Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 83

Training (3)

Regardless of what Sergeant Choi was feeling, Kang Jin-ho was going through quite a bit himself.

The order given to Kang Jin-ho, who had just returned to the barracks, was simply to wait.

How much time had passed?

It felt like he had been left alone in the barracks for a long time, but no one came looking for him.

Although time passed without anyone looking for him, Kang Jin-ho remained sitting on his bunk, not relaxing his posture.

From the start, Kang Jin-ho couldn’t understand why he was being treated so specially here, so his boredom only increased.

“Trainee number 100.”

“Trainee number 100, Kang Jin-ho.”

“Come out. You’re being summoned.”

Kang Jin-ho, who had been waiting, headed to the administrative office at the drill instructor’s call. He crossed the parade ground, opened the door to the administrative office, and stepped inside, only to be immediately met with a barrage of curses from the 1st Platoon Leader.

“Hey, you crazy bastard! Are you out of your mind?”

Kang Jin-ho didn’t feel the need to answer.

He didn’t really have anything to say, and he didn’t think the words were meant to be answered anyway.

What caught Kang Jin-ho’s attention wasn’t the 1st Platoon Leader, but the drill instructor who was kneeling on the floor with his head down.

And that drill instructor’s face looked familiar.

He seemed to be the same drill instructor who had been with him at the firing range earlier.

“Are you listening?”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho answered with a blank face, but his mind was elsewhere.

Why was that drill instructor being punished?

“You, you little shit. If you had made a slight mistake, you could have died too. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Who told a trainee to act up? Do you think your parents back home would be happy, saying, ‘Oh, our son did a great job,’ if you died instead? That’s like driving a stake through their hearts, you idiot!”

“I’m sorry.”

Kang Jin-ho lowered his head.

He didn’t completely agree, but he thought there was some truth in what the 1st Platoon Leader was saying. He wouldn’t have died, but if he had been injured, his parents would have been in an uproar.

“What kind of great saint do you think you are, risking your life like that? You should be looking out for yourself, not worrying about others dying.”

The 1st Platoon Leader kept clicking his tongue.

He knew it wasn’t something a soldier should say, but he could sense the worry in his words, so Kang Jin-ho just nodded.

“Get up, you bastard.”

The drill instructor, who had been kneeling with his head down, quickly stood up.

His face was flushed red, probably from having his head down for so long.

“What did you do wrong?”

“I failed to properly control the trainee.”

“If you’re a drill instructor, shouldn’t you be looking after your trainees when an accident happens? Is it okay if only you survive, you bastard?”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s a good thing no accident happened. If the kid had died, you wouldn’t have gotten away with just being sent to the stockade [military prison], you bastard. It was a stroke of luck.”

“Yes.”

The 1st Platoon Leader clicked his tongue, looking displeased at the drill instructor’s bowed head, then turned his gaze to Kang Jin-ho.

“Hey, you. Do you think you acted like some kind of hero?”

“…No, I don’t.”

“In the military, you idiot, the hero is the one who gets discharged healthy. It’s more heroic to get discharged quietly without war than to kill 100 people in battle.”

“Yes.”

“If you do the same thing at your unit, you won’t have enough lives. Don’t think about becoming a hero by dying; you need to survive first, you bastard!”

“Yes.”

The 1st Platoon Leader shook his head, as if he didn’t like Kang Jin-ho’s calm reaction, and then gestured.

“The higher-ups will be investigating later, so just tell them what you know then. Until then, just rest. And you.”

“Yes.”

The drill instructor immediately stood up at the 1st Platoon Leader’s words.

“Take this bastard to the infirmary to see if he’s hurt anywhere.”

“…The infirmary, sir?”

“I know, you bastard. What would that quack know? But we still have to do it for formality’s sake.”

“Yes, I understand.”

As the drill instructor tried to pull Kang Jin-ho’s arm to lead him out, the 1st Platoon Leader spoke quietly.

“Wait a minute.”

“Yes?”

“Hey, Trainee number 100.”

“Trainee number 100, Kang Jin-ho.”

“…Thank you. Thanks to you, the kid survived, and so did my precious hyung [older brother or close male friend].”

Kang Jin-ho simply bowed his head slightly in response to the 1st Platoon Leader’s words.

“Alright, go.”

As the door opened and Kang Jin-ho and the drill instructor went outside, the 1st Platoon Leader opened a drawer and took out a cigarette, putting it in his mouth.

“That was a close call, really.”

It was a problem that an accident had occurred, but it was fortunate that they had handled a situation where someone could have died without any casualties.

As always in the military, just the fact that an accident had happened would lead to them being harassed and having their promotion points deducted, but how could that compare to someone dying in an accident?

Since there were no casualties and the kids were in the back, so no one saw properly, if they coordinated their stories, they might even get an award for handling the accident well.

In reality, they hadn’t done anything, but it was impossible to report things as they were.

‘A trainee who was watching from the next firing range threw himself and managed to throw the grenade out at the last moment, saving us.’

The 1st Platoon Leader chuckled at the thought of the exact wording of the incident.

‘Who would believe that?’

If they were believed, it would be front-page news, but there was no way they would be believed. And unless there were casualties, the higher-ups would try to cover up the accident without exposing it to the media.

It would be good to package it as a heartwarming story, but there were so many accidents related to the military these days, and the defense industry corruption was such a big problem that they were not exposing anything that could be used against them.

In that case, it was better not to involve Kang Jin-ho in this incident. It would only complicate things further.

‘Don’t rationalize it.’

The 1st Platoon Leader shook his head.

To be honest, in that situation, the instructors and drill instructors hadn’t been able to do anything, and he didn’t have the confidence to report that a single trainee had stepped up and resolved the situation.

If it had been a drill instructor instead of a trainee, he could have said that they had been trained well, but how could he say that a trainee had handled it better than the instructors?

“Sigh…”

The 1st Platoon Leader took a deep drag of his cigarette to calm his self-loathing.

He needed to finish this and go see the battalion commander.

“You were really amazing.”

“It was nothing.”

“I was so frozen, I couldn’t do anything. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“I should have been the one protecting you, but I was so out of it that I basically ran away. I shouldn’t have done that. I deserve to be cursed at.”

“It’s nothing.”

Kang Jin-ho just shook his head appropriately.

He couldn’t understand why everyone was making such a fuss. He had just helped because it looked a little dangerous, was it really such a big deal?

In the Central Plains, Kang Jin-ho had blocked the rain of qi [life force or energy] with his own body.

Compared to the danger then, what had just happened was something he could handle with ease. He had even surrounded the grenade with qi because he was worried it might explode.

‘Still, it would have been dangerous if it had exploded.’

It was something he needed to reflect on.

If it had been the old Kang Jin-ho, even if a box of grenades exploded, it wouldn’t have been a threat. But the Kang Jin-ho of this world had not yet regained his former power.

Even if he were to retrace the steps he had taken over decades in the Central Plains, he wouldn’t be able to regain it in just three years.

‘Even so, if I had focused on training, many things would have been different.’

Above all, he would have been able to reach a level where he wouldn’t feel threatened by a grenade.

‘I should take this as an opportunity.’

Now that the existence of another martial artist other than himself had been discovered, he couldn’t just continue to train his body as if he were drifting along. He felt that he needed to actively move to regain his former martial prowess.

To that end, the military might be a good training ground.

Evening.

After a simple physical examination, Kang Jin-ho returned to the barracks and was polishing his dirty boots.

It was nonsense to tell them to keep their boots clean when they were running around in the mud every day, but the military was a place where you did as you were told.

And Kang Jin-ho didn’t have any particular complaints.

Swish, swish, swish.

As Kang Jin-ho was brushing off the dirt and applying shoe polish to his combat boots, trainees holding their boots in their hands came over and sat down around him, one by one, and began to polish their own boots.

“Hey, Kang Jin-ho.”

“Yeah.”

“You were the one who threw the grenade today, right? The one that fell next to us.”

“Yeah.”

“Wow, you’re really crazy. How did you do that?”

“Crazy? He’s amazing, you idiot!”

“I couldn’t do it. He’s really something. I thought he was just S-class physically, but it’s not just his body. How can you charge towards a grenade? You’re amazing, really.”

Most of them shook their heads as if they couldn’t even imagine it.

‘He must be crazy.’

They knew it was a crazy thing to do. Nevertheless, the fact was that Kang Jin-ho seemed amazing.

“I’m going in first.”

Kang Jin-ho, who had finished polishing his boots, headed into the barracks without saying anything else.

“Doesn’t that guy’s heart even flutter?”

“Look at him. He’s so calm about everything. He’s amazing.”

“I shouldn’t mess with him.”

Listening to the voices behind him, Kang Jin-ho let out a low sigh.

‘It looks like I can’t avoid standing out anymore.’

At least in the training camp, he couldn’t avoid standing out any longer.

After roll call, Kang Jin-ho lay down under his blanket and slowly closed his eyes. For him, three hours of sleep a day was enough, but there was nothing to do when everyone else was sleeping. It was better to sleep when everyone else was sleeping.

Then, a low voice came from next to him.

“Hey, Kang Jin-ho.”

Kang Jin-ho opened his eyes again.

Trainee number 99, Joo Young-gi, was looking at him.

“What?”

“…Hey.”

“Speak.”

Joo Young-gi seemed to want to say something, but then closed his mouth. But Kang Jin-ho didn’t urge the hesitant Joo Young-gi. He just quietly looked at him and waited.

After trying to speak several times, Joo Young-gi finally whispered in a small voice.

“Thank you for today.”

“I survived thanks to you. Thank you.”

That was all Joo Young-gi said.

Joo Young-gi, who had just thanked his savior, turned his body the other way and pulled up his blanket.

Kang Jin-ho quietly watched his back and then chuckled softly.

Strangely, Kang Jin-ho seemed to find those who were not normal interesting. Seeing how embarrassed he was made him feel amused.

Just like Park Yu-min.

‘I wonder if Yu-min is doing well?’

Park Yu-min suddenly came to mind.

Park Yu-min was now living his life well, but he couldn’t help but worry if something had happened while he was gone.

‘He’ll take care of himself.’