Summer ought to have been on its way out, yet the weather remained oppressively muggy. Even though it was a hot afternoon, sweat beaded on Taeui’s brow and the tip of his nose as he walked through the densely overgrown forest. Maybe it felt even more humid because this woods, dotted with little ponds leading down to the sea, trapped moisture.Now that he thought about it, this place lay at a much lower latitude than anywhere he’d lived before. Couldn’t it count as subtropical? He wiped a drop of sweat from his nostril to his lip with his fingertip—only to be jabbed in the ribs by a rough elbow.“Hey, that’s your classmate, right?”“Ugh… are you trying to talk to me, or just using that as an excuse to jab me in the side?” Taeui glared at Alta, who until just moments ago had been a few paces ahead but suddenly pressed up right beside him. Alta ignored the complaint and jabbed again, repeating, “Hey, hey, but that is your classmate, right?”“What of it?”“I just noticed him right away… Wow, he’s broad in every direction.”Alta murmured in admiration at the two men ahead—about twenty meters in front—striding through the trees. One was the lanky German whose silhouette he could recognize from the back of his head alone; beside him walked his fellow cadet, equally recognizable from the back of his head, for different reasons.“Your classmate’s got guts. He actually walks side by side with Rick. Well, I’ve known that boldness since he waged that big fight in another detachment,” Alta chuckled.“He’s not bold—he’s just an idiot who couldn’t read people if his life depended on it.”Within about five meters around them, hardly anyone approached. Only a few newbies or off-base trainees who didn’t know the score. Yet that dumb Kim Jeong-pil, face untroubled, chatted up Ilrey as he walked.“Still, if Rick just lets him be, he must at least know him by face.”“Betting doesn’t matter; that idiot wouldn’t even notice if a fly buzzed right next to him.”Before they knew it, Carlo had slipped up between Alta and Taeui. Taeui clicked his tongue and rubbed the back of his neck.“Or maybe he feels friendly after hearing all my dirt—who knows with those two.”“Ha—well, they say the quickest way for strangers to bond is over a common target.”Amid the two snickering, Taeui tripped them up one by one by hooking their ankles as he strode past. They staggered with a groan, but he paid no mind and kept walking.“Hey, come on, why so touchy over a joke? You in a bad mood today?”“Who’d feel good marching in full kit in this heat?”“Fair enough.”Again the two erupted in chuckles—apparently feeling quite cheerful. Taeui sighed and glanced ahead. But why was Ilrey in such a mood? The iron-blooded man, seemingly undisturbed by heat or hard labor, didn’t look right today. Visibly he seemed as usual, but something felt off. Taeui frowned and tilted his head. It seemed this mood had carried over from last night… Was it because of something Taeui had said? He scratched his head, wondering if he should apologize if he’d been wrong—but Ilrey didn’t appear angry. Merely displeased.“Eh… I don’t know.” Taeui clicked his tongue and grumbled.Slowing his pace with a bitter sigh, he heard Kim Jeong-pil up ahead, who’d closed the distance, muttering, “Ugh—suffocating. After training, Chang-o’s vixen of a sister-in-law will kill a young rooster to make him a restorative broth… I envy the married guys. Hey Rick, you married? …Ah, is that too personal?”Unsure where the privacy line lay, Kim tilted his head toward Ilrey, who glanced at him.“Who knows. What do you think?” Ilrey replied.“Hm—I’m not sure, but he seems the type to have at least a girlfriend. Intellectual, composed, gentle… He must have someone.”For a moment, Taeui was grateful to Kim. The temperature felt like it had dropped three degrees. The others who’d been listening also fell silent. But a few sharp-eyed ones shot suspicious glances at Taeui—one even wore a subtle grin.“I do.” Ilrey’s cool answer came. Carlo, who’d been slowing his pace to lengthen the gap, grabbed Taeui’s elbow and beamed. When was he ever so doting?“See? I thought so. What’s she like?”“She’s someone who always thinks she might die because of me.”The hand on Taeui’s elbow slid away. Yes, hearing that again, he felt sorry for himself.… So that was why Ilrey looked so out of sorts.Taeui shot Carlo a fierce look and shook his elbow free.“Haha, what’s that? Funny joke.”“Well… I think so, too.” Carlo shrugged as the conversation resumed ahead, the murmur oddly hushed. A “joke,” or did it mean that this girlfriend truly feared dying because of him? No doubt everyone had thought the same simultaneously.Amid those glances, Taeui’s temper flared. He plucked a small wooden nut from the ground, lobbed it forward, and, grinding his teeth, aimed it at that infuriating back of Ilrey’s head. Though he didn’t expect to hit, Ilrey seemed to sense it—he glanced back, caught the nut, and met Taeui’s eyes with an even more irritating look.“What’s your problem, getting upset over words! You’re not even doing anything about it—what else do you expect? Live with someone like you!” Taeui spat in German, sure few around would understand. Ilrey crushed the hard nut in his fingers with three digits, raised a single eyebrow, expressionless.“A someone like me. What kind of someone is that?”“….” Confronted, Taeui was left speechless. No matter what, he couldn’t call Ilrey a lunatic, murderer, or lecher to his face.A tense silence passed between them until a light clap sounded from behind.“Why you lollygagging during a march? Move your feet—no one told you to rest. You wanna stop wearing that 25-kilo pack?”It was Hogan, urging the halted line forward. As he prodded the stragglers, they resumed marching. Ilrey, who’d been watching Hogan silently, turned his back, and the column moved on.Kim Jeong-pil, glancing back and forth between them in the charged air, called to Ilrey, “You two really hate each other, huh? He’s got the toughness to take a hit, but don’t fight with him. He’ll handle it better than an office civilian. By the way, Rick, where do you work?”“Better not know,” Taeui muttered, trailing behind with a scowling face. He heard Rick’s curt reply:“Grievance Redressal Unit.”“Grievance… ah, like public complaints? You’re a civil servant? Administrative? Tough job.”Kim parsed it himself, and Taeui only thought that if any country had such a public grievance unit, asylum seekers would never stop coming. They could finally drop their packs after nearly another hour of marching. The instructor, saying “let’s cool off for thirty minutes,” led them around a bend—and the sea appeared. Fringed by scraggly trees and rocks, the little sandy beach was no larger than a few classrooms combined, but it was enough to feel like they’d reached the shore.No sooner had the instructor finished speaking than the troopers began tossing off their packs. Taeui exhaled heavily as he offloaded his own. Marching in full gear wasn’t unusually hard in itself, but in this sauna-like heat, lugging that weight down a rugged forest path for who knew how long was anything but easy.“Why fight like that? You risk your lives.” Carlo, already stowing his pack, spoke up. Taeui clicked his tongue.“I wasn’t fighting. He’s just in a bad mood for who knows why. Risk our lives—what risk?”“Maybe no risk for you, but every degree his mood drops, someone around here loses a year off their lifespan.”“…So what. Next to me is only that idiot who can’t read a room.”He peeled off his sweat-soaked shirt, glanced ahead, and saw Kim Jeong-pil a few meters into the surf. He’d stored his clothes just out of reach of the waves and was about to plunge in—already several had stripped and dived in. Ilrey, too, was slipping off his watch and tucking it into his shirt pocket, preparing to enter the water.“Tch, he’s not actually going to strip and swim, is he?” Taeui muttered suspiciously. Carlo peered over and said,“I think he is. You not going in, with this heat?”“I’ll go,” Carlo said, unbuttoning. Taeui frowned.“Several people are planning ambushes while we march, right? No weapon in the water—dangerous…”“….”“…Did I say something wrong?”“Glad you know that. You’re not exactly the type who worries about him.” Carlo scoffed, and Taeui, at a loss, simply undressed.“Plus, in broad daylight, with the instructor glaring under that treescape—who’d dare? If they’re going to ambush him, they’d do it at night, under cover, leaving no evidence.” Carlo added, and Taeui nodded as he headed toward the sea.This short break in the grueling march gave everyone different ideas: some lounged under shade; some plunged in naked; some dipped only their feet.Behind Carlo, who leapt into the water in just his underwear, Taeui considered wading only to his knees. The beach was crowded with people splashing and playing like toddlers. He suspected that if he tried, they’d swarm him and dunk him headfirst…Taeui watched them warily, debating whether he’d avoid that and just strip off completely.A few meters ahead, Ilrey, wearing only trunks down to his thighs, passed by. He swept his bangs—grown long—back from his face as if annoyed, then glanced casually at Taeui. Their eyes met, and for a moment, his stride faltered.“….”Ilrey turned his head away, saying nothing. Taeui felt a sudden pang—Ilrey, uncharacteristically, had shown exactly how twisted he felt inside…“Hey, Il—” Taeui started to call after him, but Ilrey, just as he’d been about to look away, halted his gaze near the nape of Taeui’s neck.“Taei. Your neck—”“Hmm?”Absentmindedly, Taeui brushed the spot Ilrey stared at. Was something on him? Ilrey, who’d watched him touch it, then...

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