The stale air of the arrival room was thick with the weight of unspoken thoughts. It was 3 AM, an ungodly hour for any soldier, but especially so for the members of the 707th Special Task Force. Sergeant Lee Joon, his face etched with fatigue, broke the silence.
“Shift shift substitute. Help with chores,” he announced, a wry smile playing on his lips. The phrase, a coded request for a brief, informal chat, was a common ritual among the soldiers.
Sergeant Dokon, a young man with a boyish charm, sighed. “I had a date with my girlfriend the night martial law was declared. I broke it, so she might dump me.”
Sergeant Ha Joon, a seasoned veteran, raised an eyebrow. “You had a girlfriend? Are you planning to have a good time with her?”
Dokon chuckled nervously. “I don’t think I can marry her. Actually, I haven’t told her yet that I’m a member of the 707th. If I did, her parents would be against it.”
A heavy silence fell over the room. Yi Joon, ever the thoughtful one, changed the subject. “By the way, it seems that Company Commander Kim Hyung-tae might be retiring.”
Ha Joon’s eyes widened. “Why?”
Yi Joon shrugged. “Maybe he’s resigning to take responsibility for the chaos caused by martial law?”
Ha Joon’s expression turned somber. “He was a good person. I think of the company commander as a father. He’s the spitting image of my father who died when I was little.”
Dokon, sensing the shift in the mood, ventured a question. “What do you think would have happened if martial law hadn’t ended in six hours?”
Yi Joon shook his head. “We don’t know that.”
The room fell silent once more, each man lost in their own thoughts, contemplating the near-miss with disaster and the uncertain future that lay ahead.
All names of people and organizations appearing in this story are pseudonyms.
South Korean commander apologizes, calls himself ‘incompetent’ during night of martial law
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