Chapter 264: Looking For a Weakness (1)
Kang Chan woke up with the sunlight piercing his eyes.
His entire body was throbbing, and his eyes stung. The moment he tried to sit up, indescribable pain washed over him.
‘Argh!’
He could barely even hold onto the side of the bed. Every time he moved his arms, it felt as if he was ripping the bones out of both his shoulders.
“Haaa!”
Kang Chan let out a low sigh, then forced himself out of bed. Being shot again would probably hurt less than how he was feeling right now. A sharp pain coursed through him as he moved, his body seemingly protesting and begging for him to stay in bed.
You want me to take the day off? Too bad, then. You’re unlucky to have an owner like me.’
Kang Chan left the bedroom.
It was already an hour past noon, but the soldiers were still fast asleep, sprawled out on the couches and the floor of the barracks’ air-conditioned living room. Kang Chan considered making himself a cup of coffee but just headed for the exit instead, not wanting to wake his men.
A wave of heat rushed at him when he opened the door.
He had to walk and stretch his muscles. Otherwise, he would have trouble going around later on.
After walking across the clearing in front of the benches, Kang Chan raised his arms to his eyes. Clenching his teeth, he fought through the pain coming from his shoulders as he brushed off the hardened dirt and blood from last night around his eyes. They clicked against the ground as they fell.
Feeling a bit better after about ten minutes of walking, he started to twist his arms behind him. If he stopped now, he would never be able to move properly until he was fully healed.
“Argh!”
As he bent over and interlocked his arms behind his back, the doors of their barracks burst open. Seok Kang-Ho, who was now towering over Kang Chan, stuck out his head.
“Want some coffee?” Seok Kang-Ho offered.
“Only if the others are up as well,” Kang Chan eagerly replied.
Seok Kang-Ho shouted something inside the barracks and popped back out again.
“I thought you were offering to make one for me,” Kang Chan said.
“They’re all already up. Anyway, let’s have coffee and then grab lunch,” Seok Kang-Ho suggested. “You want to go back to the mountain, right?”
“Yup.”
They sat down on a bench. Seok Kang-Ho stretched his arms, ferociously scowling and frowning as he did.
A few moments later, a soldier brought over two cups of coffee for them.
“Why do you want to go back there, though?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
In response, Kang Chan told him what he had seen and felt at the location yesterday.
Seok Kang-Ho looked around them to make sure nobody could hear them. He then quietly asked, “So you think that’s where the Blackhead is?”
“I’m sure I saw a red light, and I felt the energy too. I thought about the Blackhead when they asked my permission to blow up the helicopter in the pit yesterday. I decided to proceed with it anyway because the others might find it weird if I took too much time.”
Kang Chan nodded toward the Spetsnaz’s barracks.
“That’s strange. I thought the Blackhead was just an expensive jewel. That aside, since that happened in the dead of the night, the flash of light from the stone must have been quite visible to you,” Seok Kang-Ho remarked.
“That’s why I’m saying we should head over,” Kang Chan replied.
“Well, we’ll probably get some answers once we get there.”
The two talked a bit more over their coffee when Choi Jong-Il stuck his head out of the barracks.
“Lunch is ready, sirs,” he said.
Lunch was bibimbap made from instant rice, kimchi, and eggs.
“As I mentioned before, I’ll be going back to yesterday’s combat zone after lunch,” Kang Chan announced. “As for the rest of you, just rest up and focus on recovery unless otherwise ordered.”
“How should we go about security?”
“The Foreign Legion is guarding the perimeter, so just having a gun with you at all times should suffice.”
They finished their bibimbap faster than they had eaten the ramyeon noodles yesterday.
After brushing his teeth, Kang Chan headed straight to the makeshift infirmary with his men to have their wounds disinfected and their bandages changed.
With his injuries taken care of, he returned to their barracks to prepare for the journey ahead. He changed to a new uniform, then tied a bandana around his head. Afterward, he hung a military bonnie hat around his neck.
He couldn’t explain why, but having his radio, weapons, and magazines on him made him feel as if he could move more fluidly.
“Grab some ropes and flashlights,” Kang Chan ordered, and Kwak Cheol-Ho and Woo Hee-Seung immediately grabbed a few of each, respectively.
Upon leaving the barracks, Kang Chan was greeted by Gérard, who was sitting on the benches fully armed. There was no need for any words between them.
The Spetsnaz and SBS soldiers who were also sitting on the benches looked at them curiously. Paying them no attention, Kang Chan headed toward the entrance.
“Blanchet!” Kang Chan called.
“Oui.”
“I’m going to go examine yesterday’s battlefield. If you see any vehicle or personnel that looks even remotely suspicious or isn’t under our control, shoot them down.”
“Understood, sir.”
Vroom! Vroom!
Lee Doo-Hee and Kwak Cheol-Ho each drove a Humvee. Kang Chan, Seok Kang-Ho, and Gérard got into Lee Doo-Hee’s.
They were off.
Since it would take some time to get to their destination, Kang Chan took this opportunity to give Gérard a quick explanation about his resurrection, what happened in England, and what he felt last night. They were speaking in French, and the engine of the Humvee was roaring so loudly that he didn’t have to worry about Lee Doo-Hee hearing what he said.
When he was done, Gérard gave him a look of disbelief. Kang Chan supposed no one would just nod in understanding and go “I see” after hearing a story like his.
“Is that son of a bitch Sharlan still alive, Cap?” Gérard asked.
“He’s probably still in the underground site at Loriam,” Kang Chan replied.
“And that man’s really Dayeru?”
This motherfucker! I just told you everything!
“Why is that punk saying my name?” Seok Kang-Ho asked with a frown.
“I told him about everything that happened,” Kang Chan answered.
“Poor guy. He probably feels like his world has been turned upside down.”
Gérard did look completely stunned. He had been calling Kang Chan “Captain” and Seok Kang-Ho “Daye” all this time, but it seemed he still had trouble accepting or even just wrapping his head around it.
“England and France have developed a weapon that can cause earthquakes, and it gets its energy from the Blackhead. It’s the reason Daye and I ended up being reincarnated. We thought that energy was gone for good, but I saw it again during the battle last night,” Kang Chan summarized.
“We’ll have to keep this a secret,” Gérard mused.
“The energy aside, the discovery of a Blackhead always causes trouble, so it would be best to keep this on the down low,” Kang Chan agreed.
“You should have delayed blowing up the helicopter a bit.”
“Somebody would have likely found it strange if I did. Also, to be honest, I was hoping the explosion would completely bury the Blackhead.”
“I see. Oh, right! Can you trust the soldiers who are here with you?” Gérard asked in doubt as he nodded at Lee Doo-Hee.
“If they betray me, I’ll just let them do it.”
Gérard grinned.
“Even though you’re right here with me, I still find it hard to accept all of this.”
“How do you think Daye and I feel?”
After putting himself in their shoes, Gérard nodded in response.
Not long after, they saw African eagles leisurely gliding in the sky above the place where they had fought against more than two hundred men. Some were also busily bobbing their heads where the burnt cars were.
Creak.
A few minutes later, they reached the foot of the mountain.
Clunk. Clunk.
They climbed out of the Humvee and made their way up the ridge, finding gruesome signs of combat along the path. Following the ridge and the main road, they eventually found the tribal village again.
Fuck!
The area from the villagers' homes to the bottom of the opposite side of the mountain had all crumbled down. In the middle of it all was a huge pit.
“It’ll be hard to stay here long,” Seok Kang-Ho remarked.
There were at least a thousand decaying corpses here. The stench of rotting flesh lingering in the air wafted over to them.
“Hang a rope over there,” Kang Chan ordered.
While Woo Hee-Seung and Kwak Cheol-Ho chose one of the villagers’ houses to tie one end of a rope to, Kang Chan looked for an appropriately sized rock and threw it down the hole.
Whoosh!
Judging from the noise, it seemed to be around twenty meters deep.
“Let’s take a look around first before deciding what to do.”
Seok Kang-Ho, Gérard, and the others stepped forward and held onto the middle of the rope. The hut was unstable and just made of dirt, so they wanted to make sure it was sturdy enough to hold their weight.
Kang Chan loosened the bandana from his head and wrapped it around his nose. Afterward, he grabbed a flashlight and tied the rope around his waist.
“Be careful,” Seok Kang-Ho reminded.
Kang Chan nodded before slowly descending the hole.
Rustle! Rustle!
About ten meters down, Kang Chan aimed his flashlight downward to illuminate the area below him. He could only the wreckage of the helicopter, which had been reduced to scrap metal. He didn’t see anything suspicious.
Kang Chan had been expecting two things: the red light and a warning from his heart. However, all his senses delivered to him was gas and a stench so acrid it made his eyes water.
This was the furthest he could go.
Chk.
“Pull!” Kang Chan ordered.
Swish! Swish!
As commanded, the people above pulled him up meter by meter.
“Here!” Seok Kang-Ho shouted as he offered his hand. Kang Chan grabbed it and lifted himself out of the pit.
“Ph-yew!”
Seok Kang-Ho’s face wrinkled in disgust as he fanned the air away from his nose. Gérard and the other soldiers frowned as well.
“Shit! This is as far as we can go without proper equipment. There’s nothing special about the pit either,” Kang Chan said.
“It looks like the tribesmen’s corpses also fell in it. At least a thousand bodies must be inside that hole,” Seok Kang-Ho deduced.
Kang Chan nodded. He didn’t want to sift through a thousand bodies that were already starting to decompose just to look for the Blackhead. It wasn’t like he was dying to see it again anyway.
“Shit. Looks like you overdid yourself, Cap,” Seok Kang-Ho said, nodding at the growing bloodstain on the sleeve around Kang Chan’s shoulders.
Kang Chan thought it was likely because he overexerted himself while hanging from the rope.
“We should head back for now,” Seok Kang-Ho suggested.
Kang Chan agreed. “All right.”
They turned around to head back down to their vehicles. As they walked along the ridge, Gérard suddenly spoke up.
“They still haven’t asked why we’re here, have they? They’re good.”
Only then did Kang Chan realize that Choi Jong-Il, Cha Dong-Gyun, and the other three had come all the way here and pulled the rope up for him without even asking why they were here. Gérard didn’t speak any Korean, but carefully observing them was enough for him to learn that much.
Kang Chan didn’t know what to say, so he just strode over to the Humvee without bothering to reply.
Vroom! Vroom!
Six hundred villagers and six hundred Quds. Not taking into account their fallen comrades, that battlefield now served as the grave of one thousand two hundred people.
“Why don’t we have a smoke here before leaving?” Kang Chan suggested.
In response, Gérard handed him some cigarettes.
Flick! Hiss!
Kang Chan lit up two cigarettes and walked up to the front of the ridge. Something would always bother him whenever he left battlefields like this.
It might sound childish and ridiculous, but he couldn’t help but wonder if his fewer-numbered allies would suffer in this place because they had six hundred enemies with them here. Perhaps that was why religion existed—so he could hope that his dead comrades wouldn’t have to stay here.
Kang Chan gathered up dirt from the ground in front of him, creating a small mound. Afterward, he stuck a cigarette in the center of it.
I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you properly. I’m sorry I got you killed in Africa.
Kang Chan stood back up and walked to the Humvee.
“If the witch doctor was still alive, they would’ve insisted even more that you’re the Surdkad,” Gérard joked as he tossed the cigarette that he was smoking.
“Let’s go!”
They took off once Kang Chan had climbed in.
***
Upon arriving back at the base, Kang Chan realized that the UN command had returned before Blanchet could even report it to him. He didn’t need any special powers to know. The three cars with the letters “UN” written on them in white were simply quite obvious clues. Anyone who knew the alphabet could easily put two and two together.
When Kang Chan stepped out of the vehicle, two men from the command barracks quickly rushed toward him.
“Monsieur Kang.”
Motherfuckers. Of course, you’re surprised. You’re seeing a man who should be dead by now walking around.
“We wish to meet with the leadership of each team.”
“That’s not something you need to ask my permission for,” Kang Chan replied.
“The Green Berets and the SBS said they would meet with us when you’re available.”
The UN employee glanced at the soldiers and then quickly looked back at Kang Chan.
“Can I have the wound on my shoulder looked at first?”
“Of course. Your injuries take priority,” the UN employee said.
Soldiers from different nations were scowling at the UN command, their gruesome wounds out on display. It was probably making the UN employees quite anxious.
When the two returned to their barracks, Andrei immediately approached Kang Chan.
“I’ll come listen to whatever they have to say with you,” Andrei said.
“I’ll get my wound checked out first. You can just wait here or go in first.”
“I’ll stay here,” Andrei replied. He then examined Kang Chan’s shoulder. “Where did you go off to anyway?”
This guy was dependable most of the time, but his tone and expression made him seem as if he was always relentlessly looking for a weakness.
“I looked around the battlefield yesterday.”
Andrei tilted his head and looked back at Kang Chan. He looked as if he wanted to know why.
Pft.
He was understandably frustrated. After all, he couldn’t use a gun or violence to threaten Kang Chan into giving what he wanted.
“Andrei.”
Kang Chan suddenly felt like picking on this asshole, so he nudged his head to Andrei’s ear.
“I thought I saw something sparkle in the pit before the chopper went down yesterday, so I went back to look. Unfortunately, we had no way of getting to the bottom of the pit.”
Andrei turned to Kang Chan, his expression a mixture of doubt and surprise.
“What did you think it was?” he asked eagerly.
At this point, Kang Chan was sure that Andrei had received orders to uncover something about him.
“What else would sparkle in Africa?”
Andrei’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. He seemed to be asking why Kang Chan was telling him something so important.
This punk is always so fucking doubtful.
Instead of replying, Kang Chan just turned around and headed to the makeshift infirmary.
“If you keep this up, your wounds will become inflamed. Stop pushing yourself so much,” the medical staff warned.
After having his injury disinfected, Kang Chan headed straight to the barracks and changed.
“Interpreter! Cha Dong-Gyun, Daye! Come with me!” Kang Chan said.
After ordering the other soldiers to take a break, he headed to the UN command center.
Without being called, Gérard, Andrei, Tyler, and Robert were already waiting for him on the benches. Their eyes were all blazing, making it seem as if someone had started a fire right in front of them.
Click!
The conference room was a standard briefing room with a small portable screen in the center. When Kang Chan sat down, the others settled into their own seats and looked across the table, where the two UN command staff were sitting.
“To start with, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of you for overcoming the difficulties yesterday despite the absence of Command.”
Pft.
Seeing Kang Chan’s expression, the employee quickly continued, “I also heard that many of your men were killed in the battle yesterday. I would like to extend my deepest sympathies and—”
Clunk!
The UN employee looked up. Kang Chan had pulled out a pistol.
Click.
Kang Chan set the pistol down on the writing board mounted on the chair.
“Let’s not make things uncomfortable,” Kang Chan said.
Nervous, the UN employee gulped. Meanwhile, the other commanders simply gazed at Kang Chan.
“I’ll keep this short and simple, so listen up,” Kang Chan coldly ordered.
The two UN staff quickly nodded.
“Yesterday, we found ourselves in the middle of an enemy ambush. Meanwhile, you disappeared during that operation so fast it was like you were never here in the first place.”
“That’s—”
“Too many of our men died to gloss over this, so I have to start asking questions. If you’re slow to answer or you say something stupid, things won’t end well for you.”
The commanders' and other soldiers’ glares were already enough to intimidate the two UN staff. Faced with Kang Chan’s demeanor and scowl, they grew as white as a sheet of paper.
“First, when did you learn that the enemy would be launching an attack?”
Pft.
Kang Chan moved to lift his pistol.
“We didn’t know. We were just following orders. They told us to return to the UN headquarters in Mogadishu as soon as possible.”
Baang! Thwack! Baang! Thwack!
Kang Chan pulled the trigger twice. Trembling, the UN employees squeezed their eyes shut.
Tat tat! Click! Clack!
Soldiers from the Foreign Legion rushed in when they heard gunfire. When Gérard waved them off, they saluted and left immediately.
“I aimed for the screen this time, but I’ll make sure the next bullet goes through your foreheads. Now, then! Let’s go with something a little easier. What’s the UN’s official position on this incident?”
“We’re blaming this on the rebels! We will be announcing that despite a massive ambush by six hundred rebels, the UN troops were able to emerge victorious,” the UN employee quickly and confidently replied.
“Who was the commander who sent the rebels, then?” Kang Chan asked.
The two quieted down once more, unable to answer his question.
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