I opened the lunch box with an excited expression. It must have been freshly made because it was still warm. I snapped the wooden chopsticks apart and was about to dig into a delicious-looking grilled short rib patty.
“Hana!”
“Huh?”
Jiyu and Yumi approached me with their lunch boxes. I gave them a confused look, not understanding what was going on.
“Let’s eat together!”
“Yeah, don’t be stingy!”
I had no idea what the point of eating together at a small desk was, but Jiyu and Yumi were so insistent that I could only stare blankly. They dragged their chairs over and placed their lunch boxes on my desk.
Now there were three lunch boxes on the desk. Luckily, there was enough space. Looking around, I noticed many kids eating together like us.
“Let’s eat!”
“Wow!”
Jiyu and Yumi started eating the rice from their lunch boxes, and I followed suit.
“Wow, this is delicious! It’s nothing like yesterday’s!”
“Right? How could we have eaten that dried-up fish last time when there’s lunch like this?”
Jiyu and Yumi were having a heated discussion about the side dishes and rice in their lunch boxes, wondering how our school meals had changed so much.
“It was fine until second grade…”
“Yeah, but didn’t they say the new school director changed the cafeteria?”
“Was it Director Kim Sehee?”
“Yup!”
I couldn’t help but hiccup when the director’s name came up. It felt a bit weird hearing the name of someone I knew from Jiyu and Yumi’s mouths. They looked at me and asked,
“Hana, are you choking? Should I get you some water?”
*Shakes head*
I shook my head side to side, gesturing that I didn’t need water. Thinking about it, I couldn’t figure out why the director had become our school’s director. Was it because she wanted to see me?
But that didn’t make sense since I saw her often enough. We lived in the same building, so I saw her face at least once a day. Of course, I rarely went to see her; she usually came to my room to visit.
It had become a routine for her to suddenly appear behind me while I was zoning out watching TV and cover my eyes with her hands. I didn’t know who she took after to play such childish games, but the director had a childlike side to her.
“I wish every day could be like this lunch…”
Jiyu and Yumi finished every last bit of rice and side dishes in their lunch boxes. I also ended up eating everything while chatting with them.
Just last time, I had left most of my meal. The difference was staggering. Now I understood why expensive lunch boxes were worth it. If they were this delicious, I wouldn’t mind eating them instead of school meals. But I knew the downside of these lunch boxes.
“You’d get tired of this if you ate it every day. It’s only tasty because it’s the first time.”
These lunch boxes get boring quickly. The side dishes aren’t varied and are pretty standard. Jiyu and Yumi gave me strange looks.
Seeing them stare at me like I’d said something wrong, I quickly asked,
“What’s wrong?”
“You sounded like an old person just now…”
“Like my dad.”
“Ugh!”
I clutched my chest as if an arrow had struck me. Kids could be surprisingly sharp. Compared to Jiyu and Yumi’s age, I was practically old enough to be their father. I was younger than most parents of third graders, but to them, I was still an uncle.
“Hana seems like a kid but also weirdly old!”
“Right!”
I just bit my chopsticks in frustration. I had no comeback. I thought discussing this topic was a losing battle, so I tried to divert their attention.
“Look, the teacher’s bringing something!”
I pointed at the front door with my chopsticks. Just as I said, the teacher was coming in carrying something. Jiyu and Yumi naturally turned their heads.
“It’s milk! Milk!”
“Thank goodness, I was so thirsty!”
Back in my day, we had to fetch the milk ourselves, but now the teachers bring it. I could feel the generation gap here. It used to be fun stacking milk cartons, but now we can’t do that anymore, which is a shame.
“Wow!”
What’s interesting is that back in my day, there was only plain white milk. Now, there’s chocolate milk, strawberry milk, and all sorts of varieties. When I was in school, you needed a “Jeti” (a type of coupon) to get chocolate milk, but now you don’t need anything. You really have to live long to see these changes.
Attending elementary school twice…
I realized I could experience such changes. It was something ordinary people could never do. No one could attend elementary school twice. Unless, of course, you caught some reverse-time disease like in the movies.
But of course, I was the exception.
“Hana, you like chocolate milk, right?”
“I like strawberry!”
We each grabbed our preferred milk and drank it. Milk really is the best. After finishing our milk, we patted our full bellies and relaxed.
———————————————–
In a crowded city, if a Gate opened, we’d have to stop it somehow. But in a sparsely populated place like Africa, the response was simple.
Just hide at home and wait for the Gate to disappear. Luckily, most monsters didn’t have great senses or high intelligence, so they’d just wander around without finding us.
A few might notice us even if we stayed hidden, but this Gate didn’t seem to have any smart monsters.
The problem was, these Gates took a long time to disappear on their own. Surviving that long required resources. Feeding ten soldiers and a dozen villagers was impossible, and we didn’t even have the tools to cook. Then one soldier spoke up.
“Peter! Didn’t you bring a lot of combat rations earlier?”
Peter, a black soldier, grinned, his teeth shining brightly in the dark house.
“I brought a lot, just in case.”
He set down his combat backpack and pulled out the rations. There were hundreds of cherry tomatoes. Soldiers, who burned a lot of calories, needed about two a day to feel full, but for civilians, one was enough.
“Everyone gets rations, except the guy who cursed me for taking a year’s worth!”
“Hahaha!”
Despite the grim situation outside the Gate, the atmosphere inside was warm. Fighting monsters in a Gate was far better than battling unpredictable humans.
We didn’t have to worry about snipers, bomb drones, or mortar shells. And since we weren’t fighting other humans, the risk of PTSD was lower. After all, that kind of trauma usually came from fighting fellow humans.
Some even said fighting monsters in Gates was easier.
Unlike the relaxed U.S. soldiers, the villagers looked around anxiously. They couldn’t understand what was being said.
A translator noticed their worried looks and kindly explained the situation. He told them to stay inside and wait, and the monsters outside would disappear naturally. The villagers’ anxious eyes finally calmed down.
—————————————————
After four weeks, the U.S. soldiers and villagers safely returned to base. We kept in touch with the base, so there were no major dangers. If we hadn’t brought enough combat rations, things could’ve gotten risky, but Peter’s foresight saved us.
“This is a masterpiece, isn’t it?”
“Right? Such a small thing packs so many calories. Is this Korean-made? The Korean military is blessed. Their combat rations are unmatched.”
Of course, Korea rarely had to eat combat rations. Even during training, they used old stockpiles, not the new Starlight Cherry Tomatoes. The Korean Ministry of Defense always used up the rations nearing expiration first.
The frontline U.S. soldiers, always equipped with the latest gear, had no idea about that.
