There Are No Bad Military Dogs

Chapter 20

 

“Yongcheol, were you waiting for me out of concern?”

A voice so welcoming it brought tears to his eyes.

It was Min Ahyeon.

Yongcheol quickly turned his head towards the direction of the voice.

There, walking towards him with familiar steps, was Min Ahyeon, with a shameless face as if nothing had happened. She looked relaxed, as if nothing had happened, despite Yongcheol rolling around in anxiety worrying about someone.

It was mind-boggling. Here he was, rolling around anxiously worrying about someone, and she was strolling around with a carefree expression!

Yongcheol intentionally focused his gaze, trying to appear more tense. Since he naturally lacked tension in his appearance, it was a secret that he had to exert twice as much effort as others to show signs of anger.

Yet, despite his efforts, Min Ahyeon just smiled at him without any signs of apology or concern, which only made Yongcheol, who had put in twice the effort, even more frustrated.

She’s smiling?

Yongcheol, who had put in twice the effort, felt doubly deflated.

“Hey! What’s wrong with you?! Where did you go and why are you only coming now?!”

Yongcheol was bewildered and somehow, a little angry. At least say sorry! Regardless, since Min Ahyeon was undeniably his money manager, Yongcheol quickly approached her, worried about her well-being.

She seemed a bit disheveled. Her clothes were crumpled here and there. Did she sleep somewhere without knowing that others were waiting desperately, given the situation?

As he rolled his eyes, thinking about this, he noticed a long gash under the sleeve of her raised jacket. Yongcheol’s eyes widened. It was clearly a wound from something sharp, like a knife.

The wound didn’t seem old either. It didn’t look like it had been hurt for a long time. Yongcheol quickly scolded her and asked.

“What’s this? Why is your arm like this? Did someone stab you?”

Now that he looked, Min Ahyeon’s walk seemed unnatural too. Yongcheol furrowed his brows again. Normally, she would walk as if she wouldn’t leave a trace behind, but now she seemed to be walking slowly, undoubtedly because her body was tense.

It didn’t make sense. She couldn’t have been stabbed by an infected, and Min Ahyeon, who mainly fought in sniper battles, wouldn’t have clashed with the infected physically.

“No, why are you walking like that? Is your waist injured too? What’s going on?”

“…Just ask me one thing, one by one.”

Min Ahyeon felt awkward and adjusted her stride. But it wasn’t easy. Instead, she scratched the back of her head and subtly avoided Yongcheol’s gaze.

“Yeah. Okay, let’s go one by one. What’s wrong with your arm?”

“I had some business.”

“And why are you walking like that?”

“…I had some business.”

“Didn’t you say to just ask one thing? Are you kidding me?”

Well, I want to answer, but what can I do if I can’t? Min Ahyeon thought with a helpless expression.

Okay, listen up. My arm, you see. I was spacing out and almost got bitten by an infected, but Shin Hae-jun saved me. But that jerk got bitten in my place. So I had no choice but to give him some of my blood. Why did I have to give blood, you ask? Well, I’m an immune.

…This is a no-go.

As for my walk and my waist… This is…

Sigh.

Ahyeon cleared away the truths she couldn’t share, smacking her lips. Just thinking about last night made her face flush again.

So this is also a no-go.

“Anyway, let’s talk later since I’m tired.”

“Hey, hey! Min Ahyeon!”

Yongcheol quickly grabbed Min Ahyeon who was about to turn away, muttering vaguely.

He had waited because he was worried about her, but he also needed to hear other things from her. As an information broker, it didn’t make sense for him to know nothing about the chaos that happened yesterday.

If he had seen Min Ahyeon’s face, he would have known what she had been up to yesterday, whether she was involved in the chaos, and what the situation with the infected was like. He needed to know all of that because it was directly related to money. He believed that in this harsh world, the only things that could support him were money and information.

“Hey, let’s ask one more thing. Did you just fight with those zombie bastards? Right?”

“The infected.”

“Anyway, you fought them, right?”

Min Ahyeon nodded, and Yongcheol’s eyes flickered brightly as he asked.

“So? How was it this time? Was it the same as what the others were saying? Is it definitely different from what you’ve seen before? I mean, what changed?”

Yongcheol’s questions poured out without pause, and Min Ahyeon slowly turned her body to face him. Look at me straight in the eye, will you? Then, after meeting Yongcheol’s gaze, she blinked slowly.

“Yongcheol. My beloved friend Yongcheol.”

“D.I… That’s enough. It’ll just be a waste of breath. I won’t talk to you anymore. Well, why.”

“Our Yongcheol.”

D.I or whatever. Min Ahyeon smiled brightly and placed her hand on Yongcheol’s shoulder.

“Are you trying to get free information from a friend who just narrowly escaped death?”

“Uh, uh. No! That’s not it!”

“Do you really want to die, Yongcheol?”

In an instant, Yongcheol’s anger subsided. His backward step, accompanied by subtly rolling eyes, suggested that Min Ahyeon had read his mind. Yet, he muttered with a noticeably lowered voice.

“When did I ever ask for free information?”

“Bullshit. If you were going to offer something, you should have said that first.”

“That’s not it!”

Thumping his foot, Yongcheol glared at Min Ahyeon. Then, with a determined voice, he continued.

“A magazine! And a gun! I’ll get you one. You know, that American one you wanted or whatever.”

“M24.”

“Ah, right. That one. I’ll get it for you, so could you please give me some information…”

“Forget about the gun.”

Min Ahyeon firmly shook her head. Yongcheol was somewhat taken aback. The M24 was a sniper rifle Min Ahyeon had been singing about wanting every day.

 

“It won’t do with just the K2, I need an M24 at least.”

“Where are you going to get that from? And what do you mean it won’t do? You can kill just fine with it.”

“That’s because I’m the one using it. But if I had a high-performance gun, I wouldn’t want anything else, right, Yongcheol?”

 

The words that had been ingrained in his ears to the point of annoyance naturally came to mind, so he boldly presented the condition. But to be refused without any regret? He found it puzzling, but Min Ahyeon’s next words immediately resolved this question.

“Even if you bust your ass trying to get it, it would be nothing compared to what the military can provide. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Yongcheol’s eyes widened again.

“The military? What, are you enlisting again?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Re-enlistment? Not a chance.”

Min Ahyeon scratched the back of her head. Well, going back to the same unit under the same boss could be considered a kind of re-enlistment, but this time, it was not an order received as a soldier but a commission received as a mercenary. Suddenly, despite meeting after several years, the same relaxed face and voice came to mind.

 

“So work with me again, just this once.”

“You’ll work with me to secure specimens of the infected. Your compensation will be information about your brother. Is that enough?”

 

Well, that didn’t mean she trusted Shin Hae-jun or wanted to work with him. Moreover, that unpleasant incident from last night hadn’t been forgotten.

Still, she couldn’t help but consider that after seeing a mutated infected with her own eyes and him mentioning the ‘research institute’ might be important information. Whether it was crucial information or just a small clue, she didn’t know. But if she could learn just that, it would be enough to find traces of Woo-joo… So, she had no choice but to accept.

Min Ahyeon’s eyes gleamed.

“It’s just a commission. I planned to request weapons while performing the commission tasks.”

Yongcheol furrowed his brows in confusion.

“From the military? Really? What is it? What’s the content?”

Seeing Yongcheol casually trying to extract information again, Ahyeon let out a hollow laugh. This guy, really. What does he think of people? Then she recalled the belongings of Yongcheol that she had been observing closely. A sly smile suddenly spread across her lips, as if a good idea had occurred to her.

“Let’s do this. I’ll give you information about the infected and details about my mission.”

“……”

Yeongcheol narrowed his eyes. Wasn’t Ahyeon just irritated a moment ago? Why is she suddenly being so kind? Admittedly, accepting this proposal makes sense. Information about the mutated infected would be crucial for survival, and details about her mission could help monitor the military’s movements. But something doesn’t add up.

As Yeongcheol’s thoughts reached this point, he suddenly felt a chill. There must be a clear reason behind this abrupt change in attitude, something unsettling about it.

🕂

Thank you for reading! ♡