Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 130

The clock at the Ministry of National Defense was a strange thing. When you waited for time to pass, it seemed to mock you, moving the second hand slowly. But when you forgot about time, it would pass so quickly that you’d be surprised at how much had gone by.

Kang Jin-ho became a sergeant.

It felt like it hadn’t been long since he became a private first class, but he was already a sergeant. Time sure flew by, he thought.

However, even after becoming a sergeant, Kang Jin-ho’s life didn’t change much. Rather, it was the others who changed.

“Jang Jae-hwan.”

“Private First Class Jang Jae-hwan!”

“The laundry isn’t done properly.”

“I-I’m drying it now.”

“Wasn’t that laundry supposed to be done yesterday? Why is it drying today?”

“I’ll fix it.”

“I’m just asking why something that should have been done yesterday is being done today.”

“That’s…”

“Do you not understand what I’m saying?”

“I’m sorry!”

Jang Jae-hwan started sweating profusely. Unable to watch any longer, Seong Tae-ho tried to stop Kang Jin-ho.

“Aigo, Jin-ho.”

“Sergeant Kang Jin-ho.”

“Stop picking on the guys. They’ll desert.”

“I was just asking a question?” Seong Tae-ho sighed deeply.

He knew that Kang Jin-ho didn’t have any ill intentions. Kang Jin-ho, as he had seen him, was someone who had no interest in bullying his juniors.

Kang Jin-ho didn’t even pay attention to his seniors, so why would he bother his juniors?

But from the juniors’ perspective, it was different.

“Hey, Jang Jae-hwan.”

“Private First Class Jang Jae-hwan.”

“I’ve told you so many times, just be honest about the reason.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Kkyoo-oong.”

It wasn’t just Jang Jae-hwan’s fault.

Seong Tae-ho had learned from Kang Jin-ho that the scariest thing in the world was, ‘I can do this, so why can’t you?’

Imagine if the division commander did a full gear march. The subordinates would naturally have to do it too.

Even if the division commander said that they could take it easy because they were weak, who would actually take it easy?

“That…” ‘He’s like a department head who never leaves work.’

At least a department head at a company doesn’t do much work even if they don’t leave. Kang Jin-ho, even as a sergeant, was living a life not much different from when he was a private.

He was at a rank where he could have the others do things, but Kang Jin-ho would always do his own work. On top of that, he was also taking care of the squad’s work, so the subordinates were always on edge, even if Kang Jin-ho didn’t tell them to do anything.

“Kkeueung.”

“Private First Class Jang Jae-hwan, are you alright?”

“…Do I look alright?”

“You might get alopecia areata [hair loss] at this rate.”

“Kkeueung.”

If he had long hair, it might be different, but it would be ridiculous to get alopecia areata with such short hair.

“What is Sergeant Kang Jin-ho doing?”

“He went to do laundry, saying he was doing personal maintenance.”

“He already did the laundry?”

“…It seems he wasn’t satisfied with it.”

“Kkeueueung.”

Jang Jae-hwan sighed deeply.

He thought the scariest thing in the military was a senior who treated his juniors like toys, but that wasn’t it.

The scariest thing in the world was a senior who was like something out of a fairy tale. Someone who respected his juniors, never bullied them, and treated them well, but was an FM [Field Manual] soldier.

Then he would say,

‘Is this difficult?’

If Jang Jae-hwan’s patience wasn’t deep, he would have shouted, ‘Of course it’s difficult, isn’t it!’ at some point.

“If everyone was like him, why would the world be like this?”

He understood why they said fish can’t live in water that’s too clean.

“They said they’re doing equipment inspection soon.”

“Kkeueueung.”

Jang Jae-hwan covered his face.

This was too much.

He had cleaned his gun to death for the gun maintenance inspection, but Kang Jin-ho didn’t even look at it properly and told him to do it again. So when he protested, Kang Jin-ho silently showed him his own gun.

“…I thought it was new.”

“You’ve never seen a gun shine like that before, have you?”

“Isn’t making a gun like that a waste of combat power? It’s going to be rolling around in the field if a war breaks out anyway.”

“But even in the field, Sergeant Kang Jin-ho’s gun would probably be sparkling, wouldn’t it?”

Hearing that, he thought it was true. And that was even more chilling.

“Still, Sergeant Kang Jin-ho gives us food, doesn’t he?”

“Isn’t it like, ‘Eat a lot and work hard’?”

“…It does feel a bit like that.”

Kang Jin-ho’s notoriety was already well-known throughout the entire battery.

‘He’s been like that since he was a private.’

Jeon Hyeok-soo, who had been discharged recently, was someone who enjoyed bullying his juniors. He didn’t commit assault or abuse, but he always played mean pranks.

But even Jeon Hyeok-soo never messed with Sergeant Kang Jin-ho.

“It’s easier to just pretend he doesn’t exist.”

It was a famous saying, but it was sad that while the seniors could do that, the juniors couldn’t.

That’s why none of the sergeants in the battery dared to challenge Sergeant Kang Jin-ho.

“Still, isn’t he amazing?”

“What?”

“He’s good at everything he does. Before we came, he was the top commando in the commando training, and he also got first place in the combat power measurement and got a vacation pass, and he got first place in the first aid dispatch and got a vacation pass…”

“He’s a vacation machine.”

And those vacation passes went straight to them. Sergeant Kang Jin-ho said it was difficult for him to use all his vacation time, so he gave the vacation passes to his squad members as soon as he got them.

“…If he was a bad person, I’d at least try to rebel.”

It was also Kang Jin-ho who eliminated all the unfair practices that had been passed down in the squad as soon as Jeon Hyeok-soo was discharged. Seong Tae-ho also agreed with Kang Jin-ho’s opinion, so the 3rd squad, which was the most notorious in Charlie Battery, quickly became the most democratic squad in the battery.

“What’s the point?”

‘Do your own work’ was more terrifying than he had imagined. He had also learned the valuable lesson that simply making soldiers follow the FM could cause more stress than abuse.

The military staff must all be crazy. Or maybe they made the rules knowing that they themselves could never follow the FM.

“Still, I heard from my buddy in the next squad that they flipped over his locker because it wasn’t organized, so compared to that, our Sergeant Kang Jin-ho is a real angel.”

“Yeah. He never touches the lockers, he just tells us to organize them again.”

“And after we organize them, again! And again! And again!”

“Please calm down.”

“I’m really going to die at this rate.”

No one knew that those words would become a reality.

“Jang Jae-hwan.”

“Private First Class Jang Jae-hwan!”

“Are you not paying attention?”

“I’m sorry.”

Jang Jae-hwan shook his head.

‘Is it a cold?’

He had been feeling a bit dizzy since the morning. He had ignored Kang Jin-ho’s advice to shower and sleep, so his body felt heavy from the morning.

“You know we’re doing gunnery drill today, right?”

“Yes. I know.”

“Keep your head straight.”

“Yes.”

Jang Jae-hwan sighed. Why did it have to be gunnery drill on a day like today?

Gunnery drill is the process of unfolding the gun and positioning it to fire. It sounds simple, but it’s hard labor that involves lifting, turning, and pushing a 7-ton gun, fixing it with a hammer, and jacking it up. They even measure the time it takes. Even the most physically fit person would be exhausted after just one gunnery drill.

‘Should I say something?’

It was an option to say he wasn’t feeling well and skip the training, but it wasn’t just internal work, and it wouldn’t look good to skip gunnery drill because he was sick.

If one person was missing, the other squad members would have to work harder.

Jang Jae-hwan shook his head and stuck to the gun. Jang Jae-hwan, who had connected the gun on the gun platform to a 5-ton truck, looked at the gun from a distance.

“It’s so damn heavy.”

Usually, he felt like his back was breaking after lifting the gun once, but today it felt twice as heavy. Even though only the legs were lifted while the two wheels were on the ground, it was impossible to lift a gun weighing as much as seven cars with human hands.

‘Just get through today.’

Tomorrow was the weekend, so he could rest.

No, even if it was just this evening, if he said he was sick, Kang Jin-ho would probably tell him to lie down right away. So he just had to get through today’s work.

Jang Jae-hwan made that resolution and followed the truck ahead of him to the parade ground.

“Do you know we have a battery combat power measurement?”

“Yes, I know.”

“What happens if you’re late there?”

“It won’t happen.”

The battery commander frowned and said,

“If you lose to Alpha or Bravo, you’ll die with the battery commander. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Yes!”

“We can’t lose to those bastards, it’s embarrassing. Honestly, you guys know they’re weak, and the battery commander knows it too. But if we happen to lose, we’ll be made fun of until next year’s combat power measurement. Do you want that to happen?”

“No, sir.”

“Good. So train hard! And rest hard! Instead of working hard today, the battery commander will tell the duty officers not to make you do anything on the weekend. Got it?”

“Yes, sir!”

When a strong answer came back, the battery commander smiled as if he was satisfied.

“Okay, get ready.”

Everyone found their positions.

Gunnery drill was a training they did every two weeks, but it was always nerve-wracking. Even when they heard about accidents, there were occasional deaths from mistakes during gunnery drill. Even if it was rare, there was no guarantee that the rare thing wouldn’t happen to him.

“Run!”

When the battery commander gave the direction, the squad members started running towards the gun. They lifted the gun that had been separated from the vehicle, turned it, and positioned it.

‘I need to focus…’

‘I need to concentrate, but I keep feeling like I’m losing my mind.’ He lifted the gun and spread his legs left and right. While the seniors were holding it, he was moving the gun’s claws, which weighed nearly 100kg, when suddenly his head spun.

“Ah…”

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, it’s nothing!”

As he hurried to move his feet, a problem occurred.

In his haste, he hadn’t noticed the sunken part of the parade ground.

His body suddenly sank, and he lost his balance.

Jang Jae-hwan, whose leg was twisted, fell forward. At the same time, the junior who was stepping back while holding the claws also fell to the ground.

“Aaaah!”

Jang Jae-hwan screamed as he fell forward. He couldn’t help it, because he could clearly see the sight of the sharp, 100kg metal falling to the ground and towards the chest of the junior who had fallen with him. If it hit him directly, it wouldn’t just end with a chest bone fracture.

“Ah, no!”