It is a survival training that goes from mountain to sea.
“I will teach you how to use a rubber boat.”
Said the Marine Corps assistant.
He kindly didn’t tell me how to use the rubber boat.
It was worse than the assistant command of the special forces brigade.
“I never thought it would be like this.”
Lee Jang-woo said quietly.
“Why is it so hard?”
“It’s hard, but this is chewing gum.”
Lee Jang-woo said with a smile. Unlike the first time, the crew had a lot of energy in their eyes.
When I ran on the white sand with a rubber boat, I was full of energy.
Kim Do-gi, the captain of Antarctica, showed untiring stamina.
The marine training grounds were not as good as on the ground.
The quarter bed was a hotel.
We lived in a large tent in front of the beach.
We stayed in a camper bed on the sandy beach.
After training, everyone was cool.
A week at the beach passed quickly.
There was a dinner party on the last day of survival training.
Antarctic captain Dogi Kim stood in front of the crew.
“Everyone has been through a lot. Tomorrow is retirement. We have prepared a small gift to comfort you for your hard work.”
As soon as he finished speaking, people entered the tent.
It looked like it was delivered from a nearby restaurant.
Food began to spread inside the tent. It wasn’t just food. A whole box of alcohol was ready.
There was a wide variety of alcoholic beverages, from soju to beer and makgeolli.
“Everyone, fill your glasses.”
Captain Kim Do-gi raised a glass of wine. At first, I thought it was just a party to celebrate the achievement of a mission.
I thought I had a good drink after a hard workout.
to let u know that i been through a lot then i been going non stop with this practice for nothing
Me and Lee Jang-woo drank with joy.
At first, I was drunk. As time went on, I started to feel something strange.
In particular, the attitude of Captain Kim Do-gi was questionable.
He constantly offered drinks.
His eyes were also unusual.
Lee Jang-woo is enough to wave his hand.
I remember a long time ago when I went out with Lee Jang-woo.
Even then, there was an incident because of alcohol.
I sent an autograph to Lee Jang-woo. Now it’s a sign to stop drinking alcohol.
Lee Jang-woo put down his drinking glass.
I turned my head and looked at the crew. Everyone was so drunk that they couldn’t control themselves, but they continued to drink at the recommendation of the captain.
“Stop it.”
I said to Kim Do-gi.
Kim Do-gi looked at me.
“It is also a rite of passage for the Antarctic crew.”
“Then I’ll drink for everyone else.”
Kim Do-gi’s eyes shone sharply unlike usual.
From then on, the great work with the Antarctic Captain began.
Lee Jang-woo looked at us with tense eyes.
We drank without a word.
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One cup, two cups, three cups… The drink went in endlessly.
Kim Do-gi did not change the color of his face.
The crew was already intoxicated.
All the crew were drunk and collapsed.
Lee Jang-woo couldn’t sleep either.
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Only me and the captain had a drink.
“You have a lot of alcohol.”
Captain Kim Do-gi said with an expressionless face.
“The boss isn’t too hard on you.”
“Why don’t we get to this point today? Betting is something only fools do.”
He said looking around.
It wasn’t something a man who had been offering drinks like crazy until now was talking about.
I didn’t want to drink any more.
I put Lee Jang-woo on the bed, and I lay down too.
Even though I drank so much, I was sober.
The tense mind was not easily calmed.
The face of Antarctic captain Kim Do-gi did not leave my mind.
A man who looked like a schoolboy turned into a villain who frantically recommends alcohol.
At first I thought he was a good person. It was also impressive to stabilize the crew at the helicopter rappel field.
It was not common sense for him to change so suddenly.
I went out of the tent in frustration.
It was when I was walking on a dark beach.
A man appeared in the dark.
“You haven’t slept yet?”
This is Kim Do-gi, the captain of the South Pole. he looked at me and asked
“Yeah, I can’t sleep.”
We looked at the sea without saying a word. It was Kim Do-gi who broke the silence.
“I have been to Antarctica for 10 years already.”
“It’s been a long time.”
“I’m sorry I forced you to drink too much.”
“Why did you recommend drinking so much?”
“The crew I have now are people I will spend a year with. When they arrive at Antarctica, some crew members can’t handle the stress. Accidents while drinking alcohol are not uncommon. They were trying to filter out the high-injection operators.”
The Antarctic crew suffered from extreme stress in a harsh environment.
After work and after work, I had to stay with the crew.
to let u know that i been through a lot then i been going non stop with this practice for nothing
Minor conflicts are common. There have also been cases where the problem has been exacerbated by alcohol.
The assault case in the polar region was reported on the news.
Discord among the crew was as big a problem as a natural disaster.
Captain Kim Do-gi was trying to block the problem in advance.
“It makes sense in my head. But you went a little too far.”
“Sorry, but for safety reasons, we have no choice but to do it.”
“If there was an operator with severe rosacea, were you not going to take them with you?”
“There have been times. Fortunately, there are no serious rosacea in this rider.”
His eyes twinkled in the dark.
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Now the tension is relieved.
It was true that the method was excessive, but there seems to be no strange intention. It was his own way to carry out his mission safely.
“Now the tension is relieved.”
“Relaxing… What does that mean?”
I fell asleep in an instant. It looks like he fell asleep on the sandy beach.
When I woke up, I was in bed.
“Wake up, Deokmyeong, it’s morning.”
Lee Jang-woo shook me and woke me up.
Survival training is now over.
* * *
There was a modest party the day before leaving for the airport.
Family members and farmers from Jirisan were present.
“I’ll come back after only 100 days, so it’s very grand.”
“This is the basics for our representative to leave a long way.”
Han Gi-tak said with a smile. Everyone laughed at his words.
That was then. There was a knock on the door.
“Who is it? this time.”
to let u know that i been through a lot then i been going non stop with this practice for nothing
Mother went out
Soon, a welcome guest showed up.
“Teacher!”
This is Hwang Yu-shin, the master of dried persimmons.
“I came to hear that you were leaving tomorrow.”
“That’s why you came all the way here.”
“Take this.”
“What’s this?”
“I brought some persimmon vinegar and other things.”
“You don’t have to give me this…”
“It will all be useful.”
I felt Hwang Yu-shin’s heart.
We all had a hot dinner together.
People continued to come while we were having dinner.
From the villagers to the farmers I met through the broadcast, there was an endless stream of customers.
Everyone wished my health and the success of the salad container.
Gifts were piled up in the living room.
I was more grateful for people’s hearts than things.
* * *
The next day, we arrived at Incheon Airport.
Lee Jang-woo and Lee Dong-chun were seen.
Two rich men were talking.
“Jangwoo, safety comes first. Second is safety. Then what about the third?”
“It’s safe.”
“Yeah, right. You know it very well.”
“Father, please stop.”
Lee Jang-woo looked around as if embarrassed.
“Deokmyeong, when did you come?”
It was then that Jang-woo Lee found out that I had come.
“I’ve been here before, Father, I’ll be back.”
“Come here, safety first, and safety second.”
“Father, please stop.”
Lee Jang-woo grabbed Lee Dong-chun’s arm and said.
Lee Dong-chun also took Lee Jang-woo’s hand. He looked at his son without a word.
He seemed to be saying the same thing with his eyes.
At that time, Captain Kim Do-gi brought a suitcase.
“Shall we go now?”
He saw the crew behind him.
We joined the crew.
The long journey to Antarctica has begun.
stand at the end of the world
Arrived at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport.
I flew 14 hours from Incheon. Five hours later, we board the plane again.
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Our next destination is Santiago, Chile. After arriving in Santiago, you will need to transfer to Punta Arenas for a domestic flight. Punta Arenas is the gateway to Antarctica.
“Now I’m sick of planes.”
Lee Jang-woo said as he got on the plane leaving for Santiago. When I arrived in Chile, I had to take another flight.
The road to Antarctica was not so simple.
Captain Dogi Kim led us to Chile without a word. Upon arriving at Santiago Airport in Chile, he broke the silence and said:
“I’m going to stay overnight in Santiago and leave. Here is a Korean restaurant that I know well. We have dinner there.”
The crew cheered at the word “Korean restaurant”. We ate only inflight meals for two days. I couldn’t even look at the proper rice.
This is the moment you take the airport bus from Santiago.
“Is that the Andes?”
Lee Jang-woo looked out the window and said.
White glaciers covered the mountains in the distance. I couldn’t take my eyes off the exotic scenery.
“It’s such a hot day, but it’s amazing that there is a glacier.”
Santiago, Chile, is in the southern hemisphere, so the seasons are opposite to those of Korea.
It’s November and it’s early summer in Chile.
Antarctica is also entering summer. Now was the only moment I could enter Antarctica.
In winter, when the temperature drops to minus 50 degrees Celsius, it is not even accessible.
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Of course, even in summer, the temperature did not rise above the image.
We unpacked our luggage at the hotel and followed Kim Do-gi to a Korean restaurant.
I liked the Korean signboards I saw in Chile.
It is a Korean restaurant called ‘Hallasan’.
When I opened the door to the restaurant, everyone was shocked.
This is because the unique smell that only Koreans can recognize stimulated the nose.
In Cheonggukjang, I have a bitter taste.
“You’re going to eat cheonggukjang in Chile!”
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Not only Lee Jang-woo, but also the other crew members are surprised.
Kim Do-gi chatted with the owner for a while and then told us.
“I highly recommend the Cheonggukjang here. They also have bean sprouts and soybean paste stew, so you can order them according to your taste.”
Hallasan said that they make cheonggukjang with locally grown soybeans.
I never dreamed that the food I ate before going to Antarctica would be Cheonggukjang.
to let u know that i been through a lot then i been going non stop with this practice for nothing
Me and Lee Jang-woo sat down and pondered the menu.
“What are you going to eat Deokmyung?”
“Still, you should eat what is best in this house.”
“You don’t eat cheonggukjang, do you?”
“Even if I eat soybean paste stew here, I think it will all taste the same.”
I said with a smile. Lee Jang-woo seemed to understand the meaning of the words.
The flavor of cheonggukjang was so strong that all other dishes seemed to taste the same.
We ordered cheonggukjang like everyone else.
Cheonggukjang came out in a pot.
It was a proper meal I ate in a few days.
“I will enjoy this food.”
Jang-woo Lee and I raised the spoons at the same time.
“The taste is better than I expected. Is it because we ate in Chile?”
Lee Jang-woo said with a smile. As he said, the taste was better than expected. It didn’t even have a characteristic bad smell either because his nose was paralyzed.
* * *
The next day we arrived in Punta Arenas.
Punta Arenas is the southernmost city in Chile. From there, you need to board a Chilean Air Force plane to get to the Korean Air Base in Antarctica.
There was a Chilean Air Base on King George Island, where the Korean Air Base is located in Antarctica.
Kim Do-gi had already requested cooperation from the Korean embassy.
Before boarding the plane, I and Lee Jang-woo headed to the port.