Chapter Text
chaeyoung’s enlisting in the military. yes, you read that right. son chaeyoung, free-spirited art student capable of nonchalantly shrugging off the prying eyes taking in the expanse of body art marking her skin, was giving up 2 years of her life to the conservative, judgemental country that was south korea. (in which her countless tattoos were very much frowned upon, for whatever reason) heck, she hadn’t even ever stepped foot into any of the imposing, scarily vast mazes otherwise known as jungles. the closest she had come was probably idle doodles of flora and fauna to keep herself entertained during the mandatory military briefings.
almost as if it were some form of grand occasion, her parents had taken leave to send her off on this ‘special day’. chaeyoung scoffed. special wouldn’t be the word she’d use to describe what was essentially a glorified 2 year prison experiential programme. she’d dreaded the prospect of enlistment ever since she’d learnt that, to her absolute horror, the korean army was a conscript army for both boys and girls.
whenever she passed by her school’s military band back in the good old days, she had already found herself pitying them tremendously as they stood at attention, backs straightened and posture impeccable. chaeyoung would meet the despairing, frustrated eyes of several exhausted members clutching onto instruments practically as large as she was while the stern, sadistic conductor prowled around the orderly file like a ravenous lion ready to pounce on any poor soul who dared show any sign of weakness.
the pointlessness and tediousness of it all repulsed chaeyoung to no end. time waits for no one, and you expect so many youths in the prime of their lives to stand around aimlessly under the guise of instilling discipline and resilience? as you can probably tell by now, chaeyoung isn’t exactly the biggest fan of regimentation, repetition and the like.
the army, in a theoretical sense, was thus everything her worst nightmare would comprise of and then some. it certainly didn’t help that her seniors’ army reviews were anything but glowing. (at least those she had heard from every once in a while, for there were those like jihyo, the unfortunate chosen ones deployed as army intelligence scouts-in-training, who were perpetually mired within unwelcoming forests and mountains with no means of communication with the outside world.)
hellhole, pigsty, brain cell donation drive and mental asylum were some of the choice descriptions offered up in disgruntlement by nayeon and jeongyeon, and chaeyoung couldn’t help but think the latter two were rather apt as a stone-faced female soldier marched haughtily towards her parents’ car, arms being swung in such a ridiculously exaggerated manner that she looked more daft than anything.
said female soldier proceeded to practically yell (if that was her normal speech volume, chaeyoung feared for her eardrums when she inevitably fucked up and ms stone screamed bloody murder at her) pleasantries at chaeyoung’s parents, right arm raised in a stiff salute throughout and chaeyoung smiled widely despite herself. she knew her parents were trying their utmost not to burst out in laughter, her genes hadn’t come from nowhere after all.
“ms son, it’s good to see that you’re still smiling. a positive mindset towards the demanding yet rewarding course you will be put through will go a long way towards ensuring these 2 years pass as smoothly as possible.” ms stone’s rough voice startled chaeyoung into locking eyes with her, the smile plastered on her face unsubtly forced and a strange twinkle dancing in her eyes.
“why don’t you say your final goodbyes to your lovely parents, i’m sure you’ll miss them greatly in the future.” chaeyoung was unsettled by how ms stone’s words were laced with an undertone of warning and satisfaction, but she fully intended to follow the given instructions.
she loved her parents, two of the only people in the world to truly embrace and accept her for who she was, a cynical, rebellious girl with a stubborn refusal to conform to rigid societal expectations and who was intent on doing things her own way.
it wasn’t quite a tearful goodbye (chaeyoung was way too headstrong for anything of the sort) but it was a gutting moment nonetheless, as she waved longingly to her parents, knowing it would be the last time in a long while their warm, loving smiles would be directed at her.
then an absolute hulk of a man began to usher her parents out of the premises to make way for the thousands of cars packed like sardines in the all-too-narrow road behind and...well. that was that.
chaeyoung was left all alone, heading into the unknown.
dragging her eyes away from her parents’ departing car reluctantly, chaeyoung took in her surroundings. the setting wouldn’t have looked out of place in an airport, what with a seemingly never-ending supply of individuals lugging duffel bags and suitcases to their assigned destinations. however, the boisterous euphoria and excitement that came with travelling overseas was regretfully nowhere to be seen.
without any exceptions whatsoever, chaeyoung was instead greeted with dejected, defeated expressions everywhere she looked, her fellow new recruits similarly trudging resignedly towards their impending sorry fates.
at the very least, chaeyoung supposed she wasn’t in this alone after all.
~
chaeyoung had always been satisfied with her height. sure, she had been on the receiving end of every single short joke that existed for her entire life, but people failed to recognise the advantages that came with being small.
for one, she was often underestimated for being lightweight and scrawny, nothing more than a weak pushover. and there was considerable truth in those allegations, chaeyoung would admit readily. but what she lacked in brawn, she more than made up for with speed. even from as objective a viewpoint as possible, chaeyoung knew she was fast. after all, she was the top runner back in her high school.
call her nimble, lithe, dexterous, whatever. at the end of the day, chaeyoung just enjoyed proving her naysayers wrong and making them eat their words once she turned on her afterburners, leaving her competitors far behind in the dust.
long story short, she really liked her height. yet of all things, it was her damned height which would absolutely doom her for 2 whole years of her life, the first time she cursed herself for being the mere 159 centimetres that she was.
she had even expected quite the opposite, assuming that her height limitations automatically took her out of the running for selection into special operation units, those of eternal deprivation and suffering, where every day and night blended into resonant choruses of pain and anguish.
alas, as luck would have it, her humble frame had instead qualified her for arguably the special operation unit of all special operation units. (that expression carried no positive connotation whatsoever, in case you were wondering)
son chaeyoung was going to be the sacrificial lamb thrown to the wolves, deployed into battle all alone and left to fend for herself with no expectations of return. in other words, she was going to be a reconnaissance scout . all because those pea-brained ‘military experts’ were adamant that possessing a small, petite figure was the equivalent of being wrapped snugly within an invisibility cloak. fucking hell.
it was merely the calm before the storm, but chaeyoung was already feeling sick to her stomach.
~
what did i do so wrong to deserve this? chaeyoung had been pondering over that question very seriously for about 30 minutes now, for it was the only way she could distract herself from the excruciatingly monotonous, mindless, dreary (were there more synonyms for boring?) routine her platoon had been performing for what had felt more like 30 years.
calling it a routine could even be doing the poor word a disservice, when all they were doing was marching in circles around the fucking parade square. to compound matters, they were expected to march in ms stone fashion, all stiff limbs and violent swings. failing which they would, to put it simply, get well and truly fucked. the verbal abuse dished out by lieutenant park was far above and beyond anything she could even imagine, and chaeyoung was anything but pure or well-mannered, so that was saying something.
she abandoned her swing to wipe sweat off her brow without much thought (she was loathe to admit it, but this nonsense was genuinely physically challenging for her) and...
“fucking idiot, are you such a retarded moron that you don’t know what it means to fucking swing your arms? why in the fuck are you touching your ugly bitch face? that’s right, i’m talking to you, tattoo girl.” chaeyoung almost jumped out of her skin upon having her train of thought halted abruptly by the lieutenant’s booming voice.
perhaps she should have thought that through after all…
“do you even fucking understand korean? i expect an answer when i ask a question! you, tattoo girl, will be cleaning the toilets through the night. do you hear me?”
chaeyoung had plenty of snark retorts at the tip of her tongue, but thankfully managed to rein in her temper, biting her tongue and yelling a rage, resentment-fuelled ‘yes, ma’am!’
it had only been a day, and she was already getting singled out for punishment? jeez, the next 728 days were going to be long.
chaeyoung tried to picture lieutenant park’s smug expression in front of her and swung her arms as hard as possible through gritted teeth, imagining herself delivering uppercut after uppercut to wipe that aggravating smile right off her face. she was going insane, how badly she wanted to laugh off the entire situation out of sheer helplessness.
we all have our own coping mechanisms i guess…
chaeyoung almost jumped out of her skin again as lieutenant park’s voice cut through the synchronised rhythm of boots clicking like a knife through warm butter. thank the heavens, she wasn’t the subject of her wrath this time. the unlucky girl in question was a certain kim dahyun.
dahyun was chaeyoung’s buddy within the course, which essentially meant that they shared a bunk bed, they would carry out missions together and they were accountable for each other’s safety.
they hadn’t talked much aside from exchanging basic introductions and some banal chatter, but dahyun seemed nice and normal enough. chaeyoung just hadn’t quite had the time nor heart to get to know her better. plus, what really was the rush when they were going to be glued at the hip for the next 2 years?
(especially when their first mission together as partners-in-crime would begin that very night.)
~
chaeyoung wasn’t much of a clean freak, but…...wow. she figured the average korean male would at least be toilet trained, but you wouldn’t know it from the literal pools of urine outside the urinals, the faecal stains along the sides of the toilet bowl and even on the toilet seat. dahyun gagged rather inconspicuously beside her.
no wonder lieutenant park had worn that cheeky smirk throughout as she guided them to the warzone they were gaping at currently, that bitch must’ve assigned them a male toilet to clean on purpose.
“are grown men incapable of aiming or what…” chaeyoung grumbled, genuinely appalled by the frightening state of the toilet. it could probably be classified as vandalism, it was that bad.
“fuck this shit.” dahyun grimaced, her face contorted in a mix of dismay and disgust. for whatever reason, the
spectacle, especially dahyun’s aggrieved expression, tickled chaeyoung’s funny bone to no end, leaving her trying to compose herself while bent over in a fit of giggles.
dahyun had seemed like such a pure and innocent girl too, but in the face of a calamitous cleanliness crisis, it appeared even she couldn’t keep up the pristine church girl image any longer.
“taking a leaf out of lieutenant park’s book, tofu girl ?” chaeyoung quipped teasingly.
“so sue me. she’s supposed to be our role model after all, isn’t she?” dahyun winked cheekily before gesticulating in the general direction of the filth. “will it be urinal or toilet bowl? your pick, tattoo girl. ”
“that might just be the toughest decision i’ve ever had to make.”
~
the next morning was only 30 minutes old when chaeyoung, running on 2 hours of sleep and very, very cranky, concluded that she would much rather go back to cleaning toilets rather than bracing herself for whatever new horrors that could come her way.
cleaning hadn’t even been that bad, the blow obviously softened massively by dahyun’s presence. conversation just seemed to flow naturally between them, and chaeyoung couldn’t remember the last time she had hit it off so well with anyone. not everything about the army is an abomination...every cloud has a silver lining and all , chaeyoung had tried to convince herself, essentially haphazardly placing a flimsy bandage over a wound that just kept reopening and wouldn’t heal.
and lieutenant park had just ruthlessly ripped it off in a serene, unruffled manner. they were already going to be spending a few nights in the mighty jungle with creepy crawlies and wild beasts? chaeyoung winced as the darned lieutenant continued barking out an elaborate packing list she was hardly paying any attention to.
damn does life suck.
~
imagine being fully aware that you only had a few hours left to live. then imagine spending 2 of those precious hours doing absolutely nothing but pack their bags immaculately to the most minute detail, then proceed to frantically empty them as quickly as possible to the tune of lieutenant park’s evil counting. then pack again. empty again. pack. empty. oh, did she mention they were also getting abused by the blazing morning sun the entire time? even better.
ok, maybe chaeyoung was exaggerating a tiny bit by comparing heading out into the wilderness to death, but her point stood nonetheless. it was hardly fair that the reward for withstanding the agonising, brainless torture for 2 hours was entry into a plant-themed hell. especially when they were headed to their destination via foot, helmet crushing her skull and field pack compressing her spine.
chaeyoung didn’t need her brain shrinking even further and she really didn’t need to get any shorter. the fucking helmet was probably the worst part of it all, she was half convinced that her scalp would be deformed by concave holes the moment she yanked that god-forsaken piece of metal junk off her head.
“tattoo girl!” chaeyoung winced upon hearing lieutenant park’s shrill voice, barely able to summon any of her residual energy to respond with a weak “yes, ma’am!”
“you fucking bitch. are you actually mute? i warned you just yesterday, i demand answers when i ask questions! stop whispering like a wimp and answer me like a fucking soldier!” lieutenant park roared straight into her face, eyes bulging out of their sockets and the veins in her neck protruding outwards in a rather intimidating manner. her body was even trembling in rage as if she were an active volcano on the verge of erupting at any moment.
chaeyoung froze, standing as still as a statue out of pure fear and apprehension. which was probably a bad idea in hindsight.
“dumb motherfucker, open your damn mouth! push-up position, right now! RIGHT NOW!”
chaeyoung hurried to get on all fours, not wanting to incite the wrath of lieutenant park any further, only for her arms to give in the moment she touched the ground. her chest slammed against the ground hard and she let out an involuntary oomph, all air being knocked right out of her lungs. right, about that fucking 20 kg field pack…
being sprawled out in a clumsy heap on the pavement, she couldn’t exactly see anything. nonetheless, lieutenant park’s guttural scream that sounded far more primal than human gave chaeyoung a fairly good idea of what was happening. she peeked towards the general direction of the hullabaloo and was left open-mouthed as lieutenant park flung a fully-filled jerry can onto the ground with all her might.
nayeon and jeongyeon were right, the military was arguably more frightening than a mental asylum. not only were far too many nutcases in desperate need of help not receiving treatment, but they were even permitted to commit irrational, dangerous acts using the excuse of toughening up their soldiers to protect the country. what an absolute farce of an organisation.
chaeyoung tried to cast the staggering incompetence of the military to the back of her mind, she really had far more pressing matters to deal with. as she attempted to struggle to her feet, she heard dahyun pipe up timidly. “lieutenant park…”
judging by the lieutenant’s expletive filled rant directed straight at herself, chaeyoung doubted dahyun had been heard.
“lieutenant park!” she heard dahyun’s voice loud and clear this time and wondered what had possessed her buddy to address the demon herself.
“chaeyoung’s bleeding.”