Chapter 39
Discord
Team B had been on its way to Team A’s camp when—
Before they had advanced very far, they saw a signal flare shoot up from their own camp and hurriedly turned back.
There, they found Haydam guarding the flag alone.
‘The flag is safe.’
Yet the camp was unnaturally quiet.
“...Lord Haydam? Are you here alone?”
Their hearts sank at the realization that two of their teammates had disappeared.
Then the cadets noticed that Haydam was covered in paint.
Orange paint—the color assigned to Team A.
One cadet rushed toward him in alarm.
“Lord Haydam! What happened?”
“Well...”
Haydam released the flag he had been gripping tightly and answered.
“My teammates suddenly appeared and tried to seize the flag.”
“They ambushed the camp?!”
“The other two tried to stop them, but they were overwhelmed. The moment the signal flare went up, Team A disappeared with Harry and Cohen...”
They had nearly had their camp raided while it was undefended.
As the cadets exchanged stunned looks, Haydam spoke awkwardly.
“I... still managed to protect the flag. If someone is stabbed or shot by a member of their own team, it doesn’t count as a death... So I covered it with my body, and they eventually left.”
“Lord Haydam...”
Just as several cadets began to feel moved—
“That makes no sense.”
Someone voiced his doubts.
It was Bones, who had been suspicious of Haydam from the moment they found him.
“How did Lord Haydam stop all seven of them by himself? Isn’t this... all staged? Haven’t we been tricked?”
“How can you say that to someone who protected our flag until he ended up like this?”
But Bones wasn’t the only one who found the situation strange.
“No, I admit it seems suspicious. We wasted quite a bit of time bringing Lord Haydam here. When you think about it, that gave those bastards plenty of time to hide near our camp.”
“Have you all lost your minds? You’re suspecting Lord Haydam now?”
“Let’s just kill him while we still can. Then the exercise ends.”
“Try shooting Lord Haydam. I’ll pull out the flag and put it in his hands before you can.”
“You’re the one who’s lost his mind.”
“Enough.”
Lucas stopped the argument.
“Is this really the time to fight among ourselves? Our camp was attacked, and Harry and Cohen are missing.”
“What should we do?”
“Stop suspecting Lord Haydam. If he had truly deceived us, it would have been much easier for him to pull out the flag.”
“That’s... true, but...”
Even so, Bones still glared at Haydam, unable to let go of his suspicions.
“More importantly, those bastards may still be nearby. Search the surroundings. This time, I’ll remain here with Lord Haydam.”
“You’re staying alone?”
Bones was about to object again when Lucas loaded his gun and aimed it at Haydam’s head.
“I’ll stay like this, with my gun trained on Lord Haydam. If they appear to attack again, I’ll shoot him immediately and end the exercise.”
“If that’s the case...”
“We’re counting on you, Lucas.”
The rest of the team left the camp again.
Only then did Lucas notice that Haydam’s shoulders were trembling slightly beneath the barrel aimed at him.
‘He’s shaking...’
No matter what else he was, Haydam was still only ten years old.
He had been betrayed by the teammates he trusted and even subjected to a group beating.
Of course he would be frightened.
And after protecting the flag with everything he had, he was still being doubted...
Lucas opened his mouth, intending to comfort him.
“Lord Haydam.”
“Yes...?”
“You don’t need to blame yourself so much. Everyone makes mistakes.”
“Lucas...”
Haydam’s shoulders continued trembling as he replied.
“You’re right... Everyone makes mistakes.”
“Yes, so—”
“So you don’t need to blame yourself too much either, Lucas.”
For a moment, the cognitive dissonance delayed Lucas’s response.
“...Pardon?”
And in the next instant—
Thud!
Something struck Lucas hard between the shoulder blades.
It was a paint round fired by Team A.
When the cadets of Team B returned in alarm after seeing the second signal flare, the only thing waiting for them was the flag still standing upright.
“What?”
“Senior Lucas is gone this time... and Lord Haydam is missing too.”
“The flag is still safe.”
The team fell into confusion.
If Team A had attacked again...
Why had the flag once more been left untouched?
“Maybe they attacked while we were gone, and Lucas chased after them?”
“While leaving the flag undefended?”
“Then where did Lord Haydam go?”
“He may have followed Lucas... or Team A might have captured him again.”
“Are you idiots?”
Bones, who had suspected Haydam from the beginning, finally snapped.
“We got played! By that damn brat! I knew it was suspicious how overly polite he was. Lieutenant General Max said that bastard had an unbelievably rotten attitude!”
“Why do you keep suspecting Lord Haydam? Is it because your adoptive father is an officer in the pro-Daphne faction?”
“Then does this look perfectly normal to you, you bastard? Three people are already dead!”
“Senior Lucas might still be alive.”
“Wow. You’re unbelievably optimistic.”
“No, even if Lord Haydam fooled us, that’s still a problem. It means eight of us were toyed with by a ten-year-old child.”
The entire camp fell silent.
The most senior cadet among those remaining tried to salvage the plummeting mood.
“Everyone, calm down. Either way, we win by killing just one enemy. We still have the advantage.”
“What advantage? There are only five of us now. Lucas is gone, and they still have eight.”
“F-For now, two of us can guard the flag while three search the area again—”
“Didn’t you just hear that they have eight people? Do you want to fight them two against eight or three against eight?”
“Then are we supposed to spend the whole exercise doing nothing but guarding the flag?”
“That seems like the best option. Let’s protect it until we can come up with a better plan.”
“Rather than that...”
“No, maybe we should...”
When they couldn’t reach a decision, Bones sighed, gathered his equipment, and began walking away.
“Hey, Bones! Where are you going?”
“To find Haydam, that little bastard.”
“What? Do you even know where he is?”
“No. But I’m not going to sit here after being humiliated like this. At the very least, I’m going to get that brat.”
“Bones, don’t act alone. We’re already short on people. What are you doing?”
“For fuck’s sake!”
Bones’s eyes widened as if he was about to explode. He jabbed a finger at the cadet trying to stop him.
“If you idiots hadn’t kept defending that brat, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
“This isn’t the time to fight among ourselves. Bones, I understand how you feel, but can’t you stay?”
“...”
Bones narrowed his eyes at his teammates before speaking curtly.
“If you want me to stay, then promise me something.”
“What?”
“The moment so much as one strand of Haydam’s hair appears, shoot him.”
“What? We don’t even know for certain whether Lord Haydam really deceived us... F-Fine. I’ll shoot him. The instant I see a single hair, I’ll fire. I promise.”
Despite the answer, Bones shook his head, turned around, and strode out of camp.
“Hey! Where are you going? I said I’d shoot him! I’m promising you!”
Even at the desperate voice calling after him, Bones did not stop.
“Judging by the way you’re talking, you’ll never be able to do it. I’d rather kill him myself.”
“Hey!”
The cadet called out anxiously.
The only response he received was Bones raising his middle finger without looking back.
***
“Fuck!”
Bones had been combing through the surrounding area in search of Haydam, but before long, he cursed and was forced to head back toward his camp.
The direction he had come from had suddenly become noisy.
‘I thought they’d go after the side with fewer people. Was I wrong?’
Four people had remained at camp, while he was moving alone.
If Team A had been watching them from nearby, Bones assumed they would naturally chase after him.
However, as he ran toward the camp, his pace gradually slowed.
The camp, which had been loud when he first heard the disturbance, had now become as silent as a grave.
‘Don’t tell me...’
Had all four cadets left behind been eliminated in that brief span of time?
The optimistic possibility that those four had defeated Team A’s ambush did not even occur to him.
Bones moved as close to the camp as possible, hid behind cover, and looked toward the flag.
The moment he saw the very person he had been searching for sitting leisurely beside it, he leaped out.
“Haydam.”
“Welcome back.”
Haydam grinned, baring his teeth, and aimed his gun at Bones.
Bones instinctively flinched when the barrel turned toward him, but he quickly regained his composure and approached cautiously.
‘Paint guns have a short effective range. I’ll be fine as long as I stay outside it.’
Trying not to lose his composure, Bones asked,
“Where are the idiots from my team?”
“Who knows? But one thing is certain...”
There was no trace left of Haydam’s earlier polite attitude.
He spoke down to Bones without even trying to hide it.
“You’re the only one left, Bones.”
“You’re insane...”
Bones quickly scanned the camp, but there was no sign of his teammates.
There wasn’t even a trace of Team A.
It was hard to believe a battle had taken place there only moments ago.
“Where are your teammates?”
Bones asked while continuing to watch his surroundings.
“I don’t know what kind of cowardly trick you used... but I’d beat you one-on-one.”
Haydam smirked.
“You’re waiting for me to call my teammates, aren’t you? If a chaotic fight breaks out and you manage to hit even one of them, your team still has a chance to win.”
“...”
When Bones remained silent after being seen through, Haydam tilted his head slightly.
“You kept saying that everyone should shoot me... but it looks like you have no intention of doing it yourself. Even now, you still don’t want to win by shooting a child like me.”
Bones hated to admit it, but Haydam wasn’t wrong.
Even after showing mercy to Haydam had cost him every teammate and left him alone, Bones’s first thought was still to defeat a Team A cadet who emerged to protect Haydam rather than win by killing Haydam himself.
“You’re the most unpleasant brat I’ve ever met.”
“You’re not the first person like you I’ve met.”
“What?”
“I know someone exactly like you. A foul-mouthed bastard who complains about absolutely everything.”
“You little shit...”
Bones bristled for a moment.
Then he realized Haydam was deliberately provoking him and forced himself to remain calm.
“You’re talking an awful lot. Are you scared? If you have no intention of calling your teammates, then fight me one-on-one.”
“Of course I have no intention of calling them.”
He wasn’t going to call Team A?
What was he planning?
‘Do I really have no choice but to kill the brat?’
By the time Bones had that thought—
It was already too late.
Haydam had not finished speaking.
“Because they’re already here.”
“...What?”
By the time Bones realized something was wrong—
The members of Team A, who had disguised themselves as snowdrifts by lying beneath white blankets covered in snow, rose all at once and aimed their guns at him.
“Oh, fuck...”
Several gunshots rang out, announcing the end of the exercise.
***
The day after the training simulation—
“There was a great deal of controversy surrounding this exercise even before it began. Everyone said it was impossible for your team to win, Haydam.”
“That’s right.”
“Then tell me.”
The Commander asked in a voice filled with interest.
“How did you make the impossible possible?”