My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros' Obsession

Chapter 4
Even if you are a member of the military, you can do anything with politics

D-2462 days before discharge.

“Life…”

On an X-like morning as usual, I squatted at the entrance of the training ground and sighed deeply.

“What?”

With repeated sighs, Aquila, who was sitting next to me, asked in a low voice.

“I suddenly want to desert.”

“Makes sense.”

Perhaps it was a convincing reason, Aquila nodded with a calm face. Caron, who was glued to my left, also whined with sparkling eyes.

“These days, I don’t think my meals are as good as before.”

“I know. Did the chef change?”

Or maybe I couldn’t forget the taste of the meal I ate on the day the crown prince visited, so he thought that the current food was not delicious.

“Elliott is over there.”

“What?”

At Aquila’s words, I looked quickly to the right.

Indeed, commander Elliot was walking this way, yawning peacefully with his mouth wide open. It’s been a long time since I saw him because he was always stuck somewhere else since he was about to be discharged.

“Hey, time.”

At Elliott’s indifferent words while looking at us, we reacted quickly, turning our heads toward the clock hanging in the training ground.

“There’s 2 months, 29 days, 13 hours and 48 minutes left until Elliott’s discharge.”

“As expected, Saruvia is fast.”

Elliott said so with a satisfied look, and walked leisurely in front of us with a happy look.

“Wow! Saruvia, how can you calculate so fast?””

“Well…”

I think it’s because I’ve worked harder than people in this world in my previous life, but there’s nothing I can really explain right now.

Anyway, Elliott, who was just about to be discharged, always asked for the time left until his discharge, but sometimes he seemed to enjoy longing for his successors if the response was a little late, or even if we reacted on time, thinking of his discharge date.

‘XX, 2 months… I haven’t even spent two years here yet…’

Elliott’s reason why he irritates his successors by asking about his discharge time must be because he has been in the border defense forces of hell for a long time and his personality has become dirty. And after going through the crown prince’s visit, his personality seemed to have become dirtier.

“I’m going to get new recruits.”

“Yes.”

“I hope they can survive for a long time this time. It’s been so long since I saw a new soldier.”

“That’s true.”

Aquila and I continued the conversation in a dull voice.

Caron has been the youngest in the unit for a year now, as two recruits who came not long ago died during the last visit of the crown prince.

And it’s very unfortunate for me that Caron is the only successor after this much time. XX…

“I need to get out of this laundry swamp as soon as possible.”

Why does it keep popping up every time I do laundry? Obviously, it was all done a few hours ago, but when we woke up, we were robbed because we didn’t have towels to use since we didn’t do the laundry properly. This was very unreasonable.

Currently, Aquila, Caron, Ishina, and I are the only trainees in this unit. Considering that Ishina’s dark circles are getting thicker day by day, it was urgent to supplement strong recruits.

Ishina poked his head out of the corner and asked, so I got up.

“The recruits are here now, aren’t you going to see them?”

“Ah, let’s go!”

It was the news we had been waiting for more than anything else! With a smile on my face, I followed Ishina back into the building.

“There are new recruits.”

The recruits stiffened and listened to Winter’s explanation.

I grabbed Aquila’s and Caron’s arms one by one and pulled them towards me.

“Hmm… What do you think?”

When I asked a question while squinting my eyes and looking at the recruits, Aquila answered with a voice that he wasn’t interested.

“It just looks silly.”

“That’s what we used to be.”

To be honest, when I first came in, my collegues were all stupid. And maybe I was making a silly expression too.

There were five recruits this time, all male, and they looked so stupid. All recruits are stupid at first, so it is not yet known which of them will survive to the end.

“Hmm…”

As I continued to look at the recruits with a probing gaze, Aquila sputtered from behind.

“What do you care so much about? It’s not like you’re going to take care of them anyway, and you’ll soon lose interest.”

“Well…”

Also, Aquila knows me well. It’s been a long time since I became interested in recruits after Reina and her colleagues died.

In fact, I don’t have anyone to take care of, but every time new recruits come in, I’m interested in finding out if there are any familiar faces among them.

To be precise, are there any characters from the original ‘Four Crazy Obsessed’?

‘I can’t tell just by looking at the face.’

After reading many romance novels, the characters get entangled in my head, so it is difficult to remember even the supporting roles, not just the male leads.

‘When I first was possessed in ropan, I remembered the original story clearly, but why can’t I now?’

Well, once there is a really important person, I’ll remember them later when I hear their name. In the end, I left the building again with Aquila and Caron with disinterested eyes.

* ♟ *

However, I soon had a bad relationship with the recruit.

So that day, we were on our way back to the platoon after training at the large training ground at the company headquarters.

In case the monster spews out flames, we used the company headquarters with a large training ground.

After several hours of training, the steps were heavy as we moved along the mountain road to the platoon.

“Do you have any plans until tonight?”

“Yes.”

At Aquila’s answer, my face brightened a little. It will be hard to die, but when I return to the platoon, I will be able to rest, maybe…

Then, I heard footsteps behind me. At the sound as if they were chasing us in a hurry, the troops all turned to look behind us.

“Ranella?”

A woman in uniform like ours was running down the mountain pass, saw us, stopped and gasped, and Plato called her name as if he knew her.

Looking at the small mark on the uniform, she looked like a member of the Beta Squadron.

The woman took a deep breath as if in a hurry, then raised her head and said to us.

“We are working on repairs to the company headquarters building and can only send ten people.”

“Ten people?”

“That’s right. This time, it’s the Alpha Squadron’s turn.”

“Oh, I’m annoyed…”

Leon ruffled his hair as if annoyed by her words, then turned his head to us and said:

“Hey, did you hear? Only ten people go.”

Then we started looking at each other. It was said that there were ten people, but they didn’t specify who they were, and there was no way I wanted to go to work even though I had just been training.

‘XX, please let me take a break…’

A positive circuit started running in my head. Yes, we are trainees who train, so shouldn’t these things be left for first-class soldiers?

Looking around, the recruits, as well as Caron, were making expressions that they didn’t want to do.

…For some reason, Ishina had already turned to the company headquarters as if there was no other choice.

“Hey, aren’t you going quickly?”

When Leon made a grim expression again, I was the one who finally broke this silence and bravely asked a question.

“Leon, who can go?”

Then Leon suddenly smiled happily. It made me feel a little ominous to see that person who is always like a sheepdog smiling.

The seniors here generally had a broken personality. Therefore, even if they do not bother their successors first, when they are happy, they usually suffer in most cases.

“Go if you want.”

…XX…

In the end, I quietly turned around and headed towards the company headquarters, and Aquila stayed by my side with an expressionless expression. Caron also followed Ishina with a distasteful expression and walked to the company headquarters.

Since there are ten, five new recruits, four of us, and either Blair or Topio should go.

When I glanced back, Blair and Topio were playing rock-paper-scissors with more desperate eyes than ever. They had the momentum to smash the opponent with their fists.

At that moment, Gagne, one of the corporals, called out the name of one of the recruits.

“Hey, Zayden.”

“Yes.”

He wasn’t particularly elite, but he was rated as the ‘best’ among the new recruits.

“You have to check the new weapon that came out last time, so you come to the platoon right away. One of the other youngest members should go instead.”

‘Oh, those two were close.’

Recruit Zayden said that he had known Corporal Gagne since they’re from the same hometown. Thanks to that, Zayden received a lot of help from Gagne, and was able to adapt to the unit more smoothly.

In other words, he was sucking honey like that on the line of Gargne…

No matter how you look at it, the words to check the weapon were just an excuse to get him out of the repair work.

‘XX I’m envious…’

While I was envious of him for missing out on this, Blair and Topio, who were playing rock-paper-scissors, looked at each other and stepped on their foot at the same time. In the end, their rock-paper-scissors were meaningless, and they had to work side by side…

‘Damn it, those human destroyers will stab you again.’

I headed to the company headquarters with a dark expression on my face, fearing that Blair and Topio would be paired during the maintenance work.

* ♟ *

“Haha, after all, you have to swear when you’re working, right?”

“That’s right, you have to swear for it to work.”

I could hear Blair and Topio giggling and exchanging sarcastic remarks from behind, but I did not look back and entered the platoon building with a tired expression on my face.

‘XX guys…’

Those humans had a tendency to curse so that their successors could hear them all over and over again.

I think I can see why Ishina couldn’t get to know them even though they were his opponents. They are truly human beings who have lost their humanity.

“Oh, I’m hungry.”

As I muttered in an annoyed voice, Caron next to me spoke quickly, with twinkling eyes.

“But I’m glad it’s dinner time soon!”

“Uh, yes… Isn’t that so far?”

“It’s not that far!”

Even so, Aquila and Ishina, seeing Caron who was still alive, I felt once again that he was one of the original male leads.

Even in the original, Caron had the strength and stamina to never tire.

“Then see you later.”

After patting Aquila on the back to go home, I headed to the laundry.

Originally, I would have gone straight to the dorm and rested even a little, but there were towels left in the laundry before going to training.

I was still in a terrible situation of being the youngest in the women’s dormitory, and I had to avoid Yuri’s fairness, which is harsh when I make a mistake, even though I don’t normally do anything stupid.

When I opened the laundry room door and entered, Zayden was already there.

Still, I did the work for you while you missed the maintenance work.

“…Hmm.”

I feel like Zayden is staring at me for some reason, maybe it’s my mood.

But no matter how much I thought about it, it seemed right that Zayden kept staring at me. Seriously, this Saruvia I possessed must have a pretty face.

Of course, I had no intention of leaving my sleazy successor staring openly at his senior’s face, so I turned my head to look at Zayden.

As soon as our eyes met, Zayden pretended to be busy washing his jacket as if nothing had happened.

“Hey.”

I certainly remember April’s advice.

Zayden didn’t respond to my dignified attitude and only flinched, and seeing that, I gave my eyes more strength.

“Why are you flinching?”

“Ah…”

At those words, Zayden avoided my gaze for a moment, but he did not hide the displeasure on his face.

After such a long silent laundry, I found something and started talking again.

“Recruit, do you have laundry soap?”

“…What?”

Zayden stared at me, then opened his mouth and said:

“I just used it all. It has to be refilled.”

“Okay? Then bring one from the supply room, see Altair and get it there. Even one of the furnishings must be managed thoroughly.”

“Do I have to?”

…Well.

‘What did I hear now?’

“…Aren’t you the youngest here?”

“Ah…but I’m done washing now.”

“Recruit, originally, this is what the youngest does.”

“But why do I need to do that?”

‘That XX right now, starting from staring at me openly before, now his attitude is cocky.’

I wanted to hit that child right away, but I was still only a trainee, so I had to put up with it.

So, let’s try to release this anger by thinking in the most positive way possible.

‘You are moving forward step by step towards an advanced barracks.’

Yeah, come to think of it, it wasn’t originally my job, but I had to do it, so I had to be dissatisfied. Your job is what you do, and this is the way to advanced barracks.

After staying here for too long, it seems that I have assimilated with this place.

I used to think that the youngest had to take care of the bathroom and laundry equipment, but maybe that was a prejudice.

‘It’s something we all use, and of course we all have to manage it… Wait a minute.’

In an instant, I realized something and stopped rationalizing.

‘Is it clear that our respective roles were officially distributed?’

It wasn’t like an unreasonable custom, but clearly, within the platoon, tasks were classified according to class.

For example, I, who is still a trainee, do not do guard duty, but a first-class soldier does guard duty.

It was quite tiring to stand on a regular basis for several hours a day. Instead, the trainees do chores like laundry.

And among the corporals, the youngest are in charge of the training of new recruits and management of the unit’s equipment, and the seniors lead the training of the entire unit…

Yep, this isn’t a bias, it’s just an official thing to do!

Then, realizing that what Zayden had said to me was not a “shortcut to an advanced barracks” but nonsense instead, when I lifted my head, the door to the laundry opened.

“Hey, recruit, do you know where Gagne is?”

“I heard he went to the bathroom.”

“Oh yeah.”

Blair nodded in response to Zayden’s answer and walked out of the laundry, checking something, and then extended a finger and said:

“Hey, recruit. Laundry soap is used up. Get more.”

“Alright.”

‘…What?’

While I was making a bewildered expression on my face, Zayden ran out of the laundry room…?

“What?”

After saying it out loud again, I realized.

Zayden was just ignoring me.

“…XX.”

Then the swear words came out of my mouth.

After all, as usual, I didn’t do XX and tried to be patient for nothing, but this must have happened.

‘Thanks to you, I have a direction on how to treat my successors except for Caron, you XX…’

Raising the corners of my mouth and smiling, I made up my mind.

I didn’t have patience in the beginning, but I won’t be patient anymore…

“You XX, you messed with the wrong person.”

* ♟ *

“Hmm…”

One day when I went out to scavenge a level 3 monster in a platoon unit.

With my gun held tight, I stared at Zayden to my left.

Zayden was assigned to the same squad as me.

Squads don’t mean much when you’re in a platoon, but in the fight against monsters, the problem of how to arrange the members of the squad was very important because you took turns fighting in squad units.

I haven’t had a direct confrontation with Zayden since last time, but it still felt a bit awkward to be sitting next to him in a squad like this.

‘Today they said a snake monster.’

There were a few monsters that were difficult to prevent, no matter how vigilant they were, one of them was a snake monster. Because snake monsters move through the ground, it was difficult to identify them until they crossed the border.

‘“Anyway, it’s not difficult at all because it’s a 3rd-level monster.’

Relaxed, I stared at the squirming dirt beneath it, as if something was moving.

“Squad 1, Squad 2! Attack at the same time!”

As soon as I heard Leon’s instructions, I quickly aimed my gun at the snake that appeared on the dirt.

Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!

I could feel the bullets hitting the snakes one after another.

Winter could be seen firing aura blades of ice to bind the snakes’ movements. Troops using other weapons also dealt with snakes that approached.

‘Now, this seems to be easy.’

When I keep aiming my gun with a carefree thought.

Bang-!

I hurriedly backed away and avoided myself.

A gray aura blade glided past where I was originally.

Surprised, I lowered my gun and looked around.

It was obviously Zayden’s aura.

“Ah.”

As if it wasn’t intentional, Zayden put on a bewildered expression when he saw the erroneously shot aura.

‘If I go back to the unit, I will be robbed.’

I sent my light condolences, remembering the robbery of Zayden, who misused aura and put a fellow platoon in danger.

“Damn…”

Zayden raised his hand and scratched his head, then continued attacking the snake.

‘…What?’

I had no intention of meddling because it was a matter of being taken over by the corporals anyway, but isn’t this the time to apologize to me?

‘After all, when I return to the unit, I have to kill this child by all means…’

At that moment, I remembered that a character named ‘Zayden’ appeared in the original novel as well. Yes, there was one like that!

And Zayden in the original story…

“Hey XX…”

Recalling Zayden’s actions in the original story, I sharpened my teeth to the point of making a crackling sound, then raised the gun again and pointed it at the snake.

Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!

Every three shots had to be reloaded, and the rain could have been spared, but I kept my hands busy and shot without a break.

While Zayden looked at me with a slightly tired face, I lowered my voice so that the other seniors could not hear me, whispered.

“Do you think I’m easy?”

“…No.”

“It’s okay, I think you want to get along well with me…”

I said, glaring at him with strength in my eyes.

“Get it right for once, alright?”

* ♟ *

“What was that?”

After clearing out the monsters, returning to the platoon, Aquila spoke to me behind an empty building.

“What?”

“What did you say to Zayden earlier? What happened?”

“Ah, I see.”

As I made a dissatisfied expression on my face, Aquila naturally wrapped his hot hands around my shoulders as if to soothe me.

“Why is he being cocky towards you? Why are you feeling so bad?”

“Well, that is also true. That’s not what makes me feel bad though.”

Earlier, I felt bad for the reasons Aquila said, but now it is different.

The reason I feel uncomfortable right now is because I remembered what kind of character Zayden was in the original story.

“Then why do you feel so bad?”

“Um, I don’t know…”

I said that once, but I was feeling a little relieved as Aquila warmed my body. I muffled my words and brought my body closer to Aquila. Well, I think I’m feeling a little bit better.

“So, Aquila, why do you look like that? You don’t look good either.”

I shrugged, glancing at Aquila, whose eyes were subtly wilder than usual.

“…It’s something to do with it.”

“Hmm.”

After roughly answering Aquila’s words, I began to recall Zayden’s actions in the original story.

Zayden. Although the time of enlistment differed by 1 year and 3 months from us, he was also a person who opposed Aquila in the original work.

There were no other troops between Caron and him, and he was a character with his own power in the original work because he was good at his job.

When Aquila was trying to take care of Darlene, the original heroine, Zayden tried to harass Darlene and interfere with Aquila’s affairs in every case.

In the original story, the story was developed based on events rather than the emotions of the characters. So, the reason why Zayden disliked Aquila was not explained in detail, but Aquila told Darlene:

“… If anything happens with Zayden, let me know.”

“Yes… But why does Zayden hate Aquila so much?”

“It must be because he’s jealous of me… You do not need to worry about it. I will take care of it.”

“Jealousy…”

Perhaps he was jealous of Aquila, the elite of the unit.

Originally, the second place is usually jealous of the first place. Zayden had his own abilities, but he was buried under Aquila and not noticed, so it was worth being jealous of Aquila.

‘I will never leave you alone.’

When I think of Zayden trying to ruin Aquila’s work with such a frivolous feat, it’s angering.

Of course, I think I’d die of anger when Zayden overtly tried to ignore me or put me in danger but didn’t even say a word of apology. But the reason I feel worse than that is…

‘It’s because of you, you idiot.’

I will not leave anyone XX who touches my colleagues.

“Hey, Aquila! Listen.”

In the end, with a grim expression on my face, I grabbed Aquila’s hand.

“If someone tries to annoy you, I will kill them.”

“…Okay.”

Aquila just nodded his head with a subtle expression, as if he had taken my serious words as they were.

‘That XX Zayden, just like in the original, I’ll kill you the moment you annoy my colleague.’

* ♟ *

(3rd person pov)

Aquila looked down at Saruvia, whose eyes shone fiercely, but she did not look fierce at all.

He was about to tell her that she didn’t look scary at all, but Aquila decided to keep his mouth shut, because if he said that, she’d let go of their clasped hands.

‘If Ishina saw it, I would grab the back of his neck again.’

Aquila thought of Ishina, who seemed to think of him as trash. Also, in order to close Ishina’s mouth, it was necessary to work even harder for Ishina.

‘…And that new recruit.’

Aquila frowned, thinking of the recruit Zayden who had a problem a while ago.

He didn’t like Zayden. Aside from his cocky attitude towards Saruvia…

‘I can’t understand his intention.’

It was because the eyes that looked at Saruvia clearly contained a dark heart.

* ♟ *

(Saruvia’s pov)

‘What should I do?’

In the original ‘Four Crazy Obsessed’, there were no proper villains due to the nature of the military service.

Since the original male protagonists were in power in the unit, there was no one who could oppose them.

At least, it was Zayden who played the villain even a little bit. As a first-class soldier at the time Dalyn enlisted, he tormented Dalyn in areas that his seniors didn’t care about, and when he became a corporal, he even put Aquila in trouble.

For example, when he went out to exterminate monsters, he intentionally led Aquila to a dangerous place.

Of course, in the military, he didn’t give Aquila any effective blows, but it was clear that he was quite a nuisance.

And I will never let a successor offend my colleagues, XX.

So what should I do with Zayden? Be nice to Zayden and make him on my side from the start? That XX has already been wrong from being cocky towards me, XX.

The rest…

“Hey, are you cleaning right now, or are you enjoying mopping?”

“Sorry!”

“Are you kidding me already? Aren’t you going faster?”

“I will fix it!”

I was in the same situation as we were cleaning together, but from now on, I decided to build a clear wall between this XX and me.

In order to prevent any increase in power within this unit at all, the rank needs to be firmly established from the beginning.

“Hey, why are you looking at Ishina like that?”

“Hey, I didn’t do such a thing!”

“Saruvia, it’s fine…”

“Ishina, my heart aches so much!”

“Ehh…do as you please.”

Ishina, who had been with me for over a year and built a friendship, shook his head as if he would not interfere.

“Whew…”

“What?”

“Are you just sighing? Do you have any complaints?”

“There is no such thing…”

“Sigh…”

“…Did I do something wrong?”

“I don’t like your blonde hair.”

“…Did I not hear well?”

“I don’t like the fact that your hair is blonde! Why! Why! I hate blondes!”

“Okay, I’ll fix it… No, there is no such thing… No, I’m sorry…”

“Aaaah, I hate blondes so much!”

As I opened my eyes and shouted, Zayden looked at me now with crazy eyes.

But when I say that I hate blondes, it’s not an excuse, it’s the truth. April and the Crown Prince. Both characters were blonde, so I have a disease that gives me goosebumps when I see blondes.

“Doesn’t Saruvia seem to be getting better and better?”

“Hah, look at how the personality deteriorates after being locked up in the military for a long time.”

“Tsk, have you realized that you have to work while cursing as well?”

“Well, after all, you should swear when you work.”

“And she said she didn’t like blondes either.”

“Damn it, it’s probably the same for all of our troops…”

When they saw me, Blair and Tobio passed by, clicking their tongues. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like that from those personality breakers.

‘…No, there is no way I could have been that bad of a character.’

* ♟ *

It’s been two months since the new recruits were put into full-fledged extermination of monsters.

Two of them lost their lives, but Zayden, who was still quite strong, was doing his best in clearing out monsters, and his neck was still intact.

And it’s been two months since I started arguing with Zayden.

Ishina called me with a worried face.

“Saruvia, let’s talk for a second.”

“What are you doing?”

Aquila and Caron separated, and Ishina said carefully while sitting in front of me.

“Has Zayden ever made any big mistake to you?”

“Hm, that’s…”

As I was contemplating whether or not to talk about what Zayden had been cheeky about or put me in danger, Ishina continued.

“I know that Zayden was disrespectful towards you in the first place…”

‘You knew?’

The human eye is very accurate.

“Has anything in particular got him in trouble with you?”

“…There have been times when he swears to himself instead of apologizing for not obeying my instructions, or by throwing his aura wrong in the past, and I almost got hurt.”

“Is that why you hate Zayden?”

Anyway, he was my senior, so I couldn’t say anything about it, so I kept my mouth shut and pondered how to explain it.

“…Well, yes.”

For once that was the surest excuse I could give, I nodded. Because I couldn’t say that in the future that bastard would torment Aquila.

“What if I torment a new recruit like that? Saruvia, you have to open up your mind a bit.”

“…”

“Right now, Zayden doesn’t seem to be very happy with you either. I know you hate him, but wouldn’t this be enough?”

Of course he wouldn’t be happy with me any more after this, but I wanted to remove any room for him to touch Aquila in the future.

“And if you bully new recruits like that, do you think even seniors won’t notice? Zayden is close with Gagne. So, stop right here.”

“Seniors…?”

“Yeah, seniors. Especially Gagne. If the corporals find out that they are still harassing other trainees on the subject of trainees…”

“…Also, Ishina.”

I realized something from Ishina’s words and looked up at Ishina with my eyes shining. Ishina wondered if my eyes were burdensome, and backed away.

“Isina is right.”

“…Right? You must have understood what I was saying.”

“Yes, I understand.”

As expected, the person who played the role of the sweet villain in the original is different, but something else is different.

Even if I harassed Zayden on the subject of a trainee, there was a limit to the extent to which I could harass. At best, it wasn’t too far from the level Blair and Topio had verbally spoken of before.

In addition, it was unclear whether or not in the future, Zayden’s power can be broken in this way at best.

Zayden’s strength comes from the fact that he is close to Gagne, so even if I try to slap him, his strength will not go away. So what I’m doing now is in many ways inefficient.

However, there was a way to effectively tap and press Zayden without being a problem.

‘Let’s get on the line!’

If that happens, it will be more advantageous for me to gradually build up power within the unit while receiving the protection of a senior on the line!

Not only Gagne, but I can also ride the line of other seniors!

Ishina was secretly giving me a hint, saying that I should use the ‘senior’ card.

“Ishina, thank you very much.”

“…Did I say anything for you to be so grateful? I don’t think…”

“I will do as Ishina said! Thank you! Then I’ll be on my way!”

“…Did you misunderstand what I meant again? Ugh, I’m bored… I’m really tired of youo not listening…”

Ishina patted his chest and sighed, but I ran into the building to plan ahead!

Line, ride the line from now on!

* ♟ *

(3rd person pov)

‘Damn it.’

A training ground where only his colleagues remain. Zayden, along with two of his comrades, managed the blade and spit out swear words to himself.

It’s been two months since he joined the border defense force like this X. All life was like X.

Two dead colleagues, two remaining colleagues who never know when they’ll die, training in hell, a lot of chores…

And among the members of the troop, there were a lot of like-minded people.

Commander Elliot shouts “Time!” and turns the people around him into human watches. 

Commander Taro, who rolls his successors together, Corporal Altair, who smiles and behaves friendly and turns into a psycho if one makes a mistake, First Class Blair and Topio, who seem to be swearing at their successors…

Among them, the person who seemed particularly crazy was the same trainee, Saruvia.

The first time he saw her, he thought she wasn’t a good fit for this horrible place. It felt like the surroundings were getting brighter just by her standing there.

With a face that could not help but to pay attention, Zayden became interested in her. His possessiveness, which was strong even before enlisting, crept out.

However, Saruvia was not as docile as Zayden had thought. She made a point for Zayden by asking what she was looking for from the beginning.

Naturally, seeing her act as if she had an upper hand over Zayden made him feel bad.

So Zayden was determined not to be withdrawn in front of Saruvia. If Zayden continues to lose his spirit, he thought that the moment would come when Saruvia would be embarrassed and look at him on the other hand.

And Saruvia’s reaction far exceeded Zayden’s expectations.

However, Saruvia blinked day by day and acted crazy. It was a look that could be said to be rather more terrifying than lovely.

‘She was crazy.’

When he thought of Saruvia, who has been arguing with him up to now, he got goosebumps all over his body. Now, just seeing flowers of a color similar to that of Saruvia’s hair blooming on the roadside made him jump in surprise. (tl/n: LMAO AS YOU SHOULD)

All of his comrades responded to Saruvia, saying, “It’s best to avoid that crazy X.”

In fact, instead of being caught in his own hands, Saruvia had the momentum to grab his hair first, but Zayden could not admit that he had been pushed back.

He decided not to step back from the goal he had set once.

‘I will definitely get her in my hands.’

Ignoring the ominous premonition rising from within, Zayden ignited a burning desire to suppress Saruvia.

* ♟ *

(Saruvia’s pov)

Discharge in D-2403 days.

At the training ground, holding a sword instead of a gun as usual, I vigorously swung the sword loaded with aura and repeated the slashing motion. Even though my main weapon was a gun, it’s good to practice other weapons, so I sometimes practice swordsmanship like this.

Of course, I have a different purpose for holding the sword today.

“Altair, can you take a look at this move?”

“Oh, yes, Saruvia. Why did you pick up the sword today?”

Altair, with a smiling face, came towards me with jagged steps.

“Sometimes I have to hold the sword like this. The weapon best suited to Archon is the sword, isn’t it?”

“Hey, that’s right!”

“I think it is a law that should be faithful to the basics first.”

“Ha, right… Kids these days keep forgetting that the sword is the basics, but Saruvia, you have a straight concept.”

Altair patted me on the back and laughed as if he was in a good mood. I looked at him and smiled as naturally as possible.

‘From now on, I ride the line with electric power.’

At the time of the original story, Winter was the commander of this unit. It is common for commanders to be assigned to a unit other than their original unit, but Winter was fortunately assigned to this unit again.

Winter, who had gone through a period of training as an A-class soldier and a first-class, and had good colleagues who were also elite, had considerable power in this unit now as a corporal. It means that he was a senior with ‘power’.

It was the same for his other colleagues, but the important thing is that Winter carried on from this unit to the commander-in-chief. Around that time, the power he exerts on this unit is at its peak.

‘So I’m riding Winter’s line.’

And to ride winter’s line. Rather than winter, the “leader of cool mint,” which is difficult to approach, it would be a priority to get close to Altair, who is also close.

Altair was a fairly easy-to-understand person. Because of his blue hair and eye color, I used to sing along with his classmates as a ‘Cool Mint Trio’, but I think he is a person who has both bubblyness and flair at the same time.

To the seniors, he is good at flattering and funny, and to his subordinates, he is good at making funny jokes and getting along well, but if someone bothers him even a little bit, he can be seen as a person who casts “ah, take these XXs with you~”

‘I didn’t know I was going to be acting in politics.’

I also enjoyed political ropan quite a bit.

A woman who risked her life for politics in the imperial palace or a noble family. The enemy’s subordinates who have been decapitated by the female protagonist! A breathtaking brain battle between the heroine and her nemesis! That was also the beauty of politics.

‘Of course, the most important thing in politics is the quality of politics in the military.’

“Haha…”

As I suddenly smiled sinisterly, Altair flinched.

“Hey, did I just hear April’s laughter? Is it an illusion…”

I raised the corners of my lips slightly as I recalled the conflict that was about to unfold.

* ♟ *

This unit did not have severe conflicts with political issues. People die from time to time, and it’s better to build up your own skills during that time.

But even though this is a place where people live, there could be factions. It’s just that the conflict wasn’t severe, and the boundary was definitely there.

Among the corporals, Winter, Altair, and Yuri of the 78th class had a feud with the 77th class, Gagne and Zara.

Yep, that’s the Gagne that got Zayden under his wings.

Probably because the coolmint trio of the 78th are so good that they have been compared over and over again, I am guessing that the 77ths have come to dislike their successors.

‘Among the corporals now, the Winter line is the lowest, but considering the future, it is still best to ride the Winter line.’

That’s why I’m still listening to these things while being captured by Altair.

“So that’s why I moved that big rock by myself at that time~”

“Wow, that’s great too! How did you move that heavy thing?”

“At that time, my palm was like a cloth.”

“Hahaha!”

“Cough! Cough!”

As I pretended to laugh at Altair’s gag, Yuri, passing by us violently spouted water from the bottle of water. (tl/n: gag = joke)

“Hey, you, what are you doing now…?”

Yuri pointed at Altair with her trembling fingers. Altair raised one hand with a grim attitude.

“Hey, what?”

“Saruvia, it must have been very difficult…”

Yuri came up to me and wrapped my hand with a warm look that she had never shown before.

“You’ve been through a lot… I am sorry as his colleague.”

Having said that, Yuri looked at Altair with a glance like garbage and shouted.

“Why are you harassing the child?”

“What’s bothering you? Didn’t you just see that we were having a good conversation while laughing?”

“Shut up! Don’t act unreasonably toward your successors!”

“No, what absurdity is this…”

“Your gag is absurd!”

Yuri dragged Altair away and sent me a look of regret.

“No, it’s irrational for Taro to make any loud noises while sleeping, or for Gagne to swear at children, but why is this absurd!”

“Your gag is the biggest absurdity among them!”

I let out a sigh as I looked at Altair’s back as he moved away.

“Anyway, no one is fine…”

Altair, who excelled in swordsmanship, was a young man with a cheerful impression.

Unlike many seniors, he had a slender body, shiny blue hair, blue eyes with long eyelashes, and his skin was rather white. In a word, he was like an idol.

However, unlike his refreshing appearance, he made more brazen remarks than anyone else in this unit, and was the number one leader in uninteresting gags…

Still, he had a good personality and got along well with his successors, but the problem was that he thought that the reason his successors followed him well was because he was humorous and trendy.

“No, I can stand it… I will definitely become Altair’s entourage…”

I left the room, swallowing the saliva that came out of my mouth. Because it reminded me of a pile of laundry piled up.

As I trudged to the laundromat, Caron looked up at me with bright eyes.

“Where have you been?”

“Altair.”

After answering roughly, I squatted next to Caron and stroked his head.

“Aww, you were doing well.”

I could feel the gazes of the recruits, including Zayden, beside me, but I didn’t care.

‘With this, even Zayden will know that I have an amicable relationship with my seniors.’

A bunch of white shirts in the basket smelled bloody. This is because everyone was drenched in blood in the battle with the monster yesterday.

“XX, what kind of bald-headed bastard would have thought of wearing a white shirt?”

Angrily, I pulled out a shirt that had been soaked in cold water and put toothpaste on the brush.

It’s a fact I often forget because of this X-like life, but the original ‘Four Crazy Obsessed’ was Ropan. It means that the elements of Ropan are being applied in this reality in which I live.

For example, there is no smell of sweat even after running for a long time while training, the hair does not get wet even when sweating from training, the appearance of the surrounding people is average, and things like that.

And one of them was clothes…

‘Who wears a shirt in battle, XX.’

As a result of the writer considering only the fashion of the male characters, we had to do our best to clean the bloody shirts after every battle.

I… I possessed ropan, but I did not know that I was washing clothes with toothpaste.

But when washing bloody shirts, toothpaste was the direct use.

I think I’ve seen how to do laundry with hydrogen peroxide in the old world, but I couldn’t find anything like that here.

After using toothpaste to drain blood for a long time, even when brushing my teeth, the smell of toothpaste makes my stomach churn.

“I will do the rest!”

“Look at our youngest.”

Because Caron said so with the look of a dog, I had no choice but to loosen my grimacing face and stroke his head. Now, Caron is not the youngest, but for me, he is the youngest for the rest of my life.

“By the way, where did Ishina and Aquila go?”

“Ah, they went out earlier because the two of them had something to say.”

“What?”

I jumped up and moved one of the shirts I had just washed into the basket, and Caron looked at me and widened his eyes.

“I have to follow right now!”

I thought I was going to die because I was already tired of the laundry, but if only the two of them got out of this place, I would have escaped too.

“Get up quickly. Let’s follow!”

“What’s left is…”

“Okay, it will be over soon!”

After all, the work of wiping off the blood is over, and now it seems that all I need to do is dry it under the warm sun. And it doesn’t require that many people.

‘Then we can go now!’

It’s a pity for the new recruits, but if there is a difference of 1 year and 3 months between the recruits, wouldn’t it be enough to deal with them at the same time?

“What were you talking about?”

“It’s no big deal. We were just talking about the right tactics.”

…Even if I didn’t hear exactly what it was, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t like that.

“What did Aquila do wrong?”

I asked again in a puzzled voice, but only Ishina’s calm answer came back.

“What? It’s not like that. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“It was nothing.”

Even Aquila spoke with the attitude that nothing had happened, so in the end I gave Ishina a suspicious look and closed my mouth. I’ll try to figure out what he and Aquila talked about later.

“So, Saruvia, what are you doing?”

“Ah. It wasn’t a big deal, I just got fed up with the laundry and ran away.”

“…Did you procrastinate?”

“It will be over in 10 minutes.”

“Okay…”

Ishina made a face that was understandable. He murmured as he looked at Caron standing behind me with a bright expression on his face.

“Teaching a child something really bad… No, in my opinion, he’s got a problem since the beginning… Sigh…”

‘These days, Ishina talks to herself more.’

It seems to be a perfect fit for a character in a novel. If you talk to yourself a lot, it is convenient for the reader.

Anyway, his business with Aquila seemed to be over, so I started the usual conversation with Aquila.

“Oh, right, Aquila. Who has the arsenal keys?”

“This week, Zara does.”

“Right.”

Aquila  clasped my two hands with one of his. My hands, which had been frozen by the cold water, quickly felt warm.

…I felt the smell of toothpaste rising from my hands with him.

‘Come to think of it, the reason I don’t smell no matter how much I sweat is not because of the ropan buff, but because the smell of toothpaste is so strong, isn’t it?’

If you think that the smell of toothpaste is already on the clothes we wear, you might be right…

‘If it’s a male alcoholic beverage, it should smell like a refreshing mint scent or a woody scent that seems to capture the forest as it is…’

The toothpaste doesn’t even smell like mint. I slowly closed my eyes and shook my head, thinking of Winter, the mascot of Cool Mint Trio.

“Winter.”

Then Ishina greeted behind me, so I turned my head in amazement. Winter was walking. Aquila naturally released his strength from her grip on me, and we bowed down to Winter.

“Hey, you guys.”

“What are you doing?”

Winter, who appeared suddenly, spoke as sudden as his appearance.

“Are you aware of Chapter 15, Article 93 of the Military Code?”

We all had puzzled faces. No, I mean, what kind of human can memorize something like that…?

When we gave him a look that we didn’t know at all, Winter beckoned to Caron.

“Caron, go and get the military law book from the unit’s dormitory.”

“Oh, I see!”

In answer to Winter’s words, Caron quickly disappeared.

The Military Law Book, which literally looked like a thick encyclopedia of all the military laws of the Border Guard, was placed on the bookshelf of the company’s archives.

But no one reads it. Of course, you learn what you shouldn’t do in the military, and who would read that thick book?

Besides, there were no humans in this unit who liked to read. All the members of the unit, including me, were human beings who acted before words. Occasionally, even the troops who read books read practical books, such as the Encyclopedia of Demonic Spirits, placed next to the military law book.

Previously, April was reading a military law book with a very interesting expression, so I thought she was crazy.

Soon Caron came running with a very thick green book.

“Here!”

“Saruvia, take it.”

Without knowing what Winter was going to do, I took a thick military law book from Caron.

“Open to page 194.”

“Alright.”

As he said, I found page 194 and unfolded it. The small letters were densely written, and it felt like my eyes were getting dizzy.

“Now read Article 93 aloud.”

“Ah…”

I looked into Winter’s eyes and muttered carefully. His orders were impossible to follow because…

“I can’t read that article.”

Saruvia, whom I possessed, originally did not know how to read. Growing up in a place that couldn’t even be called an orphanage, it was impossible for her to have a chance to learn to read.

“…What?”

At those words, Winter looked at me with surprised eyes, and Ishina also had a confused face.

Feeling like an ignorant person, I bowed my head. I don’t know much about writing, but I’ve been here for about a year and a half.

‘You don’t have to use your head in this world.’

If I were to leave a review on the original ‘Four Crazy Obsessed’, I would definitely write this along with how much of an advisor she is.

-Is the woman smart? No. Are the male leads smart? No. Are the villains smart? No. Then there is no need for cleverness in this novel.

Yes. The only correct answer in this world was ‘violence and fear’.

“Then how did you memorize monster information before?”

Winter, who had regained his usual composure, asked.

“I memorized after hearing other comrades read aloud.”

“…Ah. Then I will read it for you.”

Winter began reciting Chapter 15, Article 93 of the Military Code without asking more about me or reading the book.

“However, when fellowship occurs within the military, the subjects are transferred to different units. Second, if you are in a relationship with those in a leadership relationship, you will be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. Third, a person who commits sexual promiscuity in the military shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years.”

…What the hell are you talking about?

‘So, if you date someone within the Border Guard, you will be transferred or you will go to a prison?’

“Be careful not to be misunderstood. If you are misunderstood, you can get involved in unsavory things.”

Winter said, pointing to the hand Aquila and I were holding earlier.

“Yes, I understand…”

Aquila had the same expression as me when I heard the absurd words.

‘XX, I possessed ropan, but there is a risk of going to a prison…’

Isn’t the fact that the word ‘military’ exists in this world is proof that this world is far from ropan?

And another ridiculous thing…

‘No, the original heroine Darlene was free to experience romance, Wasn’t she?’

Darlene obviously hugged the original male protagonists, folded arms, and even hugged the princess!

Even in the original story, Winter warned only Darlene that guns were dangerous, but no matter how much you think about it, the difference with the original female lead is too much.

“Winter, have you memorized all of this book…?”

When Ishina, who had been making a strange expression for a while, pointed to a military law book that looked to be hundreds of pages, Winter answered in a natural voice.

“Of course. If you want to keep the military law, you must first know the military law.”

‘Is he a human or an android?’

When I realized that he was memorizing the entire Military Law, I looked tired.

“So, read the book carefully. It will come in handy someday.”

‘Winter, did you hear with the back of your ear that I couldn’t read?’

Then, Winter opened his mouth again.

“Saruvia, I will teach you to write for the time being. You should also be able to read.”

“…Did I not hear well?”

The extra time I get to spend with my senior?

Wait, let’s think about it. Obviously, someone might misunderstand this as a ‘romantic development’.

But, in my opinion…

‘Isn’t this an absurdity in the military?’

One more thing was added. Go crazy.

I leaned against the wall with my arms crossed with a boiling expression on my face. Only after Winter’s appearance had completely disappeared did Ishina open his mouth.

“Aquila, I’ve said many times, but there’s something wrong with your actions… Look, even Winter noticed.”

“…Okay, but why don’t we talk about it later when we’re together?”

Aquila glanced at me and spoke to Ishina, but I had no energy to ask what their conversation meant.

‘Why am I the only one who can’t read?’

No matter how much I think about it, it really pisses me off. I heard that Winter’s Archon parents were elites who had been educated from a young age, so it’s only natural…

I asked, looking helplessly at Aquila.

“Why are you reading…?”

“…Do you want me to read it?”

“No, where did you learn it?”

“From my parents when I was young.”

… XX, you suddenly became a quarrelsome kid.

“Where did you learn Ishina?”

“My parents are both Archons, so I’ve been educated all the time.”

Aha, Ishina must have been an elite type just like Winter…

“…Caron, what about you?”

You forgot all your memories in a fire accident, but you didn’t forget reading.

“Um, I’ve known it since I was a kid, I can’t even remember, so maybe my biological parents taught me.”

“Birth parents?”

“Yes, I heard that both of them were officers of the Border Guard, but they are dead!”

“Ah…”

…XX, I was the only one who was completely alone without a guardian Archon since childhood.

Suddenly angry, I made an impulsive decision.

‘When I am discharged, I will make an Archon family.’

No matter what happens, I will make a family, and I will surely marry another Archon. Seriously.

* ♟ *

“Now, let’s read.”

“…One, without turning their backs on the enemy… No, in battle…”

“I think it would be great with a little more practice.”

“Yes…”

Sitting in front of Winter, I answered with a bored face. Studying has never been fun.

Fortunately, learning the characters of this world was very simple. I was already using the languages of this world well, so if I just memorized the sound of each letter of the alphabet, it wasn’t difficult after that.

Of course, even then, there were a lot of confusing parts, and it was a bit difficult to learn the grammar of the language I used without being aware of it.

‘I’m glad it’s not much different from English though.’

Because the shape of the basic alphabet was similar to that of English, it was easy to memorize.

Well, for me, it was natural for me to be able to write letters in a few days, but to Winter, it didn’t seem like that. Winter must have considered me illiterate.

“It’s not bad at this speed. You have a sense of the language.”

“Um, yes…”

I answered in a bewildered voice. Actually, I’m not that great, but I don’t know how to react when I’ve been praised by the picky Winter.

“Looking at how quickly you learned the knowledge of monsters before, it seems that memorization itself is fast.”

“Aha, yes…”

Of course, that was because I knew a little about the original.

Whether I was awkward at his compliments or not, Winter seemed happy to have met a rather smart-ish successor.

“If you do well, you will be able to memorize all the military laws.”

“…What?”

“I don’t think I’ve seen any wise successors except for Ishina lately, but it seems like a successor to teach has appeared after a long time.”

It’s a big deal.

In the military, I only go to the middle, but I went too hard in front of Winter.

As my face turned white as I looked at Winter, whose eyes were shining like a professor trying to drag students to graduate school, the door to the counseling room opened with a loud sound.

The place where we are now was the company headquarters, the counseling room used by the company commander to interview his unit members, but the company commander doesn’t use this counseling room well anyway, so he willingly gave the room.

I heard later that Winter was well known as an elite, so he had been doing various chores at the company headquarters before, and the company commander looked after me well.

Anyway, it was Altair who opened the door to the counseling room and entered.

‘Nice timing.’

If it had been a little longer, Winter might have dragged me into applying for an officer’s course or filling out an application for college after being discharged.

Altair looked at us with his characteristic cheerful smile, and asked in a somewhat excited voice.

“Oh, okay. It looks like you’re working very hard. You are a wonderful child, you have a passion.”

No matter how much I think about it, I’m really glad that our troops are already on top of the mountain. If our troops were at the foot of the mountain, Altair would say every day, “Passion! Passion! Passion!” shouted and suggested that we do mountaineering training.

“Altair. What’s going on?”

“Hey, what must happen for me to come to see you? I would be interested if my successor is doing well.”

Altair, who did not care about Winter’s callous reaction, responded softly and looked back at me and asked.

“Ah, I remember Blair and Topio learning to read while they were taught by Winter. How are you doing? Is Saruvia doing well?”

“Saruvia has a sense of language. You cannot compare them.”

They learned to read from Winter like me? Why do I feel like I am discovering things in common with these people these days?

‘No, at least I don’t have personality problems like the 85th…’

As I frowned, I noticed a strange thing in Altair’s words.

Obviously I haven’t seen Blair and Topio learning to read from Winter since enlisting, so that means they learned before I enlisted.

But before I enlisted, Winter would have been a first-class soldier. Did the seniors only allow the First Class to teach other trainees?

“Then, did Winter teach Blair and Topio to write even when he was a first-class officer?”

As soon as I brought out what I was curious about, Altair said with a look back at the past.

“Yeah, that’s what corporals should do, but winter is so perfect~ Seniors at the time left it for Winter.”

‘In a nutshell, it means they took care of Winter.’

Finding the truth in Altair’s words, I nodded. Ah, that’s how it happened

And perhaps Winter wouldn’t mind teaching Blair and Topio because he’s a crazy perfectionist.

Winter was always cool when he was a private. No matter how the people around him behaved, he only did the standard ‘first class job’.

For example, while the 85th class of personality destruction was being robbed and banged by seniors, Winter, who was cleaning, calmly swept with a broom.

When April was holding the other corporal’s hair, instead of worrying, he quietly pulled out more weeds.

But after becoming a corporal, Winter was completely different.

As before, he was a principled man, but now that he has started “management of successors,” which is the job of a corporal, he has revealed a tendency to control, following a principled tendency.

It must have been a temporary burst of the control maniac he had suppressed when he encouraged me to use guns before as a first-class soldier.

As proof of that, after he became a corporal, his successors had to live by hearing the following words…

“Hey, let your back stand ten degrees.”

“When doing gymnastics, you have to put your right foot forward 8 centimeters.”

“There is dust on the bottom right of the fifth window in the hallway.”

Even what he said was right, so his successors had no complaints and had to make corrections according to his words. So Winter’s successors were always suffering.

When I think of the number of times I was pointed out by Winter in the past, I almost cried.

“Saruvia. Let’s end it here today. I hope we can finish the rest tomorrow and practice writing a little more.”

“Yes, but I think I can study on my own from now on…”

“No.”

Suddenly, Winter looked down at me with an incredibly determined expression. Surprised by the momentum, I was startled, but Winter didn’t care and said in a calm voice.

“This is a rare opportunity. It cannot be missed.”

“…What?”

When I asked in a bewildered voice, unable to understand his words, Winter’s face, which had already been serious, became more serious.

“You are talented enough. It’s an opportunity to unlock the talent within you.”

“What?”

I don’t know how far Winter, possessed by a mad professor, was going to take me, but anyway, I had no choice but to nod my head at his words with watery eyes.

Okay, let’s think positively as much as possible…

Winter is a man who has been entrusted with the authority to teach Blair and Topio since he was first class.

Since then, he has been able to teach others, really…

‘I want this man’s power…!’

Make the most of this learning time to get to know Winter and ride the Winter line!

Winter is now the leader of this unit, until he becomes a corporal! While the original is in progress, he will continue to be the dominant force in this unit!

“As expected, Winter, you seem to have stood out from the days of First Class. Didn’t the seniors recognize you as the best among the successors?”

As my lust for power flattered Winter with blazing eyes, Winter beckoned Altair with a strange expression.

Even Altair looked at me with an unknown expression and left, but despite their lukewarm reaction, my burning desire for power did not go out.

* ♟ *

“Saruvia.”

“Yes?”

When I returned to the platoon, it was Aquila who greeted me. Aquila, who looked at me back with a slightly tired expression, asked in a low voice.

“Isn’t it hard?”

“Uh, learning to write? It’s not hard at all.”

When I saw Aquila’s face, there were so many things I wanted to say, so I started spitting out words.

Pls read only at pink muffin tl.

“No matter how much I think about it, it seems too strange to read the alphabet as ‘le’. I want to read ‘F’. And I can’t even get used to the uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet that reads ‘B’. I think the two should be reversed.”

As I recalled the English alphabet I had previously learned and complained about the alphabet of the Imperial Adolf, Aquila waited patiently for me to finish speaking.

“Anyway, that was today.”

“Learning itself is not difficult.”

“Yeah, that’s rather good.”

Even if I have no place to write in this border guard, I will have to learn to write once I am discharged from the military someday. It was a good thing that I was able to learn thoroughly from Winter.

“And Winter teaches me well.”

At those words, Aquila looked at me with crimson eyes. And I realized at that moment that I was a little bit wrong.

“I can do it too.”

‘…I made a mistake.’

It seems to me that this is due to the trauma Aquila has suffered since the death of his classmates. Because Aquila was trying to confirm that the motivation was alive in the fact that I needed him.

That said, Aquila is extremely sensitive when it seems that I don’t need him.

A compliment came automatically from my mouth.

“It’s not natural. Because you know me a lot better than Winter, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I like you a lot more than Winter. But now the situation is unavoidable. I just do it because I have to, and the person I really need is you.”

Fortunately, with those words, Aquila’s expression gradually loosened. Aquila’s eyes looked the same as before, but I could read that he was feeling better than before.

‘When you get to know him, it’s really easy to read his expression.’

I don’t know why I felt he looked so expressionless before. If you look closely, you can see that the eyes change subtly.

“Is Winter making you uncomfortable?”

Aquila asked quietly again. He was worried that Winter might be harassing me with the pretext of teaching me.

“No.”

It seems like he kept trying to make me go into the world of science… I swallowed the words and continued.

“Anyway, it certainly feels like he is elite and exemplary. I think it’s very strange that not only one field is exemplary, but everything is exemplary. For example, his face.”

“…What is exemplary?”

“Face…?”

“…”

Taking a deep breath, Aquila’s eyes became ferocious again.

‘What? What did I do wrong?’

I evaluated Winter’s abilities on an objective level, and didn’t I tell you that I needed you?

“Why are you not feeling well…?”

“No, I feel fine.”

“What are you talking about…? I can’t even read your face…? You don’t feel very well…?”

“Hah…”

This time, Aquila let out a bigger sigh than before.

As I was perplexed and restless, I suddenly heard a voice just behind my head.

“Saruvia.”

When I turned around in surprise, Ishina was standing there.

“Ishina?”

“Why do I only pass by you at times like this…?”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“Are you doing it on purpose?”

“What…?”

“No, it…”

Ishina sighed deeply, shook his head, and passed by.

I felt like crying in front of Aquila, who was still in a bad mood. Was there another trauma that I didn’t know about? It’s so difficult…

* ♟ *

Anyway, Winter’s class continued.

For two hours every day, he grabbed me and made me study, and I lost an hour of free time every day instead of an hour of work.

Should I like this? No, if I like it here, isn’t it just the same as being a monkey in the sagebrush?

“Saruvia, focus. Today, you already lost your concentration for the fourth time.”

“Yes…”

I quickly regained focus and stared at the words he had written in front of me.

“You have a habit of repeating this alphabet over and over again. This is already the twenty-eighth time. Why?”

“…I don’t know either.”

“It’s unknown, no, if you think about it, you will surely find the answer somewhere.”

Winter, a crazy control freak and intelligence-gathering supercomputer perfectionist, can’t stand things he doesn’t know…

“Well… I don’t know. What is the reason for writing this alphabet backwards in particular…”

And that’s how I answered it, but I knew why.

In the alphabet of the Adolf Empire, there is something written with an English S, of course, I always wrote it as an S. It was the shape I was familiar with.

“Normal children use this spelling, but you are not a child. Even Blair and Topio did not use this spelling.”

‘How can you compare me to Blair and Topio?’

It felt like all my self-esteem had been shattered.

Unable to manage my facial expressions, I looked at Winter with a slightly dissatisfied expression, then realized my expression and quickly put on a fake smile. It was a basic expression when dealing with seniors.

But instead of pointing out my previous expression, Winter slowly nodded and muttered.

“Yeah, you’re really not afraid.”

“What?”

I asked a question I hadn’t thought of. What? What did he mean by saying I’m not afraid now?

While I was looking puzzled, Altair opened the door and entered as if it was time for class to end.

“Hey, are you done?”

Altair has always been with Winter, so when Winter recently started teaching me, I started seeing Altair more often.

And it helped to instill negative thoughts about Gagne in Altair… Let’s check the effect of this work next time.

“Altair.”

Winter said, looking at Altair with serious eyes.

“Like I said before, it’s really daring.”

“Hey, as expected~ Saruvia, you are probably the most fearless of the Alpha Squadron members.”

As I listened to Winter and Altair’s conversation, I felt a little confused…

‘What the hell do you two think of me?’

Looking at those words, it is clear that there had been conversations about me before, but I don’t know if it was positive.

I had a bewildered expression on my face, then glanced at Altair.

“What were you talking about?”

“Well?”

Altair, who normally would have acted like a senior by asking who dared to ask a question to the senior first, had a rather interesting look on his face.

“Well, maybe Winter will tell you later?”

Altair passed my question lightly, and Winter poked at me again as I turned my gaze to him.

“Saruvia, there are still 7 minutes left, so I think you should focus again.”

“Yes…”

“Let’s put a little more power in your voice to answer. And pay more attention to your facial expression management. Finally…”

It was really painful. It was even more painful because all those nagging words were true…

“It seems that Winter is really in control of everything in the unit alone… Even if there are only 78 members, the unit is sure to run well.”

“Saruvia, please refrain from speaking out the thoughts in your head like that.”

…Be patient, be patient.

Being reminded of Gagne and Zayden one after another, I put up with Winter’s nagging…

* ♟ *

I was in the middle of a major refurbishment right now.

“XX, I’m going to be sleepy.”

I muttered while shoveling.

Indeed, ‘shoveling’ here refers to ‘shoveling’ in the dictionary definition, not ‘shoveling’ in the Romanian term, which says that the male and female characters like each other but do not know each other’s feelings.

‘XX, at least shoveling in ropan didn’t physically suffer this much.’

After I enlisted in the military, I scooped up the soil with my shoveling skills that have improved day by day, and I yawned again.

“Huh…”

“Are you sleepy?”

Caron, who had been clinging to me all of a sudden, asked.

“Well, as always…”

I replied that way and looked around.

Since the senior overseeing the project was Gagne and his colleague, Zara, Zayden was seen shoveling by their side.

As our eyes met, Zayden raised one corner of his mouth sullenly.

‘That’s really…’

In my heart, I wanted to save everyone with violence and fear, but I persevered so as not to go wrong. Okay… He has Gagne’s protection and I had to paint the big picture.

‘Why does that XX go out like that even though he knows he will become an X in the future?’

After holding back my anger and looking at him with contempt, I took a deep breath and realized something.

‘Wait a minute, those eyes of contempt…?’

Come to think of it, you would have clearly known that it would be at a disadvantage to you if you acted like that to me, but if that’s the reason you keep doing that…

‘Do you enjoy being despised?’

Not the first time I’ve looked at him with contempt…

If so, the more I try to break him, the more enjoyable he will be. That’s a really difficult taste. If that’s true, I’ll have to change my coping plan a bit in the future.

As I looked around for the answer, I found Zayden’s colleague whining at work.

‘Does he know?’

With three out of four Zayden’s colleagues already dead, Milfi was Zayden’s only surviving colleague.

Milfi was the successor to the weak impression with wheat-colored hair and a small build. However, because he was agile and quickly followed the instructions of his seniors, he was surviving well in battles with monsters.

Unlike Zayden, who has a sloppy personality, Milfi was always nervous and sometimes seemed to feel burdened by Zayden’s bold actions.

“Milfi.”

“Yes, yes?!”

When I called his name, Milfie ran over this way nervously.

“I have something to ask you now.”

Milfi knew I was having a strange fight with Zayden. Therefore, he seemed a little frightened, thinking that I was trying to avenge him, who was Zayden’s colleague.

“Be good, and answer my questions honestly as much as you know.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Yeah, so…”

I leaned towards Milfi and lowered my voice.

“Zayden, does he have any strange tastes?”

“…What?”

“Is he the type of person who enjoys being despised by his seniors?”

“Yes, yes?”

Milfi stammered in embarrassment at those words, and then opened his mouth as if realizing why I had asked such a question.

“Huh… As far as I know, that’s not the case at all…”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yes, Zayden has a very ordinary taste… He’s not the type to enjoy seeing other people hate him.”

“Okay, that’s good. Then go and work.”

After a light nod, I nodded and whispered about Blair and Topio, who were working in the distance.

“By the way, don’t stand out to them… They have a habit of swearing at subordinates around them when they work.”

“Oh, I see!”

After giving advice, I beckoned Milfi to go and work, and Milfi seemed to have listened to me and continued the work in a place far away from Blair and Topio. Well, it seems you already know a lot about their personality.

‘Today, I saved one successor from the 85th class of personality breakdown.’

At the time when he was proud of taking care of his successor, he heard Caron’s whining voice from behind.

“Saruvia…”

“What?”

Caron, who was crouching on the floor, holding the shovel in both hands, looked up at me.

“I forgot how to shovel.”

“…No, why are you lying?”

Obviously, he had been shoveling just fine until a while ago. What happened during my brief conversation with Milfi?

“Get up at once.”

“I lost strength in this leg.”

“Hey, what do you mean?”

Why is he doing this all of a sudden? I felt a headache was growing.

I stretched out my hands to Caron, who was sitting on the floor while making a nonsensical voice. But even if I pulled Caron’s hand with force, he was too heavy for me to make him stand up. Of course. The weight difference is big.

“Hey, I can’t…?”

But since Caron looked up at me with gleaming eyes, I finally tried to pull him back with more force.

“Ugh!”

“Saruvia, be careful.”

I lost my strength and almost fell backwards, but Aquila supported me from behind. His high body temperature spread right through my body.

“Why are you so hot today?”

“It has been like this.”

Aquila clasped his hands around my waist and made me stand up. Then he pointed to Caron and spoke with a firm attitude.

“By the way, he’s just being silly right now. Don’t accept it. It’s getting bad.”

“What?”

“Because he’s asking you to pay attention to him just because you haven’t been paying attention to him lately.”

No, he’s not a dog, it can’t be…

“Saruvia, but…”

‘Really…?’

Caron got up and pursed his lips as if dissatisfied.

“I’m your right successor, so why do you keep paying attention to other kids these days?”

“What are you talking about? Isn’t this my first time talking to Milfi?”

“Have you ever tried to talk before?”

“Well, rather than caring about Milfi, I guess it could be said that I cared about the personalities of Blair and Topio…”

Even though Caron had a dissatisfied face at those words, he did not refute my words any longer. He, too, seemed to understand their humanity.

But Caron didn’t seem to want to stop there.

“Then why do you care about Zayden?”

I couldn’t figure out why Zayden was being brought up. How could I possibly think of Caron as a lower priority than Zayden?

“Why Zayden?”

“Ah, Aquila said so.”

Caron glanced at Aquila and said.

“These days, Zayden is annoying, so you’re trying to get to know Winter and Altair…”

“No…”

I turned my head to Aquila with an absurd look.

For some reason, my chest felt tight, so I lightly slapped Aquila’s arm a few times. I feel really tired. Aquila, this is all for you in the future.

I wish they would cooperate with me on the big plan I came up with, but Caron is saying why I’m not paying attention to him these days, and Aquila is often sensitive to the thought that I don’t need him.

I can’t. Big plans and whatever, I need to get things done a little faster.

First of all, I need to check what kind of reaction Zayden wants to get from me.

I looked straight to Zayden as it was, and made eye contact with him once more. Then I looked straight into his gray eyes and gave a sly smile.

It was one of the ‘three beautiful expressions of Saruvia’ that I often admire myself while looking in the mirror.

‘If you don’t enjoy me being mad at you, do you want me to be quiet in front of you?’

It was worth half a shot, but Zayden really blushed.

‘…This crazy XX.’

Ok, this made it clear. The reason the child is so rude to me is because he considers me comfortable, and in addition, he wants me to die in front of him.

And the reason is probably because Saruvia’s face is his taste. That crazy XX.

Of course, objectively, Saruvia has a lovely face, but that XX was on the same level as an elementary school student who made fun of the girl he liked.

‘XX, I will do exactly the opposite of what you want…’

It will be Zayden, not me, who will die.

The Gagne who Zayden has on his back, and the power that Gagne has, I will destroy them one after another.

All that is needed is Winter’s help.

‘Yuri is the type to follow the actions of her colleagues while being harsh…’

For the time being, it seems like I need to spend time with Winter or Altair like now.

* ♟ *

“Saruvia, the alphabet.”

With that said, I just double-checked my spelling.

…There were traces of writing an S by flipping one letter of the alphabet. This is confusing no matter how many times I use it. The shape with an S was not familiar with my hands.

“Then I will finish today’s class. If you fix what I’ve said a few times, there won’t be any more practice.”

With those words, I looked up at Winter with twinkling eyes.

“So, is the class over now?”

Winter looked at me with blue-gray eyes. That was my mistake…

“…It seems that you are still lacking.”

He rolled his eyes slightly and smiled, saying that I should continue to study hard in the future.

“There was something strange about you from the beginning…”

“What?”

“Have you ever known someone who looks like me?”

It was a word I couldn’t understand at all, but I denied Winter’s words with a blank expression on my face.

“I never did.”

That’s it, there was no other person in this world who had a face similar to the original male lead #2, Winter.

Winter had perfectly sculpted features, deep blue-grey eyes, a perfectly symmetrical face and, to say the least, a perfect body.

…Again, his body was absolutely perfect. Only the other three male leads’ appearances rivaled him.

“Okay? Then I’m pretty sure you’re just simply not afraid.”

“What are you talking about?”

Winter has often told me things like ‘strong’ or ‘fearless’ from the past.

“You don’t find me scary at all.”

“What?”

“Usually, people seemed to be afraid of me.”

‘Ah.’

I realized why I looked weird in his eyes.

Usually, the successors were very tense in front of Winter, and they didn’t even dare to talk to him. It was difficult to even look directly into his eyes.

Maybe that’s why…

Is it because of the perfect face? Or the creepy blue-gray eyes that don’t waver even in front of countless monsters?

Ah, maybe it’s because of the hard expression on his face that keeps him calm no matter what happens in front of him? If not, the bloody atmosphere like a senseless tyrant?

I don’t know which of these is the problem, but it seems like they are all in fact…

I also found Winter difficult. That’s because I see Winter as cool, mint, and icy.

But Winter wasn’t scary to me. Although he has a number of elements that can scare people, as listed above…

‘It’s a face I’ve seen a lot on the cover of ropan.’

Because I’ve seen ropan so many times, to me, Winter was just an ordinary ropan man’s face.

He truly had a face that looked like the quintessence of the Northern Prince. To be honest, it felt a bit familiar, so I wasn’t that afraid.

‘It might make me look weird when I look at it that way.’

It was understandable that Winter and Altair said that I was bold.

“The reason… I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I don’t think I ever thought I was afraid of seeing people in the first place, um…”

Of course, I would feel afraid if I was locked up in an alley with about ten people who looked like gangster extras, but I’ve never met such people in this world.

Actually, because this world is a virtual world, people are all aesthetically good looking, so my eyes are happy.

“No matter how terrifying a person’s appearance may be, there are countless things in the world to be afraid of.”

For example, monsters, April, or an apocalyptic world that slowly drags us to the inevitable death.

Hearing my answer, Winter gave a persuaded look. I seemed to have convinced him that there are other things that are more terrifying than being afraid of people by their looks.

“You have the right mindset. It is wrong to judge people by their appearance.”

“Yes…”

“As I said a dozen times before, you better answer with a little more force in your voice.”

It really pisses me off.

“It seems that Winter is really trying to stick to the principles in any situation.”

“I have always been that way.”

“Then…”

I have not been spending time with Winter purely to learn to write. Okay, now it’s time to think.

“If there are times when you don’t want to follow the rules, what do you do when that happens?”

“I don’t think that moment ever existed.”

“Really…? So, what are the most important principles of Winter?”

Winter’s eyes suddenly came to life, perhaps because I asked about the ‘principles’.

“The basic ethics to be followed by humans is probably the most important. Then there is the law of the Adolve Empire, and below it is the military law of the Border Guard Forces. And there are rules that are not written down, but are set tacitly.”

“Why do you keep the laws of the Adolf Empire?”

“Because it is the country we belong to.”

“Are you really capable of allegiance to the Adolve Empire? Even being a Archon, that’s possible?”

“Even though I am of a different race, I was born in this empire, and I am loyal to His Majesty the Emperor. It’s just normal for me.”

Now that I see it, Winter was not saying ‘Archon’ but ‘a different race’.

‘Is it because archon is a word banned at the national level?’

…He was really incomprehensible.

No, it’s not Winter’s loyalty to the Adolve Empire that matters now.

“Can you really agree to all those principles, Winter?”

I met Winter’s blue-gray eyes.

“For example, what do you think about the principle of the military, which requires unconditional respect for the opinion of the senior even when there is a conflict with the senior?”

“You have to keep it.”

He replied that way, but at that moment, Winter’s eyes were clearly shaking.

Just as if he had endured the annoying behavior of his senior over and over again.

Thanks. I figured it out.

That opportunity will never be in vain.

* ♟ *

The opportunity to turn the people I was targeting into X came sooner than I thought.

Exactly the chance to make Zayden an X.

“XX, what kind of XX made the barbed wire like this?”

While repairing the border, I muttered when I found one side of the barbed wire that had been dented in a mess.

This was undoubtedly a sign that a demon had crossed the border. Looks like I’ll be heading out again soon.

The border repair was a large and important task that could not be compared to the repair of the company headquarters building. The barbed wire installed at the border had to be strong to prevent monsters from coming over.

Therefore, not only trainees but also first-class soldiers participated in this remuneration. No one was left out, and all the trainees and first-class soldiers of the company participated. Instead, the guard duty that was supposed to be performed by first-class officers was replaced by corporals.

“Come on, first-class officers, let your successors know how to do it.”

At the words of the administrative officer, Blair and Topio of our platoon frowned at once.

‘Your personality is broken too.’

For reference, I decided to change the names of the 78th to Winter, Altair, and Yuri to the Cool Mint Ice Trio. In the past, they were the three Cool Mints, but the more I look at them these days, the more I think the term Cool Mint is not enough. By the way, their titles will be longer each time since I’m bored.

Anyway, just as I call them 78th Cool Mint Ice Trio, I also had a different name for the 85th First Class Blair and Topio.

‘The 85th class of personality breakdown.’

They always had a swear word in their mouths, secretly chastised their successors, and always had a bad impression.

‘…Wait, isn’t this my chance?’

Suddenly, an amazing idea flashed through my mind.

And I decided to put it into practice.

After Blair and Topio, the lowest of the First Class, grunted and taught Aquila and me how to repair the barbed wire, I called their names.

“Blair, Topio.”

“XX, what is it?”

Topio looked at me with an annoyed voice and cursed.

‘You really are an unresponsive person.’

Just like a teddy bear that says “I love you” when pressed on its stomach, they start swearing when their successor calls their name.

And bearing with it or not, I made up a natural voice and spoke in a friendly manner.

“I am learning to write from Winter these days, and I heard that you two also learned to write in the past. Is that true?”

“XX. Are you kidding me now?”

“XX for being ignorant of senior management, XX.”

“No, no, not that…just… I wondered if Winter was that meticulous in the first place, so I asked.”

There was a hint of exhaustion in my voice. Then, Blair and Topio’s faces suddenly became dim upon hearing this.

“Ha, XX… It was hard…”

“It’s terrible, XX…”

“Oh, by the way…”

I lowered my voice and looked around as if I was telling secrets, then said.

“Winter said he would teach his successors how to fight this time…”

It wasn’t completely wrong. Although I omitted the fact that the subject was limited to me.

However, the faces of Blair and Topio, unaware of this fact, became indescribably harsh.

“What? XX?!”

“What?! Do I have to study like that X again?!”

“It’s not confirmed, but…just in case something like this could happen, I told you so you can be prepared…”

But my words seemed to no longer reach their ears. They scrambled away with bewildered faces, and began to work in a melancholy manner.

It seemed that we had completely forgotten that we had to teach our successors how to repair the barbed wire.

I looked up and raised the corners of my lips, then turned to face Zayden and Milfi and shouted.

“Anyone here to help?”

“Yes, yes?!”

Then Milfi jumped up in surprise.

‘Zayden couldn’t help me voluntarily.’

You wouldn’t be able to go up to Blair and Topio and ask them first, though, because they looked like they were going to kill anyone if they got caught right now.

So while explaining the barbed wire repair work to Milfi, I only glanced at Zayden, who was working sloppily.

* ♟ *

A little later, the company commander said:

“The company commander is disappointed with you guys.”

If this had been unplayed, the current favorability level of -200 would have been achieved with ease.

The number of times that the company commander was disappointed with us must be far greater than the number of times I kept a diary in a year.

And the place the company commander was pointing to was the area that Zayden was in charge of.

“What platoon is in charge of this part of the barbed wire?”

At best, I was thinking of becoming a platoon commander, but things seemed to have grown a bit. Still, it wasn’t beyond the scope of my plans, so I didn’t have to worry.

On this occasion, the two first-class officers of our platoon, who had the highest power, met each other’s eyes with bewildered faces. When the timid First Class Carrot hesitated, his comrade, Dream, answered instead.

“It’s the Alpha Platoon.”

“Okay? Then work again.”

The company commander was dissatisfied with us. Of course, there was no way the corporals couldn’t hear the news in an army where everything was rumored.

“Oh, let’s stop nagging from above, please.”

At the meeting a little later, Leon and Brave, who had been hanging around for a long time, showed annoyed faces.

They have not been promoted recently, but in fact, they were synonymous with ‘violence and fear blah blah’ and experts.

“Let’s not make any mistakes, okay? Who was it that repaired there?”

When Leon asked with a smirk, Zayden raised his hand as if intuition that he could not hide the truth.

“It was me.”

“Oh, are you kidding me, really…”

“I, but…”

After seeing Gagne’s face, Zayden said in a more powerful voice than before, as if he had gained courage.

“Because nobody told me how…”

“No, you just learn by working with each other, really!”

Brave looked like he was going to die of annoyance, but Plato, who was fair in everything, seemed to have listened to Zayden.

Plato looked over the faces of the First Class and asked forcefully.

“You guys should have told him, right? That would’ve been your job.”

“Yeah, I watched Blair and Topio leave it.”

At Dream’s answer, everyone’s eyes turned to Blair and Topio. They seemed bewildered and did not know what to do…

‘The human nature is obvious.’

Soon they opened their mouths at the same time.

“I thought I made it clear.”

“Yes, that’s right…”

“‘I think’? Are you kidding?”

“Oh no, we told him!”

Watching them lie proudly, I recalled a time when I was first recruited. At that time, I also suffered a lot because of the XX personality breakdown from 85th…

Since the military always judged the ones who were there longer as being right, the eyes turned to Zayden again.

When I was a little happy to see Zayden, who was always bluffing in front of me, embarrassed, he came up with an excuse that no one could have expected.

“Hey, I was a little late on an errand for Gagne before that, so I guess I didn’t hear the instructions.”

It was an instinctive lie to get out of the crisis.

…But in this situation, it was the wrong choice. Because there are seniors who have a higher rank than Gagne in this position.

Plato raised an eyebrow, then fixed his gaze on Gagne.

“Gagne, is it true? Why are you having him run errands for you so often these days?”

Gagne couldn’t have known Plato’s personality.

‘I mean, Gagne didn’t pay much attention to the corporals who were more senior than him…’

He was focused solely on the convenience of his hometown buddy, Zayden.

In addition to that, he was more focused on checking the 78th Cool Mint Ice Trio, the rivals who were bothering him because he was always compared to them.

If Gagne acknowledges Zayden’s remarks here, Plato, who values fairness, will say that Gagne acted too unfairly due to his lateness.

In the end, there was only one thing Gagne could say.

“I never did.”

Zayden’s expression, which he thought Gagne would protect him of course, hardened in shock.

“…So you lied?”

“Hey, you sassy little guy.”

The accusations of the seniors were now pouring on Zayden, and in the meantime, Zayden was only at a loss for what to do.

In the beginning, it was a relationship that had to be like this.

Gagne took Zayden in so much that anyone could see it.

However, if Zayden made a mistake big enough to get into the eyes of people who were more senior than Gagne, it was natural for Gagne to abandon Zayden in order to avoid being criticized by the seniors.

Zayden, who trusted Gagne too much, not knowing that the relationship was just like that, was stupid.

But it just didn’t seem like it would end with this. Zayden is still a tough guy to me, and I don’t know how Gargne will behave after being estranged from him.

‘…If things go bad, let’s use a wildcard.’

Still, I still have a hand left, so I’ll be fine.

* ♟ *

Again, Gagne did not stand still after the incident between Zayden and Gagne deteriorated.

As if dissatisfied with losing his limbs, Gagne began to be very harsh on his successors.

“Hey, memorize about today’s meal plan!”

“Who is the XX who made a loud breathing noise while sleeping yesterday?”

“Hey, you just dropped laundry, so do it again.”

It was obvious why Gagne was behaving that way.

‘You’re trying to consolidate power completely.’

Since he failed to build his own group by making Zayden his own line, it was clear that he was trying to completely solidify his position before the 78th Cool Mint Ice Trio became more powerful.

‘Zayden was nothing without Gagne, so the thing I need to break down properly is Gagne.’

‘… Let’s just go for the extreme.’

It’s a bit risky, but it might be better to act firmly at this point.

I saw Gagne working hard to rob his successors today while doing major repairs, and leaned over to Caron and whispered.

“Caron, are we in a bad situation right now?”

“Yes? Yes.”

With his eyes wide open, Caaron answered with a bewildered voice.

I had a plan in my head, and I needed a helper for that.

And of course, if Ishina hears this plan, he will tear me apart…

‘Aquila will never help me in this.’

Because this was a plan for me to take some risks.

But I knew that Caron would never betray me and would obey me.

“Caron, listen to me from now on.”

I swallowed my saliva. Because what I’m going to talk about in the future has enough weight to make me nervous.

“Let’s write an essay.”

“Huh? What will it be about?”

Caron looked at me with a puzzled expression, so I said it again.

“Let’s write a letter.”

* ♟ *

A letter.

As if the author of ‘Four Crazy Obsessed’ was trying to write the Korean military’s ‘Letter from the Heart’, but changed only one word, this letter could be said to be a wildcard that can be used in military life.

The imperial family created a system of pretending to give for the sake of the frontiers to prevent deterioration of public opinion and possibility of riots among the Archons guarding the border.

They did not even cancel this contract magic, but they kept emphasizing our ‘honest opinions’. In doing so, they seemed to look at the contents while being open-minded.

In front of the company commander’s office, there was a ‘heart letter box’, and if you put a note with the difficulties of military life and desired improvements in the box that looks like a can roughly pasted on the wall, the letter is delivered to the battalion commander as it is…

This is only an official explanation, but in fact, the letter was cut from the line of the company commander.

Anyway, even so, a letter could have enough power if it was written well.

[Putting the Crown Prince to the guillotine.]

Of course, if you write something like this in a letter, the criminal will be found and taken to the prison in some way.

[Recently, Gagne keeps pouring laundry on the floor and asking us to wash it again, and if there is even a little noise while sleeping, the next morning, everyone will be punished as a joint responsibility. Help.]

This isn’t very effective either.

In fact, the company commander will try to cover up the case as much as possible so Gagne will not receive any special punishment, and the culprit will be identified through the circumstances I wrote down.

It was this kind of thing that worked in the letters.

[I want a gun shootout.]

If you have a letter like this!

Now the company explodes! Battalion explodes!

It will burst upwards!

If you catch the absurdity, it becomes a result. From the senior ranks of the company commander, he will turn the entire unit upside down to increase his performance.

Even a ‘gun shoot’, if not prevented in advance, a major accident will occur and eventually reach the ears of the imperial family.

‘It’s terrible…’

My body trembled just imagining it, and I shook my head.

A letter of that kind would destroy the army to the extent that it was similar to when the Crown Prince visited the army…

Anyway, I was thinking of using this system of letters. Of course, if I write the wrong letter and they find out, my roots will be blown away, but at this moment, I felt like I was gambling.

Gagne needs to be punished anyway…

‘If I use it well, it will help him lose strength.’

A little later, I was carefully writing on a piece of paper I had ripped from the notebook where I kept my supplies.

To be precise, I was writing only consonants with my left hand. Because the vowels were written by Caron with his left hand.

“Great…”

After writing down all the consonants, I beckoned to Caron, who was watching. Caron, who ran quickly, took the ballpoint pen and paper from my hand.

I watched while he wrote down the vowels.

No matter how much I thought about it, this was a nonsensical way…

‘But there is no other solution that is less obvious.’

Finally, Caron came to me with a paper saying that he had written it all down, and I carefully folded the paper several times.

“Now, let’s go write a letter.”

Fortunately, the hallway where the company commander was located was empty.

When I beckoned to Caron, he ran without making a sound of footsteps and started to see if anyone was coming from the other hallway.

As I watched, he shoved the paper into the mailbox with trembling hands.

And the moment the paper finally fell into the mailbox.

“Let’s go!”

I shouted with my voice lowered, almost with mouth movements, and Caron and I quickly ran out of the hallway.

“Heh heh, heh heh… Oh, my heart was so scared that I almost fell… Caron, we were just chatting together at this hour, okay?”

“Yes, yes…! What if they ask what we were talking about?”

“Oh, let’s ust say we talked about what’s on the menu today.”

“Yes, I understand!”

“Okay, no matter what, this is absolutely a secret.”

After leaving Caron after promising to keep it a secret, I didn’t forget to take good care of the pens we used. I also wiped my hands to avoid the smell of ink coming from my hands.

Ok, all of the processing with this is perfect.

Now we just have to wait for the bomb to explode…

* ♟ *

(3rd person pov)

Tang-

The company commander left the company commander’s office and lightly knocked on the letter box. It was kind of like a habit.

“…What?”

However, he realized that the ringing in the mailbox was unusual.

It was the sound of the contents inside.

‘Who must have written a letter?’

Terrified by what would not normally happen, he took out the key he had and quickly opened the mailbox. His heart started beating fast.

The mailbox opened, and he found a piece of paper that had indeed been folded many times.

“Well, it won’t matter…”

Yeah, it really wouldn’t be a big deal.

Usually, all that was in the letter box was, at best, swear words about the Border Guard Forces or asking for a change in their diet.

The company commander, who unfolded the paper in such a tense posture, discovered the crooked writing that was clearly written with the left hand.

“…!”

And when he read it, he stopped breathing in surprise.

[I decided to cross the border because of the harassment of Corporal Gagne.]

After a while, the company commander exclaimed, giving strength to his words.

“Rain! Emergency!”

As the one sergeant who ran in surprise, he shouted once more with his face reddened.

“Call all the platoon leaders! Emergency, emergency!! It’s a big disappointment for you guys!!”

* ♟ *

After a while, the platoon leader of Alpha Squadron had a pale expression on his face.

“The company commander was very disappointed with the Alpha Squadron.”

“Yes, yes… He must be disappointed…”

“Uh, how did this happen…”

Elliott re-read the words on the paper, but nothing changed. Reading it, he realized.

‘This is really crazy…!’

“No, in my later years, something like this…”

How could something like this happen within a month left before his discharge?

He could have been discharged with no worry. In his later years, he was told to avoid commotions, but what the hell is wrong with crossing the border?

Of course, if the person really crossed the border, only the person who wrote this letter would die, but if the fact that such a thing happened in a company reaches the ears of the superiors, they may be robbed not only in battalions but also in divisions.

(tl/n: in their ancestor contract, if they were to cross the military border without special permission from the royal family, they would immediately die.)

‘Hey, what the hell am I supposed to say about this?’

Desertion… It seemed that something was lacking.

Elliott recalled the fact that beyond the border was the north of the Adolf Empire.

He had to do whatever it takes to solve this problem before there really was a breakout.

On the other hand, Taro, who had dark circles under his eyes, staggered like he was dizzy, and then stood up against the wall.

‘Is bad energy flowing through this unit?’

Due to the ‘Attack of the Crown Prince’ which Taro suffered as soon as he was assigned to the 18th Company, he poured all his energy into that. The energy lost at that time has not yet been recovered.

Since then, he has been spending his time sleeping in the commander’s quarters like there was no end. But what if something like this happens again?

After all, it must have been the 18th Company that was properly equipped.

“I will solve this problem somehow.”

The platoon commander, standing in front of the company commander, spoke in a serious voice, and Elliot and Taro nodded sternly.

“Yes, we will.”

They exchanged glances and left the company commander’s office.

As they left to look for the troop members, their respective determination flashed in their eyes.

‘You will be discharged from the military safely.’

‘I will punish the cause of disturbing my sleep.’

* ♟ *

(Saruvia’s pov)

The platoons had an emergency.

Apart from Gagne being brutally broken by his seniors, the corporals all had serious expressions on their faces.

“Who the hell did it?”

They were having a serious conversation, but they couldn’t seem to figure out who wrote the letter.

“It seems that there is no other way than to infer it from the handwriting. Does anyone have any guesses?”

“It would be difficult for anyone to see what they wrote with their left hand.”

“Then what if everyone writes the same sentence with their left hand?”

“It’ll be an open search then.”

“XX, then there’s no way…”

Leon and Brave, Plato and Zara eventually gave up trying to find the owner in the letter.

The three members of the 78th class, who looked at the paper seriously, also shook their heads.

“Winter, don’t you know?”

“I don’t know.”

“If Winter doesn’t know, then no one really knows…”

Plato touched his forehead and murmured, and Zara glanced at them.

“Recently, there was a case where people were directly scolded by Gagne… Not long ago, Milfi was robbed because she made a mistake in the Abzon method, Blair and Topio were robbed while working, and maybe another trainee… Anyways, I don’t think the scope is too wide to be narrowed down.”

“It’s not that important.”

Taro, who had been watching the conversations of the corporals, opened his mouth with a tired face.

“What we can do now is… It’s to make sure the successors don’t think like this anymore.”

“So that. If anyone crosses the real border and searches, the entire unit is overturned.”

Elliott also said, looking at Gargne with a white, tired face.

“Do not worry. We will take good care of it in the future.”

Altair put his hands on the shoulders of Winter and Yuri next to him with a soft face.

During the time I spent with Winter and Altair, I naturally gave them words of praise for the 78th units of Cool Mint Ice Trio.

“As expected, Winter, you seem to have stood out from the days of First Class. Didn’t the seniors recognize you as the best among the successors?”

“It seems that Winter is really in control of everything in the unit alone… Even if there are only the 78th members, the unit is sure to run well.”

I also pointed out the fact that they had been recognized by their seniors before, and are still doing most of the work within the unit.

Because the 78th, the elite soldiers, must have had hostility to the 77th, that is, Gagne, who had tortured them simply out of jealousy.

I gave them an excuse to oppose the 77th.

Besides, Altair…

‘The only sociality of the 78th!’

Unlike Winter and Yuri, who are always cool, mint, icy, and principled, Altair was a nerd to his successors, but an expert in flattery to his seniors. He was quick to grasp the situation, and he knew what to do when needed.

There was no way he could miss the golden opportunity to break Gagne’s power.

“I don’t know what might happen, so Gagne, please rest for a while. We’ll do our best. After all, didn’t the unit return with us alone?”

Despite Altair’s words, which may sound a bit rude, Gagne could not do anything because of the situation, but only bit his lips tightly.

Even Winter did not dissuade his thorny colleague. It was not the usual thing where he emphasized politeness for seniority.

‘Because even Winter was annoyed by Gagne.’

Winter was a human too, and there was no reason to miss the opportunity to get rid of a nuisance senior without resorting to his own hands.

“Yes, you are reliable.”

“You will do well in the future.”

The seniors were only encouraging the 78th, the elite soldiers.

Seeing Gagne completely lose power, I was very happy.

‘If there is someone you don’t like, you have to destroy the foundation on which that person is standing.’

* ♟ *

A week has passed since then.

Gagne crumpled into the corner as a toothless tiger, and the 78th were primarily in charge of the successors.

After all, since the 78th were in charge of the general affairs of the unit from the beginning, the only thing that changed was that Gagne was no longer in charge of us.

He looked at his seniors to see if he could regain power, but the other seniors were satisfied with the operation of the 78th unit and did not interfere at all.

As a result, the atmosphere of the unit was a little brighter.

‘I failed to ride the Winter’s line, but I got to know the thoughts of Winter and Altair in the process.’

It seems that riding the Winter line was too difficult.

‘It would have been nice to be able to use the original more.’

However, I can only remember the approximate contents of the original ‘Four Crazy Obsessed’, so it was difficult to utilize the original information like the previous female protagonist of the possession.

Well, instead of failing to ride the line, I confirmed the hostility they had toward their seniors and made them break Gagne.

“Saruvia, who is in charge of managing our furnishings?”

“Oh? Ask Winter or Altair.”

“Thank you.”

Milfi asked me a question and was about to leave, but he looked like he was watching me carefully. I tilted my head as I was humming along with Caron with a pleasant face.

“Why? Do you have anything to say?”

“I have a question, can I ask you a question?”

Milfi’s expression turned cryptic for a moment, but soon returned to a calm expression, he asked.

“Who is our commander?”

“What?”

“Ah, the last time I saw it, I was curious…”

“Aha.”

After Milfi enlisted, the two commanders in the Alpha Platoon were always stuck somewhere, so Milfi was curious to see how they took the lead in the platoon’s work during the Gagne incident.

“Elliot, an ordinary person. An ordinary old man. Well, and Taro…”

In an instant, my expression darkened.

“Taro… After going through ‘that incident’, he lost all his energy and stayed quiet…”

“What?”

“If it wasn’t for ‘that incident’, he wouldn’t be as tired as he is now… Anyway, you can think of him as someone who is always tired…”

As I recalled the “Attack of the Crown Prince,” I suddenly felt pity for everyone in our company.

Milfi turned his head to Caron with a bewildered look, but Caron was only following me with an expression that seemed to recall that time.

“Ah… The word ‘that incident’ is… It’s really great…”

“Yeah, I almost deserted then…”

“The ‘event’ must never happen again…”

“Ugh, don’t even say that because it sounds dirty.”

Milfi looked at us both with confused eyes.

“What the hell is ‘that incident’?”

“No. I can’t tell you because I’m still in denial.”

“Ah…”

Milfi, who looked at us like a crazy person, finally said goodbye to us and left.

Well, as for the successor, it’s better to be able to tease him in moderation like that.

* ♟ *

“Saruvia, Winter is looking for you.”

“Oh yeah?”

I looked at Zayden who called my name with a happy expression.

Unlike before, Zayden seemed to be afraid of me. He didn’t even make eye contact with me and now he politely calls my name.

It seems that he realized that I had smashed his support, or that his confidence had disappeared.

Anyway, this was a good thing for me as this will completely weaken Zayden’s power within the platoon.

‘You wouldn’t even dare to fight against Aquila later.’

I contemplated the face of my comrade.

A person’s social life is easier when people do politics like this from time to time, but Aquila is so honest that he doesn’t know how to live in the world. How can he really live without me?

‘By the way, why is Winter calling me?’

After Gagne’s incident, the corporals were in a state of confusion for a while, so my class with Winter ended there. Winter had assured me that he had nothing more to tell me about the writing.

‘I don’t think you’re trying to teach me anything more.’

I had an ominous premonition, but I shook my head, saying that this would not be the case if it was the winter I knew. He wouldn’t break what he said.

‘Well, once I go, I’ll know.’

I left Zayden behind, who still couldn’t meet my eyes, and set off to find Winter.

* ♟ *

(3rd person pov)

Where Saruvia had left, Zayden looked up from the ground after a while.

Fortunately, Saruvia’s appearance was now completely gone.

“Brrr.”

When he thought of Saruvia, he felt goosebumps all over his body, so he trembled lightly.

He was afraid of her.

He liked Saruvia’s face so much that he thought she would fit perfectly into his ideal type if she was a little more obedient. She was his senior, but she looked so soft, so he thought it would be possible to control that much…

‘Totally crazy.’

On the same day that letter was found, the successors were forced to sit while the corporals conversed.

And when he got up from his seat to get water for a while being on Yuri’s errand, he saw Saruvia’s expression.

The corporals did not care about their successors, and the successors did not even dare to turn their heads, so it was a face that only those who were close could see.

Saruvia was smiling brightly.

Her hair, which he thought was mysterious from the first time he saw it, was tied together, and her face beneath it was white. Each feature gives her an elegant and neat feeling, and the vitality of her skin makes her look more attractive.

Saruvia was smiling more brightly than anyone else, to the extent that it was not suitable for this situation.

Although it was the ‘bright smile’ that Zayden had envisioned…

‘That’s crazy X.’

The moment he saw it, Zayden realized that she was the one who wrote the notice of desertion.

He knew then Saruvia will do anything to achieve what she wants, and will put into practice things that others could never have imagined.

It wouldn’t be difficult for her to get rid of Zayden himself.

After that, he was really afraid of Saruvia…

“Ugh.”

Goosebumps could be felt all over his body again, so he quickly left. It seemed like it would be better to do the laundry so he would not to run into Saruvia as much as possible.

* ♟ *

(Saruvia’s pov)

“Winter?”

I guess he was on duty at the arsenal, and I tilted my head when I saw Winter just coming out of the arsenal.

Winter turned his head and looked at me indifferently with his blue-gray eyes.

“Saruvia, are you here?”

“I heard you called for me.”

I approached him. There was no sign of others as if he was the only one in the arsenal.

As I stood near him, Winter didn’t say anything and just stared at me.

‘What?’

It felt kind of tense.

This isn’t my fault, it was originally best to go in the middle in the military. It was better that no one deeply remembered my existence.

As I waited anxiously for Winter to speak, he finally spoke.

“I’ve said it so many times…”

‘Are you scolding me?’

“Didn’t I tell you not to reverse the letters?”

“What?”

Obviously, I haven’t been able to write in front of Winter lately.

When I looked at Winter with an expression that I did not understand the language, Winter said without changing his expression.

“You keep flipping letters even at an important moment.”

“What? What are you… Ah!”

As soon as I realized something, I could feel the blood draining out of my body.

My head was dizzy. My face will probably turn white by now. My heart was beating faster and faster, and it felt like it was going to explode.

‘The letter.’

I realized.

Even if others didn’t know, Winter, who has seen me write, must have noticed that I was the owner of the letter.

‘X.’

There was no excuse for this.

As I stared at Winter with an expression that looked like I was about to faint, Winter continued.

“You really don’t want to cross the border, do you?”

“What? It’s not that, actually…”

No matter how much I thought about it, there was no way out, so there was nothing I could do but stutter.

Winter had a cold expression that contrasted with me, and what I normally thought was a characteristic expression of that expression turned out to be an expression that would kill me now. It was just like that beast.

“I’m glad you’re not really suffering from severe depression then.”

“…Huh?”

Winter continued calmly.

“You’re usually fearless, but why are you so nervous today?”

“What?”

I looked carefully at Winter’s face, who seemed to have no intention of scolding me.

Come to think of it, it was strange that he only talked to me about a week after the incident. If he’s trying to report me, there’s no way.

“Ah, I’m sorry…”

When I apologized in a voice that seemed nervous on purpose, Winter made a face that didn’t seem to understand.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Because I…”

Then Winter’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“Hey, that’s a reasonable accusation.”

His voice suddenly burned with a sense of justice.

“It is a legitimate system that the imperial family directly intervened to solve the difficulties of military life, and you just wrote your grievances according to the system. If you are at a disadvantage, that would be like rebelling against the imperial family.”

‘Wow. Winter too.’

He had previously said that the military law was above the tacit rules, and the imperial family was above it…

Winter kept silent because he followed the imperial law!

“Let me keep it a secret that you wrote this. Because the principle of the letters is to remain anonymous.”

“Winter…”

I looked at Winter with bright eyes.

Of course, with this, ‘does Winter like me? or ‘has the ropan development finally begun?’ would sprout in my mind.

I know Winter well now. He never does anything that goes against the rules.

As if he had not finished speaking yet, Winter opened his mouth again.

“As always, there are still many things I want to point out.”

…My thoughts were broken once again.

“It helped me.”

“What?”

“It’s true that what you did has helped me, so it’s probably right for me to repay you too.”

What helped… I think he’s talking about how they were able to break Gagne without much effort thanks to the letter I wrote…

“If you need help in the future, as long as you don’t break the rules, let me know.”

…Wait a minute, that’s because of Winter’s personality, who can’t say things like that to anyone in the first place…

In return for helping me, he said that he would help me in the future too!

Excitement comes again!

“Winter is truly the best senior…!”

At this moment, I forgot the existence of the other seniors and put Winter on the top spot in my heart.

A clean and uncluttered seniority, it’s really the best. Cool, mint, and icy senior, you are the best!

Passing over my dazzling eyes as if it was nothing, Winter left the room coolly.

Even the way he left looked really cool.

‘The look that he didn’t care about…!’

I decided to upgrade Winter’s points a bit in my mind.

* ♟ *

(3rd person pov)

“Hey, I think you dropped something over there.”

“Ah! Sorry!”

As soon as Winter pointed to a sock that had fallen on the floor, his successor, Private First Class Denin, hurriedly jumped out.

He was about to sit next to Altair, his seat in the dormitory, but when he saw one of his successors cleaning it, he stood still and waited.

“Ah, Winter! Sorry!”

However, the trainee Milfi fell into contemplation as soon as he saw him, and crouched away from his seat. As Winter sat down, Altair, who was watching him from the side, laughed out loud.

“Puahaha!”

Winter turned and asked Altair in a hard voice.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No, isn’t it funny?”

Altair pretended to wipe the tears away.

“Ah, it’s funny that your successors are afraid of you as if you were some kind of murder weapon.”

“How is it funny?”

“That’s also funny.”

Altair and Yuri, his two colleagues, were the only ones Winter had private conversations with in the platoon, and Altair always found Winter interesting.

Hearing Altair’s words, he thought of Saruvia.

Yes, he was accustomed to seeing his successors fear him in this way.

But Saruvia wasn’t afraid of him at all. From the beginning, she seemed to have a fearless personality.

Suddenly Winter wanted to tell Altair about this.

“Saruvia is…”

Then Altair’s expression changed strangely.

“…What’s with the expression?”

“No, no… Just keep talking.”

With Altair’s mysterious expression in front of him, he continued.

“Saruvia must have been the most fearless in this company.”

“If you look at her face, you can see that. Why are you like this today?”

Altair made a thoughtful expression on his face, then moved closer to Winter, lowered his voice and asked.

“So why? Are you interested?”

Winter couldn’t understand Altair’s words.

It is a violation of the military law to have a rational interest in a successor, how can such a thing be possible?

Seeing Winter’s face, Altair’s expression became calm.

“Huh. That’s how you are.”

“Yeah, don’t think about it in vain.”

Winter took out his notebook and began to write in his journal as usual, and Altair, who was next to him, looked at it with his usual smile.

“Huh. After all, you have to record this hard, you are the same as usual…”

At that moment, Altair suddenly stopped talking.

“…Hey, Winter.”

Altair reached out a trembling hand and grabbed Winter’s arm.

“Hey, hey, you…”

Altair pointed to one of the letters in the journal.

“Why did you reverse this letter?”

There was an S written on it. It looked like the original spelling was overwritten.

For a moment, Winter stopped breathing.

He couldn’t figure out why he flipped this alphabet inside out.

“…I’ve seen a lot of flipped shapes lately, so I think I made a mistake.”

“Where the hell…?”

Altair hurriedly asked, but Winter couldn’t answer the question.

He knew that Saruvia had spelled it that way frequently recently, but he couldn’t understand why he had changed the spelling himself.

As the silence grew longer, Altair muttered in a dazed voice.

“Are you broken…?”

Altair felt something was wrong.

His colleague, who was always following the set path, was showing little by little, unpredictable behavior.

Only he himself knows what the cause is, but somehow Altair had an ominous feeling that he was going to fail more and more…