episode_0133

Nostalgia (3) ― The front lines in the war for national recovery in Korea

[An unprecedented catastrophe has struck our proud homeland.]

The warm sunlight makes you feel that summer has arrived.

Men in military uniforms absorbing the heat with their whole bodies.

They were staring at the speaker with blank faces, with a hard voice coming out.

“Keep your back straight! If a second-class citizen with a disrespectful attitude is caught by this officer, he or she will be excluded from the dinner ration!”

The officer on board the vehicle encouraged the reserve soldiers in a loud voice.

The officer’s voice, repeatedly giving threats-like encouragement, becomes increasingly distant.

At the same time, a small breeze blows briefly onto my sweaty back.

It was proof that the car carrying the officer, who was repeating the same words like a parrot, was moving away.

[The country has done everything for you, so now it is your turn to do everything for the country.]

“Fuck you~ I would have done everything for you if you had come back from the military. What more do you want me to do?”

A sharp curse echoed among the reserve soldiers.

When the officer disappears, the eyes of the reserve soldiers who were resting in a relaxed standing posture gather in one place.

[Lee Jeong-hoon]

A white name tag indicating that you are a second-class citizen, not yet an official first-class citizen.

Lee Jeong-hoon, wiping the thick sweat rolling down his wrinkled forehead, asked the man next to him who was looking at him.

“Isn’t that right? Jinwoo Kim?”

Kim Jin-woo is surprised when Lee Jeong-hoon calls him by his name.

His wide-open eyes, unable to guess how he suddenly knew his name, slowly sank when he saw Lee Jeong-hoon’s gaze.

Kim Jin-woo rubs his white name tag with his hand.

Lee Jeong-hoon looked at that with a sheepish smile and asked again.

“First day after opening your eyes?”

“… … Yes.”

“High school student or college student?”

“I was a freshman in college.”

“ ― Then you didn’t go to the military?”

Lee Jeong-hoon was already speaking naturally.

Kim Jin-woo, who quietly looked at him and calculated the face value, nodded his head.

“Fuck you~ But you’re better than me. Even if it’s hell, going to the military twice isn’t hell.”

The reserve soldiers shrug their shoulders and laugh at Lee Jeong-hoon’s self-torture.

No one was listening to what was coming from the speakers.

I just pretend to listen so as not to be excluded from dinner rations.

“ Okay~ Then our Jinwoo has to stay in this scorching sun for 6 more days to ‘prove’ it?”

As soon as I opened my eyes, I was greeted by military uniforms.

The insincere explanation I heard in the space where we were forced to gather by those heavy kicks.

Reserve soldiers had to take a test to prove that they were first-class citizens a week later in order to receive the ‘reserve’ label.

“Then it looks like you don’t have much time left.”

Lee Jeong-hoon grinned at Kim Jin-woo’s answer.

He speaks cynically as if everything in the world is annoying, but his sense of superiority is steeped in it.

In a world where everything had become strange, there was only one thing that did not change.

“Fuck it~ Today is the end of this hellish broth draining.”

person.

The looks in the eyes of my seniors who made fun of me while drinking, saying that now that I am in college, I should also go to the military.

Lee Jung-hoon looks at himself with the same eyes.

Jinwoo Kim’s eyes were strangely affectionate and welcoming.

“Then I don’t even know why we’re doing this shit in the scorching sun?”

“I don’t know. Do you know my brother?”

“Look at it later and don’t pee. Suddenly, a barracks the size of a house came down on the land where we were standing.”

“… … Yes?”

Lee Jeong-hoon smiled mischievously, as if he expected a question back.

“Looking at it, soon the military uniform will start to smell not just like a musty smell, but also a boring one.”

“… … The barracks come down from the sky?”

“Yes. Everyone asked with those eyes.”

Lee Jeong-hoon laughed heartily and swung ‘Daehan’.

His gaze captures the towering giant screen and train platform.

The Korean flag fluttering in the wind in a particularly creepy way and a speaker spewing strange words.

“You can just say that the world we knew no longer exists.”

Unfamiliar and strict rules.

Coercive instructions from a superior whose name and face I did not know.

The moment when even foods that would have been skipped for granted become precious.

Lee Jeong-hoon looked down at his military uniform and laughed helplessly.

Enlisting in the military for the second time is every military veteran’s first nightmare.

But the dream doesn’t wake up.

They were whispering to themselves about a more intense nightmare.

This moment is not a dream, it is reality.

“I… … older brother. But when can I go to the bathroom?”

“Big one? A small one?”

“Yes? First of all, it’s a small thing.”

“Then wrap it coolly and dry it. Don’t be excluded from dinner rations for no reason.”

At first, Kim Jin-woo thought it was a joke and laughed softly, but his face gradually hardened.

Lee Jeong-hoon’s serious face, all playfulness gone.

“It would be nice if only dinner rations were excluded. If you get caught by Awakened officers, you will be half-dead as an example. Do you know that you are an awakened person?”

Kim Jin-woo shook his head in response to Lee Jeong-hoon’s question.

“It’s better not to know. Think about it carefully.”

I follow Lee Jeong-hoon’s gaze as he glances around.

Reserve soldiers tremble with white faces at the sound of being awakened.

“The reason why grown men are being treated like torture without any complaints.”

chuck-

The sound of military boots ringing as soon as Lee Jeong-hoon finished speaking.

Everyone straightened their slightly relaxed posture.

Jinwoo Kim also suddenly straightened his back and stared at the speaker.

Chuck- Chuck-

Dull footsteps that show off an intimidating feeling just by hearing them.

Jinwoo Kim’s arms trembled slightly as he quietly listened to the words coming out of the speaker.

The steps of the officer who was walking while closely observing the reserve soldiers stopped exactly in front of them.

“Second place citizen Lee Jeong-hoon.”

A dry sentence uttered by an officer.

gulp-

Kim Jin-woo, whose throat naturally burned, gulped.

“Yes! 2nd place citizen Lee Jeong-hoon!”

“I heard an interesting story.”

chuck-

The officer who took a step closer asked again.

“Is it a waste of time to listen to His Excellency’s precious words that become your bones and flesh?”

“… … .”

The atmosphere suddenly fell to the floor.

Lee Jeong-hoon was unable to answer the officer’s question.

Jinwoo Kim left his head fixed straight ahead and desperately rolled his eyes to the side.

All the reserve soldiers who were listening to their conversation were trembling pitifully in fear of something.

“Your Excellency’s sincerity in reforming you with a spirit suitable for protecting ‘Daehan’ is outrageous. Answer me, 2nd place citizen Lee Jeong-hoon.”

“… … Yes?”

The answer was too weak for the confident Lee Jeong-hoon we’ve seen so far.

The officer remained silent as Lee Jeong-hoon trembled and answered like a girl.

“… … .”

After a few hellish minutes.

[All citizens of Korea must do their best to help the No. 1 citizen and restore the country… … ]

The officer opened his mouth in a cold atmosphere where the speaker was the only thing that broke the silence.

“In essence, a healthy mind creates a healthy body. Lee Jeong-hoon, our second-class citizen, has too rotten a mind to become the first-class citizen of ‘Daehan’.”

Tuk- Tuk-

With the final sentence-like words, the officer tapped Lee Jeong-hoon on the shoulder.

Kim Jin-woo’s extremely sensitive ears could clearly hear the sound of Lee Jeong-hoon falling.

“You have a rotten mind, so I will do it myself… ”

Tuk!

The simple sound of military boots kicking.

The reaction occurred after a short pause.

Kwaaaang!

A loud noise as something crashes into the building behind it.

“Quaaaagh—!”

Afterwards, Lee Jeong-hoon’s painful scream pierced the backs of the reserve soldiers’ heads.

Jinwoo Kim guessed a situation he had not seen, with his thoughts racing with fear.

With a light kick, the sturdy man was thrown all the way to the back building and landed there.

A power that cannot be imitated by an ordinary person.

‘The Awakened One.’

Lee Jeong-hoon’s warning repeats again in my head.

“I need to complete the rotten body.”

“Off- Cluck- Please officer- Please, please-”

Hmm- I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!

Lee Jeong-hoon pleaded with a voice full of moisture.

The sound of two hands desperately rubbing together with a creaking body can be heard.

Chuck- Chuck-

The sound of footsteps calmly approaching that anxious voice.

“Second place citizen Lee Jeong-hoon.”

“Yes, yes! Second place, second place citizens! 2nd place citizen Lee Jeong-hoon!”

A long shout that makes one vomit blood.

The officer spoke to Lee Jeong-hoon, who immediately became alert.

“I like your attitude of reflecting right away. Your Excellency’s merciful words to forgive one treason saved your life.”

“Thank you, thank you! Long live His Excellency Yeon-cheol! Long live His Excellency Yeon-cheol!”

“Umm—yes. Long live His Excellency Yeoncheol!”

Long live His Excellency Yeon-cheol!

As Lee Jeong-hoon and the officer’s cheers continued, Kim Jin-woo’s body trembled more violently.

He couldn’t quite believe the situation that had hit him right now.

The urine that I was barely holding in was leaking out in trickles as the force continued to loosen.

“Good! Very good, second-class citizen!”

Clap- clap- clap-

After the hurray was over, the officer opened his mouth in a satisfied tone.

After a brief round of applause, the officer shouted again.

“I can’t believe that such a great soldier’s spirit could not be awakened due to his rotten mind. What a national loss!”

“Ma, that’s right, cough! Cough!”

The sound of someone coughing followed by the sound of something falling.

“Only when the rotten blood of a pig that does not know anything like that is drained, the sacred blood of a soldier will gush out. You can do anything. If you do.”

If we cannot become a first-class citizen, we must make it a first-class citizen.

“In that sense, how many days has it been since you became a proud citizen of ‘Daehan’?”

“Cough- 6 days, 6 days!”

“Then that means you didn’t listen to His Excellency’s words for 6 days.”

“Aaaaa―”

Lee Jeong-hoon cried as if he sensed something.

“No matter how much I like you, a soldier must be precise in his rewards and punishments. Let them receive 6 days worth of punishment and become a second-class citizen of the proud country of Korea.”

“Aaaah― Please― Please―”

“Of course you know how to receive punishment. For those of you who are in second place and don’t know, please watch the senior’s demonstration on the 6th day and take it to heart.”

This is a message not to Jeong-Hoon Lee, but to the prospective soldiers who are listening to this situation.

Only then did Kim Jin-woo understand everything that Lee Jeong-hoon had said.

Now Lee Jung-hoon was being used by the officers as the ‘example’ he had spoken of.

“In accordance with the new Emergency Order No. 3, ‘When first-class citizens witness treason by second-class citizens, they will mobilize all their capabilities to correct it.’ 6 days worth of mental correction will be provided to second-class citizen Lee Jeong-hoon. ”

Grumble!

“Kwaaagh—! Yeo, long live His Excellency Yeon-cheol!”

Grumble!

“Keuuu! Yeoncheol, your Excellency, long live—!”

A bizarre sound of bones being twisted.

Lee Jeong-hoon’s desperate shout echoes behind him.

Shhh…

In the end, Kim Jin-woo’s pants become dark and wet, unable to bear it any longer.

[Even now, there are rebels rampaging outside, illegally occupying the sacred territory of Korea and exploiting our precious citizens. We use all our capabilities… ]

Grumble!

“Keuheu- Keuhehehe- Long live His Excellency Yeoncheol!”

Merciless voices that torment the mind threefold.

In the end, another voice was heard by Kim Jin-woo, who shed many tears.

[Please introduce yourself first.]

[Ah yes! Hello, all survivors in Seoul.]

A greeting that resonates in ‘Daehan’ as if overlapping echoes spread at once.

The low, serious voice that rang from the speaker was immediately captivating.

Everyone’s eyes naturally followed the direction of the sound.

A bright voice rings out in a ‘broadcast’ that has been showing only black screens for a long time.

A woman wearing bright white religious clothing, contrasting with the black background, was smiling at the screen.

With a flawless smile on her face, she opened her mouth again.

[I am ‘Park Yuna’, a 6th day believer at One Mind Salvation Church!]