[About 30 of you guys have asked me to do a trial of this novel. I typically upload ‘place-holder’ chapters since we do quite a production in preparation for mass releases and a regular schedule. Most services that do it at our scale have the legal ability to take down the series from another group on NU once they’re prepared, however, we don’t have such authority since we are still a fan translations site. Anyways, this will be the last ‘trial’ series that will be added to our site for some time. All of the other series already have teams being built. I’m looking forward to seeing feedback regarding this series, our current capacity for a new series is only 15-20 chapters per week due to workload issues. Cheers!]
#Stability (3), Camp Roberts
The efficiency of 「training」 increased as the target lessened, and that was why Gyeoul was making Yura work hard even during the weekend. She clenched her teeth and withstood the trials that tested her physical and psychological limits. For now, it was fire training. There were eight large targets at a 10-meter distance. Each target has ten numbers written on them, and she needed to hit the multiples of 7. Additionally, she couldn’t stay in one place for more than 3 seconds.
‘Multiple of 7, multiple of 7.’ Yura kept on mumbling to herself. Gyeoul pressed the stopwatch and blew his whistle.
“You fucking whore! A bitch like you being born was a mistake! Fuck, why were you even born?! Don’t you ever feel sorry for your parents?! Or is your mother a fucking bitch too?!”
The middle-aged man started shouting at Yura with all kinds of curses and swears. He even shoved her hard. Yura bit her lips and endured it.
Bang!
The first shot was a miss. Another shot fired, then another shot, and another. She fired four times before 3 seconds passed by, then took two steps forward before she took aim again. Wavering iron-sight. The guy was still yelling at her, and his breath stank. Yura felt her mind plunged into chaos. Was 42 a factor of 7? She couldn’t properly think as her head went blank. She fired and moved with feelings of uncertainty.
‘Next target. Her wavering eyes quickly scanned the entire range. 19? No. 25? No. 63?…7 times 9. Right. I should fire. Did I? Did I miss? Again…shit, 3 seconds!’
Gyeoul scored her as he moved along with her steps. It was a method where it started from 100 then decreased whenever she missed; if she halted more than 3 seconds, a deduction per second. If she hit the wrong number, deduction. If it was in the incorrect order, deduction. As Yura passed through the second target, her score was already down to 79.
Clack. She was out of ammo. As she drew a magazine with one hand, she took out the spare with another.
“Shit!”
She missed, and as she made a long face, Gyeoul deducted 5 points. The swears of the man with bad breath fell onto her head like a waterfall as she hastily picked up magazines. As she had no time to mind her surroundings, she ran to the next target, and she left behind two numbers that were to be shot, but she was gradually getting better. If she remained the same till the end, her final score should’ve been zero.
“Forty-seven points?”
“Yes. A minute and nineteen seconds with a score of forty-seven points. You did well.”
“Sigh…”
Yura scooched down while covering her face, her shoulders shivering a bit. Sniffle. She wiped her tears away with her hands. The man who had been cursing at her now suddenly felt very sorry for her.
“Ah… I’m sorry, Ms. Yura. You know I don’t mean them, right?”
“I know. It’s just hard, that’s all. I’ll be fine after a while. It’s not my first.”
Gyeoul sat next to her and offered her his handkerchief. She accepted it without a word, wiping her tears away firmly. The middle-aged man who helped in the training tried to read the mood then sat next to Gyeoul. Ahem, hmm! He cleared his throat. Gyeoul smiled and checked his pocket. What came out from it was a pack of cigarettes. After tapping the bottom, he offered it to the older man, who accepted it with a sigh. As he put the cigarette into his mouth, Gyeoul lit it.
Pfft-! The end of the cigarette began to smolder. The older man held his breath after inhaling the smoke, then after enough time that anyone would be worried about him, he exhaled and began to grumble.
“I came here thinking it’s great to be able to smoke, but without it, this isn’t a job worth doing. I wondered what kind of work it would be since I was told to prepare a bunch of curses…the one who undergoes the hardest time will be Ms. Yura, though. Honestly, I was damn scared thinking, what if she shoots me.”
He said it half-jokingly, the cigarette burning fast. Gyeoul didn’t bother replying. What they all needed was some silence. After a few minutes, Yura stopped crying and spoke up.
“Why are we doing this practice?”
Then right after, Yura continued.
“It’s not like I hate it. I just want to know…like hitting the target from a distance seems to be more important…”
Then she started to cough. Cough, cough. It was because the wind direction shifted, and she ended up inhaling the cigarette smoke. The middle-aged man moved away awkwardly. With a gentle smile, Gyeoul turned to her.
“It’s a training for maintaining calm and rational judgment at times of crisis. Ms. Yura, you’re the combat squad leader. Once the platoon is formed, you will be the platoon leader. If you lost your cool in a real battle, not just you but everyone in the platoon would be in danger. I want to avoid that happening.”
“That was why…”
Yura was wiping her face. After she took the handkerchief while promising that she would return it after washing it, she stood up while mentally preparing herself up. She slapped both of her cheeks. Smack! Then, more tears fell with a different meaning than the ones earlier. The middle-aged man burst into laughter. Pretending nothing happened, Yura started to talk.
“I will do better. What’s next?”
She ran and rolled. The firing practice took place several more times. She withstood them well. It was her innate ability which Gyeoul 「saw through」, her desire to live up to their expectations, and an effect of less stamina consumption from the 「training」 effect.
As dusk arrived, Yura was completely exhausted. As Gyeoul moved to help her stand up, she refused him. She didn’t want to look weak to the people around her. It was like she paid more attention to the gazes from members of other organizations rather than her own members. It was clear evidence that she understood well the position she would take over.
“Huh, it seems like something happened.”
The middle-aged man sounded surprised as he was walking a step ahead of them. There was a crowd near the base of the 「Winter Alliance」. As if they were choosing sides, they stood apart from one another and were shouting at each other while pointing fingers. Gyeoul left Yura in the care of the middle-aged man.
“Come slowly. I’ll go ahead.”
As he drew close, the atmosphere changed. On the one side were people of the 「Winter Alliance」. The expressions of the familiar faces became bright upon his arrival, and cheers came from the crowd. The other side was from the 「Multibody Promotion Association」. Gyeoul saw people who stayed with Lim HwaSu. As they exchanged glances, it was evident that everyone was scared. But why would the non-combatants be here?
Two officers from the crowd approached him.
“We’re glad that you came, commander. We were thinking of sending someone to call you here…”
Jang YeonChul greeted Gyeoul brightly. His forehead was covered with sweat. Min Wangi pretended as nothing happened, but his hands were shaking lightly. It was because he stood at the front as an officer. It must’ve been hard for a scholar to stand in front of brutes like this.
“What was all that? Care for an explanation?”
As Jang YeonChul tried to reply, a kid came from the crowds of the 「Multibody Promotion Association」.
“That guy took away our Mong-E!”
He seemed to be ten-years-old. His tiny eyes were filled with tears and hate. A woman who looked like the kid’s mother came out in a hurry. She embraced her child and bowed to Gyeoul multiple times.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
And as she tried to walk back, Gyeoul held her. The mother was frightened, but Gyeoul quickly pulled his hand back to give her some reassurance.
“Wait a second. I’d like to hear him out. I won’t harm anyone; you have my word.”
It seemed like they didn’t believe him, but they stood still since they couldn’t disobey Gyeoul. It looked like he had heard all the bad rumors about the boy. Well, they were from the 「Multibody Promotion Association」. The boy ran away from his mother as Gyeoul got on his knees to make eye contact with him.
“I don’t know what’s going on, so can you tell me who Mong-E is? Is he your dog?”
“Yes, a dog! My mother said it was my brother!”
Gyeoul had a glimpse of what’s happening. So, he asked once more.
“I see. Then, who took Mong-E?”
“That man did!”
As he looked in the direction of where the boy was pointing, there stood a man who looked confused. The crowd scattered as Gyeoul waved the man over.
“Come over here.”
The man came overlooking a bit resentful, and Gyeoul quickly identified his name.
“I’m not quite sure whether my memory is accurate but are you…JaeHeung?”
At that moment, the man’s expression became lighter.
“Yes, little commander. You remembered.”
He wasn’t really a special person; Gyeoul just tried his best to remember the names of all members of 「Winter Alliance」. It was his self-assigned task to become a good leader. Anyway, he looked like he had mixed up Gyeoul’s intention with something else. Gyeoul started his questioning.
“Let me ask, did you take away this boy’s puppy?”
Yes, No. He expected the answer to be either of these two, but a vast explanation came out instead.
“Aha, actually, there has been a misunderstanding…”
Self-justification required a lot of words. Gyeoul wanted to make faces at him, but he endured, as doing that would make him add up more excuses.
“So, to summarize the story.”
Gyeoul heard the entire story and skipped the unnecessary parts.
“You took it thinking that the puppy didn’t have an owner, right?”
JaeHeung nodded while looking delighted.
“That’s right. A dog was roaming around, and there was nobody nearby, so…”
The boy yelled loudly.
“Liar! I had Mong-E with me! You took him away from me! You bastard!”
“Uh-oh! Calling an adult bastard, where did you learn such manners!”
JaeHeung suddenly yelled back, pointing at the mother.
“Better educate your damn son! This mess was all because that undisciplined boy can’t even take care of his damn dog! A bamboo basket can’t carry water. You hear me?!”
Several complaints were heard from the side of 「Multibody Promotion Alliance」, but its scale was too small. Gyeoul weighed them down. The man, JaeHeung, started to show his nerve. He believed that the one with a louder voice would win. Gyeoul held his pointing finger.
“Huh? Little commander?”
JaeHeung stopped over-reacting and started to read Gyeoul’s mood. As Gyeoul made him put his hand down, he calmly asked the man.
“So I’ll reconfirm. You were saying when you picked up the dog, nobody was there, right?”
“That’s correct! So at that moment I…”
“Stop it there. Now, try to answer as short as possible from now on.”
JaeHeung seemed a bit indignant as his words were stopped, but he nodded. Gyeoul asked the boy’s mother to close his ears for a while. It was because he knew the answer to the question. However, he cannot just let it slip by in order to investigate.
“Then what did you do with the dog?”
“Argh…well, I tried to look for its owner, but you see, we don’t live so well, so…”
“Make it simple.”
“…I ate it.”
An answer from his quiet murmur. How much would the boy cry if he heard his dog was eaten? The boy’s mother closed both of her eyes tightly. The puppy was like a brother to the boy, so the mother’s attachment to the dog would’ve also been great.
“JaeHeung. You realize your words are contradicting themselves, right?”
Gyeoul’s head was tilted slightly, and his voice lowered.
“You don’t make any sense from the start. If there was nobody when you picked up the dog, how on earth made this boy point to you as the culprit? What do you think of the possibility of a boy who knows nothing about the situation pointing at someone to be a dog thief?”
“A dog thief! You’re crossing your line there!”
“Then should I call you a liar? Or a swindler? Either one is associated with thievery, which I hate. Take your pick.”
Then the dog thief made a frustrated expression. He put his arms on his waist, then became silent as he looked at the ground. At last, he uttered with a sigh.
“Little commander, you aren’t supposed to do that.”
“What have I done wrong?”
“We’re on the same side!”
He beat his chest out of frustration.
“I’m not that stupid. I beat around the bush, so you have to take my side adequately! Huh? All people from both sides are watching and what’s all this? It’s a shame. This will do no good for you too!”
“How would this in any way affect me?”
“Who would follow a commander that won’t side with his people? Huh? Just a damn dog, if you keep on cornering a person with this petty matter, who would, in the future, trust you to take the role of a leader in an important matter…well, that’s my point-.”
He shook his hand and started talking passionately.
“Speaking of which, what kind of a person raises a dog in this situation, right? I mean, we don’t even have enough food for people, and speaking of dog food, ridiculous, isn’t it? People come first before dogs, and it’s not the other way around, am I wrong? What kind of a sane person just leaves the dog as is, don’t you think so? That would be making everyone a fool. Since we all have to bear with that ridiculous situation!”
“…”
“Yes. I admit I did make a small mistake. But the world we’re living in changed. At such times, we have to go with the flow and take good care of our own men so they can feel like, wow- this guy is my commander! And they’ll all pledge their loyalty. Yes? Don’t you think so? So commander, have all those people leave and let’s talk by ourselves. Huh? We’re all losing face here.”
“You can stop.”
Gyeoul stopped him from talking. The boy was crying. Although he didn’t hear the part where his dog was eaten, he had some sense of what happened. Why else would his mother cover his ears, and why would the crowd make such faces? Gyeoul knelt towards the boy and the mother.
“My apologies.”
Small cries spread throughout the crowd. He didn’t bother with them. Gyeoul bowed down to the point that his head was nearly touching the ground.
“I apologize on his behalf. I’m truly sorry.”
What madness, this was crazy. It was JaeHeung that was murmuring these sentences. He tried to have Gyeoul stand up not to lose his face, but it was a meaningless effort. This continued on for a while. From the crowd of 「Multibody Promotion Alliance」, a man came out.
“Ahem, well, it’s enough, so stand up.”
Gyeoul replied.
“I’m not making an apology to the 「Multibody Promotion Alliance」 but to Mong-E’s mother and brother.”
“I’m Mong-E’s father.”
“…”
Gyeoul stood up and brushed off his knees. Without even giving a short glance, he spoke to the person who created this problem.
“Mr. JaeHeung.”
“Wh-what is it?”
“I’ll give you the right to choose.”
“Right…to choose?”
“Yes.”
And the next sentence was loud enough for everyone to hear clearly.
“Either you leave the 「Winter Alliance」, or you get a beating from me. Pick one.”
JaeHeung was dumbfounded; his expression looked absurd as he blinked, clearly thinking that he heard him wrong.
“What did you just say?”
“I really do want you to leave right now, but then you’ll be murdered. So I’m giving you the option. Pick one. If you don’t decide within 10 seconds, I’ll take that as you leaving the alliance.”
“No, wait! Wait a minute! Commander! Little commander!”
Turning pale from fear, the dog thief quickly clung to him, but Gyeoul was already looking at his watch. It was what he bought from the post exchange as he became an officer. As Gyeoul said, it will be extremely difficult to survive if he was banished from the alliance. Other alliances were also watching the current situation as well.
10 seconds. That short span of time felt like it became even shorter. As Gyeoul took his eyes off the watch, JaeHeung had made his decision.
“I’ll get the beating! You can hit me…!”
Gyeoul kicked him right away. Blood splattered along with some teeth. He kicked him as brutally as possible. Its purpose was to be an exemplary punishment, but he didn’t intend to kill him as he had plans in his mind. If he seriously kicked, then the man would die in one strike. Just a bit, like having a hard time walking or eating for a week sounded adequate. The combination of Level 10 「Close Combat」 and 「Insight」 produced the optimal level of strength to strike at that level. JaeHeung cried like a baby after getting beaten up for about 3 minutes.
“Ha, hab mercy on meh! I’m shorry! I won’t duwit again.”
Whew. Gyeoul caught his breath. It was about time that his anger was finally manifesting. He wanted to get angry, but suppressing that urge, he spoke to the dumbfounded Jang YeonChul.
“Take him away. And tell me separately if you need extra medication.”
“Huh? Ah, yes!”
Jang YeonChul quickly came over, and the others who were usually close to Jang YeonChul and those who wanted to benefit from this friendship had gathered to help him. Yura, who arrived a bit later than Gyeoul, observed what has happened so far, and she hesitantly came over while checking on Gyeoul’s mood.
“Are you still angry?”
“Do I look like it?”
She smiled brightly as he answered in a calm manner.
“You were amazing when you knelt. As expected from our little commander. That’s what I’ve thought. Don’t bother hearing that strange guy talking about following and choosing sides. My chest cooled off when you hit him. I bet everyone else felt the same too!”
“Thank you. Go ahead and rest well.”
As she took her leave, she lifted her thumb up towards Gyeoul. While cooling down with the evening breeze, Min Wangi stood by him.
“You took many pains.”
“Not really. This once was something necessary. I hope that with what happened today, we would be able to create stability amongst ourselves.”
“I’ve not forgotten your inauguration speech, little commander. I’ll send a word to officer Jang too.”
After waiting for a while, Min Wangi spoke.
“I know it wasn’t intended, but it seems both sides mutually benefitted.”
But from the pile of shit uttered by the dog thief, there was one thing that caught his attention. That it was ridiculous to raise a dog in this situation, that’s right. Not everyone could. It was considered lavish to feed a pet. So one could consider ‘Mong-E’s family’ to be in a high ranking position within the 「Multibody Promotion Association」.
And why would Mong-E’s father come out last when the mother came forth first? A staged act to spread the consciousness of an ‘unfair victim.’ In conclusion, the 「Multibody Promotion Association」 wanted to establish firm bonding within its people. As their enemy Gyeoul’s status soared, they became more desperate. JaeHeung was bait. Of course, his selfishness was the cause, so there was no room for an excuse.
His thoughts transformed into 「Tele-type」 characters.
“It was a boring act. I hope nothing of this sort will happen from now on.”
“I’ll be careful. But I think everyone else will hold themselves back since you were quite violent back then. Uhm, mind if I smoke?”
Min Wangi had his cigarette in his mouth, and Gyeoul lit it for him.
