MBD | Chapter 4

Karl Heinrich’s hand moved up to Everhart’s neck. He was pressing precisely on the vital point. In the end, Everhart let go of the gun and spread his arms out, collapsing onto the ground.

He had gone on and on about how Weber never loses, but—this wasn’t it.

Just as he was about to surrender, Karl Heinrich, who had overpowered him, wiped the blood from his lips with his fingertips.

His downcast eyes, which had been indifferently staring at the blood on his hand, slowly refocused on Everhart. The sharp gaze, like that of a barely tamed beast, met Everhart’s head-on, sending an unexplainable shiver down his spine.

“Everhart von Friedrich.”

His voice was just as striking as his good looks. It had been described as powerful and compelling, but reading about it and actually hearing it were completely different experiences. Even while being subdued, it felt oddly unreal.

“If charging in recklessly was all just an act, then I’ll give you some credit for it.”

“That’s… ugh!”

Bang.

Karl Heinrich pressed the gun barrel against the Vital Guard and pulled the trigger. With a dull impact, a sharp pain spread through Everhart’s chest as if he had actually been shot.

No matter how well one could endure pain, a direct hit to a vital point was something instinctive—there was no way to suppress it.

“You bastard…!”

Writhing on the ground with tears pricking at the corners of his eyes from the pain, Everhart glared at Karl Heinrich, who had already risen leisurely to his feet. Karl Heinrich pointed the gun at his neck this time and fired again.

“Your attitude toward your sunbae is seriously lacking in respect. Looks like you need some re-education.”

Wait a second, but I’m a noble!

That was what Everhart had meant to say, but unfortunately, he blacked out before the words could leave his mouth.

With Everhart taken care of, Karl Heinrich finally turned his gaze to the location of his final objective—the box.

But the box was nowhere to be seen.

Through the shattered window in the distance, the sight of Weber Schmidt running off with the stolen box came into view.

࿐⋆˚𝜗𝜚˚⋆

When Everhart regained consciousness, he was in the infirmary. He opened his eyes and raised his heavily bandaged hand high into the air.

An unfamiliar ceiling, unfamiliar hands, and an unfamiliar place.

Everhart’s expression clouded over.

‘If only this had been a dream, even just for a moment. But no, I died in the military, and now I’m stuck as a soldier again!’

Kang Woojin had been hit by an airstrike—probably from the northern forces—so if this was really a dream, wouldn’t that be even creepier?

His injuries weren’t even that serious. A few broken ribs and some fractures in both arms—nothing major.

If this were back in Kang Woojin’s modern world, it might have been considered a severe injury. But in this world, where magic was a thing, it was different. With a proper medical magician, he’d be fully healed in just a day or two.

That was kind of enviable.

Everhart had been unconscious for an entire day. He only found out later that a lot had happened at the academy while he was out.

“Disciplinary action?”

The one who had treated Everhart was Captain Rasmus Henning, the military doctor. When Rasmus came to remove his bandages, he hit him with something completely unexpected.

“Yeah. Figured you hadn’t heard yet, so I thought I’d let you know. No matter how badly you wanted to win, actually blowing up the hideout? What if someone had gotten hurt?”

All Eisenwald nobles had ‘von’ in their names. Meaning, you could tell who was a noble just by their name.

Rasmus wasn’t a noble, but he came from a wealthy middle-class family. Plus, with his age and rank, he didn’t seem to care much about Everhart’s status.

The hideout and various strongholds were all built on the academy grounds to simulate real combat conditions.

And he had blown it up—which apparently resulted in a disciplinary hearing.

Everhart was dumbfounded.

“Wait…! This is war! How could there be… ugh…”

Why did it hurt so damn much?

As Rasmus started unwrapping the bandages, Everhart flinched instinctively. Now that the tension had eased, the pain felt even worse than when he had been recklessly taking hits from paint rounds in the middle of battle.

As the pain subsided a little, Everhart gritted his teeth. He had only used what was available to him.

“The Headmaster heard about it. Everyone higher up is trying to figure out what to do with you. Just don’t make it worse—just say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and leave it at that. You’re still a noble, after all.”

“Ah, understood. Thank you for letting me know.”

Everhart gave a slight nod. He had been feeling restless, completely in the dark about what was happening outside, but thanks to Rasmus, some of that weight had lifted.

Despite his thanks, the other man didn’t respond right away. Everhart tilted his head slightly in confusion. Rasmus, having just tossed the used bandages into the trash, got to his feet.

And then, he said something completely unexpected.

“I never knew you were such an aggressive type.”

Everhart’s chest injury had been from Karl Heinrich’s over-the-top suppression, but the rest of his wounds weren’t.

Rasmus had seen plenty of mock battles at the academy, but he had never seen anyone take that many paint rounds and still keep pushing forward so stubbornly.

“Ah…”

Everhart shut his mouth, momentarily speechless. During the mock battle, he had been too overwhelmed by Kang Woojin’s memories. His head had been completely filled with thoughts of getting Karl Heinrich’s approval and somehow salvaging the situation. He hadn’t even had the chance to look around properly.

“You lost last year, right? You probably just wanted to win this time, so you put in the extra effort.”

Everhart made up a reasonable excuse.

“For someone who wanted to win, though, your start was a total mess.”

“Ahem, that was… part of the plan.”

At Everhart’s weak excuse, Rasmus let out a short chuckle.

“Right.”

He nodded in a nonchalant manner. Feeling strangely uncomfortable, Everhart started sweating and quickly averted his gaze.

Beyond the window, sunlight poured down on the training grounds.

‘I got too caught up in Kang Woojin’s memories.’

࿐⋆˚𝜗𝜚˚⋆

Kang Woojin, South Korea’s youngest colonel.

Unluckily, he got hit by a missile on the frontlines and died.

And now, all of his memories had transferred over to Everhart.

‘Ha, this is the worst.’

The moment those memories flowed into his mind, Everhart was thrown into chaos.

Was he Everhart von Friedrich? Or was he the deceased Kang Woojin?

It didn’t take him long to come to a conclusion. He had Kang Woojin’s memories, but Kang Woojin was dead, and he was alive—so he was Everhart.

Still, there was no denying that Kang Woojin’s life had influenced Everhart’s personality.

‘…Damn, I wasn’t exactly a good guy, huh.’

But the most shocking part was learning about Everhart’s fate and the fall of the Friedrich family. And honestly? About half of the reason why things turned out that way was Everhart’s own fault.

Everhart had never once starved. He had never even seen a slum.

The idea of not having money to eat, of being abused by family, of being forced onto the streets—he had never experienced it, never even tried to understand it.

In the original story, Everhart had lived as nothing more than a naïve noble brat, completely ignorant of how rapidly the world was changing.

But now, he knew what was coming. And that meant he had to change.

As Everhart was sorting out his thoughts, Rasmus finished cleaning up and stood up.

“Don’t push yourself too hard. You can rest a little longer.”

“Yes, sir.”

Everhart lifted two fingers to his forehead in a salute. He almost did it the Korean way out of habit but managed to stop himself just in time.

Once Rasmus left, Everhart lowered his hand and settled comfortably on the bed.

‘Rasmus Henning… I don’t remember anything about him from the original story.’

Since the original novel didn’t really focus on Eisenwald, there were a lot of details he just didn’t know.

And judging by how fuzzy his memory was, Rasmus probably wasn’t a major character in the first place.

“…Seriously, even if they were paint rounds, who the hell shoots someone in the heart? That psycho.”

Everhart absentmindedly touched his injured ribcage. It hadn’t been a real bullet, and he knew the Vital Guard had absorbed the impact, but the moment he got shot—it had scared the hell out of him.

If this had been live ammo training, that would have been completely insane. Even for a novel, that was just too much.

“Fucking lunatic bastard.”

“If you didn’t want to get shot, you shouldn’t have acted up.”

A sudden voice made Everhart jolt. That low, unforgettable voice—he whipped his head around.

Leaning against the wall near the door, arms crossed, was Karl Heinrich.

Everhart hadn’t even felt his presence. Since when had he been standing there?!

He had no courage to ask, so he changed the subject instead.

“Why are you here, sunbae-nim, who shot his junior in the heart?”

“Quit whining. It was fake.”

That doesn’t change the fact that you fired the damn gun, you bastard! What’s your point?!

Karl Heinrich pushed off from the wall and walked toward him.

“How’s your body?”

“It hurts like hell.”

“Then you’re fine.”

“I said it hurts…!”

If he was just going to ignore him anyway, what was the point of coming here?! Everhart grabbed the pillow beside him, gripping it tightly. If he didn’t hold onto something, he might actually punch Karl Heinrich.

God, I really want to cry. If only my family’s life didn’t depend on this lunatic…!

His eyes burned with frustration. But whether he noticed or just didn’t care, Karl Heinrich rolled up his sleeve and checked his watch.

“Did you hear about the disciplinary hearing?”

Everhart finally realized—Karl Heinrich didn’t listen to a single word he said.

‘Our personalities do NOT match!’