WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving Among the Anomalies ◈

Chapter 35: Inspection

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“Phew.”

Sirens wailed in the darkness. After crashing into the last wall and barely bringing the vehicle to a stop, I sat inside with a cigarette between my lips, quietly dwelling on old memories.

‘It turned out exactly like that time.’

This time, I had stayed alert and paid close attention to what might go wrong. So what was the problem?

“Even if my physical abilities are gone, my transcendent senses remain. I do not understand why the result is so similar to last time.”

Not long after, soldiers rushed over and aimed their rifles at me.

“You’re surrounded! You’re surrounded! Hands up! Move and we’ll shoot!”

“Yes, I know.”

I put out my cigarette and saluted through the window.

“Loyalty. Private Lee Seung-hoon, reporting on official business with a superior unit. The purpose is the regiment’s regular vehicle dispatch.”

“……What?”

The rank insignia of the officer leading the soldiers was clearly visible even in the darkness. It bobbed as the officer shouted.

“Get out noooooow!!!”

＊＊＊

“Six barricades destroyed, the eastern fence at the unit signal station completely demolished, field cables severed in twenty-seven places? No, how did you even cut these!? They were buried more than a meter deep!?”

A regimental officer went through the damage I had caused one item at a time.

“The left wall of Ammunition Depot No. 3 completely demolished, a large quantity of stored ammunition scattered, numerous grenades and rifle grenades exploded for unknown reasons, Guard Post No. 7 completely demolished, Guard Post No. 8 completely demolished……? Hey! Who wrote this report!? The cables were bad enough! What’s this about Guard Post No. 8!? Vehicles can’t get up there, and neither can people!”

At the officer’s shout, a soldier ran over with a stack of documents. From the brief look I got, they contained photographs of the aftermath of the disaster I had caused.

“……Is this even possible? In a vehicle? It’s a two-and-a-half-ton truck?”

“Yes, and if you look at the back page here…….”

“……Seven water deer dead, five wild boars dead, one eagle dead?”

“And if you look here…….”

“……Hmm.”

The CCTV footage on the final page showed the vehicle I had driven putting on quite a spectacle.

“What is this? A two-and-a-half-ton truck climbing cliffs? And this…… it’s flying through the air?”

“We believe it wasn’t flying, sir. It appears to have jumped from one cliff to another.”

“Is this an action movie? Is that possible? It’s not even a sports car, it’s a two-and-a-half-ton truck!”

Well, there were minor differences between my past self and my current self, but there was no changing the fact that I had caused trouble just like before.

‘My past self caused more problems. Back then, it only ended after I drove into the regiment headquarters situation room.’

This time, I had obediently crashed into a guard post on the hill behind the unit and stopped. Did that not mean my current self had won? Wasn’t it a hopeful outcome proving that humanity could advance and evolve?

“Private Lee Seung-hoon, you know this is extremely serious, right? Honestly, just looking at what you did, you’re on the level of a North Korean infiltrator. This isn’t something that can end at the regiment level. It could become a problem for the entire 6th Division!”

“Yes, I know.”

“Why did you do this?”

I honestly told them everything, from going to wake Sergeant Yeom Seong-su, to being told by the drunk sergeant to do whatever I wanted, to their connections and Sergeant Lee Hyeong-seok’s backing.

“……Wait here for now.”

The regimental officer left the interrogation room. My movements were restricted because I was tied up with rope, but my senses were unaffected, so I pressed an ear to the wall and felt the vibrations.

『Wow, is this even possible? He’s not some God of Destruction. How can one person do all that?』

『They say the culprit is a new soldier from an independent company. He was driving by himself when it happened.』

『Is he Jason Bourne? Or is he the Asian quota member of Dominic’s family?』

『This isn’t something that can end at the regiment level. It’ll go all the way to the division.』

『There’s no bigger destroyer of the 6th Division than him.』

I could hear the soldiers chatting.

『If we can’t fix this immediately, we’re all losing our heads! Got it!?』

『Bring the Baekseokbong Company commander here right now!』

『That side again!? Again!? It’s that bastard Lee Hyeong-seok or whatever, right? It’s not?』

『Hey, how are we supposed to handle this? The whole division is going to hear about it.』

I could hear the officers’ angry lamentations.

『Yes, yes, understood. Yes, what? Ah, yes.』

Then I heard the phone call of the lieutenant colonel who had just left, the regimental officer handling my interrogation and the highest-ranking person I had met that day.

『You want us to bury it somehow, but this isn’t something we can bury…….』

『You bastard! If this gets out, you and I will both lose our jobs!』

Even the shouting from the other end of the phone was audible. The voice was so loud it came vividly through the wall.

『Just one month. Hold on for one month, and you’ll be transferred somewhere else too, won’t you? I’ll get promoted and leave for another posting around then. We just have to hold on until then!』

『But it’ll all come out eventually…….』

『You bastard! Have you been spending your whole service with your head up your ass!? We can bury it if we do it properly! We don’t know anything about it. If we get our stories straight, no matter how much the people after us throw a fit, it’ll all get brushed aside in the end! What the hell did you learn while you were putting in all those years!?』

Judging by the circumstances, it was the regiment commander.

‘So that was why I got away without any disciplinary action back then.’

It wasn’t simply because I was a private. The regiment commander had reasons of their own.

『But shouldn’t we report this to the division as well?』

『I already reported to the division commander. The division commander approved it too. We can use reserve supplies for the repairs and doctor the figures as needed. The division commander said to bury it somehow as well, so just do as you’re told!』

『……Yes, understood.』

And on top of that, there was an order from the division commander.

‘This really is interesting.’

Who would have thought there was a story like this behind it? I had suspected it then, but there was a world of difference between a simple suspicion and hearing it with my own ears and becoming certain.

‘Coming here was the right choice.’

The interrogation fizzled out. As if they intended to erase that day from the world, I received no punishment at all. Then I met the company commander, who had rushed over late and whom I was only seeing for the first time now. His face had turned deathly pale.

“H-Heh heh, y-you’re Seung-hoon?”

“Private Lee Seung-hoon.”

“Right. Let’s go back.”

Captain Ryu Se-hyeon.

He looked as though someone had already wrung the soul out of him. It was a pitiful sight.

“Yes, yes! Yes, ah, yes!”

Until we returned to the unit, the company commander kept wrestling with his phone. Even after we returned, he only spoke with me briefly before rushing off again.

“Seung-hoon, you might be discharged soon.”

The moment I arrived at the unit and met the company sergeant major, he got straight to the point.

“You know Green Camp, right? You’ll probably go there. After going there a few times, you might get discharged.”

“Yes.”

“Seung-hoon, please just stay quiet until you get discharged, okay? Please. I’m begging you.”

“Understood.”

There had only been two major incidents during my military service. One had now ended, and with two weeks remaining until the next, I enjoyed a peaceful daily life for a while.

‘Has it only been two weeks?’

Two weeks remained until my discharge. Sergeant Lee Hyeong-seok and the others from the same intake had gone on their final leave, while the remaining soldiers spent their days in complete peace.

“Hey, are you insane? Who washes a rag like that? Hey, get down and put your head on the floor.”

Yet even without them, those who had learned military life from them had become another Sergeant Lee Hyeong-seok Family, repeating the same things.

‘History repeats itself. Until someone decisively cuts it off.’

Back then, I spent my days thinking about how I could cause an incident even more sensational than the 「6th Division Destruction Incident」 and enlighten them.

‘So today is finally the day.’

It was an ordinary weekday, but the officers suddenly began moving about. The soldiers had no idea why and trembled uneasily amid the commotion.

“Hey, what’s with the officers?”

“You don’t know? Did someone desert?”

“Was it another knock-and-defect?”

A short while later, the company sergeant major assembled every soldier in the unit.

『Listen carefully! The Minister of National Defense has come to inspect our unit!』

Everyone but me and the soldier assigned to watch me was assembled.

I focused my hearing and took in every bit of the commotion outside.

『Everyone had better do this right! Anyone who makes even the slightest mistake, I’ll find a way to cut off their leave until the day they’re discharged! Think I’m lying? Go ahead and test me!』

The company commander’s speech followed, and the soldiers, their discipline wound tight, scattered to diligently carry out their assigned duties.

『Why the fuck is the Minister of National Defense here?』

『Because of that, probably. The defectors.』

『What do they have to do with it?』

『You don’t watch the news? The defectors went on broadcasts and said all kinds of things. One said no one contacted them no matter how long they waited, so they just climbed over the fence and entered a unit. Another said the sentry was asleep, so they considered going back to North Korea.』

『Really?』

『Who knows? There was no proof, so it probably got brushed aside. But people kept talking about it like a conspiracy theory, so the minister probably came here for show. It might also be meant to tighten up discipline.』

『It’s a show, a show. Well, the Minister of National Defense is closer to a politician than a soldier.』

The news I had seen in the administrative office on my first day after being assigned here.

The surprise inspection by the Minister of National Defense, connected to it.

‘So today is finally the day.’

I listened to the noise outside and waited for the moment.

“Loyaaaaaltyyyyy!!!”

“Loyaaaaaltyyyyy!!!”

The person I had been waiting for arrived amid booming salutes. For a while, I heard people bustling about here and there. Then the voice of someone I assumed was the Minister of National Defense followed.

『Everyone is working very hard. Defectors have been increasing lately, while North Korea’s provocations against the South continue. Thanks to all of you working day and night for national defense, I feel very reassured.』

『Thank you!』

『Division commander, how is the General Outpost guard-duty readiness these days?』

『Yes, taking the soldiers’ morale and stamina into consideration, we have divided them into three shifts and deployed them for duty…….』

Many voices followed. I heard references to the commander of the 6th Division and several regiment commanders.

『Hmm, I would like to see the condition of the soldiers.』

『Yes! We will guide you to the barracks!』

Various noises from the corridor reached my ears.

『I thought this was supposed to be a surprise visit? How did the division commander and regiment commander get here?』

『The minister made a brief visit there first on the way. Our unit is the last one.』

『Phew, that’s a relief. If we had been first…….』

The soldiers’ booming salutes and the Minister of National Defense’s warm voice praising them.

Then, just as the minister was about to leave, a question came.

『I saw this in the regimental administrative office earlier. Didn’t a new recruit arrive at this unit two weeks ago? That was the last new recruit, so I remember it. Where is the recruit now?』

『…….』

『Company commander?』

『Ah, yes! The recruit is in that barracks over there. Since the recruit is in the new-recruit adjustment period, we had soldiers stay with him to help him adjust.』

The footsteps of a large crowd approached the barracks where I was staying. A moment later, the door opened.

“Loyaaaaltyyy!”

“Hmm, at ease.”

“At ease!”

After receiving the salute of the most senior soldier watching me, the Minister of National Defense patted my shoulder and asked,

“So you’re the new recruit?”

“Private Lee Seung-hoon.”

When I answered in my usual tone, the faces of the many officers behind the minister, with stars and bamboo leaves pinned to their shoulders, turned pale.

‘Please, Seung-hoon!’

‘Please just let this pass!’

The company commander and company sergeant major in particular seemed to be saying exactly that with their expressions.

“Has military life been difficult? Is there anything troubling you?”

I kept my mouth shut. At the time, I had been thinking this.

‘A person whom neither a Defense Security Command colonel nor the division commander can stop has arrived. I can’t let this opportunity pass.’

For everyone in the unit.

Furthermore, so that this incident would remain on record, such abuses would never happen again, and everyone would be enlightened.

“Minister of National Defense.”

“Yes, go on. Tell me everything. If it’s something that can be fixed, I will fi…….”

“I accuse you.”

I shouted confidently.

“The charges are negligence in unit management and lack of competence.”

Footnotes:

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