Chapter 59: On-call Support

The Special Forces moved with impressive speed.

The day after Kim Hyeon-jun expressed his desire to provide on-call support, an officer from the Special Mission Unit came to pick him up personally.

The briefing for the operation was supposedly to be held at the Special Mission Unit’s headquarters.

'It's good that they're fast, but...' he wondered if military matters were always handled this quickly.

'I'm going to be even busier from now on.'

Even though he had volunteered for on-call support with the Special Mission Unit, he had no intention of neglecting his life at his current post.

He would handle his daily duties as usual. He would also catch villains with the Special Mission Unit. He intended to have his cake and eat it too.

'Since I have a stamina recovery skill, I can definitely pull it off.'

This was why he could remain relaxed even in the evening, right after finishing his daily tasks. He could recover his stamina through the Spearman’s Willpower.

Furthermore, even with on-call support, requests were only expected to come in twice or, at most, three times a quarter. He could easily handle that load.

*Vroom —*

While Kim Hyeon-jun waited near the parade ground, a military jeep drove into the base.

It was a Special Mission Unit vehicle. A vehicle that looked ten times more expensive than a standard Retona stopped, and the officer in the passenger seat stepped out.

"Salute!"

"Salute."

It was Second Lieutenant Park A-young, whom he had met during the previous villain response training.

"I’ll explain on the way. Get in."

"Yes, ma'am!"

***

'At first, I thought he was just being stubborn.'

On the way to the Special Mission Unit, Second Lieutenant Park A-young glanced sideways to check Kim Hyeon-jun’s condition.

He should have been exhausted after finishing his daily duties, yet he showed no signs of fatigue at all.

'I guess his claim of being confident wasn't just empty talk.'

Originally, the plan was for Kim Hyeon-jun to stay with the Special Mission Unit until the operation ended. They had even prepared a spot for him in the barracks for this reason.

Since he seemed to be on good terms with the Fourth Squad of the Fourth Platoon, they had intentionally assigned him to their barracks.

However, Kim Hyeon-jun had shown a strong desire to continue his daily routine with the Biryong Unit as well.

Since he insisted he could handle both, what else could they do? The party asking for the favor had to accommodate him.

'Preparing for the Special Mission Unit’s operation from evening until dawn. Then, after a short sleep, performing his regular duties at his original unit starting in the morning.'

It might be an achievable schedule for an officer who had undergone grueling training, but it should have been a difficult schedule for a regular Hunter Army soldier to manage.

'Hmm. I’ll see soon enough.'

She would soon find out if he was simply being greedy or if he truly had the confidence to back it up.

"Follow me."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Late at night, Kim Hyeon-jun arrived at the Special Mission Unit and headed to the briefing room.

Inside the room, the soldiers of the Special Mission Unit were already seated. At a glance, there were enough people to form a platoon. Kim Hyeon-jun found an empty seat and sat down.

'I came here so suddenly that I haven't heard anything yet.'

He didn't know what kind of operation he was being deployed for or what kind of villains he would be facing. He had expected a brief explanation from Second Lieutenant Park A-young on the way, but she hadn't said a word.

'I'll probably just be catching some reasonably weak villains again.'

With that thought, he began to listen to Park A-young’s briefing....

'Wait.'

The scale of the operation was larger than he had anticipated.

"The mission you will perform seven days from now is to uproot the villain group known as Blood Phantom."

It wasn't a small organization; the goal was to annihilate a villain group of significant size. That was the objective of this operation.

"Blood Phantom is a group of villains who worship dark magic. They will commit any illegal act to gain power. They are one of the organizations that must be eliminated."

The sample photos that followed showed hunters who had been victimized by them... and it was quite gruesome. It was enough to make the soldiers scowl in disgust.

The victims' skin was shriveled as if they had become mummies. Their faces were devoid of any life. Some of them had reportedly died of shock because a massive amount of blood had been drained from their bodies all at once.

'Scum.'

Kim Hyeon-jun clicked his tongue inwardly.

The reason why Blood Phantom was a higher priority for elimination than even larger villain groups was precisely because of that behavior.

'Those bastards kidnap hunters and steal their blood.'

They did so because they believed in the superstition that a hunter’s blood contained a mysterious power. They were essentially a group of fanatics.

For this operation, the primary directive was suppression, but the secondary directive allowed for lethal force.

'I think Second Lieutenant Park A-young distinguished herself during this event....'

Vague memories from before his regression surfaced. He remembered her being promoted to First Lieutenant after her performance in this operation.

'However, I heard they failed to wipe them out completely.'

That was what the follow-up news reports had said. They had suppressed and killed many villains, nearly annihilating the group, but the removal hadn't been perfect.

Several villains who were high-ranking members of Blood Phantom had managed to escape and go into hiding back then. He didn't know if those individuals had ever been dealt with properly.

'If I’m deployed in this operation, maybe I can bring about a different result.'

He wondered if a sergeant could catch what a Special Forces lieutenant had missed, but he still wanted to do what he could.

"And finally, there is a soldier who readily volunteered for this operation. Sergeant Kim Hyeon-jun."

Just as the briefing seemed to be ending, Park A-young pointed him out.

Every eye in the room turned toward him.

Among them were confused looks that seemed to ask, 'Why is he here?', curious stares wondering, 'Is he that monster who got consecutive special promotions?', and even looks of annoyance that someone from the regular Hunter Army had joined them.

"The company commander, the battalion commander, and I all decided to deploy Sergeant Kim Hyeon-jun because we need him for this operation."

She added that he would be an on-call support soldier, much like those in other special units, and told them to get along with him.

Park A-young asked if there were any objections, but no one answered.

It made sense. If the platoon leader and company commander had already approved, what could the soldiers do by objecting? Her tone suggested the decision was already final.

'I'm glad they think so highly of me, but...'

Kim Hyeon-jun felt a slight bit of tension at the larger-than-expected scale of the operation.

It couldn't be helped. He had suppressed and caught a few villains so far, but they were small fry compared to Blood Phantom.

Yet, at the same time, he was excited. He was curious to see how much the power he had accumulated so far would work against Blood Phantom.

'And those guys have quite the price on their heads.'

Bounties were high because of the group's notoriety. While all villains were a blight on society, those bastards were especially extreme.

Furthermore, suppressing or killing such dangerous villains would naturally count as a significant achievement. Though he had only recently reached the rank of sergeant, he would have to prove many things if he wanted to move up to second lieutenant later.

Since he still had time, he decided to hone his skills during the remaining period.

"That concludes today's briefing."

That day, Kim Hyeon-jun familiarized himself with the soldiers' positioning and the structures of the area where they would be deployed.

Perhaps because he was a volunteer mercenary, he wasn't given a critical role, but that was fine. Given the scale, there was a high probability it would turn into a chaotic melee later.

'The news before my regression said as much.'

He could step in then.

***

A few days later, in the morning.

Arriving back at the Biryong Unit, Kim Hyeon-jun prepared for his daily duties as usual.

During that time, he performed his duties at his original unit from morning to evening, and then went to the Special Mission Unit from night to dawn to prepare for the operation.

Although he felt like he was just filling a spot as an on-call soldier, he had no intention of slacking off on his preparations.

— Man, you’re tougher than I thought. Aren’t you tired?

— You’re commuting all the way from the Biryong Unit to here? And doing your regular duties too?

— You don’t look that tired despite all that... Are you taking some kind of supplement?

— Even if our training is hard, we have to get plenty of sleep....

Even the Special Mission Unit soldiers from the Fourth Squad of the Fourth Platoon, whom he had met before, clicked their tongues in amazement.

His actual sleep time was barely four hours, but he had no problems with his condition. All he had to do was use his skill to recover.

'I should look into Blood Phantom whenever I have time.'

Who knew? Maybe he would recall a memory he had missed from before his regression.

While he was out on the parade ground stretching his stiff body...

"Sergeant Kim Hyeon-jun!"

A familiar silhouette ran toward him from afar. It wasn't Private First Class Jeong Ye-na... she was now a corporal. Another stripe had been added to the rank insignia on her chest.

"Salute! Notice anything different about me?"

Corporal Jeong Ye-na puffed out her chest as if to show it off.

"Hmm... did you gain weight lately?"

Kim Hyeon-jun jokingly pretended not to notice.

"W-weight?! I did not! Do you know how hard I’ve been training lately?!"

Corporal Jeong Ye-na began checking her own body in a panic.

"I’m kidding, I'm kidding. You made corporal. When did that happen?"

Feeling she might actually get upset, he congratulated her on the promotion.

"Hehe. I actually got it yesterday."

According to her, the promotion exams for corporal and sergeant were held yesterday. Apparently, she had passed with flying colors. Well, it was about time.

"I worked really hard so I could talk to you without feeling awkward, Sergeant!"

She sounded as if she wanted more praise.

'I wondered why I hadn't seen her lately, and it was because she was avoiding me on purpose?'

Apparently, she had deliberately avoided approaching him recently. She said she felt self-conscious talking to him as a private first class.

"I have a lot of seniors I'm close with, but... isn't it a bit weird for a private first class to be too friendly with a sergeant?"

"I don't really care."

"You might not, but what am I supposed to do if I care?"

Then again, it made sense from a private’s perspective.

"Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to try and keep up with you when you get promoted as easily as eating a meal?"

She grumbled playfully, saying she didn't expect him to reach sergeant so quickly and asked him to slow down his pace. She said she had to catch up too.

"I'll think about it."

He didn't really intend to, but he gave her a polite answer.

"By the way, did that guy Kang Cheol-su take the exam too? What happened to him?"

"Corporal Kang Cheol-su? I heard he failed."

As expected, Kang Cheol-su did not betray his expectations. He was still a corporal as time passed. This would be his third time failing the promotion exam. He was a remarkably consistent guy.

"More importantly, Sergeant. Please don't overdo it."

Corporal Jeong Ye-na suddenly sent him a worried look.

Kim Hyeon-jun replied that there were plenty of active hunters working two jobs, so she shouldn't worry. In truth, it really was manageable for him.

"Sigh. That's not what I meant."

Finishing his chat with Corporal Jeong Ye-na, he completed his daily duties as usual. Then, in the evening, he took a military vehicle to the Special Mission Unit.

With only three days left until the start of the operation, everyone was moving busily as there was much to prepare.

'The deployment is platoon-sized this time, and the villain group is quite large.'

They were checking the armament and status of the Blood Phantom villains, mapping the structure of the building where they were hiding, and securing the locations of the hunters who had been captured to have their blood drained.

There was also real-time surveillance.

Although the main objective was to annihilate Blood Phantom, they also had to rescue the captured hunters. Because the scale was larger than expected, Second Lieutenant Park A-young would also be participating in the operation.

'I'm not sure if those guys are just mimicking dark magic or if they’re actually using the real thing.'

This was something that had happened before his regression, but he had only learned about it through news articles. The Special Mission Unit hadn't released all the information.

'Still, it would be best to bring the Paladin’s Spear.'

He had been saving the spear he bought from the Hidden Trait Shop. One shouldn't use a cleaver meant for a cow to kill a chicken.

He had been worried it would be difficult to repair if it broke, so he hadn't bothered taking it out when clearing low-grade dungeons.

If there was a time to reveal it, it would be the day he was deployed for the operation. The operation to annihilate Blood Phantom.