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Chapter : 2
A New Beginning (1)
“…Are you listening?”
“Huh?”
“I asked if you’re listening. You. Are you listening to me?”
“Pardon?”
Suhyeon asked back absentmindedly, confused. In front of him stood a man he didn’t recognize, glaring at him with an irritated expression.
“I just asked you. Tell me what values a soldier is supposed to have.”
This kind of training—no, lecturing—was something he’d been sick of for years. The moment he heard it, Suhyeon understood exactly what the man was asking.
But before answering, a question surfaced in his mind.
This wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He was surrounded by strangers, in an unfamiliar place. And his body…
‘It doesn’t hurt.’
The pain that had constantly tormented him ever since the incident—burning from the inside—was gone.
“My arms and legs…! They’re fine!”
“Hey. Can’t you hear me?”
“Ah—sorry, sir. What did you say?”
“I told you to state the values a soldier must possess! Are you deaf, you bastard?!”
The man’s face was full of displeasure. Other trainees nearby clicked their tongues as they looked at Suhyeon, as if he were pathetic.
“If you mean the soldier’s spirit—honor, loyalty, and courage, sir?”
“So you do know. That’s enough. Sit down.”
“……”
“I said you can sit down.”
Whether the man spoke or not, Suhyeon was completely absorbed in his own thoughts.
A body free of pain. Arms and legs restored.
That wasn’t all.
He was… younger.
‘What the hell is going on?’
Just moments ago, he had been a washed-up special forces commander, rotting away in a room soaked in alcohol and pills.
Now, he was standing among young trainees.
Strangely, the surroundings felt familiar—like a place he had been long ago. It hadn’t left much of an impression at the time, so he hadn’t realized it immediately, but the more he looked around, the more certain he became.
To confirm it, Suhyeon asked:
“May I ask what today’s date is?”
“What? Already want to go home? Training isn’t even over yet! Hahaha! You miss your mommy?”
“Hahahahahaha!”
Laughter erupted around them.
Suhyeon laughed along. He didn’t understand the situation yet, but he was still Suhyeon. If he let some cocky bastard walk all over him, then he wouldn’t be himself.
When the laughter died down, he spoke with an innocent expression.
“My mother passed away a long time ago.”
“…Huh?”
“But it’s fine. I’m planning to see her once I’m discharged.”
“What? You just said she passed away!”
“I was referring to your mother, Instructor.”
A brief silence.
Then the instructor’s face turned red as he finally understood.
Thud!
‘Tch…’
“Get up, you son of a bitch!”
The punch landed squarely on his jaw, but it didn’t hurt. He twisted at the moment of impact, dispersing the force. The faint pain that remained felt almost nostalgic—refreshing, even.
His body moved exactly the way he wanted it to.
As a commotion broke out, someone who looked like a superior officer approached, frowning as he alternated his gaze between the instructor and Suhyeon.
“What’s going on here?”
“It’s nothing!”
The instructor grit his teeth and whispered into Suhyeon’s ear.
“You’re on my radar now, you bastard. How dare you insult my mother?”
“Saying she’s young and beautiful isn’t an insult—”
“Are you insane? Stop it!”
A trainee next to him hurriedly intervened, afraid they’d all get dragged into this because of Suhyeon.
Suhyeon had to suppress his laughter.
He’d spent how many years getting tossed around in the military? A puffed-up little instructor like this was easy to toy with. The instructor, wary of the other officer watching, didn’t strike him again.
Honestly, Suhyeon was enjoying himself.
He didn’t understand how this had happened—whether it was a dream or reality—but if it was a dream, he desperately hoped he wouldn’t wake up.
“What were you doing?”
“I was instructing this trainee on a soldier’s mindset!”
“It looked like there was violence involved.”
“No, sir!”
“?!”
The one who said “no” was Suhyeon.
The instructor stared at him in shock.
“If the instructor had used violence, would I look this fine? If that were the case, it would mean the instructor’s fists are weaker than a child’s!”
‘This bastard really is…’
The instructor, who had mocked Suhyeon instead of answering his question about the date, was now paying the price.
As if venting the resentment that had built up over his previous life, Suhyeon kept talking.
“You said you were teaching him about a soldier’s mindset? Then say it.”
“Honor, loyalty, and courage.”
“That’s right. If you know it properly, that’s enough.”
“But I don’t think so.”
“…?”
“Those are things that only benefit others when soldiers have them. Honor? If your entire body gets shattered and you’re left crippled, what meaning does honor have? The military will probably wrap that ‘honor’ up like a filthy rag and toss it at you. Loyalty? Loyalty should be given only to someone worthy of it. Even a dog won’t wag its tail for an owner who doesn’t feed it. Courage? The bravest guy is always the first to die. I sincerely hope, Instructor, that you’re the bravest one here.”
“……”
* * *
“So I got kicked out.”
Suhyeon chuckled as he walked down the street.
The weight of the duffel bag on his back, the smell of the evening air, the glow of shop signs slowly lighting up around him—everything felt lovely.
March 1st, 2101.
More than ten years earlier than the time he had come from.
Only after hearing the date did he feel certain.
He had truly returned to the past.
‘I don’t know how this happened, but…’
Rather than questioning the reason, a sense of fulfillment welled up inside him.
Instead of a broken, failing body, he had been given a free and whole one. That alone made him feel like he could do anything.
He hadn’t expected to say something like that as a trainee and not get expelled. In the first place, Suhyeon had never intended to stay in the military anyway. What he experienced after the incident had completely erased any affection he once had for it.
And venting like that had eased some of the bitterness before it even surfaced.
“Damn it. Now that I think about it, I took my anger out on someone who had nothing to do with it. Pretty ugly of me. Still… I do feel better.”
He was planning to leave the military eventually anyway. Getting out before even properly joining might actually be a blessing.
Though he was probably blacklisted now…
“Try our Earth Dragon skewers!”
A fragrant scent of grilled meat assaulted his nose.
Feeling a long-forgotten hunger stir, Suhyeon turned his head. A tall, handsome elf man was running a street stall, grilling skewers.
Many non-human races still lived as city-states, but many others had been absorbed into human cities through interaction. They adapted to civilization in various ways.
Seeing non-humans casually speaking Korean in this city wasn’t unusual.
“Do you take cards?”
“Card. No. Cash. Good.”
“……”
Clicking his tongue, Suhyeon pulled out some bills and handed them over. The elf grinned and placed a skewer in Suhyeon’s hand.
Crunch!
He took a hearty bite, savoring the juices flowing from the high-quality meat, and nodded in satisfaction.
This, too, was a pleasure he hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Hm?”
“…?”
“This isn’t Earth Dragon meat…”
The elf flinched when he heard Suhyeon mutter.
Earth Dragons were enormous monsters that swam through the ground like fish. Alive, they were terrifying ambush predators—but dead, their flesh was considered a delicacy loved by all.
Gourmets went crazy over Earth Dragon meat. Demand far exceeded supply. Most people couldn’t even tell the difference.
But Suhyeon could.
Hunting Earth Dragons had been one of his pleasures as a soldier. He and his subordinates used to catch and eat them whenever they were bored.
“What, you saying? I… Korean. Not good.”
“Oh, really? This is pork marinated in sauce, isn’t it? You’re selling this for that price?”
“Customer. Don’t cause trouble. You ate well, yes?”
“It was good, but this is false advertising.”
“Don’t use hard words. If you bully elf, I report.”
Non-humans working in cities were strongly protected by law as long as they had permits. Some people had received hundreds of years in prison for trying to exploit them.
“Who’s bullying my friend?”
“…What? You even have backup? Wow. One of you scams people, the other threatens them. Nice teamwork.”
The newcomer wasn’t an elf, but a human.
Wearing metal gauntlets and approaching with a hostile expression, the man cracked his knuckles as he confronted Suhyeon.
“Hey. If you enjoyed the food, say ‘thanks for the meal’ and get lost. Don’t nitpick.”
“Ah, you bastards. I was going to let it slide since it tasted good, but now you’re asking for it. Want to make this bigger? How about we call a public official and have them check whether that meat is really Earth Dragon leftovers—or just marinated pork?”
Both of them flinched.
The man hesitated briefly, then threw a punch.
“Let’s see if you still feel like that after getting hit!”
“Don’t. You’ll get hurt.”
“Clench your teeth!”
Suhyeon leaned his head back, narrowly dodging the wide punch. He reversed his grip on the skewer he’d been eating.
Then he brought it down like lightning.
Crack!
“AAAAAGH!”
The thin wooden skewer pierced straight through the metal gauntlet.
Naturally, the man’s hand inside wasn’t spared either. He rolled on the ground in agony.
“My hand! My hand!”
“Stop exaggerating. I used telekinesis—your bones and flesh aren’t damaged.”
Though it was a flimsy wooden skewer, this hadn’t been a normal strike. Suhyeon had infused it with his psychic power.
Psychic abilities.
When humanity discovered that the non-human races of planet Cameron were different from humans, they wondered how. What they found was psychic power.
The conditions for awakening and the abilities themselves varied wildly, but once awakened, anyone could use psychic power. At first, it was thought to occur only among non-humans, but decades later, humans living on the planet began to awaken as well.
Now, the prevailing theory was that it was caused by the environment of planet Cameron itself.
And Suhyeon was a psychic as well.
A telekinetic.
He could barely move a small stone, making it not very practical—but he had learned to apply it creatively.
One such method was briefly coating fragile objects, like skewers, with a telekinetic barrier—making the tip blunt, the body solid.
That’s why, despite being pierced through the gauntlet, the man’s hand wasn’t actually injured.
“But it hurts this much…”
“I said I went easy. And do you really think you’re in a position to ask me that? You just swung at me like you were trying to kill me.”
“Ah—ahaha… well, that is…”
