Chapter 10

Madmen

Lieutenant Colonel Choi Pil and his group came down onto the road. The first thing they did was check whether the fallen North Korean soldiers were still alive.

Choi Pil hoped that at least one of them was still breathing. Being special forces soldiers, they were unlikely to give up any information willingly, but if they could take a prisoner, they might at least find a clue to breaking through their current predicament.

However, all six North Korean soldiers had suffered fatal gunshot wounds and died on the spot.

“Damn it···.”

Choi Pil's gaze turned toward the van riddled with bullet holes.

Creak—

Thud—

The driver's and passenger's doors opened simultaneously. Then both doors promptly fell to the ground with a thud.

Bong-tae and Jin-gu scratched their heads sheepishly. Both soldiers' faces were already blackened with dust and gunpowder smoke.

“You crazy bastards···.”

Harsh words escaped Choi Pil's mouth. But contrary to his words, the corners of his thick lips gradually rose. He thanked the heavens that both men were unharmed.

“Are you two insane?”

“I-I'm sorry, sir. But I just followed Sergeant Kim. He did all the driving and made all the decisions. I only fired my gun.”

“You little bastard···. But···. You shot pretty well, didn't you?”

“Haha! Thank you, sir! I didn't know I was this good either!”

Lee Jin-gu joked around.

Unlike Lieutenant Colonel Choi Pil, Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je maintained a stern expression even after the engagement had ended. He stood in front of Sergeant Kim Bong-tae. Bong-tae flinched whenever Staff Sergeant Kim's cold gaze fell on him.

“That was far too dangerous. Don't ever do anything like that again.”

“···Yes, understood. I'm sorry, sir.”

Bong-tae agreed with Staff Sergeant Kim completely. Honestly, even he thought it had been a crazy thing to do. If his only objective had been to draw the enemy's attention, he should have stopped the vehicle at a suitable location.

After all, the men on the mountain were their main source of firepower. It would have been better to stop as soon as the North Korean soldiers spotted the vehicle and exchange gunfire from there. The van's large body would have provided sufficient cover.

From a purely tactical standpoint, that was the correct answer.

‘But···.’

Kim Hong-je thought carefully. Would that really have been the correct answer? Would it have been better to act according to the manual and the rules of engagement?

Bullets are more unpredictable than you think.

Kim Hong-je recalled the opening sentence of a U.S. special forces document he'd read in translation long ago.

If a firefight had continued with both sides missing most of their shots, the North Korean soldiers would have looked toward the bus at least once. And what happened after that was anyone's guess.

The North Korean soldiers might have tried to take hostages, or they might have fired at the civilians.

“M-Mom···.”

“It's okay. It's okay. Kids, stay down. All right?”

“···T-teacher···.”

“Miss···. Are you okay? Your mouth keeps bleeding.”

“Yeah. I'm okay. Don't worry.”

Kim Hong-je's eyes fell on the students and teacher lying flat beside the bus. In the end, not a single one of them had died. None of them had been injured either.

“Haaah···.”

He sighed. It had been a good deed. An extremely good deed, in fact. But he decided not to praise them.

Succeed with a method like that once, and you'd repeat it twice. Succeed twice, and you'd try it a third time. And war killed people like that first.

“Think about your safety first. What's the point if you end up dead?”

Bong-tae looked at Staff Sergeant Kim for a moment before answering briefly.

“Yes, understood.”

Staff Sergeant Kim said nothing more. Bong-tae had answered that he understood, but Kim Hong-je could vaguely sense something in the bastard's eyes: 'If the same situation happens again, I'll do exactly the same thing.'

“Good, if you really understand.”

He lightly punched Bong-tae in the chest.

“Urgh···.”

“Get the civilians under control. We're leaving this area.”

“Yes, Staff Sergeant.”

Bong-tae scratched the back of his head a few times with an embarrassed expression, then immediately walked toward the students and teachers gathered nearby.

The students flinched and shrank back when Bong-tae approached.

“H-hik!”

“W-who are you?”

The students were still terrified. Even though Bong-tae wore a familiar military uniform, soldiers themselves had already become frightening figures to the children.

Until just a minute ago, North Korean soldiers had been pointing rifles at them, their teacher had been struck, and a fierce gunfight had erupted right before their eyes. It was only natural.

“···.”

The students stared fearfully at Bong-tae standing before them. Bong-tae decided to be as gentle with the children as he possibly could.

“What? Never seen a soldier before?”

Yes. For Bong-tae, that was a considerable effort in choosing his words. At his remark, the students exchanged uncertain glances. After a moment, one of the girls cautiously spoke.

“Y-you're Korean, right?”

“What else do I look like?”

Bong-tae chuckled.

“Do I look like a North Korean soldier to you?”

A few quiet laughs broke out among the students. Bong-tae pointed toward the bus.

“Enough talking. Get on the bus.”

“···Yes, mister soldier.”

“···What?”

Bong-tae's expression changed subtly at being called 'mister.' If he'd been discharged as scheduled today, he'd be a twenty-four-year-old who had only just entered civilian life. He was still young enough to call himself someone in his early twenties and get away with it with a chuckle.

When Bong-tae stiffened slightly, Lee Jin-gu, who had overheard the exchange, lowered his head and began shaking his shoulders. He was clearly trying to suppress his laughter.

“Shut your trap.”

“Pfft.”

Lee Jin-gu covered his mouth. Bong-tae barely resisted the urge to smack him.

Just then, a woman approached with small droplets of blood forming on her split lip. She was the teacher who had been struck with a rifle butt while protecting the students from the North Korean soldiers.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“It's nothing. You're their teacher, right?”

She bowed her head in greeting.

“Yes. My name is Lee Se-jin, and I work at Cheorwon High School. If you'd arrived even a little later, I don't know what might have happened···.”

Lee Se-jin couldn't bring herself to finish speaking. Tears welled up in her eyes. Bong-tae wasn't accustomed to receiving such heartfelt thanks. His face and ears were gradually turning red. He pointed toward the bus.

“Were you driving, ma'am?”

“Yes.”

“Why isn't anyone else here? What about the driver?”

“When we heard that war had broken out, he told me to take the students away first. He said he needed to find his family···.”

Bong-tae didn't ask any more questions. He could only hope that the bus driver had safely found his family and evacuated.

“Are there still people over there who haven't evacuated?”

“I'm not sure. We were up in the mountains for an outdoor class today.”

“The mountains? Even though it's Saturday?”

“Yes. We have weekend classes once every quarter. It's a place where smartphone reception is usually poor, but today there was no signal at all. We only found out about the war later, so we're just now trying to escape.”

Bong-tae fell into thought for a moment. Cheorwon was one of the foremost frontline regions in South Korea. Under normal circumstances, military units in the area should have been busy evacuating local civilians.

There was no way they should have missed a bus full of students. Something was going terribly wrong at the front. Just like what had happened to his own Headquarters Company when it was bombarded.

Imagining the worst-case scenario, Bong-tae shook his head slightly. At that moment, Lieutenant Colonel Choi Pil approached Bong-tae and Lee Se-jin.

Startled by Choi Pil's overwhelming appearance, she took a small step backward. Choi Pil cleared his throat a few times before questioning the teacher.

“Did you hear anything?”

“S-sounds?”

“Yes. Military sirens or evacuation announcements, anything like that. Did you hear any?”

“Ah···.”

She searched her memory for a moment. The students inside the bus had been so noisy that she hadn't been able to hear outside sounds clearly, but a long warning tone unlike anything she normally heard had reached the inside of the bus.

“I think I did hear something.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. It was very far away, but I heard it. I think it came faintly from somewhere farther down the mountain.”

Choi Pil nodded briefly. That meant at least one military unit in the Cheorwon area had entered a normal wartime operational state.

“Understood. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Not at all. We're the ones who should be thanking you.”

Choi Pil grinned at the teacher.

“You were brave to stand in front of North Korean soldiers without a gun.”

“I-I was worried about the children···.”

Choi Pil meant it sincerely. Standing unarmed in front of armed special forces operators was something even most soldiers couldn't do. Choi Pil himself wasn't confident he would have done the same thing if he'd been in the teacher's position.

“Are you··· going to Cheorwon?”

“···Hmm. I can't tell you that for operational reasons.”

Soldiers didn't explain operational details to civilians. But the brief silence before his answer seemed to have given the teacher some idea.

“Please be careful.”

“Head south as quickly as you can. If you keep following the national highway, you'll reach Gapyeong. If you see a military base or police station along the way, go inside immediately.”

“Yes, understood. Thank you so much.”

“Hurry and go.”

The teacher bowed deeply and climbed onto the bus. The engine roared roughly. The vehicle slowly started moving.

Vroooom—

At that moment, the bus windows began opening one by one. The students stuck out their youthful faces. Although their faces were messy with tears and runny noses, the children called out to Bong-tae and the others who remained on the road.

“Thank you, mister soldiers!”

“Please make sure you stay alive!”

Lee Jin-gu, who had been waving his hand vigorously toward the bus, gave Bong-tae a sharp poke in the side.

“Wave back at them.”

“Don't want to.”

“They're going to all that trouble···.”

“···.”

Bong-tae alternated his gaze between the children's expressions and Lee Jin-gu's face before reluctantly raising his hand.

“Hmm?”

Even before the bus departed, Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je had been searching the North Korean soldiers' corpses. And inside one soldier's combat vest, he discovered a small scrap of paper.

“Battalion Commander.”

“Did you find something?”

“Yes, sir. A map.”

Choi Pil examined the waterproofed piece of map. It showed northern Gyeonggi Province and western Gangwon Province in considerable detail.

And on it were markings drawn with a red pen. Circles, triangles, and Xs.

Choi Pil narrowed his eyes. Kim Hong-je quietly spoke to him.

“Could these indicate military unit locations? But if so, the positions are slightly off.”

Lieutenant Colonel Choi Pil shook his head. He placed the map on the ground and thought for a long while. He began comparing the marked locations against his own memory.

And the moment his memory turned into certainty, Choi Pil's face became as hard as stone.

“These are wartime deployment positions.”

“···Sir?”

“The circles are the 3rd Division. The triangles are the 6th Division. The Xs are the 5th Artillery or the 6th Artillery···. Must be the 5th Artillery.”

“Do you mean their initial wartime deployment positions?”

“That's right. If my memory serves me correctly.”

“If even an ordinary airborne soldier is carrying this information···.”

Choi Pil smiled bitterly.

“Fuck. Everything's been compromised.”

As of 2029.

With a single internet search, anyone could find the locations of every military unit in South Korea. Even people who had never served in the military could easily find out that the 3rd Division was stationed in Cheorwon and the 8th Division in Pocheon.

Even if they couldn't find photographs or detailed addresses of a unit, following keywords like 'in front of a certain military base,' 'a certain division's military mart,' or 'a certain command's meeting plaza' was enough to deduce its exact location.

Satellite maps were no different. Places that were unusually blurred or awkwardly concealed were, almost without exception, military installations.

But the information contained in the map Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je had discovered was on an entirely different level.

Information ordinary civilians could never know. Information that would be impossible to obtain without accessing operational plans classified by the military at Level 2 or higher.

“The operational plans themselves have been leaked.”

“That's right.”

Choi Pil bit his lip as though unwilling to admit it.

“No wonder their artillery fire was so fucking accurate.”

“Shouldn't we warn the others?”

“Yes. Every second counts. We have to inform them that the enemy already knows their positions. They need to redeploy to locations that aren't included in the operational plans at all.”

“But···. How are we supposed to do that?”

The radios were dead, and their smartphones still couldn't pick up any signal. Choi Pil sighed and turned his head.

He could see the van parked along one side of the road. It had already been torn to pieces by North Korean gunfire. Anyone could see that it belonged in a scrapyard rather than on the road.

“We'll have to go ourselves. What else can we do?”

“Yes, understood.”

“Aren't you used to doing things the hard way?”

“Yes, well···. It's always been like this whenever I'm with you, Lieutenant Colonel.”

Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je smiled slightly.

“Everyone, assemble! Board the vehicle!”

Bong-tae, Lee Hwan, Lee Jin-gu, and Song Min-jae, who had been keeping watch over the surroundings, quickly ran over.

“Can we actually drive this thing?”

“Just a moment.”

Bong-tae climbed into the driver's seat. He lightly pressed the accelerator.

Vroom—

Vroooom—

The engine was still functioning normally. Bong-tae stuck only his head outside and shouted.

“We can go.”

Lee Jin-gu laughed in disbelief as he climbed into the back of the van.

“I never knew our country was this good at making cars. It's been torn to shreds, but it still runs.”

“Seriously.”

Choi Pil and Kim Hong-je also boarded the van. Staff Sergeant Kim sat in the passenger seat.

Choi Pil reclined his seat slightly. Even the large seat of the twelve-passenger van looked narrow beneath his massive body.

“There's one more thing our country is good at.”

“Sir? What's that?”

“Producing lunatics who don't value their own lives and put other people's lives first.”

“···Sir?”

Choi Pil grinned. The scenes from moments earlier still lingered in his mind. The teacher who had stood unarmed in front of the students, and Bong-tae and Jin-gu, who had charged straight into the most dangerous position of their own accord.

“You boys, and that wonderful female teacher just now.”

“···Hehe.”

Lee Jin-gu grinned.

“Battalion Commander, I don't think you or Staff Sergeant Kim are exactly sane either, sir.”

“Lee Jin-gu, watch your mouth—”

Just as Bong-tae was about to warn Lee Jin-gu, the latter's head was already trapped between Lieutenant Colonel Choi Pil's massive biceps. Lee Jin-gu flailed helplessly in the lieutenant colonel's headlock.

“O-owowowow!”

“Hahaha! That's a fact, though. You can't fight a war while you're sane!”

He laughed heartily and spoke to Bong-tae.

“Let's go.”

“Where are we heading?”

Choi Pil looked toward the northern sky. It was still an ominous reddish-orange.

“To Cheorwon.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bong-tae answered briefly and pressed hard on the accelerator.

© Jungle Pocket #22844

Author's Note

Another chapter is scheduled for 11:20 PM. Thank you.