“Are you… Hunter Gu Yun-ho?”
“Yes, I am.”
“It’s him! It’s him!”
“See? What did I tell you?”
“Hee!”
All I’d done was say yes, but the high school girls slapped their hands together, beside themselves with excitement. Their plump cheeks flushed red.
“If it’s not too much trouble, could we ask for your autograph? We’re huge fans of yours, Hunter Gu Yun-ho!”
“My fans?”
“Yes! We fell for you after seeing the Modang Station video!”
“Ah.”
The Modang Station video.
Only then did I understand what was going on.
They must have seen videos about the Modang Station incident on YouTube or the news.
The high school girls had already swung their backpacks around to the front. Their slender, jade-like fingers busily pulled out paper and pens.
Hmm, I feel bad about this.
“Thank you very much for recognizing me, but I’m currently patrolling the Authorized Travel Area. I’ll sign them for you next time―”
THUMP. A fist landed against my back. Corporal Gwak Woo-hee silently nodded.
I immediately changed my tune.
“But of course I can give you an autograph. Hand them over.”
“Yes!”
The excited girls handed me their sheets of paper one by one.
I stylishly scrawled the English initials of my name, Gu Yun-ho.
It was the same signature I’d used before my regression.
“Thank you, big brother.”
“Oh, come on. Big brother? I’m an old guy.”
“Why? You’re totally a big brother.”
“Hehe, you’re handsome.”
“You’re so cool!”
At some point, they had gone from calling me Hunter to calling me big brother. With those innocent expressions and bright voices, they really were just kids.
And there had been one intense stare poking at me for a while now. I glanced over and saw Corporal Song Ji-han practically boiling.
Ahem. Now I feel awkward for no reason.
I hurried through the rest of the autographs. I thought that was the end of it, but then a phone was thrust toward me.
“Um… just one photo too, please!”
Corporal Gwak Woo-hee waved her hand back and forth.
She meant I should do everything they asked.
I vaguely remembered her saying she’d once gone to see an idol and regretted for ages that she hadn’t managed to get even one picture. Was that why?
“Come over here.”
“Big brother, I’m just going to hold on here a little.”
“Me too!”
“Hey, move. I’m standing next to him.”
“I was here first!”
Somehow, I ended up in the middle of the high school girls. Their hands rested here and there on my shoulders and arms.
Several faces filled the screen.
Then Corporal Song Ji-han’s face suddenly slipped into the frame too.
“Hahaha, since you’re taking one anyway, should this big brother join in too?”
“What…? Do we really have to…?”
Their gazes turned icy.
Cold enough to send a chill through me.
“…Got it.”
Corporal Song Ji-han immediately stepped aside. Watching him sulk, Corporal Gwak Woo-hee struggled to hold back her laughter.
CLICK.
Click, click.
The girls turned the phone this way and that, taking well over a dozen pictures. Seeing my face get beautified in real time on the screen was something I couldn’t get used to.
“Can I post this on my social media?”
“If you want to send me to military jail, go ahead.”
“Gasp! I absolutely won’t post it.”
I probably wouldn’t actually get sent to military jail just for taking a few pictures with civilians, but there was always a chance, so I laid the seasoning on a little thick.
It was officially duty hours, after all.
“We’ll keep this moment just between us.”
“Sounds good. You’re here on a school trip, I take it.”
“Yes. Thanks to you, big brother, we made a great memory. Thank you!”
“Same here. Have fun before you head back.”
“Yes. Goodbye!”
The high school girls bowed and finally left. Seeing how untouched by the world they still seemed, I found myself smiling without realizing it.
Corporal Gwak Woo-hee also watched them go in silence.
“They said they’d keep this moment just between themselves. Why are they so romantic?”
“Exactly.”
“Anyway, our youngest is a real celebrity now, huh? Getting asked for autographs and pictures out on the street.”
“Not at all. They just happened to recognize me.”
“Hey, five videos of you made YouTube’s trending page. It’s crazy.”
Did they?
I’d been too embarrassed to open YouTube for a while, so I hadn’t realized it had gotten that big.
“But why is this guy so quiet? Hey, Song Ji-han.”
“Corporal Song Ji-han….”
“Did you suddenly come down with a terminal illness? What’s wrong?”
“I was wounded by the girls’ rejection….”
“Pwahaha!”
Apparently remembering what had happened, Corporal Gwak Woo-hee barely managed to suppress another burst of laughter.
“Then why did you butt in when they wanted a picture with Yun-ho? I’d have reacted the same way.”
“…Ha. I know that, but their eyes were so cold for a second.”
Corporal Song Ji-han was more dejected than I’d expected. The girls’ gazes had been pretty icy.
After looking him up and down, Corporal Gwak Woo-hee said,
“Maybe it was because of your size. From their perspective, you probably startled them.”
“You think so?”
“Of course. They were all young.”
“Yeah, now that I think about it, that must be it. And I’m not exactly the unpopular type.”
“Right, right. You look like the type who’d be popular.”
While patting him on the back, Corporal Gwak Woo-hee jerked her chin at me.
I quickly chimed in.
“Yes. Corporal Song Ji-han only seems like this because he’s stuck on base. The moment he goes outside, women will be lining up for him.”
“Our Yun-ho knows what he’s talking about.”
“Private Second Class Gu Yun-ho. I’ve always thought so.”
Corporal Song Ji-han perked right back up. He even raised his fists in a spirited cheer.
“Corporal Song Ji-han. I’ll come back from my next leave with a girlfriend.”
“Sure. I’ll be rooting hard for you.”
Corporal Gwak Woo-hee even shouted a cheer with him.
I hoped it would happen too… but unfortunately, no matter how hard I searched my memories, I couldn’t find any memory of Corporal Song Ji-han coming back from his next leave with a girlfriend.
“Let’s get back to our actual mission.”
“Yes.”
We resumed the patrol. The hard part was walking around in all that gear; the work itself was simple.
Were there any dungeons behaving strangely, like the one during the Modang Station incident?
Had any monsters escaped from nearby dungeons?
Were there any other abnormal phenomena?
Those were the things we had to check.
Of course, the chances of any of that actually happening were extremely low.
It was kind of like a city-gas safety inspection.
But just as you never knew what life might throw at you, you never knew when or where a Dungeon Explosion might happen and monsters might escape and start running wild.
Just like the Modang Station incident last week.
“Enjoy your meal!”
“You too, Yun-ho.”
We had boxed lunches for lunch. Each group was given fifteen minutes to eat.
It tasted better because we were eating somewhere with a good view.
Though the seasoning called “civilian food” might have had something to do with it too.
We spent the entire afternoon on patrol as well.
As five o’clock approached, the gathered squad members hummed cheerfully, thrilled that it was finally over.
But without their knowledge, the storm had already struck.
The vehicle commander was gone.
“Sergeant Song Gi-yong, where did the Squad Leader go? I haven’t seen him for a while.”
“Doesn’t he know patrol’s over? Isn’t he hiding somewhere playing games on his phone again?”
Sergeant Song Gi-yong looked around and said,
“No idea. I don’t know either.”
Then the radio crackled.
― Squad Three, Squad Three. This is Squad Two Leader.
“Loyalty. Sergeant Song Gi-yong speaking. What is it?”
― You’re returning with us, so get to the west gate. Right now.
“Understood.”
The sudden order left the squad members puzzled.
“Huh? Why are we suddenly returning with Squad Two? Where the hell did our Squad Leader disappear to?”
“Exactly. What the hell is a Squad Leader doing leaving only his soldiers behind?”
Even Sergeant Song Gi-yong, who usually just went along with whatever he was told like water flowing downstream, looked irritated this time.
I simply kept quiet.
They were all going to find out soon anyway.
“Loyalty. Yes, Company Commander. Ah, yes, yes. Understood. I’ll give them those instructions.”
In front of the company building, the Squad Two Leader finished his call with Captain Oh Jun-beom and spoke to Squad Three.
“Squad Three, go up to your quarters, change clothes, and stand by.”
“Should we stand by without eating dinner too?”
“Yes. The Company Commander will be here soon, so don’t make a fuss.”
“Understood.”
After saying that, the Squad Two Leader went upstairs first with his own squad.
The members of Squad Three who were left behind all looked completely bewildered.
“Stand by without even eating dinner? And why is the Company Commander coming too?”
“The Company Commander will tell us what’s going on. Let’s go upstairs for now.”
“Yes.”
We didn’t even have to wait for the Company Commander.
About ten minutes after we started standing by in the quarters, Corporal Song Ji-han came back from the bathroom carrying news.
“Breaking news! Breaking news!”
His eyes were twice their usual size from shock.
“Why? What is it?”
“Min-chan’s gotten into huge trouble!”
“Huge trouble?”
“They say he got caught conspiring with the Byproduct Management Officer to divert supplies. And the amount was enormous.”
“Fuck, seriously? So that’s why he kept disappearing?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Wait, Ji-han. Are you sure?”
While everyone else was worked up, Corporal Gwak Woo-hee asked in a calm voice.
Corporal Song Ji-han answered immediately without even thinking.
“Yes. I heard the officers talking about it loud and clear.”
“My God.”
Then it had to be true. Corporal Gwak Woo-hee was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t say anything more.
“That bastard’s completely fucking insane.”
“No wonder I kept wondering how he could afford a watch like that.”
“I knew that bastard would pull something like this.”
“Hey, hey, everyone quiet down. The Company Commander will be here soon.”
As curses poured out, Sergeant Song Gi-yong told everyone to rein it in. Before long, Captain Oh Jun-beom entered.
“Loyalty!”
“Loyalty. Patrol go well?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Mm. I came to tell you some bad news.”
He didn’t explain exactly what had happened. He only said that Staff Sergeant Kwon Min-chan had committed wrongdoing, and because of it, he could no longer lead us.
As the Company Commander, Captain Oh Jun-beom had his own position to consider, so it was perfectly understandable.
If anything, he was probably angrier than we were.
What the hell were you doing as Company Commander while an NCO under you was running around pulling that shit?
He was obviously going to hear something like that from higher up.
If the scale had been small, they might have covered it up internally and buried it quietly, but the military police had already been informed.
“Squad Three has a dungeon raid next week, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“A replacement will be here by then.”
“A replacement…?”
“A new Squad Leader.”
He was suppressing it, but I could see it. Anger clung to every word he spoke.
Even so, Captain Oh Jun-beom was an adult.
He didn’t take it out on us.
“I’ll do my best to get this resolved as quickly as possible. Until then.”
His gaze turned to Sergeant Song Gi-yong.
“Gi-yong, you’ll perform the Squad Leader’s duties. There’s nothing special you need to do. Just make sure the men watch their behavior.”
“Understood.”
He already held the assistant squad leader position, but being the Squad Leader was another matter entirely.
Still, there was no need to worry about that.
Because the new Squad Leader would arrive tomorrow.
The unit had done what it could to turn the soldiers’ attention elsewhere.
“Then what should we do now?”
“Eat dinner as quickly as possible, then keep standing by.”
“Yes, sir.”
If it had ended there, it wouldn’t have been much of a commotion.
But the real thing started now.
― Ahem, this is the Situation Room. All soldiers of Platoon Three, Squad Three are to report to the officers’ conference room effective immediately. I repeat. All soldiers of Platoon Three, Squad Three are to report….
The moment we came back from dinner, we had to go straight to the officers’ conference room. Inside stood a line of people none of us had anything to gain from seeing.
They were officers from the Hunter Military Police.
“We’re going to ask you a few questions about Staff Sergeant Kwon Min-chan.”
“What… kind of questions?”
“It’s just a formality, a formality. Starting with the senior men, come inside one at a time.”
“…Yes.”
They said it was only a formality, but I couldn’t help feeling like I’d done something wrong.
Angry profanity started pouring out.
Even Sergeant Song Gi-yong couldn’t hold it in this time.
“Ha, what the fuck are we doing because of that fucking bastard? This fucking sucks, seriously.”
After that, Squad Three underwent an investigation disguised as a series of formal questions.
We even skipped evening roll call.
I was no exception.
Had I known?
Had there been any signs?
It almost felt like a targeted investigation.
The truth was, I did have something I could say.
Thanks to my memories from before the regression, I’d known for a long time that Staff Sergeant Kwon Min-chan was doing something like this.
But why bother?
If something wasn’t my business, there was nothing to gain from sticking my neck out.
What if I ended up getting investigated instead?
Even if I reported it anonymously, the people who were going to know would find out eventually anyway.
“What a shitty day. What a shitty day.”
“We couldn’t even shower. What the fuck is this?”
“Yun-ho, what time is it?”
“Private Second Class Gu Yun-ho. The current time is 23:35.”
“Goddamn it. If they were going to do this, they should’ve called us in tomorrow. What difference would it make if they let us sleep first?”
We weren’t able to return to the quarters until long after lights-out.
Everyone’s face looked gaunt, as if they’d just come back from PRI.
You could tell what shape they were in just from the fact that Corporal Jeong Ye-som and Corporal Song Ji-han, the two chatterboxes, hadn’t said a word for a while.
The exhausting day finally ended.
The next day.
Things stayed noisy and unsettled through the morning, but by afternoon, the mood had calmed down a little.
Captain Oh Jun-beom, whose face seemed to have shrunk to half its size overnight, came to our squad again.
“Loyalty!”
He looked like he hadn’t slept a wink. Barely acknowledging our salute, he said,
“Fortunately, it was resolved quickly.”
“What do you mean, sir?”
The door to the quarters was still open. Instead of answering, Captain Oh Jun-beom looked behind him.
“Staff Sergeant Seon. Come in.”
“Yes!”
Along with the clear voice, someone stepped into the quarters.
“Salute. This is the person who’ll be leading you from today onward.”
It was my first meeting with our new Squad Leader—and my reunion with someone who could never be left out of the story of my life before the regression.