Prologue
"Ha, this fucking military…"
A sigh escaped me.
It's been seven years since I started rotting in the army.
At first, it was a nightmare beyond words—but in the end, I became a pitiful soul discarded by the Republic of Korea Armed Forces.
"Company Commander, haven't you had a bit too much, sir?"
"Hey, hey. It's fine. I'll be taking this uniform off soon anyway. They already chewed me out to boost your sales."
Just thinking about it again made my chest feel tight.
All because of that damned tuition.
When I was young, when I got accepted into Korea University, I felt like I owned the world.
I thought the phrase "a dragon rising from a small stream" existed just for me.
But that joy was short-lived. The moment I saw the admission guide and the tuition I had to pay to the university, I could only tear at my hair.
And then I heard the devil's whisper.
'If you become a military scholarship cadet, you won't have to live as a debtor!'
If I had a time machine, I'd want to beat the hell out of the version of me who thought that was a smart choice.
Back then, my family's situation was already bad enough. Just the thought that, four years later, a massive negative bank balance might be waiting for me was terrifying.
And so now, while my friends had long since gone out into society, I was finishing up seven years of military service.
"I was definitely counting down the days until discharge. So why does this feel so damn shitty?"
"Well, you graduated from such a good school. Surely you won't have trouble finding a job, right?"
"Yeah. My classmates are all saying they're dying out there. I was going to just plant my stake here, but that fell through."
They say that when you're unlucky, you'll break your nose even falling backward.
I couldn't swallow the injustice. I couldn't stay quiet when I should have. I didn't bow to everyone's pressure.
So I got kicked out.
What am I supposed to do once I'm outside?
Should I have just pretended not to see anything and kept my head down?
The moment that thought crossed my mind, it felt like I couldn't breathe, so I stood up.
"I'll go have a smoke. Don't clear this away."
"Yes, sir."
I shuffled out of the Loyalty Hall and put a cigarette in my mouth.
The army really did teach me a lot—binge drinking, smoking, beatdowns, and all the rotten traditions. I learned it all here.
Striding along in full gear, I walked without thinking until I found myself near the military apartment complex next to the hall.
The military apartments—only the chosen, the noble, were allowed to live there.
To someone like me, a permanent ghost haunting the BOQ inside the base, that apartment complex was nothing less than a dungeon where some glittering high-ranking officer might suddenly appear and begin a forced quest with, "Well, well, this works out nicely."
But now that I was just about to take off the uniform, none of that scared me. With alcohol in my system, a baseless confidence swelled inside me—I felt like I could blow a cloud of nicotine right into the face of a colonel or even a general.
In the parking lot, some older kids were playing ball. A little child, her mother far behind, was running toward the lot, squeaky shoes chirping loudly with every step. From the opposite side, an old Retona jeep was speeding toward them.
I was watching this peaceful scene and lighting my cigarette when—
"Fuck!"
Something was wrong with the Retona.
In that split second, I threw the cigarette away and was already sprinting toward the child before I even finished thinking.
"The car! Stop the car!"
Screeeech!
"Ghk—kugh—!"
What?
Suddenly my body wouldn't listen to me.
A horrific dizziness and weakness flooded through me.
My head spun, and I pitched forward—
And with a terrible impact, a dark sky suddenly spread before my eyes.
Ah. I got hit by the car.
The child I had shoved away with a rough grab was crying.
The Retona that hit me had somehow crashed into a wall.
And my consciousness slowly began to fade.
That was the end of my life.
Fuck.
Would they at least count this as dying in the line of duty?
The moment I realized they probably wouldn't, everything suddenly felt unbearably unfair.
If I was going to die like this, then why the hell had I tried to live as some upright, righteous man?
If only I had climbed higher—
If only I had reached the very top—then at least I wouldn't feel this wronged!
That was the final stray thought of my life.