My new nest recalled the house from my previous life that I had been to only a few times. Meaning that it was clearly a dormitory, yet looking only at the room, it was like a detached house.
"Is it all right for me to live in a place this wide by myself?"
"Well, you're special."
Hong Seong-hwa, who had followed me all the way to the dormitory, finished the explanation. It was that this place was in fact not for cadets but a room for officers such as instructors and discipline officers.
I had heard it was arranged in a somewhat special place, but I had not imagined that meant the officers' section. My eyes swept over the living room and kitchen, the bedroom, the study, the bathroom.
"You see the tablet PC here? Ask for anything you need with this. Refer to the booklet for the rules. If there is anything that seems ambiguous, ask without fail. Nobody is going to say a word about it."
"Yes, ma'am."
"The most important thing. When you go out you have to notify us at least twenty minutes beforehand. Without fail."
"Yep."
I had thought being a cadet would mean living an extremely rigid life, but maybe because it was before entry, the treatment was tremendous.
I carved Hong Seong-hwa's whole explanation firmly into my mind. Since permission to go out was already presupposed, I very much liked not having to negotiate the conditions separately.
"For the record, if you fail to control the Twin Dragon Swords the permission to go out is revoked immediately. You know that, don't you? This condition will keep applying after you enter as well."
"Of course."
I shrugged the swords slung on my back, rolled up in cloth. Even hung diagonally because of their length, they still stuck up higher than the crown of my head.
"I'll make sure that never happens."
This was not baseless confidence either.
While being discharged I had asked and asked the Twin Dragon Swords. That I did not want to live shut in, so please help me. That they should not so much as flaunt their power the way they had earlier.
Astonishingly, the Twin Dragon Swords granted my request. It was an attitude cooperative toward me to an uncanny degree, but for me right now there was nothing bad about it.
'They never did tell me why they treat me so well...... but they swore that as long as I don't take them off my body, they will absolutely not use their power without permission.'
Why the Twin Dragon Swords chose me, I do not know. But that was something there was no way to find out until the Twin Dragon Swords explained it themselves.
Therefore I set aside what I could not resolve now and thought only about what mattered to me at present. That was the oath the Twin Dragon Swords had made, and the freedom I had gained by that oath.
"Ah, Major."
"Hm?"
Separately, I held the Major back briefly as she was about to leave. Whether to say it or not. The deliberation was not long.
"Actually, about that......"
Based on the records 'Ya-hwi' had left behind, I spat out everything about the orphanage's circumstances. The Major's face, which at first looked as though she had no particular thoughts, gradually stiffened, and by the end it turned savage.
"......So that's why you disappeared?"
"Sorry?"
"I mean the Sudden Dimensional Gate incident that happened in Geumhak-dong the day before the examination. You slipped away in secret even though you were caught up in it."
"How do you know about that, Major......?"
"Because I was there too."
Was Hong Seong-hwa there? Then why didn't she respond right...... ah, she wasn't there from the beginning.
"Then the soldier I talked with was......?"
"That's right. We saw each other inside the building, didn't we?"
Looking back, there had been a fair number of clues. For instance the bold soldier who came in from the air smashing through a window, or the strange Phantasm flying about the road devouring Lizard Men.
It was only that at the time I had been too preoccupied with surviving the Lizard Man, and after it was subdued I let it slide while pulling my exhausted body together.
That day Hong Seong-hwa had been one of the soldiers dispatched to deal with the situation.
"You went through a lot. Don't worry about what comes after. I'll handle all of it."
Hong Seong-hwa's hand stroked my head. Since I was taller than her it made a slightly odd picture, but it did not feel bad.
"Right. I accidentally brought the Swiss Army knife away from there...... what should I do about this?"
"Hm? Ah, give that to me too. It's a matter that will be recognized as an act of necessity, so don't worry about this either."
The clothes I was wearing now were my original clothes, returned. Thanks to that the Swiss Army knife was still in my pocket.
I handed it over to her. Hearing that the tool that had saved my life was leaving me, I felt both relieved and a little sorry to see it go.
『A crude implement.』
『A shoddy object.』
"......Did you just get jealous?"
The Twin Dragon Swords did not answer. Not that it made the words they had spat out disappear.
Snickering, I saw off the Major, who had raised one eyebrow. Hong Seong-hwa, who worked out in good time that I had been talking with the Twin Dragon Swords, snickered as I had and left.
『What will you do now?』
『What are your plans?』
"Mm. For today the timing is awkward and I'm also incredibly tired, so I won't be going out."
For now I set the Twin Dragon Swords on a stand prepared in one corner of the living room. It was not that I disliked them, but they were so long that they got in the way when I moved about. Fortunately the Twin Dragon Swords understood at least this much.
"Instead I'm going to think ahead about what to eat for dinner, what to do tomorrow, what to do the day after."
In the bedroom wardrobe there were a few sets of clothes that seemed to have been obtained at someone's discretion to fit my size.
Among them I chose comfortable clothes to wear at home.
"If it's all right, would you deliberate with me?"
『Of course.』
『We shall oblige.』
Come to think of it, what sorts of things am I going to go through from here on?
Regrettably, this time period had been described only through 〈Seong-gwon〉's recollections. Meaning it was a period with no perfect answer sheet, one where the advantage of my previous life amounted to knowing at most one or two events.
At least that was so until the comic's original time period was entered. And that original begins a full fifteen years later.
"All right. Then I'll go wash up first."
But so what?
Even if this time period had been described in the original comic, nothing much would change. Since the moment I deviated from the future of being a death row convict, the situation was bound to be overturned.
Also, people are properly supposed not to know what lies ahead. So it was fine.
'If anything...... I'm a little curious how far I can go.'
The me of my previous life used to imagine a plot where 'Ya-hwi' entered the military academy normally and made that talent of his ring out. Of course, that 'Ya-hwi' has now become me...... but still, there is a thing about it, isn't there.
I won't become a perfect 'Ya-hwi.' Not that I particularly intend to.
Still, when I strive and strive with this body and this talent, how far can I change the future?
'I've come as far as the military academy. In that case, beyond the incident where the original Ya-hwi dies, can I even prevent the incidents and accidents that were in the main story?'
The future where Major Hong Seong-hwa, who would someday become an instructor, sacrifices herself in exchange for removing a crisis that had come.
The future where one of the protagonist 〈Baek San〉's cohort loses one arm in exchange for saving the protagonist.
The future where the protagonist's childhood friend, unable to overcome reality's misery, takes the corruption route.......
'Now that I've come as far as the army, I can't avoid it. And I mustn't avoid it.'
If I do not stop them, Korea, the society I now live in, becomes a wreck. In that sense too, I absolutely had to stand against the things to come.
'In that case.......'
If you cannot avoid it, enjoy it, was it?
'For now, shall I set as my goal the power and standing that 〈Seong-gwon〉 had in the original? The one where everyone believed whatever she said, and acting first and reporting later was exceptionally permitted. Becoming a person who can respond to whatever incident or accident breaks out.'
Then it was only right that I too should enjoy, use, and stand upon everything given to me.
'Yes. Let's start with this. Let's change it that way.'
Because if the world becomes different from what I know, that will be the very proof that I changed the future.
***
"At the Hwadam Military Academy there is a special tradition."
Time flowed like an arrow, and the day of entry into the Hwadam Military Academy arrived.
Maybe because the sightseeing outside that I could not do in my previous life had been permitted. The time I had spent felt as short as if a day were an hour. It was the sort of feeling where I would extend it further if I could. The problem was that it was impossible.
"But before we carry out that tradition, one thing."
Separately, the entrance ceremony itself was nothing much. Cadets and their relatives were gathered in an auditorium and a solemn event was conducted for about two hours, and that was all.
"Everyone here, do you know what kind of organization the Hwadam Army is?"
Now that that event was over, every new student including myself was gathered in the auditorium in front of the dormitory, meeting the Hwadam Military Academy's first tradition.
The discipline officer swept his eyes over us from atop the auditorium platform.
"As one arm of the national defense, it is the military equipment and personnel that prepare against Dimensional Gates without distinction between peacetime and wartime."
While everyone was watching for cues, someone with courage spoke up. He was a fellow whose gold hair, blue eyes, and formal, high-strung air like a young master stood out.
"And?"
But the one standing before us was not satisfied with the dictionary definition the fellow had given.
The discipline officer's gaze swept over us. It was a look pressing for an answer.
"We kill Otherworld Creatures."
In the end I opened my mouth too. Knowing the answer, I did not want to endure this heavy atmosphere for long.
"Correct. The Hwadam Army kills Otherworld Creatures and destroys Dimensional Gates. I believe you all know at least that much."
Only after my answer did the discipline officer nod faintly. That satisfaction did not last long.
"But did you truly 'know' before you stood in this place?"
The eyes that swept the assembly, head turning sharply, were just like a hunting hawk's.
"Otherworld Creatures is the collective term for the creatures that dwell inside Dimensional Gates and that try to burst out of them. They are strangely hostile and aggressive toward us."
"......"
"However, they are creatures nonetheless. Cadet, do you know what a creature is?"
The discipline officer pointed at one person and asked. He seemed to have realized that if he merely waited for answers as before, only a limited few would answer.
The cadet singled out flinched.
"S-something that is alive......?"
"Correct. Creatures are things that are alive. Life. As we are, and as many things living in this world are."
Saying that, the discipline officer tapped the box that had been set up in front of him.
Cluck, cluck, flutter. A creature presumed to be a chicken thrashed inside the box.
That the cadets who had finally caught on to the box's identity gave a shudder was a bonus. Some of the cadets seated in the auditorium chairs stirred, avoiding the discipline officer's gaze.
"If you do not kill, you die. It is a famous saying, so you must all know it. But do you also know the words 'Wilderness' added after it?"
"......Therefore I must look directly at what it is that I kill."
The latter part someone answered was the very sentence that represents the Hwadam Army, and the reason I came to love the comic 《Codename: Baby》.
Over one of the famous quotations on this Earth, the discipline officer touched the box once more. Cluck-cluck. A chicken's cry unsuited to the solemn atmosphere went on at length.
"Otherworld Creatures are beings that threaten humanity. Therefore humans have the right to resist them for their own protection, and we are the agents and the guardians of that right."
"......"
"However, the fact that our exercise of that right is legitimate does not make the acts we perform absolutely correct either."
My tongue rolled reflexively inside my mouth.
"We must always be conscious of the weight of what we do. We must know the weight of the act of killing life."
The words the discipline officer muttered overlapped with the words inside me.
"Bear this in mind. We do not repel Otherworld Creatures because killing them is correct. We exclude them in order to live."
After saying that much, the discipline officer opened the lid of the box.
Cluuuck!
A chicken came up gripped firmly in his thick hands. One hand held it around the neck, the other held its head.
The cohort seated next to me reflexively turned their head away.
"Do not look away."
Had he predicted that someone would do so? Or had he simply learned it from experience?
The discipline officer did not immediately do what everyone expected. Instead he gave time for all those seated in the tiered auditorium to see him.
"This tradition is not to torment you. It is to teach you the weight of the act of killing in order to live. It is so that, by witnessing first how what you will eat for dinner this very evening is made, you come to know the deaths you will meet from now on."
CRACK!
The chicken's neck turned lightly. It was the moment a life that had been alive until a moment ago was snuffed out in the blink of an eye.
"Do not look away; look directly. Do not forget upon what deaths we live. That is the greatest respect we can show toward a life that has died."
At any rate, it was not an easy military academy from the very first day.
Thanks to having encountered it in advance in the comic I was not greatly shocked. And if you ask whether killing one chicken is any great matter when I have even killed a Lizard Man, there is not much I can say.
Still, killing an enemy in a situation where your life is at stake and killing in a peaceful daily life do feel somewhat different.
"For the record, on the evening of the last day of the first week, every one of you will kill a chicken."
Even so, I could not say I was unable to do it. Setting aside the sneer of 'you mean to kill monsters and you can't kill a chicken?', failing to accomplish this made difficulties of another kind blossom.
"Anyone who thinks they truly cannot do it is to report it to a Gippa cadet or a discipline officer before then. Understood."
"Yes."
"Yes, sir!"
After all, as the discipline officer had just said, right now was the 'provisional enrollment' period. Since it was not a state of formal enrollment, it was a period in which personnel judged unsuitable were dropped without mercy.
Withdraw here and it meant immediate dismissal.
"I say this just in case, but it is all right to give up. Being unable to take life is not something to be blamed for, and it does not make you cowardly deserters."
Of course, forcing yourself to do something you feel you cannot do because you fear dismissal would not be right either. As with what the discipline officer added now out of concern.
"Bear this in mind. The Hwadam Army is an organization that kills Otherworld Creatures, and the Mobile Special Task Force that the Hwadam Special Military Academy trains is sent to the fiercest front lines of them all. It is a place where, before looking directly at what it is that I kill, the premise that if you do not kill you die takes higher priority."
"......!"
"Grasp and acknowledge objectively what you are capable of. Acknowledging your own shortcomings is also an ability."
To put that somewhat coldly it would come to 'don't think of coming to a Special Task Force that hunts Otherworld Creatures when you can't even kill a chicken.'
That could hardly be called cold treatment. Because dealing with Otherworld Creatures was an act performed with your life on the line.
So rather than forcing yourself to hold on and dying in a real battle, better to be filtered out here. Whether for the Hwadam Army, which would have to watch personnel it had barely raised die pointlessly, or for the cadet, who would have to pay with his own life.
"For the record, the withdrawals arising from this tradition average about twenty a year. So you need not feel the fear of 'what if I am the only one who gives up.' Be honest with yourselves."
So, from one point of view this tradition would be abuse...... and from another, a necessary evil.
"That is all. Move out according to your escort."
And so the first day of the Hwadam Military Academy passed. It was quite different from what I had imagined, but it was the most realistic starting point.
Tab 12