Our Ill- Fated Story

Ch. 2 - The Birth of a Man (part 1)

Looking at my name tag I still wonder - Ji Han Jae, what have you been doing for the last 29 years of your life. In two days you are going to be released from your duty and most of your comrades where already speaking about their lives that they left before joining the mandatory military service. Some of them where going to go back to college, others were going to continue their jobs and some of them where going to continue their life's with their wife's and children.

When I was asked what I will be doing, I couldn't really give a clear answer since I didn't really have a clue for what I will be doing after I was released. I wasn't good at studying so collage was never an option, resulting to the fact that I didn't have qualifications to rely on which also mend that I didn't have a career to go back too. Not having a career/ a steady job marked me as a loser in the society so no girl would have me. The ones were I did have success with where the ones that were only interested in my youthful face.

Yes, having a baby-face was the only asset I have but next to my age it became a handicap. No one wanted to hire a man who looked like a teenager so at the age of 27, with no achievements nor qualifications I enlisted for my military service. At that moment it was the only way out from my meaningless life leaving my 8 year old sister at my aunt’s care.

Now two years later I still didn’t have a plan or an idea to improve my life. In two days I will have to face my aunt and sister and I don’t think that I'm prepared for it. Having packed my stuff I was waiting to be released not knowing that I would meet two people who would leave their marks on me. One would change my life and the other would leave a scare invisible to others.