I was just thinking about a slang term. I learned it from people who served in the military, and it is also commonly used in various settings. It’s called “뺑끼,” which is believed to have originated from the word “뺑,” meaning “faint” or “feint.” The exact origin is uncertain. By the way, I learned it during my university years while participating in “농촌봉사활동” (rural volunteer work).
When there are many people working in a large field for farming, there’s always at least one person who doesn’t do their job properly. We all know that these people are called “free riders,” and you could also say “뺑끼친다” (verb) to describe them.
Since all men are expected to serve in the military as a mandatory requirement, it’s natural to learn this term from older guys in school who served in the military during their early 20s. I’ve never served in the military, but I’ve learned a lot about their spirit, such as the idea that being a “free rider” essentially means betraying your friend who has to work even harder to compensate for your absence. I believe it’s crucial to understand this mentality when trying to comprehend modern Korean psychology.
We all have been trying very hard to transform this mentality into something better than Japanese collectivism. I think we’re still in the middle of this process of improvement. I hope we can achieve a positive outcome as a result of this ongoing transformation.
(By the way, I find it intriguing that Koreans categorize different English words such as paint, faint, feint under the same Korean word “페인트.”)