When I Opened My Eyes, I Was in the Middle of the Battlefield

“The area of operation is an area called Rootbar, about 65 miles away in a straight line.”

With those words, several more pictures popped up on the screen.

It was an image taken of the root bar. Satellite photos, aerial photos, and even photos taken with a camera.

I remembered the game scenes I played more vividly.

Deaths due to excessive bleeding, victims who were hit, comrades covered in blood from bullets and all sorts of shrapnel and stone fragments.

It was the things that I couldn’t help but think that it was hard.

As if to let me know that I was right, a further explanation came from Ron’s mouth.

“Nothing has been confirmed, but since Lutbah was previously ISIL territory, we suspect similar lines of Muslim extremists attacked it.”

No doubt, it was correct.

He would shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ and run at it while dangling an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). Some teenage kid was going to fire Allah’s magic wand, the RPG-7.

There were even dozens of people attacking.

Well, I had the experience of defeating 20 rebels as soon as I entered the game, but today’s operation was different from that.

If the corrupt soldiers who attacked moderately and ran away were human, the enemies whose eyes turned over due to religious beliefs were monsters or ghosts.

Soon, the voice of Bolmen came out from the Bravo team.

“By the way, there is an American military base there, right? It would only be ten miles away.”

Rootba, one of the key points in western Iraq served by highways, also had a US military base that was only a few years old.

Although the majority of US troops have now withdrawn from Iraq, a few remain.

Ron nodded as if he knew.

“There is one US military base, but we have requested rescue. The US military will not intervene.”

“Wait a minute, so you’re saying we have to do all the rescue?! Not scouting?”

A startled murmur was heard.

It was worth it.

Reconnaissance and rescue missions differed in difficulty. Aren’t the opponents even insane?

Of course, most of them, including the Bravo team, were mercenaries with experience in deployment and combat, but not all of them were confident in the face of death.

Our Charlie team was only toxic, usually afraid of dying.

And this mission had a pretty good chance of dying. Unlike the previous operation, in which one Marine regiment and air support were received, this time the US military did not intervene at all.

Eventually, as if to clear the atmosphere, Ron’s aged voice became heavy.

“Not only us, but PMCs from Jordan and Baghdad will also come to support. And there will be three of us at the forefront.”

Then those who were sitting stood up.

After the AK-47 clatters against the body armor and war belt.

One of them opened his mouth.

“This is Ivan. First, our main objective is delay, not rescue. All you have to do is grab the enemy’s attention and hold on until reinforcements arrive. As long as the situation doesn’t get worse, I won’t force a rescue attempt.”

“… … .”

He correctly pointed out the mission, but at the same time, the gaze of the chief changed.

It wasn’t because of the content.

Even though it was clearly pronounced in English, neither the name nor the accent were heard at G&G Corp, an American PMC.

At the same time, a question popped up from the Bravo team.

“… Russian?”

That guess was right.

The Ivan in front of me was from Russia, a country that symbolized the sickle and hammer and the red star.

It was only natural that the US military would not intervene.

Lareple was created and distributed before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but because relations between the United States and Russia have historically been consistently bad.

A de facto hostile relationship in which conflicts and sanctions have been repeated.

And Ivan, from Russia, though clean-shaven and well-groomed, was no good, ordinary citizen or mere mercenary.

It is the SVR (Russian Foreign Intelligence Service) agent from Spetsnaz.

That’s a fact I learned while playing the game, but fortunately, the purpose of being here was the same as I just said.

It was all true.

That made the game even more fun.

It was because it was helping the red country belonging to the game’s name, Last Red Flag, and this innocent thing spread into misunderstandings between each other.

It was like that from the fact that there were SVR members here in the first place.

It was no coincidence. This was possible because the Department of External Affairs, who had heard the request, asked Ron to accept the request.

Its purpose was not to rescue, but to find out the inside story.

About the SVR personnel, who the victims were, what they did, and so on.

And neither Jake nor Rachel knew this.

It’s just a fact that only Ron and I, who are standing expressionless, know.

At least everyone on the team here would have thought of Ivan as a mercenary from the Russian army, not an SVR. Even if it wasn’t, it didn’t matter.

In the meantime, Ivan, who was asked if he was Russian, opened his mouth.

“I am Ivan, and I am only an agent for my client. Then can we continue explaining the operation?”

“… … .”

Some seemed a little uncomfortable, but no one bothered to protest.

Even if you’re Russian, you can’t kick out the person who came all the way here with the permission of the higher up to give a briefing.

As if recognizing the unspoken affirmation, Ivan’s words continued.

“There was a last radio call at 10:19, nine minutes before the current time of 10:28. It was information that the number of enemies was 2 or 30, that 1 out of 4 rescuers was injured, and that they were hiding in a nearby building. We have lost contact at the moment, but we are looking at the possibility of survival.”

“The reason is?”

Immediately Jake’s mouth opened, and Ivan answered.

“Two trained personnel, each carrying one AK-47, 140 rounds of 7.62mm rounds, one Makarov, and two 10-round magazines. We estimate that a sufficiently early response will be possible.”

It was all true without exception.

However, the problem was that the distance to the root bar, the operational area, was quite far at 65 miles, or 104 km, and all safe Humvees were in operation, so you had to take a regular SUV.

Besides, this is in the future, but by the time we arrived, all the trained personnel we just mentioned were dead, and 3 SVR agents, including Ivan, were either injured or were going to die.

So the operation was difficult. That was the reason I had to pay close attention in this episode.

Soon, another question came from the Bravo team.

“You said you were delaying rather than rescuing, then when is the estimated time of arrival of the reinforcements? How long do you have to hold out?”

“We expect it to be around 110 to 140 minutes based on the current time.”

“So, if you come from another PMC, then you mean a joint rescue? How many people are there?”

“We only need to perform a delay mission, not a rescue. Rescue is decided to send the military from the motherland.”

I don’t know where or how, but it never came.

This was because not only the two who had been trained, but also the two remaining rescuers died. And in the game, the life and death of the three SVR agents standing in front of me was determined by my performance.

I don’t know what will happen this time, but you’ll know when you go. Will the remaining rescuers return alive, or will they all die like a game?

For now, I’m trying to do my best, but the most important thing is me and my teammates.

As I was organizing my thoughts, Ivan’s voice continued.

“The operational area, Rootba, is a desert with the same climate as Al Jamash, but a much smaller city. For that reason, although it has the aspect of urban combat, the buildings are not high and the outer area has the characteristics of an open area with few obstacles, so depending on the situation, a high-magnification scope may be required. and… Time has been delayed while explaining the operation.”

He glanced at his watch before he knew it and looked around the hall and said.

“We have to be ready and ready to go in four minutes. Then we ask for your cooperation.”

After about a second of silence passed.

Drooling— Drooling— Drooling—

With the sound of chairs being pushed, everyone rose from their seats.

Helping the Russians seemed bad, but no one complained.

He was from a top-notch soldier and wanted to carry out his mission like a mercenary.

And no one used the 4-minute time Ivan said.

Our Charlie team who visited the training center and the Bravo team who came earlier were already prepared.

Soon, the three members of SVR also split up and got into the car, and I got into the front car with Jake and Jose.

It was a car with Ivan sitting in the passenger seat.

After he made eye contact with Jose in the driver’s seat and me and Jake in the back seat.

He looked straight ahead and spoke English with a Russian accent.

“Let’s move as quickly as possible.”

* * *

The tires spewed yellow dust as they ran over the rough, hard dirt road.

The three cars running behind the lead car had poor visibility, but they did not slow down.

By the time the hour passed, the operation area was vaguely revealed.

Like the villages of other Arab countries, it was a village made of white or yellowish colors, Rootba.

Ivan, who was watching the front, raised his voice.

“You have to merge on this side of the road to enter. The GPS last signal is a little further in, but it’s dangerous to go deep. Let’s get off at the entrance and move.”

At Ivan’s words, Jake nodded as well.

This was because SUVs had poor protection performance, so even if they were not IEDs or RPG-7s, they would be robbed by AK-47s.

If you shoot from a diagonal, it’s enough to smash two people’s heads with one shot.

Soon, Jose quickly stopped the car at the beginning of the village and everyone got out.

Jake’s eyes narrowed.

“There has been work from here.”

There were no obvious signs, but the atmosphere was like that.

The locals coming and going did not notice well, and the faint smell of gunpowder came from afar.

After taking a few steps, a gunshot was heard.

Fight against each other—!

It was the distant sound of AK-47 gunfire.

All of the Charlie and Bravo teams lined up behind, including Ivan, raised their eyes.

It’s not accurate, but it was near where the GPS signal was taken.

“I will move quickly. Please follow me.”

At the same time, Ivan started to move as if he was running at the front.

Now, not only Jake, but also Marcus, Jose, and Rachel’s expressions were hardening.

The closer they got, the stronger the smell of gunpowder, and it was because the flying dust mixed with the fishy smell of blood.

Among them, there was only one who was fine.

Tae Kang.

Jake winked at him right behind him.

“Are you okay?”

It wasn’t about the physical condition or condition.

It was to ask Kang-tae’s intuition about the situation.

“not good.”

“Me too, damn it.”

Jake answered briefly and activated the neck microphone.

“Everyone focus, I don’t feel good.”

And the moment I looked ahead.

I met the eyes of an Arab man talking on the phone. It wasn’t close enough to hear the voice, but Jake could tell what the call was.

Because as soon as he ran away, gunshots rang out.

Fighting, shouting, shouting—!

It wasn’t even from a distance like before, it was a bullet that flew from a distance of about 150m.

Phishung-! Fit!

The moment a bullet flew nearby and made a sharp noise.

“Enemy ahead!”

Jake shouted, and the team members lowered their heads or hid behind walls and buildings.

And when he was about to strike back.

Empty! Empty! Empty!

HK416’s heavy gunshot passed through the silencer and resonated as if it were being spread across the floor.

It was almost as fast as a burst, but Jake, who threw himself to avoid it, stopped aiming at the enemy.

It was Kang-tae’s position in which he was moving and fired.

I was even just moving my feet.

In the midst of a brief silence, Kang-tae’s voice was transmitted through the neck microphone to Jake’s in-ear receiver.

-down.

Ivan, who had lowered his upper body, looked at Kang-tae in surprise.

It was an unbelievable feat.

The hit and counterattack were almost simultaneous, and the shooting was also accurate.

‘… Did I even aim in advance?’

I didn’t think I saw it and shot it.

Even bullets were flying. Do you shoot while moving?

It wasn’t that Ivan hadn’t been through training and situations like this. I also did a lot of strength training. However, actual combat and training were completely different.

I had no choice but to lie down. Especially unless there’s cover right in front of you.

However, Kang-tae continued to advance in the middle of the gunfire, watching the front very calmly.

As if you were at the promised training ground.

Kang Tae’s mouth opened again.

“Three unidentified persons appeared, weapons unconfirmed… no, check. Identify the RPG-7!”

With the report, Kang-tae’s muzzle moved.

And the moment Jake and Ivan got into their stance and were about to shoot, Kang Tae’s HK416 fired first.

Empty! Empty! Empty! Empty! Empty! Empty!

Eventually, Kang-tae looked at the corpses through the optical scope and opened his mouth.

“Forward, all down.”