God of Blackfield

If he relaxed just because he had finished marching, his head could come right off.

Kang Chan set three rifles on the table and checked the magazines. Afterward, he hung his bayonet next to his pistol at his waist.

How many did I kill? Is it okay for me to be so nonchalant about it?

As he thought about all the lives he had taken, he was preparing to take even more.

To kill or to be killed. It was obvious which one he’d choose.

I’m going to survive even if that means killing like crazy.

Kang Chan went into Enzo’s barracks and searched for any extra ammunition he could have. Fortunately, he found boxes of it.

He would have probably tackled this situation differently had Enzo been up and fighting with him. However, since he had to fight alone, he needed more than just a machine to avoid certain death.

The enemies had spread out to chase after him earlier in the day. If they formed a circle around this base and came right at him, he’d have to keep spinning around to kill them. Doing so would make him a perfect target since the machine gun was stationary.

After finishing all the preparations, His questions from earlier popped into his mind again.

Why are they insisting on maintaining this base? Why would they sacrifice twenty men for this stupid mission?

What was even stranger was the enemies’ response. Kang Chan couldn’t understand why they would charge at him with bayonets when they had RPGs at the ready.

Was it for revenge? For show?

That was ridiculous. If all they needed was a head, why couldn’t they just riddle his body and heart with bullet holes and then hack off his intact head? It wasn’t like they needed clean flesh.

Fuck!

Thinking about it was starting to hurt his head.

Kang Chan glanced sharply back at the path that he had taken earlier.

Now closer to the horizon, the sun spat out even more red, reminding him of the blood that had been shed during the day. The shapes of his enemies, shot in the head and sent falling backward, blurred before the setting sun.

He had reached Africa by way of France.

It sounded like a nice trip, but Kang Chan had killed people here.

He seemed to have gotten used to the smell of the land at some point, though. For as long as the wind didn’t blow, he didn’t even notice it now.

I wonder.

What would he be like later tonight? What about seventy-two hours from now? What about in a month, a year, and at the end of his mandatory service?

He could return with fancy new citizenship, or he could end up like the bastards who had died today, basking in the blood-red sunset and the wind, smelling like Africa.

In times like these, cigarettes were the greatest comfort.

Kang Chan put one in his mouth.

Clunk! Hisss!

“Hoo!”

Holding the cigarette in his hand, Kang Chan closed his eyes for a moment to fight off his exhaustion.

***

Summer of 2011.

Heo Eun-Sil, dressed in a black training uniform, walked to the edge of a 12-meter-high watchtower.

“Number 35, Heo Eun-Sil, ready to drop!” she shouted.

Clunk, clunk.

The assistant training instructor pulled the rope attached to Heo Eun-Sil.

She was wearing a harness that wrapped around her upper body, waist, and thighs. A rope was attached to it just above her hips, keeping her hooked to a pulley.

Before her was a twelve-meter drop, the height at which humans were said to be most afraid.

Heo Eun-Sil gritted her teeth every time the assistant instructor pulled and shook the harness.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, ma’am!” she responded at the top of her lungs, but there was no strength in her voice.

Heo Eun-Sil realized her mistake too late.

“Do you not want to jump, Trainee?” the assistant instructor asked sarcastically.

“I do, ma’am!”

Another moment of silence passed.

Her fellow cadets waiting behind her and below the watchtower watched on nervously.

“Heo Eun-Sil!”

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” Heo Eun-Sil answered loudly, her throat seemingly about to be torn apart.

“Heo Eun-Sil.”

“Ma’am!” she vehemently responded.

As if to taunt her, the mountains in front of the watchtower echoed her answers.

“Can you pass with flying colors?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The assistant instructor once again grabbed Heo Eun-Sil by the back of her waist and shook her.

I’ll just die if something goes wrong anyway! There are things worse than death here!

Heo Eun-Sil gritted her teeth and looked ahead.

“Jump!” the assistant instructor ordered.

“Yes, ma’am! Jumping!”

Swish!

Heo Eun-Sil threw herself off the watchtower. As soon as she lifted off the ground, she started gliding toward the pulley thirty meters in front of her.

Swiiiish!

Heo Eun-Sil raised her arms and legs as she fought against the wind whistling into her eyes. She had been taught to keep her head facing forward, but her body kept twisting away and toward the rope.

Whoosh!

She was rushing toward the safety barrier in front of her at a frightening speed.

She had to get into position and land on the ground once she had slowed down. Unfortunately, her body wouldn’t listen to her.

Boom!

Heo Eun-Sil slammed into the safety barrier with her left shoulder and squirmed. The instructor and assistant instructor dashed over, grabbed her, and untied the rope behind her back.

“End of descent!” Heo Eun-Sil announced, forcing herself into position as she stood before the instructor.

“What did I say would happen if you were to lose your center in a high-altitude glide?”

“Your body keeps spinning like a log, ma’am!”

“If you fall like that at 25,000 feet, we won’t even be able to find one of your ears, do you understand?”

“I will make changes accordingly, ma’am!”

The instructor pushed her index finger against Heo Eun-Sil’s forehead. “Make changes, my ass. You’re going to be all blown up and gone by that point!”

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!”

The red-bereted instructor shoved her face in front of Heo Eun-Sil. “Do you think we will only deal with women because we’re female soldiers?!”

“No, ma’am!”

To her, Heo Eun-Sil was still a young child. She was still wet behind the ears, just having graduated from high school. Others came here with the fourth dan of martial arts mastered, while she had only learned up to the first dan. Still, she knew how to fight in close quarters, which was bizarre.

The instructor looked her straight in the eye.

What was ironic was that this little girl had the most venomous eyes in the entire class of cadets.

The instructor nodded and slowly straightened up.

“You have two more chances. If you fail to get into position, you’re done.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Heo Eun-Sil hurriedly clunked away.

She’s not even that big.

Lieutenant Lim Mi-Ok of the 606 Special Operations Training Unit watched Heo Eun-Sil as she left.

Most kids who had just graduated from high school wouldn’t last three months in training. They often ended up leaving or crying and whining.

However, although Heo Eun-Sil’s eyes sometimes turned red, she never cried.

Some would say it was probably because she was a fierce child, but in truth, it was because she always swallowed the tears back.

That was what Lim Mi-Ok couldn’t understand. What could have made such a young kid so keen?

Lim Mi-Ok shook her head and looked up at the watchtower. They had to get on with the training.

***

Summer of 1998.

Although the sky had not gone completely dark yet, stars were already scattered across its vast surface. It was as if a pack of silver-beaded mouth fresheners had been accidentally ripped open.

Kang Chan stood up from the table and walked into the tent where Enzo was.

The drip pack was now deflated like a balloon, already drained of its contents.

Might as well put another one in.

Kang Chan pulled out another pack.

How do I replace it?

Kang Chan picked up the end of the IV and examined it.

“Pull me up,” Enzo suddenly said, making Kang Chan glance back in surprise.

The pale-faced man’s eyes were wide open.

Kang Chan set the pack on the table, grabbed Enzo by the shoulders, and pulled him upright.

Enzo supported himself with his arms behind him and looked around the tent.

“Any word from HQ?”

“All they said was to stand by.”

Enzo nodded laboriously.

“Got a cigarette?”

Kang Chan pulled out a pack from his breast pocket. They only had three left now.

After putting one in Enzo’s mouth, Kang Chan lit it up for him.

“What about the bastards chasing after us?” Enzo asked.

“There were about twenty of them, but they just came at us with bayonets,” Kang Chan answered.

“That’s mad shit. You dealt with them by yourself and carried me all the way here?”

Kang Chan nodded.

Enzo tossed his finished cigarette to the ground, and Kang Chan stubbed it out.

The heat of the barracks gripped onto the cigarette smoke and stagnated inside.

“How long have you been here, sir?” Kang Chan inquired.

“Three months.”

“And the enemies never once attacked this place?”

Enzo’s eyes flashed in the darkness. Just then, they heard engines rumbling in the distance.

Damn it, what timing!

“Morphine!” Enzo shouted.

Kang Chan jumped to his feet and opened the medicine box.

He handed Enzo the morphine, and Enzo quickly stuck it near his right buttock and thigh.

“One more.”

That was dangerous. However, it was a hard order to refuse.

Enzo stuck the second dose of morphine near his left buttock.

“Pull that string over there!”

It was so dark that Kang Chan couldn’t see properly, but he trusted Enzo and went to look for it. Walking over to the corner, he saw a twisted, dangling string.

He gave it a gentle tug, finding it surprisingly tied tightly.

Swoosh!

Kang Chan pulled harder this time.

Flutter!

The cloth draped around them like the opening curtains of a stage fell to the ground.

Rumble!

With their surroundings now in full view, the engine noises came straight toward Kang Chan and Enzo.

“The machine gun!” Enzo shouted firmly.

Kang Chan dragged the pedestal and moved the machine gun to Enzo’s bedside.

Clunk!

Enzo pulled the latch and looked at Kang Chan.

“Pull the straps on all the barracks over there too!”

Moving quickly, Kang Chan pulled the strings of the barracks and then grabbed the three rifles and ammo boxes that he had left on the table. Afterward, he went back to Enzo’s side.

Clatter! Click!

As Kang Chan checked the magazines and pulled the breech blocks, the moonlight turned the world yellow.

It was too bright. So bright that he could make out the outline of the approaching trucks in the distance.

“There has to be a mine here,” Enzo said quietly, his arms over the machine gun. “This has got to be a battle over vested interests. While they sent in troops to sacrifice, they were keeping other people from claiming dibs on this mine.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just take it by force then?”

“This fight would’ve been long over if we knew why we couldn’t do that.” Enzo gritted his teeth, still looking like a dead man. “If it comes down to it, you better fucking die. If those bastards get to drag you away alive…”

Kang Chan smirked, but Enzo didn’t reciprocate.

“Can I have one last cigarette?” Kang Chan asked.

Finally, Enzo smirked. “Let’s do that.”

Kang Chan pulled out the remaining two cigarettes. He handed one to Enzo first and lit it up.

The flickering flame of the lighter flashed in Enzo’s eyes as it ignited the end of the cigarette in Kang Chan’s mouth.

“Hoo.”

The truck was getting closer.

“Do you know why they left this place alone until now?”

Enzo didn’t answer. His expression darkened as the moonlit cigarette smoke disappeared into the silver-tinted world.

Kang Chan dropped the cigarette on the floor and stomped on it.

“I’ll tell you if we get out alive,” Enzo said.

So he does know something. That has to be how he has managed to stay alive until now.

Three trucks drew closer from the distance, interrupting Kang Chan’s thoughts.

He wondered how many trucks were hiding between these shallow hills for them to come crawling out now.

Click!

Kang Chan aimed at the driver’s seat of one of the oncoming trucks. The moonlight was bright enough to give him a clear shot at the windshield.

It’s been a long, long day.

A gunshot cut through the roar of the engine.

Bang!

Another truck lost speed and swerved.

Bang!

Finally, Kang Chan shot through the cab of the third truck. He then witnessed the black outline of a man urgently leaping out.

Crazy bastards!

It looked cool to jump with the moonlight glowing behind him, but what did that matter when they were throwing away their lives with bayonets? How could they put their pride above their lives

Then die! I’ll make it as painless as possible.

Kang Chan stood straight and began opening fire.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

With each shot he took, enemies dropped like flies.