Chapter 6

Staff Sergeant Kim

“Hmm···. This position is really difficult, sir.”

“Hey, try to do it properly.”

“Was this rifle always so heavy···?”

The soldiers lying prone on the hill each extended their K2C1 rifles forward and assumed firing positions.

However, all five soldiers seemed uncomfortable with their positions, constantly shifting their bodies and adjusting their posture.

The only one maintaining a relatively stable position and regulating his breathing was Private Song Min-jae.

Come to think of it, that wasn't particularly strange. There wasn't a single soldier in South Korea who hadn't undergone firearms training. From basic training until discharge, soldiers fired hundreds, sometimes thousands, of rounds.

But they didn't train to fire while lying on a mountaintop and looking down at a road below, as they were doing now.

All shooting exercises in the Republic of Korea Army took place at designated firing ranges. Soldiers practiced firing from designated lanes, in designated positions, at designated targets.

Recently, targets had begun appearing in randomized sequences, but for decades since the founding of the Korean military, the standard had been 'far, near, middle, far, near, middle, far, middle, near, middle.' It was practically no different from a memorization exercise.

Could soldiers who had received only that kind of training shoot as well in a genuine combat situation like this as they did at the firing range? Absolutely not.

Hwang Gi-tae kept glancing toward the point where the national highway began, toward the invisible end of the road. If things didn't go according to plan, he would have to lead the soldiers here to safety himself.

Honestly, he wasn't confident. He wasn't sure he could make decisions as quickly as Sergeant Kim Bong-tae, nor was he confident he could lead the soldiers here to safety.

“Hey, can you see Sergeant Kim?”

“N-no, I can't.”

“What the hell is that crazy bastard thinking, moving around where even his own side can't see him?”

Meanwhile, Bong-tae was rapidly pursuing the parachutes.

The area around the road was overgrown with weeds that hadn't been cleared. Rocks and piles of stones reaching up to a person's waist were scattered everywhere. There were plenty of places to hide.

Bong-tae moved while keeping his body as low as possible. The parachutes were now very close to the ground.

The men wore black masks over their faces, and unfamiliar firearms were strapped across their stomachs. On their right arms were North Korean flags. Definite proof that they were enemies.

“···Fuck.”

At last, the two men landed in a clearing near the road. Bong-tae immediately concealed himself. He carefully observed them through the undergrowth. Immediately after landing, the two men began quickly gathering their parachutes. Their movements were practiced.

He could hear the two men speaking urgently.

“Damn it. Of all times for a sudden gust to blow···.”

“Don't go wandering around for no reason. Stay hidden.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bong-tae narrowed his eyes. Their manner of speaking clearly identified them as North Korean soldiers. The two men hurriedly concealed their parachutes, picked up their weapons, and moved away. They left the clearing and took up positions near a rice-field embankment beside the road.

Their black combat uniforms blended into the surrounding piles of scorched straw, making them almost invisible. It was excellent camouflage, so effective that anyone not looking very carefully would fail to notice them. The two men lay prone and began watching the road.

‘They're probably special forces···? Ordinary infantry wouldn't infiltrate by parachute···.’

Bong-tae held his breath and moved slowly. One step, then another. He put pressure on his toes, trying his utmost not to step on even a piece of straw.

The best outcome would be to eliminate both men without firing a shot, but honestly, Bong-tae didn't think he could pull that off cleanly.

Because he'd never done it before. He'd never received that kind of training either. Still, it was worth attempting.

The bayonet mounted on his K2C1 glinted faintly. The muzzle was already pointed toward the two North Korean soldiers.

‘If they notice me, I'll shoot immediately. If they don't··· I'll stab them.’

That was the entirety of his plan. Just as he was approaching cautiously.

Rustle—

A sound came from the bushes right beside him. Bong-tae's entire body stiffened. He reflexively whipped his head around.

Only three or four steps away, a man whose entire face was covered in black camouflage paint emerged from the bushes in a crouch.

He held a pistol in his left hand and a knife completely different from the KM7 bayonet in his right. Startled, Bong-tae tried to swing his rifle toward him.

“···Shh.”

But the man raised his left index finger, signaling Bong-tae to remain quiet. He slowly pointed toward his own left arm. A South Korean flag was attached to the sleeve of his black combat uniform.

‘Is he one of ours? Or not? Is it just a disguise?’

Bong-tae's mind raced. During military political education, he'd heard countless times that North Korean special forces could infiltrate wearing South Korean military uniforms.

It would be far too careless to assume someone was friendly simply because they wore a South Korean flag.

‘If he were North Korean, wouldn't he have shot me first?’

Bong-tae didn't lower his rifle. The man remained motionless, as though he understood Bong-tae's caution.

Instead, he slowly raised a finger and pointed toward the two North Korean soldiers lying on the embankment. He pointed at the North Korean soldier on the right, then at Bong-tae.

‘Does he want··· to do this together?’

Bong-tae nodded slightly.

At that moment, the encounter between Bong-tae and the unfamiliar man became visible from the hill where the other soldiers were positioned. A slight commotion broke out on the hilltop.

“Fuck! Who the hell is that bastard?”

“S-should we shoot?”

“He's too close to Sergeant Kim! Min-jae, can you hit him?”

“I'll give it a try!”

“W-wait a minute! Sergeant Hwang! What are those two doing?”

They could see the two men, crouching low, communicating with their fingers.

“A-are they on the same side?”

“What the hell is going on?”

“If he were an enemy, Sergeant Kim would have shot him.”

Hwang Gi-tae calmly observed the situation. Given Kim Bong-tae's personality, if he'd thought the man was an enemy, he would have pulled the trigger without hesitation.

“Hey, hey. Calm down. For now, keep your sights on the men on the embankment.”

“Yes.”

“Min-jae, just in case, keep an eye on the man beside Sergeant Kim.”

“Y-yes.”

“Huh? They're moving again!”

Bong-tae and the man began moving almost simultaneously. Very slowly.

The ground along the rice-field embankment still held some moisture. The soil softly absorbed the soles of their combat boots, almost completely muffling their footsteps.

“Hey, comrade.”

“Shut your mouth. We're on an operation.”

Before their conversation could finish.

Rustle.

Bong-tae's toe brushed lightly against some dry grass.

Oh, damn.

But having approached this close, it was impossible to eliminate every sound of his footsteps.

Approaching someone to within just a few steps without making any noise was something that only happened in movies.

The North Korean soldier's shoulder twitched ever so slightly. Bong-tae didn't hesitate. Instead, he thought this was his last chance.

He immediately lunged forward as though throwing his entire body ahead. The distance was only three or four steps.

Gripping his K2C1 firmly with both hands, Bong-tae drove the bayonet with all his strength into the point where the man's neck met his shoulder.

Thrust—!

The bayonet sliced through flesh and penetrated deep inside.

“···Hah.”

Air escaped from the North Korean soldier's open mouth. Bong-tae immediately pulled out the bayonet. Hot blood splashed across the back of his hand.

He instantly changed his stance and thrust the bayonet in again. There was a good chance the man wore body armor over his back and chest. So he aimed for the armpit.

Thruuust—!

The bayonet pierced through the opening beneath the man's arm and plunged deep inside. The North Korean soldier's body convulsed violently before pitching forward.

Without even having time to gasp, Bong-tae quickly looked to his left. If the other man had failed to kill the North Korean soldier, Bong-tae would have no choice but to fire his rifle.

But there was no need to worry. What Bong-tae saw was a North Korean soldier who was already dead.

“···.”

Unlike Bong-tae, who had needed to drive his bayonet in twice before bringing his opponent down, the man had killed his target cleanly with a single slash across the throat.

Gulp.

Bong-tae swallowed involuntarily. Anyone could tell that this was a man accustomed to killing people.

Without saying a word, the man casually wiped his knife against the North Korean soldier's uniform and slipped it into a pocket on his vest. He grabbed the corpse by the ankle and began dragging it away.

“Hide him.”

Following his example, Bong-tae grabbed the legs of the soldier he'd killed. Together, they dragged the bodies behind the rice-field embankment.

As it happened, there was a large pile of straw nearby that had been intended for use as fertilizer. They pushed the bodies deep into the straw pile.

“Well done.”

The man looked at Bong-tae as he spoke.

“Unit?”

There was no rank insignia visible on the man's combat uniform. However, he carried a pistol, and there was a strange sense of pressure in every movement he made. Judging by his bearing, he was definitely an officer or NCO.

“Sergeant Kim Bong-tae, Headquarters Company, 33rd Infantry Battalion, 8th Division.”

The man's expression changed strangely for a moment. Thinking he might have misheard, he asked Bong-tae again.

“···Huh? An infantry battalion of the 8th Division? Headquarters Company?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You're a soldier from an ordinary infantry battalion?”

“Yes, sir.”

“···What's your assignment?”

“Facilities maintenance soldier, sir.”

“···I see. I'm Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je of the 332nd Special Operations Brigade.”

“Loyalty.”

Bong-tae immediately straightened his posture.

Kim Hong-je was dumbfounded. Even if the soldier wasn't a special forces operator, he'd assumed the man had at least some exposure to special warfare training. He couldn't understand how someone like this could be ordinary infantry.

‘How does an ordinary soldier even think of silently eliminating an enemy with a bayonet?’

Even with experience in overseas deployments and more than fifteen years of special warfare training, Kim Hong-je himself couldn't be certain of successfully ambushing and silently eliminating an enemy.

To be honest, his tension hadn't faded even now. Yet this facilities maintenance soldier standing in front of him looked remarkably composed.

‘What a strange guy.’

But that was only what Kim Hong-je thought. Right now, Bong-tae felt as though his mind was about to collapse from having killed someone for the first time in his life.

The sensation of stabbing a person repeatedly returned to his fingertips, and nausea surged through him as though he might vomit at any moment.

If fear, tension, and the brutal reality that he was now in a war hadn't constricted his throat, he would have emptied the contents of his stomach onto the rice-field embankment.

“Are you alone?”

“No, sir. There are nine other soldiers from my unit. Ten in total, including me.”

“Ten? What about the rest of your company···?”

Bong-tae's expression hardened. The memory of the horrific artillery bombardment they'd suffered a few hours earlier resurfaced.

“Our base was hit by artillery fire. Only the ten of us survived.”

“Fuck.”

There was surprise in his curse, but also familiarity.

It was the reaction of someone who had already witnessed far too much death in a single day. Kim Hong-je didn't ask any further questions. Their personal circumstances weren't what mattered right now.

“We're moving. Where are your men?”

Bong-tae gestured toward the men on the hill. A moment later, the soldiers who had been hiding on the hill began emerging one by one.

The sight of them running down the slope with their field packs on their backs made it obvious to anyone that they were green recruits experiencing war for the first time. Kim Hong-je's brow furrowed slightly.

The soldiers saluted Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je.

“Don't salute from now on. It attracts attention. Follow me.”

“Yes, understood.”

The soldiers examined Bong-tae's complexion.

“S-Sergeant Kim. Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“···Yeah. I'm fine. Let's get moving.”

“You look really pale.”

“I said I'm fine, you bastard.”

“Who is that man?”

“He's Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je from the Special Operations Brigade.”

The soldiers desperately wanted to ask the first friendly soldier they'd encountered since the war began an enormous number of questions, but now wasn't the time.

Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je began walking quickly along National Route 75.

After about thirty minutes of walking, several gunshots began ringing out in the distance. Hearing them, Staff Sergeant Kim's expression darkened again.

“Fuck. Looks like it's started.”

“···What? What's started?”

“I'll explain later.”

“Y-yes! Understood.”

Along Yongso Valley, there were quite a few pensions, motels, and glamping sites. The largest of those buildings was a pension called 'Blue Sapphire.'

And there, several unidentified armed men were using a wall for cover while pouring gunfire into the building.

There appeared to be people resisting inside the building as well, as intermittent muzzle flashes erupted from its darkened windows.

There were more than ten unidentified armed men outside, judging by those they could see. Staff Sergeant Kim Hong-je glanced at the soldiers.

“We'll launch a surprise attack from the rear.”

“Yes, understood.”

When Bong-tae answered, the soldiers behind him swallowed nervously. Finally, they were facing real combat. Unlike moments ago, when they hadn't known whether they would have to shoot, the time had now come to actually pull the trigger.

Several of the privates were trembling so badly that their teeth chattered. At that moment, Bong-tae approached Staff Sergeant Kim.

“Um, Staff Sergeant.”

“What? Keep it brief.”

“Rather than attacking only from here, how about sending a few men around to establish a crossfire?”

“A crossfire?”

Bong-tae pointed across the road.

“Do you see that convenience store over there?”

Staff Sergeant Kim turned his gaze. There was a small convenience store about a hundred meters from the pension.

“From the roof of that building, I think we'd be able to see those bastards no matter where they hide.”

Staff Sergeant Kim examined the terrain for a moment. From that position, their fields of fire would indeed overlap cleanly.

The pension would fire from the front, the men here would fire from the side, and the team on the convenience store roof would fire from the rear. From the enemy's perspective, wherever they moved, they would be hit by bullets.

“Good.”

“I'll take three men and get into position.”

“···You?”

“Yes, sir. I think we can get there quickly.”

Staff Sergeant Kim looked at Bong-tae for a moment. An ordinary soldier would be trembling like the men standing here. Yet this fellow was volunteering to take the dangerous position himself.

“Good. We'll open fire as soon as we're in position. Start firing from your side when you hear our shots.”

“Yes, understood.”

Bong-tae turned toward his men.

“Lee Hwan.”

“Yes?”

“Gi-baek.”

“Yes?”

“Jin-gu.”

“···Yes?”

“What's with the 'yes'? You guys are the fastest runners here. Let's run.”

“Fuuuck···.”

Although the three soldiers grumbled, they immediately got to their feet. Staff Sergeant Kim narrowed his eyes as he watched them.

‘What an interesting fellow.’

© Jungle Pocket #22844