M 179

The radio in Warrant Officer Choi’s ear crackled with an unusual sound, and the notifications on his wristwatch were all flashing red. Sehwa was bewildered, not knowing what was going on, but he found it strange that he didn’t feel afraid. It must be because he believed that Ki Tae-jeong would save him no matter what happened.

“Ah, madam. I’m sorry. The person who just visited the store is…”

Warrant Officer Choi, who had been glancing at the notification details, squeezed his eyes shut and muttered.

“They say it’s, Second Lieutenant Kwon Jin-young.”

Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be an attack by intruders or anything like that. Still, it must be serious, because Warrant Officer Choi was whispering as if he were doing ventriloquism, his mouth tightly shut, and Sehwa also lowered his voice.

“Who… is that…?”

Kwon Jin-young? It was a name he had never heard before. And even if a Second Lieutenant outranks a Warrant Officer, it wouldn’t be easy to treat a close aide of Lieutenant General Ki Tae-jeong poorly, would it?

“His family has been officers for generations, and his maternal grandfather is currently an Army General… Um, to put it simply, he comes from a very good family. Would it make sense if I said it’s a similar feeling to General Oh Seon-ran’s family?”

Ah, a family similar to his father’s… Sehwa swallowed nervously.

“But why is there an emergency? Is he not on good terms with the Lieutenant General? Or with my father…?”

“Um, first of all, that family is neither on good nor bad terms with General Oh Seon-ran. There’s no particular point of contact with the Lieutenant General on the surface either. Rather, the Kwon family benefited greatly in the process of wiping out the Kim family, so the Kwon family would think well of both General Oh and the Lieutenant General. However, that… Second Lieutenant Kwon Jin-young is…”

“Ah, bring more alcohol!”

“Second Lieutenant, you can’t do this here.”

“Yeah, I! A Second Lieutenant! Huh? I’m going to buy it all with money, damn it! You bastards talk too much!”

A much louder noise than before struck his ears. The sound of glass shards flying was so loud that it seemed like at least ten bottles had been broken, and there was also the sound of people being pushed and someone falling.

“Warrant Officer Choi, shouldn’t we go and stop him?”

Warrant Officer Choi hesitated, his face frozen, unable to do anything. It was unlike him.

“Madam, Second Lieutenant Kwon Jin-young is… not a good person.”

“It seems like it. That’s why we should stop him even more. Before the employees here get hurt any more.”

Judging by what he was doing, he seemed like as much of a troublemaker as Lieutenant Kim from the old days. That’s why Sehwa didn’t want to see innocent employees get hurt by that person’s rampage. It was a little embarrassing to rely on the power of General Oh Seon-ran or Ki Tae-jeong instead of stepping up himself, but if he could reduce the damage to the store by using their fame, it didn’t seem like something he couldn’t do.

“If it’s difficult because Warrant Officer Choi’s rank is lower, I can step in…”

“Oh? Warrant Officer Choi?”

Squeak. The sound of military boots rubbing against the floor made an unpleasant noise. It was perfect timing, as if to interfere with Warrant Officer Choi’s desperate attempts to stop him.

“What are you doing here? Without Lieutenant General Ki Tae-jeong.”

Warrant Officer Choi closed his eyes tightly as if what was coming had come, and then opened them, gesturing with his eyes to the employees who were hesitating behind him to step back.

He must have grown up well, so why is he acting like that? Sehwa, who was thinking that he should never raise Hae-rim like that, tilted his head slightly.

Strange… Second Lieutenant Kwon was said to be a talkative person, but Warrant Officer Choi’s attitude wasn’t just the feeling of encountering someone he didn’t like. It was a clear hostility that could only be shown to someone he had already experienced and was familiar with. It certainly didn’t seem like they had only seen each other a few times in passing.

“On an errand for the Lieutenant General?”

It took some time for Second Lieutenant Kwon Jin-young to come this way because the hallway was quite long. Seeing him walking unsteadily, shaking the bottle in his hand, Sehwa frowned without realizing it. Second Lieutenant Kwon’s frivolous behavior was more like the thugs he saw in houses than a soldier. He wasn’t just as bad as Second Lieutenant Kim, he was the same kind of jerk… Could there be something about the rank of Second Lieutenant?

“Just ignore him.”

Just before Second Lieutenant Kwon approached, Warrant Officer Choi whispered quietly.

“Whatever Second Lieutenant Kwon says, just pretend you can’t hear him. Don’t worry if that guy does anything to me.”

At the end, Warrant Officer Choi gritted his teeth so hard that the content was almost indistinguishable. He told him to ignore that person unconditionally, even though the families weren’t on bad terms. And those kinds of people would become more toxic and act up if you didn’t respond to them at all… Sehwa was very curious about the reason, but he wasn’t so clueless as to gossip about this and that in front of Kwon, who was getting closer.

“Oh, who is this?”

Second Lieutenant Kwon, with a flushed face, gave a crooked salute.

“Hello, I’m honored to meet the rumored ‘madam’.”

Before Warrant Officer Choi could say anything, Second Lieutenant Kwon cut him off.

“But somehow the rumors don’t live up to the real thing? You’re really beautiful.”

Sehwa smiled awkwardly and avoided his gaze. He felt bad, but he wasn’t as easygoing as Warrant Officer Choi had worried. He was so used to people who evaluated his appearance in that way, put him down, and even harassed him, that he wasn’t particularly angry. If Second Lieutenant Kwon was expecting him to be intimidated and cry or get angry, he had completely misjudged him.

“My, my. I thought Lieutenant General Ki Tae-jeong’s face was scary, but our madam here is even more so. How can a married couple’s faces match up like this?”

“Second Lieutenant Kwon.”

“It’s strange. What could be bothering Lieutenant General Ki? He has such a pretty madam waiting for him at home… Hey, Warrant Officer Choi. Why is your Lieutenant General acting like that these days?”

“Second Lieutenant Kwon!”

Warrant Officer Choi blocked Sehwa and called out to Kwon loudly as if warning him, and he raised both hands as if surrendering and whistled lightly.

“Oh, my. Madam is so pretty that I got carried away without realizing it. I’m sorry, madam.”

He only said that, but Second Lieutenant Kwon’s attitude was not apologetic at all.

After experiencing it firsthand, he understood Warrant Officer Choi’s advice. People like Second Lieutenant Kim would cause more trouble if they thought their authority was being undermined, so it was right to respond appropriately, but people like Second Lieutenant Kwon shouldn’t be given a chance to speak.

Still… he couldn’t help but be concerned. He could ignore whatever they said about him, but he wanted to pick up even the smallest piece of information about Ki Tae-jeong. He must be very busy these days. He was feeling bad because he was overworked and awkward with him, so it was natural for him to become sensitive.

“By the way, Warrant Officer Choi, you’re doing a good job? How are you so fast?”

Second Lieutenant Kwon was still holding his hands up high as if surrendering, and he only rolled his eyes to check his wristwatch. Sehwa couldn’t see anything, but the vibrations kept ringing, so it seemed like alarms were pouring in. He didn’t know what the content was, but it was definitely strange. The families weren’t having any problems at all, but warnings were being issued to both Warrant Officer Choi and Second Lieutenant Kwon.

“How about it, madam, would you like a drink?”

Second Lieutenant Kwon shook the bottle he was holding from side to side. His voice was carefree, as if he didn’t care about the alarms on his watch.

“I feel like I’m going to get kicked out soon. I wanted to say a last goodbye.”

The liquid in the bottle splashed everywhere with a light touch, as if it were almost new. Maybe he was just taking it and drinking it without paying. Ugh, Sehwa shuddered and apologized to Warrant Officer Choi in his mind. He was canceling everything he had said about how to deal with this kind of person. He had never seen such a jerk. He didn’t know what his relationship was with Ki Tae-jeong or General Oh Seon-ran, but he fully understood why Warrant Officer Choi had warned him not to get involved under any circumstances.

“Shall I tell you only, madam? How to make Lieutenant General Ki Tae-jeong feel better?”

Second Lieutenant Kwon, who was sticking his drunken face out from behind Warrant Officer Choi, who was standing guard like a military dog, looked like a mole that had been beaten with a hammer, which he was really sorry for thinking.

“How simple are the military bastards? Just feed them something delicious and fuck them a few times, and that’s it? And Lieutenant General Ki Tae-jeong is-“

“Second Lieutenant Kwon.”

Warrant Officer Choi’s voice calling Kwon sounded like he was chewing on a stone. Even though he was making a low, rumbling growl, Kwon continued his vulgar words without batting an eye.

“Wow, look at the downy hair on his neck. Madam is really young.”

“Second Lieutenant Kwon!”

Ugh, what is he saying. Sehwa barely managed to hide his pouting lips. At first, he tried to ignore him because he was a vulgar person who didn’t have anything new to say, and now he was being careful in case he got caught. There must be CCTV cameras in the store, so he had to remain in a situation where anyone could see that he was the victim.