Chapter 22
After clearing her throat, Jieun called out cautiously.
“Sehyun.”
Sehyun responded, her eyes still closed.
“C-Can I h-heal you?”
Jieun asked carefully. At her question, Sehyun opened her eyes and looked at Jieun.
Using skills consumed a lot of stamina. So Sehyun was about to refuse.
But… she’ll cry if I refuse.
Those sparkling eyes would turn gloomy in an instant.
“You must be tired.”
Sehyun said indirectly.
“I-It’s okay! I-I can do it!”
Jieun quickly replied.
“I-I can do it a h-hundred times for you!”
“…You don’t have to go that far.”
“N-No! I-I can do it!”
Jieun even rolled up her sleeves. She strode over and gently placed her hand on Sehyun’s hand. Sehyun felt her hand being enveloped in a warm embrace. A soothing warmth spread through her body.
It was completely different from when she used the skill herself. The owner of the skill really makes a difference.
“Thank you, really.”
Sehyun murmured and unconsciously leaned back again.
Her body relaxed, and she felt like she was sinking into the floor.
But she wasn’t afraid at all.
Instead, she felt a sense of peace, as if her body was melting away. Sehyun quickly fell asleep.
In her dream, she heard someone say, “Thank you.”
Jieun woke up, rubbed her eyes, and looked at the floor. Sehyun had fallen asleep while being treated last night.
No matter how much she tried to wake her up, Sehyun didn’t budge.
Anxiety welled up inside her, and she instinctively checked Sehyun’s breathing. Relieved to find that she was still breathing, she didn’t even have time to fully relax before Sehyun’s body slumped to the floor.
Sehyun still didn’t wake up.
Jieun hesitated for a moment and then covered Sehyun with a blanket. She didn’t want to risk injuring her further by trying to move her to the bed.
She had practically passed out from exhaustion, so Jieun thought Sehyun would sleep soundly until morning. But when she woke up, the floor was unexpectedly empty.
“You’re awake?”
She turned her head and saw Sehyun coming out of the bathroom.
“Ah, y-yes.”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah, you?”
“Thanks to you, I did.”
“…”
“Thank you.”
Jieun’s lips twitched at Sehyun’s words. She felt happy whenever Sehyun, who seemed indifferent most of the time, said things like that.
It had been a while since she had received sincere gratitude for her actions.
“I w-wish the training camp was a year long.”
Because she liked Sehyun, whom she had only known for a few days, more than her own family.
Jieun flinched, realizing what she had just muttered to herself.
Fortunately, Sehyun didn’t seem to have heard, as she was busy drying her hair.
“You w-washed up early.”
Jieun asked Sehyun, who had just finished drying her hair, as she got out of bed.
“Yeah, I felt sticky after working out.”
“W-Working out?”
Jieun asked in surprise.
“Yeah.”
“You, you, yesterday…”
You went to work out after getting beaten up like that?
Jieun couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud and just stared at Sehyun.
“I get stiff if I don’t work out.”
“…”
You get stiff from working out, not from not working out?
Jieun, who had never lived like that, couldn’t understand even though she heard it with her own ears.
“I’ve always had the habit of working out. My job before becoming a Guard was a bodyguard. Freelance, of course.”
She hadn’t been highly recognized because she was young, inexperienced, and couldn’t commit to long-term employment due to Jungwoo and her aunt, but she had often been praised for her skills for her age. She had even received a formal job offer at the end.
“Wow… A bodyguard.”
Jieun stared at Sehyun’s body in admiration. Now that she thought about it, Sehyun had a very slender and toned physique.
“So that’s why you’re so good…”
Jieun nodded slightly, as if she finally understood.
During the F-grade sparring sessions, people had whispered about what Sehyun used to do, amazed by her quick and precise movements.
“There’s no morning training today. There was an announcement while you were sleeping.”
“H-Huh? Why?”
Jieun asked Sehyun, her eyes wide.
“I don’t know. They didn’t explain why. Anyway, they said morning training is canceled, so we can do self-training.”
This was the first time this had happened.
Canceling training without any explanation?
Moreover, she hadn’t seen any instructors since this morning. Usually, she could see them coming and going through the window during breakfast.
Something must be going on…
Sehyun hummed softly.
“What a wonderful morning. The best part is eating.”
Hyeryeon hummed a song as she picked up her tray. She tried to appear calm while filling it with food, but she couldn’t hide the excitement in her steps.
It wasn’t that something good had happened. It was just that she felt like she could finally overcome the wall that had seemed insurmountable. It was all thanks to sparring with Sehyun.
‘What matters to me now is not my grade, but how much I can improve my skills here. I’m just doing my best for that.’
Sehyun’s words had hit Hyeryeon like a bolt from the blue. And it wasn’t just Hyeryeon. Everyone who had sparred with Sehyun had looked shocked after hearing her casual remark.
The joy of improving her skills, regardless of her F-grade status.
Thinking that way made her feel at ease. And this joy, free from fear, was incomparable to anything else.
Hyeryeon turned around, feeling happy, and her eyes widened as she spotted Sehyun and Jieun at a corner table in the cafeteria.
“Sehyun! Jieun! Good morning…!”
But her cheerful voice trailed off. She blinked repeatedly, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Is this photoshopped?
A mountain of rice, the size of Sehyun’s face, was piled up in front of her. The side dishes were the same. Especially the meat, which was piled high.
“…You have quite the appetite this morning.”
Hyeryeon said to Sehyun with a bewildered expression.
“I used up a lot of energy yesterday, so I’m hungry.”
“Ah… Did you do some weight training?”
“Something like that.”
Sehyun replied vaguely, shoveling rice into her mouth.
“It’s nice to see you eating so well.”
Hyeryeon laughed awkwardly and picked up her spoon. She was eating, staring at Sehyun with curious eyes, when,
The atmosphere in the cafeteria suddenly shifted.
Hyeryeon, sensing the change without even looking, slowly turned her head.
There was only one reason for this kind of atmosphere in the cafeteria.
An A-grade Guard trainee had appeared.
“Gasp.”
Hyeryeon took a small breath as she looked up.
The F-grade Guards nearby also stopped eating and stared at the man who had suddenly appeared.
Choi Sungwon, an A-grade Guard.
A subtle pressure emanated from the A-grade, whom they rarely had the chance to encounter.
Jieun, holding her breath, glanced at Sehyun.
Choi Sungwon was part of Shin Jooho’s group. Jieun was certain that he was here because of the incident.
“C-Clear your throat.”
“Ahem.”
The F-grades looked at each other with uncomfortable expressions.
An A-grade, who treated F-grades like invisible beings, was walking towards their table.
It was a rare occurrence, so even Guards of other grades glanced nervously in their direction. Some of the A-grades who were already in the cafeteria were also looking at them with intrigued expressions.
The cafeteria was quiet, like the calm before a storm.
Clatter, clatter.
Except for one person.
Sehyun picked up a piece of rolled omelet with her chopsticks and then scooped a large mouthful of rice with her spoon.
Her cheeks were bulging from the massive amount of rice in her mouth, but she was chewing diligently.
Sungwon stared at Sehyun in disbelief.
She must have noticed the change in atmosphere.
It meant one of two things. She was either too stupid to notice he was here, or she was pretending to be calm because she was scared.
Sungwon was certain it was the latter.
That idiot, Shin Jooho.
To think he got punished because of someone like her. It was ridiculous. But what annoyed him the most was that the status of the A-grades had been lowered because of a lowly F-grade.
“Kim Sehyun.”
Sungwon called out to Sehyun.
Sehyun looked up and glanced at him.
“What.”
Her response was unexpectedly nonchalant. Sungwon, taken aback, raised an eyebrow.
Talking back to him?
He couldn’t say anything since he had spoken informally first, but no one had ever talked to him like this. Not with his background and his grade.
“You don’t seem to know who I am…”
“I know.”
But the woman in front of him didn’t seem to care.
‘That crazy bitch!’
He suddenly remembered Jooho’s shout as he trashed his dormitory room after being confined.
He had thought it was just an expression of anger, but was she really crazy?
Sungwon tilted his head and stared at Sehyun, then dismissed the thought.
Crazy or not.
There were people like this. People who got cocky and acted like they were something special as soon as they became Guards. People who were overly optimistic, thinking that grades were just grades, and that they would definitely be an A-grade when they left, even though they were just an F-grade now.
Not knowing that their optimism was poison.
Sungwon looked down at her, his expression clearly showing his disdain.
“You seem emboldened by Shin Jooho…”
Sungwon bent down and gripped the edge of the table.
Grades were a measure of one’s abilities, but they weren’t just about abilities.
They also represented a person’s power, social status, authority, and the pressure that came with it.
Sungwon looked down at Sehyun, not bothering to hide his sharp aura.
“Want to spar with me too?”
More skills to take woohoo