Recon Battalion.
Recon Battalion.
To go see Park Ji-hoon, I needed people to go with, so I took Whitey instead of the van with Da-yeon, picked up Yoon-seo and Ji-yeong, and we headed out together.
Ji-yeong, who'd been in my life since elementary school, had gotten into Hanguk University, but she was buried in her studies chasing her goals and didn't seem to care about fixing herself up.
Maybe that was why she showed up with no makeup, just wearing big round glasses.
I headed to the JSM headquarters I'd contacted ahead of time to give the two of them a proper makeover.
Seeing faces they'd only ever seen on TV in real life made their eyes sparkle.
We headed over to the JSM makeup artist.
A lot of people greeted me—I was officially in my eleventh year since debut.
I was a diamond-spoon kid by any ordinary standard, but within the Korean entertainment industry, the title of Kim Ji-ho's daughter carried about the same weight as Da-yeon's face did at Hanseong headquarters.
Wherever I went, it was a free pass—practically a royal seal.
Ji-yeong and Yoon-seo got their makeup done while joking around with the JSM makeup people.
I did Da-yeon's makeup myself.
"Oh my... you all look so pretty~"
Ji-yeong and Yoon-seo were above average even without makeup.
Once they had a full face on, they were pretty enough to crush most female streamers.
Especially Ji-yeong's skin, which looked like it had barely seen the sun thanks to all that studying, was as pale as tofu.
Of course, Da-yeon, whose skin I'd been looking after since kindergarten, was in a league of her own.
The two who'd gotten glammed up sat in the back seat of Whitey, holding up mirrors and staring at their own faces with shining eyes.
"Whoa... isn't this cheating?"
"Seriously... I feel like it's not even me."
As soon as we got out of Seoul and onto the highway, I picked up speed, and Yoon-seo in the back got scared.
"Aren't you... going too fast?"
"Going slow in a car like this is way more of a nuisance."
I made it to the 1st Marine Division visitation center in Pohang as fast as I dared push the car.
"Oh, there's a charger in front of the visitation building—time to feed Whitey."
While I plugged in the charger, Da-yeon got out and ordered food, and Ji-yeong and Yoon-seo looked around.
The expressions on both of them looked excited, like they were on a trip.
Park Ji-hoon was the secondary reason—it actually was a trip.
That's when Da-yeon, who'd been on the phone, came over to me.
"Si-yoon, eighteen pizzas should be enough, right?"
"Yeah."
Yoon-seo, watching from behind, said worriedly,
"Isn't that... way too much...?"
"Ji-hoon's gonna eat it all anyway?"
".....?"
I nodded like I agreed with Ji-yeong's comment, but only Yoon-seo, who didn't know Ji-hoon's eating habits, tilted her head in confusion.
We went into the military base visitation room and called for Ji-hoon and three of his seniors.
Maybe they'd been told in advance—four names, including Ji-hoon's, were called, and we nodded.
I smiled, watching the MP who couldn't meet my eyes.
"Can we take Ji-hoon out?"
"...Pardon?"
"Let him go out on pass~"
"Uh... the paperwork has to be submitted in advance..."
"No...?"
"You're not taking him on overnight leave, right? If it's just an off-base pass... please wait a moment."
The MP suddenly started calling somewhere, like he was in a trance.
I figured if I kept watching, he wouldn't even be able to make the call properly, so I gave him some space.
If they said no, I could always call Jong-cheol then.
Before long, the delivery food we'd ordered started piling up—eighteen pizzas, six whole chickens, four jumbo orders of spicy pig's trotters, and thirty-two hamburgers arrived.
Even for Park Ji-hoon, eating all this by himself was impossible.
I'd ordered a lot for the leftovers to be shared with the unit members.
As we sat there smiling in front of the food, that MP actually pulled it off.
Since he turned out to be more capable than I'd expected, I gave him an autograph, took a photo with him, and told him I'd pass the picture along to Ji-hoon.
Of course, I threw in a pizza, a chicken, and a hamburger on the side.
Right around when we were sipping the coffee we'd brought and chatting, Park Ji-hoon appeared.
He raised a hand, said, 'Hey!? Good to see you~', then sat down and immediately started eating.
"You starved?"
"Don' you hab a big heart? Im gonna eap ib."
"The fuck is he saying, dumbass..."
Park Ji-hoon polished off a whole pizza before the three seniors who came in after him even sat down.
Practically a vacuum cleaner sucking it down...
Yoon-seo couldn't close her mouth at the astonishing sight.
Then Ji-hoon made eye contact with Yoon-seo, swallowed his food, and said,
"Oh. Si-yoon's friend. Nice to meet you."
"Uh... yeah... I mean, no, um..."
Park Ji-hoon genuinely looked hard to approach, so Yoon-seo couldn't easily speak casually to him.
I left Park Ji-hoon, who'd started eating off in the corner, and talked to Park Ji-hoon's seniors.
"Hello~"
"I'm... I'm... a real fan."
"Ah! Marine Kim Sang-yeop, I remember your voice~"
"Good heavens... I'm honored."
I greeted each person and looked at the one man with three stripes by himself.
On a red name tape, in yellow letters, it said Ji Sang-hoon.
"Ah! I've heard about you—that you're a really kind senior."
"Thank you!"
They kept repeating "thank you" every time I opened my mouth, like they were having a private audience with a battalion commander.
"Please, help yourselves~"
"The protein supplements have been incredibly helpful!"
"Should I send more?"
Park Ji-hoon suddenly stopped eating, chugged some cola, and said,
"Hey, the gym equipment here is lacking. Add some more, like a donation sort of thing."
"".....""
"Find out what they need and send it."
"Okay."
"I gotta get my name plastered on it, big as a damn signboard."
"Do whatever you want, but leave my name out."
"Gotta put a heart and 'Ji-hoon' right next to it~"
"Fuck! Don't."
"Just eat your food, dumbass."
Right as I said it, Park Ji-hoon shoved chicken into his mouth.
Like with fish, he liked boneless, so Da-yeon had ordered everything as boneless cuts.
"Is it good?"
"Mmph!"
"Nobody treats you like I do, right?"
"Mmph! 'Zackly."
"Da-yeon's the one buying this, though?"
"Mmph?"
The other soldiers started eating too, so we ate as well.
"What's your relationship with Ji-hoon...?"
"Ah, Ji-hoon's been my friend since kindergarten, and up until he enlisted, he was my bodyguard."
"Pardon?"
"The scars on his body—he got those protecting me and Da-yeon."
"Ah..."
"He's insanely good at fighting, you know? Is everyone Ji-hoon hit okay? Well, I'm sure he held back on his own... Even if he used an open palm, if he'd actually hit for real, it would've been pretty dangerous, right? He was already the undisputed top fighter among our bodyguards."
When I talked Ji-hoon up, Park Ji-hoon stared at me with a weird look.
I was smiling, but at that gaze I went dead serious and said coldly,
"What're you looking at?"
"...Sorry."
"Do you keep in touch with Tae-oh?"
Maybe Park Ji-hoon had eaten enough for a while—he finally started eating slowly, like a human being.
"Why's Kim Tae-oh been acting like he's so busy lately?"
"He seemed busy living his best school life? He doesn't stand guard for us except on weekends."
"Really? The bastard's gone soft."
"When you get discharged, you just go to school quietly too, quit acting up."
"Nope. Just being in was enough. Honestly, I never planned on going to school."
Da-yeon, Ji-yeong, and Yoon-seo were talking with another soldier when Corporal Ji Sang-hoon asked Da-yeon about school.
"Us? All at Hanguk University."
"Wow..."
"Ji-yeong here's the only one in the law department."
Ji-yeong, right on cue with Da-yeon's words, suddenly threw up a V, and she was pretty charming.
I snorted a little laugh, watching Ji-yeong do that.
"Reading books every single day, she probably has no charm."
"Hey! You're the weird one, you know that? Honestly, everyone but you just reads books. I'm the normal one."
"Nope~ Da-yeon goes out to have fun with me too~ You've never been to a club, have you?"
"....."
"Wanna go today?"
Ji-yeong gave a tiny, trembling nod, like she was about to do something bad.
Since she came from a Sword Master family, if her parents caught her, she'd be in for trouble no less than what I or Da-yeon would get—if not worse.
I looked at Corporal Ji Sang-hoon and asked,
"Are there any fun places around here?"
"We usually gather at the pork barbecue place right next door. But if you brought a car, I'd recommend hanging out around Jungang-dong."
"Aha~"
Well, this place was so rural that anything there was to find was probably going to be there anyway.
We took a group photo, then watched them eat.
Then, after we made sure Park Ji-hoon's three seniors could wrap up the leftovers, we pulled Park Ji-hoon out.
Turns out, that sergeant MP hadn't gotten him out at all—Park Ji-hoon had already arranged an off-base pass in advance.
Park Ji-hoon, too big for the back seat, sat in the passenger seat and stared at his phone with sparkling eyes, apparently excited about something.
Just then, Ji-yeong tapped Park Ji-hoon on the shoulder.
"Give me Kim Sang-yeop's number."
"...? Why?"
"Honestly, isn't he insanely handsome?"
"Mm... yeah, he is handsome."
I smiled at the sight of Ji-yeong being as proactive as ever.
Compared with the frail herbivores we usually saw who did nothing but study, these guys were all muscular like Park Ji-hoon.
To Ji-yeong, who had seen their veins and tendons standing out from extremely low body fat, six-packs were probably the bare minimum and their raw, carnivorous masculinity must have stood out all the more.
Kim Sang-yeop in particular had a handsome, small face paired with shoulders so broad the combination almost looked unreal.
"Oh~ Yeah, he is handsome. And he was really nice, too."
"Just give me his number already. Why are you dragging this out?"
"He lives in Busan, though. Isn't that basically long-distance?"
"Then I'll just have him live at my place~"
"What the hell? How did you already get all the way to marriage?"
"Whatever. Give me his number."
"Sure. He has a boyfriend, though~"
"Hey! Shouldn't you have told me that first?... What!?"
"I said he has a boyfriend."
"...He's gay?"
"Yeah. I told Si-yoon before, didn't I?"
Ji-yeong froze for a long moment.
And just like that, Ji-yeong's love ended before it even had a chance to begin.
Park Ji-hoon, having been in my car many times, now operated the screen pretty naturally and put on some hip-hop, riding the beat and bobbing his head by himself.
He seriously handpicked only the most moronic things to do.
"Yoon-seo."
"Yeah?"
"Did you finish your assignments this time?"
"Yeah, thanks to that I had time and got them all done~"
By "thanks to that," she meant that I was no longer tutoring her.
Yoon-seo had quit all of it as of last month.
Park Ji-hoon, even after stuffing himself that much, must have been getting hungry again, because he started searching for my snacks.
"What're you doing?"
"Where're the snacks?"
"I figured you would, so I already took them all out."
"That's so damn petty over snacks."
"You little shit, all you ever do is say you'll restock it, and you've never once done it."
"Wow... how much does that even cost? Don't you feel sorry for me!?"
"Think I'd do this over how much it costs, huh? It's because it's a pain in the ass, isn't it?"
"I... it's my first time out..."
I wanted to smack Park Ji-hoon upside the head when he suddenly started acting pitiful, but the son of a bitch—now, unless I hit a vital point, the only thing that hurt was my own hand.
I pulled over onto the shoulder and opened the trunk.
"Go get them."
Park Ji-hoon got out and came back with an armful of snacks from my trunk.
With the thought of at least checking out the ocean, we set our direction toward the beach.
We parked, got out and looked around for a bit, then sat down at a cafe with a nice view.
Ji-yeong, who had always been especially close with Park Ji-hoon, seemed to have a lot of questions about how he'd been, and she asked him this and that or steered the conversation along.
From things that happened back in elementary school, to how he'd first started swearing because of me.
Thinking about how cute Ji-yeong had been back then, I snorted a small laugh.
"You coming again next week?"
"Fuck off."
"Whyyy~"
When I cocked my fist back, Park Ji-hoon immediately took up a defensive stance.
Ji-yeong smiled at the sight.
"Doesn't look any different from the old days~"
"Back then, I was a little bigger."
"Yeah, yeah, true. I think Ji-hoon's gotten way too big."
"I still win if we fight, though."
"Suuure~"
I meant it, but if that was the reaction I got, it was probably better to let it go.
Yoon-seo, without a word, sipped her americano and gazed out at the beach, the scent of the sea spreading.
"What sort of deep thoughts are you lost in~? Our Yoon-seo?"
"Huh? I'm so happy, haa..."
Yoon-seo got along well with Da-yeon too; when the two of them were together, it was Da-yeon, who was at least a little less timid, who led the conversation.
As we were enjoying the warm sun for a while, Park Ji-hoon covered his face with his cap and started to sleep.
"Isn't that a violation of maintaining dignity?"
Ji-yeong reacted to my words.
"How dare a lowly private push down the revered Marine cap and wear it like that!?"
Park Ji-hoon made a "tch" sound, put his cap on properly, and closed his eyes.
"How dare a recon Marine lean his back against a chair!?"
Park Ji-hoon cracked his eyes open and stared at Ji-yeong.
"You seem pretty hyped up? Yeah? Ji-yeong?"
"Go inside and sleep~ We came to see you, why are you being like this?"
"Inside, I can't sleep because of cleaning... yaaawn."
To report the absurdity, I immediately dialed 1303, but Park Ji-hoon, sensing what was up, snatched my phone away.
"Are you insane!?"
"What about it."
"I know you know exactly what you're doing, okay?"
"Doing what~"
"You've set your mind on screwing me over, you crazy bitch, seriously..."
"Is a soldier supposed to disclose internal unit matters!?"
"Ji-yeong... I'm kinda struggling here."
I snorted a laugh and tossed my bag to Park Ji-hoon.
"What's this?"
"Change and come out. Don't strut around in your uniform and get dragged off by the MPs."
"Wow... look at this thoughtfulness..."
Park Ji-hoon went into the cafe bathroom, changed clothes, and came back out.
And then he started sleeping in earnest.
"He's asleep."
"With the baseball cap on, doesn't he really look like a monkey?"
Da-yeon volleyed back to my comment.
"Nah, Ji-hoon was always ugly."
"Ahah, Yoon-seo, what do you think? Ji-hoon's ugly, right?"
"Uhh...? No, he's incredibly handsome...? Solid and dependable."
"C'mon, say stuff like that and Park Ji-hoon will love it. Look, he's pretending to sleep but you can totally see that smirk."
Park Ji-hoon opened his eyes and looked at Yoon-seo.
"Wanna go out with me?"
""Kyaaah~""
"...Si-yoon..."
Yoon-seo was having some kind of gross, weird misunderstanding.
But I could not hand my Yoon-seo over to Ji-hoon, who had that kind of filthy deviance.
"His porn taste is pretty out ther—"
Park Ji-hoon suddenly covered my mouth.
"Are you insane!?"
Da-yeon covered her mouth and stared at Park Ji-hoon.
"...You watch porn?"
"Hey, honestly, if you're a guy, it's natural to watch it, but isn't she seriously crazy?"
While I was being gagged by Park Ji-hoon's hand,
Ji-yeong, apparently knowing an oddly specific amount about it, opened her mouth.
"They say it's healthiest for a guy to do it at least twice a week."
"Really...?"
"They say if you've got the strength to hold a spoon, you can hold that..."
Da-yeon's expression, looking utterly shocked, was the highlight.
"That's so, so gross..."
Da-yeon looked at Park Ji-hoon like she wanted an explanation, and Park Ji-hoon desperately shook his head no.
I took advantage of a moment when Park Ji-hoon's grip loosened, bent his finger back sharply, and escaped.
"Ack!"
"This bastard Park Ji-hoon, his trash can situation was seriously dire."
"Hey!!!!"
Da-yeon shot a contemptuous look at Ji-hoon.
"I said it's not true!"