‘Dear father,
I am in a vill on the coast of the Paramus River. You should be familiar with it – it’s that small town, one of those summer retreats that you’ve mentioned you’ve been to when you were young. It’s a shame I had forgotten the name now. Many things were lost in history.
I say I am in a vill, but I am actually living underground, so in terms of exploring… there isn’t much. For good reason, of course. The First Unit’s been stationed in the 42nd bomb shelter for a week. Recently, we’ve been… not doing much. Two weeks after Hannes passed, the atmosphere’s been taking a dive. He had always talked too much, but it’s a little strange now that there’s no one to fill the noise.
If he were here, he’d be bragging about his literacy, spewing vulgar jokes, and talking about getting a beer or two with all of us.
It’s been two years since I’ve stayed in Unit 1. We’ve lost so many and I should be used to it by now. I may be too emotional and I feel the need to apologize. Nobody talks of our deceased comrades and yet I am writing this to you, talking about a ghost everyone’s forgotten. Yoo Seok and Jae, who have been here… longer than me (three or four years, I judge with my limited knowledge), did not mourn. They aren’t emotionless (though who would dare judge), but I can see they’ve learned to handle these situations better than I.
And as for the colonel? There’s no need to say. He’s the same as always.
Well… not quite, I suppose. Before that… Recently, there’s been an addition or two. One is a peculiar person and doesn’t seem to fit in with any of us – not in the bad way, nothing like that. If I had to describe him, he’d be—’
“Xiao-Yun.”
A pleasant voice interrupts her halfway. Li Jiayun looks up from where she’s sitting by the desk and immediately puts her pen down. She earnestly stares at the colonel, expecting herself to be assigned a task. Even on break times, the soldier is prim and proper… sans the fact she’s dressed in cute, pink pajamas.
“Ah, Colonel Yang, do you need something from me?”
Eleven in the evening and Yang Rong looks like he’d just walked the runway. He always looks so flashy – even dressed in full noir, he has the charm and magnetism to draw everyone in. Calm, confident and with a side of coquettishness… The colonel’s been described to be ideal. For Li Jiayun, she thinks of him as an unshakeable pillar and views him with young, revering eyes.
“I want you to take a look at Noah,” he says with both hands in his pockets. Carefree. “He hasn’t woken up. It’d be troublesome to care for a comatose patient while traveling.”
Li Jiayun opens her mouth to say, “…But Colonel, you asked me to check last time, too. I’m not a doctor… Perhaps if we bring him to the city, he can get treatment.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Huh?” Yang Rong sounds genuinely surprised. “You don’t know?”
“R-Rb… sfr. Ofa wf atlcx…” Ol Aljsec vlur ja atf lcobgwjalbc lc atf yjmx bo tfg wlcv. Ktjcxoeiis, rtf’v raevlfv nfgs mbwqgftfcrlnfis fnfgs rlcuif ajrx obgmf wjceji atfgf lr – ogbw atf bcf bc kfjqbcgs ab jcbatfg bc vjafv wlilajgs qtbcfalmr, atfgf’r ybecv ab yf j wfvlmji bcf rbwfktfgf. Vtf vbfrc’a tjnf qtbabugjqtlm wfwbgs, yea rtf vbfr gfwfwyfg rbwf rclqqfar bo afza. “Qfii, j mbwj lr j rajaf bo vffq ecmbcrmlbercfrr ktfgflc atf qjalfca lr cba gfrqbcrlnf. Ktf qbrrlyif mjerfr jgf lcpeglfr ab atf tfjv, j ragbxf, qbafcalji lcofmalbc, vljyfafr…”
“I’m not asking for what a coma is.” Yang Rong slaps a hand on his forehead. “I’m asking you to wake him up.”
“Sorry, Colonel… It isn’t within my expertise…”
“Aren’t you a beta?”
“…Yes?”
“Then don’t you know how to, well, solve beta problems?”
Li Jiayun looks at him awkwardly. She’s usually so well-mannered around him but even this has her taken aback. The colonel is really, horrendously, terrible at understanding regular people. She had caught a glimpse of his cluelessness a couple of times.
Once was when she’d first applied for provisional training.
It was two years ago when Li Jiayun saw a particularly memorable scene. A recruit had a bullet embedded in his kneecap during training – a mistake gone horrendously wrong – and then buckled down and yelled out in pain.
Yang Rong had instructed for the freshman to spit on his wounds and “not be a goddamn wimp,” as he’d so politely put it. He proceeded to give personal lessons on the importance of perseverance and then repeated his favorite slogan back in the day, “pain is for the weak.”
He was vicious during drills and even more tyrannic during hand-to-hand training. Of the thousands of applicants, only ten were selected every year – and as for why those soldiers stayed, it was simply because the pay is high and the benefits even better. Five years of service then a lifetime of free meals, free housing, zero-cost medical treatment.
The singular digit units are specialized units, consisting only of top mercenaries willing to venture out in the most hazardous red zones. These are suicide squads going out to recover as many rare and dangerous anomalies as they could to send back to the Nexus for research.
It’s unfortunate not very many of them survive. Li Jiayun thinks that she herself isn’t capable enough to be classified a “top mercenary,” but Unit 1’s always had its own way of doing things under the colonel’s command.
The colonel himself is… odd, to say the least. It is fortunate that he had become less severe over the years.
“That… Colonel Yang,” Li Jiayun hesitates to inform, “a coma isn’t a beta problem. It’s a medical condition.”
“I’ve never been into a coma before.”
“Well, yes…” She nods slowly. “That is true. Perhaps it’s your natural alpha constitution that allows you to withstand more harm than the average person.”
“I am aware of how amazing I am, Xiao-Yun,” Yang Rong says without a stutter. “But the problem at hand is that the little kitten is unresponsive to my touch.”
Li Jiayun decides to not comment on the nickname. “Your touch? It is natural that an… unresponsive patient is unresponsive, Colonel.”
“Hence I would like you to wake him up.” Yang Rong gestures one thumb toward the door. “Look at how nicely I’m treating him. I gave him my clothes and my blankets. Two of them. I even lent him my bed. I’ve been sleeping on the floor for a week, and I’ll be damned, if I have to wash his body up one more time, I swear on my left nut I will fucking—”
He pauses and runs a hand through the back of his neck with a groan. There’s a strange expression on his face, bordering agitation and fluster, before he says again, “I will lose my mind. So, Xiao-Yun, be a good girl and help daddy out, alright?”
Li Jiayun, forced to be the colonel’s assistant – or consultant, whichever is more suitable – summons up all of her beta energy and follows him to the other room.
There’s an array of candles lit on the table. The air has a light fragrance of wax and crystal mint. As dulled as her senses are as a normal beta, she still identifies the scent coming from Noah. The latter is deeply asleep on the metal bed, lying still on his back, and… not covered with a blanket. He’s at least half-naked, with the duvet pulled to the side – the colonel’s doing? – and then, a second later, Li Jiayun notices that his trousers are unbuttoned and unzipped.
She pauses awkwardly.
Yang Rong tells her to go ahead.
“It’ll be like you’re his mother helping him clean. Just take off his pants and use a towel. It’s not like you’re touching his bare body, yeah?” Yang Rong explains the process to her and hands her a white washcloth. “Alright, I’ll be outside. Let me know when you’re done washing and we’ll wake him up after.”
Li Jiayun is at a standstill. Sure, she’d taken the towel but it was more of a conditioned reflex to receive anything the colonel hands to her. She lets it dangle on her hands. “…Um, Colonel, don’t you think Jae would be a better helper…”
“Do you think I’d let that cruddy Jae touch him? Do you know what creatures are the dirtiest on earth?” Yang Rong places a hand on her shoulder. “Men.”
Li Jiayun blinks owlishly with her eyes. “…Colonel, but I’m female… Isn’t it worse—I-I mean, I am able to assist but it wouldn’t be proper? Not to mention I haven’t reached that stage where I’d want to be a mother and—no, no, I meant I’m a young female and Noah is a young male. Taking gender and age into consideration, it would be less appropriate for me to do this…”
Yang Rong seems to think about it deeply. When he narrows his eyes and frowns, he had come to a conclusion. “Indeed, it wouldn’t be appropriate. You two are young and who knows what can happen behind closed doors. Ideally, I’d like for Noah to not be your type, but still, I can’t shake the possibility of such an indecent act. Li Jiayun, do women like flower boys like him?”
“I—Maybe,” Li Jiayun stammers for the tenth time tonight. “Objectively speaking, Noah is very attractive.”
“I see.” Yang Rong narrows his eyes some more, straining them so much his brows have creased. “Get out.”
And with that, he snatches the towel back from her and almost physically throws her back out the door, leaving Li Jiayun worried, stressed out, and very much confused.
—
‘If I had to describe Noah, he’d be the type to be here today and gone tomorrow. Silver hair, pale skin, golden and blue eyes – he reminds me of snowflakes in wintertime. My intuition tells me it won’t be long before he leaves us. It was his appearance that threw us off initially, but I’m beginning to think there isn’t much suspicion held against him… or rather, nobody seems to care about what he is except for the colonel.
And the colonel has done some very strange things lately… It’s almost out of character.
…I am beginning to bore you, father. It isn’t often I get the time to write to you like this.
When I see you, I will deliver this letter and the one before, and the other ones before that as well. Then, there will be many more.
Until you wake,
Ah-Yun.’
Hehehe colonel is very possessive ah. Maybe if you kiss the prince, he’ll wake up 😉
Thank you for the chapter❤️
he’s a big idiot who i both hate and love at the same time (T⌓T)
I loved this entire chapter. 🤣colonel is so strange, but that’s his normal. It’s hilarious.
he’s just a big d u m b
Colonel’s nickname for Noah always makes me squeal (≧▽≦) it’s so cuteeee!!!
Thank you for the chapter! ( ◜‿◝ )♡
he’s so shameless to be on one-sided nickname basis already with noah who still hates his guts ( ・ᴗ・̥̥̥ )
I really wonder what Yang Rong’s past is like.😂 He definitely didn’t have a typical childhood.
Thanks for the chapter 💕
something went wrong and he was born with half a braincell
Thanks for the chapter ❤❤
hehe thanks for reading as always~!
cough cough cough I have once again saw just how far can Yang Rong throw me off hard with his narcissism 🤣
Thank you for the chapter! 💞
OML after reading it again a second time, I came to notice a detail… cough was he really unable to handle it anymore and so was in ‘pain’ and needed a ‘breather’? cough cough cough the pants the pants!!! ヽ༼⁰o⁰;༽ノ
well — i leave it to your imagination 😳
Oh it’s dangerous leaving it to my imagination 🌝🤭
Really now, Yang Rong… (´-ω-`) I’m speechless
The letter from Li Jiayun was a bit bittersweet? Sweet but a bit sad at the same time. She has it tough though, with a colonel like that (◞‸ლ)
Thank you for the chapter 🥰
i feel conflicted for li jiayun in my soul because as much as i love her… she needs to transfer squads ( ・ᴗ・̥̥̥ )
thanks for the chapter <3
Why is his oants unbuttoned and unzipped. I need answers. 🥴
*pants
From what I understand, Yang Rong was trying to towel bath Noah, but gave up midway and start getting aroused thus he unbuttoned and unzipped Noah’s pants. However, Yang managed to stop and found Li Jiayun to do the job, but ended up doing the towel bath himself! The Colonel is so dumb! 🤣
💀 now YR sounds even more like a perverted clown–
the sequence should go more like:
wants to give a towel bath -> strips Noah halfway -> gay panic -> runs to find poor li jiayun 😂
Yea yea yea! 🤣🤣🤣
LOL This chapter had my cackling I’m
why is the colonel so dumb about certain things?? i cant
awww poor li jiayun
Frustrated Colonel Yang Rong. 😆 You deserve it, dude! Give Noah some more care! UwU 💖
Thanks for this chapter ❣️☺️
Gæ panik👁️👅👁️
First, let me say how much I LOVE Yang Rong complaining on how he had to take care of Noah, and also complaining that Noah was unresponsive to his touch ’cause holy, I reread it so many times.
Secondly, the jealousy. If it’s not, I don’t know what it is. Yang Rong’s like, smart but stupid lmaoo I love him. Just kicking Li Jiayun out because she said Noah was objectively attractive– he didn’t even hesitate, I’m dying holy, I love them, yes. I already said that but ahhh I’m obsessed
The colonel is very stupid(in alpha terms)
Letters to be given “when they see each other again”, did xiao-Yun just make a death flag?
OMG he’s such a big dunce 🤣🤣🤣
This story has been interesting from the start, but I have especially enjoyed the past few chapters. The points of view of different characters have added richness to the portrayal of the main characters. The remembered experiences are providing details about the setting in a way that feels lived, not just explained. Really liking this novel!