Chapter Fifty-two: Enlisting and Farewell

  As for Zhang Chengyuan's rudeness, the four girls of Fin.K.L didn't really get angry, but instead gave him another good scolding. After finding out that Zhang Chengyuan had no other schedule for the day, they forced him to be their errand boy and made him accompany them to practice singing and dancing all day, with free labor thrown in.

  The time to join the army had finally arrived. After bidding farewell to some friends who came to see him off at Seoul Station, Jang Sung-won boarded a train with his father Jang Dong-ho and manager Park Byung-ryul to head to the Onyang Station in South Chungcheong Province, then took a taxi to the Army Training Center located in Jukping-ri, Yeonmu-eup.

  Jang Sung-won's friends are mostly popular entertainers, and they were all busy with their schedules. Lee Hyori and the other three members of Fin.K.L were also busy promoting their new album on various TV stations, but even though they had thought about taking a day off to see Jang Sung-won off to boot camp, he flatly refused. He was afraid that if he was seen with them, it would be caught by reporters and turn into a scandal.

  Although having scandals is a good thing for him who is about to disappear from the public eye as he prepares to enlist, it's absolutely an extremely troublesome matter for Fin.K.L who are promoting their new album and will start individual activities next month.

  In addition, Xiaoshuijing didn't come to see Zhang Chengyuan off either. She had no idea that Zhang Chengyuan was going to join the army. Zhang Chengyuan was afraid that if she found out, she would be heartbroken and cry her eyes out, and also worried that it would affect her studies. So he asked Xiaoshuijing's parents and sister to keep this a secret for the time being, and only tell her after everything had passed.

  It was her sister Zheng Xiuyan who got up early that day, took the subway to Zhang Chengyuan's new apartment, accompanied him to Hancheng Railway Station, and only turned back when the train left. Throughout the process, she remained silent, only answering when Zhang Chengyuan asked her why she came to see him off: "I'm here on behalf of Xiuying, otherwise she'll definitely blame me when she finds out."

  As for Zhang Chengyuan's father, Zhang Donghu, he is quite interesting. He usually runs business abroad and seems to be indifferent to his son who has been making money independently since a young age, but every time at critical moments, he will appear in front of Zhang Chengyuan. During the college entrance examination, it was like this, during university enrollment, it was like this, and now during military enlistment, it is still like this. From his actions, it can be seen that he is very concerned about his son Zhang Chengyuan. Zhang Chengyuan has long been aware of this, otherwise, he would not have notified him every time something big happened, although the decision was ultimately made by Zhang Chengyuan himself, at least it shows Zhang Chengyuan's respect for this old dad.

  When they arrived at the army training camp, several thousand people had already gathered near the reporting site. The number of young and strong recruits was already in the thousands, while the number of family members and friends was more than three times that. At this time and place, scenes of loved ones parting ways and lovers separating were everywhere to be seen. Zhang Chengyuan's mood also became inexplicably sad, his heart feeling a pang of anxiety, so he quickly went to line up and complete the enlistment procedures, received his military uniform, boots, and name tag, got a short haircut, took a few photos... After everything was ready, they left the camp and found a small restaurant where Zhang Donghu and Park Byung-ryeol ate a farewell meal together.

  During the meal, he handed over two letters that had already been written to Park Byung-ryul, asking him to deliver them to Fin.K.L and Soo-young's family tomorrow as a farewell message. As Jang Sung-won's manager, Park Byung-ryul was naturally familiar with Jang Sung-won's friends, so it was only natural that he would entrust this task to him, and Jang Sung-won also trusted his character very much, not fearing that he would privately interfere with the artist's private life like some managers.

  Here is the translation:

  "In a letter to Fin.K.L, he wrote: "Hyo-ri, Jin-hwan, Jeong-eun, and Yu-ri, the four sisters, I want to thank you for treating me like a real brother over the years. You may have even treated me better than your own brothers. At least, I know that Jin-hwan treated me much better than her own brother, maybe because I'm more well-behaved and handsome? Anyway, I'm deeply grateful for your kindness and will always remember it."

  "I also sincerely hope that you sisters will always be so good to me, and be good to me for a lifetime! But at this moment, I am very worried that one day you will no longer like me. I'm afraid that in my two years of service, you will be seduced by other men and become someone else's girlfriend, and forget about me. Therefore, I implore you sisters to have discerning eyes, to be rational in spirit, and not to easily fall for the tricks of stinky men. At least, do not agree to the pursuit of men who are less handsome than me, have poorer character than me, and have less potential than me! Otherwise, I will feel extremely humiliated, and also extremely heartbroken!"

  "Don't worry that you'll end up not getting married or being unhappy, with me around, I guarantee that you won't encounter such things in the future. At worst, I'll join some small African country's nationality and marry all of you... There are some words that can't be said face-to-face in everyday life, but now through this letter, I want to solemnly declare to you: sisters, I love you! Forever! Wishing that we can spend the rest of our lives together."

  Unfortunately, the emotions described in Zhang Chengyuan's graffiti were seen by the four Fin.k.l girls as a younger brother's reluctance to part with his older sister, so they didn't take it to heart. The only thing that went as he wished was that their vision had indeed improved a lot, and ordinary men couldn't catch their eye. But this wasn't due to the letter, rather it was because they had been in the entertainment industry for many years, were used to seeing handsome guys, especially Zhang Chengyuan's almost perfect face, which had caused them aesthetic fatigue.

  In another letter to Little Crystal, Zhang Chengyuan simply wrote a few sentences, stating the fact that he had joined the army and explaining why he hadn't told her in time. At the end of the letter, he wrote: "My dearest little sister Little Crystal, after 5 weeks when my new recruit training is over, I will return to Hancheng and reunite with you, please forgive me for not telling you earlier. Forever loving your brother Zhang Chengyuan."

  Two days later, after reading this dry and unpolished letter, Xiao Shuijing felt a pang of sadness, but then suddenly thought: "Brother Chengyuan is really uncultured, can't even write a good letter, I don't know how he got into Hancheng National University. Moreover, he wrote so little, about the same number of words as I usually write, it's really too insincere. When he comes back, I'll definitely make him write a 10,000-word letter." Little did she know, Zhang Chengyuan was afraid that she wouldn't understand, so he chose the simplest and most straightforward way to express himself, and was also afraid that if he wrote too much, she would get bored. In his impression, Xiao Shuijing didn't really like reading books with a lot of text.

  After handing over the letter, after lunch, Zhang Chengyuan let his father and Park Hyeon-ryeol return, carrying his luggage again into the training camp, to report to the dormitory of the squad. Watching him leave resolutely, both Zhang Donghu and Park Hyeon-ryeol felt a great sense of reluctance. One couldn't bear his son suffering in the strict hierarchical and corrupt military camp; the other couldn't bear the money-making machine stopping temporarily, causing him to lose countless wealth.

  No matter what the reason, they all complain in their hearts about this damn conscription system, making generation after generation of fine young people suffer and prepare to fight against fellow countrymen from the north. The Cold War between two superpowers decades ago, a struggle by a handful of politicians with wild ambitions, has made a whole nation, an entire ethnic group, endure the pain of division and separation for generations. In the eyes of ordinary people yearning for peace, this is utterly unreasonable!