Who Are You With?
After I parted ways with Jieun, I sent Cha Heejung a text, but she must have been busy — no reply came. With nothing else to do, I headed back to my place and was killing time when my phone buzzed.
Area code 033. There was only one person who would ever call me from Gangwon Province.
"Hello?"
The voice on the other end confirmed it. Kim Jinseok — my little brother, three years younger, currently serving in the military.
"Hey, Jinseok. What's up?"
"I'm taking leave for Lunar New Year."
"Lunar New Year? When is that again?"
I'd gone so long without looking at a calendar that I had no idea when the lunar holiday even fell. Jinseok, as if he'd expected exactly that, fired the dates right back.
"Lunar New Year runs from February 15th through the 17th. I get out on the 14th — fourteen nights, fifteen days."
"Fourteen nights, fifteen days? Why so long?"
Wasn't regular leave nine nights, ten days? Had he gotten some kind of reward leave?
"I'm at GOP, remember? I'm tacking on the compensatory leave."
The GOP Jinseok mentioned was the front line — the farthest outposts along the DMZ. I didn't know the details, but apparently you got extra leave for serving out there.
"Alright, whatever. Give me another call a few days before you get out. Everything else okay?"
I was about to wrap up the call, already thinking I'd slip him some spending money before his leave, but he wasn't done.
"Hyung… you think I should just stay in? Re-enlist?"
"What? Where the hell did that come from? What about going back to school?"
"If I go back, I'll have to work part-time just to get through school, and honestly I don't have the confidence to land a scholarship… Plus graduating doesn't even guarantee a job. Student loans are still loans. If I just stay in the military…"
I attended Nobel University, which was a decent enough school, but it didn't hold a candle to Kim Jinseok at Coiner University — one of the top three schools in the entire country. I cut him off before he could say another word.
"Cut the crap and just go to college, you idiot. Hyung'll cover your tuition."
I understood where he was coming from. Given our family's finances, putting yourself through university was no small thing. Until recently, I hadn't even been considering going back to school myself.
But you, Kim Jinseok? That's different.
This wasn't some cheap double standard. I was the guy who'd graduate from a reasonably good school — Nobel University — with an economics degree and no idea what came next. Kim Jinseok was at Coiner University, one of the top three in the nation, studying electrical engineering, a field that actually got you hired. If only one of us was going to finish school, it had to be him.
Why do you think I was working part-time and stuffing money into a savings account?
It was for his tuition when he went back. Not that any of that mattered anymore, now that Sex Coin existed.
"It's not just tuition, though. Living expenses add up if you're in school…"
"Stop talking nonsense and just get discharged first. Re-enlist, my ass. I'll crack your skull open."
If things got that bad, he should take out a student loan and finish his degree. The kid was thinking like a soldier already — like his brain had been locked into military mode. The silence on the other end made me want to sigh.
"Look, we'll talk about this when you're home. Want me to send you some spending money?"
A change of subject, and something he'd actually like hearing. Sending it now or a few days before his leave — it didn't make much difference either way.
"Nah, I'm good. My pay just went up."
"Oh yeah? How much are they giving you?"
"A little over 300,000 won."
"Whoa — three hundred? Damn, that's sweet. That's like several times what I used to make."
Jinseok could tell I was trying to lighten the mood. His voice came back with a laugh in it.
"Plus I heard they're cutting service down to eighteen months. If I'd known, I would've waited a bit longer to enlist."
"A guy who's jealous of that is talking about re-enlisting? But if they shorten the service period, does that mean the juniors get out before their seniors?"
"They shave some time off for the guys who enlisted first, too. I'm getting out four days earlier than I originally would have."
"Man. Better pay, shorter service. The military's gone soft."
"Jealous?"
I snorted at the voice coming through the speaker.
"Jealous, my ass. You're still a grunt — what's there to be jealous of? Alright, I'm hanging up. I'm sending money to that account you gave me last time, okay?"
"You're giving me something? Then I'll gladly take it."
"Yeah. Call me again before you come home."
After I hung up with my little brother, I was left with a strange feeling. Would I have been able to end that call smiling if Sex Coin didn't exist? Normally, a conversation like that would've sat on my chest all day…
Just send him the money.
I cashed out some Sex Coin and transferred a million won to Jinseok's account. Pocket change to me now — but considering I used to send him a hundred or two hundred thousand won at a time, it was a fortune.
Heejung finally got back to me around dinnertime. Her voice was still thick with sleep, so I gave us a generous window before meeting up.
"Sorry, I woke up way too late…"
"Don't be. It's your day off — you should sleep in."
The original plan had been to go somewhere fun, but it was already too late for that, so we went straight to dinner. I'd wanted to treat her to something expensive, at least.
"That's way too pricey… Let's just do Korean BBQ. Meat."
Heejung, considerate of my wallet as always. So we ended up at an ordinary grill house.
"Two servings of pork belly, two of pork neck, and two bowls of rice, please. Heejung, you want anything else? Cold noodles, maybe?"
"No, nothing else… Oh! And a bottle of soju with two glasses, please!"
I glanced at her as she ordered the soju like it was the most natural thing in the world — then I remembered.
Right. Heejung can drink.
Last time the two of us had put away more than five bottles of soju. One bottle was just a warm-up.
When the meat arrived, Heejung immediately grabbed the tongs and scissors.
"Huh? You're grilling?"
"Of course! The girl always grills the meat. I'll make it taste amazing."
The way she laid the meat on the grill so naturally made me want to call her out.
Heejung, last time at the company dinner, Dongmin hyung did all the grilling.
I kept that to myself, of course, and got ready to enjoy the meat she was cooking for me.
It wasn't until we'd clinked glasses that yesterday's story came out. How Choi Seongyong had gotten drunk and shown up at the shop looking for Lee Jieun. How he'd made a scene, and when I tried to stop him, he'd swung his arm and flipped a table.
"No way. He did that drunk? How much did he even have?"
"Beats me. He was completely out of it."
"Aigoo, that guy… So what happened?"
"I grabbed his arm and dragged him outside. Figured some fresh air might sober him up."
"And then?"
Heejung's little reactions along the way made the story actually fun to tell.
"…If Dongmin hyung hadn't come out and stopped us, we probably would've gone at it."
That said, just thinking about Choi Seongyong still pissed me off. I knocked back my soju, and Heejung smiled with her eyes.
"Oppa was feeling pretty confident, huh?"
"Confident about what?"
"I heard he used to be a bit of a delinquent back in school."
Ah. That's what she meant. No need to explain Seongyong's condition or his build. I just raised my right arm.
"You don't trust me?"
I flexed, showing off a bicep. I was still wearing a shirt, so you could barely see anything, but she burst out laughing anyway.
"Pffft! Well, he is short and scrawny. I can't imagine he'd be much of a fighter."
I couldn't quite bring myself to agree out loud, so I just laughed and raised my glass.
Clink.
One bottle of soju didn't go far between two people. It was gone in no time. Heejung immediately called the server.
"Excuse me! Another bottle of soju, please!"
As the server brought the soju, my phone buzzed. I checked it discreetly — Jieun was calling.
I wasn't the type to take calls when I was alone with a girl, but ignoring Jieun — the girl who'd given me her virginity just yesterday — felt even worse.
"Heejung, I'm gonna step out for a smoke."
I tried to stand up like it was nothing.
"Who's calling? Is it Jieun?"
Her sharp reaction stopped me cold.
"Huh? Just a friend."
"Come on~ I can tell it's Jieun. Should I call her myself?"
Reading my reaction as confirmation, Cha Heejung pulled out her own phone. I caved immediately.
"Okay, fine! It's Jieun! So can I just take this real quick…?"
Seeing me squirm, Cha Heejung laughed.
"Why go outside to answer it~? Just pick up right here."
"I also kind of want a cigarette…"
"Oh? Then while you're gone, I guess I'll just have to give Jieun a call~."
Checkmate.
I raised the white flag and decided to take the call then and there.
I told Jieun I was meeting a friend… Ah, whatever.
This felt all kinds of wrong, but I had no grounds to refuse. I couldn't exactly tell Heejung not to call Jieun while I was on the phone myself. And asking her to keep our being together a secret was even more impossible.
"Hello?"
"Oppa~ Are you busy?"
Jieun's cute voice filled my ear, and I suddenly felt restless. I was still figuring out what to say when—
"Oppa, let's invite Jieun too! We can all hang out!"
Heejung's voice had carried all the way through to Jieun's phone.