Seoryeong gasped, startled, her mouth parting open. At that, his wet tongue wrapped around the soft flesh inside and rubbed against it with slow, obscene pressure.

As her arms flailed in the air, unsure where to go, Lee Wooshin leaned in even more, twisting his head and pressing his body close to hers.

His jaw moved hungrily, like he was devouring something. When his tongue sucked on hers with numbing force, saliva spilled out in a messy gush.

Her body kept pushing backward, but every time her lips parted, his tongue surged in. He pressed against the delicate inner membrane so thickly that her cheek bulged outward.

This is different...

It was completely different from the time at the camp—when she’d fallen off the cliff.

Back then, he’d had the look of someone caught off guard, clearly displaying the shock of a terrible mistake all over his face.

After that incident, the two of them seemed to silently agree never to bring it up. They'd both treated it as a shared lapse in judgment—and that was the most comfortable middle ground. Even if, now and then, something like a quiet ember had sparked between them, they’d each deliberately ignored it.

But now...

The point where their flesh met felt like it would melt. Seoryeong stumbled backward, bracing against the table. Jin Hoje’s tumbler hit her hand and clattered loudly across the floor.

Wooshin twisted his head even further, as if he no longer had anything to hold back.

“Mmgh...!”

Even as a crushed noise escaped her lips, he kept their mouths locked together, his hand holding her face in place. The relentless kiss forced her slender neck to tip back helplessly.

His sharp, pointed tongue scraped obsessively along the inner walls of her mouth, jabbing and pressing deep, as if it were a sex organ trying to penetrate. His defined nose buried itself in her cheek, and their tangled breaths grew greedy, uncontrolled.

It was far too violent to be called a kiss. Their lips burned with friction, slick flesh mashed together.

A scalding heat rose from the pit of her chest, making her feel like her body was being remotely controlled. Her breathing grew ragged, and her panting came on its own. Their saliva, soaked and heavy, had already mixed beyond recognition.

No... Seoryeong knit her brows, trying to grasp her slipping sanity. But when the man—panting hungrily—gently grazed her palate, a hot moan burst from her throat.

“Haa...”

The thought of Kim Hyeon... the thought of her husband... was evaporating helplessly.

No matter how hard she pressed her tongue stiffly against his, he simply kneaded the back of her neck and forced her mouth open again and again. He didn’t feel real—this man.

If she let her guard down for even a second, his tongue twisted in, drawing obscene sounds from their mouths. Her mind was going hazy, heat pooling around her eyes. And that frightened her more than anything.

Especially because the office was so quiet. Every sound of arousal echoed directly in her ears.

The suction of his thick lips, the squelching sound of her inner flesh being stirred...

A strange sensation rang through her °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° peripheral nerves. Sharp gasps burst from her nose, and indecent groans slipped out, tangled in her breathing.

“Hnn...!”

Her eyelids trembled like they were convulsing. She couldn’t get enough air. What were we even talking about before this? Her thoughts wouldn’t connect.

But the cold sensation she’d forgotten jolted her awake. Seoryeong clutched the pistol in her hand tightly.

Now she really was cornered.

From the very beginning, his attitude had grated on her nerves. Sometimes he’d look at her with such undisguised contempt, like he couldn’t stand even being near her.

Was this how it all ended? Was the final destination of the man who scolded and interfered with her—nothing more than this kind of animalistic greed?

Still... no more. No closer. Seoryeong shoved the muzzle of the gun into his abdomen.

The man, who had been devouring her hot breaths, suddenly froze.

“......”

“......”

Their mouths, which had been locked so deeply, separated in an instant—and their eyes met.

Then, Lee Wooshin grabbed her with one arm and swept her up onto the edge of the table.

“Wha—!”

As if daring her to do something about it, he pressed his abs against the muzzle of the gun, pushing even closer.

His large body loomed over her, and he naturally pulled her thighs apart to grip them. He bit her cheek again—then kissed her, lips dry from thirst.

Wooshin’s eyes showed no fear whatsoever. If anything, they looked like he’d prefer to be shot.

His lips weren’t even the hottest part of him—what pressed tightly between their lower halves was far more scalding. A torrent of heat pulsed there.

“Ahh—wait...!”

Even as she tried to push him away, Wooshin only pulled her waist closer.

It was as if the power to end this was entirely hers now. The pistol’s muzzle pressed deeper against his taut stomach, every inch of the contact grotesquely vivid.

He’s so manipulative... Giving her the gun like that—he was shifting all the responsibility onto her. That alone was insidious.

What was worse—was that even as a bitter laugh bubbled up, she didn’t actually want to pull the trigger.

Her grip tightened... then loosened. Then tightened again... and fell limp.

Each time, his rough kiss resumed.

And when his strong tongue began expertly tangling with hers, Seoryeong rammed the pistol’s barrel hard into his smooth forehead.

“――!”

She wasn’t saying she couldn’t shoot—but she never said she couldn’t hit.

The vile tongue finally pulled away, and she saw his forehead reddening and starting to swell.

Wooshin scowled and said in a voice roughened with restraint:

“You swallowed it all down—and now you’re hitting me?”

His mouth, glistening with spit, looked downright obscene.

“...Because I’m trash.”

“......”

“You think I can run around with other men while I’m still looking for my husband?”

“I never said that.”

“......!”

“So you’re not completely oblivious, huh.”

Wooshin licked the corner of his lips and laughed coolly.

“Hate your husband all you want. Do the rest with me.”

“......!”

He kissed her jawline as he spoke. The way his eyes burned hot but studied her coldly—it was like he was eyeing prey.

Suddenly her stomach churned and a cold sweat broke out. There didn’t seem to be any way left to escape.

And yet... the way Wooshin laid bare his feelings amazed her.

Even after getting married, she’d always been too afraid to speak honestly.

She’d desperately wanted to be loved unconditionally by her husband, but bit her tongue every time. Because if she ever expressed how bottomless her heart really was, he’d probably run.

And the more of the world she experienced, the more she realized—almost no one wants to love a leaking vessel.

But this man... why? He’d failed too, hadn’t he? So why...

“You told me to go sleep with someone sweet and gentle.”

“Ah...”

She had said something like that once, as advice. Back when she was worried the instructor might end up with a warped view of women.

Her eyes wavered, completely lost.

“I’m not sweet, but I’m strong. And horny.”

“......!”

“So show me your porcelain pussy, let me train it, and soon I’ll even hand you the Deputy Director. I’m doing everything she asked me to—but she’s being so cold to me. Don’t you think that’s unfair?”

“......”

“Let’s hear it from the woman herself.”

Seoryeong wished she could rewind time.

She never imagined that the instructor who’d trained her so coldly would one day try to consume her like this—as if to devour her whole.

His brazen steps felt like an invasion. All she’d ever known was Kim Hyeon, cautious and respectful. She’d never experienced a man who tried to force himself into her like this.

“No... Instructor. I mean... Team Leader...”

“Yes.”

He rubbed his swollen forehead against her lips. When she flinched and pushed at his shoulder, he just slid his fingers tighter around her narrow waist. Haa... She exhaled.

“I don’t even trust what I see anymore.”

“And denying what’s clearly in front of you sounds pretty stupid too.”

“......”

“I promise—there’s no one as big and curved as me.”

He grinned like some snake from a storybook, whispering temptation.

“Turn on the lights. Use a magnifying glass if you want.”

“......!”

That was... undeniably tempting. But her stomach was churning.

This wasn’t just temptation. For a woman who’d chased after only her husband all this time, this felt like a disaster crashing down on her head.

If she said no... what if it ruined everything? What if it cost them the whole mission? She felt like she was being tested.

“Your husband betrayed you. So why can’t you?”

“......!”

“Sleeping with another man—is that really the worst thing you could do, Seoryeong?”

He was like junk food. So harmful it could shake her very foundation in a single bite.

Her missing husband’s trail, the unshakable fortress of the NIS—even the despair that sometimes crushed her—they were nothing compared to this man.

There was no one more dangerous or unpredictable than Lee Wooshin. Not even ignorance was as terrifying as him.

“What exactly do you see in me, Instructor?”

She wasn’t kind, or pretty, or delicate anymore. She hadn’t shown him any of the traits that people usually fell for.

So what was he looking at?

“Oh—didn’t you know?”

Wooshin frowned, then gently tucked her messy hair behind her ear.

“You act like a total bitch sometimes.”

“......!”

She hadn’t expected romantic words, but still—it felt like being smashed in the head with a hammer.

The part of her she’d spent a lifetime hiding in shame—he laughed at it like it was nothing.

Seoryeong couldn’t even blink.

“But that’s exactly the part I’m curious about. I want to pry it open and get in. That’s why I’m acting like this, even if it’s humiliating. Recruit Han Seoryeong... you really hurt my pride.”

Footsteps echoed in the hallway. The blunt rhythm of military boots, a muddle of deep voices—all rushed past.

But in this moment, all sense of place vanished. Only the cruel clarity of the smile in front of her remained.

She still couldn’t pull the trigger.