READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 241
So there was this parade ground where silent curses were exchanged just through eye contact.
Not sure if it was out of respect, but after that, I was treated pretty generously.
It had been a while since I saw it with my own eyes—lunchtime’s humble meal.
If I were still a soldier, I wouldn’t even know if the rice was going into my nose or mouth, sitting next to the division commander.
But hey, that’s just from a soldier’s perspective. To a civilian, he’s just a kind middle-aged uncle in a military uniform.
“How’s the food? Does it suit your taste?”
“Yes, it’s delicious.”
There was nothing special just because an outsider was here. Lunch was the usual no-frills military meal.
Fried chicken, labeled as “seasoned chicken,” with the seasoning sauce served separately.
The rest of the side dishes were nothing special—bean sprouts drenched in chili powder and a few pieces of cabbage kimchi.
The soup was a lackluster squid soup with a few floating squid pieces.
I carefully picked up the fried chicken with chopsticks, making sure not to break my teeth.
Crunch—the crispy coating shattered against my teeth.
It seemed they put in some effort since the division commander was here. The fried chicken wasn’t the kind that would break your teeth.
The meat wasn’t tough; it was surprisingly tender.
If they fried chicken like this regularly, I’d have filled my rice container with chicken instead of rice during my military days.
Swallowing my disappointment, I somehow finished lunch.
While waiting in the auditorium for the division commander’s afternoon lecture…
“Hey…”
A soldier from the group wandering around the auditorium broke off and approached me.
“Yes?”
Hearing the cautious voice directed at me, I lifted my head from my smartphone.
Given my height, I had to crane my neck up to look at him.
He must be around 180cm, right?
Next thing I noticed was the sergeant’s insignia on his chest.
Just as some conversation was about to start, the female captain sitting next to me intervened first.
“You, Junha, are you here to ask something weird again? Hurry up and leave.”
The soldier named Junha seemed to be a prankster, so the captain cut him off sharply.
At the captain’s sharp question about whether he was here to ask something weird, the sergeant awkwardly laughed and said, “Oh, it’s nothing like that!”
“What is it then?”
The captain’s blunt two-word question held no expectations.
The sergeant, with his hands neatly crossed, bowed slightly toward me and asked in a low voice, like a sycophantic official, “Can I ask your real age…?”
“That *is* something weird, you jerk!”
“Ah!”
At the question about my real age, the captain raised her arm as if to hit him, and the sergeant let out a yelp, pulling back as if he’d already been struck.
His acting was top-notch.
“Ugh, you don’t have to answer.”
As expected.
The captain, with a grimace, waved her hand dismissively and shooed Junha away, saying he didn’t need an answer.
I don’t know why they’re so curious about what’s inside this shell, but they’re people I’ll never see again after today.
Crossing my legs on the plastic chair, I leaned my elbow on my knee, rested my chin on my hand, and smiled slyly.
“Would you believe me if I said I’m seventeen?”
“Huh?”
“Release.”
The once spacious plastic chair gradually narrowed, and the long hair that had been flowing down to my hips adjusted to just above my waist.
After briefly capturing the sergeant’s stunned expression, I chanted the transformation spell again.
“Sun.”
In less than five seconds, it was done.
Of course, the soldiers, who wouldn’t have their smartphones during duty hours, couldn’t capture it, and even the officers couldn’t get their cameras out in time before I transformed back.
With a playful smile, I uncrossed my legs and asked the sergeant, “Did that satisfy your curiosity?”
“Uh… yes.”
The sergeant, who had been staring at me, suddenly became quiet and scurried back to his group.
The female captain sitting next to me stared at me for a while, then started tapping on her smartphone.
“So you’re a student…”
After a while, she looked at me and let out a small sigh of admiration.
“I’ve never heard of anyone retiring while still a student… Did you change at some point?”
She told the soldiers not to ask unnecessary questions, but now she was the one asking.
“No?”
“No? Then how old were you when you started…?”
With a puzzled expression, I said, “No?” and the captain, flustered, trailed off.
If she had any interest in this industry, it was natural to question my current age of seventeen.
‘Well, I’ve been doing this for over ten years.’
If I hadn’t changed midway, that would mean I started being a Magical Girl at six or seven.
It’s a situation that’s hard to comprehend logically, causing cognitive dissonance.
Honestly, my case and Siyeon’s are the most extreme examples…
Yes, that’s how the Magical Girl industry works.
Without directly stating my active years, I hinted at it through my tone.
“Hehe, it’s exactly what you’re imagining.”
Of course, not all cases are like this, but in the captain’s mind, the Magical Girl industry must now seem like a horrifying product of child exploitation.
Whether it does or not, I didn’t feel the need to explain and started exchanging messages with Siyeon on my smartphone.
[How was lunch over there?]
[Gomtang!]
At Siyeon’s military base, they had gomtang for lunch.
Thinking of gomtang, a staple of military meal theft, I immediately thought of the bright red squid jeotgal.
Soon, it’ll be overlapping, and I wonder if samgyetang will be served that day.
Tearing off a chicken leg, dipping it in ssamjang, and chewing it with cucumber was unbeatable.
After the division commander’s lecture, which was as uneventful as expected, just before leaving the military base…
“Since we’re here, we should stop by the PX, right?”
“Of course.”
Parking near the guard post, we headed to the PX like sparrows to a mill.
The holy land of microwaveable food, the oasis that keeps you going through the grueling military life.
Following the one-basket-per-person rule, I grabbed a yellow basket and stepped inside the PX with the uncle.
Right in front of the counter, I saw a top with the word “ROKA” clearly printed on it.
There was also a greenish elastic waistband on the pants.
The thin elastic bands they gave us in training camp were so uncomfortable that I replaced them with these as soon as I got to my unit.
‘What should I buy?’
Anyway, ignoring the memories mixed with nightmares of the past, I turned my attention to the food section.
Frozen foods were the most cost-effective and convenient, but considering the distance, they’d probably melt before I got home.
Unless I had an icebox, I didn’t want to risk food poisoning, so I left the frozen items for the soldiers.
Reluctantly, I turned to the room-temperature items.
The PX’s goods, especially with the tax deducted, were particularly cheap.
I looked at beef jerky and snacks I usually wouldn’t eat, and grabbed a couple of gochunara matdashi packets that had saved me on many unappetizing mornings.
I still can’t tell the difference between this and sanchae bibim.
Beef jerky, which easily costs over 10,000 won outside, was around 8,000 won per pack here. I bought three packs.
I also grabbed two packs of matdashi and various snacks without hesitation.
Meanwhile, the uncle with me was all about alcohol, alcohol, and only alcohol.
He filled his basket with unfamiliar bottles of alcohol to an almost concerning degree.
“Why?”
When I looked down at his basket, he responded with a curt tone.
I wanted to say, “What do you mean, why?” but I held it in.
“No, nothing…”
While I said no, I couldn’t help but worry about his home life.
Won’t your wife say something when you bring all that home?
Shouldn’t you at least grab a few snail creams as bribes…?
Anyway, after easily spending around 50,000 won on snacks, I bid farewell to the military base, hoping never to return.
On the highway back home in the late afternoon…
I wondered if Siyeon had finished well, so I sent her a message.
[Did it go well?]
[Yeah, I’m home]
I was only halfway down the highway, but she was already home and resting.
Maybe it was because I had been in the military environment, but the strong desire to go home just wouldn’t leave me.