Discharge (1)
There are all kinds of bonds in this world. The ones you choose for yourself, and the ones that simply end up stuck beside you by accident.
Park Yeongmin and Byeon Hyeongcheol were classic cases of the latter. We weren’t born on the same day, but we had enlisted at the exact same hour—military cohorts for a year and a half, whether we liked it or not. The bond only thickened over time, so of course we spent the first day of our return to civilian life together as well.
“Hey, drink! Drink!”
The moment we got our discharge papers and hit Seoul, we threw a drinking party in broad daylight. Around one we staggered into a sauna for a life-or-death nap, then the second the evening rolled around we started pouring again.
“Taekgu, we’re friends for life. You know that, right?”
Yeongmin, thoroughly wasted, slung an arm around my neck. Hyeongcheol twisted his face like the sight of us was disgusting.
“Fuck, ease up on the bullshit. You two talk like this and then ghost each other starting tomorrow, don’t you?”
“No way. You don’t know this, but when my mom was barely hanging on, Taekgu lent me the hospital money that kept her alive. I’m never forgetting that debt as long as I live. Ehehe!”
“...”
Judging by how the alcohol had already climbed all the way to his forehead, by tomorrow he wouldn’t even remember saying any of this. Still, I played along and patted his chin.
“So when are you paying me back?”
“Right away! First paycheck hits and I start paying—make sure you leave me your account number later. Hic!”
“...?”
I’d already left the account when I sent him the money, hadn’t I? Of course, when you’re this drunk, the fine details slip.
“...”
Then Hyeongcheol’s expression suddenly changed. Not the usual “I’m sick of your friendship parade” look—this was pure, humanity-forsaken disgust.
Shhhh...
I stood at the urinal and let my thoughts wander for a moment. Honestly, I was too drunk myself to just hop on a bus home.
Crash for the night, sober up, leave at dawn. I sorted that out in my head and turned around—only to find Hyeongcheol waiting.
“What? You waiting for me?”
“How much total did you lend Yeongmin?”
I figured I’d been hogging the urinal too long and started to step aside. Instead he fixed me with a stone-hard face and asked something completely unexpected.
“About five hundred? You know how it was—his mom needed emergency surgery.”
“Fuck... are you some kind of idiot? You lent it without even checking?”
“What was there to check? Him saying his mom was sick wasn’t some one-day thing. That’s why he never opened a savings account and just wired every paycheck straight home, right?”
Passing up a full hundred-percent government subsidy was stupid, sure. But Yeongmin had always been scraping by, clinging to us every time we hit the PX.
“Ha... why is this bastard so goddamn naïve? Did you see the watch that guy was wearing earlier? Do you even know how much that thing costs?”
“I don’t really know watches...”
“Just look at the clothes he wears. Does that look like the spending habits of some poor bastard nursing his sick mother? Remember how he flipped a tray in the mess hall a while back and got sent to military discipline?”
“He said he fought with his girlfriend...”
“Fought? When he’s buying her luxury goods every payday, what’s there to fight about? That bastard got wiped out on coins. Got liquidated on leverage and went completely feral, the fucking idiot... What do you even know about him?”
“...”
What... the hell was he talking about? So Park Yeongmin had been lying to me this whole time?
Far from being broke, he’d been free-spending enough to buy his girlfriend designer shit and play leverage trades. Wait—then the five hundred I’d lent him...
“Who knows if that five hundred evaporated into thin air that same day? Not like he only borrowed from one or two people—hard to verify. I’m telling you this as a friend: stay the fuck away from Park Yeongmin. I didn’t even want to look at that bastard’s face today, but I tagged along because I was worried he’d squeeze even one more won out of you.”
“...”
Hyeongcheol clapped my shoulder with a pitying look and walked out of the bathroom. I just stood there, blank, for a long moment.
So we were never friends, were we? While I was drinking the Kool-Aid of the “military cohort” fantasy, he’d been draining my spine dry and running a con on top of it?
Trembling...
I couldn’t forgive it. That bastard Park Yeongmin had found my weak spot and shaken it for all it was worth.
Because of that goddamn pheromone, I’d always had trouble with male friends. I’d finally gotten my head straight and tried to make a real one—only for my eyes to get so clouded I couldn’t see the truth right in front of me.
But this was too much, wasn’t it? Money we’d both sweated for, and he just scammed me out of it?
And after all that, what? Friends for life?
So that was what Hyeongcheol meant when he said the calls would stop starting tomorrow.
“Hmmnh... what? Where’d that Byeon Hyeongcheol bastard go?”
Yeongmin, half-asleep, finally came to and started looking for Hyeongcheol. I didn’t let a single crack of what I’d just heard show on my face as I refilled his glass.
“Said he was catching a bus and left first. That guy’s a cohort in name only—zero loyalty.”
“See? It’s just me and you, Taekgu. Augh... then I should head out soon too.”
If it’s just me and you, why leave me behind? And unlike me, who still has to take a bus all the way to the provinces, you live in Seoul.
“Hey, let’s drink a little more.”
“Uh, but Eunsol’s getting off work soon...”
“Call Eunsol here. It’s been ages since I saw her face—I want to say hi.”
“W-well, okay?”
Yeongmin picked up his phone with a reluctant look. Once I confirmed he was actually dialing...
Whoosh!
...I quietly dumped my drink.
“Park Yeongmin, are you out of your mind? Pouring this much—what the hell are you trying to do?”
Thirty minutes later, Bae Eunsol arrived. Same age as us, Yeongmin’s girlfriend.
A hundred-seventy centimeters of height, a tight athletic body, and chic medium-length hair that made her the so-called idol of the visitation room.
On the days she came to visit, the whole base shook harder than when the division commander showed up. Even seniors who barely talked to Yeongmin would beg him to take them out just once.
Compared to us, still reeking of the military, she already had the mature flavor of a second-year civilian. Soft curls swayed with every step, and under the glittery material of her skirt she wore long boots that reached her knees.
“Sorry. I tried to keep him moderate, but Yeongmin was just too happy.”
“...”
Bae Eunsol didn’t even bother answering me—she just jabbed Yeongmin with her finger. She’d always been a little proud, but she was especially cold toward me.
“I’ll support him, so can you call a taxi, Eunsol?”
“...”
Still no answer as she pulled out her phone. Just like that we hauled the completely wrecked Yeongmin out of the bar.
Thump! Thud-thud!
The moment we stuffed Yeongmin into the taxi, Bae Eunsol gave the destination. All the way to the end he never managed a single goodbye—to me or even to his own girlfriend—as he headed home.
...
Naturally only Bae Eunsol and I were left. In most cases, after a short joint operation like this, both people would go their separate ways. That would be normal.
But Bae Eunsol showed no sign of moving.
“It’s been a while. Last time you visited was about a month ago, right?”
“Probably.”
“Is work fun? You said you were doing tattoos or something?”
“It’s fine.”
“You said you live alone. Is your place around here?”
“Ten minutes by taxi.”
“I see...”
Bae Eunsol answered every question with short replies and never once met my eyes. After I’d thrown a few more at her and finally fell quiet, she slowly rolled her gaze over to me.
“What about you? Heading home now?”
“I drank a fair bit myself—not sure I can even take a bus. If I get carsick and throw up, that’s just a hassle for everyone.”
“So what’ll you do?”
“Can’t a grown man take care of himself? Have another drink alone, then crash at a PC bang or sauna for a bit.”
“Yeah?”
An attitude that said she couldn’t care less about my plans. But Bae Eunsol?
If she really didn’t care, she shouldn’t have asked the question in the first place.
“Eunsol, if you’ve got nothing going on, want to have a drink with me?”
“Me? With you? Why would I?”
“Just because I feel like it.”
“...”
Looking at our usual relationship, the suggestion shouldn’t even have been possible. To Bae Eunsol I was nothing more than the nuisance who tagged along on her precious boyfriend’s leave days and poured alcohol down his throat.
It wasn’t like we’d ever had a chance to build any personal rapport. We just dropped formal speech because we were the same age; even at the visitation room she usually pretended I didn’t exist.
But I knew. When someone goes out of their way to shut you out, it’s often because there’s a major secret they want to keep hidden there.
“My place...”
“Hm?”
“What about drinking at my place? I just don’t feel like wasting money.”
I’d half-expected it, and there it was. She’d answered like she wasn’t interested at all, yet the second I dangled the bait she tried to reel me into her apartment.
“You sure? I might just pass out and sleep where I fall.”
“Then I’ll kick you out.”
“I’m heavy—you might not be able to.”
“Then I’ll call 119.”
Bae Eunsol said it while primly staring into empty space. Well, that was probably her best attempt at playing hard to get, so I’d let it slide.
I was definitely sleeping there tonight. Just not on her living-room floor.