Colonel Baek

Colonel Hotae Baek is a minor character in SANABI. He is an old military comrade of the protagonist.
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== Throughout SANABI ==
Colonel Baek first appears 17 days after the death of the protagonist's daughter, dispatching Kang Seon and informing the protagonist that Sanabi has returned. He asks the protagonist to take on a mission in Mago City, which is allegedly connected to Sanabi; seeking vengeance, the protagonist readily agrees. En route to Mago City, he briefs the protagonist: 24 hours before the start of the operation, Mago City underwent a full communications blackout, and the 2.97 million inhabitants of the city mysteriously disappeared. After the protagonist's helicopter is fired on by the city's anti-air defenses, Baek attempts to abort the mission, but the protagonist refuses and cuts off communication with him.
Colonel Baek appears later on in a flashback scene, where he interrupts the protagonist's training to reveal his daughter has unexpectedly entered the base. He promptly departs to clear up the chaos up top caused by a security breach, later implied to be caused by the protagonist's daughter in order to enter the base.
Colonel Baek is seen again in the present day when he intervenes in the fight between the protagonist and Major Song. Like Major Song, he is unable to recognize nor understand the protagonist and regards him with hostility, incapacitating him and referring to him to as an android. He states that he allowed Mari to leave, much to Song's chagrin, as he reasoned it was Mari's decision to make. He orders Song to remove the filter on the protagonist's voice, allowing him to communicate, whereupon Baek is shocked to learn that the protagonist knows his identity. He then has the protagonist knocked out and moved aboard a military plane.
Aboard the plane, Baek discusses the possibility of the protagonist's identity with Song, expressing optimism that the protagonist may in fact be the general. The protagonist discovers that he is in fact a digital copy of the real general's personality, uploaded into a Worker drone. When the protagonist regains consciousness, Baek quotes part of their unit's motto, prompting the protagonist to finish it. With his identity confirmed as the general, Baek salutes him. Baek explains that the general had been dead for ten years, and informs the protagonist that the Royal Court intends to destroy Mago City in order to prevent the disaster of the nuclear plant's explosion.
Baek informs the protagonist that Mari is still in the city, and attempts to help him when the protagonist declares his intent to return. The protagonist orders him to stand down, knowing that he would be defying the Royal Court's orders and committing treason by helping the protagonist. He gives the protagonist his hat, which had previously belonged to the real general before his death, and the protagonist apologizes for blaming Baek for the death of his wife when he had been alive. Baek comforts a mourning Song after the protagonist departs again, knowing he intends to give his life to save Mari.
Baek is later seen welcoming Mari alongside Major Song after Mari joins the military, granting her usage of her father's old training room after she joins the military in memory of her father.
== Character ==
Colonel Baek is a stoic military man, very similar to the general, displaying a serious attitude at all times. He is incredibly loyal to the general; however, he is shown to sometimes question his superior's decisions, as he does when Operation Zero is issued or when the protagonist refuses to turn away from Mago City after being fired upon (though the latter is shown to be a false version of Baek). Despite this, he ultimately yields to the general's authority, and still salutes the protagonist when he discovers his true identity.
Despite his strict demeanor, he is shown to show some degree of compassion. He releases Mari at her own request despite the effort Song goes through to capture her, reasoning that Mari's fate is not his nor Song's decision to make. He goes so far as to risk defying orders (and thus commit treason) by attempting to help the protagonist return to the city, though he ultimately stands down at the resurrected general's orders.
Baek is a tall, dark-haired man with a large prosthetic arm, which is capable of transforming into a cannon. He wears a standard grey military uniform, with a large tactical vest. He additionally wears a black bucket hat with a red stripe that obscures his eyes, very similar to the general's hat. In the present, he is seen to be wearing the general's hat, apparently inheriting it after the general's death; upon learning of the protagonist's true identity, he returns the hat to its original owner.
Category:Characters