—Otherwise, pressure might be placed on you, Team Leader. Since we can’t intervene, you’d lose by rank. Either way, you might end up having to work with Buyeong...

Saint Petersburg, Russia... He slowly brushed his stiffened cheek.

“You don’t know what he’s going there for?”

—No, there’s only airport records; it ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) looks like he’s not leaving any paper trail for the purpose of the trip.

“...Anyway, good work.”

Despite his resolve not to care anymore, his thoughts quickly grew tangled again. His already low voice sank even further, as if soaked in a dark puddle. Just as he was about to end the transmission—

—Uh, Team Leader...! But is Buyeong all right? She didn’t get hurt during training, right?

At the voice thick with needless worry, he rolled his tongue inside his mouth several times.

She didn’t get hurt? Is she all right?

Lee Wooshin took a deep breath and answered calmly.

“There’s not a single spot on her that isn’t damaged, and the problem is that she’s still standing.”

—I didn’t think Buyeong would be this unwilling to give up.

A depressed voice leaked through the in-ear device.

—The only reason Special Security Team even asked for her must’ve been because of Kim Hyeon, right? Their contracts are expensive, and the Special Ops Team doesn’t take anything under 300,000 dollars. Is that why she’s trying to get in herself? What exactly does she think she’s going to do in there?

“......”

—But does Buyeong really not recognize you? Even while bumping into you all the time?

A flare of irritation welled up suddenly, and he clamped it down hard.

This birdbrained bastard. He shut his eyes tight, as if swallowing back his rage.

Wonchang, failing to pick up on even his boss’s changed breathing, was once again lost in his own thoughts.

—Is it because your face is just too different from Kim Hyeon’s, and she can’t even guess? I mean, you did say every one of her senses had to be altered...! You increased your muscle mass too, right? And this is just my thought, but...

“......”

—Maybe Buyeong was just the type to fall obsessively for a specific kind of guy like Kim Hyeon?

At that, Lee Wooshin didn’t even bother to respond. He simply yanked the in-ear device out of his ear.

***

“That’s not something to be ashamed of.”

Seoryeong’s voice was nearly devoid of inflection.

Is land training better, or is underwater training better. Of course, both were fucking miserable choices, but one thing was certain: on land, if you’re in bad shape, you only throw up—underwater...

“Shit, but I shit myself...”

“No one saw.”

“You saw, you did...”

“At the nursing home I used to work at, I saw it every day.”

“......”

“Everyone does that, they smear it on the wall and everything. Nothing special.”

“Please stop...”

The underwater knot-tying evaluation required them to grab a single nozzle, descend to seven meters, tie a knot, and come back up.

During that process, many trainees would pass out or black out—but today, one of them surfaced with a slight accident in their pants.

Because of that, a temporary delay occurred.

Seoryeong had been the first to witness the scene, and she was also the one who swiftly shoved the panicking recruit into the shower room as a form of emergency response.

And now, she was dryly comforting the same trainee, who was clutching his head and wallowing in despair.

“It’s because the pressure changed suddenly.”

It would be troublesome if he gave up the training out of shame.

Because this pitifully deflated trainee was the one who alternated with Seoryeong for last place—and she needed someone to stay beneath her to survive.

So she had to stop him from quitting.

Even if she had to gaslight him in bits and pieces...

“All bodily waste is precious.”

“Please stop already...”

“They’re vital indicators of health. Why be ashamed of a functioning digestive tract? Of course, it would’ve been best to handle it properly. Generally speaking, feces belong in the—”

“Shut your damn—!”

“Anyway, what kind of trainee who shits with that much urgency tries to run away.”

The man wiped his face with a dry hand, nearly mashing it in, and whimpered.

“Could you at least use your subject correctly...”

“Shitting.”

“Fuck...”

“You’re not quitting, right?”

“I’m not quitting...!”

Only then did Seoryeong nod as if reassured and fall silent.

Now that she’d heard the words she wanted, her face turned pale and indifferent again, as if she’d never spoken like a friend.

Just then, the instructor’s whistle blew, and her body rose reflexively.

It took only seconds for the scattered recruits to regroup at the pool.

All throughout week four, Seoryeong had been doing various water-based training—breath-holding, 50-meter underwater swimming, retrieving objects from 15 meters below.

Lee Wooshin still made a point of tormenting her whenever he saw her.

Especially when she was in the water tank holding her breath, he would press down hard on the back of her head, just enough to make it feel like torture.

Only when she was truly at the verge of passing out would he release the pressure, and she would lift her head in a daze—only to meet eyes with Lee Wooshin, smiling as if refreshed.

In that moment, murderous rage flared up.

Her fist flew.

But she staggered and collapsed with the floating tube, creating a pathetic scene.

She hadn’t imagined she’d accumulate black history like this too... Just thinking about it still made her face burn.

“Today it’s a 500-won coin. Bring me a 100-won one and you’re in trouble.”

Lee Wooshin, wrapped snugly in a scarf just for himself, pressed a hot pack to his cheek with an infuriating grin.

He raised a fuss about how cold it was, yet when he blew the whistle, he did so firmly, sending the recruits ruthlessly into the water.

They dove in without hesitation, just as they had done many times before.

Today’s objective was to dive to seven meters to retrieve a coin lying on the bottom.

Seoryeong was no exception.

She cut through the heavy, clinging pressure of the water with her arms and went down—lower, deeper.

Though she lacked stamina and her swimming ability was average, she was surprisingly good at holding her breath, so she never fell too far behind.

After finding the 500-won coin and ascending in a straight line, she was surprised to see that Lee Wooshin himself had entered the pool.

The recruits, with only their faces peeking above the surface, turned their eyes to the instructor’s mouth.

“Today, we’ll learn how to make an emergency flotation device.”

He moved his hands near his waist under the water, as if searching for something.

What... is he doing?

As they looked on with puzzled expressions, click — the buckle of his pants came undone.

Seoryeong blinked blankly.

Soon, he raised his soaking pants and said,

“Recruits, follow your instructor and remove your pants.”

“......!”

Lee Wooshin demonstrated how to inflate his pants to use as a flotation device.

The recruits, watching him, all began awkwardly removing their own pants under the water.

At the same time, their uneasy glances subtly shifted in Seoryeong’s direction.

“......”

Even as she moved her legs, she hesitated.

Regardless of the reason, the fact that she’d faltered at all brought a wave of dismay.

“Recruit Han Seoryeong.”

Just then, she made eye contact with Lee Wooshin, who had tilted his head slightly.

“A person who wants to work on my team—are you planning to survive by clinging to your teammates’ shoulders?”

His cold gaze pierced into her, the only one who hadn’t yet created a flotation device.

“Then why should we take in someone who doesn’t even have the strength to save herself?”

“......!”

“But considering your difficult situation, we’ll skip this step.”

As if he hadn’t just criticized her, he turned his head indifferently.

It was a way of saying he understood her discomfort—more precisely, the shame she must have felt—but unlike usual, he didn’t smile or taunt her.

His voice was flat, merely stating he had confirmed her limits—and somehow, that made her nervous.

Surely I’m not getting kicked out over something like this...!

“That’s not it...!”

Seoryeong, making her earlier hesitation seem like a lie, whipped off her pants.

The cold water stabbed her bare legs like needles, snapping her fully awake.

She inflated her pants just like the others and successfully created her emergency flotation device.

Hugging the round pants like a buoy made staying in the water far easier.

After several more rounds of practice, the morning training session ended.

“Dismissed.”

Lee Wooshin issued the brief order and left the pool first.

And as he shook off the water that clung like gravity, the recruits’ eyes shamelessly followed him.

His wet top revealed the defined muscles of his chest, stomach, and back, and his underwear—tight-fitting drawers—clung closely to his body.

It looked vaguely like a swimsuit, but the shape of his firm buttocks and thighs was strangely obscene.

Seoryeong, feeling like she was peeking at porn, turned her head sharply away.

Soon the other recruits shivered as they climbed out of the pool.

Just as Seoryeong, too, was about to move toward the edge of the pool, hugging her flotation device—

“Don’t turn around. Run straight to the barracks.”

He gave the command with a short blast of the whistle.

“You—don’t come out yet.”