KEG 5

“Have you ever once smiled sweetly at those Esper bastards while working like a dog since coming here?”

“I only smile when there is something to smile about.”

How could anyone smile while being worked like a dog? If someone could feel pleasure while teetering between life and death, wasn’t that the real horror?

“In my memory, you always just shot guns and slit monster bellies; I never saw you hold anyone’s hand even once.”

“I went there to work, so I worked.”

“I told you you’re a Guide. Holding hands is what a Guide is supposed to do.”

“If you wanted guiding, you shouldn’t have put me in an infantry unit and made me slit monster bellies.”

Unable to find a logical flaw, Sergeant Kim finally decided to appeal to emotion and launched into a long speech about love.

“Dating and love are best handled by those who have experienced them, and you have to meet many people to be able to distinguish which one is a good one!”

“It’s not that I didn’t do it; it’s that I couldn’t.”

“No! You didn’t do it!”

It was no use talking to him.

I pretended to listen half-heartedly while gazing at the fluffy clouds drifting across the sky. The weather was nice today, and the cigarette tasted good; it would be perfect to take a nap later.

“Huh? Are you listening? What are you going to do if you get hooked by some weirdo?”

“If I get hooked… I’ll just have to live with them.”

If they liked me, wouldn’t it be enough to just live together? Besides, I’m a bastard who doesn’t even know what an ideal family is to begin with.

“I’ll sit them at home and let them live off the money I earn.”

If someone was willing to rope in a guy like me, I might as well go along with it.

Sergeant Kim continued to chatter beside me, seemingly on the verge of bursting with frustration. I actually enjoyed the sound, so I just let him be.

***

“Fuck… Look at that body….”

In my fifth year, I was still rolling around on the front lines.

Whenever I stepped into the frontline base shower room used by regular soldiers to wash up, the chatter would rapidly fade and the atmosphere would sink. After spending years roughing my life and occasionally even facing off against monsters, my body was covered in scars of varying sizes.

“He’s walking around with a monster on his back…”

The Yaksha tattoo on my back had become so menacing from the scars that I started wondering if it was cursed.

Actually, the scars were worse on my hands than on my back. Handling rough and dangerous equipment for dismantling work had left them covered in calluses and scars like zebra stripes.

I knew better than anyone that this appearance drew attention.

“Eyes down, you fucking bastards. Do you want your eyeballs popped out?”

I wanted to gouge out every single one of those rude eyes.

If there was one comfort in being a Warrant Officer, it was probably being able to bully the juniors. Whether it was because my thuggish, gangster nature never went away, or because I wasn’t inherently a good person, I didn’t feel that bad about using rank to put someone down.

Since I didn’t commit any acts of cruelty, I considered myself to be on the more conscienceful side.

A gentlemanly piece of trash, indeed.

“Warrant Officer Ha, are you there?”

Just as I was lining up the guys in the shower room and forcing them to lower their eyes, a captain’s voice echoed from inside.

“The Brigade Commander has summoned you.”

It was news of a summons from the Brigade Commander, whose face I rarely even saw. I quickly dried myself off, changed into my uniform, and headed to the Commander’s office.

When I opened the door, the Commander struck a serious pose and ordered me to sit down.

“I have reviewed your mental contamination data.”

The Brigade Commander, whom I had never once spoken to throughout my entire military career, suddenly brought up my mental contamination score.

“Your mental contamination score was 96%. Did you know that?”

“Is that so?”

My mental contamination level was being managed through some kind of donation system.

So, while the numbers were like that, I was perfectly fine. When things got too intense on the front lines, I would occasionally cough up blood, but as long as I paid, I would survive.

“So you knew…”

The Brigade Commander muttered with a rather serious expression.

I felt a pang of regret that I could not prove my sanity with tangible data. How was I supposed to explain that I was under some strange protection without being treated like a lunatic?

“Warrant Officer Ha, this isn’t a discharge; it’s a release. If we keep you here any longer, we cannot guarantee what might happen.”

The word ‘release’ was finally mentioned by the Brigade Commander.

This was an order to go insane outside the base if I were to harm anyone within it, and to die as a civilian if I were to die.

“It sounds nice to say 96%, but it’s practically 100%. How can you even be called an E-class Guide? It’s safe to say you’re practically a walking Gate.”

The Brigade Commander picked up the discharge certificate from the desk and handed it to me indifferently.

“Do you have any last words?”

I took the certificate and read the words written on it, but the thought of a cigarette made me look up.

“I will skip the formal discharge report. There is no one to see me off anyway.”

Then, instead of a military salute, I gave a nod and turned away.

It was the moment my five years of military life came to a close in an instant.

***

“I’m broke.”

I had risked my life over and over, but when I checked my bank account balance after returning to civilian life, it was completely empty.

The society I emerged into after five years was vastly different. I wondered how many new smartphones were being released each year; I remember it being a Galaxy 8 when I enlisted, but now it had become a Galaxy 135.

In the meantime, many jobs had emerged and many had disappeared. Young men were engaging in fierce competition for employment, even attending specialized academies to become Awakeners and pull off a big score.

“My mental contamination level is too high, so I can’t even dream of getting a regular job.”

These days, not only were private associations requiring Hunters to undergo a mandatory mental contamination test and submit the results, but ordinary private companies were also making it mandatory. Judging solely by my numbers, I was a ticking time bomb who could go berserk at any moment, so it was unlikely I would find a job.

“I’m sick of loan sharks, so I don’t want to. Maybe I should just do manual labor.”

I started walking, thinking I might visit a temp agency. Then, suddenly, a flyer attached to a utility pole caught my eye.

Paradise Hospital

Recruiting Caregivers for Esper Specialized Hospice Ward

Caregivers and Nurses (0 positions)

Main Duties

08:00~18:00 (Break time: 12:30~14:00)

18:00~08:00 (Break time: 23:00~05:00)

Patient care and nursing

2-shift work

No experience required (entry-level applicants welcome), no educational requirements

Preferred Qualifications

Holder of Caregiver License

Holder of Elderly Caregiver License

Holder of Nurse License

Completed military service

Please feel free to inquire 000-000-0000

“I don’t have a license, but I am a military veteran.”

I spontaneously called the number listed.

And so, although I wasn’t a caregiver, upon hearing that there was a opening for a cleaner, I quickly applied and secured the position.

6th floor of Paradise Hospital.

This was a hospice ward exclusively for Espers, where national heroes came to spend their final days.

An orphan with no education or possessions, I applied here as a cleaner simply because I needed money.

***

–Colonel Kim Hanseong, the Republic of Korea’s first S-class Esper and a steadfast shield who stood by our side, finally passed away at dawn this morning.

I stepped into memorial entrance while listening to the news about Colonel Kim Hanseong through my earphones.

The tombstones, arranged amidst the bustling forest of buildings in the city center, were like islands where time had stopped, unrelated to this world.

–Military authorities stated that Colonel Kim, who had been receiving life-sustaining treatment in the Esper-exclusive hospice ward while battling the aftereffects of injuries sustained on the battlefield for the past several years, closed his eyes peacefully, worrying about the safety of his homeland until his very last moment.

“He didn’t say anything like that.”

I stood before a tombstone bearing a familiar name. The state kept its promise, and the honor of the fallen soldiers and compensation for their bereaved families were guaranteed to a substantial degree.

The maintenance of the memorial was perfect. There wasn’t a single weed or speck of dust.

It looked ridiculous, as if asking whether this was enough.

“You succeeded.”

The new recruit who used to follow me around calling me “Senior Ha” back when I was a sergeant was an orphan just like me, and he was the guy who sympathized with me when I said I had nothing to do and nowhere to go once I got out into society.

But now he occupied a spot right in the middle of Seoul. I still had nowhere to go and no one to welcome me, but this guy had essentially found both.

–Today’s news desk begins by honoring the footsteps of the heroes who dedicated themselves to the Republic of Korea.

“I’m leaving.”

It was time for work.

***

“Hello~”

“Hello.”

I nodded to the nurses greeting me and slowly pushed a trolley full of cleaning tools as I made my way down the smooth hospital corridor.

I had came to the hospice ward bracing myself for a battlefield filled with ear-splitting screams, death, and the stench of disinfectants that would numb my nose, but this place maintained a peace closer to a cradle than a battlefield.

“Good morning.”

“Did you have breakfast?”

“Oh, don’t even get me started~ I woke up late~”

Even though the boundary between life and death leaned slightly more toward death, this was a place where people lived and daily life continued. However, while similar to other general wards, the walls of the rooms were made of thick special alloy to accommodate the Espers.

“Guide volunteers, please fill out the list over here~”

Guides who had come to volunteer for the hospice were visible here and there. There were far too few Guides to train specialized hospice Guides, and their value had skyrocketed due to the rise of private associations, making it practically impossible to do so.