Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 416

417

“I’m sorry!”

Hyun-sung suddenly apologized in a loud voice.

Everything should be done in moderation. Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk probably knew what he did wrong after hearing this much.

He judged that pushing further might backfire, so he said that to create an exit for Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk.

On the other hand, Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk was momentarily bewildered.

If the transport officer or the senior NCO [Non-Commissioned Officer] were to find out about today’s incident, all the military life he had built up until now could be reduced to nothing overnight.

The mistake he made today was absolutely unacceptable.

Because of the characteristics of the transportation unit, which is responsible for dangerous vehicles, unlike other branches, he couldn’t avoid it. That’s why he couldn’t answer the new recruit’s question earlier. But suddenly, he apologized, so he couldn’t help but be bewildered.

However, the apology was also welcome. In this awkward situation where he had nothing to say, he thought that the apology might create an exit.

If so, the first thing to do would be to confirm the meaning of the words.

Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk cautiously asked with a hopeful expectation.

“Did you just say you were sorry?”

“Private Kim Hyun-sung, yes, I did.”

From Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk’s cautious voice, Hyun-sung could feel what he was feeling. He thought it was a good thing to open an exit at this point.

“Private Kim, can you explain what you’re sorry for?”

Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk’s voice seemed to have regained stability compared to before.

Since Hyun-sung had decided to open an exit, he immediately opened his mouth to make sure he did.

“I don’t think I understood Sergeant Kim’s great intentions.”

“Great intentions?”

“Yes, that’s right. Sergeant Kim did that on purpose to improve my driving skills…”

Hyun-sung deliberately began to defend Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk. The words were long, but the point was one: Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk deliberately chose a difficult course, even taking risks, to improve Hyun-sung’s driving skills.

As Hyun-sung’s words continued, Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk’s expression gradually brightened, and when Hyun-sung’s words ended, he suddenly burst into laughter.

“Puhahaha.”

Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk, who burst into laughter, stopped laughing and called Hyun-sung.

“Private Kim.”

“Private Kim Hyun-sung!”

“You said you passed the second round of the Certified Public Accountant exam, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“There was a reason. Your head is not ordinary. I was worried that you might misunderstand my intentions…”

Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk’s words grew longer. The more he talked, the more he had to cover up his mistakes. Hyun-sung nodded occasionally as he listened to him to wrap things up.

Then, Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk tapped Hyun-sung on the shoulder and continued.

“Okay, shall we start now?”

The two had already become ‘we’. Hyun-sung thought that he had succeeded to some extent. He thought that driving training would be easy and life in the company would be smooth.

“Private Kim Hyun-sung, I will depart.”

“Okay, let’s go!”

Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk’s voice was louder than Hyun-sung’s. Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk seemed to have completely escaped from the worries that had filled him a little while ago.

About five minutes passed.

Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk suddenly raised his hand and said.

“Stop.”

“Stop!”

Hyun-sung repeated and stopped the truck. Then, Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk suddenly got out of the truck and ran somewhere. The place he entered was the convenience store.

A moment later.

Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk, who returned from the convenience store, said again.

“Let’s go.”

“Let’s go!”

After driving for another five minutes, Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk stopped the car again. Then, he took something out of a black plastic bag and handed it to Hyun-sung.

“Private Kim Hyun-sung, I will enjoy this.”

What Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk handed over was warm Vegemil [a Korean brand of soy milk] and a Boromddal bread [a popular Korean bread brand]. In his previous life, Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk was known as a cheapskate. He bought Hyun-sung Vegemil and bread on the first day of driving training.

Hyun-sung glanced at Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk.

He looked a little pathetic as he looked out the window and ate bread, as if he was embarrassed himself.

Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk, who had finished eating the bread, looked at Hyun-sung and opened his mouth.

“Hyun-sung.”

“Private Kim Hyun-sung.”

“I’m just saying this just in case…”

Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk couldn’t continue his words. But who is Hyun-sung? He had already graduated from the Civil Defense Force [a reserve force in South Korea].

He knew what Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk was trying to say.

“Private Kim Hyun-sung, I practiced on the gentle left road today.”

“Huh? Uh…”

“I will depart.”

Hyun-sung neatly cleared up even the slightest possibility that Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk might be worried about. Then, he could feel Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk’s expression brightening up.

***

Hyun-sung and Kim Dong-soo, who finished their morning driving training.

The place where the two went side by side was also the bathroom.

Out of curiosity, Hyun-sung first touched Kim Dong-soo’s right forearm. Then, Kim Dong-soo smiled and said.

“Of course, I’m fine. I guess the Defense Security Command [South Korean military intelligence agency] is scary to soldiers.”

“Did you sell your uncle?”

“Yeah, as you said, I said that my non-existent uncle works at the Defense Security Command, and do you know what Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk said?”

Kim Dong-soo smiled as he said that. Hyun-sung, who was watching the scene, tilted his head slightly. He was curious about the meaning of the smile.

“What did he say that you’re laughing?”

“Well, after listening to my story, he suddenly said that his father works at the Blue House [the executive office and official residence of the President of South Korea].”

“The Blue House? Really?”

“Hey, does that make sense? Of course, it’s a bluff.”

“Ah, ah… that bluff.”

Hyun-sung nodded with a smile. Then he immediately asked again.

“What? That means he didn’t believe you, right? So what happened?”

“Have you ever played cards?”

“A little.”

“Then you’ll know. To win with a bluff, it’s all about who manages their image until the end. You may not know it, but I’ve done some acting even though I’m big.”

“So?”

“So what is so? I showed you what the essence of acting is.”

Hyun-sung smiled as he looked at Kim Dong-soo. It was a sight he had never seen in his previous life. How dare a private who had only been in the unit for a week bluff against a sergeant? But listening to his story now, it means that he did that impossible thing.

Of course, it would be a lie if he wasn’t curious.

Hyun-sung asked immediately.

“How?”

“I just went for it, believing what you said.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“You told me at the training camp. Life is a straight line anyway. If you don’t want to regret it, you should go all the way once you start, even if it’s reckless.”

“Hey, you used those words there?”

Hyun-sung was dumbfounded. Of course, he said those words while talking in the evening after training at the training camp, but he didn’t expect him to use them in today’s situation.

Kim Dong-soo continued.

“No, when I thought about it, that was right. So I showed you a proper straight line today.”

“You’re saying that you still bluffed and yelled at Sergeant Kim even though you were holding a bluff?”

“Yeah, I thought that if I was pushed back here, my military life would be over, so I said everything I could. And the decisive thing was that what you told me about the secrets of the Defense Security Command was effective.”

“Hoo!”

Hyun-sung took a breath without realizing it.

Looking at Kim Dong-soo’s expression, he could tell how fierce the battle of nerves between the two must have been at that moment. Anyway, the important thing is that Kim Dong-soo, a new recruit, suppressed Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk’s momentum in an absurd situation.

It was a completely unexpected situation.

Hyun-sung asked again out of curiosity.

“So, did you win in the end?”

“Not yet?”

“Huh? What are you talking about? From what you were saying a little while ago, it seemed like the game was over. But it’s not over?”

“I just bought time.”

“Time… what does that mean?”

Hyun-sung couldn’t understand what Kim Dong-soo was saying. It was either yes or no, but he didn’t quite understand what it meant to just buy time.

Kim Dong-soo said with a smile.

“One month.”

“One month? You’re saying you bought a month’s time?”

“Yeah, he said he would come to visit in a month.”

“Who? Maybe your… uncle?”

Hyun-sung asked cautiously, just in case. In this situation, the only person who could buy him a month’s time was Kim Dong-soo’s uncle, who he said worked at the Defense Security Command. But the problem is that the person is just a fictional character created by Hyun-sung…

Then Kim Dong-soo nodded with a smile.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“That’s right? Hey, does that make sense? How can a non-existent uncle come to visit?”

“I have to find him. No, I have to make him.”

“Make him? Who?”

“Who else? The person who created a non-existent person from the beginning has to make him. Isn’t that right?”

Kim Dong-soo suddenly looked at Hyun-sung. Hyun-sung was just dumbfounded when he saw the scene. He never expected things to go this far. But the important thing is that he has to finish this somehow.

“Um…”

Hyun-sung thought for a moment and asked Kim Dong-soo.

“Did you say a month?”

“Yeah, he said my uncle would come to visit in a month. He said he would introduce my uncle to Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk at that time.”

“Even introduce him?”

“Of course, he said he wouldn’t believe me otherwise…”

“Wait a minute…”

Hyun-sung seemed to be thinking again for a moment and then immediately continued.

“Okay. I’ll take care of it.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yeah, Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk has less than 5 months left anyway, right?”

“That’s true, but what does that have to do with making an uncle?”

“You only have to hold out for two months.”

Usually, when there are about 3 months left before discharge, they are called end-of-term soldiers [soldiers nearing the end of their mandatory military service].

Of course, that period is gradually changing over time. When Hyun-sung was a private, he usually treated end-of-term soldiers from 3 months before discharge, but by the time Hyun-sung was about to be discharged, the concept of end-of-term soldiers had almost disappeared. Of course, it’s a little different for each unit.

Anyway, the important thing is that in the case of Sergeant Kim Min-hyuk, he will become the number one in the company in two months and will be excluded from a lot of work.

As they often say, it’s a time to be careful even of falling leaves from then on [a Korean idiom meaning to be extra cautious]. In that case, he doesn’t usually get involved in company affairs and doesn’t go out on operations a lot.

He naturally becomes cautious. In that case, it doesn’t matter whether Kim Dong-soo’s uncle is in the Defense Security Command or not. He was curious now and asked to be introduced, but at that time, the story would be meaningless.

So, he only has to hold out for two months.

Hyun-sung continued.

“I don’t think you need to worry about that problem anyway. Sergeant Kim will be done in two months anyway.”

“Two months? What are you talking about? There are still 5 months left?”

“That’s…”

Anyway, Kim Dong-soo doesn’t know the attributes of the military. But Hyun-sung is different. Anyway, it’s a life he’s already experienced once. As Hyun-sung’s explanation continued, Kim Dong-soo made a surprised expression, and as Hyun-sung’s explanation ended, he immediately asked.

“Hey, is that real?”

“Yeah, so don’t worry about that problem anymore. And since he said he would come to visit in a month anyway, you can say that there was another job at the Defense Security Command and he decided to come again in a month.”

“So, you’re saying that you’ve already earned a month, so you only have to hold out for another month?”

“Okay, that’s right. And even if Sergeant Kim knows that it’s a bluff at that time, the game is already over anyway. An end-of-term soldier doesn’t unnecessarily… no, he’ll be a private first class at that time. Anyway, I don’t think you need to worry about that story anymore.”

Hyun-sung looked at Kim Dong-soo once and then continued.

“The most important thing is that you learn to drive properly as soon as possible. That way, your military life will be easier.”

“Okay, I got it. But the difficult thing is still standing up on a slope. No matter how much I grab the half-clutch, the engine turns off when I try to start. Isn’t there a good way?”

“It’s a feeling.”

“A feeling?”

“Yeah, when you take your left foot off the clutch…”

Hyun-sung began to explain the method he knew in as much detail as possible. Then, Kim Dong-soo began to listen to Hyun-sung’s explanation with sparkling eyes. In his previous life, Hyun-sung didn’t know either, so he couldn’t help it, but now he could explain it as much as he wanted.

As Hyun-sung’s explanation ended, Kim Dong-soo sighed and asked.

“Hoo! Anyway, when will we become end-of-term soldiers?”

“Hey, do you know that saying?”

“Huh? What saying?”

“The saying that the Ministry of National Defense’s clock goes even if you hang it upside down [meaning time passes no matter what]. Anyway, we’ll be end-of-term in 2 years. Hey, it’s time for your favorite chow time. Let’s go.”

It was then.

Ding-dong-ding!

The lunch assembly bell began to ring.

‘2 years, will that time ever come…’

Hyun-sung clenched his teeth and ran outside.