Chapter 16

7th Corps (1)

[ April 5, 5:30 AM ]

Early in the morning, three black SUVs and a military vehicle bearing the 3rd Division insignia glided into the entrance of the 7th Corps encampment.

At the entrance to the encampment, soldiers who had only just woken up were sitting around. As though they still hadn't accepted the war as reality, most wore blank expressions.

“Are those civilian vehicles?”

“There's a military vehicle coming in with them.”

“Isn't that the 3rd Division insignia?”

“Uh···. You're right. The license plate says it's a command vehicle.”

“Hey! Stop talking about useless things and get ready for morning roll call.”

The four vehicles continued deeper into the seemingly endless 7th Corps encampment.

North of Icheon.

The 7th Corps encampment, positioned with enormous mountains providing natural cover, was overwhelming in sheer scale.

It stretched twenty kilometers from end to end. There were hundreds of tents alone, and far more vehicles than that.

The tents were arranged sparsely in groups of two or three, with hundreds of meters between them. It was a dispersed deployment intended to prepare against North Korean ballistic missiles and long-range artillery attacks.

They had also been spread out widely with their routes kept separate, allowing them to move directly onto their assigned axes of advance the moment an order to advance north was issued.

That was why, when viewed from a distance, the 7th Corps encampment looked less like one enormous military base and more like a colony covering an entire mountain. It even resembled a gigantic anthill.

The vehicles drove through that anthill.

On both sides of the road, tanks lay quietly beneath camouflage netting. There were well over a hundred visible along the roadside alone.

An avenue lined with tanks. It was a magnificent sight.

Lee Jin-gu muttered as he looked out the window.

“Wow···. Black Panthers, K9s, all the elite armored units are gathered here.”

Bong-tae didn't know the names of all those tanks. But he could at least tell that South Korea's strongest armored forces had assembled here.

They drove straight through the encampment for about twenty minutes. Bong-tae's vehicle stopped in front of the largest command-post tent.

A formation as large as a corps didn't establish just one command post. Several command posts were set up for different purposes, including operations, communications, transportation, and fire support.

This was the main command post. It was where the commander of the 7th Corps, a three-star general, was stationed. It was the brain of the corps, where operations for the entire formation were controlled and decided.

“You boys wait here.”

“Yes, understood.”

Lieutenant Colonel Choi Pil and several officers from the 332nd Special Operations Brigade entered the command post.

Bong-tae looked around. The area surrounding the command post was incredibly busy.

Although less than a day had passed since the war began, everyone's face already bore the exhaustion of someone who had been awake for several days.

Bong-tae walked around the area and approached a corporal who looked relatively unoccupied. The man had just finished maintaining a two-and-a-half-ton truck and was drinking water from his canteen.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

The corporal turned his head without thinking, then widened his eyes when he saw Bong-tae's appearance.

“H-hey, where the hell have you been rolling around? What's with the state of your uniform?”

Bong-tae chuckled. Honestly, even he thought he looked like a beggar.

“Um, is the 33rd Battalion of the 8th Division somewhere in this encampment?”

The corporal tilted his head. He didn't know every unit inside the 7th Corps encampment, but he at least knew the names of units that frequently passed through.

“Hmm···. I don't think I've heard of the 33rd Battalion.”

“Hm? What's going on?”

“Loyalty.”

A transportation officer who had been sitting in the driver's seat of the two-and-a-half-ton truck climbed down. The captain's rank insignia on his collar was slightly darkened by dust.

“The 33rd Battalion? You mean the Twins unit of the 8th Division?”

“Yes, sir. That's correct.”

He shook his head.

“I've seen a few men who came over from the 8th Division, but I haven't seen them assemble separately.”

Bong-tae bit his lip for a moment.

“···I see, sir.”

“Fuck···. There are plenty of soldiers who've drifted here after their original units were smashed apart.”

He pointed around the area.

“That guy over there is from the 5th Division, and the men in that tent are all from the 6th Division. Soldiers from all kinds of units gathered here just yesterday.”

Bong-tae looked in the direction the officer was pointing. Soldiers wearing various unit insignia sat with their heads lowered. They looked far more exhausted than the 7th Corps soldiers stationed here.

“Ah···.”

Like Bong-tae, they were survivors who had escaped from hell. Without realizing it, Bong-tae searched among them for his own unit's insignia. But nowhere could he see the Twins insignia.

“Um···. May I ask you something?”

“Sure. Ask whatever you want. I'll answer anything I can.”

“How much damage did we suffer from North Korea's preemptive attack?”

“Hmm···. You could say every frontline unit took a beating. There was hardly a unit that didn't get hit by artillery.”

“···.”

Bong-tae's expression hardened. The officer continued speaking calmly.

“Command posts, artillery positions, ammunition depots, assembly areas, transportation units. Every visible location got hit. I've heard tens of thousands of shells fell as soon as the war started.”

“What about the 7th Corps···?”

“We got hit fucking hard here too. Half our equipment was destroyed. We returned fire, but fuck···. It's not like we can tell whether we hit anything.”

The officer smiled bitterly.

“We're short on reconnaissance assets, and communications are still down. There are still countless sectors where we haven't properly assessed the frontline situation.”

He looked north and flicked ash from his cigarette.

“Still, North Korea probably isn't unscathed either. We fired everything we had at them, after all.”

“They must have taken quite a beating too.”

Lieutenant Colonel Choi Pil appeared behind Bong-tae. The officer quickly dropped his cigarette to the ground and snapped a salute.

“Advance North!”

“Oh, what a waste. Cigarettes are supplies too, Captain.”

“I-I'm sorry, sir!”

Choi Pil was right. The operational plans that were revised countless times during peacetime already contained the coordinates of major frontline North Korean units, artillery positions, and armored and supply assembly areas.

Although they couldn't track targets in real time using satellite photographs or aerial drones, South Korea's artillery and missile units had unleashed enormous firepower against their preselected targets as soon as the war began.

In the end, the current situation was closer to both sides fighting with bloody noses.

It was still unknown which side had taken the harder beating. But one thing was clear. The most important variable determining victory or defeat in the early stages of the war was the 7th Corps, right here.

The Republic of Korea Army's strongest offensive corps. Four mechanized infantry divisions and two artillery brigades. In terms of combat power alone, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they accounted for nearly a third of the entire Republic of Korea Army's strength.

Even the tanks it possessed numbered in the hundreds. They were genuine third-generation tanks, on a level that couldn't even be compared to the North Korean Cheonma-2s that had terrorized Pungam-ri. It also had more than 250 self-propelled artillery pieces, including K9s.

Firepower. Truly insane firepower.

And the commander of the 7th Corps, which possessed that tremendous firepower, had just made a decision.

They would advance even with unreliable communications.

According to the operational plan. They would advance north.

If they failed to slow the momentum of the North Korean Army now, they would lose control of Gangwon Province and Gyeonggi Province.

The formation was far too large to sit around doing nothing while waiting for communications to be restored or the Americans to intervene.

The moment the 7th Corps remained stationary in Icheon, it was nothing more than an enormous target. A gun that wasn't being used was no different from scrap metal.

However, considering the unusual circumstances of the current battlefield, the 7th Corps commander had chosen a highly unconventional method of advancing.

He would divide the entire corps into four enormous formations. After creating maneuver groups numbered one through four, he would maintain sufficient distance between them.

Groups One and Four wouldn't be able to see each other, but Group One would be visible to Group Two, Group Two to Group Three, and Group Three to Group Four. This would allow the commanders of each group to assess the situation sufficiently even without communications.

Under normal circumstances, such a plan would never have been adopted. In peacetime, the staff officers might even have dared to ask the corps commander whether he'd lost his mind.

It was dangerous and inefficient, but if they had to move immediately, this was the best option.

And the person who had proposed this insane plan was···.

Lieutenant Colonel Choi Pil, who was now standing with a hand resting casually on Bong-tae's shoulder.

The 7th Corps commander hadn't raised a single objection after hearing Choi Pil's plan. Instead, he'd adopted it immediately, before the explanation was even finished.

Because what they needed now wasn't a perfect plan, but a plan they could actually execute.

There had been only one condition. Choi Pil himself had to remain beside the corps commander and take responsibility for the plan until the end.

While assigning Choi Pil the role of operations staff officer, the corps commander also ordered him to command one of the battalions under the 7th Corps.

Choi Pil accepted without complaint. Among the many subordinate battalions that had already lost their ability to function properly, he chose a battalion from the 8th Division.

Its original battalion commander was missing, and its Headquarters Company had been virtually destroyed, but parts of its medical, communications, and transportation companies had survived and were now under the control of the 7th Corps.

Choi Pil's first task as battalion commander was to reorganize that battalion.

A clearing behind the main command post.

Several dozen survivors from the 33rd Battalion, who had hurried over after receiving word, were looking at Choi Pil.

Their combat uniforms bore the familiar Twins insignia that Bong-tae knew so well.

Bong-tae examined their faces one by one. Most were unfamiliar, but he spotted a few he vaguely recognized from battalion training exercises.

Choi Pil opened his mouth.

“This is sudden, but I've become your new battalion commander.”

“···What?”

“R-really, sir?”

“That's right.”

Choi Pil shrugged.

“I'm part of the 8th Division now too. Looks like I'll have to find myself a unit patch and put it on quickly.”

Several soldiers chuckled. The one who laughed the loudest was Lee Jin-gu.

“Nice!”

“What's got you so happy?”

“Well, honestly, we've all seen what you can do, Battalion Commander.”

“Right. And it's nice for me to be able to command brave soldiers like you.”

At that moment, a group of soldiers came running toward Bong-tae and the others.

“S-Sergeant Kim!”

Bong-tae turned his head. At last, he spotted familiar faces. For the first time in what felt like ages, Bong-tae smiled broadly.

They were the six Headquarters Company soldiers he'd parted with at the pension. Every one of them looked healthy and unharmed, without a single injury.

“Hwang Gi-tae! Guys!”

“Hyung! Fuck! What the hell happened to you?”

Hwang Gi-tae laughed in disbelief. Bong-tae couldn't help laughing too.

“Tell me about it···. I nearly died more times than I can count.”

“I'm glad everyone's safe···. Where the hell did you go?”

“Us? Cheorwon.”

“···What? Ch-Che-Cheorwon? Didn't the North Korean soldiers come down there?”

“We already had a hell of a fight there yesterday.”

Choi Pil, who had been watching the soldiers reunite, grinned and stepped down from the platform. He beckoned Bong-tae over.

“There's a lot of work to do. We're especially short on officers and NCOs. Bong-tae.”

“Yes, Battalion Commander.”

“Go around the corps encampment and gather any soldiers or officers who haven't been assigned anywhere yet. Bring them over here.”

“Yes, understood.”

“And I want you to serve as the temporary leader of the 2nd Platoon.”

“···What?”

Bong-tae's mouth fell slightly open. But the person who was even more surprised wasn't Bong-tae. It was Lee Jin-gu beside him.

“P-platoon leader?”

Lee Jin-gu's voice rose an octave.

“Isn't that an officer's job? How can an enlisted soldier···?”

“We're at war. And there aren't any company-grade officers available.”

“Still···.”

“Then the most senior sergeant should do it, shouldn't he?”

Choi Pil looked around.

“Is there any sergeant here with more time in service than Bong-tae? When did you enlist?”

“October 4, 2027, sir.”

Nobody could answer. Naturally. He was someone who should have been discharged yesterday.

“No! Sergeant Kim absolutely cannot do it! I'm completely against it!”

The surrounding soldiers chuckled. But Lee Jin-gu was serious. As someone who had spent nearly a year serving under Bong-tae, and who had been chewed out by him more than anyone else, he was more certain of this than anybody.

This man must not be given authority.

“Why not?”

Choi Pil asked with an amused expression.

“He's way too strict.”

Laughter erupted from all around. Choi Pil patted Lee Jin-gu on the shoulder.

“Judging by Jin-gu's reaction, I think he'll do just fine.”

“Is there anyone else among us suited for the job? I'm certainly not doing it. Absolutely not.”

Hwang Gi-tae spoke with both hands raised. Lee Hwan, the next most senior soldier, reacted the same way. Lee Jin-gu covered his face as he looked at his seniors.

Bong-tae gave Lee Jin-gu's helmet a hard knock with his fist, then climbed into the vehicle.

“Hwang Gi-tae and Nam Gi-baek, get in the car. Everyone else, inspect your gas masks. After that, clean your weapons and check your remaining ammunition. Lee Hwan, you're in charge.”

“Yes, Sergeant Kim.”

“···.”

“I'm going to inspect everything when I get back, so if you do a half-assed job cleaning, you're dead. Same goes for you guys from the other units. You're not outsiders anymore, are you? Make sure you do it properly.”

Seeing Bong-tae behave that way, Choi Pil burst into laughter.

“See? He's doing a great job.”

© Jungle Pocket #22844