Her face slowly stiffened, as if the blood in her body had stopped flowing.
She clenched her fists tightly. Then released them. Then clenched them again.
_She had rarely been this angry at someone who wasn't directly involved in her life._ But the hatred toward Lee Wooshin was so visceral, so **consuming**, that it made her grind her teeth until her jaw ached. Her entire body trembled with barely contained fury.
"So don't be fooled by your own thoughts." Lee Wooshin's voice was calm, almost clinical. "Love is just one of the tricks that con artists use to deceive others."
Every word that came out of his mouth pierced her like a sharp knife.
She had heard cheap flattery before—countless times. She could ignore it. She could let it roll off her like water. But Lee Wooshin's words this time were different. They didn't bounce off. They **sank in**, cutting through every defense she had built, shaking her heart to its very core.
"If you still can't break free from him, it's because you're too easily deceived."
"……!"
"To hurt your own body because of a man like that—" He paused, his eyes dropping to her injured arm. "Does that make any sense?"
Seoryeong's breath caught in her throat.
"The basic training here…" Lee Wooshin pressed his temple with his index finger, as if to emphasize what came next. "It's only *called* that. In reality, it's torture that pushes people to the brink of insanity."
_This man was truly infuriating._
He had been annoying since the very first moment they met. She didn't want to admit it—**refused** to admit it—but the sting of his words hit her right in her weakest spot. The spot she had been pretending to ignore all this time.
The training hadn't even started yet, and she already felt drained.
Lee Wooshin pointed toward the waiting taxi with a stubborn, unyielding attitude.
"Those people never even thought about you. So why do you have to let your life be ruined because of them?" His voice softened, just slightly. "If you really want revenge, then live your life well."
His words shattered her heart every time she heard them.
She could barely hold back her tears. Her stubbornness, her spirit—everything that had brought her to this point was **real**. It had to be. But still, she couldn't refute him.
It made her hate herself.
And it made her want to destroy Lee Wooshin right then and there.
"No." Her voice came out steadier than she expected. "I won't give up."
"Han Seoryeong."
He called her name in a reprimanding tone, making her ears burn. She wanted to retort, but felt her voice catch in her throat. Even so, she wouldn't let this man look down on her like that.
She looked directly into his eyes, even though she knew she looked weak.
_True revenge… is making that bastard live a miserable life… without me._
But she kept those words to herself.
"And if everything you said is true…"
The blood dripping from her deep wound turned into resentment.
"I will ask my own husband directly. Not someone who knows **nothing** about love—like you!"
She pulled her arm from his grip with a sharp jerk, then walked past him with firm steps—not toward the taxi, but toward the bus.
---
## — On the Road —
_It's over._
She muttered the words to herself as the bus rumbled forward.
What she had said to the instructor—the man she would be seeing for the next ten weeks—it was the same as digging her own grave. She had all but challenged him. Insulted him. And now there was no taking it back.
Seoryeong tried to calm her breathing while staring out the window. The landscape blurred past—hills giving way to flatlands, then eventually the distant glimmer of coastline.
But still, the anger toward Lee Wooshin continued to burn in her heart.
Every time she remembered his words, she clenched her fists tightly.
_Love is just one of the tricks that con artists use to deceive others._
Her nails dug into her palms.
When the bus finally stopped, the instructor's voice cut through the silence like a blade.
"Take your belongings and get off!"
---
## — The Camp —
The place they had arrived at was a private military camp near the coast. Legally, it was registered as a **summer camp for children**.
But Seoryeong had heard whispers that this facility wasn't recognized by the Ministry of National Defense. That what happened here stayed here. That the training pushed people past their limits—sometimes past the point of no return.
As soon as she stepped off the bus, she immediately felt the weight of many gazes fixed on her.
Gazes full of dislike.
Mockery.
Condescending laughter.
Not a single one showed any goodwill.
_This camp is really tough…_ she thought to herself, keeping her expression carefully neutral. It wasn't just Lee Wooshin who wanted to get rid of her. It seemed the people at this camp also had a hard time accepting her presence.
The tense atmosphere—thick enough to suffocate—remained as they filed toward the dormitory buildings. As soon as she put her things down on the military-style bunk bed, a problem immediately arose.
"**Damn it!** How could I end up in the same room as a woman?!"
A familiar voice made everyone turn in the same direction.
Seoryeong's eyes found the source: a broad-shouldered man with a face twisted in outrage. She recognized him instantly. One of the recruits from earlier. The loud one.
"She probably can't even handle the training! But the rooms should be separate, right?!" He gestured wildly. "How am I supposed to change clothes? How am I supposed to shower? If there's a woman in the room!"
Even though it was clearly a provocation, the others seemed to agree. They nodded silently, their gazes sliding toward Seoryeong with varying degrees of hostility.
"I came here for training, not to share a room with a woman! If there's a problem later, **we'll** be the ones to blame, right?!"
His voice grew louder, and eventually, other people started to speak up.
"That's right. This is definitely a wrong decision."
"How about we give her a separate room?"
"Hey, that's not fair!" Another voice cut in, sharp with resentment. "Everyone else wants their own room too, but we still share. We came here for training, not to make her more comfortable than us!"
As soon as one person spoke, the dissatisfaction of the new recruits began to peak.
"I heard Blast is a top company in Asia, so I had high expectations…" A man clicked his tongue in disappointment. "But this isn't what I imagined."
"I'm actually getting **more** interested!"
One of the men said it while making a disgusting gesture—shaking his hips and making obscene noises. People laughed loudly. Some shook their heads in amusement, but none of them told him to stop.
_What a mess._
Seoryeong watched all of this with a strange detachment, almost like she was observing animals in a zoo. She felt a flicker of dark amusement rising in her chest, but she held back her laughter.
She knew that laughing right now wouldn't help anything.
"You guys aren't too narrow-minded, are you?" One voice spoke up in her defense—tentatively. "Maybe she's an amazing person."
"That's right! In Israel, there's even a famous female combat unit called the **Caracal Battalion**!"
But even as they talked about her, not a single one of them asked her directly.
Until finally, one person dared.
"Can you fight?"
"……"
"Before coming here, what did you do? Were you a soldier? Which unit?"
Everyone stared at Seoryeong, waiting for her answer.
But then, a voice that was already **far too familiar** was heard again.
"Hey! What soldier…" The loud man laughed mockingly. "She's our company's **cook**, you know!"
"What?!"
"Don't you remember? The woman who cooked and did laundry for us!" He jabbed a finger in her direction. "She's the woman who poured trash on my face!"
Some people in the group began to show expressions as if they remembered something. Recognition flickered across their faces—and with it, contempt.
Although being a cook wasn't something shameful or low, their gazes toward her shifted. They now had a **reason** to demean her even further.
_Wow… this place is really like a garbage dump, huh._
Seoryeong thought it inwardly, feeling an odd tickle of amusement.
_But it's also a bit entertaining._
Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the room—**military boots**, unmistakable and deliberate.
Seoryeong stared silently at the door.
But the man who had been shouting didn't notice the approaching presence. He continued to rant loudly, his voice bouncing off the walls.
"If she causes trouble and we have to sacrifice shower time because of her—or have to see her sanitary pads again—she better get out of here right now…!"
"Instructor Song Ukchan."
The voice was ice-cold.
Finally, a tall, large figure stepped into the doorway, blocking the loud man's view completely.
_Oh. So that person's name is Song Ukchan._
Seoryeong blinked without expression.
Lee Wooshin stood upright behind Song Ukchan, wearing tight training gear that emphasized the hard lines of his body. His gaze was cold—**freezing**—as it fixed on the noisy recruit.
"What's going on here?"
Lee Wooshin's tone made Song Ukchan immediately hold his breath in panic. Although he had been shouting like a wild horse earlier, as soon as he saw the instructor standing before him, he tried desperately to control his emotions.
"It's the woman," he said again, this time in a slightly different tone—more measured, but still resentful. "So she's a man now, is that it, Instructor? We have to exercise, shower, and sleep together. How can I focus on training if I have to keep worrying like this?"
"Just because there's a woman in the dorm room, you're **this** worried?"
"Yes!"
"Why?" Lee Wooshin tilted his head, his expression almost curious. "Are you afraid you'll get an erection? Is that it?"
"……!"
That sudden, piercing remark shocked Song Ukchan—as well as everyone else in the room. The silence that followed was **deafening**.
"Don't just use your thick tongue to make excuses." Lee Wooshin's voice was merciless. "If you're afraid of waking up with a tent pole and being embarrassed, just say so openly. That makes more sense."
"T-that's not what I meant…!"
"Where do people like this even come from…"
Lee Wooshin muttered, shaking his head slowly. His gaze swept across the entire room, landing on each face one by one.
"If the VIP is a woman, will you refuse the assignment?" He let the question hang. "If there's a female officer on your team, will you get the others to go on strike?"
"……"
"Or maybe all of your brains in this batch have **holes** in them, huh?" His voice dropped lower, colder. "If you can't even handle this much, you deserve to be kicked out from the start."
Those sharp words immediately silenced everyone, as if their mouths had been gagged.
Lee Wooshin walked further into the room and sat on the edge of a bunk bed, leaning back casually against the mattress. His head rested comfortably, his posture deliberately relaxed—a predator at ease in his territory.
His gaze went to the team members, one by one.
No one dared to speak.