- Night Battle
An hour passed.
They kept watch ahead, relying on the visibility granted by the round moonlight.
It was almost time to go check the position of Fourth Squad.
Sosam, unlike his usual self, grew restless and stared hard in that direction.
In the end, he gathered everyone who had been spread out.
“We were supposed to meet about an hour ago.
I said I’d bring the snacks, and he said he’d bring good liquor.
No reply.
I don’t want the liquor.
I sent the signal only we would recognize, and there was no answer.
They’ve been hit, no question.
We have to go.”
The moonlight was bright.
Moving would not be difficult.
As Sosam said, if they signaled from the ridge across the way, it should have been plainly visible.
“What are you going to do?” Jeongjin asked uneasily.
“We go together.
We’ll put a whole quiver into them and come back.”
“What if Fourth Squad is just resting?”
“Then we confirm it.
But it doesn’t feel like that.
We loose dozens of arrows and crash in.
What’s complicated about it?
Those barbarian bastards.”
He had never been the bold type.
It was rare for him to insist on going out to fight.
He usually avoided trouble, backed away, and focused on staying alive.
But something had him on edge, and now he was pushing forward.
“Chief, what’s wrong with you?
This isn’t like you,” Jeongjin said.
“You want to sit still after our comrades were hit?”
“No, but…”
“Move. All of you.”
Sosam stressed the words all of you.
“Are you saying he comes too, Chief?”
Jeongjin pointed at Soun, smaller by a head.
“Yes. He comes.”
“Get a grip, Chief!”
Jeongjin snapped.
Something was off about Sosam.
Charging into danger was one thing.
Dragging along the Scholar he cherished made even less sense.
“There’s something in Fourth Squad you’re not telling us, isn’t there?” Bak Cheongyun asked.
Sosam lowered his head and growled.
“If I say move, then move.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Why so many questions?”
“This isn’t you.
You always said the same thing—
Survive, no matter what.
Home is waiting for us.
So why?
Why today?”
Sosam didn’t answer.
He lifted his head anxiously and stared beyond the ridge.
In moonlight, the barren world of rock and sand looked bright despite the night.
No people.
Even the wind had quieted, so it felt like a whisper could carry far.
There was nothing to see in that emptiness.
He had to explain.
“Fine. I’ll say it.
My younger brother is over there. In Fourth Squad.
That’s why I have to go, no matter what.
If Fourth Squad was hit…”
He swallowed.
“If you hate it that much, I’ll go alone.
Volunteer.
Only those who choose to go—come with me.”
“My brother?
Since when?
You said you were an orphan.”
No one had heard this before.
Sosam, with a brother—
it was news to all of them.
“You remember the guy assigned to Fourth Squad from the supply train not long ago?
That’s my brother.
I didn’t say anything for reasons.
He should’ve stayed with supplies.
But he volunteered for a combat unit.”
“Damn. Why would he do that?
Is he a Scholar too?”
“Stop joking.
No time.
I’m going. Decide for yourselves.
Anyone coming—step forward.”
His urgent voice left a thick silence.
There was no time, yet the talking only grew.
So he cut it short—
I’ll go alone, unless you choose to help.
It sounded like a cold ultimatum.
In truth it was closer to this—
Only those who help me will be friends from here on.
Still, stepping forward was hard.
It meant betting your life on something unnecessary.
This was an ambush.
You hid, watched, and struck when they came.
You weren’t supposed to chase enemies around in the dark.
Soun stepped forward.
His face and body showed no hesitation.
He rested a hand on the sword at his waist and looked Sosam straight on.
“If it’s your younger brother, Chief, then I have to go.”
Sosam seized Soun’s hand tightly.
“Damn… thank you.
I knew you would.
You’re the weakest one, but my heart feels steadier with you.
I won’t blame the rest of you.”
As the two turned to leave, Bak Cheongyun spat a curse that made no sense, shook his head, and stepped forward.
“I’m going too.
Seriously…
But do you have a plan?”
“What plan do we ever have?
We crash in.
We’re rock-headed arrow-fodder.
What plan would we have?
We’ve only ever done what we were told.
A plan?
If we had one, would we be freezing out on this wasteland all night?
No plan.
None.”
Even then, Sosam started muttering again.
Even with his brother possibly in danger, he muttered.
“And—
we may be rock-headed, but you’re not.
You’re a Scholar.
You read things like military classics, don’t you?
Right?
Soun—do you have a plan?
Some tactic?”
Bak Cheongyun let out a dry laugh.
He could see Sosam’s desperation.
Sosam was clinging to the hope that even a child’s reading might yield something usable.
Following blindly was dangerous.
They knew it too well.
They understood why commanders existed, why systems mattered.
But Sosam had no plan.
It was dark.
They didn’t know the enemy’s numbers.
They could strike one another by mistake.
They weren’t even certain there was an enemy—
only that there was no friendly signal.
Sosam was forcing it because his brother was there.
Not because he had a plan.
“Rock-head…
We have a Scholar right here.
You’re a Scholar.
You got anything?”
Soun sighed.
“A Scholar isn’t a Scholar because he draws battle plans.
I passed the provincial exam, that’s all.
But if you explain the situation, I’ll think.
My life is on the line too.”
Sosam grabbed everyone’s shoulders and pulled them into a circle.
Even the two who hadn’t volunteered yet sat down before they realized it.
That was how it usually happened.
People joined without grand purpose.
Life, too, was decided by accidents.
Using a stick, Sosam scratched a circle into the ground in the moonlight, then drew smaller circles behind it at random.
“This is here.
Behind that little ridge, those bastards were supposed to be.
At the appointed time, our guy was going to raise a signal from the ridge.
If he was hit, then they’ve taken that spot.
So one of them is standing watch up there.
We shoot that one first.”
A simple guess.
A simple explanation.
Then Sosam looked at Soun.
It was Soun’s turn.
Refusing wasn’t an option.
Better a clumsy plan than none at all.
Four men stared at the face of the young Scholar.
“Charging in could be dangerous.
We don’t know what’s there, and our people may be captured.
This side—toward the ridge that runs into the snow mountains—
should be hard to see from the other side, and easy to see from ours.
Like that place earlier.
So we should use that.”
He pointed to a slope heavy with moonlight, contrasted against darker shadow.
“It’s better to draw them out to where we can win.
Lure them, pull them into the open, and turn the ones who come out into arrow-fodder.
This area would be good.
That word—arrow-fodder—made me think of it.
We aren’t arrow-fodder.
We make the enemy arrow-fodder.”
Sosam’s eyes widened.
“How do we lure them?”
“I don’t have anything certain.
We could fire a burning arrow.
Or shout.
If there’s an officer among them, a direct clash is bad.”
Bak Cheongyun raised a hand halfway, like he was volunteering.
It felt unreal.
“I’ll lure them.
We go with the Scholar’s plan.
And—if they burst out on horseback, we bring spears and shields too.”
“Fine.
I command,” Sosam said.
“I’m the squad chief. Understood?”
They answered in low voices.
They gathered weapons without a sound and moved into the dark,
crossing toward the far side with care.
Five White Dragon troopers crossed the moonlit low ground.
They didn’t bunch up.
They kept wide spacing and moved slowly.
Even the tiny crack of frozen earth collapsing made Soun flinch.