71 – Sleep Out
After leaving the guardhouse with Yoo-jeong, we took a taxi in front of the unit.
I didn’t ask where I was going or how much money I had to pay, but the taxi naturally moved somewhere.
“It’s okay because it’s a car tag! These days, if you use a car tag, you can avoid being ripped off, so you don’t have to worry too much!
“I see”
I don’t know what KakaoTaek is. I know it’s something roughly using a mobile phone app, but I first found out that there was such a thing.
In the past month, it seemed that something extraordinary was happening outside. Earlier, at the parade ground, I had a good conversation with Yoo-jung, but now that I got into the taxi, I had nothing to say.
We only looked at the outside scenery, probably having the same thoughts as Yoo-jeong.
“Are you also from the 23rd Division?”
“Yes it is!”
“That’s amazing. I was also from the 23rd division, and since my home is Gangneung, I was a full-time reserve soldier-“
Since we were so silent, the taxi driver started to say something.
I was just circling the barbed wire on the shore, but when I saw a jellyfish the size of a bull, the entire unit turned over. He saw a North Korean spy, and he caught the spy through a chase for two nights and three days.
And so on… Around the time the absurd heroic story began to appear… Yoo-jung, who had been staring at the window, began to open her mouth.
“Then what is Yoo Seon doing here?”
“It is said that it is a unit that defends and monitors Gangneung, Donghae, Jumunjin, etc., But I am not sure of the details. But since it is near the sea, there are many people who come for sightseeing in summer, and if you take a short drive
Because there are pubs and downtown that civilians often go to near the unit. You can do a lot of people watching.”
So I guess I’m going there by taxi now.
You can see cars little by little on a quiet road, and there are traffic lights. Again- I will tell you what I have kept in my heart when I start to see shops run by civilians sparsely.
I made that promise.
“Jung Yoo. That…”
“Yes”
“Yoo Seon-ah. Can’t we talk about that later when the two of us are together?”
“…Okay”
I’m really sorry so far. It seems that the inside of a taxi was too inappropriate a place to apologize.
“Let’s talk about the details inside the dorm, okay?”
I thought I would have to do what Yoo-jung told me to do today.
And to be honest, rather than talking like this in a taxi- I thought a little bit about what I was going to say. After that, I feel the need to know how to talk to Yoojung.
What happened to Jinah Lee after coming to Mirae High School? If you say something like that, I’m sure Yoo-jung will say that because she has to sue and leave it to trial.
She thought that she should be careful when talking to Yoo-jeong because Yoo-jeong cannot punish anything related to Lee Jin-ah, and rather… She could face retaliation.
Be as specific as possible, who did it? This happened to me, not this – I need to focus on the case and explain…
“Yoo Seon-ah…! They say squid is so delicious in Gangneung!”
There’s something I did to Yoo-jung, but he doesn’t say anything bad about me.
How considerate and generous this woman next to me is. Found out once again
“I have arrived”
“..Ah, we have arrived. Yoo Seon-ah. Get out of the car.”
We got off at downtown Gangneung and looked around for a while.
The population of Gangneung itself was small, perhaps because it is a place where many tourists from all over the country come.
Still, everything was there. There was Burger Queen, there was McDonald’s. Also – there was also GCV.
“You didn’t eat lunch today, are you hungry? What do you want to eat first?”
“…I”
I looked around for a while to see what to eat. Then he pointed his finger at one of the stores. Burger Queen. In the military, bread meals were served twice a week- Bulgogi, shrimp, and again- hot dogs.
Three types came out like that. When I ate at the 102 supplement stand, it was really tasteless and made me vomit. Maybe that’s why I missed the taste of society so much.
No matter how well I grill a bulgogi party or fry a shrimp party, I can’t keep up with the taste of society- So I felt sorry for that…
“Okay! Then let’s have lunch over there!”
Yoo-jeong took me to Burger Queen and ordered various things from the kiosk – Whopper, Nuggets King, Cider and Coke. Yoojeong did the calculation.
Yoo Jeong-yi, who took a numbered ticket, sat down at an empty seat nearby and waited for a hamburger to come out.
“Hey, I have a question for you. How do you get paid?”
“I can make a personal bank account or something!”
“Even so, debt repayment was completed at the court today. I heard that word came out. If this comes to you, you don’t have to pay your father’s debt?”
“Isn’t it?”
“…. Why did Yoo Seon-ah enlist in the army so early? She’s good at it. Is there ever a time when she enlisted like this right after taking a physical examination?”
“Ah, the Military Manpower Administration hires a separate person for me as the frontline guard, and since I applied for it- they sent me to the army right away… I’m sorry”
“What are you sorry about?”
“It’s just, everything- I’m sorry that I just enlisted in the army without any discussion, and I’m so sorry that I tried to solve everything by myself without consulting you. I’m sorry for talking to you so rudely. Do”
“…Yoo Seon-ah. Kang Yoo-seon”
“Huh?”
“From now on, it’s okay if you don’t do that, now- I’ll give you toilet paper-“
Yoojeong took out a tissue from her bag and gave it to me. The faded look, like a watercolor with smeared paint, returned to its original state.
“Yoo Seon-ah…How much is the gun?”
“… Huh?”
“Aren’t you supposed to buy a gun in PX? Where is a soldier without a gun?”
“Why buy it from PX”
“Huh..? Looking on the Internet, I heard that I just bought a gun and a grenade at PX?”
“…That’s not it”
I was waiting for the Whopper to come out, but since PX talked endlessly about purchasing guns, I thought Yoojung was playing a joke to make her feel better.
But seeing the serious look in his eyes, it seems like he knows how to buy a real gun. First of all, there are cases where guns are sold in real PXs in countries like the US and Israel other than Korea, so that’s why they might ask me like this.
“Then, instead of a gun, I can eat something delicious with this.”
While saying
, I put two 50,000 won bills into the breast pocket of my combat uniform. If it’s 100,000 won… It’s money you can earn by working all day at the distribution center.
“How much is a soldier’s salary? 170,000 Won..? 210,000 Won…? Isn’t that incredibly low? How can you live on only 100,000 won a month…”
It seems that the tears that have stopped will come out again.
-Tirang!
“I’m hungry, let’s eat quickly”
Yoo-jeong came back to me from the counter over there with a hamburger. I shut up and focused on eating my burger.
“…Is it that delicious? Did you miss the taste of society? No… I heard soldiers cry when they eat hamburgers, but that must have been true.”
“…”
That…. Thank you so much.
I didn’t even call, but he came to find me on his own and bought me something delicious. Also give me pocket money. I’m really- I’m a worm that hasn’t done anything right until now.
I’m not capable enough to have such a good girlfriend, and I’m selfish and self-righteous- and very selfish. Even so, Yoojung always took care of me.
“Wipe your tears. Everyone is watching. What is this… Crying out tears just because you ate a hamburger?”
“…Yeah…”
After eating all the hamburgers at Burger Queen. We walked and walked to the nearby beach.
Looking at the vast sea at the far end, sniffing has gotten better. Since I didn’t do anything and just kept walking – I was hungry again.
“…Yoo Seon-ah, what else do you want to eat?”
“I…Just anything”
“There is no menu to ask for anything. Today is Yoo Sun’s graduation ceremony, so shouldn’t we eat something delicious?”
“…I”
“Don’t worry about money. Buying you something like this won’t cause me to starve or anything like that – I have a lot of money!”
“…Then it’s the beach… Sashimi”
“Sashimi is good..! …Seeing earlier, there is a sashimi center here, so I can buy something like sashimi and eat it at the motel!”
“Motel…”
“Yes, a motel..! Isn’t it 2 days and 1 night today? It’s cold like this, so you can’t sleep outside. And Yoo Seon-i, you’re a soldier.
What happens if you get into a fight with other people while drinking at a bar? Aren’t you just ripping off yourself? Then you can’t So let’s eat quietly in our room, okay?
It’s cold, the sashimi center will be closed soon. Hurry up, I need to pick up something before it’s all sold out.”
That’s not wrong. I followed Yu-jeong’s footsteps and bought fish at the sashimi center.
I feel it while walking around the streets. Maybe because it was the graduation ceremony today, I could see a lot of people like me walking around the streets.
And… Some of the people in plain clothes sitting in convenience store chairs and drinking coffee look like instructors or military police. I don’t know, but it seemed like if I had an accident here, I would be taken to the military training center.
I should buy it.
I entered the sashimi center and looked inside the water tank.
Flatfish, rockfish, flounder, sea urchin, sea squirt, sea urchin… And unknown catches.
“Since it’s season for gizzards, let’s eat gizzards”
“It must be delicious.”
Autumn, yes… It’s almost autumn now. When it comes to autumn, it is an electric field.
“Hey, lady, cut 50,000 won worth of whole fish!”
“Yes- I see!”
Isn’t 50,000 won for whole fish too much for two people to eat…? Thinking of that, I glanced at Yoo-jung once.
“It’s better to have more than not enough. Yoo Seon-i. You’re going to eat a lot anyway. Isn’t it?”
After listening to it, I thought it would be better to have more than not enough as Yoo-jung said.
From noble mtl dot com
With an envelope of pre-prepared mackerel in our hands, we… I thought we were going straight into a motel. I got it from a nearby convenience store.
“I eat sashimi, but I can’t leave out soju”
“Wow-“
One bottle, two bottles, three bottles, and four bottles. I always went to my house with Yoojung and drank together every weekend.
It’s a bit embarrassing to say this, but Yoojung is a better drinker than me.
“Then shall we go in now?”
I didn’t know where the hell they were sleeping, so as Yoo-jeong held hands and walked down the alley together… A motel complex caught my eye.
Twinkle twinkle – motels illuminated by neon signs.
Yoojeong and I each have soju in our hands. And with sashimi of whole fish, I entered one of the motels along the street.