Did I Hear That Wrong? (4)

It changed quite a bit. Cha Jaehee’s gaze.

Her walk changed completely from the start.

Earlier she couldn’t even match her steps and waddled like a penguin.

Now she’s walking straight and gracefully like Puss in Boots.

Is she thinking of doing it properly now?

If so, that’s really fortunate.

After finishing the physical fitness test, we came to the military cafeteria for lunch. The unique smell and atmosphere of the military cafeteria was still the same.

The lunch menu was “military-ia” (military + -ria, like fast food).

I never dreamed I’d eat this again. Even less that I’d eat it after becoming a woman.

Lilme was shocked to see me spreading strawberry jam on the bread.

“Were you always a weird eater?”

“Why are you suddenly picking a fight?”

“No, why are you spreading strawberry jam on a hamburger!”

“This is delicious. Try it once. You’ll fall for it.”

Lilme’s eyes narrowed. With suspicion.

Then she suddenly asks:

“Mint chocolate, like or dislike?”

“Like.”

“Pineapple pizza, like or dislike?”

“Like.”

“Jin Ramen mild flavor, like or dislike?”

“Jin mild is delicious. Like.”

“Pepsi, like or dislike?”

“It’s more delicious when it’s flat. Like.”

“Neoguri with egg, like or dislike?”

“Like.”

“Sol’s Eye (a Korean drink), like or dislike?”

“Ah, I want to drink it now. Like.”

This unni is a bit strange.

Why is she asking questions with predetermined answers?

Lilme nodded with hollow eyes.

“Hmm… Just go away.”

“Pardon?”

Lilme shuddered, half in doubt.

“Ugh, I’ll never eat like that…”

Seeing is believing.

When I put it in her mouth, Lilme’s frozen expression melted.

“…Oh, it’s delicious?”

“I told you it’s delicious!”

Watching guinea pig Lilme eat deliciously, Choi Haru and Cha Jaehee also started spreading strawberry jam and eating like me.

Choi Haru went a step further and even poured milk over it.

…Eck, there was a weird eater here.

Eating the hamburger like cereal with her messy hair wet with sweat, she looks just like a stray cat.

“…Delicious.”

“It’s really delicious.”

“Right?!”

The two of them also had satisfied expressions.

I looked at the squad members with warm, motherly eyes.

Yes. This is it.

Now it feels like the gears are finally turning properly!

After finishing the meal, we went to the CBT classroom to learn military songs.

When we opened the door, there were as many short-haired men as grains of sand. They were trainees who had entered before us.

As soon as they saw the four of us, cheers erupted loud enough to burst eardrums.

I don’t think there would be this much reaction even if Korea won the World Cup.

“Hey, hey! It’s Choi Haru, Choi Haru!”

“Lilme noona, I love you!”

“Crazy. Cha Jaehee’s vibe is insane…”

“Waaaaaaah! Han Yujin!”

…I can even hear water deer cries.

It feels like we’ve become a popular girl group doing a morale-boosting performance.

I put my index finger to my lips.

“Shh!”

At my gesture, the trainees all became mute as if they’d eaten honey. I was rather surprised as it wasn’t the reaction I expected.

“E-everyone. Cheer up.”

Again, cheers erupted.

Even more spirited than before.

Is this how Hitler felt when he gave speeches in Nuremberg?

The four of us sat down and took our seats.

While reminiscing about nostalgic military songs looking at the songbook.

The drill instructor entered, opening the classroom door.

Seeing the four stripes, he seems to be a sergeant first class.

I checked the instructor’s face.

“…Huh?”

It was someone I knew well.

A senior one year above me who was the band club president in middle school.

It was Choi Jungseop.

I would have been glad to meet him even if I ran into him in the neighborhood, but meeting in the closed space of the military made me twice as glad.

Knowing I shouldn’t, but out of gladness I unconsciously raised my hand.

President! It’s me, me!

Han Yujin who used to mess around with and tease you, senior!

Choi Jungseop tilted his head questioningly as our eyes met.

Choi Jungseop didn’t react to my hand greeting and put his mouth to the wired microphone.

“…Candidate Han Yujin?”

“Yes! Candidate Number 1 Han Yujin!”

“Do you have any special circumstances?”

“…Huh? Not really.”

What’s this.

I thought he’d at least give me an eye greeting!

In the end, I lowered my arm lukewarmly.

Choi Jungseop started teaching military songs with an expressionless face.

“Military songs are the torch of anti-communism. The recoil is up and down recoil. Start the military song.”

…What’s this?

Is he pretending not to know on purpose?

He does know me, right?

We sang military songs for an hour and finished the gun presentation ceremony. We returned to the living quarters carrying guns using suspenders.

“My throat’s going to be so hoarse, really! And why are the guns so heavy?”

Lilme said, sitting down weakly on the bunk.

“HaYoo! Why has your expression been like that since earlier?”

“What’s wrong with my expression?”

“It’s exactly like that.”

Cha Jaehee, who was next to her, quickly intercepted the answer.

“You look like you’ve been rejected by a man.”

“Kyahaha! That’s right, that’s right!”

“…”

It’s true that I was rejected, but…

What is this, really?

As far as I know, even though I became a woman, the facts about my middle school and being in the band club remained the same.

…No way.

Is it because this is the military?

From Choi Jungseop’s position as a training center instructor, it probably wasn’t easy to acknowledge me with so many eyes watching.

Thinking like that made me feel relieved.

Just then.

Instructor Choi Jungseop entered, opening the door.

Without even glancing at me, he spoke in a dry voice.

“The gun number is written on the gun. You must memorize it. When exchanging guns with a superior, you should say the gun number like your rank and name. Does everyone understand?”

I looked up at Choi Jungseop, chewing on my lip hangnail.

As our eyes met again, Choi Jungseop approached with big strides.

“Do you have something to say to the squad leader?”

“No, sir…”

“Then why do you keep looking at the squad leader?”

“I’m sorry…”

Showing off in front of the women!

Hey, President Choi.

There aren’t many eyes watching now, so why don’t you ease up and acknowledge me?

Choi Jungseop checked his wristwatch as if it was no big deal.

“Alright, from now on I’ll teach you about gun disassembly and assembly.”

Huh? He’s really not acknowledging me?

Really? For real?

I hurriedly grabbed Choi Jungseop’s sleeve. A displeased look appeared in Choi Jungseop’s eyes.

“U-um…”

“Take your hand off the squad leader’s body.”

“Ah, yes…”

I let go of the sleeve I was holding and fidgeted with my fingers.

In the end, I couldn’t hold back and burst out first.

Because I was anxious.

“Don’t you know me?”

Choi Jungseop put his hand on his waist, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“Yes, I know Candidate Han Yujin. Streamer. Pro gamer. Is that enough?”

Haha. This guy is cute.

Look at him pretending not to know until the end.

There should be “middle school band club junior” before streamer and pro gamer!

“I mean something else besides that.”

“…Something else? What do you mean?”

“I mean middle school.”

“I don’t understand what the candidate is saying right now.”

The atmosphere in the living quarters froze stiffly.

My tongue must have frozen too, as my words came out stumbling.

“Y-you know me! Personally!”

“…Pardon?”

“No… I mean…”

I was so flustered that words flew out of my mouth without even the formal “desu”.

Choi Jungseop’s tightly closed mouth opened quietly.

“I don’t know Candidate Han Yujin. We’re not acquaintances, are we?”

Not acquaintances?

“…Did I hear that wrong?”

“Ah, really…”

Choi Jungseop furrowed his brow as if annoyed.

I raised my trembling hand and folded my middle and ring fingers. It was the finger sign only used by band club members.

“You know this… right?”

“It’s my first time seeing it.”

“You know it.”

“I really don’t know.”

“…You know it.”

“I’ll continue with the training.”

My heart sank with a thud.

It’s a strange feeling.

I felt a sense of loss, as if my memories had flown away entirely. An anxiety rose that my boyhood was fading away one by one.

In the most masculine space,

I feel like I’ve received a death sentence that my masculinity has disappeared.

“Ah…”

So I muttered. Because I was angry.

“…This sucks.”

Just then, another voice cut in.

“What? It sucks?”

It wasn’t Choi Jungseop’s voice.

It was Kang Dahee.

“Get down.”

---

The production team of “I Am a Soldier” was watching every scene. They sat together in a huddle, laughing uproariously while watching the monitoring screen.

“Ah, Han Yujin is really funny.”

“She’s cuter than I expected?”

“Senior, I think I’m going to die from stomach pain. From laughing too much.”

“Look at the shadow on her face. It seems she thinks the instructor isn’t pretending not to know her, but really forgot her.”

“Hehe, right. What’s with that expression like she’s lost her country.”

On the screen, Han Yujin was receiving disciplinary action from Kang Dahee.

Just then, Writer Kwon Minju entered.

“What’s this? It’s bitterly cold outside but there’s a flower of laughter blooming here?”

PD Park Jungseung answered, holding his heaving stomach:

“No, Minju-ya. Listen to this. You know the instructor appearing on the broadcast.”

“The sergeant? Sergeant first class?”

“Not the wildcat, the viper.”

“Ah, Choi Jungseop? But?”

“Yeah, Sergeant Choi Jungseop. He said beforehand that he and Player Han Yujin know each other.”

Hearing those words, Kwon Minju’s eyes swelled round.

“What? What kind of relationship?”

“Middle school senior and junior, he said.”

“Ah, really?”

“But I earnestly begged him to pretend not to know her even if a knife was held to his neck. But Han Yujin player, whether she’s hurt or shocked, anyway she’s had dead eyes since earlier.”

Han Yujin’s expression on screen looked serious.

She’s not really listening to Instructor Choi Jungseop’s explanation of gun disassembly and assembly, unable to concentrate. Her expression was blank as if her soul had left and only the shell remained.

Kwon Minju snapped her fingers.

“Hey. This comes out in the last episode.”

“What is it?”

Kwon Minju moistened her lips once and said:

“First, tell Sergeant Choi. Until discharge, don’t ever smile at Han Yujin or praise her. We’ll make them out to be enemies.”

“Okay. Then what?”

“And then when it’s time to be discharged, the harsh Sergeant Choi smiles while shaking hands. Then he confesses that he actually knew her but pretended not to on purpose.”

Hearing Kwon Minju’s words, Park Jungseung hit the desk.

“Good build-up. Good catharsis.”

Kwon Minju rubbed her chin as if regretful.

“Ah, it would be amazing if Han Yujin cried after hearing that.”

“Then it wouldn’t be just capturing men’s hearts, it would be bombing them. But would she cry? Seems like there’s sand in her veins.”

Just then, Han Yujin on screen started gun disassembly and assembly.

The male production staff who had been in the military threw out comments with their eyes lit up.

“Oh? She’s fast.”

“She definitely has good hand skills.”

“But it’s her first time… Huh?”

“Hmm?”

“What?”

“No, how many seconds did she assemble it in?”

On screen, Choi Jungseop stopped the timer and said:

─…Candidate Han Yujin. 40 seconds.

The voices of the male production staff watching grew louder.

“Wow, shit. This is creepy.”

“Is this possible?”

“I’ve seen guys do it in 45 seconds, but this is my first time seeing a woman do it in 40 seconds?”

“Did she practice beforehand?”

“Hey. Where would you practice K2 disassembly and assembly?”

“Wow, Han Yujin is really amazing.”

Applause and exclamations burst out.

Kwon Minju saw that and asked:

“…Is it possible to do that blindfolded?”

“Yeah. I did it at the new recruit training center too.”

Kwon Minju raised the corners of her mouth slightly and said to the second writer:

“Tell the youngest to radio in. Tell them to have a blindfolded competition with Instructor Choi. We’ll get some footage from that.”

“Yes, unni.”

Park Jungseung was chewing on a paper cup when he went “Ah” and asked Kwon Minju:

“Oh, right. How did the special warfare school casting go?”

“I talked to them well. We’ll move to the special warfare school after finishing CBR defense.”

“Did you ask about parachute jumping?”

“Yeah. They said it might be possible for candidates who do well in unarmed descent and landing posture.”

Kwon Minju asked Park Jungseung again:

“Who do you think should jump?”

“Who else?”

Park Jungseung said, crumpling the paper cup:

“Player Han Yujin, of course.”