[The great North Korea has approved the South’s request to connect the Eurasian Rail,” the North Korean female announcer, dressed in hanbok, read the announcement with an exaggerated intonation as if drawn from below.0

[This lays the groundwork for North-South peace development. To prevent the rail’s construction from being disrupted, the North and South have decided to entrust its management to the Eurasian Rail Committee.]0

At the same time, the announcement from North Korea’s central broadcast was also being reported on South Korean news.0

“Wooaaaah!”0

Soldiers in the Samsung-dong office erupted into loud cheers. Kang Chan felt the urge to give them all a pat on the back while Kim Hyung-Jung was crying too hard to even even move.0

What did we have to go through to get here?0

Kim Hyung-Jung slowly stood up and walked to the window. To achieve this, Kim Tae-Jin had to meet Kang Chan first. 0

Just when he had given up everything in Mongolia, Kang Chan appeared out of nowhere and rescued him. Countless even more astonishing events had followed since then. He remembered Choi Seong-Geon, Hwang Ki-Hyun, Song Chang-Wook, and the other soldiers, including those who fell in the International Building, Libya, and Mongolia. 0

Their families also came to mind: Lee Yoo-Seul, who kept asking for her father until the end; Um Ji-Hwan’s elderly mother, who buried her dead son and went down to Jangseong; the wife of the counter-terrorism team soldier who sacrificed himself in the International Building; and the struggling smile of Yang Dong-Sik’s daughter.0

The faces of those who had sacrificed themselves flashed in his mind. How could this have been accomplished by one person? If Kang Chan hadn’t stepped forward and risked his life for all this, none of it would have been possible. 0

Kim Hyung-Jung frowned and looked up at the sky to suppress his increasingly reddening eyes.0

I miss Kim Tae-Jin. He must be tanned black in Mongolia now. Seok Kang-Ho, Gérard, and the Jeungpyeong men too, who now feel like family.0

Kim Hyung-Jung let out a quiet sigh. There was still a lot of work to be done; he had a mountain of tasks left to organize.0

“Thank you,” Kim Hyung-Jung blurted out, then turned around. “Whew.”0

South Korea had finally truly begun growing. 0

***0

They could finally be discharged. While Kang Dae-Kyung was at the office, Yoo Hye-Sook tidied up the bed and the surroundings with a puffy face.0

The soldiers guarding their room were all armed with rifles. They were also wearing black military uniforms with Taegeukgi patches on their sleeves, complimenting their tanned faces and sharp eyes. She had heard that they were counter-terrorism agents, but to Yoo Hye-Sook, they just looked like soldiers.0

She had been scared of them at first, but her fear eventually turned into guilt. These were the people who had fought in Afghanistan and risked their lives to stop the terrorist attack on the International...0