The man opened his eyes again, and his sharp gaze landed immediately on Seoryeong’s right arm. Then, as if naturally following the flow, his eyes shifted to the man sitting right next to her. He casually crunched the candy in his mouth.

“All operatives who complete the basic training will—”

Lee Wooshin picked up right where he’d left off, as if no interruption had occurred.

“—be granted the qualification to join the Special Security Team through a final test. Those who receive top marks will be given priority in selection.”

At that final line, the expressions on the recruits’ faces all shifted.

Everyone had at least heard the rumors once: that the Special Security Team’s salary and bonuses were leagues above any other department.

“And.”

Lee Wooshin gripped both sides of the lectern and twisted his shoulders once. Thick veins swelled across his clenched hands, as if his irritation had nowhere else to go. His pupils alone tracked Seoryeong with unflinching precision.

“Anyone useless will be eliminated without mercy.”

His smooth lips curved upward, as if stitched into his cheekbones.

The clear smile he wore made his pale skin look even more luminous.

***

Outside, three large buses were waiting.

Wedged between towering men, Seoryeong was on edge.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that this entire place was one giant minefield of traps.

In an environment so openly hostile, the only thing she could do—however dirty or low—was endure.

But she already had the sense it wouldn’t be easy.

Still... she’d made up her mind when she left the house.

She’d decided to grab the bar herself. She gripped the strap of her bag tightly.

As she trudged forward, a shadow suddenly fell over her.

The scent was unfamiliar, but somehow she instantly knew who it was.

“Ms. Han Seoryeong, was my warning unclear?”

He looked down at her with a tilted head, as if still baffled.

“I told you very clearly never to let me see your face again.”

“Yeah. That’s why you cut me clean.”

“Are you doing this on purpose? Did you come here because you want to be overworked?”

He looked at her with the same weary expression as someone discovering an unexpected hospital case.

“It’s not that deep. I just hitched the right ride.”

“Ride?”

His brow arched upward.

“Yes. CEO Kang Taegon.”

“...!”

“One person fired me, another rewarded me. And I’m a practical person. It was obvious who I should follow.”

He made that strange face again, lines creasing between his brows.

Lee Wooshin had made that exact same face in Thailand—like someone scrutinizing a mislabeled item.

Not quite disappointment, not quite interest—more like quiet analysis.

“I don’t even know... what’s real anymore.”

He narrowed his eyes and rubbed his lower lip with his finger.

At that moment, a taxi pulled up near the front gate. Simultaneously, Wooshin answered a call.

He gave only a short reply—“Yeah”—and then grabbed Seoryeong’s forearm and began dragging her.

“...!”

When she tried to shake him off, he gave a clipped warning.

“If you don’t want your other arm broken too, just go. I’m not joking right now.”

While the other recruits were boarding the buses, she was being pulled toward a shitty taxi.

Seoryeong’s face twisted as she glared at him. Her resentment toward this arrogant man spiked.

He must’ve sensed her stubbornness and pride coiling tightly, because Wooshin clamped his jaw shut.

He looked just as unrelenting.

“Ms. Han Seoryeong, you’ll be taking that car.”

“Let go. Then I’ll call the CEO myself—!”

“What?”

“If this treatment is about rank and hierarchy, then I’ll go above your head too. If you’re a team leader or instructor, and this is how you’re using your position, then I’ll file my own protest.”

Wooshin snorted.

“I told you—I got here through Kang Taegon’s grace. So if you want me gone, go talk to him first.”

“Pretty bold for someone with a parachute entry.”

“Well, a parachute’s no good unless it opens properly, right?”

Their locked gazes collided midair.

“Ms. Han, you seem to think I have no authority here. But you’re wrong. Even if the CEO pulled strings to place you here, expelling you during training? That’s under my jurisdiction.”

“...!”

“That’s why I’m warning you now—save yourself the bus fare. You’ll be going back home soon anyway.”

Seoryeong pressed her lips together silently.

“Even the men drop like flies in this program. How do you think you’re going to make it? You’re not built [N O V E L I G H T] for this. You’re not even in this industry. What the hell are you going to do with that body?”

He pointed toward the recruits boarding the buses.

“By the end, only a quarter of those guys will still be standing.”

“......”

“Determination is nice, but one step too far, and it becomes recklessness. Don’t you get that?”

The fatigue in his narrowed eyes came mixed with thinly veiled disgust.

“I told you not to show your face again. Told you you had no value. Don’t you have any pride?

And you—you always make me repeat myself. That alone gives me plenty of reason to drop you.”

“......”

“This place is for choosing my subordinates, after all.”

Lee Wooshin was making it very clear—he was going to fail her, personally and deliberately.

And yet, Seoryeong stared straight back at him.

She didn’t flinch. Not even when he clearly tried to break her will.

“Sure. Fail me. But do it at the training site, not here.”

Wooshin scraped the inside of his mouth with his tongue, as if something bitter lingered.

“I already know it’s going to be hell. I thought long and hard before coming.

Still—I came here to try. Whether I collapse or claw my way through, I wanted to see how far I could go.

So why is my burden something you get to decide?”

“......” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“That weight is mine to carry.”

She lifted her eyes. This time, it was Wooshin’s brow that twitched.

With a sigh of irritation, he placed both hands on his hips. His gaze darkened inexplicably.

“Why are you so hell-bent on staying in this company, anyway?”

They’d had a similar conversation in Thailand.

The same question—why are you still here?

That same expression, twisted in disbelief.

He really did seem to hate seeing her again.

No matter how she phrased it, it wasn’t going to make him back down.

“Because I need the Special Security Team.”

His eyebrows arched high—clearly, he hadn’t expected that answer.

“Is this about that guy who ran off with the money? That con artist?”

“Yes. I’m going to catch him. He’s my husband.”

“...!”

The confession came so naturally that Wooshin briefly turned his head.

Seoryeong looked that way too, but there was nothing there.

“So whatever garbage you say to me, I won’t hear it. It won’t stick.

You’re just some instructor.

But I’m throwing my body into this to get my husband.

So how exactly do you think you’re going to stop me?”

Wooshin ran a hand over his face and took a step back.

He had the physique of a boulder, yet for a moment, he looked dizzy.

“That’s why I don’t feel any shame. Unless it’s my husband, it doesn’t even register.

So please—just treat me like everyone else. Run me into the ground and kick me out like the rest.”

The man clenched his jaw one more time before finally regaining his composure.

“Is this revenge? Or regret?”

“Both.”

Truthfully, she could attach every emotion in existence to it.

Regret. Resentment. Love. Murderous intent.

That was how it always was with Kim Hyeon.

So her answer came instantly.

He was the only person who ever took everything, whether good or bad.

“Then should I tell you a truth of my own?”

The man who had pulled her back suddenly shifted into a falsely sweet tone.

“There are things you learn automatically on the field. For instance—”

The muscles along his sharp jaw popped out sharply.

He stared into her eyes and stabbed in words like ice-cold metal.

“Love is just another form of psychological manipulation.”

“...!”

Her arm—caught in his grip—began to throb out of nowhere.

“It’s not even that hard. Make someone feel like they’re not alone. Validate them. Keep your eyes only on them.

Just those three things.”

He even held up his fingers to count them out.

His gaze, colder than a deep freeze, locked on hers.

“If you also make them feel loved, they’ll mistake it for the real thing.

Even if it’s just manipulation, they’ll believe it.”

The cruelty of his words sliced straight through her insides—but his face held a faint smile.

In that moment, something twisted inside her.

Somewhere deep in her gut, the bile of rage began to churn.

“It’s not a special feeling. Just a manufactured result.

That’s what I was taught. That’s what I practiced. And that’s what I believe.

Those feelings—are just aftereffects. Just side effects.”