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Kang Chan woke up due to his body clock. Fortunately, he had slept deeply enough to feel as if he had only been asleep for a second.
He sat up on the bed. There was still some time before breakfast.
Kang Chan went to the back of the aircraft, took out a bottle of water, and drank it. He then sat back down on the bed.
After some time, the other soldiers began to wake up and sit up as well. Thirty minutes later, Seok Kang-Ho woke up.
“Hnnghh!” Seok Kang-Ho noisily stretched, then came down from the bed and perched next to Kang Chan. “What’s with that look?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your gaze looks a little sharp. Is that how bad you feel about this operation?”
“I’m not sure.” Kang Chan couldn’t fully believe his intuition yet. However, his nerves had been on edge since he had woken up.
While Seok Kang-Ho was drinking bottled water, GĂ©rard came up to them. “It’s time to eat.”
He didn’t say anything else when he saw the look in Kang Chan’s eyes.
Drrrrr. Clank.
GĂ©rard dragged over a rectangular box to the middle of the aircraft. He then locked its wheels and opened both of its sides, revealing a bunch of c-rations inside.
GĂ©rard took three of them and handed two over to Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho. He then sat across from them.
The soldiers also began to take c-rations for themselves.
This wasn’t something that they should refuse.
They ate everything inside the box, drank coffee, then smoked cigarettes.
After eating breakfast and sleeping for about another hour, they reached the United States’ military base in Qatar.
As Gerard had discussed with them before, they really only stopped to refuel. They left as soon as they were done. After some time, they had cup ramen and c-rations one more time.
Kang Chan felt better after eating spicy food.
Kang Chan noticed the look in the members’ eyes and their expressions were changing as time went on. However, it wasn’t something that he should comment on.
Woo Hee-Seung received a satellite phone and put it in his bag. Nothing else happened afterward except for two of the soldiers checking the medical supplies.
The cargo plane landed at the military base in Col du Genévrier military base at 9:16 am Central European Time.
They set their watches according to the timezone, then immediately got on the chinook.
Since they hadn’t been given any additional information before they took off, they assumed they already had all the intel they needed.
Du-du-du-du-du-du.
The chinook’s noises, which continuously buffeted them from all four directions, were loud enough to make their ears ring.
Upon boarding the chinook, GĂ©rard began to look nervous. The area of operation was just an hour away from where they were.
Kang Chan began to hear the men’s breathing becoming heavier.
They weren’t in a tense situation. Rather, they were just about to start the operation.
They were still an hour away from the target location. Considering they were in a mountainous area, their enemies would have to travel for over half a day to get to where they were heading.
Gritting his teeth, Kang Chan stared outside. In the distance, he could see a bleak mountain.
‘What is wrong with me?!’
Kang Chan was so full of hostility that he was starting to annoy himself.
Unable to even talk to Kang Chan, all Seok Kang-Ho and GĂ©rard could do was keep an eye on his mood.
“Whoo.”
This isn’t right.
Kang Chan looked at GĂ©rard. “Give me the map!”
GĂ©rard quickly handed over the map that he had prepared.
"We are currently around this area, right?” Kang Chan asked.
“That’s correct!”
“This location is Alpha, and this one is Beta!”
“I’m aware of that!”
“GĂ©rard! We will rappel down from here, so tell the pilot to stop the helicopter for a moment.”
“Captain! If you do that, it will take you all too much time to reach the best spot to set up an ambush! It can even take you an entire day on foot.”
“I know, but I can’t let us keep going like this!”
Meeting Kang Chan’s gaze, GĂ©rard briefly nodded.
“You are to return to base immediately as soon as we all reach the ground! If things go wrong, then you’re the only one we can trust!” Kang Chan continued.
“Alright!”
GĂ©rard wore a headset and explained the situation to the pilot.
Chk.
“Be prepared to rappel down!” Kang Chan yelled on the walkie-talkie. The soldiers did as instructed.
“Daye! I don’t have a good feeling about this! Go down with Cha Dong-Gyun first and secure the perimeter!” Kang Chan yelled again.
“Alright!”
Du-du-du-du-du-du!
The chinook turned around as it descended.
The trees bent away from the helicopter as if a violent wind was pushing them.
Clank! Clank!
They connected a rope and threw it down to the ground. Two of the soldiers stood near the door and kept an eye out for hostiles.
When Kang Chan pointed to the doorway with his index and middle finger, Seok Kang-Ho and Cha Dong-Gyun immediately descended with the rappel wrapped around their waists.
Upon receiving a signal from Seok Kang-Ho, one of the soldiers nodded at Kang Chan.
“Go go go!”
They descended two at a time.
Du-du-du-du-du-du!
With everyone now on the ground, including the lookouts beside the door, Kang Chan wrapped the rope around his waist.
“GĂ©rard! I’m going!”
“Please be careful!”
Kang Chan dropped down as GĂ©rard gave him a brief salute.
Du-du-du-du-du-du!
The helicopter immediately headed back.
Kang Chan walked toward the area that he had seen earlier. Seok Kang-Ho took up the front, and Cha Dong-Gyun, Gwak Cheol-Ho, and Kang Chan took the middle. Choi Jong-Il covered their rear.
In this situation, spending half of the day to the entire day traveling could be considered crazy, especially when taking their food and stamina into consideration.
After walking for about thirty minutes, they saw a small flatland.
“Stop. Gather round,” Kang Chan ordered. He stood in the middle of the soldiers, who had formed a circle, then unfolded the map in his hands. “This is where we are right now, and this is the location we were supposed to fly to through the Chinook.”
Kang Chan thought they were probably curious about why they got off the helicopter before they could even reach their destination, but nobody asked him any questions.
“Pay close attention. From now on, We will be calling this location Alpha, and we’ll calll this one Beta. In case we find ourselves in an emergency, I’ll yell things like ‘Alpha Rima’ or ‘Alpha Echo.’ If I do that, immediately make your way to Alpha. The same goes for when I yell out Beta,” Kang Chan explained.
The soldiers only nodded in response.
“Forget everything that you have heard about the operation. Considering our current situation, it would be more appropriate to think that we have just fallen into enemy territory. If we’re quick enough, it’ll only take us half a day to reach our target location. However, if we take too long, we won’t be able to predict how our situation will change. After all, this is a four-day expedition, and we just got out of the helicopter early.” Kang Chan looked at his subordinates one by one. “From now on, always be prepared for combat. If you think we’re in a perilous situation, you are free to open fire. However, no one should cover fire. Cha Dong-Gyun.”
“Yes?”
“Deploy two people to the front and two to the back.”
One soldier sniffled, perhaps because of the cooler temperature.
“Alright.” Cha Dong-Gyun gestured at four of their members, assigning them to their positions.
“Our current priority is to reach the original target location.” Kang Chan folded the map and put it back in his bag. Afterward, they began their journey.
With their rifles in hand, Kang Chan and his subordinates walked with their fingers on the trigger.
Kang Chan had felt it before, but they were trained extremely well. The members of his team showed firm postures as they walked up the mountain path.
Since there were sentries at the front, the main group could afford to relax.
To a certain extent, walking calmed down the suffocating nervousness that Kang Chan had felt inside the helicopter.
Yesterday, Kang Chan was just talking about the school festival with Kim Mi-Young over ice cream. Today, he was walking at the border area of France and Switzerland.
The sunlight was blinding, and the air was indescribably fresh. The cold winds reminded him of the onset of winter.
Before them was a mountain so beautiful it looked as if it came out of a painting.
Kang Chan wanted to see this scenery with someone he liked.
The cold feeling of the rifle in his hand and the hostility filling up his eyes seemed to be telling him to focus on the operation.
We can just keep going at this pace.
If they could preoccupy the access road, their chance of winning would increase.
They continued to march in silence.
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The military gear on their backs was approximately twenty kilograms. Considering they ate two to three c-ration meals a day, their baggage was at least bound to gradually become lighter.
However, they had to keep walking until they had to stop.
Flying to their target location could’ve made things easier, but Kang Chan couldn’t keep going while overcoming the uneasiness that he had been feeling since a little while ago.
What would’ve happened if I didn’t have this intuition?
Kang Chan would’ve received a big promotion, or he would’ve died already.
Honestly, Kang Chan thought he was more likely to receive a promotion because he had been confident that he would survive all the battles that he had fought before Sharlan’s trap.
Examining their surroundings, Kang Chan smiled bitterly—issuing a seemingly nonsensical command instead of watching his subordinates die had seemingly become a part of his nature.
Now that he had thought about it, he probably knew the reason commanders couldn’t abandon their team but also weren’t willing to cacel the operation.
When Kang Chan inhaled, his mind cleared up. It was as if the cold air he had breathed in immediately went up to his brain.
“Stop!” Kang Chan quietly ordered.
His subordinates immediately stopped walking.
While sharply observing their surroundings, Kang Chan gestured to each soldier, then pointed them to their position.
Chk.
“Sentries,” Kang Chan called.
Chk.
“Please go ahead.”
Chk.
“Join us quietly and quickly. Don’t lower your guard.”
Chk.
“Alright.”
Kang Chan slowly looked around their surroundings.
They were on their way up to the middle of the mountain and were leaning forward. Since they were surrounded by rocks and trees, they doubted those outside the mountain could detect them.
The two sentries stationed at the back soon regrouped with them.
Where are the sentries up front?
Kang Chan looked at Dayeru, then quickly looked up ahead.