2
7
2.
Nam Hwa-seong and Geum Pyo stood at the very front of the arrowhead-shaped attack formation, and Dong-ryong and Sa-ryeon followed behind in place of the two who prioritized defense.
The personnel who had been incorporated into our platoon followed behind, led by our platoon members.
“let’s go!”
With Nam Hwa-seong’s shout, Geumpyo runs forward together.
If we penetrate deep into the enemy camp and shatter them in an instant like a meteor hammer piercing the castle gate, Dongryong, Saryeon, and I will subdue the opponent.
Chaechaechaechang!
Pow pow pow!
Even though they are the same Red Army, the reason they blocked our path is not to receive a high score.
Anger at the fact that we, who should be in a lower place than them, keep rising higher.
An inferiority complex that shoots frustration and resentment at others for failing to meet expectations.
And the foolishness of failing to notice Cheol-sun-jik’s serpentine intent burrowing into that weakened heart.
All of those things work together to make them act short-sightedly.
“Hey, stop it!”
“Standard! Find the standard!”
The White Army will come to help!
You become another’s puppet and are played in the palm of their hand.
It becomes no different from a scarecrow chess piece.
Is it that they want us to kneel so much that it is worth enduring this?
Have they ever once thought about what efforts we have made or what determination we have made?
“Aargh!”
“You ignorant bastards!”
Do you think you’re the only ones who are so great!
It’s a shame, but I have no intention of foolishly playing along with your malice.
We have no intention of letting our efforts be crushed by such base jealousy.
That is why we move forward.
Forward, and even further.
“good!”
He swings the Black Dragon Sword to knock out two academy students, and unleashes the Cloud Divine Art to twist and break the wrist of another guy.
“Aaaargh!”
“Damn it!”
It leaves not even a shred of mercy for those who have fallen.
The price of jealousy is inherently painful enough to make your bones ache.
It merely makes them pay the just price for the malice they sent.
“CEO!”
Suddenly surrounded by enemy academy students, Jang Woo-jae shouts.
If we continue like this, we will be surrounded.
“It doesn’t matter! I’ll break through right now!”
There is no resolve for base jealousy.
Those who remain complacent in their comfort zone, hoping only for the other person to fall, recoil in shock and back away at the mere presence of a thorn under their fingernails.
It is the same now.
Everyone looks at us as if they want to kill us, but truly no one steps forward.
Everyone is all talk and no action.
“Block them! Block them! Take those guys down!”
“Hey! Don’t back down!”
“You’re the one who shouldn’t back down, you bastard!”
If you want to see us collapse like that.
If that is truly the case, try to defeat him.
Watch closely as your bones are broken and your flesh is torn.
“D-Damn it, isn’t this too much!”
It’s just an evaluation!
The meaningless clamor of hothouse flowers who have never once thought about the price of malice in the first place—or rather, who do not need to think about it.
However, the members of our platoon, who have endured countless rough insults and survived tenaciously like roadside weeds, knock out a few teeth to silence that childish outcry.
“Then get lost, you bastards!”
“Can you still call yourself a man after saying such things now!”
I encourage the unit and advance.
Step by step.
We keep moving forward, smashing those who stand in our way.
It’s the White Army!
As I passed through the Red Army’s chaos, the true enemy appeared before my eyes.
“charge!”
Nam Hwa-seong and Geum Pyo do not stop their steps, even though their bodies are covered in wounds.
The ultimate goal is Baeksan’s Cheolsunjik.
What stands in its way is nothing more than a mere obstacle.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Those who have never fought without internal energy exhaust all their stamina at the start, so they attempt to face their enemies with significantly slow martial arts.
A fight between ordinary people with no experience in hand-to-hand combat is no different from a war game played between neighborhood children.
Clumsy swings of fists, weak kicks.
Gritting my teeth and trying to endure, but my stamina has a clear limit.
Those who are without resolve or training, filled only with malice, cannot unleash their skills commensurate with their anger.
“Ugh!”
“100 million!”
“Burp!”
He rolls his eyes, bleeds from his nose, and collapses.
We pass them and move forward.
“Senior Brother! The rear line has been cut off.”
It’s not that we don’t have any disadvantages.
Disjointed movements can cause the rear ranks to be missed.
But it doesn’t matter.
“Keep going!”
Are you alright?
I asked Eunho.
“How many people in our platoon received a ‘M’ rating on the written test?”
There are two of us.
“Then we just need to save two people!”
“……
All right.”
At my words, Eunho firmly closes his mouth and sharpens his gaze even further.
Our platoon now penetrates the enemy’s position like the shape of a spearhead.
There are two things they overlooked.
First, the only stragglers in our platoon are Seongmoran and Geumpyo.
Conversely, this means that if only two people survive this evaluation, the rest do not need to worry about falling behind.
The second is that I am used to this kind of battle.
Sojeongdae has never once fought with the goal of everyone’s survival.
Each person’s life and death determined solely by the draw of lots that morning
He made the decision and did his best to save only them.
“CEO! The team’s stamina has reached its limit!”
We had only climbed half of Mt. Baeksan, but some people were already getting exhausted and dropping out.
I shouted at those following behind me.
From now on, show no mercy!
“yes?”
Jang Woo-jae looks at me with eyes as surprised as a rabbit.
“If you feel like you’re reaching your limit, just get eliminated! Take them out one by one and get out!”
After hesitating for a moment, Jang Woo-jae nods with tightly closed lips.
yes!”
Now, perhaps realizing my intentions little by little, Jang Woo-jae doesn’t add much either.
As expected, he is clever.
Or perhaps, he was simply overcome with anger over what happened during this practical evaluation.
Whoosh!
“Aaaargh!”
“F-foul! That’s a foul!”
“Go Myeong-jin! Eliminated!”
The platoon members, having reached the limits of their physical strength, render the opponent incapable of combat and begin to withdraw from the battle.
As excessive attacks erupt here and there, the enemies cannot hide their confusion.
If their original intended purpose had gone awry, they should have resolved to accept whatever consequences might arise, but they are flustered as if they had not anticipated the other party’s unexpected actions.
“Kill him!”
Anger burns against malice.
The pain consuming the entire body becomes the fuel for rage once again, exploding with power sufficient to drive one into madness.
Confusion begins to spread little by little across the faces of the enemy soldiers surrounding them.
That expression once again provokes the anger of our platoon members.
Is this all?
Was this all the determination you came up with?
“under……!”
Did you really unleash such base jealousy when you would be so easily flustered by something as trivial as this?
As if responding to their anger, I shouted at the top of my lungs.
“Kill them all!!!”
Then, as if responding to my voice, the platoon members answered.
“““Kill them all!””
A voice filled with rage rings out loudly throughout Baeksan.
The members of the Red Army continue to move forward until the moment they collapse.
I swung my sword and fists ceaselessly, feeling as if I were on the battlefield of the Great War between Righteousness and Demons from a past life.#Summit of Mount Baeksan.
The White Army’s camp.
“Ugh…….”
Cheol Hyeon-jik, the eldest son of Jukhyeonbang, let out a low groan.
“Isn’t the standard strategy to first consolidate the personnel, expand the unit, and then defend?”
Cheol Hyeon-jik looks at Cheol Sun-jik standing beside him, speaking ambiguously as if talking to himself or asking a question.
“…….”
However, Cheol-sun-jik kept his mouth tightly shut, lost in thought, and simply stared at the battlefield.
A moment later, Cheol-sun-jik asks quietly.
“If it were you, Brother… what would you have done?”
Cheolhyeonjik asked again.
“If I were Jin So-woon?”
“Yes. As long as our forces open the way and the enemy targets only themselves.”
“hmm…….”
After a moment of contemplation, Cheol Hyeon-jik gave a general answer.
“As expected, they must have followed traditional strategies. They would have gathered troops, expanded their forces, and focused on defense.”
Cheol-sun-jik shook his head at that answer.
“If that had happened, I would have been eliminated early.”
“Hmm? I thought so?”
Cheolhyeonjik, who had been quietly staring at Cheolsunjik for a moment, soon grinned.
“Still, since I have you, I won’t end up in a mess like that. Don’t you think so?”
With a grim face, Cheol-sun-jik turned his gaze to the battlefield instead of answering.
At this, Cheol Hyeon-jik tilts his head.
“Why? Did I say something wrong?”
No, that is the average.
Cheol-sun-jik’s voice was cold beyond measure.
His gaze is fixed once again on Jin So-woon’s unit.
Those who came down from Hongsan eventually enter Baeksan.
The few remaining troops were half-destroyed, but they continued to trudge up Mt. Baek.
Cheolhyeonjik mutters in bewilderment at the sight.
“Even if you do that, you won’t be able to score much.”
Cheol-sun-jik slightly clenched his fist at the question.
Because his goal isn’t the score.
“huh?”
He then adds with a stern face.
“Jin So-un’s goal is to capture me, which is why he is climbing Mt. Baek, even if it means pushing himself to the limit.”
Cheolhyeonjik’s eyes gradually widen.
“Surely not… You mean to say that you know this is your doing?”
“You clearly didn’t step forward at all…….”
Cheol Sun-jik recalled the eccentricities Jin So-un had displayed so nonchalantly.
Because he is an unusual person.
Then, he stared intently into Cheolhyeonjik’s eyes.
“older brother.”
“Can you do it like Jin So-un?”
For a moment, Cheolhyeonjik frowned.
A look that said, “What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”
“What do you mean?”
As always, Jin So-woon broke expectations and carved out his own path.
I am asking if you could charge so fiercely toward your goal like that.
Enough that the criminal wouldn’t even dare to try imitating it.
“Haha. You’re talking nonsense. Didn’t you always say that only those who aren’t prepared shout ‘wholeheartedly’? Those who are perfectly prepared swing their swords with ease.”
That’s right.
Cheol-sun-jik gave a wry smile without realizing it.
Because the more she tried to turn a blind eye, the more purely the light Jin So-un emitted shone.
“Anyway, that’s amazing.”
Cheol Hyeon-jik, unaware of Cheol Sun-jik’s intentions, stares intently at Jin So-un.
“To think a warrior is so skilled in close-quarters combat… Anyone would think he is from the Northern army.”
As Cheol Hyeon-jik said, Jin So-un’s movements are not those of a martial artist whose internal energy has been completely depleted.
The movements of a soldier who seemed to have never cultivated any internal energy in the first place.
No, to be precise, it was the movement of a seasoned fighter worn out by gambling.
Swinging hands mercilessly, they exploit the opponent’s weaknesses.
The academy students, who had never trained without using internal energy, displayed movements that were less than half of their usual prowess before collapsing. ‘But Jin So-un, how…’ However, Jin So-un was moving even more gracefully than when he usually uses internal energy.
As if using internal energy all by myself.
I can clearly feel once again that they are on a different level.
It is not just Jin So-un.
Although not comparable, all of his platoon members demonstrate proficiency in close-quarters combat.
These scenes are in stark contrast to the elites of the Jeongdohoe and Baekdohoe falling one after another.
“Still, without inner strength, there is ultimately a limit. It seems they don’t realize that.”
Cheol Hyeon-jik, still convinced of Jin So-un’s defeat, clicks his tongue.
Of course, there was some truth to what he said.
This was because the speed of Jin So-un’s platoon, which had been advancing while crushing enemy units, began to slowly decrease.
From the outset, the current situation is not a battle of warriors overcoming numerical inferiority with overwhelming internal power.
A strategic and tactical evaluation that transparently tests the intellect and skill of a single individual by limiting internal energy.
You cannot achieve unrivaled power and create fantasies like the protagonist in a novel.
at that time.
“Uh, uh?”
Cheol Hyeon-jik, who had been leisurely surveying the battlefield, suddenly frowns.
“What the….”
The instructors evaluating outside the test site also look flustered.
Even the White Army soldiers who had been running without fear hesitate.
Some people ran and then turned back the way they had come.
Cheol Hyeon-jik let out a curse like a scream.
“M-crazy!”
He was taken aback by the sight that caught his eye.
Things that had not been on the battlefield before began to appear.
That was the massive amount of blood.
상대에 중상 이상의 피해를 입히면 탈락이라는 규정이 있음에도 홍군의 인원들은 거침없이 상대에게 깊은 상처를 남기기 시작했다.
“으, 으아아……!”
전에 없던 손속에 백군들은 당황을 금치 못했다.
철현직 역시 겨우 목소리를 짜내며 철순직을 바라보았다.
“탈락을 각오하지 않고서야…….”
철순직의 얼굴에도 깊은 당혹이 서렸다.
갑자기 일변한 태도.
대체 무슨 의도로…….
“……!”
부릅뜬 눈으로 전장을 살피던 철순직은 그제야 깨달았다.
저들은 탈락을 각오한 것이 아니다.
체력적 한계에 다다라 탈락할 것이 예상되기에, ‘그 탈락이 헛되지 않도록’ 검면 대신 검날을 이용해 ‘의도적으로’ 상대에게 상처를 입히기 시작한 것이다.
“미친…….”
어차피 탈락할 인원이라면 상대에게 중상을 입힌다 한들 아무런 상관이 없기에.
제약을 뒤집어 사용한다.
하지만 상대의 입장에선 예상치 못한 막대한 피해일 터.
정신이 나가버린 듯한 홍군의 행태에 백군들이 주춤거리며 뒤로 물러나기 시작했다.
“뭐, 뭣들 하는 거냐! 당장 막아!”
철현직이 버럭 외치지만, 핏물을 잔뜩 뒤집어쓴 홍군에 쉽사리 덤벼드는 인원은 없었다.
더구나 진소운의 홍군은 마치 철순직이 있는 백군의 진영만을 노린다는 듯 일직선으로 달려오고 있는 상황.
자신들이 목표가 아니라는 사실에 백군의 인원들은 주저 없이 뒤로 물러섰다.
마치 초창기 홍군이 길을 활짝 열었던 것처럼.
“수, 순직아 이제 어떻게 해야 하는 것이…….”
“제가 시키지 않으면 아무것도 못 하는 겁니까?”
“그게 무슨…….”
철순직의 경멸 어린 시선.
철현직은 흠칫하며 원망의 말을 쏟아냈다.
“네, 네가 이렇게 하면 될 거라 하지 않았더냐.”
철순직은 대답 대신 이를 갈았다.
빠드득.‘또다시…… 예측할 수 없는 방향으로 움직이는구나.’이번이 대체 몇 번째인지 모른다.
모두를 위한 대계에 진소운은 몇 번이고 잿가루를 뿌려대었다.
수백 년간 정체되어 있던 강호를 뒤엎을 기회를 몇 번이나 망가뜨렸다.
그렇다고 이제 와서 물러설 곳은 없다.
철순직은 악에 받쳐 명령했다.
“백군 전원 공격!”
진영 주위를 포진하고 있던 철순직의 중대가 순식간에 전열을 마친다.
본디 방어란 높은 곳에서 하는 것이 유리한 법.
철순직의 중대는 다른 이들과 달리 두려움 없이 진소운의 소대를 막아섰다.
철순직은 양손으로 주먹을 꽉 쥐었다.
“이번엔 당신의 의도대로 되지 않을 겁니다.”
자신에겐 목표가 있다.
여기서 쓰러질 수는 없다.
한낱 돌부리에 지나지 않는 진소운 때문에 자신의 목표를 포기할 생각 따윈 추호도 없었다.
어느새 정면으로 대치한 두 집단.
철순직의 시선이 진소운 소대의 가장 선두에 선 이에게 고정된다.
본래 자신의 소대, 혹은 중대에서 가장 맨 앞에 섰어야 할 인물.
“남화성…….”
그가 적이 되어 자신의 목을 노리고 있었다.
“으아아아악!”
내공을 쓰지 않았지만 타고난 거력으로 적을 뭉개며 다가온다.
검이 지나가고 도가 살점을 베어도 움직임을 멈추지 않는다.
마치 이번 전투에 목숨을 걸었다는 듯 자신의 마지막 생명까지 소진하며 미친 듯이 싸우는 남화성.
“대체 어찌하여……!”
만약 그가 12봉성에 계속 소속되어 있었더라도 저리 싸웠을까?
문득 든 잡념이 머리를 어지러이 만든다.
굳이 고민해 보지 않아도 답이 나오는 것 같다.
그렇기에 절로 나오는 답변을 마주하지 않으려 애를 썼다.
그 답을 마주하게 되면 남화성이 왜 이런 행동을 하는지 더욱 이해할 수 없을 테니.
으드득.
대신 원망과 분노를 원흉에게 쏟아낸다.
남화성과 이금표를 방패 삼아 가장 앞에서 싸우고 있는 존재.
“순직아, 그만 나가라. 넌 지휘를 해야지!”
뒤에서 들려오는 철현직의 목소리는 귓가에 맴돌다 사라진다.
지금 철순직의 시야에는 오직 한 사람만 보일 뿐이었다.
“진소운…….”
나지막한 으르렁거림을 들었을까.
머리가 산발한 진소운이 이편을 쳐다본다.
“철순직!!!”
그의 쩌렁쩌렁한 외침에 철순직 또한 솜털이 바싹바싹 서는 기분이 들었다.
그리도 동시에 안도했다.‘다행이다.’그도 나와 마찬가지로 분노하고 있어서.
이 분노가 일방적이지 않아서.
하지만 그가 얼마나 분노했건 자신에 비할 바는 아닐 것이다.
할 수만 있다면 당장이라도 진소운을 죽이고 싶을 정도였으니까.
그랬다. 지금 이 순간, 그 정도로 분했다.
“진소운!!!!”
철순직은 평생에 단 한 번도 하지 않았던 행동을 하기 시작했다.
바로 감정대로 움직이는 것.
“으아아아악!!!!”
그의 발걸음이 미친 듯이 내달려지며 진소운을 향했다.
