"......."

Seoryeong furrowed her brows. It was a gesture of consideration, and yet one she didn’t exactly welcome.

Lee Wooshin, scanning the surroundings with his brow creased, looked unusually on edge for some reason, and every so often, he spat out whistle blasts at the slow-moving recruits as if they were curses.

Seoryeong found it impossible to pin down his attitude. Sometimes his consideration felt like neglect, other times like common sense.

She understood she was the only woman in this training camp, but depending on the situation, the way her position was treated with double standards left her deeply dissatisfied.

She knew there were times when it was unavoidable to be singled out—she was supposed to accept that with composure. But there was also a part of her that wanted to resist.

Now, only the two of them remained in the swimming pool.

"......."

"......."

Seoryeong climbed out while locking her gaze on Lee Wooshin. As expected, his expression hardened at once.

She could see the large lump of his Adam’s apple wobble with tension, but she ignored it and stepped onto the pool stairs. Lee Wooshin tilted his head back and let out a sigh that sounded like laughter.

The cold wind scraped at her bare legs, but perhaps because her stubbornness and his clashed so fiercely, she didn’t feel cold at all.

"At least wrap yourself in that."

With a low, cracked voice, the man tossed her the pants he was holding as if doing her a favor. The water-soaked, sagging pants hit her back and dropped. Seoryeong deliberately didn’t pick them up.

"Don’t give those underdeveloped assholes a free peep show. If I say put them on, just put them on."

"I already accounted for that when I took them off."

"......."

"I couldn’t strip quickly because I was too busy calculating all that."

With her eyes gently closed, Lee Wooshin pressed hard on the bones of his brow.

"Recruit Han Seoryeong, do you have no concept of flexibility?"

"Is that something I need in training?"

"What good is a flexible scapula if your personality's rigid as hell."

"Isn’t that better than being obnoxious like someone else?"

At that, Lee Wooshin covered his face with both hands and paused for a moment—

"Shit, Seoryeong, but walking around like that..."

He mumbled the words like he was chewing on breath.

At the sudden sound of her name, Seoryeong flinched instinctively.

"Your ass crack is practically showing. I’m sure the instructor’s thrilled about that, huh?"

"......!"

With a bitter chill in his narrowed eyes, he picked up the pants from the floor and strode toward her. Then, as if to wrap them around her lower body, he bent down and pulled her toward him.

The water-logged pants stuck heavily to her bare skin, and just as they were about to be tied around her waist like a mini skirt—

The fierce movement of his hands came to a sudden halt.

With a strange premonition, she glanced down, and through the beige-toned thin underwear, the shadow of pubic hair was faintly visible.

Instantly, Seoryeong’s face flushed red. She reflexively tried to push his arm away, but all she touched was the bulging tendon on his forearm—Lee Wooshin didn’t budge an inch.

"I—I’ll do it myself...!"

"Shut it."

He stared at her from a distance close enough their noses could almost touch, eyes devouring her. He was tying the knot so tightly that her whole body swayed under the strength of his tug.

The man was still looking at her with that fierce glare—from the water dripping down her hair, to her lips shivering from the cold, to the rapid rise and fall of her chest. His sticky gaze continued without end.

Then, when his fingers brushed her underwear, almost by accident—

Ugh...! She bit her lip and flinched with a shiver.

"......."

"......."

Her heart pounded so fast it startled her, and a sudden wave of erotic tension surged through her. She was overwhelmed by such intense shame her cheeks burned.

Even as her body trembled from the delusion of having her nape caught between the jaws of a predator, Lee Wooshin calmly finished tying the knot and stood upright.

"It’s done."

But those eyes that had always been empty, irritable, and filled only with boredom were now—strangely—shining with greed. Every time that gaze grazed her, an uncomfortable sensation bloomed.

"In case you start spiraling into some misplaced victim complex—"

The man wore no expression whatsoever.

Seoryeong clenched her fists tightly in an effort to shake off the uneasy feeling.

"I have a duty to control and manage the recruits. The reason I’m sometimes strict with you and sometimes lenient is to maintain balance within the unit as a whole."

"......."

"It’s not because you’re particularly ridiculous or particularly special."

"And yet Instructor still wants me gone."

At that, the expression that had seemed so foreign began returning little by little to what it had been. Those eyes that looked like they’d bite her at any moment—all of it, a lie. Back to the undisciplined, lazy Lee Wooshin she knew.

"Can I ask why?"

It was something she had wanted to ask properly at least once.

"No word games, no empty lines. Instructor already knows why I want to stay here. Then please let me know too—so I can understand it properly and overcome it."

"......."

When the silence dragged on a little too long, Lee Wooshin scowled and exhaled through clenched teeth. His breath cracked as it escaped.

"Recruit Han Seoryeong gets in the way—of what I’m trying to do. But no matter how I try to pull her off, she won’t let go."

"......."

"How far do I have to break you down?"

"You already know—I’m not quitting."

"I figured."

A cold wind blew between them. Even so, a faint heat that had started to rise lingered in her gut.

"Then I have no choice but to teach you ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) properly. If this is something you insist on doing, then I’ll show you exactly what it is you’re still missing, foolish Han Seoryeong." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Seoryeong waited for what would come next, but the man merely pressed his lips into a hard, straight line.

As she looked down at the ground, her gaze caught on his pale foot. Then came the long, firm calves, the taut thighs, and the drawers tracing his broad silhouette—like a men’s underwear model.

Maybe because of his fair and striking features, the sight somehow felt even more indecent. Even though she’d seen him fully naked the day they met, why did it suddenly feel fresh again...

Her annoyed eyes kept climbing upward—just a little higher, and higher—

"What are you staring at so hard?"

Lee Wooshin suddenly pressed the tip of his red tongue against the edge of his lip. Perfect silence, as if even the wind had died. Startled, Seoryeong blurted out the truth like an excuse.

"...Your nipples are hard."

"What?"

"You dunk us in cold water like that, but looks like you hate the cold too, Instructor."

"......."

"I can see everything."

She pointed with her eyes to the sharp peaks visible through his wet shirt. Lee Wooshin let out one of his signature sleazy, snack-food smiles.

"Don’t go comparing people like that. Instructor doesn’t have any dick hair."

She didn’t even know what possessed her to bolt from that spot so fast.

Even though she had the stamina to endure a 5-kilometer jog, for some reason her breath caught right up in her throat.

As she’d been taking birth control pills to delay her period, it suddenly occurred to Seoryeong that she might be ovulating.

Otherwise, there was no reason for her body to keep getting hit by these bouts of irritating heat. Still, people did have random phases when their sex drive would spike—if it was hormonal, that made sense.

The more she nodded to herself, the more it felt like something awkward and heavy was breaking off inside her.

Blast Corp Training, Week 5.

With a slightly lighter mood, she entered into the hand-to-hand combat drills.

“Before we start, I’d like to see a quick spar.”

Even after that strange day, she continued to stagger through the grueling schedule filled with curses, and Lee Wooshin continued to mix lenience with discipline, punishing her with unpredictable drills. The subtle current from the pool incident was completely gone.

“Recruit Seong Wookchan, Recruit Han Seoryeong—step forward.”

It was then that he called both their names.

Seeing the man rise from the mat at the same time as her, Seoryeong couldn’t help but click her tongue.

So his name was Seong Wookchan. The food-waste bastard, now visibly more haggard than before, was glaring at her with fierce eyes.

Soon the instructors approached and handed them basic protective gear. As she stood awkwardly holding her headgear and pads, Lee Wooshin came over and wrapped them around her midsection like a kimbap roll, then fit the headgear onto her.

He gave her armor a shake, then suddenly met her eyes with a displeased expression. For someone who’d called her out himself, his face was set like stone.

“Just try it for now. Learn it by doing.”

He murmured the cryptic words in a low voice.

Walking to the center of the mat, Seoryeong soon faced off with Seong Wookchan. In truth, she had never fought properly before. If it were a back-alley brawl, she’d be confident—but the problem was...

“Urgh...!”

Surprisingly, Seong Wookchan turned out to be a fairly seasoned fighter.