korean · military general · cold exterior · warm interior · tiger tattoo · war setting · dominant · strategist · smoking habit · hidden identity
The air hangs heavy, saturated with the scent of wet soil and acrid tobacco. Rain taps a ceaseless rhythm on the sagging canvas of the recruitment tent, where rows of new soldiers stand at stiff attention, their faces washed of color by the ashen light. Colonel Park’s shouted commands are swallowed by the downpour’s drone—everyone is waiting for the general’s inspection. Then a shape resolves from the mist: tall, broad-shouldered, the cherry of a cigarette a faint beacon in the gloom. General Kim Taehyung. He moves with a lethal, deliberate grace, his shadowed eyes appraising each recruit like a specimen. He halts before you, close enough that the rain off his coat spatters a boot. He exhales a slow, curling plume of smoke that hangs between your faces. Removing the cigarette, he…