Astronomy // Duty After School

Chapter Six.

"Mom..." Sun-yi let out a sob during her video to the parents. (Y/n) sat nervously behind the camera, not too sure what to do other than record... Or maybe stop? Would Sun-yi be upset if her tears were picked up on camera? "Mom... Please let me come home. I promise I'll be good."

"I think I was scammed," Jun-hi said, not even looking directly at the camera. Her eyes then shifted to (Y/n) and the camera. "They said to think of it as camping. This is just the same as the army here!"

"Mom and Dad, don't worry about me," So-yeon said rather cheerfully. "My platoon leader is really handsome and cool. I'll only listen to him and follow him around. Wow, he's so hot..." She swiped her forehead and sighed.

"Do you want me to...?" (Y/n) trailed off, pressing her lips together as Jang-su's eyes finally turned back to the camera after several moments of being on film but not saying a word.

"I'll do a good job," Jang-su said shortly.

"Wait, is that it?" (Y/n) blinked.

"Yes, that's it."

"Ah, the video's too short..." (Y/n) murmured. "You really have nothing else to say?" Jang-su thought for a moment.

"Thanks to you, Dad, I'm doing well in military training," Jang-su said.

"Your dad's a military officer, so he probably gives you better advice than my brother does," (Y/n) said. "Did he tell you anything?" Jang-su slumped in his chair, crossing his arms.

"When my dad drinks, there's always one thing he says," said Jang-su. "You know how during military nuclear missions, soldiers wear gas masks?" (Y/n) nodded. "In order to find out if the nuclear operation is over, you have to remove the gas mask of one of the soldiers." (Y/n) frowned.

"Sounds like a tough decision..."

"But if you're a leader, you're not supposed to hesitate," Jang-su said, leaning forward. "You can't contemplate who is better than whom. Whatever decision he makes, he must be the bad guy."

"Wouldn't an honorable leader do it himself?" (Y/n) asked. "If all lives are equal, by that logic, he too is in the draw, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Jang-su nodded. "Ever since I heard that, I realized I couldn't be a leader unless I was heartless like Jang Yeong-hun or something."

"What do you think you would do in that situation?"

"I don't know... I guess I'd have to play the bad guy," Jang-su sighed. (Y/n) nodded and stopped the recording.

"Thanks for your time."

"After this is over..." Hui-rak said, "you're really buying me a motorbike, okay?"

"Grandma, don't skip your meals," Ae-seol said. "And don't forget to take your meds. I wrote down the orders yesterday. Don't leave any out, and take them as we promised, okay?" (Y/n) felt slightly guilty asking Chi-yeol to finish the rest of the video interviews, but considering he was originally up in the runs for the record keeper position, he didn't mind taking over, ultimately lessening (Y/n)'s guilt. The girls showered in the school's locker rooms with quite limited hot water due to how many students were in attendance. Luckily, they were the second class to wash themselves, they had at most ten minutes of hot water before it was cut off to save for future classes. They then wandered outside to do the rest of their washing at the outdoor sinks. They bent over the sinks to wash their hair before getting around to wash their faces and brush their teeth. The time was spent with countless complaints over hurting backs due to needing to bend over, but they still cleaned themselves by the end of it. Clothes were the last things that were cleaned in the sinks. Sweat and dirt stains were removed easily from their uniforms, though it was a bit embarrassing washing their undergarments outdoors. Luckily, both the boys and girls had designated times to avoid the further embarrassment of potentially seeing one another's undergarments.
On her way back, (Y/n) had needed to stop by the office— like the other Record Keepers— to get a laptop and flash drive. They had a list of rules that needed to be followed, such as the laptop and Wi-Fi USB plug needed to be turned in daily after the laptop was done being used. When asked what the laptops were for, the man in charge informed the kids that it would be their responsibility to, at the bare minimum, add names, attendance numbers, and classroom numbers to their classmates' videos. (Y/n) supposed that was pretty reasonable considering the army likely wouldn't remember all of that information given how many kids were doing the training. While it was her goal to get fired, (Y/n) had no plans of turning in bad work. Perhaps it was the tryhard in her that ultimately decided she would also make things easier for those who would be receiving the videos (the parents) by adding subtitles due to the mic not being the best and the fact that her classmates tended to mumble. Chun-ho wound up accompanying her back to the barracks as he would be taping up the night watch schedule, something that had been discussed earlier in the day. Every ninety minutes, one boy and one girl would be on night watch. What the two had not expected upon returning was to see the boys pretending to beat Deok-jung up as Yeong-hun attempted to leave the room.