Chapter 29

Namyangju

Bong-tae's 33rd Battalion of the 8th Division was once again assigned a reconnaissance mission. With its compact force of fifty men, it could move quickly, and its achievements at Cheonju Mountain were more than enough to qualify it to lead the assault force tasked with retaking Seoul.

Bong-tae stood in front of the supply battalion's tent with several members of the 33rd Battalion. They were there to receive new communications equipment.

The trucks that had rushed over from Gyeryongdae were piled high with older communications equipment and radios fitted with Electronic Warfare Countermeasure Devices.

None of the newly recruited members of the 33rd Battalion had previously served as communications specialists. Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je selected one soldier from each platoon and appointed them temporary communications operators.

An employee from the defense research institute who had come from Gyeryongdae quickly explained how to operate the equipment to the communications operators.

They didn't need to know everything a communications operator did. Establishing communications networks, installing antennas, and operating encryption systems were difficult to learn in a short time, but using a radio that had already been configured was relatively easy to master.

"All right, everyone. You understand everything, right?"

"Uh···. Wait a moment. Could you go over it again? How do you do this?"

"Sure, hand it back to me. Turn on the power here, never touch the channel settings, and press only this button when transmitting. And make sure you turn on the countermeasure device before switching on the radio."

"Ah···. Understood."

The explanation lasted ten minutes at most. The temporary communications operators learned how to use the radios by operating them several times themselves.

Watching them, the supply battalion soldiers gathered in small groups and began whispering among themselves.

"Oh, are those the guys? The Thirty-Three?"

"Aren't they the ones who defended Cheonju Mountain today?"

"A hundred? A hundred and fifty? They killed all of them?"

"Don't know. Maybe they exaggerated their report a little···."

"I heard their commander used to be with the Tiger Unit. You think he'd lie?"

"True···."

Not everyone in the 7th Corps knew about the 33rd Battalion's achievements that day, but word was spreading quickly through the operations clerks working in the command and control room.

Situation reports detailing the day's combat results and unit conditions were still arriving at the command and control room from subordinate units throughout the 7th Corps.

The 33rd Battalion, which had been responsible for defending Cheonju Mountain, had reported killing approximately 150 to 200 North Korean soldiers, destroying two vehicles and two mortars, and killing a first lieutenant, all without suffering a single friendly casualty.

At first, the operations clerks thought the situation report had been submitted incorrectly. They even went so far as to seek out Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je, one of the 33rd Battalion's platoon leaders, to verify the results personally.

Judging by the numbers alone, the achievements resembled the results of an elite special forces operation rather than those of a newly formed battalion.

And there was something else. An NCO serving as a platoon leader wasn't particularly unusual these days, given the shortage of junior officers. But an enlisted soldier serving as a platoon leader?

The highest command position an enlisted soldier could hold was squad leader. The duties and responsibilities of a platoon leader were far too heavy for an ordinary enlisted soldier to shoulder.

That was why, whenever people discussed the 33rd Battalion's outstanding achievements, the name of its acting platoon leader, Kim Bong-tae, inevitably came up. Along with his unfortunate story.

"Is that him? The enlisted platoon leader···. What was his name again···?"

"Kim Bong-tae."

"I heard he was supposed to be discharged yesterday···?"

"What? Wow···. Fuck, that must seriously suck."

Surprised exclamations erupted one after another from the surrounding soldiers.

There were quite a few soldiers in the 7th Corps who had been scheduled for discharge yesterday or today. About twenty of them. But most were still unable to accept the reality that war had broken out. They were either devastated or trying to avoid dangerous assignments by any means possible.

Not one of those soldiers awaiting discharge was running around on the front lines, working hard while even serving as a platoon leader, like Kim Bong-tae.

"I've got nothing but respect."

"Fuck···. Wasn't it Sergeant Choi from Second Company? I heard that bastard got caught trying to desert."

"Yeah···. How does he do it? Is it patriotism or something?"

"Patriotism, my ass···. Does anyone even have that these days?"

A short while later, one of the whispering soldiers approached Bong-tae. Seeing the man coming toward him with shining eyes, Bong-tae leaned back slightly.

"Um, excuse me, mister."

"Yes?"

The soldier rummaged through his combat uniform pocket and took out a snack wrapped in expensive-looking packaging. It wasn't something sold at the PX, but a fairly pricey product of the kind one might find displayed in a civilian café.

"Please have this and keep your strength up."

"Uh···. Thank you."

"Not at all. Keep fighting. I respect you."

Bong-tae accepted the cookie with a bewildered expression. The soldiers of the 33rd Battalion gathered around him with amused grins.

"Sergeant Kim, you got another one?"

"Uh···. Looks like it. What's going on?"

"Wow···. You're popular with the guys, Platoon Leader!"

"Want to die?"

Bong-tae's combat uniform pockets were already bulging. They were stuffed with energy bars, chocolates, and snacks that soldiers he'd encountered on his way to the supply battalion had handed him one by one.

Small snacks offered along with brief greetings. Each time, Bong-tae could do nothing but awkwardly thank them.

"Seriously, what's going on?"

#

April 6.

The third day of the war. 05:00.

Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je and Kim Bong-tae stood before Lieutenant Colonel Choi Pil. Behind them, the fifty members of the 33rd Battalion stood in formation.

Exhaustion was evident on everyone's face. The field cots hadn't supported their backs properly. Still, they had been much better than sleeping on the hard ground.

On top of that, there had been snoring from every direction. Soldiers like Hwang Gi-tae, who was exceptionally sensitive to noise while sleeping, had struggled to endure it and hadn't managed to fall asleep until late into the night.

But there was something that had kept the members of the 33rd Battalion awake even more than uncomfortable beds or snoring.

The fact that, starting today, they would be marching straight into the enemy's jaws.

Familiar scenes they had seen countless times in war movies and comics began appearing in their minds.

Extra Soldier Number One, whose head was blown off by a sniper exposing only his rifle barrel through a window.

Extra Soldier Number Two, whose body was blown to pieces by a shell suddenly fired from a tank hiding behind a building.

Extra Soldier Number Three, who entered a building and found himself face-to-face with an enemy hiding behind a staircase.

At some point, the faces of those countless extras who had merely flashed across the screen in movies were all replaced by their own faces, tormenting their minds.

Although nobody in the tent voiced any weakness aloud, most members of the 33rd Battalion spent that night fighting similar fears.

Except for one man.

"Ah, that was a good sleep. Feels like the first proper night's rest I've had in ages."

"···."

Every soldier's gaze turned toward Bong-tae simultaneously. They all looked at him as though he were insane.

"How could you possibly sleep well in there?"

"We couldn't even wash, the beds were hard, and there were so many people snoring!"

Bong-tae stretched his body and yawned. Then he popped a piece of chocolate he'd received from a 7th Corps soldier yesterday into his mouth.

"What does any of that matter? Once you close your eyes, it doesn't matter whether you're dirty or clean, whether the bed's a rock or a waterbed. You just sleep."

"No, but we're going into Seoul starting today···. Aren't you scared?"

"Of course I'm scared."

"Then how can you sleep?"

"Hey, if you don't sleep because you're scared, you'll obviously die even faster tomorrow. You need to get some sleep while you still can, you idiots."

As though it were nothing, Bong-tae took out a fresh pair of socks and put them on.

"Hey, stamina is important. Stamina. It's not like bullets are going to avoid me just because I worry about them. So I might as well get a proper night's sleep and keep my head clear."

Contrary to the worries of the 33rd Battalion soldiers, the 7th Corps assault force's preparations were thorough.

They were issued far more ammunition than usual. In practice, soldiers could receive as much as they wanted, provided they could carry it themselves.

With some supply battalions reassigned to the assault force for the Seoul recapture operation, there would be no shortage of ammunition, food, or medical supplies for the time being.

The vanguard of the operation was the 33rd Infantry Battalion of the 8th Division.

To avoid enemy ambushes and drone surveillance as much as possible, they would advance on foot along the mountain ridges running beside the roads, reconnoitering the axis of advance.

In impressive military terminology, it was high-speed mountain reconnaissance.

In reality, it meant climbing mountains.

The 33rd Battalion would depart approximately six hours ahead of the main armored force to reconnoiter Namyangju.

Their mission was to check, one by one, for demolished bridges, obstacles blocking the roads, and any traces of enemy forces in buildings or on the wooded hills.

The 11th Engineer Battalion would follow closely along the roads cleared by the 33rd Battalion.

Based on the reconnaissance results, the engineers would remove obstacles and, if necessary, construct roads themselves to create routes along which tanks could maneuver.

Behind them would advance the main force of the Seoul recapture operation, the 8th Mechanized Infantry Division.

At the front, K2 Black Panther tanks would crush enemy firing positions and open the way, with infantry fighting vehicles following closely behind.

The moment enemy resistance weakened, mechanized infantry would dismount and search buildings and alleyways.

Follow-up units would take over the defense of secured areas. Self-propelled artillery would provide fire support from the rear. And the tanks would advance to the next block.

There was nothing particularly complicated about it. It was the simplest and most reliable way to assault a city. The most fundamental of fundamentals.

The essence of the recapture operation was to reclaim northern Seoul, one sector at a time, in that manner.

Of course, the 8th Mechanized Infantry Division alone couldn't retake Seoul. The objective of this attack wasn't to reclaim Seoul in a single stroke, but to draw North Korea's attention northward and buy time.

If the Capital Defense Command could reorganize its shattered formations in the south and advance north again, if United States Forces Korea could pour overwhelming firepower onto the front, or if mobilization divisions from across the country began converging on Seoul, they would gain the momentum needed to retake Seoul and rapidly push farther north.

That was as far as the operational plan went.

From this point onward, it was time for the men on the ground to act.

Clunk—

The doors of the two-and-a-half-ton truck swung wide open. The soldiers riding in the cargo bed began standing up. The rattling of weapons and equipment echoed inside the truck.

"33rd Battalion, dismount!"

"Dismount!"

#

"Sergeant Kim."

"Yes, Staff Sergeant Kim."

"Lead your platoon along this ridgeline."

"Yes. Understood."

Once again, Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je assigned different ridgelines to each platoon.

This allowed them to reconnoiter a wider area simultaneously rather than crowd together along the same route. It also gave them more tactical options, such as having one platoon maneuver around the flank if another encountered the enemy.

"Haaah···. Another mountain."

"There you go complaining again, Lee Jin-gu."

"We're near Seoul, and there are still mountains everywhere···."

The city spread out before Bong-tae was Namyangju. A small city of 700,000 people in northeastern Gyeonggi Province.

Named for its location in the southern part of the former Yangju County, Namyangju bordered Gapyeong and Yangpyeong to the east, and Guri and Seoul's Nowon District to the west.

The city was nestled among densely forested mountains on every side. No matter where one looked, the view ended at a mountain.

It was unusual to find somewhere with so many mountains less than an hour's drive from Seoul. Someone who enjoyed hiking might have regarded Namyangju as paradise.

But the situation was rather different now.

To the 33rd Battalion, Namyangju looked like a green hell.

"Who's telling you to walk around every mountain here? We just have to reach the highest point and observe from there."

"Climbing the highest mountain is exactly what's so exhausting."

"Then stay here, Jin-gu. The rest of us are going."

"···Haaah."

Small chuckles broke out among the soldiers. All members of the 33rd Battalion were wearing light combat gear. Their body armor was stuffed with spare magazines along the front and sides.

After the Battle of Cheonju Mountain, the soldiers had learned the value of ammunition the hard way.

The more, the better.

Two things were better in greater quantities: money and bullets.

"All right, enough chatter. Everyone, concentrate now."

"···Yes, sir."

"Lee Hwan and I will take the lead. Hwang Gi-tae and Kang Min-jun will bring up the rear. The rest of you, follow along."

The members of the 33rd Battalion's 2nd Platoon began climbing Mount Baekbong in Namyangju.

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