"I actually feel much better."
Seoryeong steadied her trembling legs and spoke casually.
"What do you mean? Did you visit a bathhouse instead of a torture room?"
"I think she finally lost her mind."
Now they looked at her like she was some strange creature.
"You didn't wake up to be tortured..."
"I woke up. Just not because of torture."
She raised and lowered the corners of her lips—silently, deliberately.
As her body began to loosen, she'd discovered a **completely new path**.
_Why hadn't I thought of this before?_
Trapped in the shackles of being a married woman, she'd clung to stereotypes. But if there was one definite thing she could recognize about her husband, it was the **unique shape of his genitals**.
She was certain of Kim Hyeon's voice, height, skin texture, and the rough facial features she'd briefly traced with her fingertips.
Combined with the rare curve of his cock.
Someone matching those criteria **could** appear.
Her heart pounded for the first time in weeks.
She'd already prepared herself mentally. Since there was no other way to find him, she could start building a **list of candidates**.
_If going all the way is too difficult... just being able to touch it would be enough._
Her mind filled with thoughts of Kim Hyeon's bent cock as they arrived at the cafeteria.
Usually packed like a zoo during meal times, the space was now eerily empty—half the trainees had dropped out before and after the torture training.
The remaining recruits carried their trays to their usual spots and picked up their utensils with renewed energy.
But after a few bites, they stopped eating.
Instead, they began to talk.
"I was hung upside down with my face submerged in water... Ah, my nose still hurts..."
"The whole time I kept thinking: _How can I get revenge on that damn instructor?_"
"You're not doing this training again, are you?"
At that moment, one of the men—who'd been blankly touching the edge of the table—suddenly spoke.
"My training was weird. Lee Wooshin was suddenly replaced by a new instructor."
All eyes turned to him.
"...I was just interrogated normally. Suddenly they started talking about my family. Said if I didn't give up the coordinates, someone would get hurt instead. They even showed me a picture of my younger sister."
"...!"
He nervously chewed his fingernails, voice shaking.
"Then the door **slammed open** like it was going to break!"
He swallowed hard, eyes trembling.
"Instructor Lee Wooshin came in."
At the sound of his name, Seoryeong's full attention snapped to the speaker.
The table fell silent.
"So, did you get hit?"
"Yeah, I got hit. But it wasn't **me** who got hit—"
"Wait, considering it was Lee Wooshin, your bruises are pretty small."
"This bruise? I just fell backwards on my own and hit the floor! Honestly, I **still** don't understand what happened or how!"
He took a deep breath, clutching his shirt.
"Why did he act like that? What's **wrong** with him?"
As the others began to get annoyed, the dam broke.
The words he'd been holding back poured out.
"Instructor Lee Wooshin came in with a friendly smile, asked why we were staring at each other, and then suddenly started **beating the instructor supervising me like a lunatic!** He said I had to reveal the information, and if I spoke too quickly in a real torture situation, it would be the responsibility of the instructor who couldn't train me properly."
"...!"
"He kept **laughing** and stomping on that instructor like he was insane! Even when bones started snapping like dry wood, he didn't even blink! Beat him with a chair!"
"..."
"W-when I saw that, I felt like crying and screaming that I'd tell everything, but our instructor told me **not** to talk! To endure longer! I-I really didn't say anything! I was only supposed to reveal the coordinates, but I couldn't decide whether to talk or not!"
"What the hell... has that instructor lost his mind?" someone muttered.
"Maybe they were both trying to make you talk? A setup?"
"That's very possible."
"But still... that instructor got **really** hurt. And it's because I didn't talk. I should have just given up the coordinates. Every time I think about it, my head spins."
He shivered, face pale.
One of the recruits who'd been watching him suddenly snapped.
"You bastard, get a grip! Wasn't it obvious from the start? You were **intentionally** made to feel guilty! Torture isn't just about physical pain, you know? And judging by the look on your face, it worked **really well** on you. Wake the fuck up!"
"Really? But I keep feeling my heart pounding. Because I was so stupid, so insensitive... it feels like he got hurt because of **me**!"
He clutched his head like someone about to lose his mind.
"Should I have just talked? He got hit more and more because I kept quiet!"
As the conversation looped back to the beginning, the recruits exchanged glances and slowly rose from their seats.
Seoryeong blushed and pulled out her chair, lifting her tray.
At that moment, the last person to stand politely asked:
"Who was the other instructor that Lee Wooshin hurt?"
The trainee's lips twisted into a bitter smirk.
His voice came out choked, sorrowful.
"Instructor Jin Hoje."
---
**BANG, BANG-BANG!**
Loud gunshots echoed through the underground shooting range.
Lee Wooshin, wearing ear protection, continued to pull the trigger with an expression full of rage.
Bullet casings clattered to the ground. The distant paper target was riddled with holes.
It had been several days since the interrogation training ended.
As an agent of the National Intelligence Service, he'd never hesitated to weigh a person's life. But now he was caught in a **trivial dilemma**.
And the heat—**God**, the heat—smoldered on one side of his head like bitter smoke.
Contrary to his expectation that getting rid of the owl would bring him comfort, the ambition she'd declared was **shocking**.
_That bent nature..._
_No. I don't want to think about that word again._
Her determination had been enough to raise his blood pressure.
Even if her legs broke, she wouldn't give up on Kim Hyeon.
Despite being forced into violence, her eyes hadn't even flinched.
She wasn't the type to stop just because her ankle got twisted.
But if that owl had to be eliminated—
_I can't believe she'll just go looking for a bent man..._
_If she's really going to leave the academy and hunt for other men's cocks..._
He emptied all the bullets in the magazine, reloaded, and began firing again at the paper target.
After reuniting with the owl—the former operative—he'd felt slightly... **disturbed**.
Something nagged at the back of his mind that he couldn't quite pinpoint.
Lee Wooshin had always been the one to peel back masks at the end of operations, cutting things off cleanly.
It was the basics. The standard. The **law** of the job.
So why couldn't he do that with the owl?
Was it because she was his wife?
Was it because they'd lived together?
_If that was the only reason I was bothered, I shouldn't have become an agent in the first place._
He'd been an agent for ten years. He'd deliberately approached and deceived more than a few people.
Countless.
It wasn't like his heart had ever been fragile. It was absurd that he felt depressed now.
Lee Wooshin gripped his weapon tighter, trying to brush away the gloomy feeling.
In any case, their lives were **parallel** until the end.
When a target and an NIS agent became entangled, the situation would only end when one of them gave up or yielded.
Otherwise, it would end in **destruction** for both.
Lee Wooshin realized clearly: he had to cut this off now.
Hoping that the time ahead would proceed smoothly—like their current façade of love and marriage—was a futile, naive hope.
It was no longer possible to hold Han Seoryeong in the palm of his hand.
His only conclusion: there was no one other than **Kim Hyeon** who could control her.
_In that case... it would be better if I brought Kim Hyeon's body._
The man's face turned cold at the thought.
At that moment, the door to the underground shooting range opened.
Someone knocked on the partition wall made of sound-absorbing material.
He took off his ear protection.
It was Ki Taemin, special security team member.
"Chief, Jin Hoje's face is pretty well-known now," Taemin said in a cynical tone.
The young, sharp-featured Ki Taemin was a sniper who'd left the 707th Special Missions Battalion after being bullied in his unit.
Shortly after completing basic special warfare training, he'd started causing trouble and been discharged.
After that, Blast had trained him in camouflage and sniper skills.
Lee Wooshin recalled the information Wonchang had compiled, eyes vacant.
"Why are you angry at me for bothering your friend?"
Ki Taemin snorted with disgust.
"You should do it more often. I'm tired of seeing him just lying around and complaining."
"Officer Ki Taemin."
Lee Wooshin lowered his weapon and looked at his subordinate without expression.
"You said you've been friends with Officer Jin since childhood, right?"
"Yeah. Why?"
Though they always bickered when put together, Taemin's face looked hesitant as he answered.
"In that case... you must have bathed together often when you were little."
At that moment, the metal rails moved.
A paper target resembling a human silhouette appeared.
It had holes riddled **only** through the genital area.