Chapter 83: First Military Leave (1)

Private Choi Sang-Woon was vigorously swinging a pickaxe under the sweltering sun. He had never held a pickaxe in his life, but soldiers needed to know the basics of using a shovel, pickaxe and hammer if they didn’t want to be given a hard time by their seniors. This was his first time learning to use a pickaxe, but fortunately...

“Wow. You’re pretty good at using a pickaxe, aren’t you, little newbie?”

“Thank you very much, sir!”

“I was worried that you wouldn’t be of use when you were first transferred to our squad since you were so skinny, but you’ve impressed me.”

Sang-Woon was also surprised by himself. He was worried while being trained at the training center after the entrance ceremony about whether or not he could handle the rifle training, marching, outdoor camping, individual combat and even CBR training. However, he had acclimated much better than expected, considering how scared he was.

But of course, that didn’t mean he had come to like the army. If he could escape his military service without any repercussions, he would in a heartbeat.

A superior wearing a squad-leader epaulet called out to the soldiers, “We will resume in ten minutes. Everyone, take a break.”

“Yes, sir!”

The soldiers hurriedly escaped toward the shade.

Thump!

Sang-Woon collapsed on his butt and looked at his forearm while wiping his sweat. He had been tanned and had also put on quite a bit of muscle after being forced by his seniors to work out with them during his free time.

‘I wasn’t interested in fitness at all during my high school days.’

The entire squad had been infected by a fitness craze because of the seniors’ desire to get toned to pick up girls at the beach during their leave in the summer. Sang-Woon thought of Kang Ra-Eun.

‘I wonder what Ra-Eun would say if she saw how much I’ve changed.’

His head heated up once again after having barely been cooled down by the shade. Sang-Woon had not been able to put up the sticker photo that Ra-Eun had gifted him to put up on his army locker, because he did not want to show it to his seniors who pounced on anyone who had pictures of female acquaintances on their locker.

One of the seniors brought up Ra-Eun just as Sang-Woon was thinking about her.

“Did you watch Waitress?yesterday?”

The drama Waitress?was extremely popular among their squad lately. They could only watch reruns of it on the weekend because they could not watch dramas whenever they wanted to. However, that was more than enough for them to be happy.

“Kang Ra-Eun is so hot in it, isn't she?”

“You’re goddamn right she is! I couldn’t take my eyes off the TV screen when she came out with that cafe uniform on. I guarantee you that Kang Ra-Eun is the hottest woman in Korea.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

The soldiers watched Waitress?every weekend without fail not for the story, but to see Ra-Eun in it.

“Sigh... If only I knew Kang Ra-Eun personally.”

Sang-Woon’s shoulders violently flinched at his senior’s remark. Having noticed that by coincidence from up close, his senior asked, “Hey, Choi Sang Woon.”

“Yes sir! Private Choi speaking!”

“Why did you flinch? No way, are you acquainted with Kang Ra-Eun?”

Sang-Woon flinched again. His senior reacted in surprise, “Seriously? You know her?”

As Sang-Woon was wriggling hesitantly, their squad’s highest-ranking officer interjected, “Fucking hell, say something that actually makes sense. How could regular people like us be close with a goddess in heaven like her? Right, Sang-Woon?”

“Y-Yes, sir. Th-That’s exactly right,” Sang-Woon said as he secretly sighed in relief.

The thought of what would happen if his squad members found out that he used to be classmates with Ra-Eun terrified him.

***

“This is Private Choi. I’m here for business in the orderly room.”

“Oh, Sang-Woon. Come here,” the army administrative clerk Jang Hyun-Bok said as he showed Sang-Woon a calendar. “It’s time for your first military leave, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I have to make the leave schedule for next month, so pick which day you want.”

Sang-Woon was bewildered from being given priority selection.

“I’ll just... choose a date after my seniors finish choosing.”

“Hey, you don’t need to yield to your seniors. There’s no leave more prioritized than a new recruit’s first leave. It’ll be difficult to choose the dates that you want for your leaves after this one, so make use of your new recruit privileges while you still can,” the administrative clerk sincerely advised.

Sang-Woon had never thought about which day he wanted his leave. If he could choose, then...

“Corporal Jang. Could I let you know after I call my friends?”

“Yeah. You have until the end of the day, so go make your calls.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

~

Sang-Woon headed to the phone booth and called his best friend, Kim Yeong-Gyo first.

- Hello?

“Yeong-Gyo, it's me.”

- Oh, Sang-Woon? Son of a bitch, it’s been a while. What’s up?

“You see...”

Sang-Woon asked Yeong-Gyo for a good date to schedule his leave so that he could meet up with all of his friends. Yeong-Gyo’s answer was clear.

- We’ll be free anytime, so come whenever you’d like. You said it was five days and four nights, right?

“Yeah.”

- That’s pretty long.

It could feel long for regular people, but the person on leave did not feel that way. The four nights and five days only felt like 4.5 seconds to them.

Sang-Woon hung up and pondered deeply as he stared at another phone number that he had written down. There was someone who he was wondering whether or not to call.

‘Should I try calling Ra-Eun too?’

He was already filled with worries whether or not she would meet with him when she would be up to her neck with work related to the drama around this time. However, he decided to give it a shot anyway. He took a deep breath.

“Okay, let’s do it.”

Sang-Woon pressed the number keys.

***

It was 7 PM. Ra-Eun was running on a treadmill while wearing the sportswear newly released by Levanche to shoot a scene where she exercised at a fitness center. Ra-Eun perfectly recited her lines without a hint of fatigue despite the difficulty of speaking while running.

“Cut! Okay, that was great. Let’s move on to the next scene after a short break.”

Program Director Hwang Yun-Seong OK’d the scene on the second attempt. The staff members immediately brought a towel and some water over to Ra-Eun. She thanked them as she wiped her sweat with the towel. Her manager Shin Yu-Bin brought a mini fan for her while she was getting her make-up remade that was slightly smudged off.

Whirr—!

The cool air enveloped her face.

“How is it, Ra-Eun? You feel a lot better, right?” Yu-Bin asked.

“Yes, thanks to you.”

“I’ve also prepared some cold beverages for you, so have some once the shoot is over.”

A manager’s most important job was to take care of the celebrity that they were managing. Ra-Eun’s phone vibrated as Yu-Bin was about to ask if she needed anything else.

Yu-Bin, who had been holding on to Ra-Eun’s phone during the shoot, said to herself as she looked at the display, “A spam call at this time of day?”

“What is it?”

“You got a call from an unknown number. This is obviously a spam call, isn’t it?”

Ra-Eun understood as soon as she checked the number.

“That’s not a spam call,” she remarked.

“Huh? What is it, then?”

“Please hand me the phone for a second.”

Ra-Eun received the phone from Yu-Bin and answered it without hesitation.

“Hello?”

She could hear a man’s rigid voice.

- H-Hello? Is this Ra-Eun’s phone?

As she had thought, it was a voice she knew very well.

“It is, so you don’t have to be so scared.”

She figured out instantly that it was Sang-Woon. She could tell from just a glance of the unknown number that he was calling from the army base.

- H-How have you been? Oh! I’ve been watching your drama. It’s all that my squad talks about.

“Really? That’s a relief.”

Sang-Woon was extremely nervous, possibly because it was his first time calling Ra-Eun after he had enlisted. However, he had not called Ra-Eun only because he wanted to hear her voice.

- I’ll be going on my first military leave next month. So, I called to ask if I could see you even for a little bit while I was out...

“Just a sec,” Ra-Eun said. She then turned to Yu-Bin to ask, “Miss Manager. What’s my schedule like next month?”

“Next month? Here.”

Yu-Bin took out the notepad that she used to organize Ra-Eun’s schedule and showed it to her.

After looking through the notepad, Ra-Eun told Sang-Woon, “I’ll have time on Thursday of the first week of next month.”

- Then I’ll schedule my leave around that time. A senior of mine said earlier that—

“That you can choose whatever date you like because it’s prioritized over other leaves, right?”

- Huh? Y-Yeah, that’s right.

Ra-Eun already knew without Sang-Woon telling her.

“Okay. Take care of yourself until then. I’ll see you next month.”

Yu-Bin asked as soon as Ra-Eun hung up, “Who was that?”

“A classmate who went to do his military service. He’s gonna be on his leave soon, so he called to see if we could meet up.”

“Really? But how did you know that it was from him? It was an unknown number, wasn’t it?”

“I could just tell.”

An active-duty university girl was not to be underestimated.

***

Ra-Eun woke up early despite having no shoots scheduled today, because she had to fulfill her duty not as a university student nor an actress, but as a businesswoman. She had to stop by her company in the morning and somewhere else in the afternoon. Ra-Eun arrived at Levanche in her car and received some good news from Park Seol-Hun.

“About the sportswear that you wore last time in your shoot...”

“The Type B?”

“Yeah, that. Its sales skyrocketed after it aired on TV, so I’ve been thinking about making that our flagship product for the time being. What do you think?”

“Sounds good,” Ra-Eun answered carefreely.

“I’ll let you know about the details of the additional promotions once I summarize the conversation that I’ll have with the marketing side. Oh, and are you free during lunch?”

“Why?”

“I don’t have anyone to eat with today.”

It was for a very simple reason. Ra-Eun felt sorry for Seol-Hun, but...

“Just eat by yourself today,” she replied.

“What? Why? Are you saying you don’t want to eat with an old man like me?”

“No, I made plans to have lunch with a soldier friend who’s breathing the fresh air of society after a while.”

Seol-Hun said as if it couldn’t be helped, “If it’s a soldier on leave, then of course I should yield.”

1. CBR = Chemical, Biological, Radiological warfare

2. The orderly room in the army provides administrative support to the whole troop.