How to Survive as a Demoted Junior Officer

 

How to Survive as a Demoted Junior Officer

Translator: Isabelle Emerson

 

 

 

Chapter 1

 

 

“Captain! Captain?”

I was awakened by the sound of someone calling me.

I focused through my blurred vision.

‘Where am I?’ More importantly……

“Park Chanseong. Captain!?”

Park Chanseong was my name but… who was that?

The woman in front of me carefully called my name.

Her face was familiar, but……

She was wearing… a uniform?

“You…”

“Captain. I’m your lieutenant, Narsha.”

Narsha.

Her name reminded me of a character.

The face in front of me matched the person that came to mind.

That wasn’t possible…

Never.

“Are you ready to embark? Please give me orders.”

Her gaze drifted around us. We were on the deck of an anchored boat.

My gaze naturally followed.

“Are you talking about that…”

My fingers twitched.

It was a huge battleship filled with tinkering marks. Near the front of the ship, large letters read ‘Raiden’.

This was also a name I’d heard before.

“Captain. Your orders please…”

“R-right. Let’s embark.”

I didn’t know what the situation was, but I gave an order anyways.

That didn’t mean I knew what I was doing. I was still thoroughly confused.

First, I needed time to think.

Making a fuss at this time would only make things more confusing.

I needed to act as natural as I could.

“Everyone board. Estimated take off time is in 30 minutes. Department heads, please report your status. If you don’t have a department head, please report to the temporary manager,” Narsha shouted.

“Ha, you’re so strict. Everyone heard you. You’re in such a hurry.”

“Whooooa!”

It had been disorderly before, but now it was even more so.

The sailors moved cargo back and forth in chaos. Like a pack of dogs.

As with their clothes, their speech and laid-back manner reminded me more of pirates.

Bump.

A body collided with mine as I stood blankly in the center of the chaos. The coat he had been wearing loosely over his shoulders fell to the ground from the impact.

“Oh. What are you doing here, sir?”

After picking up my coat from the floor, he shook it roughly and placed it back over his shoulders.

Out of everyone in my surroundings, this guy especially…

There was no way he was a soldier.

The arms were torn off his coat and he wore it like a vest.

His forearms were fully exposed, and they were as big as my thighs.

Lastly, in his large hands he held a bottle of liquor.

“Can I have a sip, Lieutenant?”

‘Be yourself. I don’t know.’

I thought a sip of alcohol might be helpful.

I didn’t know what was happening in my sober mind right now.

It was obvious this wasn’t a dream.

Since I came up with the word ‘dream’.

It couldn’t be a lucid dream; everything was too vivid for that.

“Hahaha, I thought you would be a gentleman since you’re from the central area! Here you go.”

As soon as he handed me the bottle, I took a big sip.

Ptoo!

Before I immediately sprayed it back out.

“Hahaha, it’s a bit strong. Didn’t I tell you? This is the legendary White Dragon.”

“……”

I retried it silently with a frown on my face.

I managed to swallow a sip and wiped my mouth with my sleeve.

My esophagus felt like it was burning.

Warmth spread through my body, and it felt like my mind was clearing.

“You drink well.”

“Don’t flatter me.”

I practically threw the bottle back at him and moved toward Narsha, who was waving her hand in the distance.

With goggles on, that would have been something like in a virtual reality game.

The whole situation was unbelievable.

“Where’s my room?”

“Ah. You arrived last. It’s your first time on the ship so… you may not know the structure. I’ll give you an orderly.”

Narsha called over a soldier.

Looking at the mark on his chest, he seemed like a supply guy.

“Please guide the captain.”

“All right. Please follow me.”

I followed the soldier into the vessel.

While other soldiers boarded a hanger connected to the back of the ship, I took some stairs down the side.

Conveniently, it had an escalator function.

“If you head down this way, you’ll find your room. The closest room is yours, Captain.”

He didn’t seem very motivated.

His explanation was also lacking.

He was one of two types of crew members on the ship. The crew was either relaxed like a pirate or totally unmotivated like a dead fish like this guy.

“See you later.”

“Okay.”

At least he saluted at me.

Click.

When I opened the door, I found that the room was quite spacious.

Paintings hung on the walls, and it was filled with various furniture. There was a bathtub situated in front of the large window. If it wasn’t for the view outside, I would never have thought I was on a ship.

I sat down on the sofa.

“First, let’s piece together what I know.”

My name was Park Chanseong.

The first mate was Narsha.

The boat’s name was <Raiden>.

My orders were to search for a missing merchant ship.

“Shit. Does this make sense?”

I didn’t want to believe it, but no matter how I looked at it, it seemed I had somehow entered a game world.

I remembered how it happened.

After clearing all the modes, a hidden mode popped out of nowhere.

It was something that had never been seen in a game café before.

I felt like I was the first one ever.

 

====

[Would you like to open Hidden Mode?]

[YES] [NO]

====

 

Clicking the mouse with absolute confidence was my last memory.

That was fine. There was no way it wouldn’t be okay.

Well, it was possible if you succeeded 100 times. Anyways, who had I possessed?

An extra from the tutorial.

He was someone with the same name as me, so I had paid careful attention to him when playing.

I had also thought that he looked like a 2D version of me.

“Even if everything goes my way… this is too much. Seriously.”

It was a simulation in which you could choose between 32 characters to play.

Among them was Yuben, who was the only one who provided early-stage tutorials.

In the original story, the next step was to find him and be a practice target.

In other words, the body I had possessed was just an extra.

To put it simply, this body existed just to die…

There had to be a way… some kind of method…

I had to be less capable than everyone else on the boat. That was the only way.

This place was the setting for the future, and the only knowledge I had about the military was from my time as a Korean soldier.

That military service had been a long time ago, too.

However, it didn’t seem that there was anything too different in fantasy novels.

There were absolutely no memories of the life this body had lived before.

Would it be best to just wait to see if the memories came back?

No. That would definitely be game over.

It was fortunate that the game settings had a language integration pack embedded in one corner of the brain.

However, there was no need to be frustrated.

I had future knowledge of this world and could think differently than others.

Yeah. I was a stranger. And, speaking with a bit of bravado, I was a veteran who had unfied the world hundreds of times.

There had to be a way.

Ok, I needed to go over options one by one.

First, turn the boat around and go back.

That wouldn’t be possible.

I was only the temporary captain, not the official one. Meaning, I was captain only for this mission.

It wasn’t a coincidence or an accident.

Insubordination without a reason. That was a recipe for unemployment.

I was on equal level with the floor in the previous world, but here I was getting a new job? It wasn’t the baseless self-confidence of an adolescence. Rejected.

Even in the face of possible death this world was better than the previous one, where I had no hope.

It was an opportunity.

Second, surrender.

Never see the light of day again.

First of all, there was a biological barcode on the back of the neck of each person, so the moment I surrendered for no reason, I would become a deserter.

That would result in the captain’s solitary confinement.

Of all the positions, my title was captain.

The Yuben I would encounter if I continued on this mission was now an unnamed rebel.

In the near future, before his name became known, he would become governor of a planet through identity laundering.

From there, he would grow his strength and turn into a feudal lord.

I could only be his shadow at best.

Shadows were generally thrown away as soon as they were discovered. I didn’t know about other crew members, but a captain would be beyond redemption.

Third, fight.

With this old-fashioned ship?

Yuben had a fleet. I didn’t have the confidence to win even if I fought the weakest ship in his fleet 1 on 1.

I had possessed this body, but everything else remained the same.

I would be devastatingly destroyed.

Deputy captain>>Captain. We would soon get out of the wormhole.

Communication came from the deputy captain.

“Already?”

Actually, I had been stuck in my room for a week after falling into this world. Thanks to that, I had time to get used to the equipment around me.

There was no more time to think.

It was time to make a decision.

The question was whether to live or die.

I jumped out of my seat and headed for the control room with a bottle of wine in one hand and a wine glass in the other. 

Click.

“Report. The ship is exiting the wormhole and on route to our destination on the nearest Nile planet.”

Wormhole.

It was general knowledge that blackholes could be used for long-distance travel, but it wasn’t easy to open them.

The amount of energy required to create a blackhole was equal to that of a sun.

Therefore, we used a wormhole that was intertwined like a spiderweb in space. Wormholes could be understood as something that existed like a natural highway that was invisible to the eyes.

It was something that was already in existence and always existed, so the only energy we had to use was to enter it. Of course, there were other conditions too, but……

Actually, it was called a wormhole but the mechanism seemed to be something else.

“What is our estimated arrival time?”

“It will take about five hours.”

Wasn’t that quite early?

There wasn’t much to do for the next 5 hours.

Should I play a game?

I wasn’t trying to play a real game, but I was curious about the device in front of me.

Tap tap.

There was a touch pad in front of the captain’s seat.

Augmented reality was possible, but it was impossible to know what would happen in battle. That was why there was still old relic technology in the captain’s seat.

Operation wasn’t difficult.

It had a user-friendly and intuitive interface.

Unfortunately, there were no games to soothe my boredom. How disappointing.

I poured wine into my wine glass.

“Captain. You’re on duty soon, you should refrain from drinking.”

“No! Why are you doing this to me?”

There was a party every day in the rear hangar of the ship.

There was a noisy sound as the wine bottle rolled around.

“A captain who always has to stay cool is different from a soldier.”

No, that wasn’t possible.

I needed to relax first.

A normal person couldn’t lead non-normal subordinates.

The original character hated variables, but they were what I needed most right now.

Indeed. I was idling away at the bottom of the pyramid of human society. Why was I hesitating when I had been transported to a place where I could control my fate?

It was a blessing.

“I only listen to my girlfriend.”

Somehow, I knew the reason my life had been so arbitrary.

On top of that, my life was arbitrary even this unrealistic situation inside a game.

“Should I bring you more alcohol?”

“Bring me some snacks, too.”

“Okay.”

I decided to fight. With this cheap battleship? Was I destined to die soon?

It didn’t matter. I thought, ‘Why don’t you become captain of a spaceship for a while?’

I was successful.

If I lined up everyone’s ranking on this ship, there were more than 100 people below me. Anyways, I was going to do everything I could to enjoy this.

What I needed now wasn’t consciousness but spirit.

“Ah. Before that.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“I need to check something.”

“You don’t know when to give up. I don’t have a boyfriend, but I have no intentions of going out with you.”

How did she make that connection?

It was half a joke played by the crewmen, but they already refused to bring alcohol and snacks.

Now I was ready to fight.

“That’s not what I’m curious about right now. Did you check if the shield is being charged according to the manual? Shouldn’t that come before your love life?”

“Always. If you’re talking about charging… sorry. I had to check it in advance.”

A fusion reactor.

The core of the ship that generated energy on its own.

One engine per fusion furnace. That meant one on one connection was possible.

It was so powerful that it couldn’t be supplied in small installments. Even if it was possible, the efficiency would drop sharply as the volume of the equipment increased.

Energy was finite, but it wasn’t good for the spacecraft if its mass grew unnecessarily.

Only internal power was divided into special devices.

Therefore, depending on the situation, it was necessary to decide which engine to connect to.

“Report on shield charging.”

All of them turned towards the soldiers dispatched from the shield control team.

For reference, the control room had a 24-hour work system, and one person from each department was always on duty.

The soldier was bewildered.

It seemed I had false expectations.

His rank badge showed private.

Who on earth put a private on duty?

“Did you say there’s no manager in the shield control room?”

“Yes. The head of the fire control team is also in charge of the shield control room.”

“I see. Then, I’ll put the order for the shield control room first.”

“Okay.”

Lieutenant Narsha immediately stopped watching as I gave the soldier my command.

“Wait. Engine 1. Shield 3.”

“Captain. With all due respect, that’s not efficient. As you know, the shield will discharge over time. Normally, a shield is maintained by one reactor.”

Since the ship was operating badly, it seemed more focused on moving at higher speeds.

When not fighting, you didn’t need a shield anyways.

The high-speed spacecraft was designed to allow electromagnetic membranes to flow outside, allowing it to continue on its course even when encountering light meteorites or space debris.

Dust was another problem.

If the spacecraft’s speed was too high, dust could easily damage the hull.

Things didn’t always go according to the rules of the world. There was always an “if”.

We needed to charge the shield.

“I know, I know. I’ll just do as I’m told. No matter what, you’re the one in charge of the ship.”

Her innermost thoughts were clearly different from her words.

I was in charge, but I wouldn’t take responsibility.

This body was both me and not me.

The dead couldn’t be held responsible, and I didn’t have to take responsibility for their death.

This body was mine, but the honor wasn’t.

I stood at the center of the ship, but I was no different from an observer.

“Okay.”

Everyone’s expressions were not very good.

The head of the steering team, Min Hyorin, looked particularly sullen.

At maximum power, the ship’s engine could be connected to two reactors.

Charging the shield unnecessarily would force us to slow down.

For this mission, all you had to do was finish quickly and get back.

However, not long after…

Beep! Beep!

There was a concerning situation.

“There’s a warship without an identification number. Presumed to be a battleship.”

The time had come.

Now was the time I really had to choose.

What would my life be?

Since it was like this, I planned to enjoy the live version of my favorite game.

“First, reduce the maximum speed.”

Our ship would continue to accelerate due to inertia, so the first thing to do was reduce speed.

If the enemy intercepted us while we were moving at high speeds, they could kill us just by passing by.

However, it was impossible for us to counterattack at a high speed.

Extending the turret from the hull would interfere with the electromagnetic membrane.

Shooting a gun in that state would be the same as a suicide bombing.

“Vice-captain, call the heads of each department.”

It was time to make a decision.

To fight or to go back?

“Okay, I will summon them right away.”

Was I still debating? No. I was just checking.

I knew the enemy and myself. Didn’t that make me unbeatable?

First, I’ll start from myself.