No matter how much the world has changed, most people still live exactly as they always have.
Even if the entire world is hurtling toward a state of total war right this instant.
Isn't the nation called the Republic of Korea a people whose DNA is engraved with the imperative that skipping school means death?
"Wow, they screwed the curriculum to hell again. Wait, what kind of situation makes dropping out the optimal choice if you fail once?"
"Leave them be. What can you do when they want to restructure their own rice bowls? Does it make sense that electives don't open due to low enrollment?"
Well, the rote education they used to push so hard would soon be largely replaced by AI anyway, so they couldn't force it like before.
Compared to the youth dying off in the present continuous tense, investment in future generations hasn't decreased one bit, so cheers to that.
On the flip side, for active-duty soldiers living in the present, having their lives ruined or taking losses had become as natural as breathing.
"No, what's so great about leaving behind one heartwarming story that you're asking me to postpone my discharge by a week?!"
"Hey! There's no one else who can do this but you—what do you want me to do, you selfish bastard?! Are you saying it's fine if the army becomes monster chow?!"
Was it thanks to splendidly decorating all sorts of incidents and accidents lately?
The era when they brazenly acted up and called it livelihood corruption had passed, and though it was now a military that read the public mood—
"Do you know what era this is, saying you'll ignore society's safety for personal advancement?!"
"...Tsk. I feel like I'm hearing the same bullshit they spouted back in my father's day."
Now it was a dangerous opportunity for career soldiers and a desperate wartime situation for conscripts, wasn't it?
The stars with their gall bloated by the power on their shoulders couldn't possibly sit still and watch the discharge of an ability-user unit with off-the-charts efficiency.
"The nation is in crisis, and you dare try to discharge as an ability-user?! Are you abandoning your country?! Don't you love your homeland?!"
"...Haa."
While they were literally in the middle of a panty-wrestling match with monsters, they started making threats that returning to society was out of the question.
"Haha. They're gonna drag me into student reservist duty one way or another anyway—do I look crazy enough to keep doing this shit?"
The problem was, the opponent was someone who had weathered hardships at a level that would go down in military history.
"Wh...what?!"
"Plus I get sick from time to time, I'm busy getting certifications... anyway, I won't do anything related to the military even if it kills me!"
For all that devotion, there was no reward; instead, faced with bullshit demanding even more dedication to the motherland—
He had the guts to say "I don't want to! I won't, so get lost right now!" straight to their faces, superior or whoever.
"Damn it! This is why young people today are the problem! What on earth is as important as defending the homeland?!"
Naturally, the higher-ups who had assumed to some extent that he would "know better since he went to college" were furious.
"What? Discharge? Haha, you must be joking. If we don't have ability users now, we can't possibly maintain the front lines..."
The field staff, who hadn't expected their unit's ace to openly display such hostility, were bewildered as well.
Considering his mission performance, his excellence, and so on, they had naturally assumed he held the military in high regard.
"No, then you should have slacked off or refused bit by bit from the start! What are we supposed to do when you did everything and now pull this?!"
Did they think he had been muttering *'Just a little more and I can escape this shithole...!!'* to himself?
If someone had flirted this hard, it was at a level where tying them to graduate school and turning them into a paper-reading machine would earn you an acquittal.
"This won't do. The day before his discharge... somehow tie him down and process him."
That was the standard method for dealing with 'voluntary applicants' who refused to enter graduate school or labs—lasso them and drag them away.
Even the post-hoc consent tactic, where you get their agreement afterward so it all works out despite the coercion, felt like something they'd all seen before...
"Kya, as expected of someone with experience. Your way of thinking is on another level entirely, Senior!"
"Especially with the population cliff and all that—if not now, how do we stockpile talent?! Society will steal them all away!"
Since even the National Defense University had a graduate school, it was a headhunting technique that was hardly surprising.
***
Despite the unit atmosphere having gone completely sour thanks to the bullshit of trying to hold onto him after he returned from a long, long leave—
The Ministry of National Defense clock kept ticking away, and before he knew it, the evening roll call he would experience for the last time in his life was approaching.
Naturally, even if everything rolled in strange directions.
"Any problems or suggestions?"
"""None, sir!!!"""
It was only proper to collectively convey silent pressure to the officer of the day—a demand that he shut up and leave quickly without another word.
"It's over! Damn it, this shit is finally over!"
For the first time since boot camp, the mindset of *'I'm out of here, so you suckers can keep spinning the wheel'* resurfaced in the young man.
Thanks to moving frequently, he finally danced in the barracks—not in a shipping container—to the holy song playing on the TV.
For the selection to be that damned Siloam, at this point it was practically a protest begging to be killed.
Though he had zero intention of taking up religion, perhaps the memory of simply visiting on a tour couldn't be reset—
"I'm heading out! Screw you guys~♬ Not doing army life! Work, rank, destroyed!"
The price Kim Chomok paid for drawing the aggro of the entire squad with his spirited dance was miserable.
"Grab this bastard! He's really asking for a beating—this crazy bastard really won't go quietly until his last day!"
It had been established since his sergeant days that close friends could speak casually to him.
For someone who had finished his terminal leave and was returning to society, superiors and all that bullshit were just old men at this point.
"Kuwaak, Il-hwan! What the hell is this?! If you leave behind this kind of precedent, you'll suffer it too!"
"You damned bastard, even if I'm not from Nonsan, I know exactly what bullshit you're pulling! Die!"
After the great human blanket-roll using the military blanket of his real friend, Jeong Il-hwan, whom he would keep even outside—
A group lynching brewed with a pinch of affection from everyone and amplified hatred courtesy of PTSD manufacturing was inflicted.
Thwack!
"Eat well and live well out there! If we hit you too hard and you end up passing away, please live well in the next life!"
Thwack!
"We were even going to send you off nicely since you got your reserve uniform, but you just had to ask for a beating! The thighs weren't enough at all!"
When the lovely senior send-off—half blessing, half jealousy, and one hundred percent barracks blanket-roll—ended.
"Hyah. I don't know if I can't sleep because my body hurts or because I'm too excited."
What arrived during the little time that remained was the thrill of that day finally coming.
While the hellish days slipped... slowly... past his eyes.
"Hey... Chomok. You're not asleep, right? ...No, don't pretend to sleep. This guy, seriously."
Pshhhheeeew—!!
"Ugh?!"
Today, the officer of the day, as if realizing he wasn't asleep yet, blasted the divine authority of *'Let there be light'* into his eyes.
"Wh...what is it. In the early morning."
If the other party had been a soldier, he would have dropped honorifics and shoved a lightbulb straight under his eyelids.
But the opponent was a cadre who had just pinned on staff sergeant.
Until he passed 2400 hours today, if he cursed, he was the one with a shitty life.
"...Sigh. Understood. I'll pack the gear briefly and go check."
"Thanks. You're leaving tomorrow morning, yet I'm imposing on you until the very end."
Since he was someone who would cleanly walk out by morning anyway, it wasn't a shame to leave one last gift behind.
"Whew, is this newbie already spacing out when he just got here?"
Figuring that surely his senior was busy and the assistant must have forgotten to check comms in his stead—
When Kim Chomok arrived at the patrol point slowly running with reconnaissance coordinates and simple gear strapped on.
"Oh, he's here. Everyone mount rifles! Deserter spotted! From now on, if you move even an inch, you are cleared to fire!"
Click-clack!
Since it was a scene of ordinary soldiers raising something toward him that he hadn't seen in all this time.
"What is this? I was expecting two confused brats, so why is there an old man and a different breed of old man?"
Whether it was thanks to the drowsy dawn air keeping his situation-recognition OS from fully booting yet—
"Now! Sergeant Kim Chomok! I have two proposals for yo—"
Jjaaaak...!!
Or perhaps thanks to having sensed the ominousness approaching him—though no one would ever know now—
Before the career soldier with a triumphant face could finish his words, the countless plants around them withered.
Puuuuk—!!
"...Guh...urk...!!"
As fast as the plants turned brown, the opponent's face shook twice and his stomach caved in and out.
Without anyone knowing when he had moved, he approached naturally and quickly—a one-two facial strike followed by a body shot.
Both cheekbones were crushed. He didn't know what was happening inside the other man's stomach, but blood dripped from his mouth.
To describe the state below his pants, it was chaos foul enough to ruin one's appetite for the next day.
Before the soldiers who had been waiting with bated breath, a whole scene unfolded using the platoon leader's body.
"Uh...uh?! Wait, what is this...!!"
"Wh-what the hell! Platoon leader! Platoon leader! Please come to your senses! Wh-what are we supposed to do?!"
No matter how mentally prepared and deployed they were, the soldiers' essence was that of 'conscripts'—a dragged-along lot.
Their superior had received intel that a soldier was planning to desert alone during today's war against monsters.
So what if he passionately persuaded and ordered them on a mission to stop that?
The violent soldier standing far too confidently before them had just beaten a man to a pulp.
The superior who, even if he woke, was scheduled to scream in pain rather than criticism had his consciousness disappear into the distance long ago.
"Well... I don't know what misunderstanding there was, but I didn't do anything."
If they had to move according to their last received order, they should have already started delivering bullets.
But the person who was supposed to give them firing orders was, quite literally, crumpled by a one-two body shot and unconscious.
If the fainted platoon leader could speak, he would have screamed, *'I told you to shoot if they moved without waiting!'*
In a situation where failing to subdue the opponent immediately meant the next beatdown could be any one of them?
"C-can we really? B-but we came to catch a suspected deserter... can we just leave?"
One sergeant present spoke with a shred of conscience, posing the question of whether they could withdraw on their own, but—
"I was only asked to track down our soldier for a bit near the Gate because there was no news of him.
If he's waving his radio openly right in front of you like this, you can feel in your gut that this person is far from deserting."
"Besides, today is my discharge ceremony. I was just filling in for someone to make some final memories."
"...Oh, really? Then he definitely didn't desert?"
Hearing on top of everything that tomorrow was the day he went home made their agitation multiply several times over.
Attempting an escape without even predicting a Liberation Day special pardon was something that only happened in fiction.
A guy who could proudly walk out the main gate before long was going to desert with exactly one day left?
"And, looking at that platoon leader, it seems he'd already been attacked by a monster once. Are you sure he's okay?"
—Your platoon leader collapsed from a monster's surprise attack... and his life is in real-time danger right now, isn't he?
While shamelessly fabricating the narrative that he was "the lifesaver" rather than just "an unfortunate accident."
Refuting those words meant subtly pressuring them with the fact that they would have to fight the "monster in human form" standing right there.
But fortunately, they weren't so stupid that they failed to grasp the meaning.
"Th-that's right! It seemed to be an invisible monster! We didn't even notice the attack!"
Fortunately, they began to extricate themselves safely without stepping on any landmines.
"F-first, the platoon leader's condition is the priority! Let's withdraw! Hey, what are you doing? Carry him! We need to get to the infirmary!"
"...Ah, there’s a strange smell coming from below... Are you really carrying me? This..."
Unless they were a reflex-type ability user, rather than fighting a monster whose speed even other ability users had to concede to,
the beautiful camaraderie of withdrawing for the sake of a comrade’s condition was far preferable!
Watching the soldiers, who had at some point hoisted their platoon leader onto one’s back and were running far off into the distance,
"I really don’t understand why people think others will do everything just because they’re told to."
Finding someone who thought completing the mission was far more important than their own safe discharge...
In twenty-first-century South Korea, unless it was a defensive war, that was absolutely impossible—so Gim Chomok realized.
***
- Beep-beep, Chomok. The guys are already back? They said they just didn’t really know how to use the radio.
The radio call from the duty officer that reached Gim Chomok’s ears after he saw off the platoon leader and his subordinates, who had gone through something rather unpleasant,
contained a surprising amount of information if examined even a little closely.
"Hmm... If he’s making this radio call at this timing, then this guy doesn’t know. About what happened."
First, today’s duty officer either knew nothing or knew only the bare minimum.
He was the sort of person who had always cared well for the men, and though waking him up on the day of his discharge was a little suspicious,
"It really did feel like he’d chosen the most optimal person, someone who could obviously make the patrol alone."
Since the duty officer, a non-ability user, was in no position to go out alone and look for the men or do anything else, it made sense.
Second, the hopeless case with the radio was not actually a hopeless case; he had received something from someone or been given instructions.
"A guy who got into the military, one way or another, makes a tiny screw-up like this, not even something like changing the channel?"
As if. Anyone could see someone had given him an order like, “Do this here.”
If he had maintained total radio silence, Gim Chomok might have believed it if told, “It’s true,” but not realizing he had been pressing it the whole time was absurd.
"...Understood. Will return slowly and with caution. It may take some time."
- Right, good work! Take it slow and come back carefully! I’ll set out a cup ramen so you can eat it as soon as you get in!
The moment Gim Chomok pressed the side button on the radio and reported to the duty officer that the situation was over,
Taak!!
He concentrated the plant energy he had sucked in, of which there was still plenty left, into the propulsion of his legs.
"Now, if you were determined to pin some strange false charge on a single soldier..."
—Then conversely, it’s only right that you be generous if that single soldier “accidentally” makes a mistake, isn’t it?
No matter how much he had radioed that he would go slowly, the night was short and time was precious.
"If someone messes with me, it’s only proper to smash their face in before they can even explain why."
Why did they not understand that a short-timer making trouble was the scariest thing in the world?
From the perspective of a young man who wanted to go home, it was truly baffling, but whatever excuse they tried to make now, it was far too late.
"Even if you started out with diamonds, you must have met plenty of captains who’d given up on promotion... So why can’t you grasp such a simple truth?"
If you hadn’t been properly educated, then having to learn it with your body while paying a steep price was a truth that held anywhere in the world.
Beside the unit building, where the lights were still on and noise continued to ring out, stood a small separate space.
"I’m coming to teach you now."
At the battalion commander’s quarters⁴, the number one pinpoint instructor landed to conduct a lesson.