Chapter 84: First Military Leave (2)

Choi Sang-Woon checked his appearance again and again to make sure that he didn’t look like a soldier. His number-one priority was to hide his buzz cut. He was wearing a hat, T-shirt and shorts. Sang-Woon then took a look at his arms.

“It itches so goddamn much.”

There were a few red spots around his arms from the aftereffects of the weeding that had to be done every summer in the army.

‘I should’ve listened to my seniors when they told me to work with my sleeves down.’

Sang-Woon had no choice but to suffer through grass rashes for the time being. He needed to depart before he was late. He had decided to meet Kang Ra-Eun at Starlight Road, which was practically their group’s hideout in their high school days. There wouldn’t be anyone to bother them there, making it good for Ra-Eun.

‘It’d be a huge issue if any reporters caught the two of us alone together.’

Sang-Woon would be devoured by his seniors when he went back to his squad. He hurried to Starlight Road as soon as he left his home.

Seo Yi-Seo’s father greeted Sang-Woon as he opened the door, “Oh, is that you, Sang-Woon?”

“Good afternoon, sir.”

“You’ve become quite a man after coming out of the army. You look a lot more reliable now.”

“D-Do I?”

Sang-Woon had not realized how much he had changed yet. Ra-Eun did not seem to have arrived yet, so he decided to take a seat and wait for her. He had only recently figured out how much of a blessing it was to meet a girl during his leave, especially when the girl was Kang Ra-Eun, the extremely popular actress as of late. He had emptied the iced americano that he had ordered from the pressure of meeting Ra-Eun after so long.

Jingle!

As Sang-Woon was about to order another drink, the cafe door opened and Ra-Eun in sunglasses entered the cafe. She greeted Yi-Seo’s father first like Sang-Woon had, and then walked toward Sang-Woon.

“What the hell? Why are you so tanned?”

Thankfully, Ra-Eun recognized him right away.

“Oh? You’ve gotten pretty built too,” Ra-Eun remarked as she rubbed Sang-Woon’s shoulders and arms.

Sang-Woon was momentarily bewildered by the sudden skinship, but his pride as a man urged him to slightly flex his muscles to show off their firmness. Ra-Eun sat across from him and lightly laughed because of how much he had changed.

“How’s life as a private?” Ra-Eun asked.

“I’m sure you can guess. It’s difficult, exhausting, and... I can’t fully express it with words.”

People these days talked about how much better the military service had gotten, but it did not change the fact that it was the army. There was no way that it could be better than being a member of society.

“I’m guessing it’s weeding season right about now. I can see the grass rashes on your arms. Looks like you’re having a hard time.”

Sang-Woon was running out of things to talk about because Ra-Eun was saying everything that he wanted to. He had thought that women would be amazed by what soldiers had to go through during their service, but his expectations had gone completely out the window. Rather...

“You should wear long sleeves and trousers while you’re weeding, no matter how hot it is. You might also get stung by a wasp if you’re unlucky. Also, there’s this thing called a ragweed that comes all the way up to your hips. Not only is it tough, but it also has thorns on its stems, so you should remove them while wearing coated cotton work gloves. Make sure to keep these life hacks in mind.”

“R-Really?”

“Oh, and try to pull the roots out as well. They’ll just grow back after it rains if you just cut off the stem. I’m sure your seniors will tell you all of this.”

“...”

Sang-Woon thought that he was back in the army for a second. He wondered how Ra-Eun knew so much about weeding.

“With how much you know, people might think you’d gone to the army,” Sang-Woon expressed.

Ra-Eun smiled meaningfully and said, “Who knows? I might actually have.”

Of course, Sang-Woon thought she was just making a joke. However, Ra-Eun was telling the truth. There was no way for Sang-Woon to know that Ra-Eun was a university girl who had been honorably discharged as a sergeant.

***

Ra-Eun wanted to hear more of Sang-Woon’s stories, but...

“I have to go now.”

She had an interview with the press later today. Sang-Woon was not disappointed at all since he was happy enough that he got to see Ra-Eun for even a moment.

“Can I meet you again during my next leave?” Sang-Woon asked.

“Just let me know when and I’ll try to make time for you.”

His next leave would be a private first class regular leave instead of a new recruit’s first military leave. It would be much easier to schedule a meeting since it was longer than just five days and four nights.

Ra-Eun got up from her seat and gestured to Sang-Woon, “Let’s go. I’ll give you a ride back to your house.”

The two headed to Ra-Eun’s car that was parked in the area. The radio played as soon as she started the car.

- Congressman Park Su-Choon has been summoned by the prosecution after the uproar that he had caused in the political sphere due to recent corruption allegations. The prosecution is...

Sang-Woon acted as if he knew the details of the news as soon as he heard it.

“I heard about this a bunch at home too.”

“At home? Why?”

“Because my dad is part of the bureau that’s in charge of this case.”

Ra-Eun’s hands froze just as she was about to turn the steering wheel.

“Your father works in prosecution?” she asked.

“Yeah. He’s in the special investigations bureau.”

The special investigations bureau, which would be known as the anti-corruption investigations bureau in the future, was a special bureau that investigated large-scale corruption cases of high-ranking civil servants and politicians. Ra-Eun happened to have been involved with them multiple times in the past because of Kim Han-Gyo.

“Congressman Park’s borrowed-name bank account has been secured, and evidence will spill out soon enough. It’ll be difficult for him to slip out of this one,” Sang-Woon stated.

Ra-Eun had already known this information, but she had not gotten it from articles since no official articles had been released yet. If Sang-Woon knew this information despite that, then it meant that his father really was involved in the case. Not only that, but he seemed to be in a considerably influential position.

“Is your father the deputy prosecutor general?”

“Huh? No, he’s not that high up yet.”

Ra-Eun saw Sang-Woon in a completely new light now that she had found out that he had close connections to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the special investigations bureau, no less.

“Sang-Woon.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s stay close friends,” she suddenly expressed.

Sang-Woon nodded with a dumbfounded expression.

They would be staying close friends regardless, since she might be seeing his father very often from now on.

***

Ra-Eun blankly looked out the car window while heading to the set where episode ten of Waitress would be shot, which was in Busan this time instead of Seoul. Hence, Ra-Eun was forced to spend a very long time cooped up in the car.

Shin Yu-Bin asked as Ra-Eun stretched to chase away as much of her fatigue as possible, “Do you want to stop by a service area?”

“Yes, please.”

She was just about craving some coffee. Ra-Eun put on her sunglasses and mask before getting out of the car as a precaution to prevent people from recognizing her. However, such measures were not fully effective; sharp-sighted people were able to recognize her, like now for example.

“Isn’t that Kang Ra-Eun?”

“I think you’re right.”

Ra-Eun quickened her steps as soon as she heard them since she would be found out if she wasted any more time. She escaped to the bathroom and put her sunglasses and mask back on after doing her business.

‘However much of a rush I’m in, I should still wash my hands.’

Ra-Eun always made sure to stay clean. However, two women shyly greeted Ra-Eun as she was washing her hands.

“Excuse me, are you Miss Kang Ra-Eun?”

“Oh... yes.”

She could not deny it anymore once it had come to this. Social media and the internet had advanced so much that any rude remarks to the public would spread like wildfire. But fortunately, the two women who had recognized her had not made it very obvious, hence other people in the rest area had no idea that she was in the women’s bathroom.

“What are the chances that we got to see two celebrities in one place?”

“I know, right? Should we buy a lottery ticket or something?”

Not one, but two celebrities? There were no other celebrities in Ra-Eun’s car but herself. Yu-Bin and her stylist were the only other people.

“Who was the other celebrity?” Ra-Eun asked just in case.

The one who seemed to be the older of the two answered, “Mr. Cha Byun-Soo. We saw him at the hot dog stand about ten minutes ago.”

Ra-Eun’s smooth forehead wrinkled at the mention of the name. She had fortunately been wearing sunglasses and a mask, because the two women would have witnessed the displeasure on her face if she hadn’t been.

***

Yu-Bin handed an iced americano to Ra-Eun who safely returned to the car.

“Here’s the coffee that you wanted.”

“Thank you very much.”

She took off her sunglasses and mask, and soothed her stomach with the cold coffee. Yu-Bin tilted her head as she looked at Ra-Eun.

“Did something happen at the rest area?”

Ra-Eun was not a machine, but a person. Hence, there were times when she couldn’t maintain her composure. That had been the case in the bathroom, and now in the car. However, Ra-Eun played it off as nothing.

Ra-Eun felt complicated whenever she heard the name Cha Byun-Soo. He was an actor in his fifties with close connections to the political world. He had started acting when he was twenty. He had thirty years of acting experience under his belt and was well-known by the public, but his reputation within the industry wasn’t very great.

There were instances when he forgot his place as an actor due to his political backings. And among them...

‘He’s closely connected to Kim Han-Gyo.’

Byun-Soo had once joined Kim Han-Gyo’s election camp and assisted in his election campaign. It was fairly easy to rake in votes when they were supported by a famous celebrity.

It was common knowledge to take out the limbs first if one wanted to subdue a beast. In other words...

‘I should take action so that Cha Byun-Soo can’t meddle in my plans.’

It had been a while since the gears in Ra-Eun’s head turned so fast.

1. It is roughly a four-hour drive from Seoul to Busan.