Startled, Seoryeong opened her eyes.
An outstretched arm with a clenched fist rested on her desk.
Lee Wooshin had slammed it as a warning, causing the loosely stacked booklets to fall with a **thud**.
His cold gaze met hers.
He said nothing.
Instead, he picked up the fallen booklet.
His eyes stopped at the corner of a page.
His expression—already blank—turned **icy**.
Seoryeong tried to pull the booklet back, but he **tore out the page**.
"――!"
_Why did he tear someone else's book...?!_
Seoryeong was shocked by his overbearing action, but Lee Wooshin quickly crumpled it into a ball.
The crumpled paper was shoved into his pocket like trash.
She could only stare at him, bewildered.
"You're not allowed to doze off in front of the instructor."
Lee Wooshin's chest rose once and then settled.
"Stop thinking unnecessary things and **focus**. When a crisis comes, people dig into their minds to survive. Even trivial stories you hear while drowsy can become valuable in critical moments."
_When did I ever... Oh...!_
Seoryeong frowned.
_Did he see those scribbled drawings? Something about potential husbands, if I remember..._
"How can Agent Han Seoryeong be so relaxed as to sleep while the instructor is giving a lesson, not knowing when and how something could go wrong?"
His voice was slightly mocking.
"You said you'd go to the gates of hell—are you planning to **sleep** there too?"
Lee Wooshin paused briefly between the desks and continued the interrupted conversation.
He talked about the geography and climate of Central and Southeast Asia, even discussing ways to make shelters. The conversation moved on to the security and protection tasks recently handled by the Blast Agency.
"In the recent armed robbery incident in the Philippines..."
As soon as she heard the word **"hostage,"** her head snapped up.
In short, it was a story about a local who took Korean tourists hostage and extorted over 100 million won from them.
An armed robber.
Seoryeong suddenly raised her hand.
Lee Wooshin only raised an eyebrow, as if wanting to ignore her, but she stubbornly kept her hand up.
A colleague sitting next to her, sensing the atmosphere, reached out and pulled her hand down.
Then Lee Wooshin spoke.
"What is it?"
"I have a question."
"Then put your hand down and slide your chair."
"What?"
"Otherwise, I won't answer."
_Why is he being so difficult..._
Seoryeong frowned slightly, but obediently lowered her hand and slid her chair.
She asked about something she'd long wanted to know—something she'd decided to learn since joining Blast.
"Are hostages more afraid of the weapon or the person holding it?"
Lee Wooshin looked at her as if trying to guess her intentions before answering.
"Obviously, the former."
"Isn't the weapon all-powerful? I want to reaffirm: _'If you give a weapon to children, they become soldiers; if you give it to desperate old people, they become bank robbers.'_ Then why isn't the weapon all-powerful?"
"..."
"Someone who has never even held a weapon can use it well if necessary."
His words were meaningful, eyebrows raised, but Seoryeong remained calm.
Her eyes flashed with determination, as if she were trapped in her own world.
"What if the opponent isn't an ordinary person? Are people who are used to weapons still afraid?"
At her persistent questioning, Lee Wooshin chuckled and lowered his head.
"Why, Agent Seoryeong? Have you recently wanted to brandish a weapon?"
"I wouldn't do such a thing."
Seoryeong's thoughtful answer was quite clear.
The torture training had been useful. There were no symptoms of suspected PTSD when she saw the instructor—except for a slight itchiness occasionally.
However, Lee Wooshin seemed more uncomfortable with Seoryeong's unaffected response. He occasionally furrowed and unfurrowed his brow.
"Here's the answer simply. People who are used to weapons respond **faster**. They understand how powerful and terrifying weapons are, so they either obey immediately or try to suppress them immediately."
In Korea, civilians couldn't carry firearms, but some security guards or security company employees were allowed.
Joining the Blast Agency certainly made things much easier.
"So..."
Seoryeong hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to go further or stop.
After all, this was why Channa had introduced her to Blast.
To find allies and learn **skills**.
If that was the intention, then this was the right time.
Although she had shortcomings as a human, in front of her now was a living textbook—the **best teacher** ever.
"Those terrible people."
A thrill began to ripple in her stomach.
Seoryeong tried to cover her emotions as much as possible and asked, with a neutral expression:
"Have you ever had to restrain someone and take them away out of necessity, Chief?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever given them food and water, and held them for several days?"
"Yes."
Again, he didn't change his expression.
"What did you do then? Were there any steps to take?"
There were three deputy directors of the NIS.
The first was in charge of foreign national interest intelligence.
The second was in charge of counterintelligence.
The third was in charge of scientific and cyber espionage.
With only three weeks left until the end of training, the determination to endure for just two months had already been nearly halved.
_So, one of those three would be enough._
Although she regretted not learning as much as the instructor wanted, Seoryeong didn't yet have the mental fortitude to overcome pain or endure interrogation.
What she wanted to know from the start was just **one thing**.
_How do the experts torture?_
Suddenly, a satisfied and arrogant look flashed across Seoryeong's clear eyes.
The core thing she'd gained from firsthand experience was **that**.
Thanks to the explanations from her colleagues and Instructor Lee Wooshin himself, the repertoire of torture techniques had expanded quite a bit.
_So, just one would be enough. Out of those three deputies, just one—_
_Properly, happily, and with the shortest distance._
_Even if it meant only getting a single strand of Kim Hyeon's hair._
Her eyes, waiting for an answer, fiercely focused on the tightly closed lips of the man in front of her.
"..."
"..."
However, Lee Wooshin only stared at her silently with a somewhat **suspicious** expression.
_Did I ask something strange?_
They were all new recruits of Blast, and he was the instructor—shouldn't this kind of conversation be natural?
But the more his gaze became unreadable, the more Seoryeong searched for a plausible reason to dispel his suspicion.
"As you said, Chief, we never know when or where something might happen. When it's really urgent, you advised us to think of you. So, when there was time, I was just thinking hard."
That seemed like a good enough answer.
But Lee Wooshin's brow furrowed.
He slowly rubbed his lips with an unreadable expression, then spoke:
"The basic principles applied when conducting any operation—whether it's kidnapping or anything else—are fundamentally the same. Almost all success or failure depends on how much you can **lower the other party's guard**."
"..."
"Basically, when dealing with predictable individuals with low risk—those who have no cultural differences, language barriers, or low likelihood of committing crimes—their guard tends to be very low."
His flat face suddenly changed.
"If Agent Han Seoryeong is in a situation where she has to escape using someone, without weapons, knives, or drugs... Use this human prejudice to approach first."
"..."
"Sometimes, instead of brutally pointing a gun, it's more effective to first **disarm the other party's trigger**."
It seemed he was already predicting moments of surrender.
But what was on Seoryeong's mind wasn't escape.
It was a **hostage situation**.
Still, the instructor's advice was useful.
Usually, the person being protected doesn't guard their bodyguard.
Moreover, she was a young woman who was quite pretty.
She even knew how to act quite kindly.
_If I could use that well..._
A thought sparked like a flame.
Coincidentally, Lee Wooshin added the same context.
"So, when I kill someone, I take the form of a helpless old man. When I acquire money, I take the form of a neighbor."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"And when I destroy someone, I take the form of **love**."
---
Seoryeong was so busy organizing her thoughts that she didn't notice Lee Wooshin's voice suddenly turn **cold**.
_I'm glad I came here._
She nodded enthusiastically.
_How to utilize the wisdom of an instructor who had been in the field for so long, down to the marrow of his bones—_
Her eyes gleamed like oil.
But the man sitting next to her kept poking her side with his finger.
That mosquito-like behavior wasn't funny at all.
Because he kept bothering her, Seoryeong suddenly turned sharply.
When she stared at him calmly, her colleague firmly grabbed her arm and gave her a meaningful look.
She looked around.
All the men had already tensed their shoulders with **annoyed** expressions.