At the sound of that sharp voice, some recruits snapped to attention while others hurriedly wiped their damp faces with their sleeves.

Of all the times to be seen like this... Seoryeong thought bitterly, scrubbing her tear-streaked face with a careless hand. It made no sense — why were her eyes streaming like this? Maybe from the saltwater? Was that it? She’d been dunked in the ocean so many times that maybe the salt had soaked in.

She was still thinking such ridiculous thoughts when Lee Wooshin tipped his chin up, his gaze cold and direct.

“Dong Jiwoo, close the infirmary door.”

“Yes, sir...!”

Realizing that was a dismissal, Dong Jiwoo quickly made himself scarce, scurrying away without even glancing back at Seoryeong. The door clicked shut, and the uncomfortable silence settled over the infirmary like a heavy fog.

Only the two of them remained.

“Han Seoryeong, why were you crying?”

“I wasn’t crying.”

Her flat response made his eyebrow twitch. The usual sneer and mocking tone were gone, replaced by an unnervingly serious gaze that scrutinized her red, swollen eyes.

He smelled faintly of a freshly used shower gel — cool, crisp, and out of place in the stifling, unwashed room. The scent made her reflexively aware of her own condition. Unwashed for a week. No toothbrush, no soap. She must stink like hell.

And then there was what Dong Jiwoo had said. That he’d carried her here.

Seoryeong knew she should thank him. She knew it would be the proper thing to do. But if she did, it would be the same as admitting she had lost control, that her mind had gone blank. That she had passed out like a weakling.

And if there was one thing she knew for sure, it was that Lee Wooshin had zero tolerance for weakness. Especially from a female recruit.

Seoryeong clamped her mouth shut, her jaw set tight.

“If you weren’t crying—”

Lee Wooshin’s voice cut through the silence, smooth and cold.

“Then what’s with those wet eyelashes? You didn’t wash your face, but your lashes are soaked.”

His words dripped from his mouth like venom, each syllable drawn out, chewed up, and spat out.

“If it wasn’t from crying, did that idiot who just left lick your eyeballs clean?”

“......!”

“Or did he use a wet towel to wipe your crusty eyes?”

“......”

“If it wasn’t that, then drop the act. You’re not fooling anyone with that pride of yours.”

Seoryeong’s back went rigid. His smug, knowing expression was infuriating.

“I wasn’t crying,” she said, her tone sharp. “It was just water. Just... some cold water dripping down. You know how you get cold sweats? Well, I just had cold tears. That’s all it was.”

Lee Wooshin bit down on his lower lip, a sound like a half-hearted laugh escaping him. But he quickly schooled his expression back into cold neutrality.

“How’s your body feeling?” he asked, his tone suddenly flat and clinical.

“Filthy. Sore. I need a shower,” Seoryeong said bluntly. “So, can I go now?”

The stench was starting to get to her, too. The sour, rank odor of her own sweat and grime clogged her nostrils, and the urge to escape the room was growing unbearable.

She threw back the thin blanket and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, starting to get up. That’s when she noticed his hand gripping the footboard, his knuckles taut and white.

Lee Wooshin leaned down, his eyes boring into hers with relentless intensity.

“And where do you plan on taking that shower?”

“...Where else? The shower room. Or what, should I go bathe in the ocean?”

“I’m sorry, Han Seoryeong,” he said, his tone suddenly mockingly polite. “But as of today, you’re banned from using the barracks shower room.”

“What?”

Seoryeong’s face contorted in disbelief.

She had an arrangement with the other recruits — she would wait until they were done and then use the showers alone. It was inconvenient, yes, but she had accepted it as part of the deal. And the instructors had been fully aware of that arrangement.

So why the sudden change?

“I know you had a deal to share time with them,” he said, crossing his arms. “But that’s off the table now.”

“Can I ask why?”

Instead of answering, Lee Wooshin tossed a crumpled piece of paper at her.

“If any instructor thought Han Seoryeong was the weakest one here, they were dead wrong.”

“Huh?”

“It’s actually the opposite.”

What the hell is he talking about? Seoryeong muttered internally as she began unfolding the crumpled paper. It was so badly crumpled that the edges were practically disintegrating. But the moment she smoothed it out, she recognized it instantly.

It was the page Lee Wooshin had ripped out the previous week.

“Don’t you get it yet?” he said, his voice low and cutting. “You’re the most dangerous one here.”

Husband candidates??

Husband candidates!!

**SEX, sex, sexual compatibility, one-night stand, candidate list, ‘Should I try confirming it with my mouth??’ ‘Touching it while tied up!!’ ‘Should I just pounce on them??’ ‘No, first, let’s see if it’s hard’ ‘Eliminate by length first’ ‘Carry a measuring tape around’ Seduction tactics, dating apps, genital job postings.

A string of obscene words, sketches of crooked, lewdly drawn penises — a grotesque spectacle that even Seoryeong, the author of this chaotic scrawl, found hard to look at.

Why did it have to be this of all things that got discovered...

Even while asleep, she’d scribbled down this mess...

Facing her own subconscious in such raw form made her face burn with shame. And just a few steps away, Lee Wooshin’s stern eyes bore down on her.

“So, when you find a suitable candidate, are you going to keep them fed and watered, then screw them for days?”

“...What?”

“Last time, when Han Seoryeong asked me about dos and don’ts.”

“......”

“Your eyes were so damn shiny, I wanted to pluck them right out.”

Despite the playful curl to his lips, there was nothing remotely affectionate about his tone. His eyes drilled into her, relentless and unyielding, like a power drill boring straight through her skull.

“What the hell kind of heinous shit are you planning to pull?”

Only then did Seoryeong recall the series of questions she had asked the previous week.

How to abduct a person if necessary.

But... the subject had been entirely different. She’d been talking about abducting an NIS executive, not... not a penis.

Had he misunderstood? The icy laughter that burst from Lee Wooshin’s mouth suggested he had.

His bloodshot eyes, glaring at her and only her, were terrifyingly unhinged.

“Hah...”

He began pacing the empty infirmary, his towering frame exuding a dangerous energy. With each step, his chest rose and fell, his breathing erratic and heavy, as though he were struggling to rein himself in.

Finally, he stopped, shouting as if he were about to lose his mind.

“You’re willing to do anything to find that goddamn husband of yours, huh? Anything?”

“......”

“So, screwing other guys to see if it’s him is your new hobby now?”

“Why the hell are you saying it like that?”

Seoryeong snapped, her eyes flashing.

Lee Wooshin’s smile vanished. Before she could even react, he closed the distance, shoving her back onto the infirmary bed.

She collapsed onto the mattress with a dull thud, her already battered body too weak to resist.

He straddled her in an instant.

“Mmmph...!”

His breath, hot and ragged, hovered dangerously close. Seoryeong’s own breath hitched, trapped beneath his weight.

Beneath his dark lenses, his irises gleamed a vicious, steely gray, as sharp and unyielding as the blade of a knife.

“What if we screw, and it turns out I feel just like your husband?”

“......!”

His rock-solid knee wedged itself between her thighs, pressing down with calculated force.

“And then, what? Does that make me your new husband candidate?”

“......!”

“You’re going to keep rolling around in the sheets, hoping to find your husband based on how it feels? Open your eyes and look at me.”

His hand clamped around her jaw, forcing her to look at him. Her dazed gaze swept over his face — the sharp, furrowed brow, the Western contours of his bone structure, the perfect bridge of his nose, and his cold, yet striking eyes.

Even at a quick glance, he was nothing like Kim Hyeon. Not at all.

From the very beginning, she had never once mistaken him for her husband. Lee Wooshin was an entirely different breed — and a face that could never be confused with anyone else’s.

But even knowing that, the way he loomed over her, so domineering and unyielding, made her feel as though she was being utterly humiliated.

Their gazes locked in a tense, chaotic collision.

“I thought you were all about that relentless ferocity,” he sneered, eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. “But now you’re acting all naive. Do you really think screwing some other guy is going to help you find your husband? Do you think love is so powerful that you can just tell by how it feels?”

“......”

“Get your head straight. There’s nothing easier to fake than sex.”

“......!”

“You already know that from your husband, don’t you?”

Seoryeong struggled beneath him, her fists clenched, but she couldn’t break free.

Lee Wooshin had a habit of acting like a clown, only to stab deep when it mattered most. She tried to shove him off, but his weight bore down, his hands hot against her shoulders.

“There are more than seventy positions to screw in. You think a guy who’s screwing you can’t fake a single goddamn climax? And you’re so confident that you’ll know for sure because of some magical, special feeling?”

“......”

“It’s fucking ridiculous.”

Their faces were inches apart, their breaths mingling in the heated space between them.

“Drives me fucking insane.”

For a moment, Seoryeong was struck by a bizarre realization.

Why was he this angry? What reason did Lee Wooshin have to be this enraged?

Whatever was eating at him, it had nothing to do with her.

So then... had he lost someone once too? Had he once been in a place where he could no longer find someone who mattered to him?

But unlike her, he had given up, while she was still searching — and that’s why he hated her for it.

Seoryeong quickly dismissed the unsettling thought, blinking hard.

“If you keep clinging to that almighty belief in love, you’ll just end up making all the wrong choices,” he said, his voice a rough, seething rasp. “And that will blind you. It’ll make you lose your judgment.”

Just like that goddamn sex list.

Lee Wooshin’s jaw clenched as he ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) spat out the words, his rage palpable.

Seoryeong exhaled quietly through her nose, her eyes fixed on him. There was something strangely compelling about the way he tore into her, lashing out with his bitterness and cynicism.

“Fine,” he said, his tone suddenly leveling out, eyes turning cold and composed.

“I’ll help you.”

“......!”

Seoryeong’s eyes widened, the whites stark against her ashen face.

Lee Wooshin... is going to help me find my husband?

It was the last thing she had expected to hear. And despite the fact that he had just said he’d help, his face remained as cold and sneering as ever.

Seoryeong couldn’t tell if he was offering her a lifeline or a loaded gun.

“I’ll bring you someone who looks exactly like your husband,” he said, his smile a cruel slash.

“......!”

The moisture that had clung to her eyelashes evaporated, leaving her eyes dry and stinging.

“From now on, whatever I say, you don’t argue,” he said, his voice low and cutting. “That’s my condition.”