My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros’ Obsession

“…Aren’t you the youngest here?”

“Ah… I mean, I just finished my laundry.”

“Rookie, this is something the youngest is supposed to handle.”

“But why should I be the one to do it?”

‘This little bastard… From openly staring at me earlier to this cocky attitude now.’

I wanted to immediately rip into him, but I was still just a trainee. I had to endure.

Fine, let’s try to redirect this anger with some positive thinking.

‘We’re taking one step closer to a progressive barracks system.’

Yeah, maybe it wasn’t originally his responsibility, and I was the one who gave him the task, so it’s natural for him to have complaints. Everyone handling their own responsibilities—that’s what progress looks like.

I must have been here too long because it seemed like I was turning into one of these bossy seniors myself.

‘When we stare too long at the old ways, the old ways stare back at us.’

Yes, living among these seniors has turned me into one of them. Time to self-reflect.

Until now, I’d thought it was the youngest’s duty to manage the supplies in the restroom or laundry room. But maybe that was just a prejudice.

‘Since these are things we all use, it only makes sense for everyone to manage them… Wait a minute.’

Something clicked, and I stopped my rationalizing.

‘Wasn’t there an official distribution of tasks based on rank?’

This wasn’t some unfair tradition or outdated custom—there were clear rules about duties within the platoon based on rank.

For example, as a trainee, I wasn’t assigned to guard duty, but privates and above were.

Standing regular shifts for several hours a day was undoubtedly exhausting. In return, trainees like me were assigned chores such as laundry.

Moreover, among the corporals, the juniors managed the training of recruits and unit supplies, while the seniors oversaw the overall training.

So this wasn’t a matter of prejudice; it was an officially assigned responsibility!

It was only when I realized that Jaiden’s response about “progressive barracks” was utter nonsense that I looked up—and the laundry room door swung open.

“Hey, rookie, do you know where Corporal Magne is?”

“I heard he went to the restroom.”

“Ah, got it.”

It was Blair, peeking his head through the door.

Nodding at Jaiden’s reply, Blair was about to leave the laundry room when he paused, pointed a finger at him, and said:

“Hey, rookie. We’re out of laundry soap. Go grab one.”

“Yes, sir.”

‘…What the hell?’

Before I could process what was happening, Jaiden walked out of the laundry room…?

“What the hell?”

I muttered aloud once more, and only then did it dawn on me.

Jaiden wasn’t leading the platoon toward a “progressive barracks system”—he was just flat-out ignoring me.

“…Damn it.”

A curse finally escaped my lips.

Clearly, this was the result of me trying to keep my cool instead of acting as usual. What a mess.

‘Well, at least this taught me exactly how to handle the other juniors besides Karon, you little bastard…’

With a smirk tugging at my lips, I made up my mind.

I’d never had much patience to begin with, and now I wasn’t going to bother pretending otherwise.

“You messed with the wrong person, you little punk.”

***

“Hmm…”

One day, during a third-class monster extermination mission assigned to our platoon, I kept my rifle firmly in hand and cast a sharp glare at Jaiden, positioned to my left.

Jaiden had been assigned to the same second squad as me.

While squads didn’t hold much meaning in daily platoon life, during monster extermination missions, squads rotated in combat. Thus, the composition and placement of squad members became crucial.

Since the previous incident, Jaiden and I hadn’t had any direct confrontations, but being stationed next to him in the squad left me feeling uneasy.

‘They said today’s target is snake monsters.’

Despite the border defenses, there were a few types of monsters that were nearly impossible to stop. Snake monsters were one such menace, as they traveled underground and often weren’t detected until they crossed the border.

‘Not that it matters. It’s only a third-class monster.’

Relaxed, I kept an eye on the shifting soil beneath us, where something appeared to be writhing.

“First and second squads! Attack simultaneously!”

At Leon’s command, I quickly aimed my rifle at the snake as it emerged from the dirt.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I felt the recoil as my bullets struck the snakes. Winter’s ice aura blade shot out, freezing the movement of several snakes, while other squad members dispatched the nearby ones with their weapons.

‘This kind of thing feels almost too easy now.’

As I continued firing with a calm mindset, suddenly—

Boom!

I jumped back, narrowly dodging an aura blade that grazed where I had been standing moments before.

Startled, I lowered my rifle and glanced to my side.

It was unmistakably Jaiden’s aura.

“Ah.”

Jaiden’s face showed clear embarrassment as he looked at the aura blade he had misfired.

‘He’s going to get chewed out when we return to the unit.’

Briefly, I imagined Jaiden being berated for endangering a fellow platoon member with his careless aura usage and felt a twinge of pity for him.

“Damn it…”

But instead of apologizing, Jaiden just scratched his head and resumed attacking the snakes.

‘…What the hell?’

Though I didn’t plan to interfere—after all, the corporals would handle him later—wasn’t this the perfect moment for him to apologize to me? He’d nearly hit me, yet all he could muster was a casual curse in front of his senior?

‘That’s it. The moment we get back to the unit, I’m going to make sure this little punk gets what’s coming to him…’

At that moment, a memory resurfaced—there was indeed a character named “Jaiden” in the original novel. Right, that guy!

And the Jaiden in the original story was…

“You son of a…”

Recalling Jaiden’s actions in the novel, I gritted my teeth so hard they nearly creaked. Taking aim once again, I focused my rifle on the snakes.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Though I had to reload after every three shots, my hands worked busily, leaving no pause in my attacks.

As Jaiden glanced at me, looking somewhat unnerved, I lowered my voice so the other seniors wouldn’t hear and hissed, “Do you think I’m a joke?”

“…No, ma’am.”

“It’s fine. It seems like you’re eager to see what hell looks like with me.”

I glared at him with a cold, steely gaze.

“Let’s find out just how bad it can get, shall we?”

***

“What was that earlier?”

After the monster extermination mission, Aquila spoke to me behind one of the deserted buildings in our platoon.

“What do you mean?”

“You said something to Jaiden earlier. What happened?”

“Oh, so you saw that.”

When I pulled a dissatisfied face, Aquila casually rested a warm hand on my shoulder, almost as if to soothe me.

“Why? Did he act disrespectfully toward you? Why are you in such a bad mood?”

“Well, that’s part of it, but that’s not the main reason.”

Earlier, I was upset for the reasons Aquila mentioned, but now it was different.

The reason I felt unsettled was because I remembered what kind of character Jaiden was in the original novel.

“Then why are you so annoyed, huh?”

“Mm, I don’t know…”

Even as I said that, Aquila’s warmth began to calm me down. I found myself leaning closer to him as the tension slowly ebbed away. Somehow, I felt a little better.

“Anyway, why do you look like that? You seem kind of off too.”

I glanced at Aquila, noticing that his gaze was sharper than usual, and shrugged my shoulders.

“…I have my reasons too.”

“Mm-hmm.”

After half-heartedly responding to Aquila, I turned my thoughts back to Jaiden’s role in the original story.

Jaiden. He’d enlisted a year and three months after our cohort, yet he was also one of Aquila’s rivals in the novel.

There were no other soldiers between him and Karon in rank, and he was competent enough to hold his own influence in the story.

When Aquila tried to support the heroine, Dalin, Jaiden would constantly interfere, even going as far as to antagonize her. He seemed to make it his mission to disrupt everything Aquila did.

The original novel focused more on events than emotions, so Jaiden’s reasons for hating Aquila weren’t deeply explored. However, Aquila once explained it to Dalin:

“If anything happens with Jaiden, let me know immediately.”

“Yes… But why does Jaiden dislike you so much?”

“It’s probably jealousy… Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle him.”

“Jealousy…”

It must have been envy. Jaiden was likely resentful of Aquila, the elite of the platoon.

After all, it’s not the weakest who envy the strongest, but the second-best who envy the best. Jaiden, though capable, was overshadowed by Aquila and therefore bitter.

‘I won’t let that slide.’

The thought of Jaiden pulling petty stunts to undermine Aquila in the novel filled me with disgust.

And now, Jaiden’s blatant disregard for me—almost injuring me during the mission and failing to apologize—only made my blood boil. But more than that, the real reason for my bad mood was…

‘It’s because of you, you idiot.’

I would never let anyone mess with my comrade.

“Hey, Aquila! Listen to me.”

I turned to him with a determined expression, grabbing his hand tightly.

“If anyone dares to bother you, I’ll make sure they regret it.”@@novelbin@@

“…Alright.”

Whether he took my words seriously or not, Aquila simply nodded with a faint, ambiguous expression.

‘That bastard Jaiden—if he dares to mess with my comrade like he did in the novel, I’ll make sure he doesn’t live to regret it.’

***

Aquila gazed down at Salvia, whose fierce eyes didn’t match her entirely unthreatening demeanor.

He considered telling her she didn’t look intimidating at all, but he decided against it. If he said that, she’d probably let go of his hand, and he didn’t want that. So, he quietly held his tongue.

‘If Ishina saw this, she’d be clutching her neck again.’

Aquila recalled Ishina, who often seemed to think of him as trash. He figured he’d need to work even harder—not just on his own duties, but also on hers—to keep her from running her mouth.

‘…And that rookie from earlier.’

His thoughts turned to Jaiden, the troublesome recruit, and his expression soured slightly.

Aquila didn’t like Jaiden. It wasn’t just that his attitude toward Salvia had been insolent…

‘He doesn’t know his place.’

What bothered Aquila the most was the look in Jaiden’s eyes when he gazed at Salvia. It was unmistakable—those eyes were filled with impure intentions.