Chapter 74 - Chapter 74: Examination Time

....

Silence. Awkward silence. Everyone was just silent. Finally, the instructor let out a sigh.

Well, he sure sounds exhausted.

“Those who were tardy, you get minus one point,” the instructor snapped. The ones who were tardy hung their heads...though one of them raised it back up almost immediately. Her name was Jae-yoon. She’s a Korean-American celebrity who was known for her outgoing personality. Blonde hair and ripped jeans. Not to mention the gum she was currently chewing. Even I think that that’s a little too disrespectful. I mean, she does have a reputation for talking back and being incredibly stubborn. I can see that it’s not a falsified image. The instructor looked perplexed as well as he looked at her.

Then he said, “Spit out the gum.”

“Why?”

“….”

Speechless. And completely, utterly shocked. Judging by the look on his face, this was clearly the first time he had ever faced a response like this. He took a deep breath, collected himself, and tried again.

“When I tell you to spit it out, you spit it out.”

“And why should I?” Jae-Yoon asked, still chewing her gum. Wow, she truly is shameless. I’ve never seen someone as bold as her.

‘Is she mixing up trashy and trendy?’ I thought to myself as I looked at her.

“Jae-yoon, just spit it out…” said the girl standing next to her. This one was Soomin Han. Jae-yoon simply gave her a look that said ‘Why should I’ but in the end, she spit it out. Thankfully, she didn’t spit it on the ground. If she had, she probably would’ve been kicked out. Then again, there is a camera. Does she not know how to act in front of a camera? Or does she just truly not care? I mean, that is a talent in itself.

Anyways, the instructor’s face grew dark for a second, but he composed himself and turned back to the rest of us.

“Now that we are all here, follow me, please.”

“Where are we going?” Jae-yoon asked, raising her hand.

“You’re going to have a physical and then a simple interview after that.”

Jae-yoon gave a casual nod at that answer. Soon, the instructor started to walk as we followed right behind him.

“Isn’t she scary?” Heejin whispered to me. She was sticking to my side, and we were at the very back of the line.

“Who?” I asked. It was hard to tell who she was talking about…

“Jae-yoon,” Heejin whispered, carefully pointing her out.

I snorted.

“Scary my ass.”

“You don’t think she’s scary?”

“No, I don’t. Why? Do you think she is?” I said, looking down at Heejin. She was shorter than I was, but I’m 168, so I’m taller than most girls.

“I think she is. She’s really tough. I don’t think I should be here.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

“Really?” Heejin said, looking at me with big, puppy-dog eyes. I could feel my heart pounding at the sight. I can see that my feelings aren’t simply for Jia. Ugh, what’s wrong with me?”

“Of course,” I replied with a nod. Jae-yoon. Was she really as tough as she looked? It seemed like a lot of the younger ones were scared of her, but I think it’s just all talk. I’m going to go and have a match with her someday. It’s strange, but every time I see people like that, I just want to bring them down a peg or two.

As we continued to chat, we came to a building. The instructor walked in and we followed. We soon came to a physical exam room.

“Wait in here,” the instructor said. We all took a seat in the chairs outside the room.

“They still need a few minutes so please wait here. If you need the bathroom, it’s right over there.”

With that, the instructor walked away. Then, the ‘Real Army Body’ show producer spoke up.

“We’ll take a short break,” he said, turning off the camera.

As soon as the light was off, Jae-yoon rolled her eyes.

“This sucks. What’s with all the nagging? Don’t do this. Don’t do that.”

She wasn’t afraid to show that she was irritated at the moment. But if you think about it, the only command the instructor had given her was to spit her gum out. How did she expect to get through the rest of this with that attitude? I just knew that she would get the rest of us in trouble. I should shut her up right now.

“This is what the military is like. Haven’t you watched the show? We haven’t even started,” Soomin said. Looking at the two of them, my guess was that they were close. Just then, the oldest participant, Joo-ran Jung, spoke up.

“Well, since this is our first meeting, should we introduce ourselves?” she suggested.

We all agreed. Joo-ran began.

“I’m 38 years old…”

“Oh~” We all gasped, including me. We all thought she was older, to be honest. Her face looked like that of a forty-year old.

“Oh, is it because I look older than you think? Yes, I do have a slight baby face,” Joo-ran said with a smile. We all bit our tongue, giving her awkward smiles. Anyways, she continued.

“My name is Joo-ran Jung and I’m an actress. It’s hard to find someone as hard-working as me. I’m sure you’ve all seen me in one film or another.”

We all nodded. The woman truly is a famous and well-respected actress, and she shows up in a lot of films and TV shows.

“Well, I hope we can all get along. And let’s promise to help each other for the next five days.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Now, who’s next?” Joo-ran said, looking at Soomin who was sitting right next to her. Soomin gave a small smile and began her own introduction. She was also an actress. She used to do only supporting roles but she recently became popular after a recent breakthrough role. She’s also known for her being tough, but she seemed rather nice and a little flaky to me. Basically, she’s the opposite of Jae-yoon. Then, it was Jae-yoon’s turn to introduce herself and sure enough, her introduction was short and slurred. Considering that there were those who were older than her, her introduction seemed quite disrespectful. I’m sure people wanted to say something, but we let it go since she was technically raised in a foreign country. I mean, what good would come from fighting on a film set? It’s best to just let these things pass. Then again, fighting also keeps the public interested. Anyways, Hyun-joo was next. She was 35-years old and also an actress, known for her beauty. Unfortunately, she’s married. She also seemed tough, but in a smart, go-getter type of way. As a mother of a three-year old, she just gave off this maternal energy. Oh yeah, Joo-ran also has a child that’s six years old. After that, it was my turn and I introduced myself. But suddenly, everyone was throwing questions at me. It was understandable since I was currently a hot topic right now. Since I was popular, not just as a celebrity, but as a person in general, I was all over the news. The reporters are very busy because of me. Sometimes, they write stuff about me that makes no sense and just makes me want to find them and punch them in the face, but it’s also kind of fun. Then Heejin introduced herself, and all she had to say was that she’s the youngest member of the new girl-group Clover. Since she’s rather new, there wasn’t really anything else to add about her.

“Since we’re done, I’m going out for a smoke,” Jae-yoon said, standing up.

“Me too,” Soomin said, standing up as well. With her sweet personality and innocent-looking face, you’d never think she’s the type to smoke…you really can’t judge a book by its cover. You really have to get to know a person first.

“Do you smoke?” Heejin asked me.

“No, I don’t. Why?”

“You just seem like the type that does.”

‘This little….’ I cursed to myself.

“Sorry, but I don’t. What about you?”

“Of course I don’t. Girl group members shouldn’t smoke. It’s bad for our image,” Heejin said.

Exactly. An image is everything for a girl group idol. Especially in terms of their morality. For an idol, the biggest thing they could sell was a pure moralistic image. The public likes to hold us at higher standards and if you’re not careful, your entire pedestal will fall. One scandal and you can lose everything, like Joon-hyun and his secret photos. One could say that it’s none of the public’s business what their idols do in private, but as they say: ‘nobles oblige.’

“That’s good. You should never smoke.”

“But, Sian,” Heejin said. Sheesh, this girl liked to talk.

“Yes?”

“Well…”

“Go on.”

“Is it okay if I fart?”

“….”

One of the first things I learned while living in a girl’s body is that girls are not the cleaner sex. Sometimes, they’re even more disgusting than men are. It seriously ruined my fantasy of them. For me, the shock of learning this secret about women was bigger than the culture shock. Of course, I’m not saying that Heejin is a nasty person for wanting to fart. I’m just saying, it was something I hadn’t expected.

“You can if you want.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. Hehe.”

Pffffft~

Her fart was pretty cute. Pretty girls tend to have adorable farts. Anyways, we were sitting down again as the instructor returned.

“Now, we will enter the physical exam room. Please remain silent as you enter.”

I raised my hand.

“What will you be examining?” I asked.

“We’ll check your blood pressure, vision, height, and your overall health. There’s no need to worry. Oh, and right after the physical exam, you will have your interview. If you have some form of illness, please let us know at that time.”

“Yes, sir,” we all answered. Then, we all stood up and entered the physical exam room.

A pretty nurse approached us with a smile.

“Good morning. Please take a seat. We will call you up one by one,” she said.

We all sat down. The first to go was Joo-ran. Joo-ran Jung. She really was an old lady. With a body like that, she could pass for any old neighbor. None of us were surprised by her weight, except Joo-ran herself. She kept going on about how she had no idea how it got so bad. Anyways, we all got our measurements, and then it was Heejin’s turn. Her weight was 42 kg. She was really skinny. We all gasped at the number. Her arm was so skinny, they couldn’t even do the blood pressure test on her. She really does look weak and delicate. Anyways, after we finished our physical examinations, we were immediately led into the interview room. Each person got about twenty minutes, and soon, it was my turn.

“Hello,” I said. The female soldier who was sitting in a chair stood up to greet me with a smile.

“Hello. Please take a seat.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, taking the seat opposite of her. The soldier began by introducing herself.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Lee. My name is Hyemi Lee and I am the NCO staff sergeant here at Jicheon Training Center.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Sian Lee.”

“Yes, I know,” Hyemi said with a smile. She looked to be about mid-thirties. Maybe that’s why her smile made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

“Now, let’s take a look at your profile.”

Hyemi picked up a piece of paper and began to read it.

“Oh, you enjoy being active.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Your hobbies are…fighting…your specialty is…fighting…haha…I see you like fighting.”

“Yes. I enjoy anything that keeps me moving so…”

“Then I’m sure you will enjoy training. Individual battle training and such. Have you heard of it?”

“No,” I said. Individual battle training? What’s that?

“Oh, I see. Maybe that’s better for you. What about ranger training? We have that as well.”

“Ranger training? I don’t know that either…”

What’s ranger training? Ugh, there was so much I didn’t know.

“I see. You really don’t know, but that’s probably a good thing. And if you like being active, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this as well. I surely think you’ll have fun here,” Hyejin said with a bright smile.

And you know what? I believed her. At least, until we started the ranger training.

Anyways, that concluded the interview. Finally, it was the bag inspection. Three instructors in red caps walked over to us, ready to open our bags.