August 1971, on a military transport ship heading to Vietnam.
When I opened my eyes again, I, Shinsung Group chairman Lee Seo-jin, was in an unfamiliar place.
All the people around me were soldiers in uniform, and all of them bore the White Tiger Unit insignia.
'like!'
It was just the same situation when I was young and got drafted to the Vietnam War.
'Why did this happen to me?'
Just as the cabin door opened and in stepped the sergeant.
'I am Lee Seo-jin, president of Shinsung Group?'
Why am I here?
"Gentlemen, Vietnam is coming soon. Good luck."
Vietnam? Dream?
But the sense of reality through my skin doesn't feel like a dream.
'I'm back in hell.'
* * *
October 3, 1971.
The Tiger Regiment Infantry Battalion camp near Route 14 in Phuoc Long Province, Vietnam.
I thought it was a dream, but lo and behold, it was real.
I went back in time as Private Lee Seong-su, not as Chairman Lee Seo-jin of Shinsung Group.
I couldn't help but think it was true, but at first I thought I had gone back to my childhood. But it wasn't me, it was a young man named Lee Seong-su.
I think that this may be a return to the past and not a regression.
'And the strange thing is.'
It's incredible that I was able to transfer my soul into another body and reverse time, but what's unusual is that I can see something transparent in my eyes.
'and.'
When I gaze into the mirror, I see something about me.
[Lee Seong-su]
-Age: 20 years old.
-Occupation: Army Private.
-Ability: Viewing the history and future of spirits and others.
- Current coordinates: X-coordinate: 126.9821581 Y-coordinate: 37.5525564
When I first saw this transparent text, the occupation section said Private First Class in the Army.
After I had become a private, the transparent text changed immediately.
'It's become certain!'
I was back in the hell of the Vietnam War again.
"Ah, shit! Assemble the squad!"
The squad leader returned from a company operations meeting, yelling in rage.
The members of the squad scowled as if expecting something to happen.
"Hey, Lee Seong-su."
The leader of the squad summoned me.
I ran up to the leader of the squad with the cigarettes I had bought from the American soldiers and saw him. When I looked at him, a clear personal information list floated over the head of the squad leader, Jang Chil-su.
[Jang Cheol-su]
-Age: 27 years old.
-Occupation: Army Sergeant.
-Abilities: Exceptional combat sense and excellent survivability.
- Present coordinates: X-coordinate: 128.9821581 Y-coordinate: 36.5525564
-Special remarks: None.
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"Here it is."
In one word, I am a cigarette shuttle.
Because these are foreign cigarettes stolen from American soldiers and not domestically produced ones, there is no need to hear any protest from the torturers.
The real torturer is Private Kim Myeong-bok, who was my replacement, but he is a guy whom I do not know why he enlisted the battlefield.
[You are the genuine article.]
I remembered when I was initially part of this team.
[American soldiers are very stupid. Most of them are not able to read and write.]
Most American soldiers were not literate.
'Not knowing how to read or write in your own language.'
It sounds ridiculous to Koreans.
There are plenty of such people abroad.
That is why Korean people should give thanks to King Sejong.
Anyway, there was a time when I spoke to my squad leader boldly, thinking that I had to use my abilities to the fullest because it was a battlefield. And then I had to start everything from scratch once again because I had to go through regression.
So, I kept thinking and thinking about how to mobilize investment funds even in this battlefield.
[Thus?] [I can read and write Vietnamese, and I can read and write English.]
I can speak Vietnamese because Shinsung Group established and ran a mobile phone factory in Vietnam, so I studied Vietnamese when I was chairman of Shinsung Group and mastered it within one year, which is beneficial to me until today.
[Then. Speak clearly so I will understand.] [I can earn dollars if I write love letters for American soldiers as a hobby during my free time.]
Jang Cheol-su opened wide his eyes upon listening to me speak.
[You are going to come all the way to this battleground and earn foreign exchange?] [I will pay 30% as tax.]
So, with the tacit agreement of my squad leader, I willingly became a participant in American soldiers' love affairs.
[What does this mean?]
I remembered when US Army Corporal Charlie showed me a letter.
[4 dollars.]
I was extremely useful to the American soldiers, and they asked me to write English letters to their girlfriends in the US.
I was also used when American servicemen who were dating Vietnamese women read or wrote letters that they had with the Vietnamese women.
[Seongsu, do you like dollars or friendship?] [Dollars rather than life.] [And four dollars are here.] [Your girlfriend Truong wants money.]
All the letters are love letters, but if a Vietnamese woman says to an American soldier, a goofy Korean officer, or a lower-ranking officer that she loves them, her pockets are full.
[Do Charlie.] [Why do you love?] [Of course, you don't love you. I will withdraw.].
Today is our squad's group outing.
The squad leader's words brought me out of my flashback.
And if it's a group outing, everyone has to be happy, but the squad leader and all the squad members are chewing shit-lookin'.
"Is the next reconnaissance for our squad?"
The deputy commander slightly frowned and asked the squad leader.
"That little shit just punched me. Hey, you punk~"
The squad leader called Private Kim Myeong-bok.
"Yes, squad leader.
"Aren't your breasts big and soft?"
Since it is a battlefield and since they are soldiers, nasty jokes occur every day.
"Would he know that, hehehe!"
"Alright, all of you prepare for an overnight stay. Even if tomorrow we die, let's fight and die hip today."
"Yes, squad leader."
Therefore, our squad took an overnight excursion to a neighboring city.
When I got back from a night out in the bush with the Vietnamese girls, I was immediately assigned patrol at Passage 14.
* * *
A Vietnamese civilian village deep in the bush near Exit 14.
'On the way here.'
No Viet Cong, red blips on the bright flat map I could see.
Red is enemy.
I would have fought it if I'd seen it.
And that firefight would have destroyed our squad.
And the reality that the Korean army only arrived in their village scares the Vietnamese villagers half to death.
"Set a perimeter boundary."
The squad leader was great in fighting.
So I survived this nightmare from private to sergeant.
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'Luck for the village and its area!'
No Viet Cong nor regular troops of North Vietnam, as visible in the red dots.
'On the basis of me!'
The observation range of the transparent flat surface is 100 meters.
"Yes, I see."
The squad leader and the deputy squad leader are very close.
"And inspect each corner of the house, because Viet Cong might be hiding inside."
Because the Viet Cong were in disguise as Vietnamese civilians.
"Hey, Kim Myung-bok."
There must be at least one adviser in each army.
"Private Kim Myeong-bok!"
The squad leader called the advisor, Kim Myung-bok, and Kim Myung-bok ran to the squad leader but tripped over a rock on the ground, fell, and pulled the trigger by accident.
bang!
"이 개새끼!"
A gun was shot.
The squad leader yelled at Private Kim Myeong-bok, the fallen torturer, as if he was going to kill him.
"I will correct it."
"I won't come to my senses-!"
puck!
Squad leader Jang Cheol-su slapped the butt of the M-16 rifle in his hand against Private Kim Myeong-bok's chest.
"Ugh, sorry, I'm sorry."
"Get your head together, kid. Don't you know how they define hit and misfire?"
Fortunately, there were neither hits nor misfires.
'But then a gunshot rang out?'
The Viet Cong might have heard these gunshots distant elsewhere where it could not be identified through the transparent flat plane.
* *
In the jungle.
bang!
Gunfire was heard in the distance, and North Vietnamese regular soldiers walking through the jungle heard the shots.
"Which side?"
The North Vietnamese regular army platoon leader asked with a furrowed brow.
"It's in the direction of village number 15."
"Didn't you say that the Korean soldiers were reconning the passage?"
Unexpectedly, the North Vietnamese regular army was aware of the South Korean army's reconnaissance plan beforehand.
This declaration likely refers to some of the South Vietnamese troops assigned to the Tiger Division as being Viet Cong. That is how South Vietnam eventually lost even if the United States provided them full assistance.
"Yes."
"let's go."
One bullet shot sent North Vietnamese regulars in procession towards Lee Seong-su's group. And these were not Viet Cong but regular North Vietnamese soldiers.
* * *
Within a Vietnamese dwelling.
I am moving under the orders of Squad Leader Jang Cheol-su in a Vietnamese house.
'On the floor plan.'
There are three black dots.
White dots indicate civilians.
Allies are blue.
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The enemy is red.
Civilian white.
It's like this.
'They must be kids.'
It is understandable that parents of any country will want to save their children even at the risk of their lives.
'It's Vietnam after all.'
The secret room was excavated from the house floor.
Clink, clink!
I then heard a rustling sound under my feet.
The hidden children are shivering.
'This won't do!'
I slowly discovered the lid that opened the secret compartment and opened it, and as I had anticipated, there was a girl and a younger boy hiding there.
When the lid creaked open, they laughed, they thought it was their parents, and then they were frightened when they saw me and their eyes got even bigger.
'What if it was red?'
It means Viet Cong.
He must have just opened a grenade and hurled it.
But the things in the beat are a few very scared little kids!
"Be quiet, okay?"
I whispered quietly, and in Vietnamese, and then put the American chocolate in my pocket into the little boy's hand, smiled, and closed the lid.