Chapter 45.1

Chapter 45.1

“….”

Seoryeong raised an eyebrow. The gesture held both gratitude and resentment.

Lee Wooshin, furrowing his brow, seemed sensitive for some reason, and occasionally spat out a curse word on his whistle at the unkempt crew.

Seoryeong found his attitude hard to pin down. His consideration sometimes felt like neglect and other times just common sense.

Being the only woman in this training camp was a fact she knew, but she was dissatisfied with her position being treated differently depending on the situation.

She knew she had to accept that sometimes distinctions were inevitable, but she also had a part of her that wanted to resist.

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

“.…”

“.…”

Seoryeong emerged from the water, fixing her gaze on Lee Wooshin. As expected, his face hardened.

She saw his large Adam’s apple bobbing nervously, but she ignored it and climbed the ladder. Wooshin tilted his head back and let out a sigh that sounded like a laugh.

The cold wind scratched at her bare legs, but whether it was defiance or determination, she didn’t feel particularly cold.

“Wrap yourself in this, at least.”

With a low, rough voice, he tossed his pants to her like a favour. The waterlogged pants hit her back and fell. Seoryeong deliberately didn’t pick them up.

“Don’t give those idiots a free show. Just put it on.”

“I took them off knowing all that anyway.”

“,…”

“I wouldn’t be able to take them off had I not known that.”

Lee Wooshin closed his eyes and pressed his brow bones.

“Cadet Han Seoryeong, do you have no flexibility at all?”

“Is that necessary during training?”

“What good is a flexible body when your personality is so rigid?”

“Isn’t that better than being as unpleasant as someone?”

At those words, Lee Wooshin covered his face with both hands and stood still for a moment—

“Damn it, Seoryeong, if you walk around like that…”

He muttered, spitting out his words as if chewing them.

Seoryeong flinched at the sudden call of her name.

“You know, with your butt crack showing like that, the instructor will love it, right?”

“..,.!”

He picked up the pants from the ground, his eyes cold. Striding over, he bent down and pulled her close, intending to wrap the pants around her lower body.

The wet, heavy pants clung to her bare skin and were about to be tied up like a mini skirt.

His rough hands suddenly stopped.

Feeling something odd, she looked down to see her beige panties revealing dark pubic hair through the fabric.

Seoryeong’s face turned bright red. She reflexively pushed his arm, but only felt the bulging veins; Wooshin didn’t budge at all.

“I can handle it mysel―!”

“Shut up.”

At a distance where their noses almost touched, Wooshin glared at her as if he would devour her. He tied the knot so tightly that her body swayed with his movements.

His fierce gaze remained on her. From her dripping wet hair, her trembling lips from the cold, to her chest rising and falling with her quick breaths. His persistent eyes traced her every detail.

Then, his fingers brushed against her underwear, almost by mistake.

Ugh…! She bit her lip and shuddered.

“…..”

“…..”

Her heart pounded uncomfortably fast, and a sudden, sexual tension filled the air. A wave of intense shame flushed her cheeks.

Even as her body shivered like prey caught by a predator, Wooshin simply finished tying the knot and straightened up.

“All done.”

But his eyes, usually filled with apathy, mischief, and boredom, now gleamed with an unusual greed. Each glance he cast made her feel uncomfortable.

“Just so you don’t fall into unnecessary paranoia—” His face remained completely serious.

Seoryeong clenched her fists tightly, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling.

“I have the responsibility to control and manage the cadets. Sometimes I’m harsher on you, sometimes softer, to maintain the overall balance of the unit.”

“…….”

“It’s not because you’re particularly foolish or particularly special.”

“Even so, Instructor, you want me to fail this training, don’t you?”

His previously unfamiliar expression began to return to normal. The fierce look in his eyes faded as if it had all been a lie. He reverted to his usual lazy and indifferent self.

“Can I ask why?” It was something she had wanted to ask properly at least once. “Without any word games or sugar-coated lies. You know why I want to stay here. So let me know, so I can understand and overcome it.”

Lee Wooshin didn’t speak, leaving Han Seoryeong looking at his face, searching and waiting for an answer.

As the silence stretched on, Lee Wooshin grimaced and took a deep breath. His breath came out in a harsh, broken rhythm.