Chapter 34 – LV.Five Mage Lee Hoon – [Three]

To Seong Juri, Seo Yun was an excellent Healer. Although Seo Yun had only been doing this work for a week, she carried herself as if she had been doing it for years.

Over the past week, Seo Yun had unwrapped each injured soldier’s bandages to check their condition and then rewrapped them. For soldiers who had come in with broken bones, she applied splints, reasoning that their injuries weren’t severe enough to warrant immediate use of Healing magic.

Seo Yun knew all these emergency treatment methods better than the medical corpsmen and was far more skilled at them. There had originally been one medical corpsman in charge of this Medical Corps unit, but lately, he was treated as if he didn’t exist precisely because of this.

“I need to take a shit…”

A soldier appeared, wanting to relieve himself. Seo Yun, without showing a hint of displeasure, personally helped support him, and throughout this, she never once asked Seong Juri for assistance.

Seong Juri hesitated, wondering if she should help, but worried she might just get in the way.

Seong Juri hated the feeling she was experiencing now. The feeling of being considered useless, the feeling that she wasn’t needed in this group. It was dreadful. Whenever she was with that girl, she felt this sensation all too often.

Time passed as she watched, feeling intimidated.

After finishing the treatment, Seo Yun approached and spoke.

“Shall we get going?”

“Huh? It’s not mealtime yet, why…”

“It’s time for Political Training.”

As expected, Seo Yun handled this routine as if she had done it before. She skillfully led Seong Juri away.

Just like on the first day, the surrounding soldiers’ gazes were drawn to that girl. However, no soldier approached to harass her or make advances.

Why? Because Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon threatened to kill anyone who messed around? Or because that girl had won the soldiers’ favor within just a week of working in the Medical Corps?

Actually, Seong Juri wished some crazy bastard would try to assault that girl.

It wasn’t that she wanted the girl to actually be assaulted. Seong Juri simply wished for a situation where she, as a Warrior, could stop such an attempt. Then her existence would definitely be useful…

‘Damn bitch.’

Every time she had thoughts like that, she ended up feeling miserable. Gloomily, Seong Juri followed Seo Yun and arrived at a plaza.

Shortly after, Division Commander Kim Jeongtong appeared.

“Does that Division Commander Sir not know what a Political Training Officer is? Why does he always come out and do this himself?”

Seo Yun whispered, and Seong Juri, who didn’t know what a Political Training Officer was, simply nodded.

The Political Training began. As Seo Yun had criticized, Division Commander Kim Jeongtong personally conducted the usual training.

“Starting three years ago, hostile creatures have been periodically descending upon the southern part of the Korean Peninsula every summer. Along with them, some half-human half-beast monsters also began descending. Our mission is…”

A soldier unfolded a large sheet of paper for everyone to see.

It was a drawing that seemed carefully crafted by a skilled soldier. The upper body was that of a muscular human, and the lower body was that of a muscular horse—a drawing of a half-human half-beast.

Pointing at the Centaur in the picture, Division Commander Kim Jeongtong continued.

“…is to stop these horse-bodied monsters! It’s a mission we must accomplish at the cost of our lives. A mission to protect the lives of the remaining citizens of the Republic of Korea.

Just as the Mongol army once did, these horse monsters invaded the Korean Peninsula and committed plunder. North Korea has already been devastated and has become their territory.

Their forces once reached even the southern part of the Korean Peninsula here. It’s estimated that Seoul’s population was probably halved at that time. We somehow managed to stop them from reaching Incheon, but if there’s another offensive…”

Seong Juri thought.

‘Our Chief would wipe them all out. Just like he did three years ago.’

The Division Commander’s words continued.

“And so, our Dawn Corps is stationed here in Songpa District. With the cooperation of local residents who happened to want protection…”

Bullshit, a continuous stream of bullshit. Seong Juri forced herself to endure listening to something she hated.

She had listened to that bastard’s Political Training every day for the past week. Yesterday, he went on about some Student Soldiers, talking about how active they were in the Korean War and how crucial their role was.

According to the training content, it seemed as if South Korea’s defense during the Korean War was not thanks to the ROK Army, nor even the UN forces, but solely due to the efforts of patriotic Student Soldiers filled with patriotism. It was likely two hours of bullshit to rationalize the situation of kidnapping and exploiting seventeen-year-olds. Even Seong Juri, who wasn’t well-versed in military knowledge, could naturally understand that much.

‘And there’s one more thing as dreadful as that training content…’

Seong Juri looked at the soldiers who had come for the training. Even in front of the Division Commander, several were dozing off. Seeing that, it seemed not everyone was listening attentively, yet they weren’t completely ignoring the training and doing other things either.

The soldiers here all had their gazes directed at the Division Commander. They might be letting about half of the training content go in one ear and out the other, but it seemed they were genuinely listening to the other half.

Listening to half of it? Good grief.

Even soldiers seated in spots where the Division Commander wouldn’t easily notice them weren’t chatting.

That fact astonished Seong Juri.

They’re not really ignoring that absurd propaganda? Just listening to it feels like your brain is getting polluted.

It was unbelievable. Those soldiers must have been in college or graduated, or at least finished middle school, right? Yet they were seriously listening to content that even she, who hadn’t finished middle school, could tell was nonsense? Had a mere three years made them that stupid?

Could it be that they actually believe about half of that training content? Do they really think they’re protecting Korea?

‘When they’re the ones kidnapping seventeen-year-old kids?’

Seong Juri was sitting there in a state of mind where she wanted to cover both her eyes and ears.

Suddenly, an officer rushed into the training area. He spoke in a breathless voice.

“Division Commander Sir.”

Division Commander Kim Jeongtong frowned at the interruption, but the officer who appeared seemed too urgent to care about that.

“What is it?”

“A squad dispatched a week ago completely lost contact, remember? The ones said to have been taken by that Monster Orc for the second time with a two-and-a-half-ton truck… That squad’s members have returned.”

Seong Juri’s nerves were on edge at the mention of the Monster Orc. They were now talking about the Chief of Happy Village!

Division Commander Kim Jeongtong’s eyes widened.

“They’ve returned?””Yes. But only one person returned. He says he has a message for the Division Commander. I think you should hear his report…”

The Division Commander followed the officer out with an indescribable expression. Seong Juri blankly stared at his retreating back.

Shortly after, another officer arrived and announced the dismissal. His gaze was fixed on Seo Yun and Seong Juri, the two from Happy Village.

“Training is over. Everyone, return to your posts!”

Almost as if being chased out, Seong Juri had to leave the area with Seo Yun. As they walked together, Seo Yun spoke.

“I’m going to the Medical Corps first, so Juri, you go eat and then come.”

“Okay…”

Finally, as Seo Yun left to attend to her duties, Seong Juri ate lunch consisting of rice that had been stored for who knows how many years and radish kimchi, neither of which tasted very good.

The food didn’t go down her throat easily. She felt anxious and stifled.

Clearly, something major related to them had happened, but she couldn’t figure out exactly what. What on earth had happened? The guy Chief caught came back here?

No one told Seong Juri about what had transpired today. However, it seemed many people were informing Priest Seo Yun.

After finishing her meal and going to the Medical Corps, Seo Yun relayed news she had apparently heard from the soldiers.

“Chief Oh Haengbok has requested a prisoner exchange.”

“What?”

“Prisoner exchange, don’t you know? He proposed exchanging the personnel each side is holding.”

“Remember last time when the Chief took a two-and-a-half-ton truck?”

At Seo Yun’s words, Seong Juri recalled the incident from that time.

“Yeah, the Chief threw a spear and just…”

“The personnel on that two-and-a-half-ton truck never returned to this unit later. It turns out the Chief probably captured them all. And then Happy Village made a demand here: they would safely return the captured personnel if we here returned the three of us they captured. They sent back only one of the captured soldiers to deliver that prisoner exchange demand.”

Seong Juri remembered the roar Oh Haengbok had let out at the time.

“I thought he would have beaten them all to death in his rage, but it seems he spared them.”

“He’s a rational person when he’s not angry, right? If he had a habit of killing people outright when angry, half the villagers would have died by his hand.”

Listening to Seo Yun, Seong Juri pondered deeply. So, this meant Happy Village was concerned about them here.

A faint hope seemed to rise in her gloomy mind. She spoke with a slightly brighter voice.

“Will we be able to go back? Team Leader Kim Ak… we haven’t seen him at all, where on earth did he go…”

However, Seo Yun did not give Seong Juri the answer she hoped for.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I think we’ll have to wait and see.”

Seong Juri, feeling a bit frustrated, asked.

“Aren’t you even hopeful?”

“If you hope, the disappointment later is greater. Besides, doesn’t this Division Commander here look like a psycho at first glance? He doesn’t seem like the type to readily comply with a reasonable demand.”

And Seo Yun’s words were right.

Four days passed since then, but the Dawn Corps showed no signs of intending to comply with the request. There was also not a single word to the two captured girls about preparing to return home or anything of the sort.

Seong Juri thought disappointedly. Well, of course they wouldn’t agree to exchange a dozen or so military grunts for a high-performance Priest.

More time passed after that. That day too, Seong Juri was keeping watch beside Seo Yun, who was working in the Medical Corps.

Ding ding ding ding ding… In the quiet moment, a bell suddenly rang.

Seong Juri’s eyes shot open. Seo Yun hurriedly changed the bandage for one person and stepped out of the tent. Seong Juri also hastily followed behind.

“What is this?”

To Seong Juri’s question, Seo Yun answered.

“It’s the full emergency signal.”

All the resting soldiers rushed out wearing their individual combat gear.

In an instant, the camp’s square was filled with tense soldiers.

Among them, one soldier came staggering. He was coming from the direction of the guard post. The soldier didn’t seem to be wounded anywhere, but his expression was devoid of soul.

An officer approached and asked.

“What’s with you? Weren’t you dispatched in a two-and-a-half-ton truck today? Why did you come back alone?”

The soldier answered with a gaze that seemed to look into empty space.

“Orcs…”

“Orcs, what?”

“Orcs… attacked us…”