Chapter 24
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: How About We Date Again for Now...?
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Who dumped whom?
I have no idea why that even matters so much. A woman's heart is just too damn complicated.
"Jeong-woo, you..."
Drill Sergeant Kate lunges at me like a wild animal, hounding me relentlessly. Even up to the very second my CQ duty ends, her voice doesn't let up for a moment.
"Admit it! You gonna admit it or not? That I dumped you!"
She's throwing a full-blown hysterical fit all on her own, drumming and cymballing away like it's a one-woman show. My sanity's about to snap.
"Y-Yes, ma'am! Everything Drill Sergeant Kate says is right!"
"...Good! You said it yourself. I heard every word. No take-backs. You admitted it."
I give in as fast as I can. If I argue here, things could get really ugly.
Half sniffling,
half pissed off and furious.
Kate's desperately trying to salvage her pride, one way or another.
My insane backstory,
the gulf in values between us,
none of it matters to her right now.
After over an hour of enduring Drill Sergeant Kate's hysterics, my hellish CQ shift finally ends.
And I'm not kidding—she went full psycho for a solid hour. Her stamina must be insane.
Even when I hand off to the next guy, Kate doesn't let up, her glare locked on me the whole time.
Her sharp eyes stay fixed on me without fail.
Yeah, I get it up to this point.
I was the one who suddenly brought up another world and begged to break up, so I figure I deserve this much humiliation.
But the really scary part?
The next morning...
"Hey, Jeong-woo..."
Right after morning PT,
she shows up in front of our barracks.
"...Trainee No. 158, Han Jeong-woo?"
"Can we talk for a sec?"
Does she even realize the squad's watching us? Kate calls out to me all friendly-like.
Is she nuts? Didn't she say herself that if a drill sergeant gets caught in a scandal with a trainee, it's instant discipline?
Yet here she is, puffy-eyed, calling me out in the open. No matter how oblivious people are, putting on a show like this? Even a total idiot would sniff out our relationship.
"Ah, y-yeah...! S-Squad leader trainees, fall in? Got it!"
So I do my best to play it off.
She's the drill sergeant in charge of our squad, and I'm the squad leader trainee. A man and woman calling each other out isn't that weird.
"Hurry up..."
But fuck.
That limp cat tail and slumped shoulders are way too honest.
The trainees passing by,
my own squadmates,
everyone starts whispering as they gawk at Drill Sergeant Kate's awkward vibe.
Then again, her showing up at 07:30 is already straight-up unreal.
Drill sergeants get nap time after pulling an all-nighter on CQ with the duty trainees. They just lead the squad again at evening muster.
But this idiot cat drill sergeant ditches that precious downtime right after staying up all night to come see me.
Her eyes are all swollen,
her voice dragging on the floor...!
"All set, ma'am!"
So I gotta get her outta here first.
Anywhere's fine. Just somewhere away from trainees and other drill sergeants.
But there's barely any spots like that in the training center. And even if there are, they're for drill sergeants only...
"Hic..."
Kate's already tearing up and sniffling before I even lead her away.
"L-Listen... I thought about it during my shift..."
This is fucked. Why's everything going so sideways?
It'd be better if she just raged out
or straight-up tormented me.
"Like, you know..."
"Move first! What the hell is this...!"
What conclusion did this woman reach overnight? She clings to my hand tight, stumbling along.
We finally escape the stares and hole up in a remote corner warehouse at the edge of the training center.
"What the fuck is wrong with you...!"
That's when we finally start talking.
"What's going on? What happened...!?"
"Hey, Jeong-woo... I did some thinking during my shift..."
Her floppy ears and tail droop pathetically. Kate can't even meet my eyes, twisting her hands as she forces the words out.
"C-Can you accept my apology first...?"
"Huh?"
"Sorry. Yeah, I'm apologizing. Accept it? Please? Come on...?"
It's the most pitiful expression I've ever seen on her. Her mouth's trying to smile, but her eyes are brimming with tears.
"I realized I was too harsh on you. I couldn't control my anger. Sorry."
Why's she apologizing to me with a face like that? Women are impossible. And this world's gender-reversed, so I gotta twist my brain twice over. It's a mess.
What the hell's her psychology here? Did she get all emotional at dawn and reach some weird conclusion alone? Or is she just losing it from sleep deprivation?
"Will you accept it...?"
"Y-Yeah, I accept...! But what the fuck are you doing!? Didn't you say we have to be careful so no one finds out? This is like broadcasting it to the whole neighborhood...!"
Forgiveness isn't the issue. I'm going insane from frustration.
I haven't done shit, but she's causing all kinds of chaos on her own. It's nothing like the Kate I've seen before.
"Th-That doesn't matter!"
She snaps back at me instead, grabbing my arms tight.
"Listen, Jeong-woo...! I thought it over again, okay?"
Her grip's still insanely strong. I flail to shake her off, but she doesn't budge.
Drill Sergeant Kate has no intention of letting me go. Her head's already locked on some "answer" she mulled over endlessly.
"How about we just pretend it never happened?"
"Huh?"
I didn't get it at first.
I thought our relationship was done.
"Y-You said you're from another world, right? But is that really such a big deal? Does it mess up us dating? No, right? So why break up?"
But as Kate kept talking, I couldn't hide my shock.
It's nothing like her hysterics during CQ. Now she's shoving her "answer" down my throat.
"There's no reason to break up. Right?"
"No, that's not..."
"Give me one good reason. No, I thought about it alone, and it doesn't add up at all. How's you being from another world connected to us breaking up?"
She's so brazen I got nothing.
I rack my brain and squeeze out a few words...
"It-It started from a misunderstanding—"
But before I finish,
Kate's eyes light up, and she unleashes a machine-gun rant.
"Even if it started from a misunderstanding, that's not a reason to break up. Right? No, guys and girls need time to get to know each other anyway. So we go back to dating and start over from the beginning? Yeah? I'm right, aren't I?"
Some spit hits my face.
But no time to get mad about it.
"How about we date again for now...? That'd be good. You agree, right? Okay? That's a yes?"
"Wha—wait! What the fuck?!"
Kate shoves me against the wall, then grabs my face with both hands...
*Smooch—*
She crashes her lips into mine out of nowhere. No thrill, no mood. This isn't a kiss—it's more like a headbutt.
Faint coffee and cigar whiff. A hint of that feminine scent that gets guys going, but no time to savor it.
Her tongue slips in. Never kissed before, but I know this ain't normal.
Too lavish to call it a peck. Feels like my mouth's getting ransacked.
Kate goes all out, licking every inch of my cheeks and tongue like she means to devour it all.
"Mmph!"
Too sudden for some sloppy deep-kiss fun, and this spot's too exposed—I'm freaking out. If anyone sees, we're fucked big time.
"St-stop—mmph—"
I grab her head to pull her off, yanking desperately, but she won't detach.
It's desperate. Like watching a cicada clinging to a tree, crying for a mate.
Our lips glisten with each other's saliva.
Hot breaths mingle,
spit mixes into one.
"Mmmph!"
Any guy would lose it, but I snap my head away and yell at Kate.
"Agh! Cut it out already!"
This is dangerous.
Really dangerous.
If rumors spread in the training center, our lives are over. Kate could get kicked out of the army and live with finger-pointing forever.
"Someone might see! Calm the fuck down first!"
I gotta prevent the worst.
No enjoying the kiss. Peel her off and calm her down...
"Nyaa, hnnng..."
Calm her down...
"Nyaaah..."
Kate pulls back right in front of me. The long string of saliva connecting us snaps and drops to the floor.
"Let 'em all see. Worst case, dishonorable discharge. Just close my eyes, fuck off to another country, and live. Screw the Albatross Union!"
A cornered rat,
no, cat?
Anyway, cornered Kate sniffles and clutches my clothes tight.
"You like me too. You came buckets...! Can't we just date again? I'll be good for real…! No, and there's no girl prettier than me anyway. What am I lacking? I'll do better!!!!"
That's when it hits me.
Ah, this girl's a total pain-in-the-ass clingy type.