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Stars showed up in the night sky as the sun went past the horizon. They were so close that they seemed like they would get caught on the tips of the mountains. The sight would remain in one’s memory for a lifetime, but the South Korean special forces team was in a situation far too tense and nervewracking to bask in their beauty.
After eating dinner, they took turns sleeping for two hours each. It was now seven-forty in the evening.
The Spetsnaz could use the cover of the dark to attack them. In the worst-case scenario, they could even come rushing in with the SBS by their side.
Clank! Clank!
Sounds of weapons being checked occasionally rang out in the silence.
The agents had been imitating the behavior that Kang Chan had been showing. Matching his tempo, they would tense up and relax as he did. Currently, however, they were extremely nervous. No one had ordered them to, but they sharply observed their surroundings.
Clank!
“Are we heading down?” Seok Kang-Ho quietly asked Kang Chan after checking his magazine.
“Let’s contact the base with the satellite phone at twenty hundred hours before deciding. The bad feeling I was getting this morning concerns me. There’s something out there. We just don’t know what it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s claymores or men lying in ambush—it’s still dangerous out there,” Kang Chan firmly replied.
Seok Kang-Ho glanced around and then turned back to Kang Chan.
“Captain, is everything alright?” Seok Kang-Ho hesitantly asked.
Kang Chan looked back at Seok Kang-Ho.
“I know how strong you are, but today, you’re different from any other time I’ve seen you—especially the look in your eyes. I don’t know how to describe it, but you seem more on edge and more keen than in the past. It’s like your senses are overloading and you’re running on overdrive.”
Kang Chan tilted his head.
“Like you’ve advanced a step, maybe,” Seok Kang-Ho explained further.
“What does that mean?” Kang Chan asked.
“Well, you’re more refined than you were in the Mongolian operation. You have already surprised everyone during that operation, yet you have still become a completely different person now. Honestly, be it during the Mongolian operation, the live ammo training, and now, you seem to be turning more and more into a monstrous beast every time you lift your gun,” Seok Kang–Ho said.
Kang Chan hadn’t realized. Had he not always been like this in the past?
“The soldiers we fought in Africa are nothing compared to the Spetsnaz. The Spetsnatz are a lot stronger, yet you took them down more easily than back in Africa. Your eyes are also completely different from how they usually are. They’re hard, vicious, and show no sign of loosening up,” Seok Kang-Ho explained.
“Haven’t I always struggled to cool down after a fight?” Kang Chan refuted.
Seok Kang-Ho tilted his head, then shook it twice.
“It’s different now. You’re acting as if you have already lost three or four rookies. Well, as long as you’re okay, it doesn’t matter. I just thought you should know that you are more sensitive than usual,” Seok Kang-Ho informed him.
Kang Chan nodded in understanding. An unnecessarily sensitive commander could quickly tire their soldiers out.
“Whew,” Kang Chan sighed as knelt down one knee and leaned against a rock.
The cold, hard feeling of the rifle hanging by his shoulder once again reminded him of where he was. Every time he exhaled, he could see his breath vanish in the air in front of him.
Kang Chan chuckled faintly. He suddenly missed Kim Mi-Young.
She was still just a little chick who had a long way to go before growing up to be an adult. She had to know that there were a lot better guys than him in college.
She planned to attend the Seoul National University, after all. It was filled and led by men who stood out in their fields like Kim Mi-Young, not men who had the most kills on the battlefield. What kind of person would Kang Chan be in such a place?
But none of that mattered. He just wanted to see her right now. Her signature laugh, her adoring eyes at him
 he felt as if the vicious look in his eyes would relax once he saw her.
Kang Chan looked up at the stars in the sky. As he did, someone spoke to him.
“It’s twenty hundred hours,” Woo Hee-Seung said as he approached, bringing over the satellite phone.
They could certainly call the base first, but they had to do it far from the location where they had unexpectedly ran into the Spetsnaz. It would otherwise be dangerous to let the base know of the situation.
The same went for the call at twenty hundred hours. Kang Chan would wait, but if GĂ©rard didn’t call, it would be far wiser for them to head straight to Switzerland before contacting Korea. Although they still had more than enough ammo left, they only had two days' worth of c-rations left.
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Beep.
The satellite phone turned on as soon as Kang Chan pressed a button. A shooting star fell slowly into the horizon, seemingly displeased by the artificial light that the phone was emitting.
Two minutes passed by. The soldiers were pretending to be unaffected, but in truth, they were all sharply tuned in to the phone.
‘Are they telling us to break through to Switzerland first?’
As Kang Chan recalled the directions on the map for that plan, the phone rang awake.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Kang Chan answered the call, causing the phone to let out a mechanical sound as he lifted it to his ear.
-This is the base.
“This is the God of Blackfield,” Kang Chan answered.
-The visitors from this morning have all left. The gentlemen are on standby at the Lima, Alpha, and Delta points. You have the discretion on how to proceed.
“What about the zoo?”
-Deers and bears.
Deers meant two, and bears meant seven. There were twenty-seven enemies lying in wait.
“What are our chances?” Kang Chan asked.
-Half and half. However, it has been confirmed that the visitors from this morning have all left. Napoleon has also been mobilized today.
“Repeat what you just said,” Kang Chan said in surprise.
-Napoleon has been mobilized today.
Kang Chan looked up at the sky in thought. That phrase was code that an emergency decree had been ordered on the entire Foreign Legion. Kang Chan was now finally starting to see the outline of the puzzle.
Lanok had taken a firm stance, and Vasili had stepped back.
“Base,” Kang Chan began.
-Yes.
“I will take care of the gentlemen,” Kang Chan said determinedly.
-May luck be on your side.
Seok Kang-Ho, Choi Jong-Il, Cha Dong-Gyun, and the others looked stiffly at Kang Chan, who let out a low sigh. Kang Chan had no other choice but to put his faith in that punk GĂ©rard more so since he had now heard that Lanok had ordered an emergency decree to all of the Foreign Legion.
Kang Chan raised his hand to his helmet.
Crackle.
“This is the God of Blackfield,” Kang Chan said.
His surroundings seemed to turn a little quieter when he spoke into the radio.
“We have received information that the Spetsnatz has left,” Kang Chan declared.
The emotions on Cha Dong-Gyun and Kwak Cheol-Ho’s faces changed to relief and curiosity.
“We’ve received other information as well,” Kang Chan continued.
The soldiers' gazes were all focused on the smoke-like tendrils of air that left Kang Chan’s mouth.
“There are twenty-seven SBS members at point Alpha. We can take care of them or head back,” Kang Chan informed them.
Seok Kang-Ho grinned widely at Kang Chan, knowing what he already planned to do.
“It will take about four hours to reach point Alpha from here. We will move under nightfall. Upon arrival, we will wait right before daybreak before proceeding with the operation,” Kang Chan announced.
The soldiers all glanced at each other upon hearing Kang Chan’s plan.
“They far outnumber us, and they are on an entirely different level. However, you have all shown great performance, and I believe in all of you. The mission of this operation is to eliminate all the SBS members and return home safely together. To that end, we will divide into four teams and rush in at once,” Kang Chan stated firmly.
Cha Dong-Gyun twisted his expression in an attempt to hold back his tears.
Crackle.
“Get some food in you and rest at your positions until twenty-three hundred hours. Remember to always stay sharp. You will find a hole in your head the moment you let your guard down, and your comrade will drop dead the second you look away, so keep our live ammo training in mind, and don’t lose sight of the South Korean special forces that I remember. Succeeding in this operation will make the world acknowledge the South Korean special forces as a team equal to the Spetsnaz and the SBS,” Kang Chan declared.
Seok Kang-Ho looked at Kang Chan in surprise. In Africa, or in any other operation after that, Kang Chan had never spoken in this way to the soldiers.
“I want all of us to shout it at the same time, but I don’t want to reveal our location to the enemies,” Kang Chan said with a smile. The sound of Kang Chan chuckling a little could clearly be heard at the end of his words.
Crackle.
“Instead, please state our motto for us, Cha Dong-Gyun. Cha Dong-Gyun! Begin,” Kang Chan commanded.
A moment later, all the soldiers connected to their frequency heard Cha Dong-Gyun’s teary voice.
Crackle.
“If I can protect my country with my blood
!”
The South Korean special forces no longer felt sorrow.
Just a few days ago, they could not even dream of going up against the Spetsnaz and the SBS because South Korea lacked immense national power. However, at that moment, they were about to begin an operation that could lead to the total elimination of their opponents’ soldiers.
As proven by Cha Dong-Gyun’s tearful voice, the sorrow and regret that their superiors had been passing down from generation to generation were finally being cut off and healed.
Crackle.
“... I am happy!”
“Phuhuhu,” Seok Kang-Ho laughed in disbelief, his voice traveling into the night sky before fading away.