Chapter 1

Discharge Day

[ April 4, 2029 ]

[ Saturday ]

[ 08:00 ]

If a kid who had barely lived past twenty said that today was the most important day of his life, someone might snort as though it were ridiculous.

Saying, what would a punk who was still wet behind the ears know about life?

But if that day meant the day he was discharged from the military, even that person would have no choice but to quietly nod.

In 2029, the Republic of Korea had 300,000 infantrymen. Although it had actively pursued a policy of reducing troop numbers for the past five years, it still maintained a policy of keeping troop strength above a certain level.

No matter how advanced the military had become these days, with mechanization, AI command systems, and whatever else, the number of infantrymen was absolutely important. In the end, it was infantry who defended your land and planted a flag on someone else's.

Twenty-four this year. Kim Bong-tae, a fine son of Korea, had also faithfully completed his mandatory service as a physically healthy Grade 1 active-duty soldier.

And he had done more than merely complete it. He was a soldier who was exceptionally good at military life.

The ace of the unit.

With a perfect shooting score, top-tier physical fitness, and the experience of having worked his ass off at construction sites for two years starting at age twenty, he had a knack for work that couldn't even be compared to others his age.

On top of that, he held certifications as a construction equipment operator, welder, and electrician, as well as a Class 1 large-vehicle driver's license. He was, quite literally, a soldier with endless uses. The soldier most beloved by the administrative supply NCO, the command sergeant major, and even the company commander.

Whether it was work or training, Bong-tae's name was always the first to be called.

And on top of that, his personality was also···.

No. To be honest, his personality was kind of bad. Very bad.

In particular, the fact that his picky and prickly personality remained switched on twenty-four hours a day was more than enough to earn Bong-tae the nickname 'Devil' within the company.

His way of speaking was curt, and he never let even small mistakes slide.

If even one strap on someone's field pack was crooked, he made them redo it, and if someone so much as dozed off during guard duty, they could consider that night's sleep gone.

To his seniors and officers, he was a good junior who carried out every duty assigned to him without a single complaint, but to his juniors, he was an endlessly uncomfortable senior.

What kind of military was the army these days? Unlike ten or twenty years ago, if a senior so much as gave a junior a hard time, one 'Letter from the Heart' would send him straight to disciplinary training.

But despite all the harassment Bong-tae had dished out, he had never once been sent to disciplinary training.

His juniors knew all too well. Without him, this unit wouldn't function properly.

Bong-tae was the kind of man who could single-handedly do the work of three or four corporals, the rank said to work the hardest in the unit.

A necessary evil.

That was probably the most accurate expression for Sergeant Kim Bong-tae of Headquarters Company, 33rd Infantry Battalion, 8th Mechanized Infantry Division, located in Idong-myeon, Pocheon City.

And today was that devil bastard's discharge day.

#

[ April 4, 09:00 ]

Bong-tae entered the company commander's office. He finished reporting his discharge at a volume that seemed ready to tear his throat apart.

“Loyalty! Sergeant Kim Bong-tae has been ordered discharged as of April 4, 2029! Reporting as ordered! Loyalty!”

"Yeah, our Bong-tae. You worked hard. I'm not just saying that—you really worked hard. You know that after you became squad leader, our company's accident rate dropped to zero, right? And our training performance was the best in the entire army."

“Thank you, Company Commander.”

Headquarters Company Commander Choi Cheol-jung, now in his fourth year as a captain, gripped Bong-tae's shoulders tightly with both hands.

“Bong-tae, I mentioned this before···. Have you given any thought to becoming an officer? With how hard it is to find work these days, there aren't many jobs as stable as being a soldier. I heard you did well in school too, right? Maybe give the military academy a shot···.”

“I'm fine! Company Commander!”

“No, I'm telling you, it's really not bad?”

Bong-tae laughed off the company commander, who kept trying to hold on to him out of lingering regret.

‘Am I crazy?’

Well, being a career soldier in 2029 wasn't that bad. Compared to before, the salaries of newly commissioned NCOs and officers had risen considerably, and public perception had improved too, though not quite to the level of the U.S. military.

But Bong-tae had absolutely no intention of choosing the military as a career. There were so many things he wanted to do outside.

He wanted to use the military pay he'd carefully saved to enter art school and draw all the pictures he'd wanted to his heart's content, and he wanted to stay up all night gaming at a PC café with his friends.

He also wanted to hurry up and experience this thing called dating, which he'd never done even once until now.

After listening to the company commander's regrets for ten minutes, Bong-tae was finally able to leave the company commander's office.

But outside the company commander's office, someone else was waiting for him. The person he'd spoken with more than anyone else in the military. Someone he sometimes liked very much, and other times genuinely wanted to kill.

Administrative Supply Sergeant Nam Pil-seong.

“Bong-tae!”

“Loyalty!”

“It's really such a shame. You're the treasure of our unit···. I've never seen talent like yours in all my years in the military. Hey, just between us, I'll seriously talk to the command sergeant major, so how about becoming a professional sergeant? Just six months···.”

‘Enough already···.’

Bong-tae was sick of it now.

The company commander, the administrative supply NCO, the command sergeant major, the supply NCO, the operations officer—basically every officer and NCO in the unit had been sending Bong-tae love calls. Begging him to please stay in the unit. Two days ago, he'd even had to endure a nerve-racking showdown with the battalion commander.

“I'm fine! I'll be going now! Stay healthy! Administrative Supply Sergeant!”

#

[ April 4, 09:30 AM ]

Bong-tae exchanged his final farewells with the unit members who had shared the barracks room with him. No matter how strict he'd been with his juniors, on his final day he was fairly sentimental.

“I'm sorry about everything. Jin-gu. Chan-seong.”

At Bong-tae's sudden apology, his juniors smirked. Lee Jin-gu, who had been chewed out by him more than anyone else, looked especially dumbfounded.

“Wow. The moment it's your discharge day, you suddenly become a nice person.”

“I was always nice. The military made me like this.”

“That's seriously shameless.”

Laughter erupted throughout the barracks room. Bong-tae laughed along. Thinking back, they'd clashed a lot. There were probably things he could have simply let slide, but because he himself couldn't stand them, he'd forced them to redo things more than once or twice.

The company members also didn't say anything unpleasant now that he was about to be discharged.

“Hyung, you know it was fucking brutal, right?”

“When Bong-tae hyung was squad leader, we used to curse the shit out of you among ourselves.”

“No, checking gas masks once a week and cleaning weapons once every three days was too much.”

“I know. I know.”

“Still, it's true you did the most work···. I'll admit that. Even when I become a sergeant, I don't think I could do what you did.”

Whether they liked him or hated him, Bong-tae had been the one who did the most work in the unit. Even yesterday, the day before his discharge, he hadn't taken off his work uniform until he'd finished his assigned tasks before dinner.

Even the administrative supply NCO had clicked his tongue and asked whether he really had to be doing that on the day before his discharge.

“Make sure you contact me later.”

“Yeah. I'll call.”

“The devil of Headquarters Company is finally disappearing.”

Lee Jin-gu said it as though a weight had been lifted off his chest. Bong-tae's eyes widened when he heard that. It was a nickname he'd never heard before.

“Devil?”

“That was your nickname, hyung?”

“R-really?”

“Wow···. They say a real devil doesn't even know he's a devil···.”

“I wasn't that bad, was I?”

“You were. Hyung.”

“Puhahaha! This is driving me crazy! Bong-tae hyung! Seriously!”

Everyone in the barracks room burst into laughter. Bong-tae laughed for a long while as well, then bowed deeply to the unit members.

“I'm going now, guys. You all worked hard.”

“Hyung!”

Hwang Gi-tae, a junior three months below him who was now the longest-serving man in the barracks room, shot to his feet. Then, in a voice loud enough to shake the Headquarters Company building, he shouted.

“Unit! Attention!”

Snap. Snap.

The unit members rose from their seats. They moved with even sharper military discipline than at a general's inspection.

“To Sergeant Kim Bong-tae, salute!”

"Lo! Yal!"

The thunderous sound made Bong-tae's ears ring. It was so loud that even the administrative supply NCO and the company commander in the administrative office grinned as they looked toward the barracks room.

Bong-tae set the duffel bag in his hand down on the floor. Then, with the sharpest posture in the world, he returned their salute.

"Lo! Yal!"

"Congratulations!"

“Congratulations! Take care! I'll contact you once you're out!”

“Hyung! All the bullshit was bullshit, but honestly, there's even more we're grateful for! You know how we feel, right?”

#

[ April 4, 10:00 AM ]

Bong-tae entered the guardhouse. He showed his crisp discharge certificate to the guardhouse commander. Staff Sergeant Kim Jin-tae, the guardhouse commander, was an NCO who had always been very close with Bong-tae.

They drank a cup of instant coffee while exchanging some casual conversation.

“Hey, Bong-tae. What did you say you were going to do after you get out? Art?”

“Drawing has always been my hobby, sir. I want to learn it properly.”

“Doesn't suit the way you look. Hey, and I'm younger than you anyway, so drop the honorifics now.”

“I'm still a soldier until today, sir.”

Staff Sergeant Kim ground out his cigarette against the sole of his combat boot. He grinned and gave Bong-tae a few pats on the shoulder.

“Seriously. You really are a walking field manual. Hey, contact me once you're out. I don't say things I don't mean. I'll treat you to something big.”

“How big of a treat are you planning, sir?”

“My sergeant's pay may be tiny as a rat's dick, but I've still got enough to treat one guy like you to the full course.”

Bong-tae also bared his teeth in a grin. Of all the NCOs and officers, he had liked Staff Sergeant Kim the most. Though he was the youngest among the NCOs, he always worked hard at his job, and Bong-tae liked that he never tried to cut corners.

“I'll look forward to it. Then, I'll be going now. Loyalty.”

Kim Bong-tae saluted at rigid attention. Staff Sergeant Kim returned his salute with equally sharp form.

“You worked hard!”

“Thank you.”

Just as Bong-tae turned and was about to step through the guardhouse door.

WEEEEENG-!

WEEEEEEEEENG-!

A loud warning alarm exploded through the previously quiet guardhouse. The speaker mounted on the ceiling shrieked as though it were about to tear apart. The warning lights on the wall also flashed red.

The smile vanished from Staff Sergeant Kim's face in an instant.

“There aren't any drills today···?”

The radios sitting on the desk all switched on at the same time.

Company net, direct battalion line, guardhouse security net, military police control net, division situation net.

Different voices poured out all at once, overlapping one another.

- All company personnel, switch to standby readiness! Repeat! Switch to standby readiness! This is not a drill!

- Battalion situation room. Check the airspace above the unit immediately and report!

- Division operations officer. Effective immediately, all entry and exit through unit guardhouses is completely restricted.

“Huh?”

The guardhouse duty personnel shot to their feet. There were occasionally readiness drills where combat readiness was activated without prior warning, but they never made this much of a fuss.

“Uh··· huh? Staff Sergeant Kim?”

“This isn't the training net, sir.”

Staff Sergeant Kim shot out of the guardhouse like lightning. He shouted loudly at the soldiers standing guard outside.

“Hey! Put up the barricade! Close the gate!”

Bong-tae stood frozen inside the guardhouse, where chaotic screens flickered and communications kept pouring in. The small paper bag he'd been holding had already fallen to the floor and was rolling around.

Then, over the command network being received by the entire Republic of Korea Army, a radio transmission that would change his fate began to come through.

- Personnel on leave, pass, and those being discharged today are to return to their units immediately. Repeating. Personnel on leave, pass, and those being discharged today are to return to their units immediately.

- Emphasizing once again. This is not a training scenario. This is a real-world situation. I repeat. This is a real-world situation.

“Communications security! This is the main gate guardhouse of the 33rd Battalion. Yes! Operations Officer. Yes! We just received it.”

“Yes, sir. Issue live ammunition? Yes. Yes, yes···. Understood.”

“Hey! You're checking all the situation reports coming down from higher headquarters, right?”

“There are too many, sir!”

“Just print out the ones from our corps first!”

“There are more than ten, sir!”

The inside of the guardhouse quickly descended into chaos. A quiet curse escaped the lips of a man who had been scheduled to become a civilian once midnight passed.

“Fuck.”

#

[ April 4, 10:07 ]

Multiple unidentified flying objects detected over northern Gyeonggi Province.

DEFCON 2 declared.

All units transition to combat readiness.

[ April 4, 10:10 ]

DEFCON 1 declared.

Leave and pass privileges suspended for all units, martial law and mobilization orders declared, live ammunition issued, and individual mission cards checked.

[ April 4, 10:12 ]

Air Force Air Defense and Control Command reports simultaneous shutdown of seventeen frontline radar stations.

[ April 4, 10:20 ]

Simultaneous engagements break out across the entire Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

[ April 4, 10:30 ]

First casualty reported.

Corporal Kim Il-tae, 2nd Company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.

[ April 4, 10:31 ]

Communications unstable in engagement areas. Contact lost with some units.

[ April 4, 10:35 ]

National Crisis Management Center convened for an emergency meeting.

[ April 4, 10:40 ]

North Korea announces Kim Myeong-seong's inauguration as Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

[ April 4, 10:42 ]

Kim Myeong-seong issues statement.

“As of today, the Korean People's Army enters into a righteous war of national liberation against the anti-national puppet forces and the American imperialist invading forces.”

North Korea declares war on the Republic of Korea.

© Jungle Pocket #22844

Author's Note

All names, characters, and events appearing in this work are fictional.

They have absolutely no connection to any real persons, places, buildings, or products.