WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend Is Too Pretty ◈

Chapter 129: 52. Recruit Lee Do-yoon, Military Sweetheart Elli

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Getting married at twenty-one isn't completely unheard of, but it's not exactly common either.

And when someone that young gets married, the reason almost always comes down to one thing.

"You knock someone up?"

"She got preg... holy crap, don't tell me you got her pregnant and that's why you went active reserve?"

"Do active reserve guys still come to training center?"

"For basic, yeah. Just training, then you commute from home."

"That's insane."

Whether they got someone pregnant and had to marry them for that reason.

Either way, whether it was dating or marriage, everyone pretty quickly accepted the fact that Elli was mine.

Just looking at me and Elli in the photos together, the affection between us was plain as day.

Anyway.

"No kid. We just filed the marriage registration."

"No kid either? You never know how life's gonna... actually, never mind. If it were me I'd have stamped that paper first too. She's unbelievably pretty no matter how many times you look."

"How'd you meet? She live abroad?"

"Ell... Alisha has lived in Korea since she was little. She probably speaks Korean better than most people."

"Her name's Alisha? Where's she from?"

"Sweden."

"Still though, if you're already married, wouldn't it make more sense to just have a kid and go active reserve? Active reserve is the good life."

"I'm KATUSA, so why bother?"

"Oh, he's KATUSA? Fair enough then."

"And who the hell has a baby just to get active reserve."

"Terrible birth rate needs all the help it can get, so I'm not judging. Honestly, in this country they should exempt you from service starting with your second kid."

"Hmm... not a bad point actually."

"Anyway, your girlfriend is insanely pretty."

The area around me got noisy. My training cohort groaning with envy and amazement over Elli's looks.

"God... the good-looking guy gets a girlfriend on top of everything else. Please, just three centimeters less..."

"Please, one centimeter..."

"One centimeter is a bit much."

"Hey, give up. Lee Do-yoon is huge down there."

"You saw that?"

"Saw it in the shower yesterday, it was like an anaconda..."

"Why are you staring so hard at another guy in the shower. Great, now I'm not comfortable sharing a bunk with you. Don't even think about climbing down from the top bunk from now on."

"No, I wasn't trying to look, it just comes into your field of vision and your eyes go there, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Next."

Of course that commotion only lasted a little while, and after teasing the guy who'd said something that made me feel genuinely threatened, everyone drifted back to their own spots.

Like they had no real interest in another guy's girl. A mix of envy and curiosity about someone marrying so young, but just barely that, nothing more.

Even after that, the guys in the bunks on either side of me and above kept asking small questions here and there, but only up to a point.

There were plenty of guys besides me with girlfriends.

A platinum-blonde girlfriend who looked like that was, admittedly, the kind of thing that could send your imagination running in all directions.

But nobody here knew me well enough yet to push any further.

That much envy was still within the range my training cohort could tolerate.

* * *

A few more days passed.

A handful of guys from other barracks rooms who'd been disqualified during the various medical checks were sent home, though nobody from ours.

Starting Monday, the real training center life began.

We were issued our uniforms and gear, then packed up our personal belongings to send home by parcel.

I was in the middle of writing a letter to tuck inside the package, getting a little carried away and pouring out all sorts of things in a rush of emotion, when one of my bunkmates stopped me.

"Don't write it too cringe."

"Why not?"

"Apparently our first phone call comes before the package arrives, so when she reads it later you'll die of embarrassment. My older brother told me."

"So what. It'll all just be a fond memory someday."

"A fond memory of this garbage training center... I guess? Yeah, okay. I'll just write mine too."

"Speaking of which, when do we get to call?"

"They said our regiment gets calls this weekend, thank god."

"Elli must be waiting..."

"...I'm jealous."

The day you could make your first call varied by regiment. That was something Elli and I had looked up together before I left.

And unfortunately, the regiment I was placed in didn't get calls until the second weekend. She would have been able to check which regiment I was in from home too, so she probably already knew there wouldn't be a call the day before yesterday or yesterday.

She was probably waiting anyway.

I'd drift off thinking about Elli like that every so often, but once training actually started my body was too worn out to think about anything at all.

I'd spent several months at the gym before coming here, building up my fitness, but unfamiliar activities will take it out of you no matter what, and the exhaustion was unavoidable.

Under the pretense of physical evaluations, and then under the pretense of discipline drills, we rolled around on the ground like madmen.

Then when mealtime came.

"...munch, munch."

"Look at Lee Do-yoon's face, like he's chewing something awful. Yeah, this stuff is awful."

"Everything else is tolerable but mealtime is the one moment I actually want to go home..."

"Missing your mom's cooking?"

"I had my girlfriend cook for me..."

"You just killed my appetite too. Shut up."

It really hit me, just how precious and delicious Elli's cooking had been. I'd always been grateful for the effort she put in, but shoveling down bean sprout soup with rice and kimchi at the army mess hall made me appreciate it even more.

The days kept passing one by one.

I went through training that I personally found surprisingly fun, like weapons training, and training that was incredibly dull, had nothing going for it, and left my legs aching from standing in formation for so long, like unarmed military drill.

And then Wednesday arrived.

End of day, evening.

"Recruit number 72."

"Recruit 72! Ji! Seung! Min!"

"This one, this one... and this one. Three letters. Come get them."

"Thank you!"

The first internet letters arrived. It being the first week, the training assistant came in with arms full of letters even for a sixteen-person barracks room.

My bunkmates, overjoyed to receive letters from family and close friends and significant others.

Watching them, I sat up with my own hopeful anticipation building.

Elli and my parents would definitely have written. Would my mother-in-law have added something to my parents' letter, or sent one separately?

Would anyone else have written? I kind of hoped so.

The training center is fundamentally a place with no entertainment. The fact that we'd cheered over a single Moncher cake at the Buddhist service last weekend said it all.

In that sense, getting letters from people who cared about you was something to look forward to all on its own, something that felt like it would make you genuinely happy.

The thing was, I hadn't specifically asked anyone to write before I left, so I had no way of knowing whether they had or hadn't.

"Recruit number 77."

"Recruit 77! Lee! Do! Yoon!"

My turn finally came.

I sprang up and crossed the room to the training assistant in one stride, and held out my hands to receive the letters.

"Here, here... here. This one too..."

One by one, the letters piled up in my palms, and each one brought a fresh rush of joy and gratitude.

Nine in total.

More than I'd expected.

Who were they from? None of the guys I knew would bother writing, probably.

Even as I was receiving them I was wrapped in this happy, wondering curiosity about who had written, and then.

"...Recruit 77."

"Recruit 77! Lee! Do! Yoon!"

Only belatedly did I notice the training assistant staring at me with cold eyes.

With just a trace of mischief behind them, he spoke to me in a flat, frozen voice.

"Do you have sisters?"

"No, sir!"

"A lot of female relatives?"

"Hardly any, sir!"

"...Hah."

It didn't seem like some gross scheme to find out if there were sisters he could try something with.

The training assistant let out a sigh at my answers, then continued.

"Are all your friends female?"

Huh?

"...Sir?"

"Sir? Recruit 77. How are you supposed to answer?"

"Ah, no, sir!"

"You're happy to receive a lot of letters?"

"No, sir!"

"Then you're unhappy?"

"...No, sir! Happy, sir!"

"You have a girlfriend?"

"Yes, sir!"

"And you're happy to receive letters from female friends while you have a girlfriend?"

"......"

"Not answering? Would you like to do punishment exercises before reading your letters?"

"...Happy, sir!"

"So you're saying that even though you have a girlfriend, you're happy to get letters from female friends?"

"......Happy, sir!"

"Well isn't that something."

"......"

"Read all your letters before lights out, tidy up, then sleep. Understood?"

"Understood, sir!"

"At ease."

The corporal training assistant, who had been grinning and needling me as he listened to my answers, left the room on those words.

I broke into a cold sweat from that completely unexpected barrage of questions. No matter how I'd answered, there was no winning that exchange.

Was this the power of corporal seniority?

Still, it hadn't seemed like he was going after me with one hundred percent seriousness, so I let out a quiet breath of relief, tucked the letters carefully against my chest, and turned around.

Behind me.

"Some of us got exactly one letter from our parents..."

"He got eight, nine letters? And besides his parents and girlfriend, every single one came from a girl?"

"If you had a conscience you'd share some of that, honestly."

The jealousy and hostility blazing in my bunkmates' eyes as they stared at me was on a completely different level from when they'd been chattering about Elli earlier.

Apparently, having a girlfriend was one thing, but getting a pile of letters from female friends was an envy my training cohort could not accept.

Hmm.

They're just friends... that defense wasn't going to land, was it.

* * *

I read through all the internet letters I'd received before falling asleep.

One was from our parents.

All four of them, including my mother-in-law and father-in-law, had written on the same sheet together. Roughly three-quarters of the space was filled with my mom and my mother-in-law's worrying and well-wishes.

One was naturally from Elli, but I was saving that one for last.

The others who had written to me were as follows.

Lee So-yeon. Joo Hye-ryeong. Bini-noona. Mina-noona. My middle school friend Yang Ji-yoon. Two girls from my training cohort at university who I'd been paired with for group projects a lot.

Seven people in all.

I wondered why So-yeon and Hye-ryeong had written separately, and it turned out they explained inside that they'd heard receiving more individual letters made trainees happier, so they'd each sent one.

Bini-noona had written with Jeong-woo hyung but sent it under her name alone, and instead of putting Seon Woo-bin she'd written From. Bini hearts as a joke. Anyone else reading it could easily have gotten the wrong idea.

Mina-noona had told me ahead of time she'd send one. I just hadn't expected her to fire it off the moment the channel opened. She said to make sure I showed her my uniform at least once when I came home on leave.

And Yang Ji-yoon and the university girls seemed to have written just on a whim. Elli had said she was going to change my KakaoTalk status message to my company's mailing address, so they'd probably seen it and sent one.

The contents weren't anything special, but the fact that they'd taken the time to write at all made me genuinely happy and grateful.

Thanks to them, I worked through the letters one by one with a warm smile on my face.

And last.

I held Elli's letter in my hands.

Surprisingly, she hadn't written it all the way out to the edge, filling every inch of the page.

But the feeling she'd packed into what was there came through clearly enough.

[ I added more modeling shoots to my schedule. We need to save a lot if we're going to buy a house after we're married. Know that we're cutting back even after you're discharged. ]

[ On the weekend, Mom and your mom and I sat around with a phone in the middle of the table and talked all day. Waiting in case you called. ]

[ But you didn't. Annoying. Can't they at least let you call every day? ]

[ It's boring being home alone. Nothing's fun without you around. ]

[ So come back soon. Come back and hold my hand. Hold me and kiss me. ]

[ But don't push yourself too hard. You know not getting hurt is the most important thing, right? If you get hurt I'll kill you. I'll nag you for the rest of your life. ]

[ There's so much I want to say, but I'll be writing every day anyway, so I'll keep it short today. Writing this is making me miss you so much I think I'm going insane. ]

[ I love you. ]

[ My husband. ]

[ My Lee Do-yoon. ]

[ I love you. ]

Without blinking once, I took in every one of Elli's round, pretty characters.

Right up until the moment I fell asleep, I just read it again and again.

Letter by letter.

Slowly, like savoring something.

I felt like I might cry. My parents' letter had done the same, and Elli's was no different. There were no grand, moving phrases in it. It was just moving on its own.

Ten days of tedium and exhaustion and longing, eased just a little. My spirit climbed back up.

Picturing Elli sitting in front of her laptop writing this letter made something overflow in my chest.

I felt like I could keep going. With a reward like this waiting for me.

Knowing we'd keep exchanging letters, that there'd be a phone call soon, that in just three and a half more weeks I'd actually get to see her face.

I felt like I could endure whatever training they threw at me.

Although.

Starting the next day.

"Recruit 77. Fall out to the rear."

"...To the rear!"

"Arm bends, push up and count. Ten repetitions. Begin!"

"Begin! ...One!"

"Keep those arms straight!"

It did start to feel like the training assistants were singling me out for punishment exercises a lot more often than before, but... well, anyway.

* * *

Lee Do-yoon's second weekend in training.

"Someone in the same regiment as Do-yoon apparently got their call. There's a post up on the cafe."

"Really? Ours should be coming soon then."

"Oh my... I'm so nervous. Lately I keep hearing his voice like it's an auditory hallucination."

Elli stared hard at the smartphone sitting in the middle of the table, flanked by her mom Jung Ye-in and her mother-in-law Song Ji-eun.

She kept sneaking glances at her own phone to check the military sweetheart cafe, her face full of nerves and anticipation.

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