Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Academy Day 2 (3)
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Ha Yoon dragged her exhausted body toward the shower room. Perhaps because she'd pushed herself too hard during the run, every step felt as heavy as if she were wearing iron shackles. If only there were something to support her, but all she could manage was gripping the wall.
"That damn bitch, if it weren't for her—"
She finally reached the shower room, only to run into a group that had just finished showering and was coming out.
It was the usual trio. Instead of snapping at Ryu Jin-ah, who she'd been badmouthing, Ha Yoon tried to shove past her shoulder blocking the entrance.
That was, if her hand hadn't been grabbed. Ryu Jin-ah looked down at her with incredulous eyes and said,
"Did you just try to push me?"
"Get out of the way."
"Then say it nicely. Don't be such a bitch."
Ryu Jin-ah flung her hand away irritably with a sharp flick.
But what she hadn't realized was that Ha Yoon's condition was far worse than she'd imagined. At the sight of Ha Yoon tumbling to the floor like she'd been launched, Ryu Jin-ah panicked and shouted,
"Hey! Hey! I didn't push that hard! Why are you making such a fuss?!"
"Ryu Jin-ah, you're so violent."
"No, really, I didn't use any force!"
Ryu Jin-ah protested in disbelief at Baek So-ra's reproach. Regardless of their bickering, Ha Yoon couldn't even lift her face.
This was humiliation beyond humiliation. To go rolling from a single flick of Ryu Jin-ah's hand. Her face flushed red as she clenched her fists, and then she spotted someone's feet in front of her. Looking up, it was Hong Ryeon. With an expressionless face, she extended her hand and said,
"Can you stand?"
Her words were kind, but her voice was ice-cold. Cheap pity for show.
"Mind your own business. I can get up by myself."
"Fine."
Even as Ha Yoon irritably swatted the hand away, Hong Ryeon just nodded and turned back toward the other two.
"Ha Yoon says she's fine, so let's go."
"Yeah."
"Tch..."
Unlike Baek So-ra, who agreed readily, Ryu Jin-ah shot Ha Yoon a dissatisfied look, shaking her head with a sigh. And just like that, the three ignored the fallen Ha Yoon and headed back to the dorm.
As their figures receded, Ha Yoon gritted her teeth and hauled herself up. Her legs trembled like a newborn fawn's, but by now it was almost familiar. She finally staggered into the changing room, where gazes immediately converged on her.
No wonder, given the commotion at the entrance. Rather than yelling at them to stop staring, Ha Yoon limped toward the showers with shaking legs. Normally she'd have grabbed clothes from the dorm first, but she didn't have the strength.
Whoosh—warm water cascaded over her head. It felt like her weary body and mind were being washed clean by the flowing stream. Ha Yoon swept back the hair clinging to her face and muttered,
"This fucking sucks."
Nothing about it sat right with her, from one to ten. She knew there was no room for anything she liked, but that didn't stop the irritation.
Ha Yoon tilted her face into the spray and closed her eyes tightly. Her emotions washed away with the grime on her body.
-
"What are you doing?"
"Ah, Ha Yoon!"
After roughly toweling off her body and hair, she emerged to find someone sitting in the changing room.
It was Kim Seon-ah. Looking bored as she fidgeted, she jumped up with a bright smile at Ha Yoon's voice.
"You didn't bring any clothes, so I brought them for you!"
"Oh... thanks."
Ha Yoon took the offered clothes with reluctance and slipped them on. Just a single piece of fabric, but it covered her nakedness and brought an immense sense of relief.
"But why'd you come?"
"Huh? Why?"
"Aren't you pissed? After all that hardship because of me."
When Ha Yoon had only managed seven laps on the parade ground, the trainees had done ten on all fours. Without a single break, gritting their teeth the whole way.
But instead of answering, Kim Seon-ah blinked at her in surprise.
"...What? What's with those eyes?"
"I just never expected Ha Yoon to say something like that. So you do feel sorry?"
"Why the hell should I feel sorry? I just don't get it."
Ha Yoon grumbled, but Kim Seon-ah chuckled and replied,
"It was tough, sure, but it wasn't really your fault, was it? It was obvious Teacher Park was just tormenting you on purpose."
Punishing the whole group for one person's mistake was common. And it often led to that person being ostracized.
Of course, it wasn't incomprehensible for resentment to turn toward her since she'd made the whole group suffer. But the one who'd ordered it was Teacher Park in the first place.
And Kim Seon-ah didn't like that method. She had no issue with sacrificing one to control the group more easily, but didn't that mean the sacrifice had to bear the group's hostility alone just for lagging a bit?
With that in mind, she said to Ha Yoon,
"Besides, we're in the same class, right? We should help each other."
"...You idiot. I won't help you if you get in danger."
"Eek, that's not fair!"
Even as Kim Seon-ah cried out in disbelief, Ha Yoon tossed her towel into the hamper and said,
"You think this is like the outside world? The trainers won't give you a 'good job' sticker just because you butt in like that. They'd probably target you even harder."
"Is that worry I hear?"
"You've got a talent for twisting sarcasm into something nice."
Even under Ha Yoon's incredulous stare, Kim Seon-ah just smiled. Ha Yoon started to add something but shook her head instead.
She could smile like that because she hadn't truly suffered under the trainers yet. In a few days, she'd be too busy worrying about herself to care for others.
Ha Yoon thought that as she started walking. Rest time had less than five minutes left. If she didn't hurry to the indoor training hall, she might be late. But fatigue still weighed on her legs, making them tremble with each step.
"I'll help you walk."
Ha Yoon glanced at her but said nothing as Kim Seon-ah wrapped an arm around her opposite shoulder and pressed close. She knew if the others saw this, some hostility would shift to Kim Seon-ah too—but she decided not to care.
They walked side by side to the indoor training hall, changed in the locker room, and entered.
...Seven pairs of eyes stabbed at her. But unlike before, they weren't all on Ha Yoon—some now scattered to Kim Seon-ah, who had entered with her.
If Ha Yoon drew pure hostility, then Kim Seon-ah got looks of sheer bafflement.
Ignoring them, they found their spots. Yoon Se-rin, looking relatively fine and alert, ground her teeth and muttered under her breath,
"Hey, Kim Seon-ah. What's the point of coming in with Ha Yoon? You wanna be treated the same as her?"
"Teacher Park said to help struggling comrades. I'm just following rule number two."
"You..."
"Se-rin, drop it. She'll do what she wants."
At the words from a nearby trainee, Yoon Se-rin gnashed her teeth, glared not at Kim Seon-ah but at Ha Yoon, then whipped her head away.
Why glare at me after arguing with her? Ha Yoon snorted derisively, feeling absurd.
After standing a while, Teacher Park entered in his usual grotesque attire, signaling the start of indoor training just like yesterday.
Under Hong Ryeon's guidance alongside Kim Seon-ah, Ha Yoon learned light stretches followed by basic poses.
From where Teacher Park was instructing directly, groans came from a few trainees.
It was the same scene as yesterday. But unlike yesterday, Hong Ryeon didn't correct Ha Yoon's mistakes.
She just monotonously issued instructions on what to do. Otherwise, she struck poses as she pleased.
Things like extending one leg straight up almost to her ear, or gracefully stretching her arms while lifting a leg behind her.
For someone supposedly trained long under Teacher Park, she was only a bit better than Ryu Jin-ah and Baek So-ra, who had trained alongside her.
"You must like ballet."
"It grew on me."
Hong Ryeon brushed off Kim Seon-ah's comment curtly and resumed her poses silently. Watching her in the mirror, Ha Yoon let out a scoff and said,
"You've become a total sex— Agh!"
Her words echoed loudly through the training room. Hong Ryeon spun in place from her pose and kicked Ha Yoon's butt, then said expressionlessly,
"Tuck in your ass."
"You... you bitch..."
Ha Yoon clutched her stinging butt and leaned on the ballet barre. Kim Seon-ah whispered to her,
"They say if you stay quiet, you'll save half your beatings."
"Shut up..."
Anyway, despite that incident, indoor training passed without issue.
The problem started at lunchtime. Trainee meals came from an outside vendor, but the trainees distributed them themselves.
Plus, portions were exactly matched to headcount, so uneven shares could leave someone without food.
But what the hell was this? Ha Yoon staggered briefly as oatmeal poured onto her tray like a mountain.
Enough for nearly three trainees. She stared incredulously at the one distributing.
"What are you doing?"
"Eat up. Gotta recover your strength to run better tomorrow, right?"
What was this girl's name again? Even among the colorful trainees, she stood out with her major blonde hair and blue eyes.
Before Ha Yoon could recall, Kim Seon-ah beside her spoke up.
"Han Su-ah, if you give that much, what about you guys?"
"We already agreed on it. Butt out."
Han Su-ah. Right, that was her name. Ha Yoon glared at her as she stirred the ladle in the oatmeal tub, then turned away.
'Who says I can't eat it all? I'll scrape the pot clean.'
She added fruit and milk to her tray, pulled out a low table, sat on the bunk, set down her tray, and picked up a spoon.
Unlike her outside spoon, it was a teaspoon—plastic, at that. She scooped up a huge mound of oatmeal and brought it to her mouth.