My Girlfriend Is Very Good To Me [EN]: Chapter 156

Ep. 155

The day to leave for the training camp finally arrived. I barely slept the night before.

The day before that, I spent time with friends, then with family, and played with Sarang as much as possible.

On the last night, Heena and I stayed up almost all night in bed, hugging each other and talking.

Not about anything special, just about plans like where to go after training, and where to go this winter.

I managed to get a little sleep late, but it was only about two hours. But I wasn’t as tired as I thought, due to the tension and excitement.

I quietly left the room so as not to wake Heena, and took a leisurely shower. It felt surreal—the fact that I wouldn’t be in this house from tomorrow.

“Take care of yourself. Just do as much as others do.”

“Yes, health is the most important thing. I wish I could have gone with you, Dad.”

“I will. No, Dad, you have to go to work. My brothers all went.”

After washing up, I talked with my father-in-law and my dad for a while. My dad stopped by early in the morning before going to work.

Both of them said they would take a day off to go with me, but I declined. My brothers had all gone to the army [a mandatory military service in South Korea], so there was no need for the whole family to go. Besides, I only had to train for five weeks and then commute to work.

Besides, there was no room for two more people in the car. There were six people going to the training camp together.

Heeseong hyung [older brother/male friend], who had already taken a day off to volunteer as a driver, Heena, Sarang, my mother-in-law, my mom, and me.

“Oh my… what about Sarang when our son-in-law leaves?”

“I brought ice cream in the icebox.”

“She’ll be too busy crying to even look at it. Sis, how much did Sarang look for Yeonhu when he slept there for a day last time?”

“We still have to try. We can’t stop our son from going.”

“That’s true, but…”

Both of them are more worried about Sarang than me. Well, I was worried too. It would be a relief if she just frowned or cried a little.

I checked the contents of the bag one more time in the living room, and sat down to calm my mind.

Actually, there wasn’t much to pack: ID card, watch, a few toiletries that didn’t overlap with the initial supplies, etc. And most importantly, family photos.

Most of them were photos of Heena and Sarang. I packed family photos taken together. No matter how tough the training camp is, I’ll be able to endure it if I see their faces. Probably.

While sitting and half-listening to the adults talking, Heena came out of the room with Sarang.

Sarang was still half-asleep, her eyes more than half-closed and her mouth moving.

“Eommaa [Mommy]… Sarang… sleeping…”

“I’ll go wash up with Sarang.”

“Okay. There’s still plenty of time, so take your time.”

“…Come out quickly and be with me.”

“Okay.”

Heena’s face wasn’t good. She was fine until we talked at night, but when she opened her eyes, she must have felt uneasy again.

When I saw Heena and Sarang’s faces again in the morning, I felt very heavy-hearted. The reality that I wouldn’t be able to see my cute daughter and beautiful wife for five weeks was becoming clearer and clearer.

While I was sitting stiffly, feeling like my fingertips were getting cold, Heeseong hyung, who had gone out to move the car, came back.

“Hey, I moved the car in front. Are you doing okay?”

“So-so.”

“Well, it’s not your mentality that’s the problem. It’s Lee Heena and Sarang’s mentality.”

“Haa… I have to call often. They said I can call once a week?”

“That depends on each unit. If you’re lucky, you can call more often, but if you’re unlucky, you can only call once or twice during the whole period.”

“How was it for you, hyung?”

“I only got to once. Because there was a guy who caused an accident. I was so unlucky.”

“…”

I shouldn’t have asked.

I only made my heart heavier by asking. Thanks to that, the peace I was barely maintaining was broken, and I sighed deeply.

—

When it was time, those who had to go to work went to work, and after receiving a call from my hyungs and sister-in-law telling me to have a good time, we got in the car and headed to the training camp.

There was no conversation on the way. I get carsick easily, so everyone knew that and deliberately didn’t talk to me.

Sarang was still very sleepy, so she was sleeping soundly on my lap, and Heena was leaning her head on my shoulder, holding my hand. Tightly, strongly.

And after more than two hours, we arrived at a place where there were tons of men walking around with their families or lovers, with their heads shaved like mine. There were soldiers everywhere, which was hard to see normally.

Now there was no tension, only resignation. I was really going, I thought.

I wondered how to park with so many people, but the parking space was surprisingly large. Thanks to that, we quickly parked and headed to the entrance ceremony.

“Son, do you want to go out and eat something?”

“They say the food they sell here isn’t good? That’s why we came leisurely. Let’s just go straight in.”

“Honey, aren’t you hungry? What if you have a hard time later…”

“Hey, they don’t train in the first week. You’ll get sick if you force yourself to eat.”

“That’s right. Don’t worry too much.”

“Same as Daddy! Spiky hair!”

Sarang seemed to have woken up a bit, pointing here and there and laughing. She must have been surprised to see so many people with similar hair.

And as we got closer to the entrance ceremony, there were more and more people—so many that we could get separated if we weren’t careful.

So I held Sarang in one arm, held Heena’s hand tightly with the other, and followed my hyung.

“Daddy! Too many people!”

“I know~ Hold on tight to Daddy, okay?”

“Yes!”

We pushed our way through the crowd and arrived at a place like a large soccer field. There were stepped stands on the east, west, south, and north sides of the green turf field, and after arriving there, we were able to sit in the shade.

Looking around, the other training camp buddies looked very nervous. They were smiling among their families, but it didn’t feel like they were really smiling.

I hugged Sarang tightly in my arms and talked a little more with Heena. Now was the last time to talk.

It was the middle of summer and the weather was hot, so there was no separate enlistment ceremony today. They said we could wait here and go in when they called us.

“Honey, never get hurt… never. Okay?”

“Of course. I’ll take care of myself first.”

“I’ll always have my phone with me, so please call me when you can.”

“Okay. I’ll call you first.”

“They said I can write a letter here and send it right away, so I’ll write it here and write it again when I get home.”

“Come to think of it, it’s the first time we’re exchanging letters. We should have tried this.”

Mom, mother-in-law, and Heeseong hyung were silent while we were talking. Sarang was busy looking around in my arms.

Meanwhile, Heena kept talking—the same words she had said dozens of times until dawn today.

“It’s autumn when you come back, so let’s go on a picnic again. Let’s go to the amusement park too…”

“Write down all the places you want to go. We’ll go every weekend.”

“You’ll be working on weekdays, so I’ll make you breakfast from now on.”

“Um… that, you’ll be tired… no. Please do. I want to eat the kimchi stew [a traditional Korean stew, typically made with kimchi, pork, and tofu] you made after a long time.”

“And…”

Words mixed with sobs kept flowing out. I thought I would cry if I looked at her face, so I kept my eyes on the green turf field in front of me.

But soon, Heena couldn’t hold back and started sobbing.

“And… sob… I don’t know… just, take care of yourself… hiccup… come back quickly…”

“Don’t worry. Time will fly by. I’ll be back soon.”

My nose tingled. Five weeks is not a long time, but for us, it was the first long separation we had ever experienced.

“Mommy, why crying…?”

Sarang also seemed to feel a strange atmosphere, looking back and forth between me and Heena with an uneasy face.

And then, the surroundings became noisy and people gradually started to move. The LED display on the top of the stand had the words ‘Time to say goodbye’.

Seeing that, I spoke to Sarang as gently as possible.

“Sarang.”

“Daddy, Mommy shouldn’t cry…”

“Sarang, Daddy’s going somewhere for a while… Can Sarang listen to Mommy and be good?”

“Daddy? Where are you going?”

“Yes. Daddy’s going somewhere for a while and sleeping a few nights.”

“How many nights? Sarang wants to go too! Sarang wants to go with Daddy!”

Sarang seemed to instinctively feel that this situation was not a one-night separation. She immediately turned around and started to cling to my clothes with both hands.

I stroked Sarang’s face and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

“Our Sarang is good, right? If Sarang listens to Mommy and eats well, Daddy will be back soon.”

“No… Daddy, don’t go… Sarang wants to go with you!”

Actually, I’m not sure if this is the right way. Maybe it would have been better to lie completely and pretend to go somewhere for a while.

But that seemed like a cowardly way. It was no different from me running away because I didn’t want to see Sarang cry. If I suddenly disappeared without knowing anything, Sarang would cry even more sadly.

Sarang, who was raising her voice and clinging to me, soon burst into tears.

She’s only four years old. I didn’t even explain the situation properly, and she’s not old enough to understand it.

But she seemed to know—that we wouldn’t be able to meet for a long time for me and Heena, and even longer for Sarang.

“Don’t go!! Waaaaah!!! Mommy!!! Tell Daddy not to go!!!!”

I had never seen Sarang cry so loudly, except when she was very young. Almost always, I or another family member was by her side, and Sarang was so kind that there was no need to scold her.

Seeing this, my heart felt weak and torn.

“Daddy promises. Forty nights. Sarang is smart, so you know how many forty nights are, right? After forty nights, Daddy will come back to hug Sarang.”

“Daddy!!! Sarang too, hiccup… go… Hwaaaa… Sarang… sob… will listen well… Daddy… don’t go!!!”

“Our Sarang is always good. Huh? Daddy will be back for a while.”

“Don’t go, please… Daddy, don’t go…!!!”

“Oh my, our Sarang…”

She grabs my clothes, buries her face in my arms, and cries and shouts not to go. I patted Sarang’s back and tried to soothe her as much as possible.

But there wasn’t much time left. Gradually, the people around me decreased, and the sound of urging the trainees who hadn’t arrived yet began to echo.

I had no choice but to try to send Sarang to Heeseong hyung or my mother-in-law, but Heena reached out to me from the side.

Heena’s eyes were also red because she kept sobbing, but she was still smiling softly.

“Honey, give Sarang to me. I’ll comfort her.”

“Okay, thank you. I’ll be back soon.”

“As I said before, never get hurt… Sarang, come here. To Mommy.”

“No!!!!! Daddy!!!! Don’t go!!!!”

Heena took Sarang away with force, who was screaming as if she was going to tear my clothes. Heeseong hyung helped her to let go of my clothes.

“Hey, don’t be nosy and just do it moderately.”

“That’s what I specialize in.”

“Waaaaaaaaah!!!! No way!!!! Daddy!!!!!!”

There was no more time to waste. I kissed Sarang’s face, which was a mess of tears, for the last time, and gave Heena a short kiss on the lips. My family was watching, but I didn’t care at all at this moment.

And with that short kiss, I grabbed my bag and jumped down. I was already quite late, so I hurried.

“Daddy!!!!!! Take me too!!!! I’m going with Daddy!!!!!!”

I could still hear Sarang’s heartbreaking voice in my ears. My heart was heavy because she was crying more desperately than I had imagined. It was so heavy that I felt like I was being crushed.

However, now I could only hope that Heena or other family members would comfort her.

A person who looked like an instructor must have heard Sarang’s voice even below, but he didn’t say anything and just nodded to tell me to go inside.

When I ran inside, there were countless training buddies sitting crouched in rows.

“Find your seats and sit down quickly!!!”

There was an instructor shouting at me.

That’s how my training camp life began.