Chapter 13: Ghosts from the War.

A strange warning sounded from the scanner, and the soldier pointed his gun at Seo Jin.

“Hands up! Don’t move!!”

Seo Jin quietly raised both hands.

He knew that resisting or spouting useless excuses in this situation wouldn’t bring any good results, so he complied.

The soldier kept his gun aimed at Seo Jin while fiddling with the radio on his shoulder.

“Suspicious individual found during inspection, request assistance.”

Soon, several armed soldiers boarded the bus.

Seo Jin was immediately pressed to the floor, and restraints were put on both wrists.

He was dragged outside and made to face the wall of the checkpoint.

The soldiers behind Seo Jin started talking amongst themselves.

“……Wanted… forged identity….”

“…First…, call..”

From the fragmented words, Seo Jin belatedly guessed something.

Strictly speaking, he was someone who had died 3 years ago.

So, he had no choice but to need a new identity, and the one he was using now was indeed a sophisticated forged identity.

But it definitely shouldn’t have been detectable like this. He had put in a lot of effort, and the identity was formally registered in the Integrated Government database, so the identity itself was no different from a real citizen.

Unless he was specifically targeted and investigated, there wouldn’t have been any problems at all.

‘Then, what’s the cause of this situation…….’

There was only one cause he could guess.

While he was thinking this and that, he heard the sound of a vehicle coming from somewhere.

It gradually got closer and stopped not far away.

Soon, the surrounding chatter died down.

It seemed that someone of a higher rank had arrived.

Seo Jin was still facing the wall. He was just sensing the atmosphere around him from the sounds he could hear.

A series of salutes from those around him.

It seemed that the person in charge had arrived.

One set of footsteps stopped a little further away.

“Report.”

“Yes, during a vehicle inspection heading to Zone F 30 minutes ago, we found a suspicious individual with a wanted forged identity, and we have arbitrarily detained them.”

The voice talking to the soldier was surprisingly that of a young woman.

But that voice somehow felt familiar.

‘Could it be…………….’

A presence approached from behind.

A familiar voice finally called out to Seo Jin.

“You there, I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”

A slightly low but pleasantly mature and beautiful voice.

No matter how much he thought about it, it felt somehow familiar……

At the voice calling him, Seo Jin slowly turned around.

Their eyes met immediately.

Light brown eyes gradually widened.

She let out a trembling voice after a long time.

“Yu… Sergeant?”

That bewildered expression was like seeing a dead person again……

To the old acquaintance who had faced an unexpected reunion,

Seo Jin gave a slight nod.

“Major.”

Back when he was still serving in the Allied Forces.

Seo Jin was assigned to Arcel’s support unit.

Due to the nature of an ability user who could face the Queen of Encroachment, most of them were active on the front lines, so their affiliated units also experienced many real battles.

Among those combat ability users, Aegis, Arcel was uniquely strong, so the missions she was assigned to were mostly extremely high-risk.

Such important operations usually required the cooperation of several units-

One of them was the 77th Reconnaissance Regiment.

An independent unit whose main mission was reconnaissance and search for Encroachment species colonies in contaminated areas.

Thanks to the fact that all the members were veterans with considerable combat power, they were often selected for high-risk missions, and some of them were joint operations with Arcel’s affiliated unit.

The person who had become acquainted with them in many ways was the company commander of that 77th Regiment, Major Ceril Olsen, who was now standing before Seo Jin.

She said.

“I’m a Colonel now.”

Seo Jin’s gaze went to her epaulettes.

The changed rank insignia. But her youthful impression was the same as before. She was actually said to be around her late twenties. Certainly, it was an unusually young age for a Colonel.

She showed a self-deprecating smile.

“There’s only one good thing about wartime. You know what it is? Everyone, from top to bottom, dies, so promotions are faster than you can imagine.”

Making this kind of joke was the same as saying that she had lost that many unit members, so Seo Jin didn’t laugh easily.

Before the atmosphere could sink, she spoke again.

“Sergeant Yu, no, you’re not a soldier anymore.”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with, Colonel.”

“Okay, Seo Jin. You can just call me Ceril too.”

“That’s….”

“We’ve seen each other in battle in the worst conditions, so are you going to be so formal now?”

“And now, you’re not a soldier anymore, are you?”

“Ceril.”

At Seo Jin’s answer, she smiled.

As her light brown eyes drew a gentle curve, her brightly blooming impression was quite beautiful. Even though she was wearing a combat uniform without any makeup.

She was a beauty whose rumors had always spread to other units even in the past. That beauty hadn’t gone anywhere even now.

She exuded the feeling of being happy to meet an old comrade.

The 77th Regiment had a particularly deep relationship with Arcel’s unit. As they continued to see each other in cooperative operations, the members became quite fond of each other later on.

Although the units were different, the memories of the harsh and difficult struggle had strengthened the friendship that transcended the divisions of affiliation and the differences in rank.

To Ceril, Seo Jin was such a relationship.

But no matter how happy the reunion was, it was a situation that was worth questioning.

She spoke with a slightly cautious tone now.

“So, I definitely thought you were dead….”

“Can you tell me from the beginning what happened?”

It wasn’t a tone that forced him to answer.

Seo Jin hesitated.

She was certainly a comrade who had goodwill towards him, but considering the time that they hadn’t met each other, she was closer to a friend who had some distance from him.

To explain his situation to such a person, he had no choice but to start from the very beginning and tell her everything. Because he couldn’t understand it otherwise.

But…. was that really okay?

In fact, Seo Jin also wanted to tell someone everything at least once.

His story. Those regrets and mistakes.

They weren’t good things at all, but it was rather because it was an ugly and messed up appearance.

He wanted to tell someone everything for the last time at least.

Before the time given to him ran out.

“……It’s a long story.”

Seo Jin said that after hesitating.

“It’s okay.”

Ceril replied with a soft smile.

“I can definitely spend that much time on a friend I’ve met after a long time.”

Seo Jin hesitated for a long time, but eventually began to tell the story of how he had come this far.

Perhaps it was because he had a somewhat distant relationship with Ceril that he could speak more comfortably.

It was already late at night when all the conversations were over.

He didn’t know if her reason for wanting to listen to him was this kind of story.

He just told her everything so far.

Except for only one thing, the fact that he didn’t have much time left.

Even though Ceril had shown a friendly attitude, bringing up the topic of a scheduled death in a relationship that had been reunited after several years would only be burdensome to each other.

And he didn’t want to buy any sympathy.

Seo Jin didn’t have the right to do that.

Because he had ended up hurting someone and coming this far. He thought that only that much was his responsibility.

So he finished the long story, leaving out only what his condition was like.

Ceril had listened intently and silently until it was dark outside the window.

If she hadn’t, Seo Jin could have glossed over it vaguely. He didn’t know if it was because of her curiosity or because of her thoughtful nature.

She had only left Seo Jin with one word when the story was over.

“Yeah, you must have had a hard time.”

It somehow felt comforting, so Seo Jin closed his eyes for a moment.