-(으)ㄹ 바에(는), -(으)ㄹ 바에야, and 차리리
바 in this case means a possible choice or action, similar to 것 but with different usages.
-ㄹ 바에 and 차라리(adverb) usually go together to express the sense of "would rather AA than BB" or "instead of BB (I/they) might as well AA" (BB-ㄹ바에 차라리 AA-겠다). But 차라리 just strengthens the meaning, like "rather", so the phrase still has the same meaning even without it.
Examples:
- 수리에 그렇게 많은 돈을 쓸 바에는 (차라리) 새 차를 사겠다: I'd rather buy a new car than spend so much on repairs.
- 그렇게 놀고 지낼 바에야 (차라리) 군대를 가라: Rather than idling like that, you might as well serve in the army.
- 네가 날 떠나는 걸 볼 바에야 차리리 죽고 말겠다: I would rather die than see you leave me.
* In all the above cases, -바에야/-바에는 can be replaced with -느니: 쓰느니, 지내느니, 보느니.
There is also a slightly different usage of -ㄴ 바에(는/야) (아예) ..., which means "going further with the same action" (아예) or "doing something additional", rather than doing something entirely different as in the case of 차리리.
- 이왕 여기까지 온 바에(는/야) (아예) 끝까지 갑시다 = 이왕 여기까지 온 김에 [왔는데] (아예) 끝까지 갑시다.
=> We've already come this far, so why not go all the way through the end.
- 어차피 이렇게 된 바에 어쩔 수 없다. (different usage - neither 차라리 nor 아예 is appropriated here)
=> Now that we've come to this, there's little we can do.