Descent of the Demon Master

would take to reach their goal was measured.
Simply put, Kang Jin-Ho had arrived at the destination in half the time the previous squad had taken.

“Good job, soldier! Take a breather over there.”

“Yes, sir!” Kang Jin-Ho saluted, then headed to the rest area at the finishing line.
He took a seat and drank water from one of the available canteens.
He watched the rest of his squad members in the distance breathlessly running this way and thought to himself…

'Things are going well…'

***

On the third day…

Jo Won-Gu muttered in a tired voice.
“…Hey, Jin-Ho.”

“Private 1st Class Kang Jin-Ho, sir.”

“Can you, like…
toss them a bit more gently?”

“I don't follow, sir?”

“I mean…
They are not our enemies but fellow Korean soldiers, right? If you toss them outside like that, it's gonna hurt a lot, you see? So, I'm asking you to be gentle with them.”

“I see, sir.
I'll engrave it to my heart.”

“S-sure thing…” Jo Won-Gu weakly replied, already wondering about the point of life itself.
However, how could he not? This was his second time participating in guerrilla training, which naturally meant this was his second time experiencing the so-called 'trench battle.’

The trench battle was usually a competition between soldiers to shove others outside of a deep hole in the ground.
Although it was referred to as a battle, you were prohibited from hitting your opponents, so the competition would inevitably descend into a free-for-all wrestling battle royale.
However, it could also descend into an utter pandemonium where a group of mud-covered young men would roll, tumble, push and shove each other away.

To make matters worse, the head drill instructor had declared before the start that the winner would receive the most points for the overall 'best-performing squad' evaluation.
His provocative words meant today's trenches would turn into a fierce battleground where the blood, sweat, and tears of countless soldiers would be shed.

At least, that was what should have happened.

“But now, what the heck…” Jo Won-Gu muttered quietly while taking in the gruesome sight of a 'massacre' before his eyes.

“Uwaaaaah?!”

“H-hey, man! My arm! My arm!”

“Can't I just get out myself? Please? You know what, let me just get out now.”

Kang Jin-Ho was usually Terminator, but in this place? He was Fedor Emelianenko.[1]

Strategy? Tactics? Such things were unnecessary in this place! Kang Jin-Ho simply grabbed the nearest person, lightly picked them up, and tossed them outside the trench.

Those who knew what it meant to pick up a person and throw them around could only look on in sheer disbelief.
As for those 'victims' who had gotten themselves thrown around by another person for the first time since their elementary school days—they could only lie on their backs and stare at the skies in a daze, wondering what had just happened to them.

Thanks to Jo Won-Gu's quick-witted flexible thinking, Kang Jin-Ho proceeded to end the confrontation by picking people up and then gently placing them outside the trench.

“Now! Grab him! Do it nooow!”

When Kang Jin-Ho picked up one person and began walking towards the trench's wall, three, no, four people rushed in and clung to his waist, trying to pull him down.
Unfortunately for them, Kang Jin-Ho was like an unstoppable bulldozer.
He reached his destination, put down the person he was carrying, then picked up every single soldier clinging to his waist and placed them outside the trench, as well.

“…This can't be called a trench battle anymore now, can it?” Jo Won-Gu quietly muttered to himself.
Rather than combat, this whole thing seemed more like an escort mission instead!

The other members of the 3rd squad, the squad where Kang Jin-Ho belonged, could only stand back and stare at the unfolding spectacle because…
it didn't seem right for them to interfere.

“Isn't Jin-Ho a bit too much?” Jo Won-Gu muttered to no one in particular.

“That's an understatement of the century, Serg,” Jeon Hyeok-Su shook his head helplessly.
“Sometimes, Jin-Ho being a part of our squad feels like a blessing, but some other times, it's like a curse…
I just can't make up my mind, sir.”

“Still, we're being spared that humiliation, so there's that, right?” Jo Won-Gu pointed with his chin.
He noticed a soldier from some other squad getting picked up in the air.
That poor lad in the air was this close to breaking out in tears.
Unable to look on any further, Jo Won-Gu turned his head away.

Jo Won-Gu didn't know about the boys from the infantry division, but at the very least, he could confidently say that the artillery troops were renowned for their physical strength.

Soldiers in this branch of the military were forced into back-breaking work dealing with cannons weighing over seven tons.
That wasn't all since they were also forced into participating in harsh training that paid absolutely no consideration to the aerobic energy-generating process! Repeatedly going through such torture every day meant an artillery soldier's arms would get naturally thicker while their gut would start to protrude.

An artillery soldier could only accept such dramatic changes to their physique with manly tears, their only solace being their enhanced grip strength and the ability to bench-press seemingly superhuman level of weight!

To these soldiers, being picked up like a toy was probably the worst type of humiliation they could ever imagine.

“…Hey, Jin-Ho? Go easy on them, will ya?”

“Sir? Understood.” Kang Jin-Ho glanced back at Jo Won-Gu and nodded briefly.

“N-no, I didn't mean you should grab them gently…” Jo Won-Gu's voice faltered as he watched the carnage continue—what a heartless, cold-blooded bastard!

“Serg?” Jeon Hyeok-Su cautiously raised his voice.

“Yeah?”

“When I think about it, it's a relief that we met him in the army.”

Jo Won-Gu was taken aback.
“How did you arrive at that conclusion?”

“I mean, sir…
Had I ever met him as a civilian, I don't think I could look at Jin-Ho in the eye.”

“…Huh. You have a point there.”

It seemed that Kang Jin-Ho was dealing damage to both his allies and opponents at the same time.

***

Jo Won-Gu scratched his cheek.
“…We will be the best-performing squad, right?”

“Well, it's almost a done deal at this stage, Serg…” Jeon Hyeok-Su muttered.

Although the members of the 3rd squad hadn't done much, they had still 'won' the map reading and the trench combat.
As long as they didn’t stumble during the rest of the training and drop out of the upcoming march, the overall victory should be theirs.

“Jin-Ho is carrying all of us to the finish line, so do your best not to mess it up, okay? …Let's just do our best. Our best, I say.”

“Yes, Serg.”

Jo Won-Gu turned his head to look at Kang Jin-Ho, who was currently hoovering up choco pies that had been bought for him as the reward for all of his 'hard' work so far.
A satisfied grin slowly floated up on Jo Won-Gu's face.
“Enjoy it, Jin-Ho.”

Kang Jin-Ho replied with a salute, “Thank you, sir.”

Jo Won-Gu nodded in approval.
Kang Jin-Ho had a tendency of making one mad every once in a while, but he was still a good kid who would bring the 3rd Squad their much-deserved vacation time.
When Jo Won-Gu thought about how all of his accumulated mental stress from looking after such a piece of work would be rewarded with a lengthy leave, it felt like the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders.

“By the way, Serg?” Jeon Hyeok-Su tilted his head.

“Yeah? What?”

“Don't we have a talent show tomorrow evening? With the prize of extra leave on offer? Serg, shouldn't we aim for that as well?”

“…Listen, Hyeok-Su.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let's be brutally honest here.
We are diligent and physically strong, but we also don't have any artistic abilities whatsoever, am I right?”

“…T-that is true, Serg.”

“Let's not get greedy over things out of our wheelhouse, okay? I sure don't want to become a laughing stock by tackling stuff we have no idea about.”

“…You're right, Serg.”

At this point, Seong Tae-Ho broke his silence and raised his voice.
“Serg…?”

Jo Won-Gu glanced at him.
“Yeah?”

“I've been thinking about that, and…
Sir, I think there is a way to win the talent show without getting laughed off the stage.”

“Really?” Jo Won-Gu's brows rose up.

Seong Tae-Ho turned his head and stared at Kang Jin-Ho, who was still munching on his choco pie.
“…I think we can go with the demonstration of superhuman strength, sir.”

Everyone in the squad suddenly stared at Kang Jin-Ho.
As for Kang Jin-Ho, he could only stare back, puzzled by the sudden outpour of attention on him.

1.
Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko is a Russian heavyweight MMA fighter, a winner of numerous championships and accolades. ☜