Chapter 78 - Chapter 78: Fucking Gas Chamber Training (Part 1)

“Dormitory 3 Evening Personnel Report. Total of six. All present. That concludes the report!”

Joo-ran finished the briefing splendidly as the officer nodded, quite satisfied. This officer was the superior of the bulldog instructor from earlier.

“Was anyone injured?” the officer asked in a serious voice. The air was solemn. Everyone was careful not to breathe too loudly.

“No, Sir!”

“Good. But…” The officer looked at each of us, his face getting more confused by the minute.

Finally, he asked, “How did your eyes get so small?”

“….”

None of us could think up of a reply. I mean, it’s true. Once you get rid of all of the eyeliner and mascara, your eyes do become smaller. The officer was probably shocked, but I bet the viewers would be more shocked than I. Of course, Heejin and I pretty much looked the same, since our faces were pretty in general.

“Sian, you look prettier without makeup.”

“Thank you, Sir!” I said loudly.

“As for Soomin, why did your eyes get so dull?”

“I’m sorry, Sir,” Soomin apologized. What was she apologizing for? Or was she just answering automatically?

“Sorry? What for?”

“Oh, nothing…”

“Right. Still, now that you’re not wearing any makeup, I like you a lot more.”

But, he still hadn’t said she was pretty. Then, he looked at Jae-yoon.

“Your hair is black again.”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Good job. But...what happened to your face?”

“Pffft.”

At that, we all tried not to laugh. It was true. Once Jae-yoon took her makeup off…well, let’s just say that the power of makeup is a wonderful thing. Her face looked completely different.

“Joo-ran, you look rather plump. Very trustworthy.”

To be honest, we couldn’t tell if that was a compliment or an insult.

“Thank you,” Joo-ran said. Anyways, he continued, telling each of us a half-compliment one by one. Then, he began to look through our cubbies.

“Officer Lee.”

“Yes, sir!” I replied.

“You didn’t clean your boots.”

“Oh.”

I didn’t know. Really, I didn’t. I never heard the command to clean our boots, and it wasn’t just me. No one had cleaned their boots, so in the end…

“Get down!” the officer shouted.

We all got into down dog positions. Also known as the common position of women who were ignorant about how things were in the military.

“I’m sure you were told to clean your boots. Did you not hear?” the officer said gravely. None of us answered. The officer continued to inspect our barracks. One more demerit for dust. Another for messy cubbies. The worst was when he found a pair of underwear behind the television. That was all Hyunjoo, but we all shared the blame for it.

Anyways, after our punishment ended, the officer relayed us tomorrow’s schedule.

“Tomorrow morning, you will report to the gas chamber to start your training. In the afternoon, you will have battle training. You all know about the gas chamber, right? I’m sure you’re all scared and nervous, but you won’t die. However, I hope you all take it seriously and that all of you pass.”

“Yes, sir!” we all replied. After that, the officer left. Now that roll call was over, it was time to get ready for bed. As soon as we laid down, we fell asleep. You could say that we were knocked out. I closed my eyes, relieved to finally sleep. But tben, I could hear someone approach me quietly. I turned my head sideways to look and found myself looking at Heejin. She gave me a shy smile.

“What?”

“I want to sleep next to you.”

“….”

She was just like Jia. Now that I think about it, her appearance is like Jia as well. I really like the cute, sweet type.

“Your chest is huge.”

Heejin practically burrowed herself into my boobs and fell asleep. It felt strange.

***

Ddoo ddoo duh doo doo Ddoo ddoo duh doo doo Ddoo ddoo duh doo doo dooooo~

The bugle blared, signalling that it was time to wake up. I’ve never wanted to punch out a sound more. It would make a saint swear.

“Fuck this.”

I opened my eyes and sat up. The curse words I spat out were really quiet, but if someone was able to read my lips on camera…there was no doubt what I had just said.

“Ugh, those loudspeakers…”

I seriously had the urge to break them. The other show participants began to wake up and I almost forgot who they were when I saw them. Seeing them bare-faced had been a shock yesterday and after a night of sleep, it was another shock to see them this morning. The men of Korea are truly amazing. It’s one thing to fall for a girl when she has makeup on, but it takes a real man to keep loving her even after all that trickery is washed off her face.

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

Seriously. How could one person look so different after taking their makeup off?

“Sian, are you awake?” Hyunjoo asked me. I almost had a heart attack. Was that really her…she looked completely different than what I saw on screen.

Without thinking, I asked, “Who…who are you…?”

Everyone laughed. Why were her dark circles so big?

Anyways, we all got ready and after morning roll call, we got our breakfast before heading for the gas chamber.

“I will pass the guns out,” the officer said.

It was lighter than I had expected. Of course, I was the only one who thought so. Everyone else seemed to find it heavy. Especially Hee-jin. With her arms all skinny and delicate, it was a wonder that she could hold anything. Then again, it wasn’t like I could carry it for her. They say that a gun is a soldier’s wife. You can’t lose it no matter what.

“When do we practice shooting?”

“I heard that it’s on the last day,” Heejin said, hoisting the gun up to her shoulder. It really looked too heavy for her. We put on bulletproof vests, then hung our gas masks onto our side pockets. We were finally ready.

“It’s a good thing that we don’t have to do the march,” Joo-ran said as she closed her bullet box.

“Is it hard?” I asked.

“I heard that it is. You have to carry everything which weighs up to 40 kg and carry it for as far as 40 kilometers. No way could a woman do it.”

“I guess,” I answered with a nod. 40 kilograms huh…Heejin weighed 42. There’s no way she’d be able to do that…I could though. In fact, I wanted to try it.

Anyways, after we were geared up, we gathered in the corridor. I couldn’t believe that we were starting the day off with the gas chamber. But to be honest, I was sort of looking forward to it. What kind of gas was it that made it so difficult?

“Heejin, did you go to the bathroom?” I asked. That was because Heejin looked incredibly nervous.

“No…it won’t come out,” Heejin answered truthfully, looking scared.

“Hmm…”

It was definitely constipation. But, if it was hypersensitive bowel syndrome, wouldn’t there be a lot of diarrhea? I mean, everyone can have different symptoms since no two bodies were the same…

“What if…I go in and…I need to go number two…?”

“Don’t worry. When you’re in danger, your body reacts automatically to keep everything in.”

Of course, it was fifty-fifty. If you concentrate, you might be able to stop yourself. But if not, you could end up with a bad case of the runs.

“Really…?”

“Yep.”

“You’re like a doctor.”

“Nah. Just good at pretending that I am,” I said with a smile. Heejin only seemed to become more uncomfortable.

Soon, the instructor showed up and with that, we headed for the chamber.

***

At the gas chamber.

In the distance, I could see a rectangular building. We stopped a few meters in front of it.

“Oh my…” Soomin gasped when she saw it.

But then, Jae-yoon cut in, “Don’t worry, Soomin. There’s nothing to be scared of.”

Jae-yoon sounded rather sure of herself. Suddenly, she looked at me, but she didn’t say anything. She just looked rather determined, as if she was sure to beat me this time. So, I gave her a bright smile. Jae-yoon was not happy about that, but she didn’t say anything. She had lost to me during the physical assessment. How could she say anything to me after that?

“Sian, aren’t you scared?” Heejin asked. She looked very terrified, like a scared little kitten. I immediately felt protective of her and I wanted to hug her.

“Of course not. Just stick close to me.”

“Okay!” Heejin answered. She seemed rather attached to me at this point. Of course, I was careful to draw boundaries so as not to give too much of my feelings away.

“Now, I will divide you up into two teams. Soomin, Jae-yoon, and Joo-ran will be Team 1. Hyunjoo, Sian, and Heejin will be Team 2. Team 1 will go in first. Understand?” the bulldog instructor said.

“Yes, ma’am…” we all replied rather listlessly.

Suddenly, the bulldog instructor said once more in a louder tone, “I can’t hear you! I said, do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Then, another instructor came in. The dark and tan one. He came in, his expression unreadable, and began to help us with our gear. The rifles were placed between our legs as we placed our bulletproof caps on top so they wouldn’t touch the floor. Then, we took out the gas mask and began to put it on. He placed a hand on the filter and had us take a deep breath to make sure that we could breathe properly. He pulled on the strap to make sure that the mask was on tight before putting on the protective headgear. Lastly, we were supposed to close the gas mask pouch. But…

“I can’t tighten this.”

My head was so small that the straps couldn’t be tightened any further. No matter how much I pulled, it was still loose, which meant that gas would still be able to seep in. The same went for Heejin.

“Do you have any smaller gas masks?”

“Hmmm…”

The instructor seemed like he didn’t know what to do. He walked over and tried to adjust the straps himself.

“Ow! Ow! Ugh…”

I seriously wanted to curse, but I refrained myself. This guy was going through all lengths to tighten the straps. But in the end, he managed to succeed. He helped Heejin with her mask as well and soon, we were both ready.

“There really is nothing you can’t do.”

“Anyone can succeed if they try,” the instructor said stiffly.

Now that we were ready, it was time to go in.

“Team 1, approach.”

Jae-yoon, Soomin, and Joo-ran stood in front of the bulldog instructor.

“You will now enter the gas chamber. All you have to do is do as the instructors tell you. It may be difficult, but don’t act rashy and don’t get overly excited. And no matter what, don’t rub your eyes. It will only make it worse.”

“Yes, ma’am!” they answered.

“Then, rest in peace. I mean, godspeed! You can do it!”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Yes, ma’am!” we all replied. With that, Team 1 entered one by one. First Joo-ran, then Soomin. Finally, it was Jae-yoon. And then, the door closed.

“Do you think they can do it?” Heejin asked. She looked more and more worried by the second.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think I will be…”

“Don’t worry.”

At my words, Heejin nodded. We all stared at the building. I believe ten seconds had gone by. The gas chamber. What was it like? I couldn’t wait to go in. Soon, it was fifteen seconds. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…boom!

At eighteen seconds, we suddenly heard the sound of someone banging on the door from the inside. We stared at the chamber, our anticipation increasing with every second. Well, Hyunjoo’s and Heejin’s were. Not me, though. The banging continued to a time of twenty-eight seconds before the door opened. Someone came out, swaying on their feet. It was Jae-Yoon.