Chapter 04
What do you think was the thing I said most after joining this damn army?
“Sorry”?
“I’ll correct it”?
Whatever you expect… you’re wrong. The correct answer is:
“This… actually works.”
After a week of army life, I realized something.
The pyramid was built by humans.
Is there anything humans can’t do…?
For one week, the daily life of the recruits went like this:
“Do 1,000 jumping jacks!”
“Are you out of your mind…?”
About an hour later, I found myself saying:
“This… actually works.”
I realized that physical strength could be improved with mental strength.
“Hey! Lift the log better! I said cooperate, cooperate!”
“Cooperate? How are we supposed to even hold this…?”
“…This… actually works.”
I learned that muscle could also be trained with sheer willpower.
“Don’t fold the blankets properly?”
“…This… actually works.”
Surprisingly, even blankets could be folded with precision.
“There’s no shine on the floor, shine!”
“…Why does this work?”
I discovered that if you clean a wooden floor properly, it could shine enough to reflect your face.
‘Damn, even the special forces don’t train this hard… Oh, right. We’re basically special forces here….’
Except for basic cleaning and making the bed, our entire day from morning to night was filled with training.
‘…Yeah, this is kind of insane.’
After failing miserably at push-ups, I rolled across the dirt floor and thought:
‘Aren’t they overdoing the training?’
Because we trained nonstop for a week without even a single minute of rest, I had barely spoken properly with my fellow recruits. Same went for the seniors.
And most of all, what the senior told me on my first day kept nagging at me.
‘They said the previous batch all died.’
I understood perfectly well that dealing with monsters was extremely dangerous, and that countless other races had perished because of it…
‘Will I even survive?’
I kept having a bad feeling.
In Four Madmen Obsess Over Me, the body I transmigrated into—Sarubia—starts already dead. It was most likely because of the monsters.
I wanted to somehow avoid my predetermined death, but the problem was that survival didn’t depend on my effort alone.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t build the physical strength to defeat every monster.
Even men from other races, stronger than me, died because of monsters. Could I really survive the full eight years of service and get discharged safely?
‘Unlike the original story, there’s no romance in my life. This isn’t a romance fantasy.’
I gritted my teeth and remembered Aquila doing push-ups with a look that clearly said he wanted to desert.
‘…Right now, I don’t even have a chance to be anyone’s first love in the original story.’
Aquila didn’t care about me. To him, I was just a weak recruit made to share the consequences of “unit responsibility.” There was no way I could expect his help.
And the biggest problem is…
‘This is four years before the original story starts.’
Which means that the main male leads in the original story aren’t experienced enough to look after anyone yet.
Even if the “male lead obsession” I had hoped for kicked in, it wouldn’t help me at all…
“How far along are the recruits’ basic training?”
After enduring hellish training, we sat on the dirt floor with dead eyes. Senior Leon—the one who mentioned the “previous batch wiped out” on our first day—asked Plato, who was overseeing our training. Leon was the kind of senior who always spoke in a casual, teasing tone.
“We pushed them hard all week. From next week, they’ll follow a normal recruit routine.”
‘Right? This isn’t the usual level of training.’
It seemed that only the first week of recruit training was intense, and afterward, we’d train normally with other seniors.
I felt so relieved I almost cried. If they trained us like this for eight years straight, I’d just risk desertion.
“Now, we just need to run basic sword training.”
“Is that so? Hey, the others are training in the field behind us, so let’s have them try swords now.”
“Yes, sir! Everyone, get up!”
Following Leon’s order, Plato glared at us and gestured.
‘Damn, we haven’t even rested five minutes. Are you kidding me?’
Of course, I couldn’t say that out loud. Naturally—I’m just a new recruit, damn it.
When we reached the training field behind Plato, our seniors were already wielding swords.
“Alright, last part of basic recruit training. The most important part. Today, you’ll practice putting aura into your sword.”
“Plato, I’ll explain swordsmanship.”
“Louise? Ah, understood.”
Louise, senior to Plato, stepped forward and took the sword in front of us.
He was one rank below April but second highest among the sergeants. His long hair made him look almost like an elf.
Because he was always calm, he wasn’t as scary as Plato or Leon, but we couldn’t forget that he outranked them. Maybe he was calm because he didn’t need to scold juniors…
Anyway, after a week of physical training, we were holding weapons for the first time. It was a bit nerve-wracking.
‘Ah, this is in the original story too.’
Even though it’s the army, in the original story, other races mostly fought with swords, not guns.
Some wielded giant guns or whips, but that was only when they judged it best for themselves. The basic weapon every recruit first grabbed was a sword.
But these weren’t ordinary swords. The author of Nemijip added fantasy to combat for the other races.
They could infuse their swords with aura.
Humans could too if trained, but it would take years. Other races could do it instinctively and quickly. That’s partly why the Adolb Empire conscripted them.
Each type of aura had its own properties.
If the other-race bloodline was weak, the aura was plain. If strong, they could use natural elemental auras.
‘In the original story, Dalin’s aura was light.’
Rare bloodlines had strong elemental aura. Dalin, as the special heroine, could use rare light-element aura.
Even though in the original story she didn’t really work and just focused on romance.
‘…Wait, thinking about this makes me angry.’
I didn’t realize when reading, but after transmigrating and joining the army myself, I learned something shocking.
‘If Dalin didn’t work, someone else had to do her job…’
If Dalin slacked off, poor juniors like me had to pick up the slack.
Dalin wasn’t supposed to get 3,000 marks after eight years; she should have paid for it!
As I complained internally about Dalin, Louise began explaining while holding his sword.
“Alright. This is probably your first time holding a sword. Be careful not to stab the person next to you.”
‘…Huh?’
I stared at him in disbelief, but he was serious. I had to hold back the laugh that almost escaped.
In most romance fantasy novels set in knighthood, instructors would lecture: “Hold the sword with a solemn heart… use it to protect others…”
Here? The biggest warning was just “don’t stab the person next to you.” Elementary school level.
‘Right… can’t stab the person next to you… okay…’
We had no special mission to protect the empire’s citizens. We just followed orders.
I followed Louise’s instructions and held the sword. He corrected each of us individually to make sure we held it properly.
“Now, put aura into it.”
‘Huh?’
We all stared at him in disbelief. Only after realizing we were supposed to do it did we quickly look down before he yelled at us.
“It’s imprinted in your instincts. It’s not hard. You can do it.”
‘But… I have no idea how…’
Louise didn’t seem to care about our reactions.
“Just think of it as putting aura into the sword. Do it.”
‘Is he kidding me…’
But we had to at least pretend. After all, I had learned in the past week that nothing here was impossible.
I focused all my strength and stared at the sword until my eyes watered, but nothing happened.
‘Focus your mind to draw out inner strength… this sounds like a cult.’
It’s like a cult in that enduring hardships now promises happiness later… and rank progression is also cult-like…
“…Louise! I’ve tried but it’s not working!”
One brave recruit shouted. We looked at them like a savior.
“…Not working?”
Louise’s eyes went cold.
“This is the army. Not working?”
‘Damn.’
Unfortunately, my fellow recruit’s words seemed to trigger his anger.
“If you really can’t do it, I’ll help you.”
He walked behind the recruit holding the sword and kicked their calf.
“Still not working? How about now?”
‘This army is all about hitting and scaring people, damn it.’
The rest of us lowered our eyes like nothing had happened. And then…
“It… works! We did it!”
The recruit being scolded intensely by Louise finally infused aura into the sword, the blue glow appearing, and shouted excitedly.
‘…It actually works.’
“Do you all need help?”
“No!”
We shouted in unison. Only now were we united. A truly tear-jerking display of solidarity…
“Do it, do it!”
“We… will do it!”
No matter how hard I stared at the sword, nothing changed.
Eventually, like the others, I could only put aura into the sword after going through the “violence and fear only” method of training…
‘Wow… it actually works….’
The more I learned, the more amazing this place was: the army!
