Chapter 39 – Discord

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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B Team, who was heading toward the A Team camp,

had barely advanced before they turned back in a hurry upon seeing the flare shot up from their own camp.

And they discovered Haydam guarding the flag alone.

‘The flag is safe.’

Yet it was bizarrely quiet…….

“…Lord Haydam? Don’t tell me you are alone?”

The sinking of their hearts at the fact that two of their team members had disappeared lasted only a moment.

The B Team cadets discovered that Haydam was covered in paint.

And with orange, the paint color of A Team, no less.

One cadet approached Haydam in surprise.

“Lord Haydam! What happened?”

“Well……”

Releasing his hand from the flag he was holding tightly, Haydam spoke.

“Suddenly, my team members appeared and tried to seize the flag.”

“You mean they launched a surprise attack?!”

“The other two tried to stop them, but they were outnumbered. As soon as they saw the flare burst, they took Harry and Cohen and disappeared……”

A situation where they were almost raided in an empty house.

While the cadets stared at each other in bewilderment, Haydam spoke awkwardly.

“I… protected the flag though. Since a team member stabbing or shooting me doesn’t count as a death… they just left because I was covering it with my body.”

“Lord Haydam……”

Just when a few cadets were about to feel touched by Haydam,

“That makes no sense.”

someone raised a doubt.

It was Bones, who had been suspicious ever since the moment they discovered Haydam.

“How does Lord Haydam alone stop those seven guys? Isn’t this… a staged setup? Aren’t we being tricked?”

“How can you speak like that? To the kid who protected our flag to the point of turning into this state!”

But Bones was not the only one who found this situation strange.

“No, I also thought it was a bit suspicious. We wasted some time bringing Lord Haydam back. Come to think of it, it was plenty of time for those guys to hide near our camp.”

“Are you guys in your right minds? Suspecting Lord Haydam at this point?”

“Let’s just kill him now. Then the training ends.”

“Just try shooting Lord Haydam. I will pull the flag out and hand it to him before you can.”

“Are you the one out of your mind?”

“Stop.”

The one who stopped the argument was Lucas.

“Is this the time for us to be fighting among ourselves? When our main base was raided and Harry and Cohen have disappeared.”

“What should we do?”

“Let’s stop suspecting Lord Haydam. If he had fooled us, it would have been easier to just pull the flag.”

“That’s… true, but……”

Perhaps still unable to cast off his suspicions, Bones glared at Haydam.

“More importantly, those guys must still be nearby, so let’s search the surroundings. This time, I will remain with Lord Haydam.”

“You’ll remain alone?”

As Bones looked ready to argue again, Lucas loaded his gun and pointed it at Haydam’s head.

“I will stay like this, pointing the muzzle at Lord Haydam. If they show up to launch another surprise attack, I’ll fire right away to end the training.”

“Well, if it’s like that.”

“Lucas, we leave it to you.”

As the team members disappeared outside the camp again like that, Lucas realized that the shoulders of Haydam, at whom the muzzle was pointed, were trembling slightly.

‘He’s trembling…….’

A ten-year-old child regardless.

If he was betrayed by team members he thought were on his side and even suffered a group lynching, he couldn’t not be afraid.

Furthermore, even though he had protected the flag with all his strength, he was being suspected…….

Lucas opened his mouth to comfort Haydam.

“Lord Haydam.”

“Yes……?”

“There is no need to blame yourself too much. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Lucas……”

Haydam replied, his shoulders still trembling.

“You’re right… everyone makes mistakes.”

“Yes, so—”

“So, Lucas doesn’t need to blame yourself too much either.”

In that instant, Lucas answered a beat late due to a slight cognitive dissonance.

“……Pardon?”

And the next moment,

Thud!

what struck Lucas’s shoulder blade was

the paint bullet of A Team.

* * *

What greeted the B Team cadets who returned in surprise at the second flare was

merely a single, towering flag.

“What is this?”

“Senior Lucas isn’t seen this time either… and Lord Haydam is missing too?”

“The flag is safe.”

The team members fell into confusion instantly.

If A Team had launched another surprise attack…….

Why was the flag safe this time as well?

“Hmm… did those guys invade again while we were away, and Lucas chased after them?”

“Leaving the flag unattended?”

“Then where did Lord Haydam go?”

“Maybe he chased after Lucas… or got captured by A Team again.”

“No, are you guys idiots?”

Bones, who had been suspicious of Haydam all along, spat out in an annoyed voice as if he couldn’t stand it any longer.

“We got done in!! by that brat! No wonder it was suspicious how he was too polite. Lieutenant General Max said that brat’s bad manners were quite something!”

“No, why do you keep suspecting Lord Haydam? Isn’t it because your adoptive father is a pro-Daphne officer?”

“Then fuck, does this look completely fine to you? Three people have died already!”

“Senior Lucas might be alive.”

“Agh, you’re so damn optimistic!”

“No, even if we were fooled by Lord Haydam, it’s a problem. That means the eight of us were toyed with by a ten-year-old kid.”

“…….”

At those words, it grew quiet for an instant.

The cadet who was at least the most senior opened his mouth to salvage the ruined atmosphere.

“Now, let’s calm down. In any case, we win if we kill just one person. We are still at an advantage.”

“What advantage! We are only five people now. Lucas is gone too. While that side has eight people.”

“Uh, for now, two guard the flag and three search the surroundings again……”

“Did you not hear that they have eight people just now? Do you want to fight two-on-eight or three-on-eight?”

“No, then are we just going to guard the flag indefinitely?”

“I think that would be best. For now, let’s guard the flag until a better plan comes out.”

“Rather than that……”

“No, rather……”

Since a decision was not easily reached, Bones let out a sigh, grabbed his equipment, and began to move his feet.

“Hey, Bones! Where are you going?”

“I’m going to catch that brat, Haydam.”

“What? How do you know where he is?”

“I don’t know. But I can’t just take it lying down like this. I must at least catch that brat.”

“Bones. Don’t act individually. What are you doing when our numbers are already low?”

“What the fuck!”

As if he was going crazy, Bones glared with widened eyes and pointed his finger at the cadet who tried to stop him.

“If you guys hadn’t shielded that brat, this mess wouldn’t have happened!”

“No, this is not the time for us to be fighting. Bones, I understand your feelings, but won’t you stay for us?”

“…….”

Bones was narrowed his eyes, looked at the team members, and spoke as if spitting it out.

“If you want me to remain here, promise me.”

“What promise?”

“That the moment even a single strand of that fellow Haydam’s hair is seen, you’ll shoot him right away.”

“What? Hey, it isn’t even certain whether Lord Haydam fooled us or not… U-uh, fine, I’ll shoot. Even if only his hair is seen, I’ll shoot.”

Even though they said so, Bones shook his head, turned around, and walked out of the camp with heavy steps.

“Hey! Where are you going? I said I’ll shoot! I said I promise!”

Even at the voice hurriedly stopping him, he did not halt his steps.

“Looking at the state of your words, you’ll never shoot. I’d rather go and kill him myself.”

“Hey!”

The cadet called out anxiously, but the only thing that returned was a middle finger raised with his back turned.

* * *

“Fuck!”

Bones, who was searching the surroundings thoroughly to find Haydam, had to return to his camp spitting curses before long.

This was because the direction he had walked from became noisy all of a sudden.

‘I thought they were targeting the side with fewer numbers, but was that not it?!’

Since there were four remaining and he was the one moving alone, he had thought that if A Team was watching them from nearby, they would naturally chase after him.

The running speed of Bones, who was dashing toward the camp, gradually slowed.

Because the camp, which was noisy when the sound was first heard, had become quiet as a dead mouse.

‘Could it be……?’

Did all four who remained in the camp get taken out in that short interval?

He did not harbor the hopeful thought that the four might have subdued A Team who came to launch a surprise attack.

Bones approached as close as possible to observe the camp’s movements, hid behind cover, and looked toward the flag.

The moment he saw the person he had been searching for sitting beside the flag with a relaxed expression, he popped out forward.

“Haydam.”

“Welcome.”

Haydam bared his teeth in a smile and aimed the muzzle at Bones.

Bones instinctively flinched when the muzzle was pointed at him, but soon maintained his composure and approached cautiously.

‘Paint guns have a short range. I just must not enter the range.’

Bones asked in a tone that tried not to lose its composure.

“Where did the idiots of our team go?”

“Well. What’s certain is……”

Haydam, from whom the polite attitude of just a moment ago could no longer be found, spoke in an obviously condescending tone.

“You are the only one left, Bones.”

“Crazy……”

Bones quickly scanned the camp, but not only were his team members gone, even the A Team fellows were nowhere to be seen without a trace.

A scene hard to believe was a place where combat occurred just a moment ago.

“Where did all your team members go?”

Still guarding the surroundings, Bones asked.

“No matter what underhanded trick you used… I should win in a one-on-one, right?”

At that, Haydam smirked.

“You’re waiting for me to call my team members, aren’t you? Because even hitting just anyone during a melee gives you a chance to win.”

“…….”

When Bones, hit at his weak point, did not reply, Haydam tilted his head slightly.

“You were urging to shoot me like that… but it seems you had no intention of shooting yourself. I guess you really hate winning by shooting a child like me after all.”

He hated to admit it, but it was not a wrong statement.

Even though they had lost all their team members and he was left alone while looking easy on Haydam, rather than winning by killing Haydam, Bones had first thought of winning by catching an A Team guy who popped out to protect Haydam.

“I’ve never seen a creepy brat like you in my life.”

“I have seen humans like you before.”

“What?”

“Because I know a swearer who has complaints about everything just like you.”

“This bastard……”

Bones flared up for a moment, but soon realized that Haydam was provoking him on purpose and maintained his composure.

“Talking so much, you must be nervous. If you have no intention of calling your team members, fight me one-on-one.”

“Of course, I have no intention of calling my team members.”

He has no intention of calling the A Team guys?

What is he thinking?

‘Do I have to kill this brat as a last resort?’

When he had that thought, it was already too late.

Because Haydam’s words did not end there and continued.

“Because they are already here.”

“…What?”

By the time Bones noticed something strange, the A Team members, who had been disguised as snowpiles by covering themselves with snow on white blankets, had already stood up simultaneously and pointed their guns at Bones.

“Oh, fuck……”

Several gunshots signaling the end of training rang out.

* * *

The day after the training simulation ended.

“There was a lot of talk about this training even before it started. That it was impossible for your team to win, Haydam.”

“That’s true.”

“Then tell me.”

The commander asked in a voice filled with interest.

“How did you make the impossible possible?”