Chapter 122: Resolve (3)

Chapter 122: Resolve (3)

The first thing Jo Won-Gu did on the morning of one fine Saturday was head to the nearest smoking area. Once he lit one up, he sat down and stared at the distant skies above in silence.

“...Hey, Won-Gu.”

“Mm ” Jo Won-Gu snapped awake when someone called out his name.

His mate, Choi Se-Han, walked over and sat next to him. “You don't look so good, man. What's the matter? Did something bad happen?”

“Something bad, you say?”

“Yeah. I mean, you look like you stepped on dogsh*t, you see?”

Jo Won-Gu sighed softly. “Nothing's bad in my life, man. Nothing at all. Yeah, everything's just smooth sailing...”

“Smooth sailing? How so?”

“Well, we have a super rookie in the realm of not Grade A, but Grade S in our squad, you see.”

“Oh, you mean Kang Jin-Ho?”

Jo Won-Gu blinked his eyes and stared at his mate. “Huh How do you know him?”

“Man, everyone in the base has already heard about that kid. I heard he's supposedly not even human. Is it true?”

Jo Won-Gu wordlessly nodded.

Choi Se-Han was taken aback. “Wow. How bad is it, then?”

Jo Won-Gu took a deep drag of his cigarette. “...I want to run away.”

“Eh ”

“I gotta get discharged, pronto. That's the only way, man.”

“...Huh ” Choi Se-Han was left slack-jawed by Jo Won-Gu's response.

What was Jo Won-Gu's nickname among his peers? He had been nicknamed venomous snake, as he would always find crafty ways to torment his juniors. However, such a man had actually said that he wanted to run away from a newbie? It might be more believable to say that a whale was a terrestrial animal!

Choi Se-Han gulped back and cautiously asked, “What happened, exactly?”

“...Hey, man. Listen.”

“Yeah?”

“Sure. Fine. I can accept that guy's incredible athletic prowess. I mean, if the best athlete in the country joins the army, everyone else had to look like small fries to him, right? So, I can definitely understand that. However...”

“What are you on about?” Choi Se-Han looked at his mate weirdly.

“I tossed him the drill book so he could memorize the coordinate data. But, you know what he did? He actually went ahead and memorized the whole damned book! Let me ask ya, what am I supposed to do with a junior like that?!”

“...Seriously?”

“Uh-whew, goddamned it...” Jo Won-Gu sucked on his cigarette angrily before spitting out the gray smoke far away. “But he's also too bloody good at non-combat-related activities, you know! Do you have any idea how apologetic I feel whenever I step on the shiny wooden floor?! It feels like I'm messing up a still-drying cement surface with muddy boots or something!”

“H-hey, Won-Gu? Aren't you overreacting a bit here?”

“Oh In that case, how about you take him?”

“No thanks.” Choi Se-Han flatly refused. He had already heard enough rumors about Kang Jin-Ho to know better.

Jo Won-Gu continued with his ranting, “A human being should have some semblance of humanity, right?! Or, at least he should show us how fatigued he is! That kid does five times the workload of everyone else, yet... Yet, I had never seen him take a nap and laze around even once!”

“That's properly scary.”

“You think so, too?”

Choi Se-Han chuckled and tried to console his friend. “Good thing we'll get discharged soon.”

“You're right. My juniors will go through hell, though.”

Truth be told, the squad members' lives had gotten so much easier with Kang Jin-Ho's arrival. That wasn't the issue here, of course. The problem was with the psychological stress.

Jo Won-Gu had never imagined how stressful his life would become after the introduction of a by-the-book newbie to his squad. The existence of a newbie who did everything by the field manual near him alone made Jo Won-Gu feel the pressure to do his job properly every single time. It was as if he and the rest of the squad had to stick to the field manual.

Choi Se-Han patted his mate on the back. “Dude. For now, you gotta talk to him nicely and make him stand down. You're the squad commander and all.”

“...Yeah, you're right.” Jo Won-Gu nodded slowly. He resolved to find his old self once more. He tried to recall how adorable and refreshing Kang Jin-Ho had been during the early days of his enlistment.

“...Yes! That's right! I shall rediscover my original resolve!”

He was the squad commander, wasn't he?! Not only that but a sergeant, to boot! Feeling down like this because of a mere private 1st class made no damn sense!

Choi Se-Han decided that he would throw in an extra bit of advice. “Hey, how about taking that kid out to have some fun? Things might improve if he realizes that the military life isn't always so uptight.”

“Got it!” Jo Won-Gu shot up to his feet and headed inside the barrack. After powerfully throwing the door open and entering the living quarter, he discovered Kang Jin-Ho tidying up his personal things by his corner, and then he shouted at him, “Hey, maknae!”

“Private 1st class Kang Jin-Ho, sir!”

“Let's go play some computer games, you and I!”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “Computer games, sir?”

“Yeah, games! What should we play? Hey, wait. Do you know how to play Galaxy Craft?”

“...Galaxy Craft, you say?” Kang Jin-Ho's eyes narrowed slightly.

“Yeah! This hyung of yours used to be pretty good at that game back when I was still a civilian, you know! So, like, you know how to play Galaxy? Or you want me to teach you how?”

“Well, sir. I'm...” Kang Jin-Ho replied as a rare expression appeared on his face. An unreadable smile was forming on his lips. “...familiar with Galaxy Craft.”

The drill instructor roared, “PT No.8! Twenty times! How many times?”

“Twenty times!” the soldiers roared back.

“Eighteen times... Begin!”

“One! Two! Three! Four!”

Jo Won-Gu was convinced that this particular drill instructor was a devil incarnate. That was because he had been torturing the recruits with crouch-hopping and legs-up whole-body twisting exercises for quite some time now. So much attention was paid to those two exercises that Jo Won-Gu began to wonder if they had forgotten about the other types.

It was inevitable that some people would start to lose their minds when things reached the breaking point.

“Eighteeeeeen!”

Jo Won-Gu listened to his fellow soldiers loudly repeating the 'slogan' and bitterly chuckled to himself. He already knew that these cruel drill instructors wouldn't end the so-called training sooner than usual just because the soldiers were roaring out some meaningless slogans. After all, these red-beret-wearing devils in human guise weren't benevolent enough to give the soldiers a break just because the latter displayed commendable training spirit!

Even if the soldiers were doing great, the true goal of these drill instructors was to put them through a wringer until no one was doing great anymore. Maybe that was why? Jo Won-Gu was deriving a sense of perverse satisfaction while listening to the rather-unique slogan of “Eighteen!” being roared out.

'Maybe I should join them, too '

“These brats! You think this is a joke, huh PT no.11! Prepare to crouch-hop, now!”

“Prepariiiing!” Jo Won-Gu cried out while changing his posture. He had begun drooling from the corner of his mouth, but he didn't have the mental leeway to wipe that away.

'These bastards! What has gotten into them today?!'

He thought his physique had gotten weaker after becoming a sergeant. He was a bit more... fleshier now, so his stamina had to have fallen somewhat. That was why the training seemed too torturous—at least that was what he believed. However, the more he endured, the more convinced he became that this PT's difficulty had gone up far more than the last time.

However, this training wasn’t some kid's playtime. The drill instructors wouldn't surely increase or decrease the difficulty simply out of their whims, so why

That was when a familiar voice registered in Jo Won-Gu's hearing. “Preparing!”

His head slowly turned to look behind him. It was then that he felt like he could deduce the reason for this anomaly.

The drill instructor roared, “PT no.11, fifteen times! How many times?”

“Fifteen times!”

“Sixteen times... Begin!”

The attention of all the assistant instructors was focused on only one person. Jo Won-Gu thought that they were looking at him for some reason, but he chalked that down to nothing but 'just a feeling.’ However, he was mistaken. They weren't looking at him.

“...Hey, you! Kang Jin-Ho, you bastard!” Jo Won-Gu cried out in sheer resentment that verged on pure venom. Behind him was none other than Kang Jin-Ho, perfectly carrying out the training as the field manual had dictated—there were no deviations whatsoever!

Look at his perfect angles, his perfect movements! It was as if he was disdainfully saying, “Your pathetic little training can't tire me out.” No wonder all the instructors had been triggered into action!

Jo Won-Gu cried out again, “You!!! I told you to take it easy, didn't I?!”

“Sir? I don't follow?”

“Damn it! Take it easy already! Pretend you're having a hard time, alright!”

Desperation crept into Jo Won-Gu's cries after he had finally figured out the culprit behind this torture. Unfortunately for him, the red-beret-wearing folks didn't seem all that willing to understand Jo Won-Gu's plight.

“Owl No.88!”

“Owl No.88, Jo Won-Gu!”

“Time out!”

“...Acknowledged.” Jo Won-Gu trudged over to the time-out area and began rolling around in the muddy ground.

The drill instructor called him out, “Are you ready to pull your socks up, soldier?!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Did your head get too big for your own good, soldier?!”

“No, siiiiiir!”

Why did he have to go through this nonsense when the end of his military service was so near? Jo Won-Gu gritted his teeth as sweat soaked his whole body. While crawling on the ground, he raised his head ever so slightly and stared at Kang Jin-Ho. Goosebumps immediately broke out on Jo Won-Gu's skin at the sight of Kang Jin-Ho performing literally the textbook definition of legs raised, twisting the whole body. A normal human's legs shouldn't stay so perfectly uniform while doing that!

“Noooo, you mustn't...”

Only after the full duration of the so-called training was over were the soldiers released from the first day of PT.

***

Jo Won-Gu beckoned Kang Jin-Ho to come closer. “Come here, Jin-Ho.”

“Private 1st class Kang Jin-Ho, sir.”

“...I told you to take it easy, didn't I?”

“But, sir. You told us to aim for the best-performing squad, didn't you?”

“...Sure, I did.”

“In that case, should I back off, sir?”

Jo Won-Gu stared at the distant heavens above. Why were the stars sparkling so brightly tonight? Why was the moon so bright? He lowered his gaze and stared at Kang Jin-Ho. The task of explaining something as blindingly obvious as knowing when to do his best and when to take it easy seemed like an insurmountable task. The soldier named Kang Jin-Ho was way too unyielding and straightforward for that.

When nicely put, he was a pure, nay, innocent little pup. When not-so-nicely put, Kang Jin-Ho was a moron who had been trampling on the very idea of flexibility.

“...Jin-Ho, just do your thing.”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head slightly, looking somewhat unconvinced. “Very well, sir. I will.”

The next morning arrived, and Jo Won-Gu got to learn the hard way how severe his slip of the tongue was.

1. “PT” stands for physical training. The Korean military PT/calisthenics feature several different exercises.

2. This is not a typo. This is really from the raw.