Chapter 38

Prisoner

"Huff···. Huff···. Huuuff···. Cough, cough···."

Bong-tae quickly rolled off the North Korean soldier's body. The breath that had been trapped in his throat by tension burst out all at once. He coughed like someone suffering from asthma.

"Hey, a-are you okay?"

The soldier lying facedown asked in a voice that was still trembling with tension.

"Fuck···. Fuck···. Phew···. I'm f-fine···."

Bong-tae barely managed to answer. He roughly wiped his blood-soaked bayonet against the North Korean soldier's combat uniform. The ground where they had just struggled was covered in blood.

The sun would soon set completely. Even if the blood splattered across the ground and bushes would naturally be concealed by darkness, the gunshot fired during his struggle with the North Korean soldier couldn't be hidden.

Bong-tae rose with a short groan. If he didn't want to rest forever, he had to move immediately.

"Stay there···. Just a moment···."

"Urrgh···. Yes. All right···."

Bong-tae grabbed the legs of the North Korean corpses and dragged them into the bushes. The place where he had been hiding was large enough to conceal two bodies.

"Fucking heavy···. Shit···."

Bong-tae checked the equipment scattered on the ground. He didn't need their personal gear, but the rifles and magazines they had carried would definitely be useful.

He picked up a North Korean rifle first. It was completely different from the K2C1 he normally used. With its long magazine, thin barrel, and black stock, it was a Type 88 assault rifle used by North Korean infantry.

"Fuck···. Where the hell is everything on this thing?"

Bong-tae awkwardly pulled back the bolt to check the chamber, then fiddled with the fire selector. After roughly familiarizing himself with its mechanism, he slung both Type 88 rifles over his shoulders.

"Hey, do you know where we are?"

"N-no···. I don't. I fell off the bridge too."

"Fuck···."

Bong-tae looked around in every direction. A reddish glow still lingered along one side of the sky.

'I think the sun was setting over there···.'

In that case, they needed to move in the opposite direction from the red sky. They had pushed from eastern Namyangju toward the west, and the 8th Division's current assembly area was certainly to the east.

"Okay. Let's go."

"H-how? And where?"

"Get on my back."

Bong-tae turned and presented his back to the soldier. The man barely managed to raise his uncooperative body and wrap his arms around Bong-tae's neck. Bong-tae stood with the soldier on his back. His knees trembled.

"F-fuck. You're fucking heavy···."

"I-I'm sorry."

Bong-tae began approaching the stream. The soldier on his back was startled.

"You're going to···. cross the stream?"

"Yes. East is that way, and there were North Korean soldiers on this side. The other bank has to be safer."

"N-no, that's not what I meant···. Can you cross it? The current's still pretty···."

"We'll have to try. If we can't, we die together."

The current in Wangsuk Stream wasn't fast. It hadn't rained recently, so the water only reached below Bong-tae's knees. However, the riverbed was a mixture of slippery stones and mud.

His balance wavered slightly with every step. Crossing alone wouldn't have been particularly difficult, but carrying a grown man on his back was an entirely different matter.

Every time Bong-tae stumbled, the soldier on his back whispered apologetically.

"I-I'm sorry···."

"For fuck's sake···. Don't whisper into my neck. It's more exhausting than carrying your weight."

"Y-yes."

"And what are you so sorry about? If I were lying there like you were, would you just leave me behind?"

The soldier pressed his lips together. He figured that if their positions had been reversed, he probably wouldn't even have considered attacking the North Korean soldiers with a bayonet like Bong-tae had.

He might simply have hidden in the bushes and waited for the North Korean soldiers to pass. In the end, he said nothing.

"Huff···. Huff···."

Bong-tae gritted his teeth and continued moving his feet. The distance from one bank to the other couldn't have been more than twenty or thirty meters, but it felt like a thousand-mile journey.

Finally, Bong-tae's combat boots stepped onto firm soil instead of water. Summoning the last of his strength, he crawled up the stream bank. Only then did he slowly lower the soldier from his back.

"Hah···. Hah···. I'm fucking dying···. U-urgh!"

Bong-tae sprawled flat on his back, gasping for breath. Then a sudden wave of nausea struck, and he vomited everything in his stomach down the slope of the bank.

Just then, the soldier, who was lying prone and scanning the surroundings, tapped Bong-tae on the shoulder.

"H-hey!"

"Ugh···. What?"

"L-look over there! I think they're ours!"

Bong-tae wiped away the tears that had leaked from his eyes and raised his head. About 150 meters upstream, beneath the riverbank, he could see a two-and-a-half-ton truck burning and spewing black smoke.

"···Huh? W-wait a second."

In front of it, four Republic of Korea Army soldiers were kneeling with both hands raised above their heads. The figures of the men surrounding them were faintly illuminated by the firelight.

"Fuck···."

"Wh-what should we do?"

"Today's been a real fucking nightmare. Why are you asking? We have to do it one more time···."

"Do what one more time?"

Instead of answering, Bong-tae pulled one of the rifles slung over his shoulder into his hands. He removed the magazine and began counting how many rounds remained inside.

"Can you shoot?"

Bong-tae asked while looking at the soldier's hands. Three of the five fingers on his left hand were broken. Even supporting a rifle properly would undoubtedly cause considerable pain.

But the soldier seemed to summon courage from somewhere, and his expression grew resolute.

"Yes. I can."

Bong-tae hung one of the captured rifles around the soldier's neck.

"I've taken the safety off. Just pull the trigger and it'll fire. The magazine's full. I'll give you another spare."

"Yes. Urrgh···."

The soldier briefly ground his teeth against the pain surging through his legs. Bong-tae hoisted him onto his back again and slowly stood.

"I'll put you down when we get closer. Lie prone and shoot from there."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to shoot from a little closer."

Bong-tae began walking toward the distant glow of the burning truck. Their figures gradually grew clearer as he approached.

The armed men surrounding the truck were definitely North Korean soldiers. Bong-tae quietly clicked his tongue. He had no choice but to fight.

Bong-tae noticed an old sign standing beside the stream. The grass growing along the riverbank had been trimmed short, below knee height, but around this particular spot, it had been allowed to grow long.

'They obviously couldn't be bothered to cut the grass here.'

It was perfect for one person to hide and shoot from. Bong-tae slowly knelt and lowered the soldier.

"Phew···. When I start shooting, follow my lead."

"···Yes. Please be careful."

"That···. I can't promise."

"Heh."

The two exchanged glances and gave each other wry smiles.

Their situation was terrible. They were injured, short on equipment, and almost completely exhausted. Yet they found it absurdly amusing that they were choosing an option that would most likely make their situation even worse.

Bong-tae began running toward the faint glow of the truck. As he ran, he repeatedly fiddled with the fire selector of the Type 88 rifle.

Click. Click. Click.

He felt far more uneasy than usual. Part of it was because the rifle in his hands wasn't the familiar K2C1 he normally used, but more than anything, the absence of his 2nd Platoon members left him feeling terribly alone.

'Good grief···. Unbelievable.'

Despite constantly shouting at them and chewing them out, now that he was alone, he could keenly feel their absence.

The burning truck drew closer. The surroundings gradually became clearer. Once he was about fifty meters away, Bong-tae stopped running. He lowered his body close to the ground and approached slowly.

North Korean voices carried on the wind.

"What did the higher-ups say?"

"···."

"Did they say to bring them in?"

"Shut up."

They were definitely North Korean soldiers. Bong-tae cautiously peeked through the grass. The disarmed South Korean soldiers were kneeling with their heads lowered.

There were four North Korean soldiers in total. They were aiming their Type 88 rifles at the South Koreans. The North Korean soldier who appeared to be the most senior stood directly in front of the captives.

"Comrade···?"

"···."

He maintained an expressionless face and gave no answer. Then he raised his rifle and pressed its muzzle against the forehead of the South Korean soldier kneeling at the front.

"What are you doing?"

"···."

There was no time. If Bong-tae approached a little closer, he could secure a much better firing position, but by then, a bullet would almost certainly be lodged in that soldier's head.

He had to shoot now.

Bong-tae pressed the Type 88 rifle firmly against his shoulder. The rear and front sights felt unfamiliar. But the principle of all iron sights was the same. Align the rear and front sights, then place the target in the center.

BAAANG!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bong-tae's first shot split the North Korean soldier's forehead. A stream of blood spurted upward from his head.

"···Huh?"

As Bong-tae opened fire, the soldier aiming from beneath the sign also began shooting at the North Koreans.

BAANG! BAANG!

Whiz! Whiz!

One North Korean soldier was shot in the chest and collapsed backward. Bong-tae quickly swung his rifle toward another enemy.

"We're fuck—"

"You fucking bast—"

Bong-tae and the North Korean soldier shouted curses of similar origin as they aimed their rifles at each other.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

BAAANG! Ratatat!

They fired almost simultaneously. The North Korean soldier's bullet buried itself in the ground at Bong-tae's feet. Bong-tae's shots struck the North Korean soldier in the chest.

Whether he had successfully neutralized him didn't matter. One enemy remained. And that man had had more than enough time to take aim at Bong-tae.

Bong-tae gritted his teeth and threw himself sideways.

RATATATATAT! RATATAT!

Stones and dust exploded in every direction as continuous gunfire struck the spot where Bong-tae had been standing.

"You little rat!"

Just then, the South Korean soldiers who had been pressed against the ground watching the firefight all moved at once.

"Now! Grab him!"

"Hey! Knock him down! Quickly! Grab his arms!"

The silhouettes of the four soldiers and the North Korean overlapped. With both arms seized, the North Korean soldier fell to the ground and pulled the trigger.

RATATAT! RATATAT!

Bullets flew into the air and struck various objects around them. Bong-tae, who had thrown himself sideways, quickly got to his feet. The soldiers were desperately struggling to pin the North Korean to the ground.

"Only two of you hold him! The rest, check the others! Make sure none of them are still alive!"

Bong-tae shouted at the soldiers. Only then did the two men holding the prisoner's legs hurriedly release him and run to check the North Koreans who had fallen under the gunfire.

"Cover the prisoner's mouth! Don't let him shout! Get his rifle away from him! Quickly!"

Bong-tae ran down the riverbank with his rifle. The soldiers checked the North Koreans lying on the ground. Two had died instantly, while one continued breathing faintly before his head slumped and he died.

The North Korean soldier whose arms were being restrained by the soldiers thrashed wildly on the ground. Although one soldier was covering his mouth tightly with a hand, curses and threats of every kind spilled through the gaps between his fingers.

Bong-tae approached the North Korean soldier and reversed his grip on his rifle. As though driving a shovel into the ground for the first time, he swung the buttstock down toward the man's head.

THWACK!

The North Korean soldier squeezed his eyes shut. Bong-tae's rifle stock passed right beside his face.

"Listen, fucker. If you don't shut your mouth, I'll pull out every last one of your teeth."

"···."

The North Korean soldier clamped his mouth shut. But Bong-tae's cold gaze remained fixed on his face.

"No. Let's knock a few out right now. Take your hand away from his mouth."

"···What?"

"I said take it away."

The soldier holding the prisoner's mouth looked up at Bong-tae. He tried to convince himself it was a joke, that Bong-tae was simply threatening the man. But there wasn't the slightest hint of playfulness in Bong-tae's eyes. If anything, his expression was so calm that it was chilling.

"I-if we're taking him prisoner···. We're not supposed to hit—"

The Republic of Korea was a signatory to the Geneva Conventions. It had an obligation to protect prisoners who had lost the will to fight. The soldier recalled those lessons.

THUD! THUD!

Bong-tae struck the North Korean soldier's face twice in succession with the rifle stock.

"U-aaaaagh— Mmph···."

"H-hey? W-wait a second."

When the prisoner tried to scream in pain, the soldier hurriedly clamped his hand over the man's mouth again. Bong-tae was still glaring at the North Korean with his rifle stock aimed at his head.

Bong-tae hadn't even put half his strength into the blows. If he had truly intended to, he could easily have crushed the man's skull with the rifle stock alone. Bong-tae also intended to take the North Korean alive.

Blood began running from the North Korean soldier's nose and mouth. Looking down at the bloodstained rifle stock, Bong-tae muttered.

"Still haven't knocked any teeth out. Let's hit you a little more."

"Mmph···. Mmph, mmph···."

The North Korean soldier shook his head from side to side.

"You're going to keep your mouth shut, right?"

The North Korean soldier nodded vigorously. Only then did Bong-tae lower the rifle stock. The soldier covering the prisoner's mouth cautiously removed his hand.

"···Yes! Yes! I'll be quiet—"

Bong-tae swung the rifle stock one more time.

THUD!

"Say it more quietly."

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