Kill The Dragons - Chapter 82

“Try to split your legs a bit more.”

Laocha said while hitting Han’s legs in the gym. Han stretched his legs the closest he could to 180 degrees. It hurt so much that it felt like it would tear apart.

“It, it hurts.”

Han furrowed his brows. Laocha observed Silence who watched both of them from far away.

“You’re a man, stop whining. Silence, help him for a moment.”

Laocha called Silence. Silence nodded and walked closer. His steps seemed cheerful.

-It hurts only a moment. It was the same for me. 

Silence displayed his electric note. Silence wrote out a happy face emoticon. This was plain mockery. Silence hit Han’s legs and increased the degree of Han’s split. Han’s face burned red.

“Must I master this to learn it?”

Han wanted to delay this lesson as much as possible as long as it wasn’t necessary.

“It’s advantageous in many ways to have a flexible hip joint. Silence, show him an example.”

Silence slowly raised one of his legs into the air. His raised right leg made a perfect vertical line with his left leg. Silence took a deep breath and spread his arms out. He turned back his hips just a bit to position himself.

Hwi-rik!

Silence jumped in place and kicked his legs like a windmill. His reflexes and flexibility were in perfect balance. He returned onto the ground with a perfect landing, and elegantly bowed like he was thanking his audiences.

‘I shouldn’t have asked to learn this.’

Han mumbled as his expression crumpled. He said he wanted to learn Muay Thai from Laocha. In addition, he planned to learn judo and wrestling from Schwartz.

The pain of mastering the splits made Schwartz’s hard training like a piece of cake.

“Let’s stop here, Han.”

Laocha smiled and said cheerfully. He patted Han’s back and left the gym.

‘It’s not an easy thing to see such a troubled expression from such a serious and boring kid.’

Laocha and Silence greatly enjoyed training sessions. It was pure joy to witness Han who is originally absent of emotion, display such weakness. There wasn’t a real reason to rush trying to master the splits, but they were focusing on this for amusement.

“I can’t walk.”

Han fumbled up. His knotted muscles felt tired. Silence’s shoulders shook as he laughed writing something on his electric note.

-Do you want me to carry you on my back?

“It’s fine. Get me some water instead.”

Silence used his telekinesis to bring some water. Han chugged down some water and then poured the remaining water on his head. The water spilled down his face and made the hair stick onto his forehead.

-Why do you want to go out of your way to learn martial arts? I don’t think it will be very useful.

Silence asked. Ark didn’t push their youths to learn martial arts as much. Ark trained their youths for the sole purpose of battling against minions and dragons. Martial arts were one of the least important on their list of priorities.

“I want to prepare ahead of time so that I can always win. I might really need these skills in the future. Laocha told me that victory comes to those who prepare ahead of time.”

-Laocha does have that side to him. He knows all sorts of skills and facts. But I don’t want to learn how to filter my urine to make drinkable water. If I fall into a situation where I have to make my urine into drinkable water, I will prepare a rope to die.

“Whatever you want.”

Han said boredly and massaged his legs.

Han spent the rest of his night in his room. He watched the squad mock battles, or checked the photos from the major. A year had passed since Han came to Ark. Thanks to all the hearty meals sponsored to his younger siblings, they grew and matured much faster.

‘Though it’s impossible for them to grow as much as me.’

Han couldn’t work up the courage to send his own photos to his younger siblings. He looked across to the mirror on his wall. He had become very different from his old self. He still had a childish appearance to his face, but his body was burly and strong. After all this time, he accrued many wounds to his face, and he appeared like a real soldier now.

“Huuu.”

Han sat on his bed and replayed the second year squad mock battles. The second year youths were reduced to half its original size, so in only a few days they were selected to battle against Squad 3 once again. Han’s eyes grew wide as he watched the clip.

“That’s unexpected.”

Han muttered while watching squad 13’s next mock battle. Jung Kijo made a total recovery and returned to Squad 13. Surprisingly, Kijo was dubbed the temporary squad leader and led all the members. He wondered how Jose and Canute gave up their positions.

‘Kijo is smart. It’s just his personality that’s a bit of a problem.’

It seems there was an unknown agreement for the squad leader this time around. When Han was the squad leader, Han remained as the center strength of the squad through and through. The squad at this time, without Han, was going through an organic reorganization process.

Swish.

Squad 13 worked together to isolate Simon. They didn’t take the bait to fight head on, and continued to escape. They used the columns to escape to work up Simon’s anger before Squad 3 commenced their attack.

Simon, this time around, arrogantly moved like a self asserted general and lost any sort of teamwork with his squad members. It seems he quickly forgot the importance of teamwork.

‘No, Squad 13’s tactics are too underhanded which perfectly rubs Simon’s temper the wrong way. They didn’t stop badgering Simon until he lost his temper. It will be hard for Simon to remain calm any more than this. Simon can easily knock them out with one punch, but they keep attacking from a safe distance…’

Han observed Squad 13’s tactic.

“That’s a very great underhanded tactic.”

Han could tell this was a tactic created by Kijo. Jose and Canute won’t turn to use these sort of cheap tactics. Amongst everyone in Squad 13, only Kijo, would turn to these cheap and cunning tactics so shamelessly.

Just as planned, Simon was isolated. They were perfectly done in by Squad 13’s perfect teamwork. Kijo yelped in delight. Squad 13 used this momentum to push Squad 3 back.

“Ah… he’s done it now.”

Han mumbled. He caught a short scene of Simon gripping Kijo’s neck after the end of the squad mock battle. The recording stopped there. Kijo probably showed off a crooked smile and scorned Simon. He didn’t need to see it for himself to visualize the scene.

“They’re doing well even without me.”

Han scratched his head and laid down in bed. Minus Kuro from Squad 13, it was very likely for Canute to get transferred into third year. They could send him out to all sorts of missions without burden thanks to his healing factor which takes out all risk of death. He already mastered the battle skills, and he had a strong sense of self.

“Hmm.. it probably won’t be too long until they’re transferred.”

Han was currently very lonely, surprisingly. Third years are all busy with their own work so it’s hard to build any sort of deep friendship in this place. The only real friend in third year that Han had was with Silence. When Silence was deployed out into military operations, he had to spend time with soldiers who smelled of alcohol and cigarettes. The experienced and seasoned soldiers enjoyed teasing Han. They badgered him with topics on women and lewd subjects of every level, which broke down Han’s mental sanity.

‘I never knew there were so many different ways one could refer to women.’

The soldiers referred to women in all sorts of ways. Han began to imagine various things by himself and he would feel his face grow red, then he could only look down in shame.

“Bastards, I’ve returned.”

Clack, clack. Sergeant Red used his well made prosthetic leg to kick the door open. The sound of metal clacked with every step he took. After Sergeant Red recovered enough to take care of daily tasks, he was seen spotted all over Ark.

“Your shoes are amazing.”

Han looked to Sergeant Red’s prosthetic leg. His walking wasn’t awkward in anyway at all. The current technology has advanced to the point that it was easy to make a perfect prosthetic leg for any individual.

“I heard you succeeded your first military operation. Your proud shoulders will probably fly off past your head.” Sergeant Red said.

Han matter of factly replied, “That’s not so.”

Sergeant Red observed Han’s stiff expression. He heard of Herald’s death, but didn’t mention it.

“I wish I also lost my arm. I can’t retire with a lost leg.”

It wasn’t possible to make such an intricately moving hand prosthetic as of yet. Ark kept Sergeant Red on a tight leash.

“Will you be deployed again in military operations?”

“I will temporarily return as a first year instructor. The institution side is short on hands these days, and I haven’t recovered enough to be fighting in actual battle.”

Sergeant Red used his knife to cut off one end of his cigar. He lit a flame to the tip of his finger and lit his cigar. Thick smoke suffocated the air.

“It’s a no smoking zone here,” Han said.

“Is there a place where people are allowed to smoke in Ark? Shit.”

Sergeant Red complained. Most of Ark was dubbed a no smoking zone and many of Ark’s soldiers complained. Wuxiaworld for visiting.

“If you will be the first year’s instructor, then I won’t be seeing you for a long while.”

“Do you remember the Elu mage we captured alive last time?”

“Of course. Nobody has questioned me about it.”

Sergeant Red quickly scanned his surroundings.

“We might have made a mistake. Dragons might not appear in three years.”

Han’s expression stiffened.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s possible they might arrive earlier than expected. It doesn’t match the oracle’s prophecy, but it will match if you think of it a different way. The main force will arrive in three years, but their vanguards might arrive much earlier.”

Han wasn’t aware of many things, but he could tell this was one of the top secretive information. Sergeant Red had just shared that with Han. He trusted Han would not easily go around spreading this fact.

“…Then what will happen to us?”

“It’s our important task to defend. We’ve already defended against them once.”

Han felt a chill run down his spine. Han’s past judgement had been correct. If he couldn’t stop them that one time, the dragons would have appeared in a mere ten year gap.

“How many people already know?”

“Only the top higher-ups know. Even if nobody states it explicitly, they will realize how organized the minions are moving. I thought that you should have the right to know since you helped to capture it alive.”

Sergeant Red said a few more words. He shared some more things about future tactics and training drills. Then the topic of Silence came up.

“Silence?”

“I heard that you’ve become quite acquainted with the fellow. It’s hard to befriend Silence.”

“All you need to do is be a little patient.”

Han patiently waited for Silence to finish writing out his thoughts. Silence usually replied to people’s questions very shortly, and expressed his intentions through gestures. It was rare for him to ever convey a long paragraph.

“It’s easier said than done, in reality it’s very hard to be patient. Only three people in Ark can endure a long conversation with him. Everyone is busy here.”

Han was a considerate person. It was a rare character for someone his age.

“I’ve come to know a lot about Silence. He’s more tenderhearted than he appears.”

“That’s correct. Silence has trouble developing human relationships. He came to Ark before the age one develops a sense of self, and was injured due to an accident. He communicates through written words, so it’s become a habit to reply very shortly. The only people who maintain long conversations with him are the therapists and a few soldiers.”

“But everyone approaches him first for a chat.”

The soldiers were all kind toward Silence. Han realized that Silence wasn’t very isolated at all.

“Even if people try to pretend, it’s unavoidable to appear a little annoyed and irritated. Silence isn’t so stupid not to notice. He gets more frustrated when people force themselves for his sake. That sort of obligatory consideration inflicts more pain than good. Do you like it when people see you in a bad light, but come to converse with you?”

Han shook his head. Han paused for a moment and spoke once again.

“Why does Silence wear a mask?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

Sergeant Red looked to Han with a loss for words. Han nodded.

“I don’t know at all. It’s not for a practical reason at least.”

“That’s right. It’s all for the sake of appearance.”

Sergeant Red said firmly and laughed in a meaningful way.