#85
Name: Baek Seong-hyeon. The father of Baek Sa-jin who was now captured, and a man who became a soldier from an early age wanting to protect the country. Growing up in the countryside, he was particularly large in build and strong compared to his peers. Therefore, people all told him that he had chosen work that made good use of his strengths, that even if he went to school he wouldn’t be able to go to college anyway, so this was better.
However, Baek Seong-hyeon’s reason for choosing the military organization wasn’t as grand as people said. He simply couldn’t afford to go to high school and study comfortably like others. As people said, he couldn’t go to college. Because he had no money. Then he thought it would be more efficient to become a soldier who could receive government pay regularly rather than waste time at school spacing out for three years.
Though he had chosen the military life half-forcibly, he quickly adapted to organizational life since he didn’t feel much difficulty with physical work. In the promotion world dominated by educational background and connections, he was the only one who rapidly climbed up through skill alone, and in just a few years he rose to the position of team leader of a unit.
As time passed and he carried out numerous missions, Baek Seong-hyeon, who felt reward and joy in contributing to the nation’s security, came to realize only after time passed that this path he had chosen as if pushed by poverty was ultimately the right path. The file Yoon Woo-bin had sent stated that he was known as a team leader who became a solid support for his subordinates without passing down the bad practice of military discipline, as a comrade who was both mentally and physically dependable to his colleagues, and as a junior whom seniors could trust to handle work, and thanks to this, Baek Seong-hyeon’s reputation within the military was remarkably good.
Ha-seong recalled the contents of the file Woo-bin had sent. Like the personal information, Baek Seong-hyeon’s career and traces as a soldier were recorded in considerable detail.
“My father was a soldier more outstanding and full of mission than anyone. I was truly proud of such a father’s past.”
Ha-seong looked at Baek Sa-jin’s empty eyes that said everything had been taken away.
“You took away everything from such a father of mine, so why can’t I do the same?”
At Baek Sa-jin’s words, the surroundings became quiet for a moment. The weight felt in that voice was extraordinary. Do-hyeok and Woo-bin sitting across from him, and Ha-seong sitting far away next to the door all maintained silence. It wasn’t because of what Baek Sa-jin had said. It was because the depth of darkness contained in his eyes was so deep that its end couldn’t be known.
“I have neither time nor intention to play word games with you. Speak clearly.”
Do-hyeok, who had been staring intently at Baek Sa-jin’s hollow eyes, was the first to break the silence.
“I’ve heard that soldiers like your father lost their place when the Great Hunter Era began. But using that one reason to say everything was taken away and killing innocent hunters – isn’t that too much of a leap?”
Ha-seong agreed with that too. When the world changes and the flow changes, things that disappear to keep pace with it inevitably exist. Even if that might be frustrating and resentful from certain perspectives, one should think about newly adapting to the differently reached society. Being unable to overcome that frustration and taking it out on innocent people was literally just unreasonable.
“You seem to know nothing.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Woo-bin asked with a considerably serious face.
“I thought you knew everything since you found out about me.”
Baek Sa-jin chuckled. It was a laugh clearly containing mockery and contempt.
“About that.”
That’s when it happened. Ha-seong, who had been quiet all along, slightly raised his right hand and spoke. The gazes of the other two, including Baek Sa-jin, naturally turned to Ha-seong. He sat leisurely with his legs crossed and arms folded.
“Does it have to do with the disbandment of the special forces unit your father belonged to?”
The information Woo-bin had sent definitely stated that the special forces unit ‘Sparrowhawk’ where Baek Seong-hyeon served as team leader had resisted until the very end of military dissolution but eventually couldn’t overcome government pressure and quietly proceeded with voluntary disbandment. Seeing that, he had vaguely thought that the state and Sparrowhawk had continued to tug-of-war over the organization’s survival until the tired Sparrowhawk side raised the white flag first.
But seeing what Baek Sa-jin was saying now, he thought that wasn’t simply the whole story.
“You have good intuition.”
“Who are you to call me ‘you bastard’?”
The one who suddenly tackled Baek Sa-jin’s words was none other than Do-hyeok. His voice was full of edge as if he didn’t like the way Baek Sa-jin addressed Ha-seong, but Ha-seong himself ignored it.
“Baek Sa-jin.”
Ha-seong quietly called his name.
“How did you end up like this?”
“…All of this is a story that started quite long ago, from my father.”
Baek Sa-jin’s gaze slowly turned to the stained ceiling.
* * *
Sparrowhawk, counted as elite even among South Korea’s army special forces. The agents and soldiers belonging there were a total of five people, those who had firmly maintained the title of most elite. There was a reason they were called the best. They were all talented individuals with both skill and intelligence.
“We’re going down to that rural village again to stand guard.”
Anyone in the military dreamed of entering special forces. Sparrowhawk was a place with such high status and noble honor. But all of that was now a thing of the past. At least now that hunter society had begun, those who remembered and elevated the honor of the military or special forces were rapidly disappearing.
“Captain, how long do we really have to do this?”
Kim Hyeong-jin, the Sparrowhawk vice-captain who had returned after receiving work reports from above, entered the unit office with his face reddened from anger. At the vice-captain’s angry appearance, the other team members who had been spacing out helplessly also slowly stood up from their seats.
“Is that really true? Vice-captain?”
“Yeah. They said they’d give us a mission for the first time in nearly a month, so I went, and this is all they’re giving us.”
“Hyeong-jin, stop.”
That’s when it happened. Baek Seong-hyeon spoke in a low voice. Then the interior of the unit instantly became quiet. A man who sat in the captain’s seat of special forces at the young age of mid-twenties. He had contributed to elevating the organization called Sparrowhawk to the top with his physical strength, combat skills, and extraordinary combat sense.
But for them who had believed without doubt that they would continue to rise, they were now facing a crisis where the organization’s survival was at stake.
When people called hunters – those who had awakened supernatural abilities – appeared and began efficiently and effectively protecting people from the unknown spaces called dungeons and the monsters pouring out from there, the world gradually began to change. All laws and systems began to be established centered around them, and the number of those awakening began to increase exponentially.
Of course, looking at that alone, it was a good sign. How could the emergence of special people who could protect the country be seen as bad? However, the problem lay elsewhere.
“Captain, this isn’t the time for that. Did you hear? The special forces unit ‘Secret Garden’ that had been holding out until the end is also going through dissolution procedures. We’re the same. We’re continuously receiving pressure from the Ministry of Defense and the government. Giving us this kind of mission is all telling us to get lost on our own!”
Secret Garden was an elite special forces unit with quite a deep history, like Sparrowhawk. Was that place also giving up in the end? Baek Seong-hyeon sighed deeply.
“My colleague… awakened not long ago. Said he’s transferring to hunter affiliation… There are quite a few soldiers like that now. Are we really okay?”
Lee Myeong-cheol, the youngest in the unit, slumped into his seat with a dark expression. Yes. This was exactly the current problem. Now that people called hunters had emerged, all the nation’s attention was focused on awakened individuals. It meant that soldiers whose specialty was just using their bodies could no longer catch the nation’s eye.
It had been since around last year. The country gradually began reducing the scale of regular military forces. At first, he didn’t think it was serious. He thought they wouldn’t so easily cut off soldiers who had protected the country for so long.
But that was naive thinking. As units disappeared one by one, systems and benefits for soldiers decreased, and eventually even special forces began to disappear, Baek Seong-hyeon finally realized then.
The nation was always ready to abandon them.
Eventually, the country even sent word to Sparrowhawk recommending dissolution. At first, Baek Seong-hyeon opposed it. It absolutely couldn’t be. It was the workplace where he had devoted his youth. He had poured everything into this place, so he couldn’t easily agree. Baek Sa-jin was confident in his persistence if nothing else. Enduring that rough military life at a young age was impossible without considerable persistence, but he had done it.
So he endured. Feeling that Sparrowhawk’s resistance was not ordinary, the nation suddenly changed its attitude. Instead of sending documents forcing dissolution as they had done so far, they now began to consistently ignore them. They didn’t give work and left them neglected in the unit. Since they weren’t working, there was no way money would come out besides basic allowances, and when the unit members’ morale was becoming precarious, such an order came down calling it a mission.
“The security in the innermost village of Cheorwon hasn’t been good lately. The local security is bad too, and they want us to stay there for a certain period and take care of the residents.”
The excitement about a mission coming down after a long time was brief – that was all the content of the mission the vice-captain was sent to receive. Probably everyone including Baek Seong-hyeon would know. That wasn’t a mission, it was no different from a death sentence disguised as a mission.
“What are you most confident in?”
Baek Seong-hyeon’s clear voice echoed through the solemn atmosphere.
“In missions too, what are we best at?”
“……”
The unit members exchanged glances and then opened their mouths simultaneously.
“Enduring.”
“Right. Exactly.”
Baek Seong-hyeon smiled satisfactorily and stood up from his seat.
“Honestly, I don’t think our strength is being good at fighting or using our bodies well. Persistence. I think I came this far with that one thing.”
Baek Seong-hyeon crumpled up the paper with the mission content that the vice-captain had brought.
“Even if they tell us to die there, I have absolutely no intention of doing that for them. Always, continuously, endlessly I’ll endure. Then a path will definitely become visible. What do you think?”
The interior, which had been like a funeral home atmosphere, quickly began to heat up with something passionate.
“I’ll follow only the captain.”
“Me too.”
One by one they stood up following Baek Seong-hyeon. The same determination as their captain was rising on their faces.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
