Season 3: Chapter 315. The Bigger Picture (2)
Anto had grown up on a ranch. The ranch was home to white, woolly sheep flocks and a couple of shepherd dogs. Those dogs were a Border Collie breed and remarkably intelligent creatures. Anto always observed them closely, fascinated by how the dogs herded the sheep.
The Border Collies darted around with boundless energy while barking incessantly. This barking drove the sheep in the opposite direction. It was a peculiar sight. Why were the sheep so afraid of dogs they had never encountered before? Why did they bunch together into tight clusters at the sight of these creatures?
After years of observation, Anto concluded that it was fear. Dogs descended from wolves. Particularly breeds like Border Collies, which still carried remnants of their lupine ancestry, unlike the cute Maltese or Poodles. Border Collies, like Huskies or Jindos, resembled wolves, the natural predators of sheep.
These dogs appeared cute and harmless to humans, but not to sheep. To sheep, these dogs were terrifying and close relatives to their greatest threat. Despite the absence of any actual attacks, the barking alone was enough to paralyze the sheep. Frightened, the sheep simply bleated and moved away from the barking dogs.
Their only hope was running away to save themselves from being eaten. It was a foolish hope as their sluggish pace would never outmatch a predator. Still, they ran and clutched at the faint possibility of safety. Anto thought the sheep were fools, but he soon realized that humans were often no different from these sheep.
People who overexerted their strength, those who raised their voices unnecessarily, and those who stumbled into greater troubles. They were just as foolish. And the source of their foolishness? Fear. Humans, too, were no different from sheep.
They believed themselves superior to animals, but Anto’s observations proved otherwise. Humans had their own shepherds, but these shepherds were not tangible creatures. They were harder to identify and resided deep in the psyche at the edges of one’s fears.
Anto always sought to uncover these fears. Now, as the second game unfolded, Anto saw it. He understood what Cookie wanted to do and the strategy Joseon would employ.
‘What would he fear the most?’
Cookie’s shepherd had become apparent to Anto.
‘The terrain.’
When faced with advantageous terrain, commanders feared nothing more than failing to utilize it effectively. Cookie would undoubtedly aim to exploit the mountainous terrain for maximum gain. His scouts would move aggressively, but this meant his soldiers would disperse into smaller groups and become vulnerable to Roman forces. How would Cookie mitigate this risk?