Chapter 03

Adrift

As Rian slowly adjusted to her unfamiliar surroundings, her days settled into a repetitive routine.

Part of her simply couldn’t break the habits she had developed while preparing for university entrance exams, but she also genuinely enjoyed ballet. From the moment she opened her eyes in the morning until she went to bed at night, she spent her days in the practice room prepared for her in the detached house.

The previous evening, the maid who helped her with the household chores in the detached house had told her that everyone in the family would be away from home today, and that most of the servants would be leaving work early.

That meant Rian would have the house to herself.

On a leisurely afternoon, Rian gathered up the courage to enter the indoor garden where the first night’s dinner had been held.

She breathed in the scent of the flowers blooming in abundance, and, since she was already there, settled down on a bench and took out her e-book.

After finishing the book she had wanted to read for some time, Rian enjoyed the rare moment of leisure before slowly getting to her feet and heading toward the practice room.

The main house was quiet as the grave, so she didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing her.

After lightly warming up, Rian first gripped the ballet barre and repeatedly practiced the basic positions.

No matter how fundamental the movements were, they always felt slightly different depending on her condition that day. She therefore needed to take time to check and assess her body every day.

Once she had warmed up sufficiently, Rian played music through the speakers in the practice room.

She cleared away the ballet barre, changed into her pointe shoes, and immediately lost herself in the music and dance.

Seung-hyuk had postponed an appointment because of one of the headaches that occasionally plagued him and had taken a short nap in his room.

He had never been someone who slept particularly much, but the insomnia that plagued his body never allowed him to enjoy truly restful sleep.

After waking from the light sleep he had long since become accustomed to, Seung-hyuk stepped out onto the second-floor terrace.

That was when he noticed On Rian walking briskly toward the indoor garden.

It was quite a contrast to the girl he had seen at both meals, who had constantly looked around her with a guarded expression.

Seung-hyuk swept his gaze over her back with indifferent eyes, then went back inside.

He rested a little longer until his headache subsided before finally heading downstairs to leave for his appointment.

Through the floor-to-ceiling glass facing the front of the house, he could see the practice room in the detached house.

The girl had already prepared herself to dance.

She stretched her flexible body before beginning to move in earnest.

Seung-hyuk didn’t know much about ballet, but even at a glance, it was obvious that On Rian possessed considerable skill.

Her small insteps, which supported the weight of her entire body, were beautifully arched.

Her upper body maintained a firm center of gravity atop her feet, which remained precariously balanced while moving without pause, tracing soft, graceful curves through the air.

She was wearing somewhat loose practice clothes, but her movements were still remarkably fluid.

Whenever On Rian felt that she hadn’t performed a particular position properly, she relentlessly repeated that section alone.

She was quite the obsessive practice addict.

Seung-hyuk had been standing still, watching her, but he changed his mind and settled onto the sofa where he had a direct view of the practice room.

Passionate eyes fixed on something she loved.

Cheeks flushed with exertion.

An expression filled with joy one moment and anguish the next.

Watching someone overflowing with dreams and hope, working tirelessly to achieve what she desired, reminded Seung-hyuk of someone.

It touched something deep inside him.

And that was extremely irritating.

A short while later, Rian finally noticed Seung-hyuk standing in the main house through the mirror in front of her.

She was startled and abruptly stopped moving before turning around and hurriedly bowing.

Seung-hyuk didn’t return her greeting.

He simply stood up and left.

Rian stared blankly at the spot where he had been sitting before tilting her head.

Did he not see me?

The man disappeared from her field of vision in an instant.

Rian tried not to pay attention to him and was about to resume practicing when the glass door connecting the practice room to the courtyard opened.

“Ah, h-hello. I thought there wasn’t anyone at home…”

Feeling inexplicably like a child who had done something wrong, Rian spoke hesitantly.

Then a low voice rang in her ears.

“You seem to know exactly what you want to do.”

“Pardon? What do you mean all of a sudden…?”

“Doesn’t it get tiring? It’s not as though anyone is forcing you to do it.”

He’s talking about ballet.

Rian figured it out and rolled her eyes slightly as she seriously considered her answer.

“Yes. No one told me to do it. It’s just that I’ve been happiest whenever I was doing ballet since I was little. If I don’t do it, I keep thinking about it. There are moments when it’s hard and I want to give up, but whenever I think about ballet, my heart still starts racing.”

Her answer hadn’t been calculated or structured around the logic he seemed to be looking for.

Instead, it contained nothing but pure passion and an awkward sincerity.

“You annoy me.”

He had to admit that he was simply being spiteful for no reason.

Leaving Rian standing there with a bewildered expression, Seung-hyuk headed toward his car, feeling as though his mood had become twisted.

And when that face from long ago surfaced in his mind for the first time in a very long time, a bitter smile briefly crossed Seung-hyuk’s lips.

So you’re the child I’ve heard about.

“They say you’re ranked first in the entire country. Not only are your physical test scores outstanding, but apparently your IQ is so high that they can’t even measure it. They say you’re a genius.”

God was unfair.

There were people who were born holding everything in their hands from the very beginning.

A wealthy family.

A brilliant mind.

Exceptional physical abilities.

Even beautiful looks.

Lee Seung-hyuk was one such child.

Every gathering he was brought to, all eyes inevitably turned toward him.

He had naturally been a quiet child and had never been comfortable expressing his emotions, but the people around him never left him alone.

“General, you must be very pleased to have such a perfect grandson. What are you going to have such a prodigy do in the future?”

“Of course he’ll continue the family legacy. Our grandson will become the greatest fighter pilot in Huhan.”

Lee Jung-hyuk’s father, General Lee Doo-hyuk, was a man for whom violence had always been more familiar than words and verbal abuse more familiar than praise—even toward his only son.

As the head of a prestigious family of Air Force officers, General Lee Doo-hyuk would never permit the family line to come to an end.

Lee Jung-hyuk, who was still afraid of his father, didn’t dare to object.

Mrs. Kang Soo-jin had always disliked that, but she was equally frightened of her father-in-law, who was as terrifying as a living tiger.

“Mother. Seung-hyuk will be entering the Officer Talent Training Center next week. Get him properly prepared. He won’t be coming home for several years.”

When General Lee Doo-hyuk suddenly arrived at the house and announced this, Kang Soo-jin was so dumbfounded that, for the first time, she dared to object.

“What do you mean? He’s still just a child. Where exactly are you sending him? As for his education, my husband and I can take care of—”

“Enough. I’ve already told Jung-hyuk. This is a facility established by the Head of State himself to cultivate various national talents, so it’s trustworthy. He even personally recommended that Seung-hyuk enroll after hearing about him. The curriculum is optimized for training officers. If Seung-hyuk successfully graduates from this place, he’ll become the finest soldier in the future. Isn’t that the glory of our family?”

The Head of State had even personally called them.

And with the additional pressure of knowing they couldn’t disappoint him if they wanted the family to continue rising, everyone could do nothing but tacitly agree, no matter how much they disliked the idea.

And so, on a day when six-year-old Hyun-joo was running around the yard playing with a ball, Seung-hyuk climbed into a black car with heavily tinted windows that had arrived in front of their house.

He entered the training center without even receiving a proper farewell.

The facility had been established as an ambitious project to train future officers capable of maintaining Huhan’s formidable military strength.

Major General Jo Cheol-gyu, the director in charge of the project, strictly prohibited all contact with the outside world.

He did not hesitate to submit false reports to his superiors and forced the trainees through every kind of brutal training imaginable, driven by his inherently sadistic nature.

Most of the facility’s students were children of lower-ranking officials rather than the children of high-ranking officers like Seung-hyuk.

They were subjected to all kinds of abuse under the guise of physical enhancement training and forced to endure extreme conditions in which food and sleep were strictly limited.

Everything in the facility was meticulously scored and recorded.

Even there, Seung-hyuk never relinquished first place.

Even when he was forced to suppress his emotions and trained until even his fear was brought under control, he never uttered a single complaint.

One day, after completing another grueling training session, Seung-hyuk finally lay down his exhausted body.

The pale-faced boy who had slept beside him every night broke the rule forbidding conversation and whispered to him.

“Hey. What’s your name?”

The boy was excessively enthusiastic.

That was the only impression Seung-hyuk had of him.

The boy always sat right at the front with bright, sparkling eyes, listened attentively to every lesson, and participated wholeheartedly in every training session.

Seung-hyuk had heard that he was the only scholarship student at the facility, having come from an orphanage.

There was no reason for Seung-hyuk to answer him, so he simply ignored him and closed his eyes.

But the boy beside him was persistent.

“Are you asleep? Talk to me. The instructors aren’t here right now. From what I can tell, they obviously favor you. Are you from some important family?”

“You hurt yourself earlier, didn’t you? This is a bandage that makes wounds heal right away. I’ll give it to you. It’s really valuable, you know? When I came here from the orphanage, my teacher gave me exactly one.”

How had he known that Seung-hyuk had cut his hand while using a knife earlier that day?

Even after Seung-hyuk coldly tried to shake him off, the boy stubbornly took his hand and carefully applied the bandage.

From that day onward, he would occasionally sneak around the instructors and persistently strike up conversations with Seung-hyuk.

They spent every day together in an extreme environment, enduring brutal training side by side.

It was impossible not to grow attached.

As the years passed, the two boys who had grown up together became as essential to one another as air.

“I wish we’d been in the same group for tomorrow’s field training. It’s a shame. I can beat you now, you know. Just wait. You’re already guaranteed a commission, so I’m going to be the next top graduate.”

Siwoo pretended to shoot a gun and made a playful face as Seung-hyuk came out of the shower.

Seung-hyuk let out an incredulous laugh, shook his wet hair, and replied,

“With your current grades, you’re already doing well enough. No one’s forcing you to do this, so why work so hard?”

“What would a rich young master like you know? For an orphan like me, who has no home or family, this is the only way to improve my social standing. They guarantee that I’ll be commissioned as the youngest officer if I graduate at the top of my class, so that’s why I’m hanging in there. Still, I guess I’m suited to being a soldier. It’s actually pretty fun.”

“Your desk lamp.”

“Huh? What’s wrong with it? Ah, I must have accidentally broken the light. Haha. Can’t be helped. Go to sleep first.”

Petty competition.

It happened from time to time.

The friend who had momentarily panicked and mumbled his way through an excuse was apparently planning to study tactical books until bedtime.

Without a word, Seung-hyuk handed over his own desk lamp and fell asleep first.

Siwoo finished his training and told Seung-hyuk that they would see each other the following week.

He told him not to get hurt.

And then Siwoo never returned.

“Where is he?! At least tell me whether he’s alive or dead!”

“Return to your quarters. Out of consideration for the General, this is as far as I’ll tolerate your behavior.”

For the first time since arriving at the facility, Seung-hyuk’s enraged shout echoed through the hallway.

He had disobeyed the order to return several times.

After striking an instructor in a vital spot, Seung-hyuk swiftly made his way toward the director’s office.

Inside were Director Jo Cheol-gyu and his grandfather.

“That useless bastard went and got himself killed, and now he’s become a real headache. From what I’ve heard, the kids caused some kind of incident at the training grounds because of their grades. If the Head of State finds out, he’ll be absolutely furious… Who is it?!”

The director angrily shouted at the person who had entered without making a sound.

But the moment he saw Seung-hyuk, his anger quickly subsided.

His grandfather, whom Seung-hyuk had not seen in several years, approached him with the same sturdy, formidable face he had always possessed.

Then he slapped Seung-hyuk hard across his twisted cheek.

“You pathetic fool. What was that orphan brat to you? Are you going to fall apart here? Use that time to grow stronger so that no one can touch you and everyone will fear and revere you.

Remove everything that gets in your way and take what you want.

If you never want to lose the things precious to you, then become stronger. Do you understand?”

For the first time in his life, the boy experienced the sensation of something inside his heart snapping apart under the weight of grief and rage.

It was his first true experience of loss.

But because the boy had no way to properly process or release those emotions, something inside him became deeply twisted.

The training center was ultimately ordered to close after an incident in which excessive competition had been encouraged to such an extent that one of the trainees had died.

Then, on the day of the final training exercise, Seung-hyuk briefly looked up at the gloomy sky as a light drizzle dampened his collar.

One by one, he began mercilessly shooting the shoulders and arms of those responsible.

“That lunatic bastard! Take the gun away from him immediately!”

The instructors seized Seung-hyuk by all four limbs and locked him inside a cage.

Several days later, thanks to the powerful connections protecting him, Seung-hyuk was able to return home safely.

All reports concerning the training center were completely suppressed by the media.

But for the boy who had become numb to everything, only two things remained.

A life without purpose.

And cynicism.