87
Before Dawn
Near the deep of night, the advance scouts returned.Blood and ice had dried together on their faces.
No one needed to speak first.At a glance, everyone understood.Where they had been was no longer important.The fact that they had returned alive alone meant they were already at their limit.
Huang Hyun-pil gathered them and spoke briefly.The words did not carry far, but his expression darkened quickly.
The discussion did not last long.
Soon after, the lights of the camp were hastily extinguished.
They must have slept—if only for a moment.Bodies that had barely endured the cold, that had hardly slept at all, were roused again before the sensation of rest could settle.
In the darkness before dawn, Huang Hyun-pil's voice rang out.
"All units, up.Advance toward Simju Fortress.Form firing lines. Immediately."
Snow was falling again.
The soldiers rose almost at once.Breathing, the tearing down of tents, boots striking frozen ground—the sleeping dawn was shaken awake.
"Affirmative!"
The response came automatically,while bodies were still waking in the dark.
As he tightened his belt, Park Seong-jin ordered his thoughts.There was a reason for now.
It was not only the cold.They had not yet eaten.
The order was to advance on empty stomachs, into this biting chill.
Horses exhaled clouds of steam.With the sound of breath freezing midair, the column began to move into the darkness.
When he glanced back, the advance scouts were already ahead.They had departed earlier still.
There was no need to confirm the source or the destination of the order.War is always already in motion before I understand it.
The Second Detachment of the Sungui Army merged with the moving columns of the First and Third.No one could judge the time of arrival, but now they flowed as one.
The soldiers marched silently toward Simju Fortress, crushing snow beneath their boots.
The sky slowly lightened.A pale gray spread along the eastern horizon, revealing the outline of snow-covered walls.
The wind stilled.In that quiet, the cold became sharper.The emptiness in the stomach sharpened it further.
And that stillness came as fear.
In the frozen world, everyone walked without speaking, breathing only.
This is war.
You walk, hungry, and hungry still—and then the fighting begins.
Then—
A faint light flickered atop the distant walls.A signal.
Soon, shouts would follow.
In that instant, everyone accepted the same truth.Before the morning sun rose, Simju would once again be swallowed by fire.
Units approaching from different routes now marched shoulder to shoulder,advancing in a single line toward the same direction.
At the southern gate's outer field, the troops formed firing formations.The arrangement was closer to a defensive stand—built to endure.
A great wall of shields rose at the front.Behind it, horses and wagons formed a circle.Reins were secured to iron rings driven into the ground to prevent flight.
Equipment unloaded from the wagons was frozen solid.It was too cold even to spread tents.
Each breath burst white into the air.A moment's carelessness and sensation vanished from the fingers.
Then Oh Jin-cheol shouted,"We have to light fires! At this rate, we'll freeze to death!"
Huang Hyun-pil ran straight to the commander's tent.Moments later his voice burst out.
"Permission granted! Each unit, prepare braziers!"
Even lighting a fire was a battle.The wind howled. The firewood was damp.Flint struck again and again, sparks dying instantly.
Several men crouched behind shields, blocking the wind with their bodies.At last, from someone's fingertips, a flame barely caught.
As the brief fire rose, breath escaped the soldiers all at once.
"We live…"
That single word let them breathe again.
Life and death hinged on something that was not combat.It was the cold.
As the light spread, ice clinging to equipment slowly loosened.Bowstrings grew taut again.Frozen fingers began to move.
Some three hundred archers lined up facing the southern gate.
Oh Jin-cheol muttered,"Who planned this? Forming a line with archers alone—if they rush us at close range, we'll collapse."
The wind scattered his words.Beside him, Huang Hyun-pil's gaze sharpened.
"Quiet. Hold the line. Shields up."
At that moment, something shattered inside the fortress.The sound of metal echoed distantly.
Huang Hyun-pil's face hardened."Possible cavalry. Maintain front. Keep formation."
Behind the shields, Park Seong-jin drew his bow.His fingertips trembled—cold and tension entwined.
Snow began to fall again.Everything turned white.In it, the line between enemy and ally blurred.
The command was clear.
"Prepare to fire."
A thought crossed Park Seong-jin's mind.The situation inside the walls was unknown.Tactics were built atop the scouts' reports,and those reports had to be trusted.
Here, now, that was the only choice available.
On the battlefield, orders are taken as meaning.Only then can you draw the bow to its limit.