Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 120

Establishing (2)

What is a soldier?

There could be many answers, but the simplest definition of a soldier would be ‘a person belonging to the military.’

Typical soldiers fight against other countries for the safety of their nation, and sometimes invade other countries for the benefit of their own. Therefore, most soldiers are united by patriotism and a spirit of sacrifice for their country.

Even if they are not, typical soldiers in most countries are usually experts in combat, and they are aware that they can be mobilized for combat.

However, the situation is slightly different in South Korea.

The South Korean military, which is based on conscription, is often seen as a rite of passage that every Korean man must go through at least once. [Conscription is mandatory military service]. On the other hand, there is almost no awareness of being a combat soldier dedicated to the nation.

In a typical military, an excellent soldier is distinguished by how outstanding their combat performance is, how good they are at improvisation, or how well they can handle equipment. However, South Korean soldiers have completely different evaluation criteria.

First and foremost, how well they do manual labor.

“…Jin-ho.”

“Private Kang Jin-ho!”

“You know what a fortification construction is, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Good. You know what our job is, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

“What are we doing?”

“We are building firebreaks.”

“Right. You know what a firebreak is, right?”

“It’s a place where grass and trees are removed around the area where artillery shells are fired to prevent fire from spreading.”

“Right, you know it very well.”

Jo Won-gu nodded slightly.

“But Jin-ho.”

“Private Kang Jin-ho.”

“Building firebreaks is usually called the final boss of fortification construction, a very difficult task.”

“Yes, it is.”

“That’s why we divide the work area by squad.”

“Yes, it is.”

“But…”

Jo Won-gu turned his head and looked at the area they were assigned to.

“…It’s practically a bald mountain.”

The mountain, revealing its red soil, seemed to be blushing.

“You heard the supply officer say that we have to finish all this before the end of today’s work, right?”

“Yes, I did.”

“But how can you finish it all in the morning…”

Jo Won-gu couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

‘Why do we need a bulldozer? We have Jin-ho.’

Even if they brought a bulldozer here, it was questionable whether it could clear this place faster than Kang Jin-ho.

“You should have gone to the engineering corps, why did you come to the artillery?” This was a national waste.

As soon as the area to be cleared was determined, Kang Jin-ho picked up a shovel and went to the top of the mountain. Then, he swung the shovel downwards and advanced.

That was the beginning and the end of everything.

“It’s not like a lawn mower…”

Just like a clipper shaves hair, Kang Jin-ho’s shovel mowed down everything in sight.

If it was just a firebreak maintenance job, it would have been understandable. It would just be a matter of pulling out newly grown grass or small saplings. But this wasn’t a firebreak maintenance job; it was creating a new firebreak.

The grass that had grown thickly on the ground was uprooted and scattered everywhere, and the large trees that would have required a group of strong men to pull out were knocked down like rotten logs with just a few kicks.

Like a bulldozer with a broken steering wheel, only knowing how to move forward, Kang Jin-ho moved forward, pulling, tearing, and ripping everything that blocked his path.

At one point, he tried to dig up a large rock, and the people around him had to rush to stop him. Only after hearing a heartfelt explanation that rocks don’t catch fire did Kang Jin-ho, who only knew how to move forward, miraculously go around the rock.

And that was it.

The work that would have taken ten people half a day to complete, or maybe not even finish, was done in just one hour.

The only thing the other squad members, except for Kang Jin-ho, did was move the trees that Kang Jin-ho had pulled out or gather the scattered grass to one side.

“…If you work like this, we’ll have more work to do. There’s no need to go at top speed, so let’s take it slow and easy. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

Jo Won-gu sighed.

He never thought that he would live to see the day when he would ask a private to please slow down his work.

“I need to get discharged soon.”

He felt like he needed to get discharged soon to avoid seeing this kind of absurdity.

The second aspect of a South Korean soldier’s attitude: How quick-witted they are.

“Hey! What did you do with the laundry I told you to do?”

“Uh, that…”

Sung Tae-ho began to fumble around, looking for the laundry. He had clearly pushed it into the corner of the bed, but where had all the laundry gone?

“You bastard, didn’t I tell you I need to wear my Class A uniform tomorrow?”

“I didn’t hear that, sir.”

“I didn’t tell you?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Hey, you bastard. Don’t you know there’s a unit event tomorrow? Didn’t you hear that everyone has to wear their Class A uniform that day? If you haven’t washed it yet, when are you going to dry it and iron it, you bastard!”

“I’m sorry.”

Sung Tae-ho hung his head low.

How could a private remember and do all the things he had to do? But if a senior was angry, there was only one thing he could say.

“Does saying sorry make it okay? You bastard, tomorrow I’m going to…”

At that moment, the door opened, and a large tower of combat uniforms walked in.

“What is this?”

Jeon Hyuk-soo stepped aside to avoid the tower of combat uniforms coming in. The person carrying the combat uniforms placed the neatly folded uniforms on the bed.

“Kang Jin-ho? What is this?”

“These are the Class A uniforms for tomorrow.”

“Huh?”

“All nine squad members’ uniforms are ironed.”

“Ironed? You know how to iron?”

“I used to iron my father’s clothes at home. I washed my own clothes and ironed the ones that needed ironing.”

“Do you know how to make creases?”

“I can iron along the pre-existing creases.”

“…Let’s see.”

Jeon Hyuk-soo unfolded the combat uniform that Kang Jin-ho had folded.

Looking at the sharp creases, he felt a chill. Usually, no matter how much you iron, it doesn’t get this sharp…

“It’s like a blade.”

Jeon Hyuk-soo nodded unconsciously.

The clothes smelled fresh, and it was clear that they had already been washed.

“Hey, you bastard. Who told you to do this?”

“I thought it would be better to do it in advance since I had finished my personal maintenance and had some time left.”

“Hey. Who told you to do things without being asked!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Be careful in the future.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“But you, did you iron all nine of these?”

“Yes, I did. I washed them in the washing machine, dried them, and then ironed them.”

“Nine uniforms, and they’re already dry?”

“I shook them out to dry.”

“Well, the weather is nice…”

Jeon Hyuk-soo tried to find something to criticize, but he had no choice but to shut his mouth at the perfectly finished work.

“Oh, who ironed this?”

Jo Won-gu said with a delighted expression when he saw the sharp creases on the uniform.

“The newbie ironed them.”

“The newbie?”

“Yes. The newbie ironed all nine of them by himself.”

“…Is that so?”

Jo Won-gu nodded with a somewhat lukewarm expression.

If someone else had done it, he would have wanted to praise them, but now, no matter what Kang Jin-ho did, he just accepted it.

“Did you iron mine too?”

“Yes, I did.”

“O-okay, thank you. Do you want some frozen food?”

“It’s okay.”

“…”

…Or how much sense they have is what determines a true soldier.

The funny thing is that being good at combat in a front-line unit is not something that is evaluated at all in a soldier’s life.

The biggest reason is that while soldiers in other countries exist to fight in combat, South Korean soldiers have already come to exist for the purpose of maintaining the military.

The barracks and training grounds, filled with old buildings and mountains, require constant maintenance. Unlike soldiers in other countries who are busy honing their combat skills, South Korean soldiers do a lot of work to maintain the military organization.

Moreover, since the military is also a place where people live, a junior who makes life easier is bound to be more favored. A man in his twenties who has never washed his own socks before has to take care of not only his own work but also the work of his seniors, so there was bound to be trouble.

In the midst of all that…”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

“…”

Jo Won-gu now lowered his head with a resigned expression.

“Should I drive one more in?”

“…Yeah.”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Jo Won-gu shuddered as he watched Kang Jin-ho drive a 45cm iron stake into the ground with five hammer blows.

A person should have a conscience.

A person should be able to distinguish between what is physically possible and what is not.

But driving that long iron stake all the way into the ground with just five hammer blows was too much.

“Hey! What’s going on!”

The sound of hammering iron stakes was so common in the artillery unit. So, you could hear the sound of hammering quite often, whether you were walking down the road or eating a meal.

But the supply officer, who had been in the artillery for over 10 years, was running over in surprise, wondering what was going on after hearing the sound of hammering.

Behind the supply officer, surprised soldiers were rushing down to the artillery position.

‘It’s a spectacle.’

Jo Won-gu smiled helplessly at the sight.

Anyone would think that a suspicious person had appeared in front of the artillery unit. Even though there was no emergency, these soldiers, who lived buried in their chores, were running like they were chasing a soccer ball on the field.

Jo Won-gu explained the situation to the supply officer, who had a questioning look on his face.

“I was just doing some hammering, sir.”

“Hammering?”

The supply officer looked at the iron stake that Kang Jin-ho had driven in and then looked at Kang Jin-ho with a bewildered expression.

“That was the sound of hammering?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hey, you crazy bastard! I’ve been listening to the sound of hammering for ten years!”

“Would you like to see?”

When Jo Won-gu gestured, Kang Jin-ho nodded and started hammering the iron stake into the ground.

Clang!

“Ugh! Stop! Stop!”

The supply officer screamed in terror after just one hammer blow.

“Hey, you crazy bastard! If you hit the hammer like that, the hammer handle won’t last! It’ll break! What about the iron stake breaking?”

“…But I can’t hit it softly, can I?”

“Don’t let that bastard touch a hammer!” Jo Won-gu hung his head low.

Carrying cannons, lifting jacks, hammering, and using pickaxes were the four horsemen of the artillery. But if they were told not to do one of them, what were they supposed to do?

“I’ll tell him to hit it softly.”

“What kind of guy is this?”

The two of them sighed deeply as they looked at Kang Jin-ho, who was looking at them with a puzzled expression.