The repercussions of Kyle’s discharge had reached even the Corps Commander.
But would they end there?
Of course not.
How had Silvio managed to climb this far?
If a man like him had decided to retire, the resulting shockwave would never stop at the Corps Commander.
‘He has completely lost it.’
The moment Silvio saw the look in Kyle’s eyes after he decided to leave the military, he became certain.
The instant anyone touched that bastard, tremendous chaos would follow.
There were always fools who could not read the situation and insisted on making trouble.
Whenever that happened, problems inevitably erupted.
Silvio had not reached his current position with entirely clean hands either.
Therefore, if he wanted to retire safely and settle somewhere quiet, he first had to show Kyle that he had nothing to do with whichever bastard caused the next problem.
Submitting his own discharge application was a means of proving that to Kyle.
‘Please do not set off the bomb before I retire.’
With that thought, the Corps Commander hurriedly prepared his discharge application.
He could leave the military even sooner than Kyle.
The Special Corps might be treated like garbage, but a Corps Commander still possessed enough influence to accelerate the procedure. More importantly, countless people coveted this cushy position.
It was a corps whose honor had long since been thrown into the trash, but the post provided easy access to the higher-ups.
Moreover, there was hardly any real work to do.
Those two facts alone showed just how comfortable the position was.
Thinking about it carefully, there were few better posts for advancing toward the central government while cleaning up other people’s messes.
The moment Silvio submitted his application, countless people would begin lobbying to succeed him.
‘They will be suspicious, but those greedy bastards will not be able to resist taking the bait.’
Silvio had climbed to his position on little more than his ability to read the room.
As a man with an uncanny talent for finding a way to survive, he hurriedly wrote his discharge application so he could escape before being used as a disposable pawn.
Meanwhile, the situation continued deteriorating into a complete disaster.
Problems were inevitable now that the garbage disposal unit had gone on strike.
“Commander! Another unit has requested support.”
“Ignore it.”
“The thing is…the higher-ups directly ordered us to assist them….”
The adjutant spoke with a troubled expression.
Kyle frowned.
“The Central Army Commander?”
“No, sir.”
“Then the Corps Commander?”
The adjutant shook his head again.
“Then it does not matter.”
Kyle waved dismissively, telling him to leave.
The adjutant bowed and departed.
Since ancient times, people had known better than to provoke someone awaiting discharge.
They clearly knew that Kyle had already submitted his discharge application, yet they were still pulling this shit.
They had crossed the line.
Still, Kyle was in a particularly good mood today, so he decided to overlook it this once.
In truth, it was not only today.
He had been in a good mood ever since submitting his application.
He woke every morning feeling refreshed, and even the army’s cheap slop tasted delicious.
“Hah… Time passes so quickly when I merely think about what I will do after leaving the military.”
Just as he muttered those words, the adjutant who had left moments ago returned with a deathly pale expression.
“Commander, we have a serious problem.”
Kyle frowned at those words.
Before the adjutant could explain, a hand reached out from behind and shoved him into the wall.
A middle-aged man strode into the office.
“Commander Kyle.”
Kyle rose from his seat with a scowl at the middle-aged man’s call.
“Are you not going to answer? Where is your salute?”
“It has been a long time.”
Instead of formally stating his rank and name or saluting, Kyle merely offered a casual greeting.
The middle-aged man’s expression began to twist.
That was understandable.
He had once commanded this corps, but he was no longer Kyle’s direct superior—or even a higher-ranking officer.
He was merely a retired veteran.
Kyle might still have shown respect to a man he had once served under.
However, considering that the man had been driven from his post as Corps Commander because of corruption, Kyle’s current response was already remarkably courteous.
“I heard you were leaving the military. Even so, should you not continue doing your duty?”
“By what authority are you ordering me?”
The middle-aged man chuckled at Kyle’s question and tossed him a badge.
「Special Military Inspector」
Kyle’s expression turned cold when he saw that the middle-aged man had become affiliated with the military once again.
‘So this is why they picked up that discarded bastard.’
A bastard ruined by corruption had become a Special Military Inspector?
The garbage disposal unit was no longer obeying orders, so the higher-ups intended to pressure Kyle through his former superior.
It was a shallow scheme.
By threatening to thoroughly investigate Unit 6, they intended to turn Kyle back into an obedient dog.
It would be even better if he withdrew his discharge application.
If that proved impossible, they would at least work him relentlessly until the day he left.
“Would you return that?”
The man extended his hand with a vile smile.
Kyle silently gave the badge back.
The man then issued one final warning.
“If you want to leave the military safely, you had better crawl when you are told. You have always been good at that.”
After saying so, he patted Kyle on the shoulder and walked outside.
The adjutant, who had been watching Kyle with a worried expression, trembled before collapsing onto the floor.
Kyle stood there with a colder expression than ever before.
He spoke to the adjutant.
“Call the battalion commanders.”
“Yes, sir!”
The adjutant immediately jumped to his feet and rushed outside.
Kyle watched him leave, then sat in his chair and stared blankly through the window.
That fat-bellied piece of shit had deliberately provoked him when he had been trying to leave quietly.
Even in the brutal north, soldiers awaiting discharge were treated with consideration.
Yet they dared to touch someone about to leave?
It was unforgivable.
Before Kyle could fully suppress his anger, the battalion commanders gathered in his office after receiving the adjutant’s message.
The moment they saw Kyle’s expression, all three flinched and stood rigidly at attention.
They knew better than anyone that Kyle had to be treated carefully when he looked like this.
“You called for us?”
Parshu, the quietest of the three, spoke first.
Kyle regained his senses and asked in a low voice,
“Find out which faction that son of a bitch who visited earlier belongs to.”
“Should we release information about that faction?”
Parshu immediately understood Kyle’s intention.
“Yes. While you are at it, expose that bastard’s corruption as well.”
“How should we distribute it?”
“Put it in the plaza.”
Kyle intended to post it where everyone could see it, making it impossible to conceal.
He had remained obedient for so long that they apparently thought they could exploit him until the very end and then dispose of him however they wished.
In that case, he would teach them.
He would show them just how sharp the teeth of a cornered rat could be.
“Parshu, handle the plaza. Coutinho, start by checking the places where they are likely to have hidden their slush funds. Korn, make copies of the corruption records and scatter them throughout the streets.”
“Understood!”
Unlike the other two battalion commanders, who answered without hesitation, Korn asked worriedly,
“Will this truly be all right?”
Korn was concerned about the consequences.
Kyle chuckled.
“We are the ones holding the sword.”
As he spoke, he recalled the information they had accumulated while cleaning up other people’s messes.
“Those bastards still do not seem to understand the situation…so we will teach them.”
He had intended to demonstrate it at least once before leaving the military, so this was a convenient opportunity.
Originally, Kyle had planned to issue only a warning, buying enough time for Unit 6 to leave this fucking empire.
He had changed his mind.
Those arrogant bastards would never understand a half-hearted warning.
Therefore, he would completely ruin at least one of them.
“They may send assassins.”
Kyle chuckled at Korn’s warning.
“Are you afraid?”
“Of course not.”
Everyone laughed at Korn’s immediate answer before leaving the commander’s office to carry out their orders.
Kyle looked through the window.
The Corps Commander’s office could be seen in the distance.
Had the current Corps Commander—his direct superior—given the order, Kyle would have reluctantly obeyed.
After all, he was still technically a soldier.
But a former superior who had become a civilian was trying to interfere with him?
That was intolerable.
“They were the ones who touched us first.”
Kyle muttered while considering the repercussions his orders would cause.
He felt somewhat sorry for Corps Commander Silvio, who had been caught in the middle, but what could be done?
If Silvio had wanted to avoid this outcome, he should have stopped them properly.
With Silvio’s keen instincts, the man would undoubtedly predict what was about to happen based solely on today’s incident.
There was no need to visit him personally.
Kyle quietly took out a bottle of alcohol he had hidden away.
“I wonder how they will respond….”
Would they send assassins?
Would they pressure him through the Corps Commander?
Or would they quietly allow him to leave the military?
Kyle closed his eyes and sank into thought, preparing an appropriate response for every possibility.
While Kyle was lost in contemplation, Silvio received a report about what had happened in Unit 6.
He slammed a book onto his desk.
BANG!
“That fucking lunatic! If he retired, he should have stayed quietly buried somewhere!”
Silvio had submitted his discharge application immediately because he had feared something like this might happen.
Yet those idiotic bastards could not restrain themselves for even that long before causing trouble.
Silvio ground his teeth as he cursed them.
“F-First, block every officer from the other units who is heading toward Unit 6! Forbid them from entering!”
“Understood! However, they claim they are acting under orders from the higher-ups….”
“Tell them they are carrying out my orders! And summon every unit that tried to dump its work onto Unit 6!”
Kyle was already furious, and no one knew what he might do.
Had Silvio not already confirmed through the report that the things Kyle possessed were anything but ordinary?
If even a portion of that information were released, Silvio’s chances of retiring normally would be ruined.
He had to buy time first.
“Right now?”
Silvio’s temper exploded when his subordinate stupidly repeated the question without understanding his urgency.
“Yes! Right now!”
The high-ranking officer hurriedly fled at Silvio’s furious roar.
Silvio wanted to rush to Unit 6 immediately and calm Kyle down.
However, he knew perfectly well that seeing his face would only make Kyle angrier.
Kyle had enough unused leave to last until the day of his discharge, and neither he nor his subordinates lacked money.
There was nothing Silvio could offer to appease them.
“This is driving me insane.”
He wanted to unleash a torrent of curses upon the bastards who had stirred up the hornet’s nest.
The fact that he could not do so only made him angrier.
Even Silvio, who was nearly a useless officer himself, understood that one did not provoke a soldier awaiting discharge.
Apparently, the former Corps Commander had not even known that much.
‘Or perhaps the small benefit placed before him completely blinded him.’
The more Silvio thought about it, the more unfair it seemed.
Should the Central Army Commander not have stopped something like this before it ever reached him?
Did the Commander think he would remain unharmed if Silvio went down?
Silvio grumbled, but that would not change the current situation.
The incident had already happened.
Only one thing remained certain.
“Something is going to explode.”
He could only pray that it would not ruin his retirement.
Just as Silvio’s keen instincts predicted, something happened that evening.
Papers were scattered throughout the alleys, and suspicious documents were posted on the plaza’s public noticeboard.
The next morning, a man passing through the plaza stared curiously at the documents.
“What is this? Is it real?”
Another man approached and answered his question.
“It seems to be genuine.”
“How do you know?”
“Do you see that over there?”
He pointed toward the wall of a building.
An arrow had been drawn there.
The arrow bore the number 1.
“They say there really was a hidden slush fund at the end of that arrow. Some sharp-eyed thieves already looted the entire place.”
“Huh….”
The man looked regretfully at the numbers written on the posted documents.
The locations appeared to have been thoroughly looted during the night. Security Corps officers could already be seen rushing about everywhere.
“Things will be chaotic again for a while.”
“Well…when are they not?”
The two men knew there was no hope left for an empire already showing every sign of collapse.
They trudged away to attend to their own affairs.
The other onlookers behaved similarly.
They showed some curiosity at first, but soon began dispersing.
In contrast to them, however, there was an organization whose members felt as though their insides were about to burst.
The Intelligence Bureau had been desperately controlling information in an attempt to stabilize the chaotic empire.
From their perspective, the current incident was enough to drive them insane.
“Which fucking moron provoked him?!”
The Director of the Intelligence Bureau roared as though he intended to find and kill whoever had caused this disaster by deliberately antagonizing a man who had been willing to leave quietly.
However, fools always found a way to make matters worse.
The people who had flown into a rage over the incident began making their move.