EBCGM 10

 Chapter 10

Billionaire Chaebol Third-Generation Goes to the Military

Things Money Can Buy, Things Money Cannot Buy – (4)

Just because I had submitted my leave application did not mean I could immediately go on leave.

Everything had its proper order.

“Did your leave get fully approved?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What do you have to do today?”

“I’m supposed to go to the fuel depot and check the fuel, and after that, I’m scheduled to organize the Type 2 warehouse with the logistics supply officer.”

In the battalion I belonged to, the officer in charge had almost as much influence as a Master Sergeant.

Strictly speaking, he was still a Sergeant First Class.

But he was also a Sergeant First Class who was about to be promoted to Master Sergeant.

Thanks to that, getting approval for my leave had gone as smoothly as water flowing.

“What’s there to check at the fuel depot? I’ll finish my coffee and go check it myself. Gichan, you organize the Type 2 warehouse with that guy.”

“Is that really okay?”

Shoo, shoo.

The officer in charge raised one hand and gestured for me and the logistics supply officer to leave.

I immediately grabbed the key to the Type 2 warehouse.

“I’ll smoke a cigarette before we start… Ah, you don’t smoke, do you?”

The logistics supply officer, Sergeant Dogi Chan, was also a Staff Sergeant who was about to be promoted.

Somehow, the logistics department had two non-commissioned officers who were both waiting for their next promotion.

“I wonder how much we have to send to the division… I mean, the junk.”

“From what I’ve seen, I don’t think there’s that much—”

“Let’s take it easy. We can joke around a little while we work.”

Perhaps because he noticed I did not smoke, Sergeant Dogi Chan put out his cigarette after only a few puffs.

Click.

Clunk.

The Type 2 warehouse.

When we entered, there were boxes containing worn-out military uniforms, worn-out military boots, worn-out raincoats, and so on.

It looked like they had gathered everything that had become classified as worn-out among the things soldiers wore and took off during their military service.

“Technically, we’re supposed to send all of this too. Hmm…”

“I sorted them as much as I could. If you take a look, Sergeant, and there’s anything that you think really shouldn’t be sent—”

“Hey, when it’s just the two of us, you don’t have to be so formal. You said your birthday is in March, too. If you look at it that way, you’ve lived longer than me.”

“Even so—”

“Huh?”

“I can’t speak informally to you, can I?”

“…Well, yeah. I guess not. Anyway, I just meant you don’t have to be so stiff around me.”

Sergeant Dogi Chan rummaged through the worn-out items I had sorted and asked me various questions.

“If your physical ability, I mean your athletic ability, is naturally that good, why didn’t you just become an athlete?”

“Ah, that—”

“Then again, I heard you even studied in the United States, so I guess you must have been good at studying since you were young.”

“That wasn’t really the case.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I wandered around a bit before I became a high school student…”

“What kind of wandering?”

I had one older brother.

He had been born with a very weak body from a young age.

There were always people who mocked him or picked fights with him because of that.

My brother often hid it from our parents and me, suffering alone.

But whenever I found out…

I never even looked back and went after those guys instead of him, teaching them a proper lesson.

“So what you’re saying is that you fought with guys who were several years older than you?”

“Yes.”

“…That’s impressive. Especially at that age, even a one- or two-year difference is huge. Well, your physical ability is ridiculously good, though.”

“That was also one of the reasons I trained harder.”

“Huh?”

“To protect myself, and to protect the people who were important to me.”

What if I felt like I couldn’t handle it alone?

It didn’t matter.

No matter how many opponents there were, I would charge at them first.

“Easy to say, though…”

“Anyway, that’s how it was.”

“So you actually did wrestling even before you went to the United States?”

“A little at a time… Of course, I started taking it seriously after I went to the United States.”

“After hearing you talk, you must be really close with your brother, huh?”

Children from wealthy families often did not get along well with each other.

They would do anything to get even a little more attention from their parents.

…But we were a little different.

My brother had even cried while saying that he owed me a lot and that he was always sorry.

“So it’s just you and your brother?”

“I also have a younger sister.”

“Oh! A younger sister! How old is she?”

“She’s in her third year of high school now.”

“She’s in the United States?”

“No, she’s in Korea.”

“Oh-ho… If she’s a senior in high school, this must be the time when her head is about to explode from studying. This is just my guess, but looking at you, I feel like your sister probably has good physical ability too. Do you have a picture?”

Of course not.

When I enlisted, I couldn’t bring anything except what I absolutely needed for military life.

That had also been my father’s decision.

“Don’t tell me you’re not close with your younger sister either?”

“Honestly—”

“Honestly?”

“I think we’re quite close.”

“How does that make sense?”

“What do you mean?”

“No matter how big the age gap is… I’ve never seen an older brother who gets along well with his younger sister.”

I suppose that was understandable.

But strangely enough, our youngest had always followed me around since she was little.

She was also close with our older brother, but… especially around me, she would act extremely cute.

She never really caused any problems, either.

More precisely, there was simply no reason for us to have a bad relationship.

“Does your sister not exercise or anything?”

“She did a lot of different things when she was young. The only thing she still does is swimming.”

“Oh, swimming. Ha, in a way, there’s hardly a better exercise than swimming. I did some swimming when I was young too.”

“Really?”

“In a rural countryside village! Do you know what dog-paddle is?”

“Ah, haha…”

“Huh? Are you looking down on me right now? Even if I didn’t learn it properly, if you’re good at dog-paddling, you won’t drown.”

“How could I dare look down on you?”

“Ha, those were good times. Back when I had nothing to worry about…”

He even added that perhaps it would have been better if he had come to the military sooner, lamenting the days of his youth.

“By the way, I wonder when the new recruit is coming. Honestly, it was only possible because of that guy, Gidae. Even while the guy who was discharged recently was using up all his leave near the end of his service… he handled everything by himself. We need three people for things to run smoothly.”

“Should I cancel the leave application I submitted?”

“Huh? Hey, that’s not what I meant. I’m just saying it’s time for us to get a new recruit, but no one is coming. We were so desperate that we even brought you, who had received tank driver training, into the logistics department.”

I felt the same way.

If a junior was going to come eventually anyway…

I hoped he would come even one day sooner.

“And I’m just saying this in case.”

“What is it?”

“If anyone tells you to buy something for them when you come back from leave, just ignore them. I’m not worried about Gidae because he wouldn’t do that anyway. But if any of the senior soldiers in your company ask you to do that…”

The logistics supply officer said there would definitely be people asking me to secretly buy them some magazine or get them civilian cigarettes.

I listened carefully to Sergeant Do’s words and nodded several times.

The day I was finally going on my first leave during my military service.

“Turn around once.”

“I didn’t hear—”

“Never mind. I’ll just look myself. Hmm, you said you were going to make them shine properly, but maybe it’s still a little lacking?”

The night before.

Private First Class Cha had somehow decided he would polish my military boots until they shone, whether it was a water shine…

Or a fire shine.

He had polished my boots in a place where there was barely any light.

To the point that I wondered if he really had to go this far for me.

“Your physique really helps, I guess. The uniform fits you well. It looks good. And the boots are properly polished too.”

“Hey, be quiet.”

“…I’m jealous. When I went on my first leave, no one did anything like that for me.”

“Hey— I said be quiet.”

Sergeant Cha had been firmly by my side.

Thanks to him, I was able to finish preparing to leave faster than anyone else.

“Looking at you, you won’t be embarrassed anywhere you go with this! I’ll take you to the guard post. Come on. Just say goodbye to the officer in charge and the supply officer.”

All I had to do was quietly follow behind Sergeant Cha.

Knock, knock.

“Charge! Have you been resting comfortably?”

“…Yeah. You’re here.”

“Officer, today—”

“Why did you bring him here? He’s going on leave.”

“Even so, I thought it was proper for him to say goodbye before leaving—”

“Goodbye, nothing. Instead of wasting time here, take him to the guard post. And Taepyeong, contact me as soon as you get home.”

I answered the officer in charge with a louder voice than usual and even saluted.

Supply officer Sergeant Do looked at me proudly and waved his hand.

“Sergeant Cha Gidae.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve tried to finish as much of the work as possible over the past few days—”

“Ah… I told you not to worry about me, didn’t I? The officer in charge, the supply officer, and I—all three of us have no problem with things.”

“Then I’ll be going.”

“Okay! Just make sure you contact us like the officer said. Get plenty of rest, and meet some friends too! Have a drink!”

“Charge!”

“Retreat! Heh-heh.”

Click.

Creeeeak.

As I watched the guard post gate open, I gave Sergeant Cha a proper military salute.

Even though he was younger than me…

As long as we were active-duty soldiers, he was my senior because he held a higher rank than me.

So I waited until he disappeared from my sight.

Only after I saw him wave at me one last time did I finally start walking.

I had only walked for a short while when a black sedan came into view.

And a familiar person got out of it.

It was Secretary Park.

“You came out earlier than I expected.”

“It just worked out that way. Have you been waiting long?”

“No.”

“Even though we’ve talked on the phone from time to time, it’s been quite a while since I last saw you.”

“Indeed. Please get in. I’ll take you to the villa.”

With Secretary Park’s consideration, I got into the back seat of the car.

The person responsible for driving the car also got out first and greeted me.

I answered with a slight bow of my head.

“The Chairman is waiting for you at the villa.”

“My father?”

Secretary Park was one thing, but…

How long had it been since I had last seen my father?

He hadn’t even come when I entered boot camp or when I completed my training.

“Is my mother there too?”

“Of course.”

“Hmm.”

“This is a personal question, but… is there anything in particular you want to do? If it’s something I can help with, I’ll help you with whatever it is.”

I had come out on leave.

But it had already been expected that I would spend it only at the villa in Gyeonggi Province.

At Secretary Park’s words, I opened the window in the back seat.

Feeling the wind hit my face, I spoke again.

“It’s not that there’s anything in particular I want to do…”

“……?”

“There is something I want to talk about with my father.”

“May I ask what you want to discuss with the Chairman?”

“Defense industry. The military defense industry.”

“Pardon?”

“Somehow, I ended up serving in the logistics department, right?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know if you’re aware of this, Secretary Park, but there are still so many military supplies that look like they could have been used during the Korean War…”

“Ah, I understand what you’re trying to say now.”

Secretary Park gave a slightly bitter smile at my words.

But only for a moment.

“I think the Chairman will like it.”

“Pardon?”

“If the Chairman I know is still the same, I think he will.”

Unlike other people…

My father had also completed his military service as an officer.

Because of that, I was now able to talk to him about things that I had never even thought of discussing with him before.