The aftermath of the suicide incidents left the artillery company reeling in its wake. The seemingly-nonstop investigation left all the soldiers in the base exhausted and fed up; meanwhile, the officers saw their career paths dead in the water.

Funnily enough, none of the affected soldiers lamented or really complained loudly about it. Whatever their individual reasons were, there was still no excusing the fact that the officers had failed to supervise a company of fewer than a hundred soldiers.

Kim Hak-Cheol and Noh Su-Bong both failed to return to base. Soon, the rumors of them being committed to a mental asylum circulated within the Charlie base.

Three soldiers from the same squad trying to kill themselves spooked quite a few people in the base, making them utter some inane nonsense about the whole company being haunted and stuff like that. However, the popular sentiment among everyone else was that, with the sole exception of Ju Yeong-Gi, the other two had gotten what they deserved.

Afterward, the Charlie artillery company operated a little more... ‘by the book’ than before. The enlisted soldiers were understandably unhappy about this turn of events and raised their voices of discontent. Fortunately for them, though, the clock in South Korea's Ministry of Defense continued to tick relentlessly regardless of what happened on one of its bases.

***

Kang Jin-Ho glanced around. “Jang Jae-Hwan?”

“Yes?” Jang Jae-Hwan sneaked closer to Kang Jin-Ho with a puzzled face.

Kang Jin-Ho pointed to the wooden floor. “It's dirty.”

“Seriously?!” Jang Jae-Hwan's expression distorted instantly. He let his annoyance known rather openly before shooting off his barrage...