BRDM 96

Apostle Test (1)

Lee Hyun felt a vague sense of unease again and again while talking with Major General Lee Gunsan, and while speaking with old comrades like Oh Suheon.

It was as if something was missing — a feeling that something had been overlooked. But since none of them mentioned it outright, he couldn’t put a finger on what it was.

Yet,

— Even after he became a ruin, we should have dealt with him like Cheongnoe.

— You take care of your comrades and juniors here. I’ll take this one and slip away on my own.

— If this fight drags on like this, it’s just going to explode this volcano — you can feel that, right?

When he met Xu Changyou, the unease spread and grew stronger.

On the surface the words seemed trivial, but when he picked them apart they were hard to ignore. They carried the implication that if the fight dragged on, they would regret it as they had with Cheongnoe. It felt as if the disbandment of the Cheongnoe Unit had happened exactly the way somebody intended — as if Xu Changyou himself had been involved.

At that moment a single hypothesis flashed through Lee Hyun’s mind.

— Could it be that an outside hand was involved in the disbandment of the Cheongnoe Unit?

Until now, Lee Hyun had thought the disbandment was his fault alone. The unit suffered nearly annihilating losses at the Ice Palace, and with the leader himself sidelined and reinforcements hard to come by, the unit had naturally fallen apart — that’s what he’d assumed based on what Jinwoo had told him.

But he had never investigated the reasons himself. He had been too occupied with taking care of his own body to have the leisure to look around.

Now, in retrospect, several things seemed odd. A special forces unit with that level of reputation had been disbanded too quickly — the decision and the execution of it had both taken place in record time.

“Even General Lee got out of his uniform too quickly at the time. It was like he was being driven out by something.”

Naturally, the thought occurred: could Peng Jinghao, or rather the Central Heroes Committee, have been involved in the disbandment of Cheongnoe? Or was there something even larger behind it?

And when Go Jin-woo and Kim Min-jeong hesitated and couldn’t answer readily,

“That’s right. My guess.”

Lee Hyun realized his suspicion was correct.

Lee Hyun, Go Jin-woo, and Kim Min-jeong moved back to General Lee Gunsan’s large residence in the capital.

“You’ve all worked hard. You haven’t had proper rest for days, running around so much. I set up a big spread for you… huh?”

General Lee was wearing an apron edged with frills and greeted the three with a smile, but he cocked his head in puzzlement. He had been about to tell them he’d prepared a barbecue in the yard, but the mood felt off.

Go Jin-woo and Kim Min-jeong were both watching Lee Hyun for cues. Only Lee Hyun was in a low mood, lips pressed together.

Lee Gunsan glanced at Go Jin-woo and silently asked why with a look.

— What’s wrong with him?

Go Jin-woo sighed.

“It’s all been found out, General.”

“Hmm? Found out about what?”

“The reason Cheongnoe was disbanded.”

“…!?”

“It looks like those traitors went blabbing about it. Sigh.”

Lee Gunsan scratched the back of his head with the tongs, looking embarrassed.

Lee Hyun asked, “May we hear the story, General?”

“Hmm… I was planning to bring this up after everything was settled. But I guess I can’t avoid it. Sit down first. I was about to throw some meat on the grill when I heard you were coming.”

On the table there were lettuce, cabbage, perilla leaves, shishito peppers, ssamjang, and an array of soju and beer. The sizzling and fragrant smell of meat filled the yard.

“A former military officer wearing a frilly apron and proudly showing off his tanned forearms while grilling meat… that’s rare, isn’t it?” Kim Min-jeong joked, prompting Lee Gunsan to burst into hearty laughter.

“Ha! Is it? Folks might say I’m soft in the head if they saw me.”

Flipping the meat with the tongs, Lee Gunsan said, “Talking serious stuff while eating this will make you sick — let’s finish before everything’s grilled. So, what do you want to know?”

“Was the disbandment of the unit the Central Heroes Committee’s doing?” Lee Hyun asked bluntly.

Go Jin-woo and Kim Min-jeong exchanged looks between them.

Lee Gunsan smiled wryly.

“The Committee’s doing… half right, half wrong.”

“Then—”

“It wasn’t only the Committee.”

“…!?”

Lee Hyun’s eyes widened slightly. He had expected the Committee or Peng Jinghao to be behind it.

Lee Gunsan forced a bitter smile and waved the tongs.

“Astra, Zeus’s Sons, the City Cartel, the Geza Cult… quite a few others were involved. The Committee and Peng Jinghao were only part of it.”

These were huge hunter powers that could be said to lead the world. Lee Hyun stared in disbelief.

“…Why?”

“Because you were too outstanding.”

“Too… outstanding?”

“Yes. Too outstanding.”

Lee Gunsan nodded and continued.

“You, and the Cheongnoe Unit — you outshone them. A mere unit, not a guild or a major power, showed strength comparable to those who steer the world.”

“…!”

“If this unit kept growing, what would happen? If Jet grows further? Or if another Jet-like figure appears?”

“…”

“Wouldn’t it end with more than closing a four-star dungeon? Might they conquer the world?”

The white smoke from the grill swallowed his words. Lee Gunsan’s gaze sank deep and heavy.

“If it’s the sorrow of a small nation, call it that; if we’re shrimps crushed between whales fighting, call it that. For China or Russia, who need access to the Pacific, you’re a thorn in the side. For Japan and the United States that want to use us as a shield, after dealing with San-Sin they now have another problem to worry about.”

A heavy silence fell. Go Jin-woo and Kim Min-jeong said nothing. Only Lee Hyun’s expression remained calm and still.

“But both sides didn’t have a legitimate pretext to touch you. We’re soldiers protecting the state. If we meddle, it’s interference in domestic affairs. However—”

Lee Hyun drew a deep breath. He roughly understood the background.

“That was a timely opportunity. The Gangneung incident happened right then.”

“Exactly.”

Lee Gunsan nodded. His bitter smile deepened.

“When Cheongnoe’s strength had just waned, everyone united in pressuring them.”

“…”

“Each had their own pretext, but the message was the same: ‘Disband it,’ ‘It’s practically annihilated, so disbanding is best.'”

The meat started to brown. Lee Gunsan sliced it neatly and moved it to plates.

“Did you refuse orders then?” Lee Hyun asked, his gaze landing on the apron.

The teacher who had always worn a crisp uniform in his memories now looked at home in casual clothes and an apron. That must have come from trying, at all costs, to protect his students and subordinates and failing — the result of wearing other clothes now.

“Refuse orders… It’s not like I could say I refused orders when I couldn’t properly protect you. It was more that I was of an age and had fallen out of favor with higher-ups, and so it became a natural step. Here, take it. It’s perfectly grilled.”

Lee Gunsan set the plate in front of the three. Yet none of them reached for their chopsticks easily. Only Lee Hyun picked up a piece.

“It’s good.”

“Right? The butcher I always go to had some good cuts in, so I bought them all.”

The more Lee Hyun chewed, the more the meat tasted like his teacher’s heart.

“This is as delicious as the first raw meat my brother and I had when we left the orphanage.”

The topic changed abruptly from the previous subject, but all three of their gazes fixed on Lee Hyun.

“Is that so?”

Lee Gunsan smiled faintly. Lee Hyun quietly set his chopsticks down and continued.

“The orphanage where my brother and I lived was rundown, and the director was terrible. Before that, the best we could get was frozen meat or canned food. Then we entered a private school and the first time we tried grilled meat was there.”

The world’s economy had been suffering like a postwar economy because dungeon appearances wreaked havoc — especially back when he was a child. The world had been a harsh place for orphans.

“When we ate meat together then, I thought, if I could eat this just once a week I would be content.”

“…”

“The first person to buy us meat back then was you, General.”

“I… didn’t know that.”

Lee Gunsan scratched his cheek sheepishly. Go Jin-woo and Kim Min-jeong’s eyes widened; it was news to them too.

Lee Hyun still remembered that day vividly. He remembered Lee Gunsan reaching out to them with a smile when their lives were barely sustained by government subsidies. He remembered how, after watching the General’s reaction, the brothers devoured the meat in a rush before it was even fully grilled.

“Now, like I wished back then, I can eat meat not just once a week but whenever I want. And now I even have the luxury of eating meat grilled by the General himself.”

“If you ever want it, tell me. I enjoy taking care of people.”

Lee Hyun smiled.

“I don’t like eating alone. I did that for four years — it wasn’t tasty. Sharing a meal with someone is better.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. When I was younger, it was best when I ate with my brother. And now, eating like this with the General and with my comrades is the tastiest.”

Lee Hyun looked from Lee Gunsan to Go Jin-woo to Kim Min-jeong in turn.

Lee Gunsan’s faint smile deepened. Go Jin-woo lifted his head slightly to look at the sky, and Kim Min-jeong fell into reminiscence. Lee Hyun engraved each of their looks in his mind.

“But… the world seems to resent that sight of people eating together.”

A warm breeze blew from somewhere. Lee Hyun picked up another piece of meat.

“The problem is I’m known to be a troublemaker. If they force me to be compliant, I’ll get stubborn for the sake of it.”

He put the meat in his mouth and smiled.

“So maybe that’s why I want to share with even more of my people now.”

At that moment a new ember caught flame inside Lee Hyun’s heart. The ember named Cheongnoe.

He felt a longing to reconnect the thread with that time four years ago. During the operation on Ulleungdo, he hadn’t felt any sense of lost time at all. Even if their positions had changed, the direction they faced remained the same.

“Is that so? Good. Then I’ll be grilling harder.” Lee Gunsan laughed and put a few more pieces on the grill.

“You mentioned a get-together next Friday, right? Don’t go far — have it at my place. I’ll try and do what I can.”

“Is that okay? Maybe because we’re getting older, we’ll be like brutes and make a mess.”

When Go Jin-woo tossed that in, Lee Gunsan puffed his chest.

“Heh. At worst the wife will scold me.”

“…I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, General. Your wife is scary.”

“Is that so? You expect me to take the blame alone?”

Go Jin-woo and Lee Gunsan bickered, and Lee Hyun let out a small, amused smile.

Perhaps what he had missed most during those lonely four years was exactly this scene. And perhaps at the get-together they’d share even more stories.

“Let’s revive Cheongnoe. Let’s try it. Somehow.”

There would be many forces trying to stop them, not just the Committee, but as they had driven off the hands of Peng Jinghao and Xu Changyou before, Lee Hyun intended to defeat them all this time too.

This time it would be different. He would protect it somehow. No matter what.