Chapter 191.1: You Want To Go, Don’t You? (2)
Not much happened on Sunday. Kang Chan simply had a cup of tea with Seok Kang-Ho and headed straight home.
The next day, the funeral for Choi Seong-Geon and the soldiers who sacrified their lives in the last operation was held. After discussing it with Kim Hyung-Jung, they decided to hold it after Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook went to work.
“Drive safe,” Kang Chan told his parents.
“You stay safe as well,” Yoo Hye-Sook said.
“We’ll be back,” Kang Dae-Kyung added.
After seeing his parents off, Kang Chan put on a shirt and a suit and left the house.
How nice would it have been if all of us survived?
As soon as he walked out of his apartment building, he found Seok Kang-Ho and Woo Hee-Seung waiting for him.
“I’ll take that car to the funeral,” Kang Chan said.
“We’ll be right behind you,” Woo Hee-Seung replied.
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho got in Seok Kang-Ho’s car.
“Here, have some.” Seok Kang-Ho offered Kang Chan the coffee that he had bought earlier before hitting the road.
“Our lives here are definitely different than the ones we had in France,” Seok Kang-Ho commented.
“You’re right, but wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that back then, we never met anyone we could grow attached to? We didn’t get along with anyone—not even our commanders.”
“You’re not wrong.”
Still drinking coffee, they merged into the highway.
“Are you done preparing to leave for France?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
“What’s there for me to prepare? I plan to go there with only the clothes on my back and return as soon as I can anyway.”
“Phuhuhu.”
Seok Kang-Ho began to drive faster.
“Don’t strain yourself to go on operations while I’m away,” Kang Chan said.
Seok Kang-Ho glanced at Kang Chan.
“I know you well enough to know that you probably won’t back out of operations, but being a commander is different. I’m trusting you with the men because you’ve changed. Otherwise, I would have done everything I could to stop you from taking care of them as well,” Kang Chan continued.
“Awh, You’re worried about me?”
“You want to get hit?”
Snickering, the two took out cigarettes and put them in their mouths. They then lowered the window and lit their cigarettes up.
“Phew. Only you, Smithen, Gérard, Ambassador Lanok and I know about our reincarnation secret. Ambassador Lanok didn’t fight alongside us in our previous lives, and that bastard Smithen has done nothing but stay on the sidelines. How disheartened do you think I’d feel if I heard that you died while I was in France?” Kang Chan asked.
“Will you only feel disheartened?”
Kang Chan only smirked in response. He then drank the cold coffee.
Would I only feel disheartened?
Even he couldn’t guess what he would do if he heard that Seok Kang-Ho died in an operation while he was in France.
Kang Chan rested his arm on the window and looked outside.
“Are you thinking of working in the intelligence field?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
“Yes. No matter how I look at it, getting out of this won’t be easy because of how messed up the situation has become. If I’m going to end up working in this field, then it’s better to get in front of it and making it work for me rather than falling behind and chasing after it. General Choi and the others probably wouldn’t have been killed if we were stronger. If I decided to work in this field earlier, we probably wouldn’t have lost such good men.” Kang Chan had another sip of his coffee. “We both know that one of us is going to die someday if we keep going on operations. That’s why I plan on making sure everyone knows that if they mess with us, nothing will be able to stop us from killing them.”
Seok Kang-Ho nodded. “I’m going to make the team stronger while waiting for you, so don’t worry and just focus on getting back home safely.”
“You’re the one I’m most uncertain about!”
“Hey! Like you said, I’m not the same Dayeru you knew in the past!”
For some strange reason, Kang Chan snickered and laughed about otherwise unimportant and useless things whenever he was with this fucker.
“I noticed something a while back, Cap,” Seok Kang-Ho said.
“What is it?” Kang Chan turned to look at him and immediately noticed that he was serious.
“Ever since we went on the operation in Mongolia, your capabilities have changed every time we went on an operation. I didn’t think much of it at first, but then I noticed that the skills you showed in the operation in France and when we went to kill Jang Kwang-Taek were completely different. There’s a chance that the Blackhead is behind all that too, so…”
“Are you worried about the Blackhead’s side effects or something?” Kang Chan asked.
Seok Kang-Ho couldn’t answer.
“The change in my skills, your huge appetite, and the speedy recovery of the people I gave a blood transfusion to could all be its side effects. Even so, we can’t really do anything about it, can we? It’s not like we can just go around telling people that we reincarnated during an operation and then ask them to treat us because we are experiencing side effects,” Kang Chan added.
“You’re right.”
The two talked about a couple more topics as they drove. After a while, they finally reached Jeungpyeong.
When they arrived, they found six military police lined up on each side of the barricade at the entrance. The cops briefly inspected their IDs before letting them pass. They had an extra barricade on the mountain path that led to the makeshift city, and in the parking lot, twelve hearses were parked and waiting.
When Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho got out of the car, Kim Hyung-Jung, the adjutant, and Kwak Cheol-Ho came out of the barracks.
Seeing the barracks again reminded Kang Chan of Choi Seong-Geon and their fallen brothers—especially the one who kept running even after he broke his finger.
“Thank you for coming.” The adjutant stood in front of Kang Chan with bloodshot eyes, then continued, “We plan to hold the funeral in front of the barracks that the General usually stayed in.”
The adjutant pursed his lips to hold back his tears.
Jeon Dae-Geuk and Kim Tae-Jin also came out after Kwak Cheol-Ho and Kim Hyung-Jung.
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho silently bowed in greeting.
“I think we can start now that everyone’s here,” the adjutant said.
“What about their families?” Kang Chan asked.
“They arrived earlier. They’re saying their final goodbyes now.”
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho arrived about thirty minutes earlier than they were supposed to.
Starting with Jeon Dae-Geuk, all of them went around the barracks and walked to the yard that was across from Choi Seong-Geon’s office.
Choi Seong-Geon’s portrait was on a platform that was covered in white chrysanthemums, and the fallen soldiers’ lined both sides of Choi Seong-Geon’s portrait.
Kang Chan stopped in front of the portraits of the deceased.
Why are you smiling like that, General? Why do you all look so happy?
How could this man smile so brightly when he ran all night with a broken finger only to die after getting to eat nothing but a C-ration the next morning?
“Phew.” As Kang Chan exhaled softly to control his emotions, Jeon Dae-Geuk approached him and stroked his back.
“Let’s go. We should let them go now,” Jeon Dae-Geuk said.
I wouldn’t have come here if I knew it would feel like this!
Kang Chan never got to say a proper goodbye like this to the chicks whom he had failed to save in Africa, so he didn’t expect that this moment would make him choke up.
Jeon Dae-Geuk and Kang Chan walked to the front.
The soldiers whom Kang Chan didn’t see in front of the barracks were sitting with their families.
When Kang Chan’s party sat down with Jeon Dae-Geuk, the funeral ceremony started.
People saluted, had a moment of silence, recited eulogies, and paid tribute to the memories of the deceased. Through it all, Kang Chan never looked away from the portraits.
When the time came to offer flowers and burn incense, a young woman holding the hand of a child laid white chrysanthemums and soon burst into tears. An old couple then burned some incense, wiping their tears on their wrinkled faces as they did.
“Oh god, you good-for-nothing child!” an elderly woman cried. She grasped tightly onto one of the platforms[1] and stroked the portrait on top of it.
“What about Eun-Mi, honey? Don’t leave us, please!” another woman cried.
Jeon Dae-Geuk and Kang Chan’s turn soon came. As they headed toward the platform, Kwak Cheol-Ho approached them.
“Please give this to the General.” He held out Jang Kwang-Taek’s hat to Kang Chan. He looked as if his tears would fall from his red eyes at any moment, but he managed to endure it through gritted teeth.
“This is the General’s final journey. I don’t know about anything else, but I think it’s only right for you to be the one to give this to the General,” Kwak Cheol-Ho continued. Even though he didn’t blink, a tear rolled down his cheek and fell.
“Kwak Cheol-Ho, you should give that to the General yourself. That’s what he would want,” Kang Chan replied.
Kwak Cheol-Ho stopped breathing to not burst into tears. His lips curved to a deep frown as his face grew redder.
Kang Chan laid the white chrysanthemums on the platform and then burned out some incense.
I’m sorry, General. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you all alive.
Kang Chan gritted his teeth.
I’m going to France to do whatever it takes to become powerful enough to stop anyone from messing with my people again. I never want to have to seek revenge ever again because others hit us first.
After Jeon Dae-Geuk and Kang Chan stepped back, the commander of the guards of honor—who had been standing in a line—solemnly walked over.
“Attention!” the commander yelled.
As commanded, the guards seamlessly got into position.
A trumpet player played the Taps[2].
“Present arms!” the commander yelled.
Clank!
“Fire!”
Ta-ang!
“Fire!”
Ta-ang!
“Fire!”
Ta-ang!
Three volleys were fired for the dead.
Displaying utter discipline with their movements, eight ceremonial guards marched over with Choi Seong-Geon’s coffin. They then slowly lowered it on a platform that was as high as their waists.
The guards’ commander held up a badge version of the South Korean flag and put it near the top of the coffin. He then struck it downward.
Bang!
Swoosh!
The ceremonial guards opened the flag and spread it over the coffin.
This was it.
From this moment forth, all of Choi Seong-Geon, including his memories of living for South Korea and the special forces, would no longer be found anywhere but in military records and the hearts of those who loved him.
Afterward, they did the same for the soldiers’ coffins.
Bang! Swoosh!
Whenever a coffin was brought out, the painful cries of the soldier’s family would echo.
Although these men chose to serve their country, their families wouldn’t have wanted their son, husband, or father to be sacrificed.
1. https://images.app.goo.gl/BArn3Fa4zA8tef6m8 👈
2. Taps is a bugle call, or a short tune sounded at military funerals 👈
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