Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 600

Private Jang Hyun-joon got into the captain’s car.

He had been told to pack his things, but everything happened so fast that he still looked dazed.

The captain started the engine and said.

“Buckle up.”

“Yes, sir!”

He answered, but as he reached for the seat belt, a goblin with a half-crushed head was snickering and pushing its face towards him. If he buckled it, he would surely pierce its eye that was nothing but white. Of course, since only he could see it, he wouldn’t feel anything or have any trouble, but it was disgusting.

He hadn’t seen such things for a few weeks and he was so happy.

‘But I guess I have to get used to it again…’

Jang Hyun-joon squinted his eyes and quickly snapped the seat belt into the buckle. Even though he couldn’t really feel it, it felt weird to put his hand into the goblin’s head.

The goblin laughed. It wasn’t just one. There were various sounds of laughter, like keke, kiki, kik, ihihi, as if there were surround speakers.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, sir!”

The captain glanced at Jang Hyun-joon, who had briefly looked at the empty air, with a suspicious expression.

The car that left the base soon headed somewhere.

Jang Hyun-joon, who had been sitting stiffly, relaxed his body at the captain’s words to rest comfortably.

“Don’t be too upset that I’m sending you away so suddenly.”

“No, sir!”

The captain chuckled and continued.

“It’s not your fault, but… it seems like your platoon mates are suffering too much.”

“…Yes. I know.”

Jang Hyun-joon smiled bitterly, thinking of his fellow soldiers.

Until a week ago, they had all said that it was just his imagination, that someone was playing a prank on him, and tried to understand him. They were good people who had listened to Jang Hyun-joon’s story and told him that he had been through a lot.

But the unknown presence was bound to come as fear. When the unexplainable events and nightmares continued for three weeks, the soldiers looked physically and mentally exhausted.

“…I understand.”

He wanted to say thank you and sorry to them if he could ever come back to this base.

The captain, who was driving, glanced at Jang Hyun-joon.

“Do you have any friends?”

“…Yes! They are all strong and unaffected.”

Jang Hyun-joon nodded. His few friends were the ones who helped him endure his ‘normal’ life.

“That’s good.”

The captain asked curiously.

“What about me? Am I strong or weak?”

Jang Hyun-joon looked at the captain who was driving.

A goblin sitting on the hood right in front of the driver’s seat, trying to block his view, a ghost sitting in the back seat, trying to cover the captain’s eyes, and pale arms sticking out from both sides, grabbing the captain’s arms that were holding the steering wheel so hard that they left marks.

If they were his platoon mates, they would surely feel the chills, but the captain was humming a tune, not caring at all.

“…You’re strong, sir.”

“Right? I’ve never seen anything like a ghost in my life.”

The captain laughed and told him stories that he had heard every time he went to a fortune teller.

“Oh, by the way, aren’t you curious where we’re going?”

“I’m curious, sir.”

“The base we’re going to is a bit famous.”

Famous base? Was it a base that appeared on TV?

Jang Hyun-joon paid attention to the captain’s words.

“The food is delicious.”

“…Did I hear you wrong?”

The captain laughed at Jang Hyun-joon’s confused reaction.

“The food is delicious, I said. It’s so good that it’s rumored in other bases. They say even the colonel came there… It should suit your taste, too. I’m going to have lunch there, too, since I’m here.

At his casual words, Jang Hyun-joon, who had been nervous about being transferred to an unknown base, felt his strength drain.

“Is it that good?”

“I told you. I tried it last time and it was amazing. The menu was pork cutlet, and the frying, the meat, and the sauce were all incredible. Do you like pork cutlet?”

“Yes, sir. I like it.”

Haha.

The car was filled with faint laughter.

“And it’s famous for its rehabilitation facility.”

Jang Hyun-joon felt a shock similar to when he was a child, when his mother held his hand and took him to eat pork cutlet, but it turned out to be a dentist.

Rehabilitation facility.

And that too, in the army.

It was creepy just to hear it.

He involuntarily thought of the scenes from movies or dramas.

‘They say reality is worse than movies…’

Jang Hyun-joon, who was only blinking his eyes with his mouth open, heard the captain, who had been smiling mischievously, continue.

“I’m kidding about the rehabilitation facility. It’s better than our base to live in.”

“…Yes …Yes?”

“It’s a good place. They have a skilled counselor there.”

At the words that it was a good place, Jang Hyun-joon felt a little relieved and the captain explained further.

“There’s this corporal. He’s been famous since he was a private. He made the bullies into decent people and made the troubled soldiers do their share of work. They even watched him 24 hours a day to see if he was doing anything coercive, but they said there was nothing like that.”

The captain snorted and said.

“You have Choi, the senior private, in your platoon, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“He was here, too. He was doing crazy things when he was a private. I don’t know if he was really crazy or if he was trying to get a mental evaluation for being unfit for active duty.”

Jang Hyun-joon blinked his eyes.

The Choi he knew was a diligent person who was a platoon leader and more sincere than anyone else. He was the one who encouraged Jang Hyun-joon until the end.

“Anyway, he came here and became a human being, didn’t he? It’s not just our base. I don’t know how far the rumor has spread, but they say they come from other divisions, too.”

The captain tapped the steering wheel and said.

“That’s why the transfer in and out is faster in this ‘special situation’. It’s better to take action first and report later. If a troubled soldier causes an accident while waiting for the transfer order to be confirmed and the date to be set, it would be a big deal.”

“…Is that possible?”

“It’s the army. They can do anything that affects the promotion.”

“…No, sir. I mean the counseling.”

“Oh, the counseling? I don’t know much about that. I don’t think anyone in that base knows either. That’s why they’re trying to catch this corporal right now, but they say it doesn’t seem likely.”

It’s such a waste, he said, sincerely regretting it.

Jang Hyun-joon couldn’t believe the story and wondered if he should trust it. He cautiously opened his mouth.

“…But, sir… I…”

“Yeah. Your situation is a bit different.”

Whether he was really seeing ghosts or he was mentally ill.

He felt sorry for him, thinking of the smooth conversation they had so far. He didn’t seem like a lunatic. The captain smiled bitterly and said.

“Let’s just go and see. If it doesn’t work here either… then I’ll have to retire. Well, retirement might be better for you.”

“No, sir!”

“Kid. Don’t deny it… It’s almost over. Get ready to get off.”

The captain spoke with a chuckle, while Jang Hyun-joon muttered to himself, ‘I’m serious…’. He looked around to see the new unit he was about to join. And then he froze.

Jang Hyun-joon’s eyes widened and then twitched.

The sky where the military unit he was about to arrive at should be.

There, white and black energies were mixed together, as if they were about to blend but not quite. It looked like they were wrapping around the military unit.

Fortunately, if it was fortunate.

The white energy, which looked warm and cozy, was more abundant than the black energy, which gave him goosebumps.

“What’s that?”

“That’s…”

Jang Hyun-joon had seen and felt all kinds of spirits, various energies, and strange phenomena from birth until now. But even for him, this was a sight he had never seen before.

“White and black…”

So he unwittingly said that.

“Oh. You can see that?”

The captain, who was driving, exclaimed.

He looked so calm that Jang Hyun-joon wondered if the captain could see this sight too.

“Can you see the future and stuff like that?”

“…Pardon?”

…It seemed not.

The captain smiled and said to the confused Jang Hyun-joon.

“This is the White Tiger Unit.”

He kindly added an explanation.

“White fur with black stripes.”

The unit was getting closer.

The white and black energies seemed to become clearer.

“So we’re going into the tiger’s mouth. Be careful not to get bitten.”

The captain joked with a chuckle, but Jang Hyun-joon felt his words more earnestly than ever.

He swallowed hard.

***

They passed the guardhouse, and the captain and Jang Hyun-joon got out of the car and walked toward the barracks.

“I’ve already contacted them…”

The captain’s words were heard, but Jang Hyun-joon’s eyes kept wandering around.

The captain spat out a grunt, feeling the pain of the squad members who had been with Jang Hyun-joon.

‘He’s kind of creepy.’

His face was blank as he looked around. It was scary.

Of course, the one who was more scared than the captain was Jang Hyun-joon.

‘What the hell… is this… what is it!!’

The energies had no substance, but he could feel their power clearly.

The white energy felt warm, cozy, and friendly, while the black energy felt cold, eerie, and uncomfortable.

It was such a ghastly energy, close to death, that Jang Hyun-joon instinctively avoided the black energy floating in the air. The captain thought, ‘Is he okay? Has he gotten worse?’ seeing his strange movements.

“Are you okay? Do you see ghosts or something?”

“…Huh?”

Come to think of it, since he passed the guardhouse and entered the military unit, he couldn’t see the spirits that had filled the car.

They seemed to have run away from these strange energies.

‘I want to run away too.’

He choked back a sob and answered.

“…No, sir! I’m fine!”

“…You don’t look fine at all…”

The captain sighed and walked on. Jang Hyun-joon kept turning his head here and there, wondering, ‘Which is better, the spirits or these strange energies?’

‘If I stay in this unit, I don’t think I’ll meet any spirits…’

But the black energy seemed more creepy than the spirits.

Then, he saw the White Tiger Unit soldiers moving to have lunch.

They all passed by the white and black energies without paying any attention to them. He envied them.

Among them, a group seemed to notice the captain and Jang Hyun-joon walking toward the barracks. He saw many people talking to one person.

Jang Hyun-joon thought he made eye contact with that person. He seemed surprised for a moment, then smiled slightly.

And then.

The white and black energies that wrapped around the unit.

They disappeared in an instant.

…!

Jang Hyun-joon stopped walking and stared blankly at it.

The two energies that had been flowing around the unit until a moment ago were gone without a trace. As if it was a mirage. As if it was nothing.

Then, he heard the laughter of the spirits that had run away, from afar. He never thought the creepy laughter would be so welcome.

Jang Hyun-joon looked at the place where the person was with trembling eyes. He was already gone. But he was sure that the person had something to do with these two energies.

“Cap, captain.”

Jang Hyun-joon, who looked like he had lost his soul, pale as a ghost, shivered and called the captain, who was walking far ahead.

“Huh, what?”

“…Can we just go back, sir?”

There’s someone scary here.

***

“This sergeant. He’s here again.”

At that, the squad members who were moving to have lunch looked at the barracks. They saw a man walking familiarly and a man looking around with a bewildered expression.

“An old-timer… or rather, a troublemaker?”

“He really comes here non-stop. Only this sergeant suffers.”

“But didn’t he come less lately?”

“But why is he looking around like that?”

Right.

They tilted their heads at the sight of the man who was busily scanning the empty air.

Among them, Sergeant Lee Seo-joon scratched his chin.

It seemed that this guy could feel the divine and demonic energies quite well.

‘Well, I did engrave them everywhere.’

He engraved them in the cafeteria to eat well, in the barracks to sleep well, in the guardhouse, the ammunition depot, and the armory to prevent any danger. And besides that, he engraved anything he could use from the Library of Good and Evil all over the unit.

‘I engraved more than at home…’

And Seo-joon didn’t try to hide the energies that overflowed from those symbols.

‘Ordinary people wouldn’t feel them.’

Even if they did, they would only feel a little tired from the faint demonic energy, and he didn’t bother to care. The divine energy, which was more abundant than the demonic energy, would heal them right away.

‘But I guess I have to be careful from now on.’

He thought he was the most sensitive person he would meet in this life.

He smiled brightly as he made eye contact with the man.

He didn’t know what problem he had transferred for, but he thought he could have some fun with him.

‘I’ll gather them up since he looks uncomfortable.’

With that intention, Seo-joon made the divine and demonic energies that wrapped around the unit disappear in an instant.

He smiled at the sight of the man who was surprised by looking at the air.

He seemed to have really entered the tiger’s mouth, with his unusual ability. He wanted to faint.

Sergeant Lee Seo-joon, who kindly gathered the energies for Jang Hyun-joon, walked lightly to the cafeteria with his squad members.

He didn’t know how Jang Hyun-joon felt, who wanted to run away from this place.