19 – Day 2 at the Training Center (3)

Ha-yoon dragged her exhausted body to the showers. Perhaps it was because she had overexerted herself running, but each step felt as heavy as if she were wearing shackles. If only there was something to lean on, but all she could do was support herself against the wall.

“Ugh, if it weren’t for that bitch—”

She barely made it to the showers, only to be met by a group just finishing up.

It was the usual trio. Instead of saying anything to Ryu Jin-ah, who had been badmouthing her, Ha-yoon tried to push past her shoulder, which was blocking the entrance.

Thwack, if her hand hadn’t been grabbed. Ryu Jin-ah looked down at Ha-yoon with an incredulous expression and said,

“Did you just try to push me?”

“Get out of the way.”

“Then say it nicely. Don’t get all temperamental.”

Ryu Jin-ah flung her hand away in annoyance.

But what she failed to consider was that Ha-yoon’s condition was worse than she imagined. Ha-yoon went tumbling to the floor as if she’d been blown away, and Ryu Jin-ah exclaimed in panic,

“Hey, hey! I didn’t push you that hard! Why are you falling and making a fuss!”

“Ryu Jin-ah, that’s violent.”

“No, really, I didn’t use any force at all!”

Ryu Jin-ah said, dumbfounded at Baek So-ra’s rebuke. Whether the two bickered or not, Ha-yoon couldn’t lift her head.

This was the ultimate humiliation. To be sent sprawling by a mere gesture from Ryu Jin-ah. Her face flushed red, she clenched her fists, only to see someone’s feet in front of her. She looked up and saw Hong-ryun. She held out her hand with a blank expression and said,

“Can you get up?”

Despite the seemingly kind words, her voice was icy. Cheap sympathy for show.

“Mind your own business. I can get up by myself.”

“Okay.”

Ha-yoon irritably slapped away the hand, and Hong-ryun nodded, turning back to the other two.

“Ha-yoon says she’s fine, so let’s go back.”

“Okay.”

“Tsk…”

Unlike Baek So-ra, who readily agreed, Ryu Jin-ah looked at Ha-yoon with a dissatisfied expression, shaking her head and sighing. The three of them ignored Ha-yoon, who was still on the ground, and returned to the dorm.

As she watched them walk away, Ha-yoon pressed her lips together and got to her feet. Her legs trembled like a newborn fawn’s, but she was used to it by now. She finally managed to stand and entered the changing room, where she was immediately met with stares.

Well, there had been a commotion at the entrance, so it was inevitable. Instead of yelling at them to mind their own business, Ha-yoon headed into the showers on shaky legs. Normally, she would have brought clothes from the dorm first, but she didn’t have the strength.

Swish—warm water poured over her head. It felt as if the exhaustion in her body and mind was being washed away. Ha-yoon swept the hair from her face and muttered,

“This sucks.”

She hated everything about this place. She knew it wasn’t a place where she could find anything to like, but she couldn’t help feeling annoyed.

Ha-yoon closed her eyes tightly as the water streamed down her face. Her emotions were washed away along with the grime on her body.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, Ha-yoon!”

Ha-yoon roughly dried her body and hair with a towel and came out to find someone sitting in the changing room.

It was Kim Sun-ah. She had been fidgeting, looking bored, but when she heard Ha-yoon’s voice, she stood up with a bright expression.

“You didn’t bring your clothes, so I brought them for you!”

“Oh, okay…”

Ha-yoon reluctantly took the clothes Kim Sun-ah offered and put them on. It was just a piece of cloth, but it felt incredibly reassuring to have her nakedness covered.

“But why did you come?”

“Huh? Why did I come?”

“Aren’t you annoyed? You had such a hard time because of me.”

When Ha-yoon had only run seven laps around the drill field, the trainees had to crawl on all fours for ten laps. They had run without stopping, gritting their teeth the whole time.

But instead of answering Ha-yoon, Kim Sun-ah blinked at her with a surprised look.

“…What’s with that look?”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to say something like that. So you do feel sorry?”

“Why would I feel sorry? I just don’t understand it.”

Ha-yoon grumbled, but Kim Sun-ah giggled and said,

“It was hard, but it’s not like you did anything wrong, right? It was obvious that Instructor Park was trying to bully you.”

It was common to punish the entire group for the mistake of one person. And as a result, that one person would become isolated from the group.

Of course, she understood that the group would feel animosity towards her for making things difficult for everyone, but wasn’t it Instructor Park who had ordered it in the first place?

And Kim Sun-ah didn’t like that kind of approach. She agreed that it was easier to control the group by sacrificing one person, but that meant that the one person had to bear the brunt of the group’s animosity just because they were a little behind.

Thinking that way, Kim Sun-ah said to Ha-yoon,

“And we’re classmates, right? We should help each other out.”

“…You’re an idiot. I won’t help you if you’re in danger.”

“Eek, that’s so mean!”

Even as Kim Sun-ah cried out in disbelief, Ha-yoon snatched the towel she had been using to dry her hair and threw it into the hamper.

“You think this is the same as outside, but the instructors aren’t going to give you a ‘good job’ sticker just because you’re being nosy. They’ll just bully you even more.”

“Are you worried about me right now?”

“You have a talent for taking sarcasm as a compliment.”

Even as Ha-yoon looked at her in disbelief, Kim Sun-ah just smiled. Ha-yoon was about to say something more, but she shook her head.

She could smile like that because she hadn’t been properly targeted by the instructors yet. In a few days, she would be too busy looking out for herself to care about anyone else.

Thinking that, Ha-yoon started walking. There were less than five minutes left of break time. She had to hurry to the indoor training room or she would be late. But her legs were still tired, and they trembled with every step.

“I’ll support you.”

Ha-yoon glanced at Kim Sun-ah, who had wrapped her arm around her shoulder and was pressing close to her, but didn’t say anything. She knew that if the others saw this, some of their animosity would definitely shift to Kim Sun-ah, but she decided not to care.

They walked side by side and arrived at the indoor training room, where they changed clothes in the changing room and went inside.

…She felt the stinging gaze of seven pairs of eyes on her. But unlike before, it wasn’t just directed at Ha-yoon; some of it was directed at Kim Sun-ah, who had come in with her.

However, if the animosity was directed at Ha-yoon, the gazes directed at Kim Sun-ah were filled with bewilderment.

Ignoring them, she found a spot, and Yoon Se-rin, who seemed to have regained her senses and was standing there looking relatively normal, bit her teeth and whispered,

“Hey, Kim Sun-ah. What’s the meaning of coming in with Ha-yoon? Do you want to be treated the same way she is?”

“Instructor Park told us to help our lagging classmates. I’m just following the second rule.”

“You…”

“Se-rin, it’s okay. She’ll do what she wants.”

At the words of the trainee next to her, Yoon Se-rin ground her teeth and glared not at Kim Sun-ah, but at Ha-yoon, before turning her head away.

Why was she glaring at me when she had argued with Kim Sun-ah? Ha-yoon snorted, feeling absurd.

After standing there for a while, Instructor Park, who had come in looking as hideous as yesterday, announced the start of indoor training.

Ha-yoon and Kim Sun-ah learned light stretches and simple poses under Hong-ryun’s guidance.

As they did, they could hear some of the trainees groaning and panting on the side where Instructor Park was directly instructing.

It was the same scene as yesterday. However, unlike yesterday, Hong-ryun didn’t point out that Ha-yoon’s posture was wrong.

She simply and monotonously told her what to do. Other than that, she was just posing as she pleased.

Like raising one leg almost to her ear, or gracefully extending her arm and lifting her leg behind her.

Ryu Jin-ah and Baek So-ra, who had gone through the same period, were only slightly better at posing than the other trainees, even though they had supposedly learned from Instructor Park for a long time.

“You must like ballet.”

“I just do it.”

Hong-ryun curtly dismissed Kim Sun-ah’s words and silently resumed her pose. Ha-yoon, who had been watching her in the mirror, chuckled and said,

“You’ve become quite the sex to— Ugh!“

A loud sound echoed through the training room. Hong-ryun, who had spun around while still in her pose, kicked Ha-yoon in the butt and said with a blank expression,

“Tuck your butt in.”

“You, you bitch…”

Ha-yoon grabbed her stinging butt and leaned against the ballet bar. Kim Sun-ah whispered to her,

“There’s a saying that if you stay still, you’ll at least get halfway there.”

“Shut up…”

Anyway, despite that incident, the indoor training time passed without any major problems.

The problem started when lunchtime began. The trainees’ meals were provided by an outside company, but the trainees themselves were responsible for distributing them.

Moreover, the amount of food was exactly right for the number of people, so if they didn’t distribute the right amount, the people at the end of the line might not get to eat.

But what was this situation? Ha-yoon staggered slightly as oatmeal poured onto her tray like a mountain.

She stared in disbelief at the trainee who was serving her, who had given her enough for almost three people.

“What are you doing?”

“Eat a lot. That way, you’ll have the energy to run well tomorrow, right?”

What was this girl’s name again? She was a fairly major figure among the colorful trainees, with her blonde hair and blue eyes.

Kim Sun-ah, who was standing next to her, spoke before Ha-yoon could remember.

“Han Soo-ah, if you give her that much, what about you guys?”

“We’ve already agreed to do this, so mind your own business.”

Han Soo-ah. So that was her name. Ha-yoon glared at her as she stirred the oatmeal in the container with a ladle and turned away.

‘Who says I can’t eat it all? I’ll scrape it clean.’

Ha-yoon put fruit and milk on her tray, then sat down on the cot with a desk attached and placed the tray on it. She picked up a spoon.

Unlike the spoons she used outside, this was a teaspoon, and a plastic one at that. She scooped up a large spoonful of oatmeal and brought it to her mouth.