Chapter 168: Resentful [R-18]

The trainees were moving in a line, headed somewhere.

Even wedged in the middle of the crowd, Taeyoung was alone. She walked with her eyes on her feet instead of straight ahead, just like the others, but no one was looking at her.

Fwiii—

A faint whistle brushed past her ear. She turned her head to see someone’s fingers graze her wrist as they passed.

It was Choi Jun-hyung.

He had simply brushed the inside of her wrist with his fingertips as he walked by.

“……”

Her feet kept moving, unable to stop, as her heart began to pound.

The exact spot his hand had touched burned with a peculiar heat.

That motherfucker… always playing games.

The hand had definitely belonged to Choi Jun-hyung.

He had already passed her and was disappearing down the end of the hall. Without a single glance back, he shoved the hand that had touched her into his pocket and kept walking.

* * *

That evening, Taeyoung’s hair was still damp.

Having showered earlier than the others, she had only towel-dried it roughly and was trying to slip out into the hallway unnoticed.

“Hey, where are you off to in such a hurry?”

But the path ahead wasn’t exactly clear.

One of the trainees from a later shower group spoke up, his tone a mixture of casual inquiry and sneering contempt.

“The drill instructor’s office? Again?”

A trainee blocked Taeyoung’s path. Around him, a few others exchanged knowing glances.

“Hey, no matter how you look at it—isn’t this a bit fucked up?”

“What, are we not human? You go to the DI’s office every day… Now you’re not even trying to hide it.”

“In the first place, weren’t you supposed to be our share?”

The words poured out.

Taeyoung pressed her lips together.

They were the kind of bastards who wouldn’t listen even if she told them to get out of the way.

But even without any provocation from her, the trainees’ gazes were crossing a line.

“Hey, is the drill instructor’s cock that tasty?”

“After one taste, you just can’t stop sucking it, can you?”

At that, Taeyoung’s eyes narrowed into sharp slits.

“Ha.”

As they closed in, Taeyoung chose to charge forward rather than shrink back.

She aimed for the widest gap between them. But as she tried to break through, one of them slyly thrust his arm out.

“Ugh—”

Her path blocked, Taeyoung’s chest was crushed against the man’s arm.

“If you wanted a hug, you should’ve said so.”

“It’s the end of the line, give us a turn~ It’s the last day, after all.”

Taeyoung gritted her teeth, trying to push him away and wrench herself free, but he had already grabbed her arm tightly, and it hurt.

“Get the fuck off me! I said get off, you fucking dogs!”

Her words seemed to only piss them off further.

“What? You’re on your way to spread your ass for some other guy, but our cocks aren’t good enough for you, you bitch?”

“Wow~ You’re going to crawl to him, so you’re giving us shit?”

Taeyoung glared up at the man holding her arm, her eyes wide and as threatening as she could make them. A standoff ensued, as if she wouldn’t back down a single step.

But the balance was shattered when the shortest of them stepped on her foot with a smirk.

“Just spread ‘em. It’s the only way you’re getting through.”

Taeyoung’s breath grew ragged as she felt the space behind her shrinking.

Someone poked her shoulder, and another grabbed the collar of her shirt, yanking it up.

A hand snaked onto her exposed waist, as if looking for a fight. The intent in their humorless eyes was obvious.

The gazes that met hers held something viler than lust—a confirmation of dominance.

“…Think we’ll get fucked over if we do it here?”

“Who gives a shit? We all heard it. The DI doing her.”

“For real. Your moans are fucking loud, Yoon Taeyoung.”

Each word they threw at her made it harder to breathe.

She couldn’t lift her head. But if she lowered it, she felt she’d be dragged down even further.

The face of the man in front of her descended, covering her mouth.

She clamped her lips shut and struggled, but the despair was deep-rooted and tenacious, its bitter taste refusing to fade.

“Hello, you sons of bitches.”

Just as Taeyoung’s clothes fell to her feet and hands began to grope her body, the heavy sound of footsteps echoed down the hall.

“Wow, having some fun in the hallway, are we?”

The familiar voice was playful. Given his position in charge of the trainees, Taeyoung wasn’t the only one who recognized it.

“Is this free time? But since when the fuck has there ever been ‘freedom’ in a training center?”

One step, then another.

The footsteps ringing through the hall weren’t just military boots; they were discipline itself. Choi Jun-hyung walked from the end of the corridor without so much as bending at the waist.

“If there really was such a thing, you’d all have deserted by now. But—why aren’t you washing your stinking bodies when I told you to shower?”

The trainees’ eyes darted between each other as they muttered amongst themselves.

While they were debating whether to use their numbers to push back, seeing as they were already screwed, he walked right up to them and kicked the back of the nearest trainee’s knee.

“Is it because you’re all just dumb fucks who are still wet behind the ears?”

This is why people say the education system is failing these days.

Jun-hyung grabbed one of the trainees by the head. There wasn’t much to grip on the shaved scalp, so his hand wrapped around the skull like he was holding a bowling ball.

“Oh? Is there a bastard who’s still looking me straight in the eye?”

At his words, several of them instinctively lowered their gaze. But he had already seen enough, and his voice dropped.

“All of you, attention.”

At the drill instructor’s command, the hallway fell silent, as if holding its breath.

The surrounding trainees reflexively brought their heels together, their feet snapping into place. The murmuring, the shifting glances—it all vanished.

As the order was given, a sharp “Thump!” like a rifle shot echoed as each pair of feet found its position.

They formed a makeshift two-column line in the hallway. More than one of them was thinking they were fucked, even if it was their last day. Here, hierarchy was a lifeline.

“Is the army a joke to you? Does having someone like this around make life good? Make you want to sign on for a career? Go ahead if you want to. It’s fucking great.”

“No, sir!”

“Get down.”

At Choi Jun-hyung’s command, the hallway filled with the rustle of clothing.

The trainees, now prostrate on the floor, kept their eyes down. Not one of them dared to utter another word.

He walked between the two lines they formed, like a short train.

He forcefully pulled Taeyoung’s clothes out from under someone’s foot and tossed them on top of her, where she had been forced to take the punishment posture along with them.

When she briefly lifted her head at the slap of the clothes, Jun-hyung’s eyes were devoid of any emotion. He was cold, expressionless.

In front of the trainees who had just been mocking and threatening her, he showed no sign of protection. Instead, he looked at her with the cold gaze one would reserve for just another member of the group who deserved to be disciplined.

Fuck…

Her damp hair fell into her face, annoying her.

She was angry, resentful, and ashamed.

“You guys like fun things, right? Want to play a game? If any of you can time ten minutes exactly, I’ll let you off.”

As Choi Jun-hyung finished speaking, the hallway fell silent once more.

“Are you not going to answer?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Begin.”

At Jun-hyung’s command, which he issued while glancing at his watch, the trainees, who had been trembling cautiously, corrected their postures, trying not to waste even a single moment.

After several failed attempts, the air in the hall grew thick with the smell of sweat.

“—Stinking bastards.”

Right face—attention, about-face, return to your respective quarters.

As the orders were given, the hallway began to empty quickly, leaving only one person who had yet to move.

Yoon Taeyoung.

Her entire body was drenched in sweat.

Because her posture had broken several times, the clothes he had thrown on her back had fallen to the floor, and she had to pick them up and put them on.

Having been punished nearly naked alongside the others, Taeyoung’s underwear was only properly on one leg.

Her lips were pressed into a firm line. Her eyes stung, but she held back the tears to the very end. She didn’t want to cry.

Especially not in front of this bastard.

“Hey. Aren’t you grateful?”

Taeyoung was pulling on her underwear properly and hiking up her pants when Jun-hyung approached her. His voice was the same as always.

She felt like she would burst into tears if she opened her mouth, so she kept her lips sealed and looked away from him.

Her limbs were trembling, and her half-sucked breasts throbbed with pain.

She didn’t want him to see her like this.

But Jun-hyung just raised an eyebrow and said, “I played the prince and the knight in shining armor for you, so why are you being so cold? Come on, cling to me.”

He lightly grabbed a few handfuls of her hair, as if to stroke it. But Taeyoung slapped his arm away.

“Don’t touch me.”

He wants me to thank him? Like hell I will.

She figured that since this all happened because she was on her way to see him, he was partly responsible.

And yet, he had punished her right along with the others, as if she were just part of some noisy squabble between trainees.

“What. Are you crying?”

Through it all, Jun-hyung’s tone remained unchanged.

She wasn’t crying, but his teasing words made her refuse to answer.

She fought back the tears welling in her reddened eyes. She clenched everything, from her lips to the space between her brows.

The more she thought about it, the more pissed off she got.

“Ah, fuck…”

It’s so unfair and frustrating. Nothing had been resolved. Why did he always have to be like this?

Thump. Thump.

Taeyoung pushed at his arm, then started hitting him. His chest, his biceps—she struck him wildly. Then, at some point, she hit him hard enough to make a loud thwack and stopped.

Tears were already streaming down her face.

She had somehow ended up collapsing into his arms. Resentful and upset, she buried her tear-streaked face in his chest.

“Fuck, seriously… it’s so fucking annoying… What’s there to be grateful for? Those bastards, and you… you’re all the same fucking dogs…”

Even after she had been subjected to a punishment he’d enforced with his authority, Jun-hyung quietly let the trainee beat on him like this.

She didn’t want him to touch her, but she would still throw herself into his arms.

That was the most she could allow herself to act out, and it was a special privilege Jun-hyung had granted her.

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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