There Are No Bad Military Dogs

Chapter 37

 

Shin Hae-jun, who had been assessing the branching road while looking at the side mirror, finally turned his gaze to me.

“Don’t you remember?”

“What are you talking about?”

He asked nonchalantly, as if he didn’t know anything. Looking at his face, I felt more puzzled than angry.

No, the test results said he’s not a sociopath. Then why can’t he properly remember the bad things he’s done?

Shin Hae-jun was a bad person, but he wasn’t stupid. His memory lapse was closer to negligence. No, he must have simply categorized those events as ‘unimportant’ and discarded them.

I almost said, “Maybe you should take the sociopath test again,” but I forced myself to hold back my anger.

“It’s about the time when the Gangwon region went to pieces because you suddenly retreated from the Cheorwon front in the past.”

“Oh, that.”

“Yeah, that.”

“I still don’t think it’s a big deal.”

Muttering as if it were nothing, Shin Hae-jun turned his head towards the side mirror again. Seizing his fleeting attention, I quickly continued.

“It’s not so simple to dismiss it as nothing, is it?”

The retreat from the Cheorwon front.

It refers to the incident where the Cheorwon unit, which was barely holding off the hordes of infection from China and the North, retreated to Seoul.

If it were a retreat during a war, it wouldn’t have been criticized so harshly. In war, there’s inevitably a winner and a loser.

But the incident in Cheorwon was not a simple war. It was a war between humanity and the infected. Humanity had to win this battle at all costs, yet they had accelerated their own defeat by retreating.

The soldiers claimed they had no choice but to follow the orders of the higher-ups, but the undeniable fact was that countless civilians had either become infected or died because of it. The excuse of ‘superior orders’ could not absolve the outrage and sacrifice of the abandoned citizens.

After that incident, the residents of Gangwon Province no longer trusted the military. To be precise, they no longer trusted the government of South Korea. As a result, the surviving residents of Gangwon cut ties with nearby Seoul shelters and traded only with the Pohang shelter. That’s how much they distrusted and hated the government and the military.

“Take off your military uniform. If you go in wearing that, you’ll get shot before you even arrive.”

“…Really?”

Shin Hae-jun looked troubled, as if he hadn’t even considered that possibility.

“Yes. Really.”

Seeing his reaction made me dislike him a little more, and my brow furrowed naturally. Shin Hae-jun grumbled.

“But I don’t have anything else to wear. I can’t just go naked.”

Instead of answering, I stared blankly out the window. The distant cries of the infected echoed, and upon hearing that, Shin Hae-jun hastily added more.

“Just have me take off an infected person’s clothes and wear that. Otherwise, I’ll just turn back to Seoul.”

“I didn’t say that. …Though it may come to that eventually.”

“I won’t do it.”

Shin Hae-jun, sitting neutrally, crossed his arms like a sulking child, sniffing as if about to burst into tears. Is he unable to sleep, or has he gone mad? Is this the time to sulk? I looked at him with a stern face, then grabbed his sleeve firmly.

“Stop fooling around. I have friends nearby. Let’s go there.”

“Friends?”

Shin Hae-jun asked with surprise, his eyes widening. He didn’t seem this surprised even when I told him about the research institute. It made me feel even more annoyed.

“Why are you so surprised? Do you think I don’t have any friends?”

Are you the one who knows that I openly hang out with Yongcheol, my friend?

Who, other than Shin Hae-jun, the sociopath and military dog, would know that I openly have a friend like Yongcheol?

I was ready to lash out at him for belittling my social relationships, but Shin Hae-jun answered with surprising honesty.

“No. It’s because I don’t.”

“Oh.”

When he said that, I was at a loss for words again. I swallowed the words I had prepared with great effort. I felt embarrassed for no reason, my throat choked up. Clearing my throat, I pointed my thumb towards the right road. There was no point in saying more, as it would only make me feel more awkward. I should focus on what needs to be done.

“Right, um, let’s go.”

Shin Hae-jun silently uncrossed his arms and gripped the steering wheel. With a rumble, the car I had borrowed from my friend started moving again.

🕂

Just before reaching the Gangwon Shelter, we parked the car near the shelter’s perimeter wall. The wooded area where we parked was still densely populated with uncut trees.

In this post-apocalyptic world, areas with abundant vegetation like this make for relatively safe havens. With enough strength and determination, one could climb up a tree and hold out until morning, away from the infected. Therefore, places with sturdy trees or tall transmission towers, anything suitable for climbing, naturally became clusters of survivors.

Most importantly, this wooded area had a campground, where most of the people camping had survived. With no one else nearby and no infected, the initial response was quick, allowing them to establish a foothold in the wooded area. Thus, this place became one of the representative shelters in Gangwon.

And I became friends with those lucky survivors through trade.

“Get out.”

“Yes.”

But as they say, better be safe than sorry. Shin Hae-jun and I quickly scanned the area around the parked car before getting out. After confirming the area once again that there were no infected nearby, we stepped out of the car.

I glanced up at the tall chain-link fence surrounding the entire wooded area and then took out the radio. Turning the dial smoothly and familiarly to adjust the frequency, static crackled. Shin Hae-jun looked at me, then lit a cigarette and gazed at the high fence towering above us.

It didn’t take long for the connection to stabilize.

[What? Min Ahyeon? What brings you here?]

A familiar voice came through the radio. It was Park Eunjin, the director of this woodland shelter. Thankfully, she was alive and well. I felt a subtle sense of relief.

“Uh, yeah, it’s me. Can you open the door? I’ll explain everything once we’re inside.”

I spoke as casually as usual, but contrary to my expectation of a quick affirmative response, Park Eunjin remained silent for a moment. But that didn’t mean anything was amiss—the sound of machinery operation could be heard beyond the silence.

Zzzzt.

The CCTV mounted on the barbed wire fence swiveled towards us. As I tilted my head up to show my face, Park Eunjin asked through the radio.

[Who is next to you?]

I could feel Shin Hae-jun looking in our direction upon hearing the radio transmission. With the radio pressed against my lips, I glanced at Shin Hae-jun.

Now, what should I say? An old superior? Someone I don’t particularly like? A sociopath? A client?

Hmm, it was quite a dilemma.

Then, I remembered Shin Hae-jun’s recent response.

 

“Friend?”

“Why are you so surprised? Do you think I don’t have any friends?”

“No. It’s because I don’t.”

 

That pitiful response. After a moment of thought, I chuckled softly and responded over the radio.

“…A friend?”

Shin Hae-jun’s eyebrows twitched at my response. Through the radio, I could hear Park Eun-jin bursting into laughter.

[If he’s your friend, then he’s a friend. Why the question mark? Anyway, come on in.]

The sound of machinery operation came again, and a gap opened up in the barbed wire fence—just wide enough for one person to enter.

I turned off the radio and gestured the gap in the fence, the entrance to the shelter, to Shin Hae-jun.

“Since they’re my friends, you don’t have to worry. Let’s go in now.”

With that, I stepped forward to push my way through the gap in the fence. However, at that moment, Shin Hae-jun gently grabbed my wrist and turned me towards him.

“Min Ahyeon.”

“Yes?”

What’s going on? Or is it that you don’t trust this place? But if we want to enter Gangwon safely, we have to rely on the shelter’s help…

I waited for Shin Hae-jun to speak, pondering over various thoughts. But instead of words, he slowly opened his mouth, his eyes penetrating mine with an unfathomable depth. His tongue, visible between his lips, seemed unusually red today.

“You and your friend…”

Me and my friend?

His voice, almost dragging along the ground, sharply focused my attention.

“Yes. Me and my friend?”

As I repeated his words like a parrot, staring intently at his lips, he made a subtle expression. It seemed like a mixture of a frown and a slight smile, adding to the tension as I looked at his handsome face.

What exactly is he trying to say with such hesitation?

Just as I was about to grumble, swallowing my dry throat,

In an instant, Shin Hae-jun’s eyes twinkled mischievously as he lazily lowered his eyelids.

“Do you also have sex with them?”

🕂

Thank you for reading! ♡