I hadn’t had my hair cut short since I graduated middle school. I went to the hair shop with my mother for a long time. My long hairs were scattered all over the floor and I could look her eyes that was filled with grief in the mirror. ‘Don’t be worry mom. It’s not brain surgery.’ By looking myself with short hair, I felt that the new time was waiting for me. On the day I went to dine out with my parents. I ate meat and felt happy with my family. However, I found father’s eyes that were wet with tears. ‘Man become the real man through military service.’ My father was always strong man for me, but I didn’t know that he had many gray hairs. I bowed down upon my knees to my parents, left my home and took a bus. I looked out the window. I felt that everything looks new. ‘Good-bye, my hometown.’

The Ko-je island, the second largest island in Korea, is my hometown.