coup, those who had lived well during the kingdom era became prisoners and were sentenced to forced labor. But no matter how much they were whipped, skills that didn't exist couldn't suddenly appear.
The military nation gathered technicians from all over the country, gave them official positions, and granted them authority to oversee the laborers.
The most prominent among them was Ji Seon.
"That's when Ji Seon saved me, and ingrate that I am, I found myself thinking: why did they come now, if only they had come a week earlier, my brother could have lived. Kuku. I really am a selfish bastard."
I offered some modest consolation to the engineer who spoke as if mocking himself.
"Don't blame yourself. If you were truly selfish, you wouldn't even remember being saved."
"Kekeke. That's easy to say now after all these years. Back then, I was so full of bitter resentment. After the construction ended, I did nothing but drink for months... while resenting the military nation and Ji Seon. Still, if only I could see Ji Seon just once more. I want to kneel and apologize. That's my wish."
"Don't worry about that. Ji Seon saved more than just one or two people. They probably won't even remember you. If someone suddenly apologized out of nowhere, they'd be more flustered."
"...Come to think of it, that's probably true. Unlike me, Ji Seon was truly a selfless person..."
Really? I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Ignorance is bliss. I comforted the old engineer and told him to rest easy. It's better than him going to meet Ji Seon and being shocked by the sight of a severed right arm.
After the bitter story ended, I took out the canned food I had placed on the lamp. The General poured water into his somewhat more premium meat can, being a General and all, but after smelling the aroma from my canned food, he kept glancing over.
"What's that?"
"I put pre-cooked food in empty cans and resealed them."
"Canned food with already cooked food? That's something they do at canning factories! You're quite skilled. Let me have a taste."
The General demanded as if it were only natural. I quickly finished calculating in my mind.
Honestly, giving a little canned food isn't a problem.
But right now, I'm operating under the setting that I don't know the General's identity.
I'm being respectful and sensing something unusual about his status, but if it causes me actual disadvantage, I wouldn't readily agree. Warm to family but not so generous to others—let's go with that concept.
The General would prefer that side too.
I slightly turned away and let my smiling expression fade. I needlessly glanced around and moved closer to the Captain.
"...I'm not as good at compression as a canning factory, so I can only fit about 2 servings in one can."
"Huh?"
When I showed signs of rejection bordering on wariness, the General acted as if his pride was hurt.
"Hey, brother! Did you think I'd ask with an empty mouth! I'm saying let's eat it together with our canned food! This is meat!"
"Meat can't substitute for sincerity. I'm sorry, but this is for me and Bbi."
Perhaps unable to bring himself to take it by force out of pride, the General frowned and pushed forward all his canned food, shouting.
"Fine! It's all or nothing! I'll give you five!"
"...Really?"
"I don't go back on my word! I have no intention of cheapening a dish made for a younger sibling! Take all of this!"
If that's the case, that's a different story—I acted with that feeling.
I have more than enough food anyway, but these used fresh ingredients and spices without sparing anything. Since I might be questioned, it's hard to bring them out right now.
While I brightened up and prepared the canned food, Colonel Gand quietly pointed out.
"Master. Five is everything we have."
"Oh, really? Sorry for giving and taking back, brother, then four!"
"Why would you subtract one when I said five is everything? Then what are we going to eat the day after tomorrow?"
Being harassed by his disciple and subordinate Colonel Gand, the General lashed out in anger.
"You brat, if you don't have canned food, you should figure out how to get some! Stop being so passive!"
"How do we get canned food on the belt? Are you telling me to commit robbery?"
"Robbery? Did I teach you to do that?"
"Then what am I supposed to do!"
Anyway, thanks to the large-hearted General's grand generosity, that evening was more splendid than any other.
Even the flowing earth couldn't chase the sun setting in the west. The day grew dark along with the smoke scattering behind us. Everyone yawned widely and sought shelter from the wind to sleep.
"What? You lost the lamp? Can't be helped. Hey, Gand! Give your lamp!"
The General pointed at the mother and son sitting closely together and shouted. Colonel Gand, once again being bossed around by the General, pressed his brows and bit his lips.
"Then what will I use to stay warm while sleeping?"
"Who cares."
"...I don't care either. Just give me the Master's then."
"You brat, trying to fleece your heaven-like Master. Then shall you and I share a lamp? Huh? Want to spend the night facing each other?"
"I'm sorry. I'll just sleep alone, so please hand over my lamp."
Like that, everyone found their own comfortable spots and lay down. Naturally, the Captain and I, who were pretending to be siblings, ended up in a similar space.
The Captain, having removed her uniform packet and wearing only a shirt, fitted her sleeping bag packet. The compressed down filling puffed up cloud by cloud and enveloped the Captain's body. It looked like she was draped in clouds, or had become a golden sheep whose fur was rapidly growing.
The Captain, buried in the warm and soft sleeping bag packet, let out a heavy sigh that didn't match her attire.
"...Eventful. A complicated day."
"Complicated how? We met good people and are having a good night."
At my nonchalant response, the Captain inwardly bristled and said,
"You would not know. The predicament I found myself in today."
"There you go again. You were told to call me Oppa earlier. If the hyung-nim heard, he'd flip out."
Over there were those who could even bring fierce winds under their control with the pinnacle of Qi-Emptiness Arts. They wouldn't eavesdrop on others' conversations like petty people, but it might inadvertently be overheard.
'...Kuh. Affirmed. General Partlaxion is one who has transcended human strength. Even what I'm saying now could reach his ears. Having my act seen through even once is dangerous.'
In other words.
The Captain was still saying she had to treat me as Oppa.
'...Watch your words, kuh, Oppa.'
"I'm always careful."
'I can't tell if you're mocking me or acting, because of your attitude!'
Both. Both.
The utility of light and heat grows when shared. The Captain and I lay facing each other with two lamps each between us.
I struggled to put on a regular sleeping bag instead of a packet. Meanwhile, the Captain, buried in comfort, stared at me and fell into thought.
'I am a Signal Soldier. My identity must not be revealed. No matter what.'
The emotion felt was duty.
And melancholy.
'If someone knows my identity... sees my face, knows that status, and realizes the connection between the two. I must kill myself.'
It was belief without a shred of doubt.
Right after advancing from elementary citizen school to middle military school, during a time when she was attending classes with puffed-up dreams.
Without any notice, people from the military nation suddenly came and said to her:
-Congratulations. Aptitude has been discovered in you. A very precious aptitude that can become a Signal Soldier.
Aptitude to become a Signal Soldier. The girl's heart swelled at those words. The easiest path in the world, where one could immediately become an officer just by entering. That was how the place was known.
Parting from friends she had already made, the girl followed the instructor who came from a very special school.
And synchronizes.
Girls with sensitivity and empathy abilities far superior to anyone else, who didn't fit the military nation at all. They made each other their support and endured harsh training.
Alone they could never endure, but their ability was empathy and synchronization. The constantly applied pressure shaped them into well-fitting puzzles. They never clashed, never hurt each other. Friction is a luxurious act only possible when there's leeway.
Thus divided by class, they came out into the world already commissioned as Captains from the start. Working alone, but they are not lonely.
A unique yet not unique magic.
Because they each possess a unique magic that can reach one another.
'However, in cases where I don't need to kill myself. I don't have to kill myself.'
It sounds obvious but it's not an obvious fact. The Captain looked at me with eyes that tried to be cold.
'You have not divulged information about me to anyone so far. Therefore, if you die, the necessity of my death disappears.'
Because it's easier to kill oneself than to kill others, Signal Soldiers are forced to commit suicide. But like now, during this strange journey while both are off guard—
Killing someone who wants to live is harder than the act of killing itself.
'General Partlaxion is a Yukjangseong. Yukjangseong is level 5, they have no constraints. If I were to reveal the truth and request it even now, he would eliminate you. In other words, I hold your lifeline. I, if I set my mind to it, can kill you at any time and preserve my life.'
"Sigh. Done. This size doesn't fit well. Geez. If only I could wear a clothing packet properly too."
Crumpling my body into the sleeping bag while struggling, I rolled over like a caterpillar. When our eyes met, the Captain made a frightened expression.
'...That's why. I don't have to kill myself.'
But the Signal Soldier's greatest enemy is that very empathy ability. The ability to identify others with oneself breaks down the mold of the Signal Soldier, a creation of the military nation.
Perhaps the windowless room, while protecting the information within them, was also a facility to perfectly store the component called a Signal Soldier.
Well, that's none of my business.
"What are you doing? Not sleeping?"
'...I will sleep. There are no alarms on the meta conveyor belt, so please wake up on time.'
"If there's no alarm, can't we just not wake up?"
'...Ridiculous... words... wake-up time is... strictly...'
Following the increasingly faint breathing, the Captain also gradually began to fall asleep. I lay waiting for the Captain to fall asleep, and when her consciousness completely faded, I only raised my body.
...Is she asleep? Not asleep?
Ah, my back is cold because it's facing the edge.
I picked up my share of the lamp and placed it behind my back. Warming myself with lamps front and back, I feel a bit more alive.
If the sleeping bag is bad, at least the environment should be good. I dozed off in the warmth, basking in the firelight from front and back.
From afar, the Captain's thoughts could be heard.
'...You said he was a terrible older brother, and it's really true. Using lamps front and back just because he's cold.'
The Captain hasn't slept yet.
Exploiting a younger sibling is an older brother's right. I'd prefer it if she didn't butt in.