Chapter 163: Early Coming of Age Ceremony (15)

The fortress without a single window began to be covered in light.

[ Ah, real situation. Real situation! Type A deployment, all personnel! Type A deployment! ]

Officers and soldiers who were sound asleep woke up with a start, jumping out of their beds. Those sleeping in bunk beds, in their half-awake state, hurriedly tried to come down and even rolled off from the second floor.

Thud.

And while the soldiers and officers were putting on their equipment and gathering holy water and exorcism items in their half-awake state, the personnel who were already on duty and the senior soldiers who had finished preparations early went around the living quarters to check on those who hadn't woken up.

"Hey, you bastard! Wake up! It's Type A deployment!"

"You piece of shit private, sleeping in, wake up right now!"

Of course, the personnel who had been sleeping soundly in the pitch-dark darkness couldn't be in a good mood.

"Ah, damn it, I just went to sleep after finishing my shift..."

"Ah, it's been quiet lately, why suddenly Type A deployment... Did some high-ranking official call a situation or something..."

"They're saying it's a real situation?"

"Damn it!"

But what could they do?

A situation had occurred, and in the military, you have to act as you've been trained.

The officers went to their assigned guard posts for Type A deployment, carrying all sorts of items, and the soldiers received their K-2 and K-3 rifles along with silver-coated bullets that had been consecrated, and moved to their respective positions.

Where they moved to, medium machine guns and grenade launchers were mounted.

These were weapons to stop and inflict damage on evil spirits with physical force.

And naturally, as the inside of the safe zone became busy like this, the people from the military human rights center also had to wake up.

They had to wake up with groaning sounds due to the commotion, and fumbled in the darkness to turn on the lights and check the situation outside.

"What's happening right now?"

One of the people from the military human rights center asked an officer who was running around busily, but someone who was already overwhelmed just doing their job wouldn't have time to answer that. Because of this, he tried to grab someone else to ask, but thanks to the broadcast spreading around, he could figure out what the situation was.

[ Real situation, real situation! Type A deployment! All personnel to guard posts! ]

[ Officers take anti-great evil spirit equipment, soldiers take firearms and receive bullets-! ]

Hearing that broadcast, the eyes of those who had been drowsy with sleep popped open.

"Oh no..."

"If it's a real situation here, it must be evil spirits or..."

"That's right. It must be evil spirits or evil demons, right...?"

"Ha. Talk about bad luck..."

They sighed as they hurriedly put on their clothes.

"What did they say we should do if a real situation occurs?"

"Well, um..."

"Wait a moment. I wrote down the precautions. It should be here somewhere..."

Their faces hardened as if terrified by the heavy four words 'real situation'. But they didn't fall into panic or just tremble in fear and become flustered, and somehow tried to find a solution by racking their brains that weren't working well.

And just as they were about to search through their luggage to find a solution.

"In case a real situation occurs in the safe zone, it's right to stay in place."

A young voice was heard from the corner.

As people turned their gaze towards the sound, they saw a person wearing leather clothes slowly coming down.

Jinseong.

It was Jinseong, who had been treated by the people from the military human rights center as if he had a 'handle with care' label attached.

"There's usually a shelter in places like this, but unless someone guides us in a real situation like this, it's right to stay in place."

"Is, is that so?"

"You could get lost on the way to the shelter, and encountering an evil spirit or demon that has slipped in undetected wouldn't be pleasant."

Jinseong said this as he approached them and lightly tapped the wall next to them.

Then a sound like hitting a thick stone block was faintly heard.

"Fortunately, the walls here are thick. Since they have to deal with evil spirits and demons, they'll have filled the inside with all sorts of things to prepare for intrusions, so the protection should be solid. So it's right to stay put without making any rash moves."

Jinseong said this and then sat down on an empty bed.

Then, as if he had no intention of speaking further, he went inside, leaned against the wall, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes.

Then people withdrew their gaze from Jinseong and began to whisper among themselves.

"Is that so? That young man's words seem right..."

"Yeah. It's not like we know the geography here. What if we wander around and meet with some misfortune."

"Come to think of it, when they built this, I heard they did all sorts of things like consecrated silver, talismans, and even chicken blood from beheaded chickens..."

"And even if we go to the shelter, the door might be locked. Instead of taking unnecessary risks, let's just stay here."

Jinseong listened to their whispers and slowly examined the darkness created by his closed eyes.

And while repeatedly taking deep breaths and slowly exhaling to calm his heartbeat, he cast a spell on his eyes.

Then sparks originating from Jinseong's body climbed up to his eyes and began to illuminate the inside of Jinseong's eyelids, and began to draw images shining in various colors.

It was as if the inside of his eyelids had become an analog TV.

Let's see. Let's see.

The image showed the CCTV room inside the safe zone.

Several people were gathered there, with most of them sitting in front of the CCTVs. But there were three people doing something different:

The commander and two officers.

The two officers were bowing their heads low, receiving a scolding, and the commander's face had turned bright red with anger.

The commander was shouting at the two officers who were bowing their heads.

Jinseong focused on the silent image to read the officers' lip movements.

『 You. Two. Brace. Your.selves! 』

Jinseong carefully examined the commander's face, which had turned as red as a boiled octopus.

The face of the commander who had welcomed them warmly during the day looked like that of a beast, and he seemed unable to contain his anger as he breathed hot air incessantly. Moreover, he looked like he was barely holding onto his reason, twisting his mouth as if about to spit out what seemed to be curses several times, but barely swallowing them.

『 Officers, you bastards, not standing guard but sleeping-! 』

The commander shouted at the two.

『 Yeah, people can doze off. And well, yeah! I could somehow understand if one person dozes off. But two of you! Not one, but two of you abandoning your duty and sleeping-! Do you think the guard post is a hotel! 』

The two listening to the commander's scolding were bowing their heads as if they had committed a great crime, accepting the commander's anger.

『 You bastards! I'm so ashamed I can't even lift my head! Does it make sense that I hear about problems in North Korea from other units! Not only did we fail to discover it first and inform other units, but those bastards licking honey in Seoul spotted it first with satellites and contacted me, does that make any sense?! If you have mouths, speak, speak! You bastards, don't just keep your traps shut, try to make some excuse to me! 』

But this sight seemed to incite more anger, as the commander's gestures gradually grew larger.

『 Do you think your military service ends if you keep your traps shut like that? Huh? What? You have nothing to say even if you had ten mouths? That's right, you bastard! Sleeping soundly in the guard post like it's a motel, missing special circumstances and determined to put a blemish on my promotion path, of course you should have nothing to say! Huh? I never imagined I'd be stabbed in the back by my own subordinates. And not for some mischief, but for neglect of duty, I couldn't imagine being stabbed in the back! In my day, we couldn't even imagine such things, yeah. The military is a complete mess, a mess! 』

The commander approached as if about to strike the officers, but barely held onto his senses and stopped, then sighed.

『 Alright. Well, what's happened has happened.... Get out. It's my fault for letting your discipline loosen, whose fault could it be? Sigh... 』

The commander seemed like he might really strike them if he kept the officers in front of him any longer, so he almost forcibly chased them out of the CCTV room. Then he stood there blankly, composing his emotions, before approaching a soldier sitting in front of the CCTV and placing a hand on his shoulder, asking:

『 Hey, sergeant. In your opinion, does this look like I'm screwed, or not? 』

Then the young man called sergeant thought for a moment and said:

『 I think it'll be alright, sir. 』

『 Why? 』

『 If this were evil spirits or demons, it would be a big deal, but I don't think it is. 』

『 Why? 』

The sergeant pointed to the CCTV screen in response to the commander's question.

『 In my opinion, this just looks like an error. 』

The screen the sergeant pointed to was full of white noise, like a TV turned on after the broadcast time had ended.

『 It could be evil spirits or demons, but if it were, the noise wouldn't just be here, it should have moved along with the movement of the evil spirits or demons. 』

『 It could be staying still, couldn't it? 』

『 We're checking the N-04 area CCTV next to us, and there's nothing particularly unusual. There's just noise after a certain time. 』

『 So? 』

『 It just seems like an anomaly in the magnetic field of the N-04 area or a problem caused by an aging satellite. 』

The commander nodded as if the sergeant's words made sense, then opened his mouth.

『 Right. You certainly didn't waste your time at the frontline. But you know, there's something you should know. 』

『 I'm listening, sir. 』

『 You shouldn't ignore experience, but you shouldn't completely trust it either. At the frontline, if you just stay optimistic about the situation, you could end up in big trouble. Let's see, you've eaten about 3 years of rice here? 』

『 Yes! 2 years and 6 months, sir. 』

『 Right. You're capable, so you've only served that much and already have sergeant stripes and even eyeing becoming a non-commissioned officer. I'm saying this because I care about you, so remember my words well. The military is a place that becomes like the Tang or Italian army if you're optimistic. Understand? 』

『 Yes, sir! 』

『 That's why I've sent the TOD now.... Hmm, is there still no contact from the TOD? 』

The sergeant answered with vigor at the commander's words. The commander nodded as if pleased with this response, then glanced to the side.

There, a soldier with the rank of corporal was looking at the screen.

The screen he was watching was divided into four. One showed colorful images as if from a thermal imaging camera, one looked as if it had a green filter applied. Another showed only black and white, and the last one looked like an image created from information obtained by a bat's ultrasonic waves.

He stared at it for a while, then when the satellite phone rang, he moved like lightning to answer it, and then turned to the commander and shouted:

『 Contact from the TOD, sir! Unusual circumstances discovered, the old tree village in the N-04 area, 013 sector has been turned into a wasteland! 』

『 And? 』

『 No other unusual circumstances, sir! 』

The commander listened to the corporal's words and then, as if he couldn't believe it, grabbed the phone and threw questions at the other party.

『 Hey, uh. It's the commander. You say the village has been devastated? Uh-huh. Completely destroyed? Show me the screen. But what do you mean there are no unusual circumstances. If the village is wrecked, shouldn't there be evil spirits crawling out and evil demons crawling out? Is your equipment malfunctioning? Check again. Huh, nothing wrong? Well, if you say so like that.... Uh-huh. You say there was a magnetic field anomaly in that area? Couldn't confirm any special entities? Tsk. Really? Hmm. Couldn't confirm? Right, I got it. Return carefully, and when you come back, activate the holy water sprinklers. Don't turn them off because it's wasteful. Yeah, right. Got it. 』

The commander smiled as soon as he hung up the phone.

『 Hey sergeant. Looks like it's not my fate to lose my neck yet. 』

Saying that, he started to move busily.

Leaving a message to let him know immediately if there were any unusual circumstances, he went into the command room and turned on the monitor.

Then, as soon as his superior's face appeared on the monitor, he gave a vigorous salute.

『 North! Advance! Captain! Kim! Sun! Gil! 』

『 Yes, North Advance. Yes, explain what happened. 』

He said things like 'A few days ago, the TOD reported that the magnetic field readings in N-04 had become abnormal', 'After receiving the report, we were closely monitoring that area, but there were no particular unusual circumstances.', 'Then today, a white noise phenomenon occurred.'

『 Is that so? Then why did you deploy Type A now? 』

『 In my judgment, it's just a white noise phenomenon due to a simple magnetic field anomaly, but as the civilians seemed to feel uneasy about the current situation, I deployed it to prepare for any possible situation. I plan to switch to Type B deployment when dawn breaks. 』

『 Ah, civilians. I see.... 』

They said civilians, but they were people from the military human rights center.

There was even someone presumed to be from a big company.

『 Right. Well done. Well, if it seems there's nothing unusual when dawn breaks, don't make the kids suffer and withdraw them. Captain Kim Sun-gil, your by-the-book approach is impressive. Yes, good. 』

And so, the captain's crisis passed safely.

He succeeded in using the 'magnetic field anomaly' that frequently occurs in North Korea like a cheat key, and made them understand that the Type A deployment was acting by the book to look good to the 'civilians' currently visiting the safe zone.

Thinking he had safely overcome the crisis, he sat back in his chair and leaned his body.

And with a face that looked drained, he stared blankly at the ceiling.

And Jinseong, who had been quietly watching this scene, deactivated his spell and slowly opened his eyes.

There's nothing more to see.

With this, a perfect crime was committed.

Thanks to the spell cast on the rags, Jinseong wouldn't have been captured by electronic equipment, and his coming-of-age ceremony would have been hidden thanks to the noise. And all that noise was packaged as 'white noise due to magnetic field anomaly'.

With this, Jinseong safely completed his coming-of-age ceremony and passed off its side effects to North Korean land.

But originally, details are important in everything.

Jinseong got up from his seat and returned to his original place.

Then he covered the rags so that people's gazes wouldn't reach them, and plucked his hair one by one, placing them in the shade.

Then he took out straws one by one from the pocket of his leather clothes and wove them with the hair to make a small human-shaped doll, and bit his finger to draw blood and used it to draw facial features on the face part of the human-shaped doll.

Then he stuffed it well into his pocket and passed the time.

[ Ah, real situation ended. Announce that the real situation has ended. ]

[ Withdraw! ]

As soon as dawn broke, the situation was cancelled as the commander had said.

The soldiers who had been sleeping well before being deployed rushed in, took off their equipment, and returned their firearms and ammunition, and the toilets and showers were packed to bursting.

And soon the commander came into the living quarters.

"Ah, I think you all must have been surprised. The situation has ended safely."