Episode 2: The Legendary Trash
The real hardship began after I returned to the unit.
Before we get to the main story, I suppose it’s only proper to first explain how I—or rather, the real Arthur Gray before I possessed him—ended up hospitalized.
Since I couldn’t remember what had happened at all, the army doctor kindly explained it to me.
It seemed that the previous night, while drinking at a bar, he’d gotten into an argument with civilians at the next table and a fight had broken out.
According to eyewitness testimony, he had knocked three of them down and was standing there triumphantly when he was hit in the back of the head with a chair and knocked out cold. Afterward, the military police who’d responded to the report arrived on the scene and had him transported here.
“Well, don’t worry too much. People say you weren’t the one who started it—the civilians did. And since the fight happened outside the bar, the shop didn’t suffer much damage either. Surely they wouldn’t throw someone who just woke up from a three-day coma straight into the guardhouse?”
“Haha, thank you……”
“Still, take this opportunity to cut back on the drinking. You could end up like me.”
The army doctor pointed to his half-bald head and protruding belly with an infinitely serious tone.
Hmm, I’d better take that to heart.
Excessive drinking is a shortcut to hair loss and obesity, after all.
Come to think of it, this Arthur Gray guy—I should’ve known when his family forcibly enrolled him in the military academy that he was quite the brawler. They say he took on four guys by himself and knocked three of them down.
He did get KO’d in the end by allowing a surprise attack, but still.
Anyway, seeing my expression, the doctor mistook my worry for concern about being thrown in the guardhouse and laughed, patting me on the back.
“Aside from slight symptoms of amnesia, you’re perfectly fine overall. The wound on your head healed quickly, too. I’ve never seen a case like this. You’re quite lucky.”
Hmm, Doctor. If you were in my shoes, you’d never say I was lucky.
Anyway, having finished treatment, I was discharged and able to return to my unit.
Looking back now, I should’ve feigned madness or self-harmed or done something to just stay in that hospital…….
***
The 1st Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Armored Regiment, to which I belonged, was using a large, old mansion as its barracks.
It was a building that exuded an antique, elegant atmosphere, but the ivy covering its walls made it look as if it had merged with the surrounding forest.
The soldiers standing guard saluted as I approached and opened the door for me.
Hmm, but their expressions seemed to sour the moment they saw me…….
Anyway, having returned to the unit, I was immediately summoned to the company commander’s office.
Opening the large door and stepping inside, a Middle Eastern-style carpet spread across the floor and a rather expensive-looking desk came into view.
At the desk, neatly organized with an ashtray packed with cigarette butts, a pencil holder, various documents, and stamps, Company Commander Captain Ed Harrison was smoking with a terrifying expression.
He looked exactly like Sergeant Gross from the manga *Attack on Titan*, and I nearly let out a gasp without realizing it, but an inexplicable sense of oppression made my mouth shut on its own.
“Second Lieutenant Arthur Gr—….”
“You’re here.”
His voice, cutting off my return report like a knife, was laced with anger.
While I stood there blankly, Captain Harrison smoked cigarette after cigarette.
The company commander’s office was soon filled with cigarette smoke, and as a non-smoker, I felt a headache slowly coming on and tried my best to stand straight.
If even a breeze could pass through, it would be a little better, but unfortunately, the window was firmly shut.
Of course, I didn’t even have the nerve to ask Captain Harrison if I could open the window.
Captain Harrison, who had been glaring at me silently while smoking, roughly stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and rose from his seat. Then he approached me with heavy strides.
The sound of his footsteps echoing on the floor sounded more terrifying to me than the whistle of falling artillery.
Captain Harrison’s two brown eyes fixed on my face, and I tried not to avoid his gaze. It was no easy task.
“You.”
“Ah, yes!”
As the captain’s lips moved, the mustache just above them moved along with them.
It looked almost as if the mustache was the one speaking, and for a moment I nearly burst out laughing, but I managed to hold it in.
If I laughed now, I couldn’t guarantee my life. My instincts told me so.
“Do you remember what I told you before?”
“……?”
How would I know that, old man.
Just a few days ago, I was living in a different era and a different country from you.
But if I said that, it felt like he’d break my neck, so I desperately racked my brain and recalled what had happened to the “past me.”
Only then did I understand why Captain Harrison was so furious.
It was because the Arthur Gray from before I possessed him was an unbelievable bastard—so much so that words couldn’t describe it.
And of course, not in a good way.
If I were to list the representative atrocities this man had committed, they would be as follows.
Since his days as a cadet at the military academy, he had committed all sorts of offenses—cheating, drinking, smoking outside designated areas, causing all kinds of trouble and receiving disciplinary action several times (though thanks to his family’s clout, he never got held back a year or expelled), and even after commissioning as a second lieutenant, he frequently caused accidents.
Hiding in the bathroom to sleep during work hours only to be caught by the administrative supply officer on patrol, going out and hitting on a civilian woman only to get into a hell of a fight with her boyfriend, or misfiring his gun during training and blowing off the head of a dog raised by a local family, and so on.
It was to the point where one would question if these were things a human being could even do.
It was enough to make the listener dizzy, but the bigger problem was that this trash bastard was now me.
Why, of all things! Why was this happening to me!
Being suddenly possessed was absurd enough, but why did the target have to be the trashiest of trash!
Even the 21st-century Republic of Korea Armed Forces, suffering from manpower shortages due to the low birth rate shock, would discharge a trash-tier soldier like this by handing him over to the Personnel Administration Division, or wouldn’t even let him commission in the first place!
“I…… remember.”
“What did I say then?”
Ah, I’m scared. I’m so scared…….
But I can’t not say it.
“If I cause one more accident……”
“If you cause an accident?”
“You said to be prepared.”
“Yes. You remember well.”
He turned his head and seemed to look at the ceiling for a moment, then kicked my right leg with the ferocious force of a tiger pouncing on a rabbit.
I didn’t even have time to feel pain.
Before I could even stagger, the captain grabbed me by the collar and yanked me toward him.
The captain glared at me with bloodshot eyes as if he’d devour me and shouted. It was so loud my ears rang.
“And yet! After! Only this much time has passed, you cause another accident! Huh?”
“I-I’m sorry!”
It was maddeningly unfair since I wasn’t the one who had done it, but right now I could only apologize. That was the only option.
But Captain Harrison’s anger didn’t subside easily.
On the other hand, I could understand.
If I were the company commander, I would’ve wanted to wring his neck immediately too.
“Just how many times do I have to put up with this? You’re supposed to be an officer, yet you cause accidents at the drop of a hat. Are you human or a thug? Are you messing with me right now? Are you throwing your weight around because you’ve got mommy and daddy’s backing?”
“No, sir!”
“Do you know how hard I got chewed out this time? They asked if I’m not properly educating my subordinates. How old do you think I am, that I still have to hear this kind of talk? If you’ve got a mouth, say something!”
“I’m sorry, sir!”
“Something other than sorry!”
Ah. I just want to die.
***
Until Captain Harrison’s anger subsided, I was literally shaken like dust being beaten off.
At one point, I even considered pretending to be crazy and throwing a punch.
But then what?
I’d be arrested by the military police for assaulting a superior officer and sent to a court-martial. Not even my family’s power could cover that up.
On top of that, with my prior record, I’d undoubtedly be headed for the guardhouse or prison.
But wait, come to think of it, that might actually be better?
Going to prison isn’t a good thing, but considering what lies ahead, it might actually be much better.
Wouldn’t it be much better to spend a few years in prison and get out than to die from a gunshot or burn to death on the battlefield?
It’s true that during World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union, who faced soldier shortages, even conscripted prisoners. But I’ve never heard of Britain doing so, so they wouldn’t drag me out of prison to send me to the front lines.
Just as I finished my thoughts and was about to make a decision, an unexpected savior appeared through the door.
It was Sergeant Hugh Gates, the company administrative supply officer.
Sergeant Gates, a man with a massive physique reminiscent of a bear, was a powerhouse despite having just turned fifty.
He grabbed Captain Harrison, who had half-lost his reason to rage, and pulled him away from me.
“Sir, please restrain yourself.”
“Let go of me! Even if I go to hell, I swear I’ll kill that bastard!”
The captain’s face was now flushed even redder than a radish, looking as if he might explode at any moment.
However, Sergeant Gates spoke in a calm tone without changing his expression one bit.
“No matter how angry you are, you must endure. You must maintain decorum. You are the commander, sir.”
Captain Harrison flailed his arms and legs and screamed in a frenzy, but Sergeant Gates’s grip was stronger, so he eventually had no choice but to suppress his anger.
After calming down moments later, he glared at me with fierce eyes and spat out the words he’d been holding back as if vomiting them.
“You!”
“S-Second Lieutenant Arthur Gray!”
“This is the last time. If you cause another accident next time, then…… I’ll personally put a bullet in your thick skull. You understand?”
“I’ll keep that in mind, sir!”
“If you understand, then get out. I’m sick of looking at you.”
I fled from the company commander’s office.
It was only after getting outside and going to the bathroom that I realized my entire body was covered in bruises.
It was a spectacularly tumultuous beginning to my second military life.
Fuck.