The Empty Barracks and the Laundry Surprise
Currently, Jeong Seung-a was staring at the empty seat of Seo Harang.
'When will Harang come back...'
It had only been two days since she left, yet the absence felt unbearable. If it were severe, it would truly be severe.
By any measure, Jeong Seung-a had been far more senior than Harang. Even as Kim Heejin was only just beginning to sense her own feelings, Jeong Seung-a had already spun every possible scenario in her mind.
But imagination and reality were never the same. The empty seat of Seo Harang looked especially vast and lonely.
'It’s neatly folded as instructed.'
The personal clothes folded beautifully as told. The bedding still tightly arranged in perfect order.
Next, she opened the inside of Seo Harang’s storage rack. The internal environment arranged in a neat ‘ㄷ’ shape was striking.
'She really did it exactly as instructed. She’s so diligent...'
While admiring it, the empty storage rack caught her eye for some reason.
'No cosmetics.'
Only lotion and sunscreen. After all, she didn’t seem like the type who spent time on makeup.
It was strange that in this unit full of only women, she didn’t bother with makeup, yet many still carried cosmetics.
'When going on missions, many do makeup. So does Harang not care about men’s gazes at all?'
Actually, whether bare-faced or not, there was no need to worry. Her natural charm as an Awakener shone through even without makeup.
'Or... she’s already shown her bare face to people, and since she’s dating anyway, she can’t do makeup every time, so she doesn’t feel the need to.'
For example, me?
Kyaa!
Jeong Seung-a, lost in pleasant delusion, lifted her gaze slightly. It was the shower area and the laundry pile behind it.
...A laundry pile.
'If I leave the laundry like this, it will smell.'
The refreshing, soft, and pleasant scent from Seo Harang’s body clung to the laundry.
No, maybe it already had the scent?
'If it gets the scent, it’s a big problem. It’ll be hard to wash later.'
Jeong Seung-a, offering excuses wrapped in good intentions, was about to reach out when her hand froze.
"What are you doing?"
Startled, Jeong Seung-a’s hand stopped just short of the destination.
Han Jihye was looking at her.
"Han Jihye Hero-nim."
"The storage rack is neat, and the laundry too?"
"Uhm... this is..."
"Ah, no need to say it. I won’t say it."
The feeling that she saw through everything made Jeong Seung-a’s lips tremble slightly.
She was a person whose thoughts were completely unreadable. She might be noticing something.
One senior who had witnessed the two of them talking tilted her head.
'What are these two thinking? Han Jihye just doesn’t know, and Seung-a is always smiling, so I don’t know.'
From the senior’s perspective, as expected, Jeong Seung-a was also one of those whose thoughts were hard to read.
"You were trying to see if Harang is doing well? She did well on the things you asked."
The praise that came out when the person wasn’t there. If she had heard it, she would have cried with emotion.
"Yes. Just in case, I was checking in case I heard something."
"Yeah, because of Harang, I’ve been called a few times."
Jeong Seung-a smiled in response to Han Jihye’s words. Even if she wasn’t there, she wanted to avoid saying anything that would hurt Harang.
It was her own best effort, unable to give direct help due to the difference in ranks.
"So? Why are you looking at the laundry? Are you trying to check the laundry too? Isn’t that too much?"
"...Yes. Thinking about it, it seems a bit excessive."
While saying that, she didn’t remove her hand that had touched Harang’s laundry.
"Even so, if I leave it like this, it wouldn’t be good, right? It’s inconvenient if even the smell comes out, so let’s wash it─"
"Hey, Seung-a."
"Superhuman Jeong Seung-a."
"Why are you doing this? It’s her thing."
"If it smells, it would be inconvenient. Everyone lives in the same place."
"Is that so?"
Han Jihye stood up from her seat and approached Jeong Seung-a. In the tense atmosphere wondering if something would happen, she reached out and grabbed something.
It was a set of clothes in the laundry net.
"Why is it so worn out. Like cheap underwear, just buy new ones to wear."
Muttering to herself, Han Jihye brought it to her nose. Jeong Seung-a was inwardly horrified.
'Ah! Aaa!'
It wasn’t amazement, it was a lament. Aigo! I went through so much trouble to do this, but this human just did it!
I had weird thoughts from the beginning, so of course I’d worry.
"Originally, she knew to wash the clothes she sweated in herself. These things won’t smell, right?"
Saying that, Han Jihye sniffed Harang’s clothes without thinking.
"Eh? What?"
Then, with a question, she opened the storage rack door.
What? Is it really smelling something? Aigo! I wasted it!
She doesn’t know that under the smiling face, she’s grinding her teeth. Probably no one knows. It was a perfect mask like that.
'How long will she keep smelling it? It’ll wear out...'
What does "wear out" mean.
Unlike Jeong Seung-a’s anxiousness, Han Jihye’s attitude was leisurely.
Like a perfumer, she slowly chewed it and muttered.
"Is there any perfume sprayed on this?"
Then she opened the storage rack door to check inside.
Just as Jeong Seung-a had checked earlier, there was no perfume-like thing to find.
'Ah... no. If Harang knows that the smell from her body is good, rivals will increase...!'
Would such a thing happen? With Kim Heejin now, maybe, but for Han Jihye, it’s almost impossible.
"The smell is great. What is it? Anyway."
Han Jihye put the laundry back into the laundry net. It seemed she didn’t want to rummage through the laundry pile of the same sex separately from the good smell.
"Don’t bother doing this. If I do it once, she’ll think she’s done something. You don’t want to be pestered either."
"Yes."
It came out as an automatic response, but actually she didn’t think that.
Jeong Seung-a, who had already been conquered, could accept Harang’s whims. What infinite love!
"So just leave it. You won’t do laundry for all the new juniors who come, right? You don’t want to live as a shuttle. Right?"
"Yes."
This time with conviction. No matter who the new junior is, she won’t show the love she pours on Harang. Rather, it might be thought that she would treat her coldly.
"Yeah, Seung-a is smart."
A moment of relief that nothing happened.
The time of stillness couldn’t be tolerated, and a wailing siren sounded. It was the mission signal.
When it rang, all members inside the living quarters stopped their actions. Including Han Jihye.
Why? Because their role was now the reserve deployment unit.
They might call additional people separately. So they had to wait.
─Huk, huk. Reserve deployment unit, 2 members. Prepare for deployment.
"...It seems like me."
Han Jihye said to the broadcast call.
If it seems like me, do it.
The senior, whose chin was barely hanging on three characters, sighed.
"Ah─ If only Yun-ah was there, I would have lived."
"So? Do you miss Yun-ah?"
"Ei, who misses her? I didn’t like her feelings either."
While saying such words energetically, inwardly she felt sorry.
When deploying to the same living quarter, it was treated as non-combatant, but when the number of people is involved, it was regrettable that she wasn’t there. In other words, she was just that kind of existence.
When deploying, you get more money, isn’t that good? Originally, the people who are there get more, and the senior layer who lightly touched the money didn’t prefer deployment. This person was the same.
Well, she couldn’t leave anyway. After all, she’s not going as the main force, but as a supporting role─
"Going in?"
Bam! A person who barged in without knocking.
Han Jihye’s eyebrows narrowed then relaxed.
"Oh? Bombit! What’s up? Are you in a situation?"
"I often say that, why do you talk like I’ve never seen you? Anyway... Did you hear the broadcast? Two people."
"I heard. It seems like me and her are going."
The senior pointed to Jeong Seung-a and said.
"No, not you... Eh? Heejin... Ah, she went on vacation? Right. I was distracted."
"Heejin? Why?"
"Heejin is strong. If she’s there, it’s reassuring."
"Recently it seemed like she had worries? It wouldn’t have helped."
"Ah, that time?"
"Then there’s no helping it. Anyway, do I pick the supporting members? For now, it’s good if Seung-a comes... Beri... rather than you, it’s better. Han Jihye, you go."
"Wha─?"
Han Jihye wiggled her toes as if she didn’t want to.
"If it’s a colleague, then, daring to order the Hero-nim with 'Superhuman'?"
If Han Jihye came out like that, it would be scary, but no one in the living quarter showed tension.
And that was the same for the woman called 'Bombit', Han Bombit.
"Yeah. Come out quickly."
Han Jihye’s words were casually accepted as if it didn’t matter, and she forcibly sent her out on deployment. It was possible behavior because they were colleagues.
While making an anguished sound "Eying─", Han Jihye stood up from her seat. After all, there was nothing to do, so she decided to go.
"Okay. If you’re ready, come out? We’ll deploy immediately."
Han Bombit, who simply stated the purpose, went outside.
"Hey, Seung-a. Let’s go."
Han Jihye stood up from her seat and called Jeong Seung-a. She was still stuck in front of Seo Harang’s storage rack. What else was there to see?
"─Understood."
Jeong Seung-a hurriedly turned her body after stuffing something into her pocket.
And no one saw that action of Jeong Seung-a. It was so quick that even Han Jihye who called her directly couldn’t see it.
...Jeong Seung-a has obtained Seo Harang’s worn black string panties! It wasn’t intentional, but she accidentally got it!
'It’s a coincidence, but...'
Jeong Seung-a decided to accept it as a gift from the sky!
'Harang would probably prefer to wear new ones rather than worn ones...'
With an adorable heart and a base desire at odds, Jeong Seung-a was the one who decided to give a new string panties to Harang so she wouldn’t suspect!