Chapter 81
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: One Month In
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It was around lunchtime when a single police car pulled into the academy.
"They're here."
Ha Yoon crunched into an apple while peering out the window at it.
Ten days on the run before getting caught—that was pretty impressive, if she did say so herself. Not that it mattered much now that she'd been nabbed; no amount of evasion time would change that.
"They're here? Who?"
"Shin So-hyeon, that girl."
"What? So-hyeon's back?!"
Ha Yoon had been answering Kim Seon-ah, but the response came from somewhere else entirely.
Jin Si-won, who had been listlessly poking at her food, bolted to the window at Ha Yoon's words and stared outside.
Right on cue, the police who had gotten out first dragged Shin So-hyeon from the back seat. They yanked her out mercilessly, without even supporting her, and she tumbled to the ground.
Outraged by the sight, Jin Si-won widened her eyes and shouted.
"Those damn bastards! They're handling her too roughly!"
"You think they're gonna go easy on a runaway victim? She's not even considered a trainee anymore anyway."
"Ugh...!"
At Ha Yoon's words, Jin Si-won trembled with rage before whipping around and storming out of the dorm.
Or at least, she tried to—Teacher Park, who had just entered the dorm, caught her and locked her in a headlock.
"Oh, Jin Si-won! Where you off to in the middle of lunch?"
"T-Teacher Park, why are you here...?"
"To keep you from throwing a fit, obviously."
"Agh...!"
Jin Si-won's face twisted in pain as Teacher Park's arm squeezed tight around her head. Undeterred, he kept talking.
"As you all know, Shin So-hyeon, who ran away, has been caught by the police and handed over to our academy. No causing a scene while outsiders are here—stay quiet. Especially you, Jin Si-won. I'm watching, so eat your food and don't go anywhere."
"Urgh...!"
Jin Si-won just shuddered in response, as if she already knew. Ha Yoon snorted at the sight before turning back to look outside.
Shin So-hyeon, who had collapsed, was now being forcibly hauled to her feet by the police gripping both her arms.
Even from a distance, her condition looked dire. Bruises blackened every bit of exposed skin, and her ankle was twisted at an unnatural angle—child's play compared to the rest. Her face had been bowed since earlier, so it wasn't visible, but it surely wasn't normal.
And if the visible external injuries were that bad, her internals had to be a mess. She'd clearly endured severe abuse requiring long-term treatment. Well, it was only to be expected.
From the moment a trainee became a runaway, she was treated worse than vermin.
As long as they didn't kill her, anything done after capture was fair game. So naturally, the police had probably had their fun with her on the way back.
Teacher Park stayed put, but the other trainers—Teacher Choi and Teacher Gan—went out to greet them. They exchanged words and burst into laughter, like they were swapping cheerful jokes. Then Teacher Gan grabbed Shin So-hyeon's head, which had been bowed motionless since earlier, and lifted it.
That let them see her face. As expected, it was a total wreck. No sign of her glasses—probably sold them off somewhere—and one eye was swollen shut. The other eye that was open looked glazed over, like her mind was already gone.
Teacher Gan seemed to think the same, quickly letting go. Her head drooped right back down with a flop. They talked some more. Teacher Gan pointed toward where the trainees were, and the police laughed and shook their heads.
He'd probably offered them a chance to blow off some steam with the trainees while they were here, but they'd already had their fill with Shin So-hyeon, so no need. As the police handed her over to the trainers and drove off, Ha Yoon tossed the core of her apple into the food waste bin.
"...Ha Yoon, I told you not to throw that."
"Why bother with trash that's leaving soon anyway?"
Hong Ryeon snapped irritably at the sight from where she was eating, but Ha Yoon just flipped her off.
"Annoying bitch."
"Fucking bitch."
After trading insults, the two ignored each other and went back to their own business.
Just as Ha Yoon had said, Hong Ryeon didn't have many days left here anyway. No point wasting emotions on someone she wouldn't see much longer.
Hong Ryeon, who had less than a month left when Ha Yoon first arrived, was set to graduate in two days.
Of course, her graduating meant Ryu Jin-ah and Baek So-ra were in the same boat.
The last trainees who remembered Ha Yoon from her trainer days were vanishing. It felt strangely liberating, yet a sigh escaped her all the same.
Now, only the trainers who had worked alongside her during her male days would remember that time.
She hadn't been close to those three anyway—quite the opposite, really. Still, the fact that fewer people remembered her as a man left her feeling oddly melancholic.
'...Not that I'm planning to get chummy with them now.'
Ha Yoon thought that as she hooked her pinky with Kim Seon-ah's.
It was a kind of signal. Crudely put, a sex sign.
"...Go on ahead. I'll be there soon."
Kim Seon-ah whispered that and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Such affections were routine now, so Ha Yoon slipped out of the dorm with a soft sway in her step.
What happened to Shin So-hyeon from here on out was no longer her concern.
The next two days flew by. It was Friday of the fourth week since arriving at the academy. After morning roll call, Hong Ryeon, Baek So-ra, and Ryu Jin-ah headed to the administrative office.
"Hong Ryeon and Ryu Jin-ah still haven't made up, even at the end."
Kim Seon-ah muttered as she watched their retreating figures. Unlike Hong Ryeon and Baek So-ra walking side by side down the hall, Ryu Jin-ah trailed far behind, a clear sign their relationship wasn't what it used to be.
"Doesn't matter—they won't see each other after graduating anyway. They'll be sold off to owners or assigned wherever they're needed."
And spend the rest of their lives there, unless something extraordinary happened.
As Ha Yoon thought that, Kim Seon-ah hugged her from behind and murmured.
"...Poor them. Breaking up like that."
"After all they've done to me? Not exactly sympathetic."
"I'm not saying they're that pitiful. It's just... those three's fate isn't entirely someone else's problem."
"..."
She was right. Almost a month in, but the two of them would graduate in due time too.
And like those three, they'd be scattered, never to meet again.
Instead of replying, Ha Yoon took the hand hugging her and said.
"You'll probably go back to your family, so you won't be as restricted in your movements as those three."
"And you?"
"Me... who knows. I'll need an owner who respects a sex slave's freedom, I guess."
Unlike Kim Seon-ah, who had hidden friends and family for a month, Ha Yoon had no one like that.
She'd likely be sold or assigned somewhere.
'Though high chance it'll be to those guys.'
Ha Yoon thought of Woo Shin-hyung and Han Seol-ah—and the bets she'd made with them.
'Six rounds left, huh...'
Before the thing with Teacher Park, she'd been on a losing streak. If she blew all four chances next week, she wouldn't fulfill the order to leave three intact, which would be a headache.
Her stamina had improved, her technique too, yet she still couldn't win even once. Unbelievable.
'I have to win at least one.'
She could lose the rest after that. Just save three, and it'd be fine. With that in mind, Ha Yoon headed off with Kim Seon-ah to prepare for the morning routine.
Time for the hamster wheel to spin again.
The morning routine hadn't started yet. Leaning against the wall outside the administrative office, Ryu Jin-ah glanced sideways at Hong Ryeon and Baek So-ra.
"We're about to be separated for good."
"...Don't cry. We'll meet again someday."
"What if we never do? It's so scary. I'd rather stay here with you forever..."
"Don't worry. I'll come find you, no matter what."
Excluding herself completely, they were having a tearful farewell. Ryu Jin-ah thumped her frustrated chest with her fist.
'If I'd known it'd end like this, I should've minded my own business about Ha Yoon.'
She'd helped out of stupid pity and ended up like this. Swallowing a sob, the administrative office door opened, and Teacher Choi said.
"Come in. The people here to take you have arrived."
The three followed Teacher Choi. Even as the moment of parting approached, Hong Ryeon didn't spare Ryu Jin-ah a glance, too busy comforting the sniffling Baek So-ra.
Only then did Ryu Jin-ah sigh and shake off her lingering regrets. They were parting anyway—might as well accept it early.
It was a late realization, but thinking that way now eased her heart.
The parade ground they arrived at following Teacher Choi had three vehicles lined up: a black limousine, a silver foreign car, and a Retona.
'Wait, Retona?'
Ryu Jin-ah felt a chill. That Retona in particular looked familiar, amplifying her unease.
And that unease became reality as the driver stepped out.
"Ryu Dong-hyun! Long time no see."
"Sergeant Kim..."
"Sergeant First Class now. Promoted recently."
Ryu Jin-ah clutched her face at the sight of Sergeant Kim—no, Sergeant First Class Kim—flashing his unnaturally white teeth against his sun-tanned skin.
She'd barely escaped the military, and now they were dragging her back? This was too much.
"Hong Yoon-su—no, should be Hong Ryeon now. Long time no see."
Hong Ryeon bowed her head at the words of the impeccably suited man stepping from the limousine's back seat.
"...Didn't expect you to come in person, brother."
"Calling me 'brother' with that face sounds so stiff. Try 'oppa' once."
The man who'd reported her and sold her to the academy was as brazen as ever. Hong Ryeon bristled for a moment but quickly composed herself.
"Brother Hong Yoon-seok."
"Heh, cuter than my gloomy little brother ever was. That gray-haired one your friend?"
At Hong Yoon-seok's question, Hong Ryeon turned to see Baek So-ra dealing with a pot-bellied middle-aged man.
Unlike her earlier tears, her face was now blank, emotionless.
"...No, just a fellow trainee."
"Really? She was clinging to you from afar. Not that close, then?"
"I just went along because she stuck to me."
"Hmm, if you'd said you were close, I might've negotiated with that guy to bring her along. But if you say so."
Hong Ryeon flinched at his words but gripped her arm tight and nodded.
She couldn't let on. Showing she had someone precious would just give Hong Yoon-seok another tool to torment her.
'...Once time passes and his guard drops.'
That's when they could meet again. With that thought, Hong Ryeon followed Hong Yoon-seok into the limousine's back seat.
Vroom—the three vehicles filling the parade ground drove out of the academy.
The trainees from Na-shin division filled the now-empty parade ground.
Morning routine began with Teacher Park's shout.