March Novel (Completed) - Chapter 58

“Go pour more oil!”

That message about a handsome customer must have been written with Gi Taejeong, giggling together. The mocking tone was exactly like Gi Taejeong’s usual way of speaking. He had felt sorry for him living such a wretched life and tried to improve his lot… but this bitch, who had nothing but a pretty face, clearly lost his mind just because two officers approached him. This is why when you look at people, you consider their family and lineage. The moment he left, he couldn’t wait and immediately hooked up with another guy…

“Vulgar bastard.”

He was crazy to have even thought of keeping such cheap trash as a concubine for a while. In a way, he suited Gi Taejeong perfectly. Both were defective goods, incapable of being proper human beings. Yes, they truly met their match.

“Lieutenant, a radio message from Commander Oh Seonran.”

“…Just pretend you don’t know. I’ll report afterwards.”

“She seems to already know the situation. Wouldn’t it be better to tell her beforehand…?”

“Are you crazy? If I spill everything now, it’ll just be admitting I messed up!”

Even if it’s obvious, he still needs to create an excuse. Justification. That mere facade was more important than one might think. After a long dictatorship, the pillars of power supporting the head of state were now branching out quite fairly. Everyone was playing it safe, knowing that if he were to kill that bastard and take everything, the broken balance would eventually turn into poison for himself. So, if he was going to cause trouble, he had to secure even a flimsy basis. It was a situation where ranks were given and taken, and lives were saved and taken, solely based on justification. So, he had to end it with an unavoidable accident like the warehouse burning down completely. His family elders would be able to handle this level of mistake.

The terrorists who raided the shelter sent a signal today that they would raid the warehouse. It was clearly a trap. Gi Taejeong had taken custody of those bastards in the first place, so who could he trust? However, the circumstances and process of the shelter raid were impeccable, so if Kim Seokcheol wanted to claim that Gi Taejeong had intentionally caused it, he had to find other evidence. If that was difficult, there was nothing left but to completely erase the remaining traces.

So, Kim Seokcheol had no choice but to go to the warehouse in Sector 2, knowing everything. Because he had to deal with the criminals who were nothing more than Gi Taejeong’s puppets, and also the drugs and test subjects piled up in the warehouse.

Honestly, Gi Taejeong wasn’t scary. Even if he was a Brigadier General, he had no family to support him, and the only people he had were the scraps who had rolled around with him in the camp. Not even trash, just mere scraps.

However, the situation where it was difficult to predict what else Gi Taejeong held, and… the possibility that that crazy bastard might expose this project to the entire world, made Kim Seokcheol anxious. Various countries were wide-eyed, eager to get something out of it. If evidence of violating the most serious international agreements came to light… then it would be irreversible, even if Kim Seokcheol begged to take all the responsibility himself. Surely, the most important virtue for a soldier was not integrity but patriotism, but Gi Taejeong was a man from whom not a single speck of such a thing could be expected.

Therefore, the warehouse must be completely burned down. It wasn’t that he didn’t know it was dangerous. He knew it was a big deal that might require sealing off the entire Sector 2. But Kim Seokcheol believed he could somehow smooth this over. Manipulating public opinion in the country was nothing, and having to plead with investors first was a bit painful… but they too would have no choice but to heed the families who had supported the military for generations. Moreover, there were not a few insiders who had bet on the ‘Harvest’ project while pretending not to know. Gi Taejeong might be able to single-handedly annihilate an entire enemy nation, but it was impossible to remove all the current high-ranking military officials.

After setting the warehouse on fire, Kim Seokcheol intended to pin everything on Mr. Son, the house owner, and Lee Sehwa. He had approached them with that intention from the beginning. He had changed his mind later because Lee Sehwa was somewhat pretty… but such an ungrateful bastard deserved to be shot. So, he had only gone outside the city to gamble and do drugs; he had never made such dangerous drugs. He could just insist that there was no such thing as a drug that turned men into pregnant beings in the world, and what did that have to do with drugs anyway?

Just as Gi Taejeong couldn’t say anything even though he knew the terrorist at the shelter was him, Gi Taejeong would also find it difficult to suddenly find fault with this drug. All the remaining drugs and test subjects would disappear from this place, so how would he prove that this drug was a serious matter that violated international agreements?

“L-Lieutenant!”

It took quite some time just to evenly spray oil inside. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief after seeing the clothes of the slumped corpse at the warehouse entrance catch fire, when the fumbling subordinate next to him pointed to a distant place, his jaw trembling.

“Ah, what is it?”

Kim Seokcheol’s face, which had been following his subordinate’s gaze with annoyance, slowly stiffened. Flying towards them, silhouetted against the twilight, was… a combat helicopter. Two more followed in formation, with one leading. They were continuously firing flares, as if preparing for an immediate landing. The helicopter, which had been thumbnail-sized, quickly grew to the size of a fist, then a face. An artificial gust of wind eerily swirled around the warehouse grounds. The symbol of the air force was engraved on the door, and the leading helicopter had an additional star drawn on it. There was no need to ask who it was. It was Gi Taejeong.

Lieutenant Kim, clenching his fists and glaring at the sky, frantically pushed the subordinates who were holding oil drums. The men, who had lost their minds at the appearance of the notorious Brigadier General, swayed as Kim Seokcheol pushed them, saying, “Uh, uh.” He pulled out all his strength and threw them into the warehouse as if burying them. Yellow liquid splattered everywhere from the open oil drums, and one man, who stumbled and fell onto a burning corpse, screamed. The faintly flickering flames began to rage fiercely only after consuming one more person.

Kim Seokcheol quickly ran out of the warehouse and hijacked the nearest man’s motorbike. He sped off at maximum velocity. The heat inside the warehouse could be felt through the road surface. The men following him desperately called out to Lieutenant Kim, but he paid them no heed. The top priority was to create distance, as an explosion was imminent. The person who had to survive here was, without a doubt, the Lieutenant himself.

The vibrations under the wheels seemed to intensify, then a thunderous sound echoed. The air was clearly intangible, yet the explosion was so massive it felt as if cracks were forming. The motorbike skidded violently as a wave of heat rushed from behind. Lieutenant Kim quickly hid behind the vehicle, crouching as much as possible. The explosion continued without cease as boiling oil and drugs met.

Black smoke danced gracefully. It was as if a black curtain had been drawn only over the warehouse. The helicopter also couldn’t get any closer, perhaps due to poor visibility, and just hovered in place. Lieutenant Kim, holding his breath and observing the situation, then chuckled and stood up.

“Now what are you going to do?”

Cracks began to appear in the outer wall of the warehouse, unable to withstand the heat. It would take some time for it to completely collapse, but nothing useful would be salvageable from inside. Kim Seokcheol brushed off his soot-stained palms and raised his heavy body. His back and knees ached from moving nimbly after a long time. Now, all he had to do was instruct the men waiting outside to pretend to extinguish the fire diligently.

The moment he took a step, straightening his back with a crack, a chilling wind fiercely blew over his head. As if waiting for Kim Seokcheol to move, the leading helicopter was soaring higher. The aircraft, which had been rising higher and higher, suddenly pulled back. As if taking a run-up before a leap. It wasn’t even changing its course… It was an incomprehensible movement.

“…What?”

But something dropped from that helicopter, which was behaving strangely, presumably the one Gi Taejeong was on. Fluttering in the strong wind, it looked like a rope. Lieutenant Kim stared up at the sky, dumbfounded. Surely he wasn’t thinking of descending with that? Even if he had the longest rope, the height from the end point to the ground would easily exceed 3 meters. No matter how monstrous Gi Taejeong seemed, he was a human, not a robot. If he fell from that height without other equipment, he would naturally get hurt. No, before that, safely descending the rope itself was the crucial point. This wasn’t a rappelling training exercise.

“That crazy, crazy bastard…!”

Kim Seokcheol, who had been about to give instructions outside with his radio, gaped in astonishment. The figure dangling from the thin rope was, quite literally, plummeting without hesitation. He was flowing down as fast as water, quite literally. Perhaps the helicopter had pulled back to account for the wind direction, as the tilting rope was now precisely aimed at the top of Kim Seokcheol’s head.

At a glance, he didn’t seem to be wearing a parachute or anything, yet Gi Taejeong descended towards the ground without hesitation, as if there were stairs in the air. Finally, the man, dangling from the end of the rope, let go of his hands without a hint of regret. His falling body gracefully glided through the black smoke like cutting through water. That was all. Not only did he land safely, but he looked so nonchalant that Kim Seokcheol just blinked. Gi Taejeong, who had casually defied gravity, straightened his long body in a serpentine motion. It was a wriggle like a black tiger crouching, preparing to leap at its prey. The shadow of black and red flames flickered over the impossibly beautiful man’s face.

“M-monstrous bastard…”

That’s not a human. How can a human be like that? Kim Seokcheol unconsciously mumbled, almost sobbing. Gi Taejeong walked steadily forward, taking off his leather gloves, which had torn from the friction. Far from being hurt, only a few strands of his combed-back hair were disheveled. Gi Taejeong, who had approached right in front of Kim Seokcheol, just looked down at him without saying a word.

“Ugh…!”

Gi Taejeong, who had been staring at his shabby appearance for a moment, kicked Kim Seokcheol’s shin quite hard. The man couldn’t even scream and fell to his knees. His hand on the ground twitched in a grotesque way, indicating he had sprained his wrist while falling.

“Ugh, kkeu-euh, euh…”

“Do I have to personally instruct you on how to greet your superior, Lieutenant Kim?”

Gi Taejeong scoffed at Kim Seokcheol, asking how he could be so old and still not know what rank meant. The statue-like man had his lips twisted in a crooked smile. His beautiful face was so fresh it was almost bluish. It was an unfairly perfect creation, making one want to question God why such a being was molded and pushed into the midst of ordinary mortals.