The Dark Mage’s Return to Enlistment

Chapter 20 : Enjoying Infinity

I was going to congratulate you on your promotion to sergeant, but I didn’t expect such behavior.

“Kim Minjun… It’s Kim Minjun from the 2nd Company, 2nd Platoon. I didn’t think it was normal to defeat goblins with kicks.”

Son Eun-seo remembered the battalion and name that Kim Minjun belonged to.

“Hey, Minjun. What’s up with you and Son Eun-seo? Seems like he’s interested in you?”

“Sergeant, Kim Minjun! No, sir!”

“What’s not? He was staring at you with interest since the stats test.”

On the way back to the base.

The senior soldiers gathered around Kim Minjun and bombarded him with questions.

Even the newly promoted privates were interested in what was being said, but they couldn’t get up from their seats.

Now Kim Minjun had become their senior.

“He’s famous. If he became a model or actor with that face and body, he would’ve made a fortune.”

“I know! He should appear in a drama or something as an actor! Then we could at least see him through the screen!”

Normally, by this point, the platoon leader would have stepped forward and told them to be quiet, but he was in a good mood.

He didn’t impose any sanctions.

“Ugh, too much trouble.”

Kim Minjun wondered how he could end this boring conversation.

“Hey, you don’t seem to have much interest in him?”

“To be honest, I don’t have any thoughts about him.”

“Crazy. You’re not into Son Eun-seo?”

“Minjun, then who is your ideal type?”

After thinking for a moment in response to the senior soldiers’ question, Kim Minjun spoke up.

“First of all, if our hobbies match regardless of appearance, I’m happy.”

“Oh, really? What game do you play? League of Legends?”

“I play Dungeon Fighter Online.”

“……”

“Uh….”

At his words, the noisy bus suddenly fell silent.

“Dungeon Fighter Online? Minjun, do you play DFO?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Wow…”

The senior soldiers were taken aback by Kim Minjun’s answer, but they soon laughed it off.

“Just didn’t want to say it, huh? That’s kind of funny.”

“Already calling him sergeant for playing a game.”

It didn’t match the image of an outstanding hunter like him to play Dungeon Fighter Online.

“Well, whatever. I believe it even if I don’t want to.”

Anyway, the senior soldiers who used to stick together have fallen apart, so it’s all good now.

The next day, Sunday.

The soldiers from the same barracks as Kim Minjoon filled their lunch with delivery food from the PX.

Branded chicken, pizza, steamed chicken, pig’s feet, boiled pork, and so on, not frozen food.

The large table was filled with delicious delivered food.

Of course, deliveries were not allowed on the base.

The platoon leader saw Kim Minjoon, who had passed the promotion test, and personally brought packed food for him to eat.

“Minjoon, congratulations!”

“Thank you.”

“Wow, already three chevrons? You’re crazy, really. At this rate, you’ll be a sergeant in no time.”

“I’ve never seen the platoon leader this happy. And look at this. He only picked expensive menu items to pack for us.”

Naturally, Kim Minjoon, who was quick-witted, let the other soldiers in the barracks know about this fact.

“For Kim Minjoon! Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

“Wow! How long has it been since we had alcohol?”

Drinking alcohol is prohibited on the base, of course.

Although PX sells beverages like beer, they are all non-alcoholic.

They are meant only for lifting spirits.

But today is Sunday, and the battalion commander allowed Kim Minjoon’s platoon to have a special permission to drink alcohol.

“Is it such a big deal to pass the promotion test? Even when I passed the test for private first class, I couldn’t drink.”

“Yeah. It’s not just a pass. He got a perfect score, a perfect score.”

“What?”

“Really?”

“He got a perfect score on something that difficult? Is it true, Minjoon?”

The soldiers looked at Kim Minjoon with astonishment at those words.

“Oh, I just worked hard and it happened.”

“You’re crazy. If you worked that hard and got everything, you should have gone to officer candidate school a long time ago.”

“I felt that way since we were shooting. You’re really someone who should become an officer.”

“Hey, officer? What are you talking about? With that score, you should go to officer candidate school.”

The senior soldiers were amazed at the news of Kim Minjoon getting a perfect score.

“Was it really that difficult to get a perfect score?”

“It was so easy for me.”

Snap!

As the conversation continued, Sergeant Lee Seung-ho entered with cold beers in both hands.

“Don’t get too relaxed just because you passed the promotion exam,” he said, opening a can of beer and chugging it down. “Ugh, anyway, well done. Keep it up, Kim Min-jun. Thanks to you, our platoon’s scores are through the roof.”

“Sergeant! Kim Min-jun! Yes! Thank you!”

“Sergeant Lee Seung-ho. I saw you smiling outside earlier.”

“Shut up.”

“Yes, sir…”

As the atmosphere grew tense, the senior sergeants excused themselves to go smoke.

“Alright. Now that I’m a sergeant, should I try acting like a senior?”

Kim Min-jun turned towards the junior privates and spoke up.

“Hey guys, remember when you promised to buy me PX items last time? You, and you, and you.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

“How much are you going to buy for me?”

The privates took out their cards from their wallets and said they could use them as much as they wanted.

“Enjoy it to the fullest! Hunter Love Card! Together, all of us! Hunter Love Card!”

Unaware of the concept of refusal, Kim Min-jun hummed a tune and scratched the cards with a determined look.

“Well, since you guys are buying, eat to your heart’s content. Drinking beer on a day like this is extravagant. I’ve cleared out all the expensive-looking liquor.”

“T-Thank you, sir.”

Kim Min-jun purchased a sufficient amount of liquor, even considering the portion for his junior privates.

He was truly a thoughtful senior, even in his own thoughts.

“Hey, what kind of liquor is this?”

“I calculated it as a celebration for my promotion to sergeant.”

Of course, using their cards.

“Well, are you buying us drinks to celebrate your promotion? Great! Let’s drink!”

After a while, the senior sergeants returned, and the drinking continued.

“Clear out the beer! We’re switching to liquor now!”

“What’s the point of a guy who can’t even drink?”

“Well, wanna bet? Let’s go!”

“Mocking me with alcohol?”

Kim Min-joon continued the drinking party with his seniors.

“Oh, man. It’s refreshing.”

“I have work tomorrow, sigh.”

The drinking party finally ended after evening hours.

The seniors, perhaps excited about drinking after a long time, couldn’t control themselves and got drunk.

“Congratulations, Sergeant Kim Min-joon. You’re already a sergeant again.”

“Thank you.”

Lee Dong-jin, too, was quite drunk, perhaps because he had been under a lot of stress lately.

“You just go in, and the other privates clean up here nicely.”

“Yes, understood.”

After giving instructions to his juniors, Kim Min-joon stepped outside.

“Things are going well as planned.”

One stick turned into three in the blink of an eye.

Looking at his rank insignia, he suddenly remembered his past in another world, Isgard.

The past.

While walking the path of a dark magician and saving countless lives and performing good deeds, all that came back to him was fear and contempt from others.

“It’s not like that here.”

The better he performed, the more recognition he received from those around him.

Kim Min-joon found satisfaction in that alone.

Above all, having Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO) was the biggest thing.

**

2nd Battalion Headquarters.

“Well, this kid was born for this, born for it. He’s just cut out to be a soldier.”

The battalion commander looked at the promotion exam results with a smile on his face.

“We had 50 candidates this time, and seeing that only one person passed… I was considering increasing the training intensity. What do you think?”

“Yes! That’s correct, sir!”

The battalion commander had a slightly tense expression.

Although the battalion commander appeared to be in a good mood on the surface, there was only one person who passed the promotion test.

Compared to the previous test where four people passed, it was indeed a poor result.

“That private who was just assigned a month ago got promoted to corporal. And he passed the promotion test right away. He asked me to put him in, pretending to be Choi Seung-beom, and I did. But he exceeded expectations. And he got a perfect score?”

“Yes! Sergeant Kim Min-jun scored a perfect score in the stats section, as well as in the rear weapon test and monster combat ability!”

“Kim Min-jun… Let me see. He was the one who single-handedly took down the middle-bet at Yuryugo, right?”

“Yes! Sergeant Kim Min-jun was the quickest to respond at dawn!”

The battalion commander chuckled and reached out his hand to the battalion executive officer.

The perceptive battalion executive officer handed over a document with Kim Min-jun’s personal information.

“Hmm. He’s an interesting one. I’ve never seen a hunter get promoted so quickly in my life.”

The battalion commander looked at the calendar and checked his schedule.

“Tomorrow, after the morning duties are finished, we’ll make sure that 2nd Battalion’s hunter, Kim Min-jun, can conduct combat sports from the afternoon.”

“Yes! Understood, sir!”

“Don’t push the soldiers too hard. You should also give them some time off when they need it.”

“I also think the same, sir!”

“Well then, I’ll have to go play tennis for the first time in a while.”

The battalion commander stood up from his seat and picked up a tennis racket that was placed in the corner.

It was a habit of his to play tennis only when he was in a good mood.

“Phew.”

Finally, the battalion executive officer breathed a sigh of relief.

The Next Day.

Kim Min-jun’s squad members continued their work while complaining of headaches.

It was because they had all drank excessively inside the barracks after a long time, losing their self-control.

“Ah, my head is splitting. Who was the idiot who said soju is clean when you drink it?”

“You crazy bastard. You still have to drink it moderately to keep it clean. Do you think you’ll be fine just gulping it down with a beer mug?”

“This is hell. I could have been completely fine if I had just held on until the morning.”

“Min-jun, are you okay?”

“Sergeant Kim Min-jun. Yes! I’m perfectly fine!”

Kim Min-jun helped his senior comrades who were groaning and quickly finished the work.

“Take a break. You’re a sergeant now, you can order the junior soldiers around. You must have been tired yesterday.”

“No, I want to move my body a little.”

Kim Min-jun said he was fine and lent a hand to his junior soldiers’ tasks as well.

“I want to get drunk too, but I can’t.”

It was because of the magic power in his body.

If harmful substances entered his body, it would purify them as it pleased.

“These guys, I told them to enjoy drinking moderately. Were you the ones who wiped out all the soju at the PX?”

The platoon leader looked at the moaning squad members with a pitiful gaze.

“I let it slide because Kim Min-jun is working hard. But be more careful from now on.”

“Yes…”

“Understood…”

“Now listen while we work. We’ll finish the morning tasks like this, and from the afternoon onwards, we’ll conduct combat physical training in our hunter uniforms.”

Combat physical training from the afternoon onwards.

The voices of the hunters became louder at that announcement.

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

“Watch how we become even stronger with combat physical training. It’s the commanding officer’s orders, so everyone must participate without exception. Understood?”

“Yes!”

The sluggish hunters suddenly started humming a tune and continued their work.

After the morning tasks were finished, it was lunchtime.

One of the senior soldiers approached Kim Min-jun and opened his mouth.

“Hey, Min-jun. Do you want to play soccer?”