Chapter 4 Part 34

While Jeong Tae-ui was lost in the sound of the water, his colleagues gathered fallen branches and built a bonfire in the middle of the clearing. The six or seven men, who had made a circle around the fire and decided the order of night watch, were tired all day and could have slept, but they did not fall asleep easily and kept chatting amongst themselves.

The group beyond the tree roots was no different. It didn’t seem like they were chatting cozily, but they, too, with a bonfire in the middle, appeared to have settled into their respective spots.

Although there was a cautious feeling that a fight might break out in the middle of the night, or that some sinister act might occur under the cover of darkness, neither side seemed intent on starting the spark of trouble first. Even if there was a hateful and tiresome group right next to them, their own exhaustion and fatigue came first.

In fact, Jeong Tae-ui thought, “What’s the point of a night watch anyway?” but knowing it would be useless to say anything, he didn’t bring it up at all. If he did, he would undoubtedly hear, “Can’t you see those menacing enemies right next to us, with their eyes wide open, constantly looking for an opportunity?” It would be better to just avoid being scolded and take breaks when it was his turn for night watch.

Suddenly, Jeong Tae-ui felt a gaze and looked up. His uncle was sitting atop a rock in the shaded spot where Jeong Tae-ui had settled. Sitting on the rock, which looked uncomfortable to climb due to its uneven surface, his uncle slowly surveyed their surroundings, then gave Jeong Tae-ui a final glance.

“Isn’t it uncomfortable sitting there?”

“First and foremost, as the leader, I must sit where everyone can see me.”

His uncle said, laughing half-jokingly, half-seriously. A few steps away, his aide, attached to his uncle, was also standing guard. Jeong Tae-ui let out a small laugh and got into his sleeping bag. His turn for night watch was the third.

Thinking he would vaguely wake up around one or two in the morning, stay awake for about an hour, and then vaguely fall asleep again, Jeong Tae-ui closed his eyes with a quiet sigh. Even with his eyes closed, he didn’t fall asleep immediately, so he either listened to or let the faint sound of water and the low murmurs of his colleagues drift past his ears.

“Where might the other teams be? Which teams might they have met?”

The languid voice was Carlo Sagisawa’s. Perhaps he had spoken to his uncle, who, from the rock, muttered “Well,” and then chuckled.

“They’re probably all similar. What place could have given them a worse opponent than us?”

When his uncle made a deliberate joke, quiet laughter rippled through the area. Perhaps because it was a tiring night, everyone’s laughter was somewhat subdued. Jeong Tae-ui, too, let out a small laugh as sleep gradually approached him.

“I saw recently that Instructor Grimson’s team was quite active. It seems their sparring results have been pretty good all week.”

Someone else asked. His uncle replied, “This week’s results were like that. But you never know, there’s still one more week left.” Jeong Tae-ui tilted his head, his eyes still closed. Results, huh. It seems they are scoring which team performs better during the joint training. Now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered hearing something like that.

“Last time, the joint training prize was a week’s vacation for the whole team, right? What will they give us this time?”

“The prize before that was a team bonus of 30,000 dollars. They’ll probably match that level.”

“I’d prefer a vacation over money. Right now, I just want to quit everything, stretch out, and rest for exactly three days.”

“But you only get that if you have the best results; they don’t just give it to anyone. … Ugh, let’s work hard next week.”

Everyone spoke in voices that weren’t too loud. Jeong Tae-ui nodded, thinking, “Yeah, I’d prefer a vacation over money too.” Judging by the context of the conversation, it seemed they would be evaluated after the joint training, and the best team would receive a reward.

“I don’t aspire to the first place, but I do hope we achieve better results than at least Instructor Grimson’s team.”

When his uncle pretended to let out a deep sigh and muttered, a short burst of laughter erupted.

“Indeed, Instructor Grimson has also seemed somewhat tense lately… Is it perhaps close to the instructor promotion evaluation date?”

Carlo Sagisawa said with a laugh, as if making a joke. His uncle also laughed and replied, “When you say it, it doesn’t sound like a joke.”

Promotion, huh. Now that he thought about it, he’d forgotten, but the half-year period was ultimately about that.

How was it going? His uncle’s superior was Rudolf Gentil. It meant he had to push that person for the Director-General position, so was it going well?

But when he thought about it, Jeong Tae-ui couldn’t understand why he had specifically been dragged into this place. Even if he was supposed to be the lucky one to survive until the end, having arrived and seen it, the atmosphere didn’t seem so harsh that everyone would die. Rather, it seemed more like only an unlucky few got caught in accidents and died… Uncle, he didn’t have that many people around him.

But on second thought, the person his uncle initially wanted to bring was his brother. If his lucky brother had been with him, that luck might have helped his uncle too. Then, he had been called in, a chicken instead of a pheasant.

…

What did it matter? He would simply wait for time to pass amidst the flow of events. If his uncle asked for help with something, he would help; if he didn’t say anything, whether he became helpful or the opposite without knowing it, he could only take care of the tasks laid before him.

Jeong Tae-ui let out a deep breath. The smell of damp grass and earth mingled and filled his lungs. And a subtle salty scent. This was the smell of the sea. The sound of the sea. The smell of the sea. The smell of grass and earth. The quiet rustle of insects somewhere. The crisp sound of leaves brushing against each other in the breeze. These things evoked a strange longing and a melancholic comfort.

The sound of the wind, momentarily breaking the quiet. The scent of the night, penetrating his nostrils after a lull. These things tensed the right side of his heart and relaxed the left.

A lonely and desolate time, just bearable enough.