In fact, since joining the army was already a less-than-pleasant experience, everyone took care of their belongings all the more to avoid having to pay for any missing items. But the strange thing was that things were continually disappearing, and the moment an item disappeared, a chain reaction would ensue. Rather than paying for their lost belongings, people would resort to stealing from others instead. This chain reaction would continue until an inspection was conducted. At that point, the last unlucky individual would end up having to bite the bullet and endure the punishment. 

As such mysterious incidents of loss happened quite frequently, everyone began to suspect that the culprits were the platoon commanders, secretly taking away other people’s belongings when they left their bunks for outdoor training. In this way, the platoon commanders could earn money from the unknowing young recruits. Although it was extremely frustrating, there was no trace of evidence, and even if it could be proven that the platoon commanders had stolen the belongings, the fear that the platoon commanders may retaliate and make our lives even more miserable resulted in silent acceptance of the injustice.

Such incidents caused me much grief. First of all, I was upset that my commanders would commit such acts of greed. Secondly, even if such a tragedy were to happen to me, I would be unwilling to steal from others to replace what was stolen from me. For me, stealing is breaking one of the Ten Commandments! Thus, I pleaded with God every day: “Please don’t let me lose any of my items—and not just my stuff, but for the entire bunk, the whole army as well—please don’t let anyone lose any items.” I petitioned to God in this way.

Even then, one of my belongings still went missing!

One day, the commander announced that there would be an inspection the following day. We all started frantically preparing our items for inspection. At that moment, I couldn’t find my spoon!

“Oh my! My spoon’s missing!” The thing I’d been dreading most finally happened. My mind went blank, and out of instinct, I suddenly shouted, “My spoon is missing!” The whole bunk became dead silent. The thief, of course, wouldn’t say anything, and those who didn’t take it also kept quiet as they weren’t able to help either. I went around in a frenzy asking every person, “Have you seen my spoon? Would you happen to have two spoons on you?” But the answer was always negative. The commander who knew I had lost my spoon came over, staring at me. At that moment, I thought, “It’s game over for me. I’m going to be severely reprimanded, and even then, I still have to resolve the issue of the missing spoon. I’m so dead meat…”

(To be continued)