Chapter 163

The interior of the fortress, devoid of any windows, began to fill with light.

[Ah, real situation. Actual situation! Type A deployment, all personnel! Type A deployment!]

The officers and soldiers, who had been peacefully asleep, jolted awake with startled gasps. Those who had been sleeping on the upper bunk rushed down in a daze, even tumbling off the second floor.

Thud.

As the soldiers and officers hastily donned their gear and gathered holy water and exorcism items, those who were already on duty and the senior members who had prepared early scoured the living quarters to wake those still asleep.

“Hey, you little jerk! Wake up! It’s Type A deployment!”

“You lazy private! Get up right now!”

Naturally, those soundly sleeping in the pitch-black darkness were not in a pleasant mood.

“Ah, damn it, I just finished my shift and was trying to sleep….”

“Things had been quiet, so why the sudden Type A deployment… Did some high-ranking person set off an alarm…?”

“They say it’s a real situation?”

“What the hell!”

But what could be done?

The situation had arisen, and in the military, orders must be followed.

The officers donned all kinds of equipment necessary to enter their assigned outpost during the Type A deployment, while soldiers grabbed their K-2s and K-3s, receiving blessed silver-coated bullets before moving to their respective positions.

In the locations they moved to, machine guns and grenade launchers were stationed.

These weapons were meant to repel and strike back against evil spirits with physical force.

As the safe zone grew busy, it was inevitable that people from the military human rights center would wake up.

They had no choice but to groggily stir at the noise, feeling their way in the darkness to turn on the lights and check on what was happening outside.

“What’s going on right now?”

One of the individuals from the military human rights center asked a busy officer, but the overwhelmed officer had no time to offer an explanation. So he turned to grab someone else to question, but the booming announcement helped him piece together what was happening.

[Real situation, real situation! Type A deployment! All personnel to their posts!]

[Officers grab equipment for the Great Evil Spirit, soldiers take their guns and bullets—!]

Hearing the announcement, the bleary-eyed soldiers snapped awake.

“This….”

“If it’s a real situation here, then it’s either an evil spirit or….”

“Exactly. Either an evil spirit or a great evil spirit…?”

“Ugh. Talk about bad luck….”

With sighs, they began hurriedly dressing.

“When something like this occurs, what are we supposed to do?”

“So, um….”

“Wait a minute. I wrote down the precautions. They should be around here….”

Their faces stiffened in fear at the heavy phrase “real situation.” However, they didn’t spiral into panic, nor did they flounder aimlessly in terror; instead, they attempted to think of a solution with their muddled brains.

Just as they began rummaging for answers…

“If a real situation occurs in a safe zone, the right thing to do is to hold your position.”

A youthful voice came from the corner.

As people turned their gazes towards the sound, they spotted someone in leather clothing slowly descending.

Jinseong.

Once treated like a hazardous entity in front of the people from the military human rights center, Jinseong approached them.

“There should be a shelter in places like this, but in situations like this, where there’s a real threat and no one to guide us, it’s best to stay put at our location.”

“Is—is that so?”

“We might lose our way heading to the shelter, and encountering any evil spirit or great evil spirit that might have snuck in to evade surveillance wouldn’t be pleasant.”

As Jinseong spoke, he gently tapped on the wall beside them.

Then there was a faint sound, like hitting a thick stone.

“Fortunately, the walls here are thick. We have to prepare for intrusions since we’ll be facing evil spirits and great evil spirits, and I’ll ensure that all sorts of items are packed inside for sure protection. Therefore, it’s wise not to act recklessly and stay absolutely still.”

After saying this, Jinseong sat on an empty bunk, seemingly unwilling to speak any further, leaning against the wall in a lotus position with his eyes closed.

People, having diverted their attention from Jinseong, began to whisper amongst themselves.

“Is that so? I think that young man might be right….”

“Yeah. We don’t know this area at all. If we wander around recklessly, we could face some real danger.”

“Now that I think about it, I heard they did all sorts of things when they built this place, using chickens’ blood, charms, and blessed silver…”

“And if we head to the shelter, the door might be locked. It’s safer not to waste our energy and stay here.”

Listening to their whispers, Jinseong slowly examined the darkness made by his closed eyelids.

He took deep breaths, inhaling slowly and exhaling to calm his heartbeat, casting a spell on his eyes.

As a spark ignited and climbed within his eyelids, it began to illuminate the insides, glowing in various colors, painting vivid images.

It was as if the insides of his eyelids had transformed into an analog TV.

“Let’s see. Where are we?”

The image presented a view of the CCTV room inside the safe zone.

There were several people gathered, most seated in front of the CCTV screens. However, three were doing something else.

Those were the commander and two officers.

The two officers had their heads lowered, facing a reprimand, while the commander’s face flushed red from rage.

The commander vocally berated the two officers, who were bowing their heads.

“YOU. TWO. REPORTING!”

Jinseong closely examined the commander’s face, which had turned crimson like a boiled octopus.

The face of the commander, who had greeted them warmly during the day, looked like a beast, and he seemed to expel hot breaths as if he couldn’t control his anger. Every time he tried to mutter a curse, his lips twisted but barely swallowed it, catching onto whatever sanity he had left.

“Those damn officers are sleeping on duty—!”

The commander shouted fiercely at them.

“Yeah, sure, people can doze off. I mean, I can understand if just one person falls asleep. But two! Not one, but two of you have abandoned your posts to sleep! Do you think this base is a hotel or something?!”

The two, bearing a weight akin to a great crime, obediently accepted the commander’s wrath, bowing their heads even further.

“Damn it! I can’t even lift my head because I’m so embarrassed! Is it acceptable for other units to hear about issues arising in North Korea? You can’t even report to them first. Instead, someone lounging in Seoul first checks in through the satellite and contacts me? Speak up if you have a mouth, speak! You idiots, don’t just keep your mouths shut; try to give me an excuse!”

However, it seemed that this only fueled the commander’s rage.

“Is staying silent going to save your military career? Huh? What? Even if you had a tenth of a mouth, you wouldn’t have any words to say? That’s right, scumbags! You think you can just sleep like this at the base and point fingers at me for some oversight? I never imagined that someone would stab me in the back like this. Not for some petty offense, but for neglecting a duty! Back in my day, such negligence was unthinkable. This military is a complete mess, a complete mess!”

The commander, appearing as if ready to slap the officers, paused as he caught his breath with a sigh.

“Fine. It’s unfortunate that this situation exploded… Leave. It’s my fault for losing my grip on military discipline, not yours. Hmph…”

Concerned that he really might hit them, the commander forcibly chased the two officers from the CCTV room, before standing there, collecting himself, then approaching a soldier seated in front of the monitors.

“Hey, corporal. Do you think this means I’m done for?”

The corporal, paused in thought for a moment, replied.

“I think it will be okay.”

“Why?”

“If it’s an evil spirit or great evil spirit, then we have a serious problem, but I don’t think it is.”

“Why.”

The corporal pointed at the commander’s monitor.

“I think this is just technical malfunction.”

The screen he pointed at was filled with white noise, like a TV that had finished broadcasting.

“It could be an evil spirit or a great evil spirit, but if so, the noise wouldn’t just occur here; it would follow the movements of the spirit or ghost too.”

“But it could be stationary, right?”

“I’m checking the CCTV for area N-04 next to it, and I’m not seeing any unusual signs. It just happened to have noise after a certain time.”

“So?”

“It seems that the magnetic field anomaly in area N-04 or an outdated satellite might have malfunctioned.”

The commander nodded, finding merit in the corporal’s observation, then opened his mouth.

“Right. It’s clear you didn’t waste your time at the front line. However, there’s something to keep in mind.”

“I’ll be attentive.”

“Do not disregard experience, but you shouldn’t trust it entirely either. At the front, being overly optimistic can lead to significant loss. Let me see, you’ve probably had about three years of service, right?”

“Yes! Two years and six months.”

“Right. With skills like yours, that’s all the duty you could handle, and you’re already aiming for a sergeant position. I’m saying this for your own good, so keep it in mind. If you’re too optimistic, you’ll end up like the armies of the Tang Dynasty or Italy—understand?”

“Understood!”

“So, I just sent a TOD… Hmm, haven’t received contact from the TOD yet?”

The corporal, invigorated by the commander’s words, replied briskly. The commander, appearing satisfied, glanced sideways.

There, a sergeant was staring at the screen.

The screen he was watching was divided into four parts. One showed an image like heat vision, splashing vibrant colors; another appeared to have a green tint. One was purely black and white, while the last seemed generated from bats’ supersonic sound.

He gazed intently, and just as the satellite phone rang, he quickly grabbed it.

“Contact from TOD! Noticed unusual signs! The old tree village in area N-04 is a wreck!”

“And?”

“No other unusual signs!”

Hearing the sergeant’s words, the commander, seemingly incredulous, clutched the phone and questioned the caller.

“Hey, um, this is the commander. The village is completely devastated? Uh, completely wrecked? Show it on screen. But wait, you say there are no other unusual signs? What do you mean? If the village is annihilated, shouldn’t evil spirits or great evil spirits be emerging? Are the equipment faulty? Check again. Huh, no issues? Come on, man, don’t say that… Oh, you mean there were magnetic anomalies nearby? You couldn’t confirm any special entities? Hmm, you mean you couldn’t confirm? Okay, got it. Return safely, and when you do, activate the holy water sprinkler on your way back. Don’t be lazy about it. Oh, okay. I understand.”

As he hung up, the commander smiled.

“Hey, corporal. Looks like my neck isn’t headed for the chopping block just yet.”

Saying this, he began moving busily.

He tossed out instructions to inform him if there were any unusual signs, then entered the command room to turn on the monitor.

As soon as the face of his superior appeared on the monitor, he saluted loudly.

“North! Jin! Captain Kim! Sun! Gil!”

“Yeah, North Jin. Explain what’s going on.”

He conveyed, “A few days ago the TOD reported anomalies in the magnetic field of N-04; after monitoring carefully for a while, we found no unusual signs. Then today, we experienced white noise.”

“Really? Then why did we deploy Type A now?”

“In my judgment, it’s merely technical noise due to magnetic anomalies, but it seems civilians are anxious about the current situation, so I decided to deploy to prepare just in case. Once dawn breaks, I plan to transition to Type B deployment.”

“Ah, civilians. Sure…”

Speaking of civilians, it meant the people from the military human rights center, including someone presumably from a large corporation.

“Good job. If everything looks fine by morning, refrain from putting the kids through any more trouble and pull them back. Well, Captain Kim Seon-gil, it’s impressive how you manage the situation timely. Good!”

With that, the captain’s predicament had passed safely.

By exploiting the frequent “magnetic anomalies” that occurred in North Korea like a cheat code, and by projecting the Type A deployment in a manner that satisfied the “civilians” that had visited the safe zone, he’d successfully tackled the misunderstanding.

Thinking he’d survived the crisis, he reclined in the chair, leaning back while staring blankly at the ceiling.

And watching over this silently, Jinseong dispelled his spell and slowly opened his eyes.

“There’s nothing more to see.”

Thus, a perfect crime had been committed.

Thanks to the spell that wrapped him in rags, Jinseong hadn’t been registered on any electronic equipment, and the sacred ceremony he had performed was presumably concealed by the noise. All of that noise had been wrapped up neatly as “white noise due to magnetic anomalies.”

Having thus completed the sacred ceremony without a hitch, he had shifted the side effects to the land of North Korea.

But, as is often the case, detail was crucial in everything.

Jinseong got up from his spot and returned to his original place.

Then, to avoid drawing attention, he draped the rags over himself, plucking strands of hair one by one to place in the shadow.

He carefully took the straw he had stored in the pockets of his leather clothing, weaving them together to form a small human-shaped doll, biting his finger to draw blood, which he used to paint the facial features of the doll.

He then stuffed it into his pocket and passed the time.

[Ah, real situation concluded. Inform that the real situation has concluded.]

[Retreat!]

As dawn broke, the situation was cancelled as the commander had previously stated.

The soldiers, awakened from their slumber and rushed into the shelter to unload their equipment, returned their guns and ammo amidst a bathroom and shower room packed to overflowing.

And soon, the commander entered the living quarters.

“Ah, everyone must have been flustered. The situation has thankfully concluded.”

“What… what happened?”

“Details of what occurred are military secrets, so I can’t disclose them carelessly… Just know that we did our best for your safety.”

Thus, once again, the safe zone returned to its usual routine.

Those lifted from sleep due to the Type A deployment flocked toward the mess hall for breakfast, while Jinseong and the people from the military human rights center joined them for a meal. They then boarded a bus, having accepted the commander’s suggestion that it might be best to cancel plans and head back just in case.

And before getting on the bus, Jinseong made use of the simple spell he had prepared in advance.

“Scarecrow, oh scarecrow. You resemble a person, but you are not. Bewilder the eyes, mislead the other sight.”

With this spell, he crafted a shell using the straw and sack he had prepared for the sacred ceremony.

“If I bring something that stands out but don’t take it with me and it remains in the safe zone, it will inevitably raise suspicions.”

Thus, Jinseong was treated as an eccentric as he had been on the way there, occupying the entire back seat with the shell, and returned home safely, receiving bewildered glances from the others.