‘Front’
That one word created a sense of direction inside the auditorium.
‘3 minutes’
Those two words of his created a time restraint for the cadets.
The man that suddenly appeared out of nowhere regulated both the time and space of every cadet present.
Soon, the young cadets began moving according to his standards. When someone comparatively more fearful than others started moving their pen, other cadets were influenced by their peers and started their surveys.
3 minutes were more than enough.
“Here sir…”
Despite still not knowing who this man was, one of the cadets in charge gathered the papers before handing them over to Yu Jitae.
“…”
Looking back, he realised that the prison warden was wearing a strange look on his face. His facial muscles twitched and turned serious, before eventually forming a smile. He appeared bewildered.
“Thank you, Mister Guardian… next one on the schedule is breakfast. I think we can start moving now.”
Meanwhile, the camera crews were put in an awkward spot.
‘Damn. We’re not going to have enough videos…’
Yu Jitae wasn’t interested, but the theme of today’s documentary was on ‘the dangers of delinquent cadets and the necessity of increasing the number of guidance wardens’. The documentary was meant to criticise the low morality of the superhuman industry and the need to guide young cadets properly!
But in order to achieve that, they needed videos of delinquent cadets not listening to instructions, contrasted by videos of the warden who was nothing but nice. Watching that, the audience will be enraged which will allow the broadcasting crew to grab both the number of views and their original theme.
“Breakfast, is it.”
“Yes.”
“But there’s a few missing.”
“They must have gone somewhere else. I was actually thinking of looking for them right now…”
The warden nodded with a serious look on his face.
“Guys. Let’s all line up…!”
The cameraman heaved a sigh.
Everything started going south ever since the man who was here on community service intervened. This time, the command was from the warden and yet the cadets still obediently lined up albeit slowly.
Even the warden himself seemed surprised.
“Number.”
In response to the man’s words, the cadets each called out one, two, three… and so on in a line. The number of the last person in line was 23.
Carefully lowering their heads, the cadets stole glances at Yu Jitae.
The number of cadets for dismissal today was 27. Four were missing.
The warden scratched his wide forehead while the cameras went through the cadets one by one.
“…”
Yu Jitae stared at the cadets with a hazy gaze.
He didn’t say anything, and was searching where the missing cadets were on the other side of the auditorium walls. However, his silence seemed to have caused tension as the cadets anxiously stole glances. They became nervous despite him not doing anything.
“All of you, stay here.”
“Yes.”
“…Yes!”
Being cadets and reserve soldiers, they were used to replying ‘yes’. Soon when Yu Jitae began moving his feet, the warden followed him from behind with a dreamy expression as if he was in the middle of a dream.
“Sorry. I definitely locked the doors but how did they get out…”
He didn’t respond.
The four missing cadets were quite nearby. On the other side of the auditorium was an underground football ground with a storage next to it. Three of the four cadets were inside the storage building.
Smoke was seeping out of an area next to the storage, hidden behind several boxes. There was a ventilation hole right next to it.
Walking forward in large strides, Yu Jitae stood in front of the female cadet who had a cigarette in her mouth.
“Ah…!”
Startled, her eyes widened as he reached forward. He pinched and rubbed the cigarette with his thumb and index finger to turn the fire off. His fingers ended up becoming dark from the ashes.
“Why are you here.”
“Y, you surprised me there. Who are you?”
“Why, are you here.”
“…Who cares. So what if I’m here or not.”
The cadet was throwing glances at him but still grumbled to protect her ego. She tried to sneak past him and return to the auditorium naturally but she couldn’t. Yu Jitae with his large body completely blocked the gap between the boxes and the wall and stood there even after she came closer.
“…”
Now that she couldn’t sneak out, the cadet raised her head with a frown but the moment her eyes met with his, an ominous feeling caused her to lower her eyes in an instant.
She then instinctively called out.
“S, sorry.”
Only then did he turn around, leaving the rest to the warden. The reason Yu Jitae stared at her like that was because he deemed that it had to be done to make her listen obediently, for today at least.
He wanted to go back to Unit 301 as soon as possible.
Apparently it was effective. When she was asked about the source of the cigarette, the female cadet obediently replied that she had gotten it from another cadet.
They soon arrived at the storage but the doors were locked. Yu Jitae tried to pull it but it remained closed. When he was contemplating whether he should break the door or not, the warden stepped forward and knocked on the door.
“Guys. Are you in there?”
A large amount of smoke oozed out through the gap between the doors but no-one replied.
“Guys? I’m the warden in charge. Can you open the door–?”
They still didn’t respond. It seemed that they would waste time here until it was 10. The camera came closer as the cameraman asked the obvious.
“Is the door locked?”
“Yes. They must’ve locked it from inside… They probably left through the auditorium windows to smoke a cigarette in secret or something.”
“Don’t they get punished more for it?”
“Yes… the actual leaving time is 10 o’clock but they in fact get treated like normal cadets already. It’s not something that goes against the regulations…”
The warden sweated. Then, he appeared embarrassed as he quickly resumed knocking on the door.
“Guys. If you don’t come out now, know that I’ll open the door and go in!”
Is that meant to be a threat? Yu Jitae watched on.
The warden unlocked the lock with his key but the door was still stuck by something, unable to be opened.
“Aigo, why is it like this… they must’ve done something with the door.”
Yu Jitae glanced at the cameraman’s watch before placing his hand next to the door. Killing intent left through his palm and cut the baseball bat, locking the sliding door from inside, in half.
It looked strange in the eyes of the warden. Yu Jitae gently slid the door to the side and it opened.
Three cadets were lying down on mats, smoking cigarettes.
“Uh?”
“What the fk.”
Staring at the door that suddenly opened, the broken baseball bat and Yu Jitae, they raised their bodies up. Wearing a serious look on his face, the warden told Yu Jitae.
“Sorry for all the trouble. I have no excuses.”
“…”
“But I’ll try to do my best from now on.”
Yu Jitae was about to tell him to stay still but decided against it, because the warden’s face looked a lot more serious. After entering the storage he spoke with a resolve that was a tiny bit, about as big as a rat’s tail, stronger than before.
“Guys. What are you doing here.”
“Why.”
“We don’t have everyone there. At this rate, no-one will be able to complete the guidance procedures until 10 o’clock.”
“Ah, and what.”
“They’re not even allowed to eat right now.”
The cadets giggled in response.
“Do you think anyone would want to eat food here.”
“We can just go outside and eat something better. Do you even hear yourself…”
He clapped once.
“Still, you need to eat. It’s the last time you’ll be having food here. Right?”
“We’re all going to be leaving at 10 anyways.”
“No no. We will send you off earlier if you cooperate better, you know?”
“Sir.”
It was then. The one sitting in the middle called the warden with a low voice.
“Do you really think we are retarded?”
With a tattoo of an eagle underneath his eyes, he was from the greatest nurturing facility of North America, ‘Noblesse School’. The name written on his name tag was Jake whom Ichimon from the sentries had been talking about.
“Just go. Stop annoying us. We’ll get the fuc* out of here at 10 without you doing anything.”
The warden pressed on.
“How can you guys do this? We enjoyed the last few months together. Can’t you just listen to my request once for the final time?”
“That’s a disgusting delusion. Who enjoyed what?”
“…What?”
“At least I didn’t.”
The two next to him also giggled saying, “Me too,” and “I hated Tuesdays the most”. Today was a Tuesday, which probably was the day this old man was in charge of.
All the time he spent was being denied, reduced to laughingstock which caused his expression to become depressed. But judging from how his favourability towards them still hadn’t changed, it seemed that he was feeling lost and lonely, instead of being offended and upset.
Even now, the camera was filming the cadets and the old man. Knowing that their faces will be censored anyway, they showed a V with their fingers at the camera.
At this rate, he really will be going home at 10. Yu Jitae spoke to the warden.
“Step outside for a bit please.”
“…Sorry?”
“Go outside. You as well.”
The prison warden and the camera crew were chased out of the storage. However, Yu Jitae didn’t leave after they all left and the moment they curiously pointed their cameras at him, he closed the door.
“Uhh? Uh?”
Click–
And the door was locked.
“Haigo…”
They were losing more and more film time.
Wearing a dumbfounded expression, the VJ asked the warden what was happening, but didn’t receive any response from the similarly dumbfounded warden. The door was closed shut. Curiously, they leaned closer to the door but nothing could be heard from inside the storage.
*
After around 10 minutes, the door was pushed open.
Surprisingly, the cadets opened the door with their own hands and walked out.
“Guys. Uhh, umm…”
Surprised, the warden was about to talk to the cadets but realised that their expressions were dead. Like children who saw a mass murderer on a dark mountain, cold beads of sweat were flowing down their cheeks as their eyes trembled unstably. Their hands and feet shivered.
However, they weren’t hurt anywhere and fortunately, it seemed that they weren’t hit or anything.
“S, sorry. Sir…”
““Sorry…!””
The warden was startled at their sonorous shout of apology. Like a herd of meek sheep, they quietly followed the warden’s instructions and returned to the auditorium.
That wasn’t the end.
“Oi, you bastards! Line up properly, you hear me? Meal! It’s time for the meal, you bunch of trash!”
As if they were being chased by zombies, they urgently threatened other cadets to move quickly. Their commands however, were virtuous.
“We’ll be having breakfast together. Go to the front!”
Jake from Noblesse School became the one in charge as he shouted his guts out to lead the cadets into the cafeteria.
“What’s up with him? Has he gone mad?”
“What’s this shit about…”
There was a hierarchy among the cadets. Jake must’ve acted like the leader for a long time, evident from how the cadets meekly obeyed his orders despite grumbling at times.
“…?”
The warden was greatly shocked.
“M, Mister Guardian. What did you do just then with the door closed?”
“Yes?”
“How in the world did you make them like that? How are those kids so regulated…”
He asked with sincere curiosity but Yu Jitae remained silent. It wasn’t much, and he just used a slightly different method to the one he used back in the days that made the demon race of the Demon World good.
“What’s the next schedule.”
After that, everything was a piece of cake. Once Jake began listening to the instructions, the cadets also obeyed their given orders. The 27 cadets hurriedly pushed the food down their throat as if it was water.
The 3-hour schedule ended in 25 minutes.
‘How did this…’
The warden began feeling doubtful about his guidance philosophy of love and tolerance.
“Ahh, we’re doomed. What do we say to the MD…? We don’t have enough.”
“What can we do at this point? It’s over.”
The filming crew heaved sighs.
“…”
Yu Jitae returned to the dormitory after 25 minutes, thus ending the Campus Community Service.
***
Next day, Yu Jitae was out walking with Kaeul and Chirpy. A group of cadets that looked like delinquents walked up to them with sticks in hand. They were the ones that were with Jake inside the storage.
Kaeul was worriedly glancing at them, when they suddenly bent their backs into right angles.
““Good morning, Mister Guardian!!””
“Mommy…!”
Startled, Kaeul hid behind Yu Jitae, while the baby chicken hid behind Kaeul.
He nonchalantly nodded at them. The sticks they were holding were in fact broomsticks, which they were using to clean the environment as a part of community service.
After Yu Jitae greeted them back, they started cleaning once again. They were so diligent with their task that not a single speck of dust remained where their brooms had gone past.
Once those cadets disappeared into the distance, Kaeul hugged the baby chicken dumbfoundedly and asked.
“What’s wrong with them?!”
“…Who knows.”
“They’re really hard-working… they look scary but they’re kind people I think.”
They became kind.
“Let’s go.”
“Ah, yes!”
Yu Jitae walked on.
The road on a bright spring day was sparkling clean.