Chapter 457: Time to Leave
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 457: Time to Leave
“Wow.”
To be honest, I was a little shocked.
“Even Jeong Chan-woo can’t pull this look off.”
Jeong Chan-woo with a shaved head wasn't the Jeong Chan-woo I knew. The guy who maintained his 'pretty boy' concept at all times now looked like nothing more than an average soldier.
I mean, technically, he was still better-looking than most, but knowing what he looked like at his peak made the contrast jarring. The reverse-glow-up was real.
“Shut up,” Chan-woo muttered irritably, tossing back a shot of soju.
Ahn Hyun-ho watched the gopchang sizzling on the grill and gave Chan-woo’s chair a blunt kick.
“Sit down, you little boot.”
“You’re both Privates and there are three civilians here. Stop talking out of your asses,” I said, sitting down, find it pathetic how they were already acting like seasoned veterans.
“Did Bong-geun not come?” I asked.
Immediately, Kang Han-gang and Pyo Jin-ho scowled, slamming their chopsticks onto the table.
“‘Did’? Did you just use polite speech with us?”
“You keep that up and you’re gonna get thrashed.”
“Fuck off. What the hell are you Privates even talking about?”
I grumbled as I took the glass they poured for me. Without even waiting for a toast, I downed it in one go.
My words didn't seem to faze Han-gang or Jin-ho at all. Instead, they just shook their heads and clicked their tongues.
“Let’s see if you can talk like that once you’re at the training center.”
“You know what it’s like? Spending a month in training and watching the senior class’s completion ceremony with pure envy?”
“They’re just Privates at best, right? But man, in there, they look like Sergeants on their last day.”
“Oh, right. And another thing—”
Look at these guys. They’ve been in the military for barely two months and already all they can talk about is the army.
I’m never going to be like that, I vowed to myself as I tilted my glass. Meanwhile, the other two with buzz cuts looked absolutely miserable. Judging by the bottles, they hadn't even had much to drink yet, but they were already drowning in melancholy.
“Ha… fuck.”
“……”
They even muttered curses to themselves every now and then. Strangely, it felt like I was looking at my own future, and a weight settled in my chest.
“So, compared to the previous class, our class had it really rough because—”
“I asked if Bong-geun came,” I interrupted, cleansing my palate with a side dish.
Han-gang grumbled about being cut off but answered anyway.
“Bong-geun said he couldn't make it today. Said he was scared we’d shave his head if he showed up.”
“……That little rat is quick.”
We had planned to get him wasted and then shave his head under the guise of 'friendship.'
“Why is that guy even in Korea when he has US citizenship?”
“Can’t we just tell him to get lost? Or at least make him enlist in KATUSA or something?”
“If he’s in Korea, aren't we the ones protecting him anyway? Does that punk even pay taxes?”
Since a guy their age wasn't going to the military, insults poured out from all sides like a targeted investigation.
“Cheers.”
Pyo Jin-ho held out his glass, and we all clinked together. It was a peace brought about by Bong-geun’s absence.
“Kaaah! I really missed this.”
“Seriously. Wow, this is so good.”
Han-gang and Jin-ho let out exclamations of awe as they chased the gopchang with soju.
“But is it okay to use your leave this early?” Chan-woo asked.
“Oh, about that—”
“Ask anything. Your seniors will tell you everything.”
Starting with Chan-woo’s question, Private Kang Han-gang and Private Pyo Jin-ho began their shallow, two-month-long military stories.
* * *
After a round of heavy drinking, we stepped outside for a smoke break.
Chan-woo and I were non-smokers, but we came out to get some air, only to end up inhaling second-hand smoke instead.
“Woo-jin…”
Pyo Jin-ho called my name, his face flushed bright red from the alcohol. They had finished all the gopchang and were just pounding straight soju toward the end, so everyone was pretty wasted.
“What is it…?” I replied, my tongue feeling a bit heavy.
“Whew.”
Jin-ho exhaled a cloud of smoke and looked at me with a dead-serious expression.
“Get out of it if you can, you bastard.”
“Stop bullshitting. I already have my enlistment date.”
“Chaebols get out of military service all the time. You don’t have a way?”
“That’s all illegal. Stop talking nonsense. If it’s a duty, I have to do it.”
“Ooh.”
“Look at this guy, acting all cool.”
“He pays the most taxes and still goes to the army. I’ll give him that.”
They all started praising me. It seemed the alcohol had loosened their filters, letting whatever was on their minds spill out.
Wait, or were we always like this?
I think we were.
Senior Han-gang nodded with a cigarette dangling from his lips.
“Yeah, it’s a duty. Hey, aren't we still a divided nation? We’re technically at war. We always have to be on guard.”
“You’re gonna hear that over a hundred times once you get to the training center,” Jin-ho chimed in, making us all let out a hollow laugh.
But Han-gang, even as his cigarette burned down to the filter, mimicked holding a rifle and continued.
“Obviously, it’s best not to have a war. Peace is the best. But if a war does break out, shouldn't I be able to protect the people I love?”
“Since when did you start making sense?”
“But the thing is, Woo-jin.”
Han-gang took the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled a long trail of smoke. He looked deeply contemplative, his expression grave.
“I don’t have anyone I love, so I have no one to protect.”
“……”
“Hook me up with a date.”
Of course.
I should have known.
Did I really think two months would change a person? If anything, I felt a bit relieved that he was exactly the same.
“Don’t ask me, ask Chan-woo. You could just get introduced to one of his exes and be set.”
“Chan-woo, hook me up.”
“……That Yakuza lady keeps contacting me. Want me to introduce you to her?”
That woman was still messaging Chan-woo? That’s practically true love at this point.
“What Yakuza?”
As Han-gang asked with a dazed look, Ahn Hyun-ho smirked and jumped in.
“Come to think of it, I haven't told you guys yet. Last time, Chan-woo got kidnapped and confined—”
He explained the story with a fair bit of exaggeration. The two were so engrossed in the tale that they didn't even notice their bodies getting cold in the biting wind.
As we shivered and headed back into the restaurant, Han-gang and Jin-ho each had something to say.
“Man, that’s something you could never imagine if you were on active duty.”
“Right? If you’re active duty, that’s a hard no. We’re strictly forbidden from fighting.”
“……”
“……”
“Why do you bastards always have to bring the conversation back to that?”
It was a fairly recent event, but wasn't it a fun story? Going to the red-light district to rescue a kidnapped friend, brawling with Yakuzas, a bald guy confessing his love and getting rejected…
It was a story that could hold its own anywhere, but these guys were so desperate to show off that they were soldiers—or maybe their brains were just hardwired that way now—that they forced everything back to military talk.
Is it like the smell of a dog’s paw? Something that smells kind of bad but has a magnetic charm that keeps you sniffing?
“No, but seriously. When we’re out on leave? We can’t fight. Period.”
“A fistfight? We’re the ones who lose, no matter what. Do you know how many times they drilled that into us before we left?”
“Exactly. Especially for me, since I’m built like this. Plus, I’m a former Taekwondo athlete, so they told me I absolutely must not fight.”
Was this guy really an athlete? According to Yoo Ah-rin, he just spent the whole time getting his ass kicked at competitions.
“As soldiers, even if we get hit first, we have to run away. That’s the right thing to do. That’s what it means to be a soldier.”
“Because we are the soldiers who protect the citizens of the Republic of Korea.”
As they puffed out their chests and nodded proudly, I reached out and smacked the back of Han-gang’s head.
Smack!
“Agh! Are you crazy?!”
“Hey, you said no matter what happens, it’s the soldier’s fault.”
He looked at me like I was a complete lunatic, but Chan-woo and Hyun-ho looked at me like I’d just had a brilliant epiphany.
“So that’s why he’s a chaebol.”
“His mindset is definitely on another level.”
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Before I knew it, I was standing up, drumming on Han-gang’s head like he was a percussion instrument.
“You! Bastard! To Ye-rin! A text! Huh?! You piece of shit! Huh?! What? ‘Let’s grab a drink’? ‘Oppa will buy’? You want to die?!”
“Aaargh! I’m sorry! I sent a mass text to all the girls and it went to her by mistake! Aaaargh!”
I knew. That’s why I’d kept my mouth shut until now.
Surprisingly, Senior Ju-hee had also received a text saying 'Oppa will buy you a drink.' Even though Ju-hee was older than him.
I knew he’d just written a line and blasted it to everyone in his contacts.
“It still feels gross, you prick! How dare you—!”
I kept hitting Han-gang while huffing, then I glanced over at Pyo Jin-ho. He immediately raised both hands, pleading his innocence.
“I didn't text Ah-rin.”
“I know. She blocked you.”
“……Really? But we were on the same team?”
“Not anymore.”
“……”
Jin-ho looked absolutely devastated.
“By the way, who is he actually dating?”
When Chan-woo, who still didn't know the truth, asked curiously, Ahn Hyun-ho kept his mouth shut. It seemed he’d heard from Lee Gyu-a that I was dating three women at once.
“It’s a secret. If we talk, we might get assassinated by the Uju Group.”
So Hyun-ho was the only one here who knew. If the other two found out, they’d probably forget they were soldiers and charge at me instantly.
Anyway.
Our drinking session continued in its usual boisterous fashion.
It was a first, in a way. Drinking without getting into some kind of trouble.
Subconsciously, I think we all wanted to make sure the two soldiers didn't get caught up in any unnecessary incidents.
And so.
Two days passed.
“We’re heading out.”
“Woo-jin, tell Ah-rin to write me lots of internet letters.”
“Keep a close eye on Gyu-a to make sure no weirdos get near her.”
Ahn Hyun-ho and Jeong Chan-woo enlisted.
Another day passed.
“It’s only been three seconds! How can it be time to go back already?!”
“This is a lie! This has to be a lie, fuck!”
“Uju Group, hand over the time machine you developed, you bastard!”
Kang Han-gang and Pyo Jin-ho returned to their units.
Time flowed on.
And then.
Bzzzzzzzt!
“Woo-jin, are you ready?”
“……Yeah.”
The time had come.
Time to leave my daily life behind for a while.