NOVEL NEXT Chapter 605
Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: AgRoseCrystal
Chapter 605
From the unit commander’s office to the 4th platoon’s administration room on the second floor of the barracks.
“Sergeant Lee!”
“Seo-jun!”
“Hey! You!?”
“Sergeant!”
The company commander, the platoon leader, the other platoon soldiers, and so on.
Every time he moved, he was caught and had to chat, so it took him several times longer than usual to finally arrive at the 4th platoon’s administration room. The platoon members who saw Seo-jun jumped up.
“Sergeant Lee!”
They looked like baby birds waiting for their mother bird in the administration room.
They all rushed to Seo-jun with flushed faces. The faces of the platoon members who saw a celebrity for the first time were full of admiration and exclamation.
“Our Sergeant Lee was an actor… I was really surprised.”
“You don’t know how noisy the cafeteria was after you went to the unit commander’s office. Sergeant.”
While Seo-jun was in the unit commander’s office, they seemed to have accepted it…
“He has such an aura!”
“Is this the superstar aura?”
They didn’t.
It was quite noisy, but Seo-jun smiled lightly at the sight of the cheerful platoon members as usual.
“No wonder you were so good at acting.”
“Your teasing skills were also top-notch.”
The platoon members looked at Seo-jun with curiosity.
Why didn’t they recognize him? They thought it would be hard to find another handsome face like this.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“It would be weird to say that I’m actor Lee Seo-jun. Do you know who I am? It’s not a variation of that.”
As he said ‘Do you know who I am?’ and added a shameless expression and a cheeky voice, the platoon members chuckled. Now that they knew he was an actor, he fit in more than ever.
“Well, Sergeant Lee wouldn’t say it unless he had to, he’s not the type to talk about it openly.”
“No, I do say it when I need to.”
When it was related to his work or acting, he used the name ‘actor Lee Seo-jun’ very well. It was very efficient, effective, and powerful.
Seo-jun shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s because this is the army.”
Here, the name ‘actor Lee Seo-jun’ could be exploited, and he could be discriminated against by other soldiers, knowingly or unknowingly. That discrimination could cause trouble later.
The platoon members nodded a little, understanding the words Seo-jun didn’t say.
“But even though we know that Sergeant Lee is an actor, it’s very comfortable.”
As they talked in the same atmosphere as usual, they felt more so.
“Me too.”
“It doesn’t feel like actor Lee Seo-jun joined the army, it feels like Sergeant Lee just became a star overnight.”
As they connected the memories of ‘Sergeant Lee Seo-jun’ they had spent together with ‘actor Lee Seo-jun’, they felt closer to him.
“Now that I think about it, he looked like a celebrity.”
“I don’t know why we didn’t notice.”
When they looked back, they were all ‘actor Lee Seo-jun’, but why didn’t they think of it at the time?
For the platoon members who didn’t know Seo-jun’s ability, it was a ghostly thing.
“Oh, then the counseling…”
As one of the platoon members opened his mouth, the eyes were drawn to him.
“I don’t know much about it, but don’t you analyze various characters when you act? There are all kinds of personalities in movies and dramas, so I thought that might have influenced you…”
Seo-jun smiled and nodded.
“Right. That helped.”
The main thing that helped was the ability of the library of life, but the ability to analyze the characters in the works also helped him understand the other person.
‘And I was an actor too.’
Reality was more than a movie, and there were really diverse people in the world.
He experienced those diverse and incomprehensible personalities vividly, and he thought it would help his future work.
“Wow! That’s amazing.”
“I thought Sergeant Lee was a medical student…”
“Me too. I thought he was in psychology or something.”
“I thought he was in a cult…”
The platoon members laughed at the half-serious half-joking remark of one of them.
***
Even though the soldier they had been with was a superstar, the army’s day went as planned.
Of course, they postponed the training that required attention and was dangerous, without any officers or soldiers.
“It would be a disaster if an accident happened at a time like this.”
The officers nodded at the unit commander’s words.
In the morning, [Actor Lee Seo-jun, in military service!] came out, and in the afternoon, [Actor Lee Seo-jun’s unit in an accident?!] would be a mess.
The unit commander turned his eyes to the monitor. The internet situation was still burning.
[Which unit is actor Lee Seo-jun in?]
[Who are the famous people from the White Tiger unit?]
[Photos of actor Lee Seo-jun in the White Tiger unit!]
[Actor Lee Seo-jun, currently in the 1st company, 1st platoon, 4th squad of the White Tiger unit!]
‘There was not a single article where ‘White Tiger’ was missing, and I felt a chill in my neck without knowing it.’
Seo-jun’s discharge was six weeks away.
He felt bitter thinking that it would be noisy until then.
“…But it’s a relief that it’s out now.”
If it had been known since he enlisted (then he wouldn’t have come to the White Tiger unit), every time actor Lee Seo-jun was a hot topic outside, the White Tiger unit would have been mentioned along with him. Then there wouldn’t have been a quiet day for a year and four months. Whether it was good or bad.
The unit commander, who was looking at the articles, turned his head and looked at the company commander.
“How’s the top? There’s no related article yet…”
“They seem to be confused too. They were watching the actor, but he enlisted without them knowing.”
Actor Lee Seo-jun’s physical examination article came out two years ago. Since then, they had been watching when Seo-jun would apply for enlistment, but he had already enlisted and had six weeks left until discharge.
There was only one thought in the heads of the military officials.
‘Why didn’t we know?’
No matter how secretly he enlisted, they couldn’t have missed it.
There was the physical examination data, which was the basic information for enlistment, and the resident registration number, which was the unique number of all Korean citizens. It was easy to find Seo-jun with a little search.
But they didn’t know at all.
Whether it was human error or machine error. The army was the place where there should be no mistakes and the security should be thorough.
But it wasn’t a situation where they could blame the lower people.
The higher-ups also heard or checked on the ‘interesting soldier they were caring for’, the ‘smart and capable Sergeant Lee Seo-jun’. That’s why they were more dumbfounded. That Seo-jun was this Seo-jun…
We knew, but we didn’t know.
There was no more accurate word than that.
Anyway, they couldn’t act surprised and say ‘Wow! We didn’t know either! We just found out!’ along with the people who were shocked by Lee Seo-jun’s military service.
It was unbelievable and problematic even if they believed it.
He was not an ordinary person, but a superstar who enlisted. And it had been a year already. It would only reveal that there was a huge and inexplicable hole in the military security.
-Has the military official not come out yet??
=Did the military not know either??ㅋㅋㅋ
=ㅋㅋAs if that’s possibleㅋㅋ
=22 It’s not the era of writing documents by hand and losing themㅋㅋ
=33 You can find it by searching the databaseㅋㅋ
They wondered how terrified the commenters who accidentally said the right answer would be.
Even the unit commander felt a chill down his spine.
Since they couldn’t say they didn’t know, all they could do was to beat around the bush and imply ‘Well… we knew, but we kept it a secret. We didn’t not know for over a year;;;’.
Just then, an article came out.
[Ministry of National Defense, “Actor Lee Seo-jun is in military service. He is a soldier just like any other, even if he is a celebrity, so we didn’t mention it.”]
[Ministry of National Defense, “Please cheer for Sergeant Lee Seo-jun who is quietly serving in the military.”]
***
Lunchtime.
The eyes of the soldiers gathered in the cafeteria were focused on the 4th platoon. They seemed to have calmed down a bit, as they didn’t look as shocked and astonished as they did in the morning, but Sergeant Lee Seo-jun of the 4th platoon was still the center of attention.
“But now, won’t they come to film interviews or publicity videos or something?”
Jang Hyun-jun, who knew a little bit about Seo-jun’s ability, asked with a hint of regret that he revealed it too soon.
“Ah, that’s fine.”
Seo-jun smiled and answered.
“I saved up my vacation. I can use that.”
At that, the squad leader (corporal) who had been with Seo-jun the longest said.
“Come to think of it, you got quite a lot of reward vacations, sir. You also got a special soldier award… But you didn’t go on vacation that often, did you?”
“Uh. I only went when it was important. Like when there was a movie I had to see or on my birthday. So I have a lot left.”
The squad members were silent for a moment and then opened their mouths.
“…Your criteria for important times seem a bit strange.”
“Why didn’t we know. You like movies so much…”
“Movies aside, if we had realized that Sergeant Lee was on vacation when actor Lee Seo-jun posted a birthday verification photo, we could have made the connection.”
“But we don’t look up male celebrities’ photos.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Of course!”
“…I saw it…”
Between the voices of the 4th platoon members who were nodding their heads, a voice that sounded almost dying came out. It was Choi, the corporal of the 3rd platoon, who recognized Seo-jun first in the cafeteria this morning.
“I saw your verification photo, sir… I also watched your works a lot… But I didn’t recognize you… I’m sorry, sir…”
He was really, really sorry as a movie fan, as a Marina Studio fan.
He had his favorite actor right next to him, but he didn’t recognize him. For almost a year.
Seo-jun patted the shoulder of the sad Choi.
‘It’s because of my ability.’
It was inevitable for a normal human being.
“No, it’s okay. It happens. You’re not the only one who didn’t recognize me.”
“Still… I’m sorry. But I’m not lying, I really enjoyed your movies… I’ve been watching them every time they come out…”
He felt guilty with every word.
Seo-jun was a bit flustered by Choi’s constant apology and tried to soothe him.
“It’s okay. Do you want an autograph? I’ll give you one.”
“Thank you!”
“…You change too fast, don’t you?”
Choi, who had been blankly staring at Seo-jun since morning, was doing something, and Kim, who had come to find him, shook his head in disbelief and dragged Choi away, who was laughing as if he had never been sad.
It was as if a storm had passed.
“We’re sorry too…”
“No, it’s okay.”
As the 4th platoon members started to apologize, Seo-jun quickly cut them off. His expression with a hint of laughter looked half-joking to them.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen you flustered, sir.”
“That’s right.”
The 4th platoon members laughed and Seo-jun laughed too.
The peaceful lunch continued.
“But how much vacation do you have left that you’re okay?”
Seo-jun smiled and spread his right hand at Jang Hyun-jun’s question. Everyone blinked their eyes.
He had five fingers spread out.
‘…5 days?’
“5 weeks.”
‘…5 weeks?’
‘…5 weekss?!’
Jang Hyun-jun and the squad members’ eyes and mouths opened wide. The other platoon members who were listening next to them also coughed as if the food they were eating got stuck in their throats.
“Whaa?!”
“O, o, o, o weeks?!”
“Did you not use any?!”
“No, no… Is 5 weeks even a possible number?”
“I don’t know about other units, but ours allows it. So I saved up.”
“Wow… Crazy…”
What the… It’s not like the marshmallow test where you get double if you wait for 5 minutes… How did he resist the vacation?
They all looked at Sergeant Lee Seo-jun with shaking eyes.
There were 6 weeks left until he was discharged, but he had 5 weeks of vacation left, which meant he had less than a week of actual military service left.