By Zephyria 
A few days after recovering, Ire visited Seo Young-jun’s hospital room. However, there was already a visitor ahead of him outside the room. Oh Nam-gi was wearing civilian clothes and looked relatively healthy. Seeing Oh Nam-gi biting his nails with an anxious expression, Ire sat down beside him without a word. A bright smile spread across Oh Nam-gi’s face.
“When did you wake up? They said no visitors were allowed except family.”
“As you can see, I’m fine. Came to see Young-jun?”
Oh Nam-gi nodded with a troubled expression. From inside, the sound of a woman crying could be heard. Oh Nam-gi said it was Seo Young-jun’s mother. Ire had met her once by chance when he visited Seo Young-jun’s home before, so the crying sounded even more heartbreaking.
The sobbing turned into something akin to wailing, and the voice of a middle-aged man trying to console her could also be heard. Then, they came out. When Ire politely greeted them, Seo Young-jun’s father looked at the two of them calmly.
“Are you two alright?”
As both of them lowered their heads like guilty culprits, Seo Young-jun’s father patted their shoulders.
“That’s a relief. That you two are at least unharmed.”
His words stirred a surge of emotion within Ire. After telling them to take care of themselves, he supported his wife, who looked on the verge of collapsing, and walked down the hallway. Through the slightly ajar door, Seo Young-jun could be seen. He let out a sigh, his eyes red, and then waved casually upon spotting the two.
“Hey, you guys here?”
They carefully entered and took seats by the bed. The blanket was pulled over his leg, and Ire tried his best not to look in that direction. Seo Young-jun then looked at the two standing awkwardly and chuckled.
“Why the stiff posture?”
“Are you okay…?”
“I’m not… okay.”
Then, as if finding his own words funny, he giggled. He soon looked at Ire and thanked him. He explained that in the chaotic situation, the number of medics was severely insufficient, and if they had left him as he was, he might have died. But Ire couldn’t bring himself to laugh along. Wasn’t it he who had proposed the gold mine discovery to Kim Ha-yoon?
If he hadn’t made that suggestion, the army wouldn’t have been dispatched. His old classmates and colleagues wouldn’t have died. At least, if they had stopped when they first discovered the monster in the cave… He couldn’t shake off the thought that he had brought this disaster upon them.
Seo Young-jun, who was quick to notice, nudged Ire’s arm.
“Are you okay?”
Ire didn’t know who was supposed to be worrying about whom.
“Yeah…”
Seo Young-jun glanced at Oh Nam-gi and then moved his lips. He started to say, “You, back then…” but stopped and changed the subject. He opened a booklet, which displayed various types of prosthetic legs. There were explanations about titanium, carbon fiber, and so on, and they looked no different from real legs.
He picked out a few and asked which one would be best. He mentioned that he had asked his mother, but she was too distraught from crying to offer any advice. The two of them also joined in, pretending to be nonchalant, as Seo Young-jun chose his prosthetic leg.
They chatted and joked as usual, and then the visiting hours ended, and they left the room. As soon as the door closed, Oh Nam-gi let out a pent-up sigh and squeezed his eyes shut. “Damn it,” he muttered a curse under his breath and looked at Ire.
“He seems okay, doesn’t he?”
“I don’t know…”
Oh Nam-gi rubbed his face vigorously.
“Damn it. I shouldn’t have switched places.”
When Ire asked what he meant, Oh Nam-gi led him to a spot a little distance from the room. He opened an emergency exit door and looked up and down the stairs before lowering his voice.
“I don’t think what happened to Young-jun was an accident.”
“Not an accident? What do you mean?”
He paused for a moment.
“He was with Park Mu-jin.”
Ire looked utterly bewildered. When he asked what he meant, Oh Nam-gi swore and rubbed his face again. He explained that during the large-scale attack, a shell that had been fired had returned and landed in their main camp, throwing everything into chaos.
“At first, I just suspected something. They were clearly together, so it’s strange that only Seo Young-jun ended up like this. So, I asked the guys who were nearby that day. They all said they didn’t know. But one person saw it. Park Mu-jin pushed Young-jun to save himself.”
Watching Oh Nam-gi’s devastated expression, Ire clenched his trembling hands tightly.
“Does Seo Young-jun know?”
“I don’t think so. It was too chaotic. Maybe it’s for the best.”
Ire gritted his teeth. When he asked where Park Mu-jin was, he was told he was on leave. After sending Oh Nam-gi away, Ire returned to the room and thought deeply before opening a drawer. Inside, the knife he had received from Kim Ha-yoon lay neatly arranged.
“Don’t catch the wrong person, and take good care of them. The knife, and this place here.”
He seemed to hear Kim Ha-yoon’s nonchalant voice. He let out a low sigh, leaned his back against the wall, and closed his eyes. The intensely difficult moments flashed by like a film. Kim Ha-yoon’s face, the last he saw, also flickered before his eyes.
Is he really dead? That monstrous human.
As someone said, he should be happy, but his chest felt heavy. He buried his face between his knees and stayed like that for a long time when Kwon So-young entered. She visited Ire every day to check on his condition. Every time she came, Ire felt an odd anxiety, fearing she would deliver news of Kim Ha-yoon’s death.
“Did you sleep well yesterday?”
Her gaze naturally drifted to the knife.
“Did Kim Ha-yoon give that to you?”
After nodding, Ire cautiously broached the subject.
“I’d like to go out for a bit…”
“Where are you going?”
“To where Captain Kim Ha-yoon disappeared.”
Her face contorted slightly. She firmly said no, but Ire reiterated his intention. He threatened to escape if she didn’t let him go, so after a long deliberation, she reluctantly nodded.
“I’ll lend you my car, for now.”
“Thank you…”
“I can get you a pass too. You absolutely cannot exceed one day.”
After receiving his confirmation, Kwon So-young stood up. She looked at Ire and told him to bring Kim Ha-yoon back if he found him. Ire couldn’t tell if she was sincere or what her true intentions were. After she left, Ire separated the sheath from the knife. If the jewel embedded in the handle resembled his own eyes, the gleaming blade resembled someone else entirely.
* * *
Baek Seol placed wildflowers next to the mound he had made. Two comrades had been lost during the battle, and their bodies, which had been in district a, were returned here yesterday. Although they couldn’t afford a proper funeral, he still wanted to build them graves.
Gilsu, who was planting a sign with a name on it, looked up at the sky and sighed deeply. The dark sky was so gloomy it looked like it could rain at any moment.
“The sky is just like my mood.”
“Stop talking nonsense and cover it more. We’re short on dirt.”
“If you’re going to keep nagging, you do it.”
Baek Seol, unable to stand it any longer, snatched the shovel and took it. He diligently scooped dirt to finish the job, and Gilsu was impressed. He asked what couldn’t Baek Seol do and then praised him unnecessarily. They bowed their heads in silence before the grave of their fallen comrade and then shared a meager meal.
“When do you think the Captain will be back?”
“The doctor said he’d need about a month.”
“He looked fine, though.”
“By the way, what’s happening with the gold mine? And the power plant? Does the promise become void just because Kim Ha-yoon is dead? Surely they won’t betray us and take it all for themselves?”
“Are you still holding onto that? I don’t even want to go near it.”
“That monster is completely gone, right? It didn’t even flinch when they bombarded it with shells. Isn’t that strange?”
“Could it be that our Captain eliminated it using a superpower?”
At Jang-cheon’s words, Gilsu and Gangsan fell silent for three seconds before bursting into laughter simultaneously. “Captain. You’re still so naive. Do you still believe what the director said? He betrayed us and sided with district a.”
“Besides, if he had superpowers, he would have used them long ago.”
However, Baek Seol, who had been quiet, also began to agree with Jang-cheon’s words.
“It is strange. The day we escaped the intelligence agency, there was a sudden earthquake. Apparently, that area isn’t prone to earthquakes.”
Gilsu clutched his stomach, laughing, and wiped away tears. “So, the Captain is a super-powered being. He shakes the ground and knocks down monsters bigger than houses in one blow. Wow, that’s amazing. Truly amazing.”
Gangsan insisted it was a ridiculous story. He said that he had seen him since childhood and he never had such abilities. Thus, the theory of Ire being a super-powered individual concluded as a joke. As raindrops began to fall, Gangsan left to fix his car, leaving only the three of them. Baek Seol, tearing off a piece of dry bread, cautiously brought up Kim Ha-yoon’s name.
“I’m curious, will the Captain be sad if Kim Ha-yoon is dead?”
“Wouldn’t he be relieved?”
“He didn’t seem to hate him that much, did he?”
“How can you say that?”
“It’s a woman’s intuition.”
“That’s called a ‘shit intuition’.”
“Your mouth is your problem. You always ask for trouble.” Baek Seol finally smacked Gilsu on the head. Gilsu groaned in pain but soon quieted down. They laughed and chatted as usual, but a sense of emptiness lingered. Even though comrades died almost daily, they still couldn’t get used to it. The three of them sat there by the graves for a long time.