Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The End of the Probation Period
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The end of the probation period was drawing near.
This exhausting exercise, this labor disguised as training, would soon be over. Of course, Jegal Yeong had said that if there were no missions, I'd be back to training to fill the time.
The world is wide, and villains are plentiful. It was only natural that there were hordes of criminals striving to live off easy street.
"Do you hate training that much?"
"Senior, who in the world likes wasting time?"
"Wasting... time?"
"It doesn't help with martial arts at all. At our level, cultivating our heart methods would be far more beneficial."
"Still, moving your body makes you feel good. You build muscle too. Can't you feel how much more solid your body has gotten?"
She was right.
My body had only the minimal muscles needed to swing a sword, sleek and lean. But after joining Baekyangdan and gradually building muscle, it was now bulging in a way that could be called rugged. It looked pretty impressive on the outside.
-Baekyangdan... might actually be a better place than I thought!
Even Yeonhui, who had been wary of Baekyangdan, had given me a thumbs-up while eyeing my thickened forearms.
"Well, exercise does give you that runner's high. But Senior."
"What?"
"Were you just checking out my body?"
Jegal Yeong.
A woman who couldn't be taken lightly.
With all her disgust and her immersion in training lately, I'd forgotten that fact.
'Jegal Yeong might actually like me.'
The suspicion lodged in my heart.
I'd once worried if I was misunderstanding and harassing an innocent person. But this confirmed it. Jegal Yeong had just been pretending not to be interested, biding her time for an opportunity.
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
"Didn't you just admit it yourself? You said muscles had formed on my body. That it's gotten solid. How would you know that without looking?"
"No, what... Hey, we're together all the time. How could it not catch my eye?"
"Catch your eye that much..."
"I'm your supervisor! Checking your health and physical condition is part of the job!"
"I see. It couldn't be helped because you're my senior. Got it~."
"Cut that slimy tone!"
Today, her excuses were particularly lame, Jegal Yeong.
Like a thief with guilty feet. Was she yelling so loudly to shake off her own suspicions?
"Still got energy left? Run ten more laps!"
"Heh, trying to suppress me with authority won't work."
"Run! Now!"
Cowardly.
Abusing my position where I have no choice but to obey my senior. When words failed her, Jegal Yeong always made me spin like a top to gloss over it.
What could I do?
A powerless underling has to follow orders.
'No way... is even this part of a plan to make my body more solid?'
It... was convincing!
"For a man, isn't a muscular build way better than being scrawny?"
Her tastes, which I had to hear whether I wanted to or not.
Firm preferences.
Muscular men.
If none exist, she'll make one...?
"Coming to your senses now?"
"......"
After sweating it out following Jegal Yeong's orders, my head did feel clearer. With my sharpened mind and cool judgment, I pressed her.
"Senior."
"What nonsense is our junior about to spout this time?"
"I'll give you a chance to prove your innocence."
Jegal Yeong glared at me with a look of utter disbelief.
But even in that instant, I caught it. The temporary muscle pump from intense exercise. Her eyes slyly stealing glances at my glistening forearms!
"You said you don't see me as a man. Right?"
"Still on that? I said no! How many times do I have to say it? And to begin with, I..."
"To begin with?"
"Ugh, whatever! I just don't get where you get the confidence to keep saying that crap."
"From bitter experience."
Jegal Yeong shook her head.
"A pretty boy like you isn't my type!"
"Slipping in compliments even now. I never imagined."
"Hey, do you know how many guys I've met? Handsomer ones are a dime a dozen!"
"If you're really innocent, pass my test."
"You won't even listen to me?"
Jegal Yeong, who kept denying it, finally accepted my proposal, seemingly fed up.
"This is absolutely the last time. No more detours."
"Of course."
The rules were simple.
Close enough for our foreheads to touch, staring into each other's eyes. You can fool anything about a person except their eyes.
"Start!"
At the signal, I locked eyes with Jegal Yeong.
One, two.
Our gazes crossing up close.
Three, four.
Jegal Yeong's eyes, clear without a single flaw.
Five, six.
Those pupils were as serene as a lake.
'No way this is happening?'
Seven, eight.
Not even the slightest twitch.
"That should be enough!"
"Ah."
End.
The moment the promised time was up, she snapped her head away like a blade.
"It's fine to treat me friendly. It helps with missions if colleagues bond."
"......"
"But enough with these pranks? It's starting to get on my nerves."
Jegal Yeong spoke without even looking at me, as if she couldn't stand the sight. It was that same coldness from our first meeting, treating me like a stranger.
"Head back for today."
She left after those curt words.
Was I wrong?
'Then why did she ask about my tastes?'
Did I misread her good intentions?
Grasping at someone who just wanted to build a solid senior-junior bond, unrelated to Sama-hyung's prophecy?
Tonight, I'd be kicking off the blankets.
'Yeah, if it's a misunderstanding, fine.'
Better that way, even.
That was the only comfort I could give myself.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 'Seriously, is he insane?'
Insane bastard.
That was Jegal Yeong's unfiltered impression when she first saw Yi Se-woong. But back then, it was wariness of his ferocity.
The emotion she felt now was a different breed.
'Spouting that nonsense just because of his face!'
She thought he was different.
But he was the same as those flashy-faced bastards calling themselves young masters or wanderers. That unique confidence of guys who know they're handsome, deluded into thinking any woman would fall for them.
Just one problem.
'Is it his constitution?'
Just as there was the Heavenly Martial Body, a physique born for cultivating martial arts from legends.
Yi Se-woong's body, growing thicker by the day.
It made her suspect there was a constitution specifically made for building muscle.
'It's only been a month.'
Just one month.
Including the time spent teaching him Baekyangdan duties, it wasn't long.
Because he kept spouting weird stuff, she'd worked him mercilessly without thought of balance.
Yet his body had developed evenly, without any protrusions, impossibly smooth even for a sculpted statue.
It was exactly the ideal male form Jegal Yeong envisioned.
'Making me conscious of him for no reason...'
The human brain doesn't comprehend 'denial.'
Told not to think of a tiger, you end up picturing one.
Yi Se-woong's persistent suspicions and grilling.
That had instead imprinted him firmly in Jegal Yeong's mind.
'I was just trying to help Hye!'
It was ridiculous.
A bit of meddling.
Asking his tastes to help Moyong Hye, thinking even with a fiancée, there might be an opening. Who knew it'd backfire like this.
Paying this price for nosiness.
'Fine, you're great. I get it.'
He was the man her precious little sister loved.
She had to observe his pros and cons coldly.
'Diligent.'
Handsome. Impressively skilled, though depth unknown. Quick-witted. More learned than expected. Stone-hearted toward women, etc.
To test his character, she'd worn skimpy clothes. It was comfortable too.
Her own body, honed by endless workouts, boasting healthy skin. Any man would be tempted.
'Am I not attractive enough?'
Yet Yi Se-woong hadn't wavered at all. She should be glad the man her sister liked wasn't a lecher.
So why the bitterness?
'No, that's not it!'
Yi Se-woong saying she liked him.
Absurd misunderstanding left her speechless.
Me? You?
'Ridiculous.'
That's why Jegal Yeong accepted his challenge.
She was confident.
Yi Se-woong was far from her ideal type.
Jegal Yeong didn't care about men's faces. She preferred solid muscles, sturdy bodies forged by training.
'Ah, but I trained him.'
Regret hit the moment they started.
Jegal Yeong had forgotten she'd remade Yi Se-woong into a muscle machine.
'Why am I like this?'
Her heart pounded.
Probably from the training just now.
It had to be.
As Yi Se-woong's features filled her view up close, she struggled not to waver.
'Moyong Hye, Moyong Hye. Moyong Hye!'
Chanting her name in her head.
It was like a spell.
Enduring by picturing Moyong Hye's affection for him.
"That should be enough!"
The moment the bet ended, Jegal Yeong fled the scene.
She couldn't even remember what she'd said to him.
Too busy calming her runaway, thumping heart.
'This can't go on!'
She needed a drastic countermeasure.