IBAOAWIJM 07

Episode 7

The same ceiling as yesterday, the first thing I saw upon opening my eyes.
I wished it was a dream, but that miracle didn’t happen.

“Eww! Someone help!”
“Ah!”
Screams erupted, seemingly as everyone woke up.

‘Looks like the muscle soreness has truly arrived.’

Well, after that duck walk yesterday, muscle soreness was inevitable…

“Huh?”
In the natural flow of thought, something strange stood out.

‘Why am I fine?’

A body with no sensation of pain whatsoever.
No, my condition was so good it felt refreshing.

“Could it be because of that ‘Physical Training’ thing?”

It seems the statement about increasing muscle recovery and growth efficiency wasn’t a lie.

‘Amazing.’

I wanted to examine every part of my body, but there’s no room for such luxury in a training unit.

*-All cadets, assemble in the small parade ground in full uniform within 10 minutes. That is all. End of transmission.*
A devilish time attack.
Upon hearing that, my roommates and I first got out of bed.

“How are we supposed to do it in 10 minutes!”
“Ugh! My legs.”
Groans could be heard from everywhere.
Still, they seemed to have come to their senses as they all got out of bed and started putting on their clothes piece by piece.
The problem was…

“Hey, hey, aren’t you going to make your beds?”

For a moment, I wondered if I was the weird one, since no one seemed interested in their beds.
Just as I was about to say something,
My roommates instead looked at me with strange eyes.

“Palan hyung, we don’t have time. What are you doing?”
“Already 2 minutes have passed.”
Derek and Ion urged me as I was making my bed.

‘You guys, you have to make the bed!’

This is the military.
The place obsessed with beds.
Though maybe this world’s military is different…

‘No, it can’t be.’

As proof, I distinctly remember the perfectly made beds when I first arrived here yesterday.

“He said they check room cleanliness.”
“What’s the connection between a bed and cleanliness? Leaving it like that doesn’t make it dirty.”
Ion wore an expression of incomprehension.

‘Sigh, I don’t think I can convince them.’

I usually try my best, but…
This is something they just have to experience to learn.

‘First, let me survive.’

The probability of it being a problem today is low, but I still made my bed as neatly as possible and stood in front of my locker.

“Aren’t you being a bit too relaxed?”
“As long as we’re not late, it’s fine, right? By the way, you didn’t button one at the top.”
“Ah, thanks.”
After a brief exchange with Ion, I changed into my combat uniform.

‘I felt it yesterday too, but the combat uniform isn’t half bad.’

A soft yet sturdy lining and a clean design in deep black.
I don’t know about its camouflage ability, but at least the feel when wearing it is dozens of times better than Korean combat uniforms.

‘About 3 minutes left, I guess.’

All preparations ended 1 minute faster than expected.

“Let’s go, hyungs.”
“Ugh, I should have exercised a bit too, not as much as you. I’m really dying.”
Derek and Crushel, who finished preparing first, went out, and the rest followed.
Stepping into the hallway, the first thing that caught my eye were the heads of hair sticking out in all directions.
It’s clear most of these people, especially without a maid’s help, wouldn’t know how to manage their hair on their own.
Especially the women.
The state of those with long hair was hard to watch.

“If your foot touches the ground, roll it! Who’s walking!”
“Get out here!!!”
Today too, the instructors outside were frantically rushing us.
They really must have nothing better to do.

‘The scariest thing is that I’m getting used to this kind of assembly now.’

Sighing inwardly, I lined up in four columns.

“2nd Platoon, is everyone out?”
After we lined up and waited a moment, an instructor approached and asked Ion, who was standing at the front.

“Um… I’m not sure.”
Ion thought for a moment and gave a commonsense answer.

‘How would I know that? I thought he’d give the same answer. He’s grown.’

I feel a bit like a parent watching their child grow up.

“2nd Platoon, rightmost column, count off!”
Following the instructor’s words, I looked left and right and saw I was the first in the rightmost column.

“Count off, one!”
It’s just a kind of wave-like counting, nothing particularly difficult.
I lightly started it off.
The problem was, the next number didn’t come.

“Cadet, what are you doing?”
The instructor’s face turned menacing for a moment as he approached Pluto, standing right behind me.

“Yes?”
“Didn’t you hear the order to count off?”
“That’s… what is it?”
Pluto’s innocent question.
I saw the instructor almost spill something before swallowing it back down.

‘Right, ignorance is not a sin.’

If you’ve lived in the upper class, it’s understandable you might not know.

“When the front says ‘one’. The back says ‘two’, ‘three’. You count up to confirm the number of people. Cadet, understood?”
“So… I just need to say ‘two’?”
“Correct.”
“Understood!”
Pluto nodded and answered.

“Good. Rightmost column, count off!”
“Count off, one!”
“Two!”
“Three!”
.
.
“Eight!”
Those who overheard the instructor’s explanation shouted numbers, picking up on the cue.

“If the last four are all full, add ‘complete’. If not, say how many are missing and do it again.”
“Eight, complete!”
“2nd Platoon… 32 people, all present.”
The instructor who finished the headcount checked a paper and moved to the next platoon.

‘That person… is a saint.’

Honestly, I thought Pluto would at least get punished.
But the instructor swallowed his anger and explained kindly, so he must be in the top 1 percent.

“But Palan, how do you not not know anything? I’ve never heard of ‘count off’ in my life.”
Ion, standing beside me, asked curiously.

“Uh… When I was young, I played a lot with the servants, so I’m a bit familiar with these things.”
I learned it from playing hard.
That’s the only plausible reason I can give.

‘I can’t very well say I’ve come back through 21 months in the military, a tough one at that.’

Even if I said it, no one would believe me.

“If I knew it would be like this, I would have gained some experience first.”
“I only know a tiny bit more. We’re all the same anyway.”
While we were quietly chatting, the headcount finished and the instructor climbed onto the podium.

“Cadets, did you have a good first night in the military?”

No answer came to the instructor’s question.

‘Looks like no one slept well.’

Even at a glance, everyone’s faces looked rotten.
Some were on the verge of tears.
But no angelic instructor who cares about such things exists in this world.

“Since there’s no answer, it seems your minds aren’t fully awake yet. I think it’s good to do what we did yesterday one more time.”

“N…No, sir!”
“Voice is weak!”
“No, sir!!”
“Louder!!!”
“No, sir!!!!!”
An obsession with vocal volume of a serious degree.
My vocal cords started hurting from the morning.

“Now your faces seem a bit alive. As mentioned yesterday, today’s schedule is drill and running training.”
The start of real training.
I could feel the cadets’ expressions darkening in real-time.

“Especially for drill, since I will be conducting it personally, pull yourselves together and apply yourselves. Understood?”

“Understood, sir!!”
“Voice is weak! All down!”
‘Damn.’
After the unpleasant morning experience, we filled our stomachs with bread and headed to the grand parade ground where the entrance ceremony was held.

‘It feels like I’ve been enlisted for a week already. I’m going crazy.’

Clearly, back in the outside world, a week would pass in the blink of an eye, but here, it’s just one second ticking by.

“All, attention!”
After all cadets gathered, the instructor appeared on the podium holding a long stick.

“When ‘attention’ is called, you repeat it. All, attention!”
“Attention!!”
“Voice is weak! Attention!”
“Attention!!!!!!”
“From now on, maintain this volume level until the end of this class. Understood?”
“Understood, sir!!!!!!”
Everyone was shouting as if their throats would tear; it was pitiful to see.
Myself included, of course.

“From now on, the drill I will teach you is very important content you will use until the very moment your military life ends.”
‘What nonsense is he saying.’
I’ve done this in my past life, so I know it’s extremely useless.

‘The most you get out of it is the salute?’

And even that, once you go to your unit, you only do it precisely until you’re a Private First Class; from Corporal on wards, you just make it look vaguely similar and that’s it.

“Simply put, drill is a unified method of behavior used in the military.”
Translated, it means it’s old-fashioned and inefficient.

“From now on, watch the demonstration by a skilled instructor and learn by sight. Instructor, to your position.”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
An instructor in a red cap moved up to the podium like a robot.

“This is the basic posture. Back perfectly straight, gaze always fixed forward.”
The instructor began explaining, pointing at various parts of the instructor’s body with his stick.

“In the ‘attention’ posture, down to spreading the palms completely flat.”
Seeing the instructor treat this suffocating drill like something grand was truly hard to bear.

“Next, the salute posture you’ll use most often. Instructor, salute to the front!”
“Loyalty! Seong!!”
As if intending to burst the eardrums of the person next to him, the instructor shouted with a booming voice.

“Everyone’s voice needs to be at least this loud. Understood?”

“Understood, sir!!!!”
A voice so loud it made my ears ring for a moment.
The instructor nodded as if satisfied and continued the explanation.

“When viewed from the front, the standard salute shows only the side of the hand, with neither the palm nor the back of the hand visible.”
The instructor was quite serious, even pointing to his own palm.

“Next, stating your rank and name isn’t difficult if you just focus. Cadet.”
The instructor raised his stick and pointed at a cadet in the very front row.

“Yes.”
“Making a dazed reply like this with no information means you can’t be considered a soldier. As of now, when a superior calls you, always state your rank and surname-first name. Understood?”
“Understood, sir!!”
“That cadet there.”
The instructor raised his stick and pointed at a cadet in the second row.

‘Please, please do well.’

Perhaps because I prayed so earnestly.
A miraculous rank-and-name statement came from his mouth.

“Lieut… Lieutenant Colonel, Barus!”

‘W…what did he say?’

For a moment, I doubted my ears.
Not even Second Lieutenant, but Lieutenant Colonel.
This might be the most astonishing rank-and-name statement in all of military history.

“Haa, you’ve truly lost your mind. Cadet, step forward. Now.”
“Ye… Yes?”
“Repeat the order!!! Now!”
“Now… Now!!!”
‘Lieutenant Colonel Barus’ scrambled out to the front of the podium.

“Down for push-ups.”
“Down for push-ups!”
Barus placed both hands on the ground and got into push-up position.

“The cadet will maintain that posture until it ends. Understood?”
“U… Understood, sir!”
Barus’s expression, which looked like he was about to cry—visible from our angle though not from the instructor’s—was quite pitiful.

‘Even if you were to talk nonsense, you’d say something similar like ‘Second Lieutenant’, but ‘Lieutenant Colonel’? That’s just not it.’

For reference, the correct answer, since we haven’t been commissioned yet, is ‘Cadet [Name]’.

“Next, about the method of walking…”
Walking, repeating orders, lining up, etc.
Learning and practicing dozens of movements made three hours fly by.
Of course, ‘Lieutenant Colonel Barus’ hyung must have felt time passing very slowly.
He really maintained that face-down-on-the-ground posture until the very moment the class ended.

Swoosh!
Right after finishing drill class and during lunch, a heavy rain suddenly started pouring down.

‘That’s sudden.’

It was clear and sunny just when we entered the mess hall; seems the sky is being fickle.

“We didn’t even bring umbrellas. Do we have to get drenched going back to the barracks? That’s horrible.”

Our noble young master Ion shook his head as if he didn’t want to imagine it.

“Won’t it stop soon? These heavy rains are usually brief.”
“I hope so. After it rains, it gets cooler, so maybe the running will be a bit better?”
I found myself nodding at Ion’s words.

‘Come to think of it, that’s a good point.’

Honestly, I thought today’s weather was a bit hot for running, but with this downpour, the temperature will surely drop.

“By the way, wasn’t ‘Lieutenant Colonel Barus’ earlier hilarious?”
Crushel brought up the dizzying situation from the drill class.

‘Honestly… it was funny.’

Who in the world would think to say ‘Lieutenant Colonel’ there?
If it was intentional, he’s a genius.

“That’s true. But he looked so pitiful. He couldn’t even stand up afterward. He wasn’t hurt, was he?”
Derek, with a tender heart despite his sturdy build, worried about Barus.

“Well, he wasn’t hit, so he probably wasn’t hurt or anything. And he probably rested by putting his knees on the ground in between, so he’ll just have some muscle soreness.”
Realistically, how could someone maintain such an extreme posture for three hours?
I saw him putting his knees on the ground to evade the instructor’s eyes.

“That’s a relief then.”
Since running was scheduled, we ate moderately and returned to the barracks in the heavy rain.

‘We’re completely soaked.’

Thinking it would stop soon, I even ate slowly on purpose, but ‘stop’ my foot.
The intensity of the downpour had actually increased.

‘At this level, I can’t help but start to… expect.’

Expect what? The cancellation of training, of course.