The onlookers shifted their gazes back and forth between the instructor and her, restless like someone desperately needing the toilet but hindered by cruel fate—namely, Seoryeong's relentless questioning.
_"If Instructor Lee Wooshin looks sleepy, just leave him alone! Let him keep bothering us! Don't draw his attention with questions, you idiot!"_
Their eyes, filled with such thoughts, glared at Seoryeong with **hateful** looks.
"Stop."
But it wasn't her who answered.
Lee Wooshin calmly muttered while massaging his temples.
Although he was wearing a training uniform without a tie, he rubbed his neck as if it felt constricted.
"Straighten up."
The man who had grabbed Seoryeong earlier immediately corrected his posture in the tense atmosphere.
Lee Wooshin chuckled, massaging the back of his neck as if his muscles had suddenly tightened.
"Watching your faces look so relieved makes the instructor feel anxious. During the recovery week, you all got too comfortable. Without your boots, just sitting in class chatting."
"......"
"Playing hand games with your friends, thinking about useless things."
_Us...? When...?_
The trainees were bewildered, but discipline had already begun to take over their faces, which were now as pale as paper.
"How did we end up making the instructor angry?" one trainee whispered to another, their voice filled with fear.
In the seventh week of training, the long-awaited week finally arrived:
**Hell Week.**
Failure in swimming, hypothermia, fractures, internal illnesses, tears, panic attacks—all became reasons for dismissal.
Anyone who collapsed midway, anyone who fainted—**all became reasons for dismissal**.
Even within these simple yet strict rules, Seoryeong had managed to endure.
But for the first time—
"――!"
_Damn it...!_
Her eyes snapped open, her face instantly filled with dark terror and despair.
There were **no memories**. None at all.
Only three weeks remained until the training was over.
But she had fainted for the first time during training.
**BEEP―!**
It all started with an unexpected siren that jolted her awake.
Everything happened simultaneously.
A smoke grenade exploded inside the barracks, and the loud sound of blank rounds turned the place into chaos in an instant.
Although she was used to night attacks, tonight felt **different**.
Instinctively, she reached for her boots, but a forceful spray of water from the sprinklers slammed into her from above.
"_Ugh...!_"
The force of the water knocked her to the floor.
She coughed violently, the stinging water entering her nose and throat, making her head throb.
Her body shivered uncontrollably from the cold. Her clothes were instantly soaked.
_The recovery week is truly over..._
Seoryeong gritted her teeth and stubbornly tied her bootlaces.
Now fully awake, the trainees hurriedly ran outside under the instructors' shouts.
Water from the sprinklers continued to slam into their bodies forcefully.
While moving, Seoryeong was pushed against a wall by the strong water pressure, but the smoke grenade had already gone off, obscuring her vision.
Using another trainee—who happened to be caught by her outstretched hand—as a **shield**, she quickly navigated the hallway.
"Everyone, get in the water—!"
Outside, the instructors yelled in their ears.
Seoryeong, already anticipating the coming pain, sat down in a spot where the waves broke gently.
Thus began the **cold water endurance**.
The regular crashing of waves rocked their bodies. Saltwater entered their mouths and noses.
Their lips turned blue from shivering, but the trainees held hands and sat down, keeping their legs at a 45-degree angle.
In front of them, Lee Wooshin—the only one who looked calm—blinked and said:
"Looking at you all soaked there, it looks like a brewery."
"......"
"It must not be liquor. It's just urine."
He stared at the trainees shivering from the cold.
"Should the instructor give you delicious alcohol instead?"
_Ah... something feels wrong..._
Seoryeong instinctively hardened her expression.
As expected, Lee Wooshin took the liquor bottle given to him and suddenly began pouring it over the trainees' heads and faces.
With a blank face, he tilted the bottle and gulped it down.
"――!"
The man walked past the trainees, evenly pouring alcohol over them.
When it was Seoryeong's turn, his hand hesitated.
Precisely, the bottle stopped tilting above her head.
Sensing the coming humiliation, she tightly closed her eyes—but slightly opened one eye amidst the brief silence.
"......"
"......"
The man, shaking the empty bottle as if to get the last drops, stared at her with only his pupils lowered.
His gaze felt **deep** and **intense**, startling Seoryeong—not because of the cold.
Soon, Lee Wooshin threw the empty bottle to the ground and signaled to an instructor waiting to provide a new bottle.
His gaze remained fixed on Seoryeong until he received it.
"Trainee Han Seoryeong, do you know this?"
His eyes—usually veiled by a night cloud—looked darker than usual.
He spoke slowly as he opened the bottle.
"When leading in the field, unpredictable **variables** will inevitably arise. And the commander must quickly decide whether to eliminate or control them."
Lee Wooshin slowly tilted the bottle.
"Until now, I've only focused on **eliminating** the variables in front of me... but my thoughts have changed."
"_Ugh...!_"
The already freezing liquor poured over her head, making things even worse.
"―Trainee Han... I will seek... **comfort**."
_Ugh... what?_
Although he was clearly speaking to her, Seoryeong missed some of his words due to the stinging alcohol spreading on her skin.
Behind her, a wave crashed against her body. In front of her, yellow liquid flowed from her head to her chin, making it difficult to open her eyes.
The cold pierced her from all sides like thousands of needles.
_Damn it, this is really bad._
Seoryeong gritted her teeth and calmed her wavering mind.
"So, let's face this Hell Week together."
Truly, **Hell Week**.
For mercenaries dispatched to foreign lands, enemy territory was hell.
Therefore, basic human needs like food, sleep, and even restroom breaks were often not guaranteed.
This training was a direct simulation of such conditions.
For seven days, they couldn't sleep, change clothes, had to eat with their hands, and take care of their own bodily needs.
During this time, they were **not allowed** to remove the training uniforms and boots they were wearing.
Although this training was harsh, Hell Week was a crucial period for assessing their adaptability.
The surroundings quickly filled with a sour and acrid smell.
The dizziness from just inhaling it didn't seem to affect only her—Lee Wooshin also wrinkled his nose and licked his lower lip, looking slightly drunk.
Seoryeong gritted her teeth and began counting the days remaining until the end of training.
_Kim Hyeon, darling, you bastard. I'm enduring this hell just to get to you._
She shook her head, blinking her wet eyelashes.
As she gritted her teeth thinking about the future, the instructors launched IBS—large inflatable boats—into the water.
At that moment, Lee Wooshin uttered words that were like a **bolt from the blue**.
"From now on, we will divide you into teams and test your maritime mobility. The team in last place when Hell Week ends will be **eliminated entirely**."
This training was very different from the usual individual endurance training she had faced.
Seoryeong, who was particularly bad at group activities and living together, silently clicked her tongue.
Suppressing the sudden wave of anxiety, she tensely watched as the team members' names were called out one by one.
And finally, her name was called.
"Damn it..."
The man who immediately cursed as soon as he saw her was **Song Uckhan**, the arrogant macho.
Along with him, her team members included **Dong Jiwoo**, a steadfast man despite being known as a coward; a stutterer who seemed to need more care than to be a mercenary; and a braggart who often boasted about things he found here and there.
They were the people she would be rowing an inflatable boat with for this Hell Week.
Seoryeong sighed inwardly.
_Was this combination doomed from the start?_
However, the clear look of desperation and helplessness on her team members' faces seemed to be focused on **her**.
_Am I the weakest link in this pathetic team?_
It was only then that she realized she was the weakest even in this bad group.
She wasn't in a position to complain about others.
**BEEP―!**
When the whistle blew, they shut their mouths and entered the sea with the inflatable boats on their heads.
The seawater fiercely crashed against their chests. Its weight pressed down on their heads as if buried under stones.
Moreover, with the average height of the team members being over 180 cm, Seoryeong had to struggle hard to support the boat with both hands.
Her wrists soon went numb.
But the training had just begun.
_If I can endure this Hell Week, the rest will feel easy._
Even in this bone-crushing moment, a faint image of Kim Hyeon flickered before her eyes.
_The real pursuit with him will only begin if I complete Blast training without fainting or giving up._
"Damn it...! If I fail, it's all because of **her**. Why do I have to be on a team with a woman and suffer the consequences? This isn't a team, it's a **punishment**! Damn it, what am I supposed to do with these cowardly bastards!"
Even so, Song Uckhan continued to grumble and look for trouble.
_What did Instructor Lee Wooshin say earlier?_
Seoryeong frowned, trying to remember.
_Didn't he say he would find something...?_
As her thoughts became jumbled, she reflexively blurted it out.