A Visit After a Hundred Years
A soldier on sentry duty approached and asked me a question.
"What business brings you here?"
"I'm here to visit my younger brother."
"A visit, is it. You can head this way."
"Thank you."
I made my way to the visiting room and gave them my brother's name. It wasn't long before Jeonghwan appeared.
He had short-cropped hair and the still-awkward bearing of a private — and an expression that seemed somehow darkened, as if a shadow had settled over his face.
"Hyung!"
"It's been a while."
It really had been a long time. This was a younger brother I was meeting after a hundred years.
Before I'd left for Mount Olympus a century ago, my little brother had been little more than an errand boy to me — or, on occasion, a wallet I raided for pocket money. But after living through a hundred years, seeing him now sent something surging up in my chest, thick and sudden.
I never thought I'd actually be this happy to see Jeonghwan...
"Wait, how did you even get here, hyung? Where's Mom?"
"Mom said she had some work today, so she couldn't come."
"Oh. Everything okay at home?"
He knew perfectly well that I was the one having a hard time, and the first thing he asked was whether everything was fine at home. Kind to a fault, this kid.
Worry about yourself first...
"Everything's fine. How about you? Military life treating you okay?"
Jeonghwan's voice trailed off.
"Uh, yeah... it's, you know. Manageable."
Just then, a sergeant walked past beside him. Jeonghwan shot to his feet and snapped off a salute.
"Loyalty!"
The sergeant walked right by as if the greeting didn't exist.
"Who was that?"
"Ah... a senior from my platoon."
"Hmm..."
I didn't know the circumstances, but after that sergeant had gone, sweat was running down Jeonghwan's forehead.
I knew well enough that the military was no easy place. Beatings might have largely disappeared, but the problems that came with human relationships were still as hard as ever.
But Jeonghwan isn't the type to be disliked wherever he goes...
He was kind, and a bit of a pushover, but he was a diligent kid. Not the type who couldn't take a hint, and he generally managed at least a solid job at anything he put his hands to. For someone like that to be adapting this poorly to the army struck me as strange.
Is there some special problem here...?
That was when Jeonghwan asked, carefully, almost reluctantly.
"Um, hyung... can I ask you for one favor?"
"A favor? What is it?"
"If you... if you have any money, could you lend me some? I'll pay you back the moment I'm discharged..."
Money? Something's off...
The military paid poorly, of course, so people were always short on cash. But the Jeonghwan I knew had never been the type to find himself strapped for money in the army.
He doesn't smoke. He barely even eats snacks. What would he need money for?
I wanted to press him on why he needed it. I didn't. His expression seemed to be begging me not to ask.
"How much do you need?"
"Could you lend me just a million won...?"
"A million won? All right. Cash okay?"
His face brightened, just a little.
"Y-yeah..."
"Got it. Hold on."
I pulled the cash from my wallet then and there — twenty fifty-thousand-won notes — and held it out to him.
"Th-thank you, hyung!"
"Don't mention it."
Honestly, for a brother I was seeing after a hundred years, a million won wasn't something I'd miss. But something still didn't sit right.
Before I stood to leave, I asked him one last time.
"Military life treating you okay?"
Jeonghwan couldn't give me an answer. He only urged me to go.
"Hyung, I have to head back in now. Get home safe."
"...... Yeah. I'll go. Hang in there."
If I hadn't spent a hundred years on Mount Olympus, I would have let it slide. But things were different now.
No reason to let him suffer unnecessarily.
The moment I left the base, I called Professor Hwang.
"Yes, Professor. About what I mentioned last time..."
Jeonghwan let out a long breath and headed back to the barracks.
The moment he stepped inside, Sergeant Hwang Seok-jun — who had been watching TV and hadn't even acknowledged his greeting — started in on him.
"Hey. Kang Jeonghwan."
"Private Kang Jeonghwan."
Seok-jun jabbed a finger into Jeonghwan's head as he talked, poking him again and again.
"A private going out for visits. The army's gotten real nice, hasn't it. Who the hell gave you permission to go out for a visit?"
"Th-that's... I'm sorry, sir. The visit came suddenly, so... I'm sorry. Next time I'll make sure to..."
He had, of course, reported it to the platoon leader. He had reported it to the other seniors too. None of that mattered to Seok-jun. All he cared about was that he'd found another excuse to make Jeonghwan's life miserable.
"Ha. This little shit. Getting slick, are we. Hey. You think I'm a pushover?"
"N-no, sir!"
"You think I'm a joke, you little shit."
Then he drove his combat boot into Jeonghwan's shin with a dull, heavy thud. Jeonghwan clutched his leg, a groan tearing out of him.
"Nngh..."
Seok-jun cracked him across the head.
"Hey, you little shit. Stop faking and stand up straight."
"I-I'm sorry, sir."
From in front of the TV, Sergeant First Class Hong Jeong-hoon called out in a voice thick with irritation.
"Hey. Keep it down. If you're gonna do that, go somewhere else."
"Sorry."
Seok-jun tossed off the single word and dragged Jeonghwan to the storage room. Once they were inside, he let out a long, theatrical sigh.
"Hey, Jeonghwan. Why you gotta make this so hard. Is your hyung asking for something huge here? Just lend me a million won. Is that so damn difficult?"
Money. That was the whole of it. Because Jeonghwan hadn't lent him any, Hwang Seok-jun had been tormenting him with every excuse he could scrape together.
Seok-jun's seniors knew about it, more or less. But they were all close to discharge, and there were scraps falling their way too, so they conveniently looked the other way.
Jeonghwan's face was helpless. He reached carefully into his pocket and drew out the money.
"S-Sergeant Hwang Seok-jun... th-this..."
The moment Seok-jun saw the cash, his voice changed.
"Oh. What's this."
He slung an arm around Jeonghwan's shoulder, his tone turning warm and familiar, almost friendly.
"Hey, if you had the money you should've just lent it sooner. Why make things hard for both of us. Thanks."
He stuffed the bills into his own pocket and turned to leave. Jeonghwan summoned the last of his courage.
"Um... Sergeant Hwang... so, when will you pay that money back...?"
Seok-jun's voice changed again.
"What? Hey, you little shit. You think I'm gonna skip out on the money? This bastard's treating me like a complete idiot."
The combat boot slammed into Jeonghwan's shin a second time.
"Nnngh..."
Seok-jun looked down at him as he clutched his leg in pain.
"Hey. I'll pay it back, obviously. You're already hounding me the second you lend it."
Even through the pain, Jeonghwan looked at that attitude and felt a cold certainty settle in.
......This isn't okay. He's not going to pay this back either...
He still hadn't been paid back the hundreds of thousands of won he'd already lent. And this money wasn't even his — it was money he'd borrowed from his hyung. Jeonghwan knew all too well how tight things were at home.
He couldn't just swallow this so he could have an easier time here.
"Sergeant Hwang... I can't do this after all. Please give the money back."
Seok-jun, who had been about to walk out of the storage room, stopped. He turned around and came to stand in front of Jeonghwan.
"What? Say that again, you little shit."
"You haven't even paid back the money you already borrowed, sir. I can't do this."
"Haa... this bastard's actually lost it. Hey. Kang Jeonghwan, you crazy? Is it 'cause you don't have a dad? Look at this kid glaring at his senior. Hey. You wanna try looking at me nicely?"
Jeonghwan had endured as much as a person could endure. The moment his dead father was dragged into it, something in him was about to snap —
And then someone stepped into the storage room and roared.
The man who had walked in was none other than the company commander.
Jeonghwan and Seok-jun both snapped to attention and saluted.
"Loyalty!"
"Loyalty!"
The company commander — a man who ordinarily couldn't have cared less how his soldiers lived — fixed Seok-jun with a hard stare.
"Hey. Hwang Seok-jun. What are you doing in here."
"Ah, it's nothing, sir. I was just having a conversation with Private Kang."
"Just a conversation? Then what's that money in your hand."
Seok-jun panicked and shoved the bills behind his back.
"Th-this is..."
The company commander looked at him with eyes like ice.
"Hey, Hwang Seok-jun! I told you to keep it in check."
Seok-jun couldn't help but be thrown. This was a man who had never shown the slightest interest in what went on between the soldiers, and now he was suddenly acting like this.
Wh-what's with this guy all of a sudden...
"Hwang Seok-jun. Go back to your platoon and wait. I'm referring you to the disciplinary committee. Consider yourself informed."
At the words disciplinary committee, the color drained from Seok-jun's face.
"D-disciplinary committee? What do you mean, sir, Company Commander!"
"Do you have any idea how many kids have already come forward saying you borrowed money and never paid it back? You thought I didn't know?"
"Th-that's... I was going to pay it back soon."
"Bullshit. This might not even end with the brig, so you'd better prepare yourself."
Not even the brig...? Fuck. Is he telling me I'm going to military prison...?
"C-Company Commander. Even so — over not paying back money — you're talking about sending me to military prison?"
"Over not paying back money?"
The company commander snorted and asked again.
"You. What did you spend that borrowed money on."
"Th-that's..."
"I already confirmed everything before I got here. You've been on illegal sports-betting sites more than once or twice."
It felt as if the air had been punched out of his lungs. The man had known everything before he even walked in.
There was no way out.
Seok-jun walked out of the storage room like a man whose soul had left his body.
Jeonghwan was still standing there, stunned by the storm that had blown through, when the company commander turned to him.
"Jeonghwan. You come to the company commander's office for a bit."
"Yes... understood, sir."
A sudden summons from the company commander.
What the hell is this...
"Loyalty. Private Kang Jeong—"
"What are you saluting for. Sit, sit."
The moment Jeonghwan stepped into the company commander's office and started to salute, the commander smiled at him — a smile Jeonghwan had never once seen on that face in his entire service.
"First, shall we talk over something to drink. Jeonghwan, coffee all right for you?"
Then he made the coffee himself and held it out.
"Th-thank you, sir!"
"Don't mention it."
The company commander glanced around, checking that no one else was nearby, and then spoke carefully.
"Listen, Jeonghwan."
"Private Kang Jeonghwan."
"If you were that close with the Division Commander, you should've said something earlier. Aigoo, and here I had no idea."
What on earth was this.
Jeonghwan's mind went white. He had no idea where this misunderstanding had even begun.
What is he talking about. How would I know the Division Commander...