NOVEL NEXT chapter 9
9. Is This Okay Too?
***
Clank clank clank clank─
“We’re lifting the Yongma! One, two!”
“”Hoorah!””
What defines a man?
A man endures hardship and takes responsibility.
Clank clank clank clank─
“Hey, did you pack over there?”
“Yup. Just need to finish packing here and we’re done.”
“Where’s the remaining pack?”
“Cheon-woon Bam-jam has it.”
So, a man is a father who carries the weight of the family alone.
Or a soldier who sacrifices his freedom to protect the country.
Clank clank clank clank─
“Chunwoon, step aside for a moment. We were playing behind your back.”
“Oh, go ahead.”
I wasn’t a real man. I was a chick.
I had no idea how warm my parents’ fence was.
That’s why I was a green young lad.
I have to be strong.
Feeling that in my bones-
Aside from that, isn’t it a bit harsh to go through the extreme cold right at the end?
They’ve put me on vacation controls again. Sighs.
I had a fleeting thought, will my discharge come first, or the launch of the B-venon Academy?
When I first enlisted, I could see nothing because it was so dark. The day of discharge felt so terribly far away.
But time passed.
Ironically, it seemed like it happened in a flash when looked back….
No, I take back my words. Anyway, time passed and I found it was the end of the period.
Inside the troop, I could receive and reply to my daughters’ thank you notes.
After all, I was allowed to use my phone after work hours.
The problem was that I couldn’t reply exactly on time like before.
The messages always came at midnight on the 1st of every month.
If I had training programs at the beginning of the month, I couldn’t use my phone and responses would be delayed by a few days.
Especially since the assigned troop was a named troop, known for having many trainings, my response tended to be frequently late. I didn’t have time to carefully read and reply to messages like I used to.
Especially now. Apart from the extreme cold, heavy artillery drills, and the big operations, a single week could feel like 2 to 3 weeks with many major drills in between.
“Oh, that’s right.”
…Then I remembered that today was my daughters’ graduation ceremony.
I would have checked the message after work under normal circumstances, but, this week is extreme cold week.
It seems I will have to check late.
Thinking about it,
While I was braving the cold thinking about my daughters, the platoon’s youngest member ran over, panting heavily.
“Corporal Chunwoon! You are on night duty tonight. You start work at 3 am.”
I confirmed from the duty roster that the youngest brought.
Hell, I really am on duty at 3 am. It’s an extreme cold camp night shift duty.
The digital thermometer had already frozen to death.
“Is this for real?”
I didn’t know the Company Commander hated me this much.
***
[B-venon Academy Middle School Graduation Ceremony]
-Top Graduates [Azel]/[Jena]
Azel and Jena graduated at the top of the class, together.
This is indeed a joyous event. However, both of them didn’t look happy at all.
Instead, they were lost in worry and thought.
About a year ago…
A message had come from ‘Joah’.
[It’s Private First Class Joah.]
That was all it said.
The two had replied as such:
[Azel: Joah, are you really alright? A Private First Class? Is that an illness you catch from working too much? Don’t you think it would be best to rest if you have such an illness? I’m not sure exactly what you’re doing, but rest is just as important as work! More than anything else, your health is truly crucial. I hope that you don’t fall sick, and remain happy.]
[Jenna: Bro, what does that mean? Are you really sick? I still remember how you consoled me when I was having a hard time. So, if you’re also struggling, you can always lean on me. I want to help you, just like you helped me.]
A few months later, another message came.
[I’m Corporal Joah.]
[Azel: Don’t worry Joah! I’m looking up what this ‘corporal disease’ is and I’ve informed our local Healer’s Union! The Vernon Alliance is conducting comprehensive research to cure you…]
[Attached photo: 1]
The photo showed everyone from secretaries to researchers and even wizards and priests gathered around, engrossed in some kind of research.
While the picture was meant to be reassuring, the responses were a bit baffling from Cheonwoon’s perspective.
There were no noticeable reactions, and Jenna’s response was not much different.
[Jenna: Corporal? I looked up the meaning of the word ‘corporal’, and it says ‘wounds or ailments’… Bro, have you hurt yourself badly?]
Seeing this, Cheonwoon merely said, “What a bunch of dummys.”
Before amusingly dismissing the messages. ‘The girls don’t know much about the military.’ Rather than indulging unnecessary worry,
‘Damn, were those developers all non-military?” Cheonwoon thought sardonically, focusing more on developer-related complaints.
Cheonwoon didn’t care much, for he just thought, ‘I just have to serve my time and get back to my business.’
But for Azel and Jenna, this was a serious matter.
‘Joah’, who had been caring for them consistently over the past few years, had been acting strange for a little over a year now.
‘It’s clear something has happened to Joah.’
‘Something has definitely happened to Joah.’
[Vernon God’s Premonition]
– The two graduated as the top of their class in middle school. They got to select the reward they wanted.
Middle School and High School top graduates are rewarded with ‘special privileges’ by Vernon God.
For example, they could receive items sponsored by graduates. Or perhaps, they could receive a few years of free credit support at a higher level, paid for by a sponsor.
Yet, Azel and Jenna didn’t want any of that.
They had something else in mind.
“Vernon God. Could we…is this permitted?”
***
3AM, dawn. Winter training camp.
No matter where he looked, all he could see were snow-covered mountains.
“Good Lord, it’s so friggin’ cold.”
By default, guard duty was more manageable than patrol duty since it was indoors. However, winter training was a little different. Both required being outside in the cold. At least there was companionship in patrols.
sh*t, sh*t-
Despite my resolution to curse less, the profanities keep coming. Inhale, exhale.
When I exhale, my face warms up momentarily, only to cool down again as I inhale.
I consciously regulate my breath. I inhale as quickly as possible, while I exhale slowly.
Sigh-
Even though I’m not wearing glasses, I feel my breath fogging up. It rides on my military scarf.
Nonetheless, there was no need to go to FM. The thermometer had been busted a long time ago. I roughly drew a line and found a place nearby to sit.
“sh*t, my ass-“
Isn’t this supposed to stick to the ground? It’s frigid. At least a mound of soil would be better.
I should sit here.
I shivered and blankly stared into thin air. I hadn’t even bothered to return my phone since it’s the end of the year, but I just can’t bring myself to take it out.
If it weren’t for the freezing night shifts, I could have checked the messages sent by my daughters and time would have passed easily-
It’s so damn cold. I don’t want to remove my hands from my pockets. I just kept fondling the hand heater, rolling my feet around.
After wasting time like that, I felt a bit dazed.
It felt as though I had gotten drunk.
Whether it’s because I kept exhaling in the cold or there wasn’t enough oxygen, I’m not sure.
The only sure thing was my vision was narrowing. I could definitely feel the fog from my breath freezing on my eyebrows.
Crazy remote village in Gangwon Province-
Is this even a place for people to live?
“Sigh….”
I’ve honestly done about half now, right?
About 45 minutes.
I need to check the number of personnel while making a round of the tents.
I should check the time and inspect the tents.
I carefully extracted my hand a bit from the pocket to check the watch.
[03:08]
“Goddamn, did time freeze too?”
It felt like 45 minutes had passed but only 8 minutes had. I should propose a theory that the flow of time is also influenced by temperature.
At first, people at the conference would say, ‘Stop talking nonsense!’ But if I managed to bring them once to Gangwon Province, even the physicists would concede, ‘Oh, okay!’
And when I began to feel as if I had lost half my mind –
I felt a vibration in my pocket.
Vroom vroom –
Not all vibrations from a cell phone are the same. If it’s a low humming, it’s a message and if it whines, it’s a mobile game alert.
But a vroom vroom is just one thing.
Metrion alarm.
Why is it going off now…
Right. My daughters had their graduation today. Did they upload a video or something?
I reflexively turned on my phone and was about to take it out, but put it back in.
“Sigh….”
Bloody hell, it’s too damn cold to take my hands out of the pocket.
I want to check my situation, but I can’t muster the courage to move my hands. My feet are already frozen stiff, beyond feeling. They might as well be severed, but at least I must save my hands.
I’ll sneak a look at them later, maybe by breakfast or lunchtime.
Just then–
“… What’s that?”
Suddenly, something akin to a firefly appeared before my eyes.
“Damn, are there fireflies even in winter?”
Weren’t fireflies supposed to come out in the summer?
Regardless, it’s bloody annoying.
Whisk–
“Ouch.”
In the roughly armored state I was in, it fell with a soft ‘flick’. Disappointingly so.
＞Rustle-
Well, they do say anything can happen in the military. Even in winter, bugs are buzzing around.