MEDIC

Chapter 13. A Dangerous Thing

"Oh damn, so he's been avoiding you since then?"

"Yup. I've barely seen him and even when I have he's been quick to leave before I got to say anything to him."

"That's rough."

"Mmhm, you're telling me..."

You rested your head in the palm of your hand as Roach and Horangi finished the maintenance on their weapons. The two of them were joining you and König on the upcoming mission along with Ghost, who, honestly, you were quite excited to see in action...if not a little terrified.

Horangi hopped up onto the table he and Roach were using to clean and maintain their weapons and rested his hands on his thighs. The Korean soldier seemed to study your face for a moment before grabbing one of his rifles magazines and began loading it steadily with ammo.

"I know it's your job to look after us, but honestly Königs been in way worse conditions before and come out on top."

You glanced up at Horangi and rolled your eyes a little, flopping back into your chair.
"I've absolutely no doubt that he has, but it's my job to make sure everyone here is safe and if he's gonna be in a mood with me for caring then so be it..."

Horangi fiddled with the magazine in his hand, placing the final few rounds into it with a satisfying click.
"I get that you're still pretty new here, and your whole thing is to stop people getting hurt. But you're forgetting something important."

Your eyes glanced up to meet Horangi's gaze.
"Oh? And what's tha-"

"We're the 141, biiiitch! The toughest set of bastards the military has to offer!"
Roach was quick to cut into the conversation, which up until now, had been serious.

Both you and Horangi stared at the other soldiers rather enthusiastic outburst, Roach stared right back, his eyes flicking between the two of you silently before adding "Oh!...and KorTac too. I guess you guys can be badass with us."

Horangi shook his head and grinned, turning his attention back to you.
"To be fair, he's got a point."
You tore your eyes away from Roach, who was now excitedly polishing the barrel of his rifle, and focused back on Horangi. The Korean soldier didn't wait for you to ask him to elaborate.

"I think what Roach is trying to say is that both the 141 and KorTac wouldn't have the reputation we've got if we just sat around whinging and feeling sorry for ourselves every time we got hurt. We're the best of the best, we get out there, get the job done and don't let the usual protocol get in our way."

"Protocol?" You sat back in your seat a little.

"Being grounded for trivial shit." Horangi replied simply.

Your eyes widened for a second before frowning at the soldiers reply.
"So three broken ribs is classed as 'trivial shit'" you sneer.
"Is to König." Horangi shrugged before leaning forward, resting his elbows on his thighs.

"You think König got his callsign from sitting around and taking it easy every time he had a splinter? I've worked with him for a few years now, like I said to you before I don't know barely anything about his life outside of KorTac, but I do know this..."

You leaned in closer to listen to Horangi, his voice now much lower and serious.

"The things I've seen that man have to do and the things that man has seen? It's more dangerous to his health being grounded at the base with his own thoughts than out there doing what he does best."

Well shit, that was something you'd never considered before, and the more you thought about it the more it made sense.
You'd looked over countless soldiers files in the past, familiarising yourself with every detail about them both physically and psychologically. It wasn't until you were transferred to this base that you became acutely aware that some of the soldiers had enormous blank spaces in their mental health portfolios. You'd never questioned it up until now.