Chapter.8 Oh Bloody, Boom Bladda (2)
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It’s even better if you listen to the Beatles’ Obladi Oblada while playing it.
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Long, long time ago. In a city with an unnecessarily long name called Braunauamin, there lived a boy named Ian.
It’s a small city with nothing special. A small town with a factory street, a small stream, and the only specialty is a mustachioed Jewish man who likes to make soap.
Yes, our town’s specialty was crazy. And my father was a man who adapted very well to the village ethos.
“Ian! Hey! You little gremlin piece of trash! “You can’t come down here right now!”
Wow!
“What is this? What does this look like in your eyes? huh?”
“….”
“There’s still no answer to what your father said? Then I’ll do it for you. “This is
! ”
“as soon as!”
Whoa!
“It’s an empty refrigerator! Haven’t I told you this again and again? If you really don’t want to be beaten to death, always! In the refrigerator! Stock up on beer!”
Whoa whoa!
Of course, my father never gave me money to buy beer. I had to go out and get money on my own, begging or stealing. In the rough streets of factory workers.
“Ian! Oh my god! Are you okay? “That vicious old dog…!”
“are you okay.”
“oh my god! You broke your finger! Come here! “I’ll treat you!”
Emily. My sister lived in the attic of an old house. Although I lived like that every day, being beaten and robbed, I believed that angels existed in the world. I also firmly believed that she came down in the form of my sister. hmm? I thought you were the eldest son? Well… it’s not wrong. My two older brothers and my older sister Emily.
“Come here you bitch!”
“Father, don’t do this! please!”
“Hehehe, if you made it this pretty, wouldn’t it be right to repay you? Come to your father….”
“Aaaah! Hey Ian! “You can’t look, don’t look… Please!”
They’re all dead. The eldest brother died after being beaten to death by a gang of beggars for being a miscreant, and the younger brother died after being mistakenly hit by his father’s belt with a buckle. sister. Sister Emily, who is like an angel….
“….”
“Go away.”
“Emily.”
“go away! Go away! You pity me too, right? It’s only now that I look at you with such pitiful eyes. After all, you are a man too. “When I get older, like that bastard, he will look at me with the same sinister eyes as so many men!”
“Emily….”
“There’s no need for it! Just… leave me alone. please. Please stop. Don’t hit me! I’ll do well, I’ll do well! “Aaaah!”
Now, at that young age when my heart was just rising, I went crazy after being locked in a room and dealing with dozens of men a day. My father was one of those men. mother? He slapped me, saying that profitability was much better for daughters than for sons. Why did he come out as a son again? Among those people, my angel-like sister suffered and died. On the day his sister’s body was washed away like his two older brothers in the river that flows behind the house, nine-year-old Ian went to church and prayed for the first time in his life.
“God.”
“…..”
“I think you can stop now. “Working hard for people and sending down angels like my sister.”
“…..”
“I think the world is too dangerous for angels to come down and take care of it.”
Kiik-
“Hehehehehe. This year, wine…. hmm? No honey. “The door is locked. How did you get in?”
“Pastor. “The window over there is broken… right?”
“You devil! “You broke the windows of the cathedral!”
That day was the first time I had a conversation with a pastor.
‘God.’
“This is him, pastor! “I’m the son of the yellow roof house at Samgeori!”
“If it’s that house… kick it out immediately! “I guess they came to search through the offering box!”
“This guy stay still! “You little thief!”
Sigh –
‘Does this mean you understand what I’m saying?’
Sigh!
“Ugh!”
“Tsk! Like a dirty petty thief. “Never come here again!”
“…..”
“Anyway, it was a waste.”
“Ah, the yellow roof house. It was cheap and good….”
Coo!
“I knew it when I saw the pastor’s actions. “I think God gave up already.”
A faint smile appeared on the boy’s lips. Because his angelic sister will never come down to earth again.
“…Please take care of my sister, God.”
“After I said my last prayer in front of that closed door, I never went to church again. I found out later that my sister died of AIDS. “I think my sister, who didn’t receive any special education, thought that AIDS was just an infectious disease and pushed me away because she was worried that I might spread it to me… Are you crying?”
Wow!
“Oh no! “This campfire… the smoke is so spicy!”
“Hehehe, can a guy from the inspection department have to be that emotional?”
“It’s okay! Next. Have you always lived in that house? “Buying and transporting alcohol with stolen money?”
Chik chik!
Huuuu-
Ian paused for a moment and put a cigar in his mouth. Along with the poisonous smoke, regrets tied up in old memories flowed out.
“I thought so. Actually, at that point, I had become a little kid who looked like a wooden doll. There is nothing I like or dislike. I thought that I would just live like this, stealing because it hurt when I got hit, and then one day, if I was lucky, the iron buckle of my father’s belt would hit my head and I would follow my sister into the river. Until that day comes.”
“that day?”
“okay. “God is better at aftercare than I thought.”
Kwaaaaang!
“Aaaah!”
“Fire! fire!”
“A person is dead!”
“Float away! You never know when it might explode again! “The gas is on fire!”
“….and.”
“Boa. Those were the first words I said out loud three months after my sister died. “It was unfamiliar to me to hear sounds coming out of my throat.”
“The house… exploded?”
“okay. That yellow roof house was far from safe and peaceful. They said it was a gas explosion. “It must have been for some trivial reason, like a cigarette caught on fire or something like that.”
When Ian flicked the cigar in his mouth, a small spark hangnail fell out.
“It was barely this much. “What is needed to erase from the world the trash that even the house that seemed to be eating up all four of us, so much so that it is difficult to call them parents.”
Ashes flying and completely collapsed buildings. What young Ian felt as he saw the house disappearing without a trace was faint confusion and an inexplicable strange emotion. This feeling, which he felt for the first time in his life, made young Ian restless.
“It was fresh. “Thoughts like ‘I can’t believe there is such a method in the world’ and ‘someone will kill me now’ were spinning around in my head.”
Cracking crackling –
Ian said with faint eyes as he looked at the flames shaking in the cool night air.
“Emily… If you had held on just a little longer, maybe you could have enjoyed a little bit of the normal life you dreamed of.”
Boom!
Ian turned his head to hear a sound that did not fit the wonderful atmosphere of the night sky and bonfire. Following Ezel, Bex was seen wiping his nose as he turned his head back.
“Shall we stop?”
“What are you talking about! “I don’t think we’ve even started yet.”
“Pfft, you’re all still babies. Anyway… Ian, who was quiet, sullen and insensitive, was left alone in the world. Ian, who had no idea what he wanted to do or the ability to do anything, spent two full days crouching in front of the collapsed house site. After receiving a report from a nearby resident, he went to the police station and then to the orphanage. Traumhaus means dream house in Korean. “It was a turning point in the life of a skinny boy who lived alone and was bullied.”
Bex’s face, which had been crying, brightened when she heard the words “turning point.”
“You met the teacher! A warm and kind-hearted nun took care of young Ian’s broken heart…”
Taaaaah!
“Aya!”
“What kind of bullshit story is this? There was a nun, but she was just someone who took care of children to make a living. Of course, he was much better than my father. I didn’t hit him that much… well, that doesn’t mean I didn’t hit him at all. But I fed him regularly. I liked it. “I didn’t have anything in particular to wish for, but I thought that if I stayed here, I could live like this in a daze, so I tried my best not to end up looking like a nun.” By
that time, Ian was completely used to living without opening his mouth. He woke up at 6 in the morning and got wet. After mopping the hallways, cleaning the small shed behind the nursery, and fetching water from the well, we had coarse bread and thin soup for breakfast. After we finished eating, it was time to do some side work we had picked up from a nearby chemical plant. Once we had finished our quota, we just handed it over. I continued to work as much as I could. Because there was nothing to do anyway. Then lunch. Afternoon cleaning. Laundry. Dinner. Sleep. And waking up. A life of quiet, peace, and serene satisfaction.
“I just don’t want to be associated with anyone. I just did that, but in Sister Margaret’s eyes, I seemed admirable for just doing my job without saying anything. “They didn’t even know my age, so they gave me a 10th birthday party, saying that my birthday would be the day I came here.”
Ian, who had been sitting outside that day, suddenly heard the nun tell him to cover his eyes and follow her, saying, ‘I must have done something very wrong.’ I thought about it. My father often said he didn’t like the look of my eyes, so he would cover me with a blanket and beat me up.
However, the place where the nun took him by the hand was not a corporal punishment room, but a communal cafeteria.
phut! Let’s go!
“”“Happy birthday! Waaaa!””””
Clap clap clap!
“Happy birthday! “Ian!”
“Happy birthday!”
“Wow! “It’s a cookie, it’s a cookie!”
“Guys, since it’s Ian’s birthday today, I should say thank you for eating something delicious, right?”
“Thank you Ian!”
“Is his name Ian?”
“Thank you Ian! “I’ll eat well!”
“…Everyone was laughing. It was my first time doing something like that. “My sister was the only person who smiled at me until now, but the guys who usually looked at me like an insect were also smiling brightly and clapping.”
It was a huge shock to young Ian.
Wherever he went, all the kids who treated him like he didn’t exist were celebrating, singing ‘Ian’ with smiling faces.
phut! Let’s go!
Clap clap clap clap!
The sound of cheap gunpowder firecrackers, sharp applause, and smiling faces.
“Ah….”
Pang!
[Kwaaaaang!]
Bang!
[Kwaaaaang!]
Every time there was an explosion sound and colorful pieces of paper flew, Ian’s mind flashed back to his old house that exploded and burst into flames.
“Ah…hahahahaha….”
“Huh? Ian laughed!”
“This is the first time I’ve seen him smile!”
“You were a child who knew how to speak!”
“….Yes. This was the first time I realized that I could laugh. That I had already laughed before.”
There was no sound of children chattering. Just boom! phut! The only thing that comes to mind repeatedly is the sound of exploding firecrackers and the image of a house collapsing along with a huge explosion.
The more I thought of that image, the more a smile appeared on the small, skinny little boy Ian’s face. A feeling from that day that Ian, who was born with weak emotions, was unaware of. It was not embarrassment, but great joy. The joy of freedom and revenge finally regained. Young Ian’s previously gray world had already become colorful with the roar of a gas explosion and the colors of flames. A little broken and a little twisted.
“The accident that blew up my house broke my shackles and sent me out into the world, and that little firework reminded me that I too had feelings of joy. For the skinny little boy, Ian, explosions became the only way to share his feelings with the world. going to be.”
Although it was said in a calm voice, it was a story so cruel that the listener felt uncomfortable. Especially if the speaker is you.
“…Is that why you became so fascinated by explosions?”
Ian nodded at the professor’s words.
“okay. A boy who was no different from a sociopath felt happiness for the first time. From that day on, Ian changed. I still didn’t talk much, but I was able to talk to other people. I still haven’t felt much emotion, but it’s less annoying and more efficient this way. “I started to think about it.”
“And the time gained by such efficient actions was used to study the wonderful explosion of existence that gave him happiness. Starting with black gunpowder, smokeless gunpowder, perchlorate, lead chromate, gunpowder mainly made of lead chromate, method of extracting ammonium nitrate, destruction engineering… I learned anything related to explosions. Using my childhood skills, I bought books with pickpocketed money, read them until they were tattered, visited old veterans, and listened to old war history over and over again…. When I came to my senses, I went to college majoring in destructive engineering and chemistry. There is. “After learning about things like thermal efficiency, I became a machine-like person who strictly values efficiency in everything I do.”
Jump up!
“Big deal? “You, the embodiment of ignorance and ignorance, graduated from college?”
“Hehehe, it’s completely different from your current cool self, isn’t it? Even back then, I tried everything I could to like other people, but I couldn’t feel anything. alcohol? It was an ineffective diluted alcohol solution. The solo drink was at least a little better. Because it was on fire. cigarette? It was just needlessly spicy. I thought it would be okay to add some gunpowder smell, so I lit a cigarette with gunpowder powder in it and almost blew my lip. female? It stuck so much that it was really annoying. I tried my best to enjoy it, but I couldn’t feel the explosive power of gunpowder.
To put it bluntly, ‘I’m not interested in women, so get the hell away.’ When I said that, he said he found that kind of appearance attractive and followed me around even more. “It was very difficult because even men who misunderstood what I said stuck around.”
The three people frown and share looks as if they can’t believe what Ian said. Meanwhile, Ezel rummaged through his bag and took out a pencil and paper.
Crunch Crunch Crunch Crunch
“What are you drawing on the edge again?”
“Hmm… I’m currently drawing Ian with a healthy chin and less muscle based on his face shape. “You have to be able to believe it.”
Although Ezel was quite drunk, he played around without hesitation.
“Is this pretty?”
“Kkkkkkk. With this talent, I got quite a bit of extra points on the inspection department exam. “Now it’s done!”
“oh!”
“Wow!”
“You really look just like me when I was young.”
In the picture drawn by Ezel, there was a handsome man with cold eyes that seemed to captivate everyone, regardless of gender.
“Do we look alike? “You and this cold handsome guy?”
“It looks like the picture? “Would you like to draw a picture of a gay bar?”
It was a compliment, but Ezel’s expression when he heard those words was very complicated.
“It really resembles this. As expected, Ian, you….”
“Hmm? “What am I?”
“Oh, it’s nothing! He’s handsome! “You deceiver!”
“no wonder. “I looked down at him with this face and said, ‘I’m not interested, go away,’ so the woman became more attached to him.”
“I vote for the fact that her heart exploded a couple of times.”
“That’s nonsense. What good is this? It looks dishonest and unpleasant. Anyway, I had no interest other than explosions and gunpowder. After graduating, I thought about getting a job at a construction company and demolishing abandoned buildings, but no matter how much I thought about it, it wasn’t enough. “I wanted to see something more exploding and burning before my eyes.”
Ian grinned as if he missed him and expressed his feelings in the past. Of course, no one sympathized.
“Is that a terrorist? A college student….”
“Bingo! Terrorists were also considered. No matter how many people die, all I have to do is watch it explode. He said he was always looking at plane tickets to the Middle East. “I kept looking into that direction… and ended up taking a leave of absence from college and joining PMC.”
“If it’s PMC…”
“Private military company.” It was the only way to satisfy my urges and avoid becoming a criminal. Committing a crime and going to jail isn’t efficient, right? If you go to prison, you can’t touch the bomb. “I was living as a bomb expert for about two years, making a living as a mercenary, when it exploded.”
No one listening to the story asked what ‘that’ was. Because everyone sensed it.
World War III. Great war. The beginning of humanity’s destruction.
“I applied right away. Please let me go to Korea, the most intense battlefield right next to the starting point of the war. I didn’t care about my life or anything like that. I just wanted to feel up close the flames and fragments of bullets and shells flying through the wind, receiving the full energy of the larger explosive gunpowder.
Although he was a mercenary, he always jumped into the most dangerous battlefields and caused explosions in the most crowded places. I felt proud as I counted the number of people killed in a single explosion and the enemy equipment blown up. “Because I felt proud that I could create a more beautiful explosion than anyone else.”
Gulp- Gulp-
Taaaaak.
When I think back to those days, all I remember is ash and flames. I wanted to explode better and more. The obsession with efficiency helped me a lot. At some point, the number of people who wanted to join Ian in the battlefield increased, and Ian utilized them most efficiently, driving at the forefront of the most intense battlefield in a car filled with all kinds of explosives.
In the eyes of others, Ian was a commander who deserved more respect than anyone else. At some point, people were lining up to replace him who was about to die.
“Jim Carter Kenichi. Lead your respective platoon and occupy the hill. This is a place where the enemy is preparing, so sacrifices will be necessary. “Any questions?”
“Ashfield will take care of it.”
“I know you will come to the rescue just in time, like always! Hehehehe.”
“Uncertain predictions are prohibited. “I always act according to plan.”
“Yes yes. “Why don’t you say that the commander’s rampage at the forefront is also a strategy?”
“….It’s just a trivial hobby.”
“Fuhahaha! hobby! Hey, oh my god! “It’s a hobby!”
“Ken! Disrespectful to superiors! Sorry Ashfield. This guy is me…”
“That’s it. Kenichi’s ability to carry out operations has nothing to do with his words and actions. 7 8 Company breaks through the enemy’s defense line with me. “We take advantage of the gap where the firepower of the highlands is paralyzed.”
“”“Old!”“”
“We will get ready and leave in 15 minutes. “Today, we tear the enemy to pieces and burn them.”
“Ahh, that line makes me cum every time I hear it. “When the damn war is over, please marry me, Ashfield!”
“KEEN!!!”
By the end of the war, Ian was officially the regimental commander of the Korean Army’s 7th Armored Regiment, and unofficially he was the commander of twice that number of mercenaries and volunteers. Always leading the battle at the forefront, we saw him return home covered in dust and ashes. People called him by the nickname ‘Ashfield’ out of respect.
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