There Are No Bad Military Dogs

Chapter 9

 

The vehicle shook with a jolt. We are currently driving on the Incheon Airport Expressway. However, the road conditions are not good. It was not due to some apocalyptic scenario where plants suddenly went wild and overgrew the roads in the past 4 years. It was because the 10-lane highway was packed full of abandoned vehicles. Most of the people on the road were those who had either abandoned their cars and fled after being attacked by the infected, or those who were stuck during their evacuation. Despite the efforts of the Seoul Shelter and the Incheon Shelter to push cars onto the shoulders to clear a path, the road remained uneven due to the sheer number of vehicles.

Furthermore, the bodies were scattered along the road… It wasn’t a pleasant sight. So, I tried my best to avoid stepping on the corpses as we passed by.

Thunk!

Shin Hae-jun casually pressed on the accelerator, crushing the bodies under the car without a second thought. I sighed quietly as I watched the bodies being run over through the side mirror.

“You’re going a bit too far, considering there are kids in the back seat.”

“Hmm?”

Shin Hae-jun turned his head, his expression more brazen than ever. His voice, even more shameless than his face, flowed in.

“What’s too much? What did I do?”

“……”

Shin Hae-jun seemed genuinely clueless. He didn’t seem to know that he had just driven over a body, or that the body, rather than becoming infected, had chosen death as a human. I sighed and glanced out the window.

“Nothing. Just being your usual self, General.”

“Doesn’t sound like a compliment.”

“It’s probably not.”

I heard Shin Hae-jun chuckle. Glancing briefly at the rearview mirror, I checked on Yongcheol and the still-asleep kids, then spoke again.

“General.”

Shin Hae-jun’s fingers twitched as he gripped the steering wheel. It was a truly unfortunate gesture, but I decided to let it go and continued speaking.

“Do you know exactly where my brother is?”

For the past four years, I have been searching all over South Korea to find Woo-joo. I had searched shelters, as well as small-scale refuges and even the hideouts of looters. But there was no sign of Woo-joo anywhere… I was starting to feel exhausted. Amidst this weariness, when Shin Hae-jun mentioned Woo-joo, I couldn’t help but pay attention.

“Well, I’m not exactly sure. I’m no fortune-teller.”

“…Are you messing with me?”

Unconsciously, I muttered as I clenched my fist tightly.

“You said you’d help me find my brother.”

“I said I’d help you find him. I didn’t say I knew exactly where he was.”

“General! Enough with the jokes!”

“Research facility.”

I couldn’t help but hold my breath at those two words that cut off my shouting.

“…Or so they say. I don’t know what kind of experiments were done there.”

Research facility, research facility. Instinctively, my eyes widened as horrible screams echoed vividly in my ears, sending a chill down my spine.

Shin Hae-jun was referring to the place where my brother and I were together. My fist clenched instinctively.

“Have you found the location?”

“I’m searching for it. But I’ve got a rough idea.”

“…..”

I had spent over a decade desperately trying to locate that research facility, and he so casually found clues to it.

Sigh. I exhaled deeply and leaned my head back against the headrest. Old memories began resurfacing in my mind one by one.

My first memory was of a cylindrical tube inside a laboratory. There, adorned with all sorts of strange hose-like contraptions, I spent quite a long time inside the tube.

Looking out through the opaque glass, I was seized by the impulse to get out of there as quickly as possible. I wanted to go outside, see other people, talk to them… But once I was actually outside, I regretted all those impulsive thoughts. It was only then that I realized how peaceful it had been inside the tube.

I prefer not to dwell on the experiments or abuse I endured afterward. I can only recall being suddenly dragged into that place one day, and then suddenly thrown out another day. About fifteen years ago, when Woo-joo and I opened our eyes, we were outside. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by unfamiliar mountains.

As such, we were taken away without knowing the reason and were abandoned. That’s all I know about the “research facility.”

Why was it operated, why was it created, and what exactly did they do to us—? I have no answers. Attempts to locate the facility afterward all failed. So I enlisted in the military. All faint traces and evidence seemed to point toward the military. But before I could find the research facility, the outbreak of the infected occurred, leading to the current situation.

But… Shin Hae-jun found that research facility.

I stared at him intently, and Shin Hae-jun returned a sly glance.

“What do you think? Wanna join me?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Why don’t you stop thinking and just join me now?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

He withdrew his smile and clicked his tongue.

“You never make things easy, Lieutenant Min. You say you want to find your brother so badly, but when given the chance, you hesitate.”

I turned my head, leaning against the headrest, and faced his shadowed profile. I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t just let that comment slide.

“This wouldn’t have happened if General had protected Cheorwon from the beginning until the end.”

I later heard that four years ago, on that day, it wasn’t that the Cheorwon border was attacked, but rather that they voluntarily withdrew. As a result, civilians were left defenseless against the infected, leading to the spread of more infected masses heading towards Seoul.

When asked why they made such a decision, Shin Hae-jun’s answer was succinct.

 

“It was an order.”

 

A reason that was anything but amusing.

But because of that order, why did thousands of people die?

Why were cities around Seoul reduced to rubble?

Was there no sense of guilt for leading the troops back just to protect the top brass of the military?

I clenched my fist tightly, overwhelmed with anger. But then and now, Shin Hae-jun remained calm.

“I told you. When the General gives an order, what choice do we have but to follow?”

“Lieutenant Min.”

“And, if we go back that way, shouldn’t we say that the problem started with Arctic exploration in the first place? Instead of blaming the innocent, how about seeing reality for what it is?”

I raised my eyes.

“Do you know that all the residents near Cheorwon were killed? And Gangwon was practically wiped out.”

Shin Hae-jun finally shifted his gaze directly at me.

“Lieutenant Min.”

“It’s Min Ahyeon.”

“Right, Ahyeon-ah.”

He tapped on the steering wheel with his fingers.

“If you’re wearing a military uniform, all you have to do is follow orders from above. There’s no need for thinking. Your thoughts don’t matter. It’s the thoughts of the higher-ups that matter.”

“…General, you really…”

“What? You think I’m a damn military dog?”

Shin Hae-jun let out a bitter laugh. It was a clear laugh that didn’t match his cold demeanor and ruthless gaze at all. But I knew. I knew what lay beneath that beautiful smile. The deeds of someone who had been called a military dog all this time.

“Yes. You’re truly a fine military dog.”

Shin Hae-jun’s nickname was “Military Dog.”

As the son of the general, adorned with four stars, he accomplished anything and everything the general ordered, striving to do so. Thanks to his loyal puppy by his side, the general could rise higher and higher without shedding a single drop of blood. All thanks to that faithful military dog by his side.

“Don’t you still regret being under that old man?”

At my words, Shin Hae-jun’s eyes narrowed as if struck by a blow. He muttered with his distinctive sharp voice.

“Our Ahyeon here is just starting out. If she ends up getting shot by me, it’ll be quite painful.”

“But now General, you’re not my superior anymore. And if you get shot, General, it’ll hurt just the same.”

“Haha!”

Shin Hae-jun burst into laughter. Due to his movement, a long scar on his neck was faintly visible, but I didn’t bother to examine it. I only sought to feel out the blade-like intent hidden behind Shin Hae-jun’s laughter.

After laughing for a while, he suddenly stopped laughing. Then, he looked at me with emotionless eyes. His jet-black pupils were so eerie, without a pupil or boundary, they were almost unsettling.

“Min Ahyeon.”

“….Yes.”

“Snap out of it.”

“….”

“I’m letting you live for now.”

He handed me a stack of documents from the glove compartment.

“It’s also giving you a chance.”

At times like this, knowing perfectly well that touching Shin Hae-jun would be like poking a dog, as befitting his nickname, I chose to keep quiet for now. Then, I examined the stack of documents he handed me.

The large letters on the first page caught my eye.

[The Procurement of Mutant Infected Specimens]

🕂

Thank you for reading! ♡