The moment when I could grow and be mature than before.
How much do you think a bottle of shampoo cost or one pack of toilet paper? I belive many Korean young people in their 20th live in the same house with their parents and therby they do not pay for daily necessaries. People have different backgrounds and those backgrounds vary from family to family and from person to person. Partly because of that, some people get into social life earlier than others and face harsh realities they probably have not experienced before. To me, it was in 2014 that I tasted little bit of bitterness of social life.
I was discharged from the military on 17th of July in 2013. I took a full year off and earned money to be completely independent from my parents, only by doing so, without any economic support, I thought that I could truly do whatever I wanted to do. I worked seven days a week as an assitant in Community Service Center of my town, a part-timer in coffee shop and a private English tutor. I pushed myself to the limit because I was obsessed with the idea of making and saving money at that time, which I never felt difficult and tiring. Indeed, I saved huge amount of money which ordinary people around my age cannot even imagine. How could I do that? Well, it is because my parents and their house were there. Bascially I did not have to pay for anything such as eating meals, sleeping in my room and so on. Therefore, I was able to maintain cost of my living as extremely low as possible, 50,000 won per month.
I had a specific plan to use that money for my future. However, in life, things changed regardless of my fantastic blue print. My sister decided, out of blue, to study abroad in U.S. and it would burden my family with huge costs amounting to almost about 200% of my father's annual salary. My family put our heads together and came to a conclusion. She crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in Washington D.C. I was supposed to return to school and, a stroke of good luck in the midst of misfortune, I did not have to pay for the tuition thanks to the scholarship I had won before going to army. Although my parents said to me that they were able to give me a hand, I refused. I set a small portion of my savings aside and gave them the rest though they returned it to me after 13 months.
From that moment, my life was forcing me to get involved in real social life with full of harshness related to money. I had to find a job for a living. That was not a problem of preferences but of survivor. Thanks to my level of education, I was able to get two part-time jobs as private tutor and worked 4 hours per day for 4 days (2 days for weekdays and 2 days for weekend). 120,000 won was the money I made per week, but it was not stable and the pay fluctuated depending on the schedule. Have you ever felt the feeling that money is after you in every second? Also do you know how pathetic it is for you to watch yourself weighing the costs every time? I had not realized before that all the things around me were about money such as meeting friends, shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste and toothbrush, toilet paper and so on. I will not and cannot forget the very fear which shampoo bottle going empty brought, bitterness which made my ego shattered into pieces when I had to say 'No' to my friends whenever they called me to hang out. Furthermore, as my former department had been dismissed by school authority when I was away from campus and thereby I had to change my major, my daily routine was going to school, to work, to library, and to house. There were so many times that I was frustrated and wanted to give up everything. Nevertheless, I did not want to be overwhelmed by the situation itself. I know that it always comes and goes. 6 monts later one day my father called me and said "Son, I think now we can afford to support you again without concerns."
After passing through the six-month-long tunnel, I became firm, independent, humble, and confident. I finally found 'WHO I AM.' I do not regret voluntarilly choosing the hard way instead of easy one. Over the course of facing the real world, I achieved many things that I might have not obtained and that constitute me now. Just like old saying, "No pain, No gain!"
● NOTICE: Sentences in Bold are added and modified.
The last paragraph(conclusion part) should not have been in Bold. Sorry for making the mistake.
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