“Brother! Why are you outside?”
“Ah, little brother, you’ve come!”
Dae-bok, who seemed to be waiting, hurried towards Yeon Woo with an uneasy demeanor.
Yeon Woo, puzzled by his unusual behavior, asked, “Is something wrong? You don’t look very good.”
“It’s just that…”
Before Dae-bok could finish, laughter and chatter from inside the barracks reached their ears.
Yeon Woo, curious, asked Dae-bok, “Has it already started? I thought it wasn’t time yet.”
“What’s all this noise outside!”
Before Dae-bok could answer, a booming voice from inside the barracks interrupted them. It was Janggabdol.
Dae-bok sighed, seemingly giving up on explaining, and said, “Let’s go inside.”
Yeon Woo, still not understanding the situation, followed Dae-bok into the barracks.
Inside, a large table was set with foods brought by the trainees.
The senior soldiers were feasting on the expensive food, laughing and talking loudly.
Yeon Woo’s eyes shifted to another scene, and she couldn’t help but harden her expression.
While the senior soldiers ate and chatted, the trainees were subjected to harsh discipline, lying face down with their heads pressed to the ground.
Then, an unpleasant voice she didn’t want to hear sounded.
“You’re early!”
Turning towards the voice, Yeon Woo saw Janggabdol seated among the senior soldiers.
Janggabdol yelled at the trainees lying on the ground.
“Do you know why you’re being disciplined?”
He was already drunk, his face flushed, and reeking of alcohol.
“Here, the person standing there came so late~! Isn’t it a sight of loyalty that a comrade is punished on behalf of the latecomer?”
Yeon Woo hadn’t been late, yet she was accused of it.
She calmly replied to Janggabdol, “Isn’t the initiation ceremony supposed to start at Haeshi (9-11 PM)? It’s not Haeshi yet.”
“Being later than the senior is considered late! It’s a matter of military discipline. Tsk!”
“What kind of rule is that?”
It was sheer nonsense.
The ceremony was to be held in the senior soldiers’ barracks; therefore, the permanently residing seniors had no concept of arriving early or late.
Janggabdol’s intention was clearly to humiliate her.
“Don’t you know the senior’s word is law here?! And what’s with the backtalk from a mere trainee?!”
Janggabdol was infuriated by Yeon Woo’s firm responses.
Ever since their first encounter, Yeon Woo had never been one to easily back down.
Looking frail and effeminate, Yeon Woo always irked him.
Janggabdol intended to crush her spirit during this initiation ceremony.
“Remember, all the discipline today is because of you.”
Janggabdol glared at Yeon Woo and gestured to a young soldier beside him.
“This is the punishment for talking back. Load them with sandbags.”
Upon Janggabdol’s command, sandbags were placed on the backs of the trainees lying on the ground.
With the added weight, groans escaped from the lips of the already struggling trainees.
Janggabdol intended to punish the trainees every time Yeon Woo talked back to him.
If he could make her responsible for her peers’ punishment, maybe this insolent trainee would listen.
He also planned to alienate Yeon Woo from her comrades by making them resent her.
Yeon Woo, realizing Janggabdol’s blatant intentions, could only press her lips tightly together in response.
Even so, Janggabdol’s eyes wandered to the food Yeon Woo brought.
“Let’s see what you brought. You didn’t forget what I told you, right?”
Yeon Woo had already bought double the food, as Janggabdol had previously instructed her to bring twice as much.
She took out the yukjeon (Korean meat pancakes) and alcohol, placing them before Janggabdol.
But Janggabdol’s expression changed upon seeing the food.
He scowled and grumbled, “I told you to bring three times the amount. Do you find my words amusing?”
“I’m sure you said double.”
“You’re talking back again?”
“…….”
Yeon Woo distinctly remembered him saying to bring double.
Apparently, Janggabdol was resorting to lies just to torment her.
Janggabdol stood up and approached Yeon Woo, prodding her shoulder with his thick fingers, pushing her slightly backward.
Yeon Woo avoided eye contact, looking at the ground, not showing signs of fear or trembling.
“You’re in for some hard times. I’ll show you what happens when you fall out of my favor.”
―Crash!
Suddenly, Janggabdol kicked over the basket of yukjeon and the bottles of alcohol Yeon Woo had brought.
The meat pancakes scattered on the floor, and the broken bottles sprayed alcohol in all directions.
The previously noisy atmosphere fell silent instantly.
Janggabdol, his expression hardened, spoke in a low voice.
“Pick them up.”
“…….”
The food was a rare treat for Yeon Woo, something she might eat only once a year.
Seeing the result of Dae-bok’s kindness scattered on the floor made her blood boil.
However, Janggabdol’s next words further agitated her.
“What are you waiting for? Not picking it up? Add another sandbag for each.”
The trainees already receiving punishment were sweating profusely, their foreheads wetting the ground.
Unable to bear the sight of others suffering because of her, a fellow soldier intervened.
“Janggabdol, it’s their first day, shouldn’t you go easy? If someone higher up finds out, this won’t end well…”
“You want to take their place?”
“…….”
When Janggabdol clenched his fist, the soldier clamped his mouth shut. Even among the senior soldiers, Janggabdol wielded considerable power.
With a gesture from Janggabdol, the soldiers prepared to add more sandbags to the trainees’ backs.
Yeon Woo couldn’t stand to watch innocent people suffer because of her.
She stooped down and silently began picking up the yukjeon from the floor.
“Who told you to pick them up with your hands?”
Watching her, Janggabdol smirked unpleasantly and spoke again.
“P-pick it up with your mouth.”
To be humiliated in front of so many people, Yeon Woo’s hands trembled with an indignity she had never experienced before.
If she lost her temper here, innocent people would suffer just like Dae-bok did.
As Yeon Woo hesitated, Janggabdol crouched down, grabbed the back of her neck, and thrust his face close to hers, threatening.
“Not doing it? Should I help?”
A chill, like stepping into an icehouse, filled the barrack.
Everyone, except for Janggabdol and Yeon Woo, remained silent, a quiet so profound it felt like even an ant’s footsteps would be audible.
Another senior soldier, Chuncheol, trembling, approached Janggabdol.
“J-janggabdol, enough…”
“Don’t interfere!”
Despite Chuncheol’s attempt to intervene, Janggabdol showed no intention of letting Yeon Woo go.
Chuncheol, afraid yet determined, grasped Janggabdol’s arm.
“Stop, please…”
“You want to be punished first?!”
“Ah!”
As Janggabdol roughly pushed and toppled Chuncheol.
Someone, unnoticed until now, appeared before Janggabdol. The newcomer wore shoes that were made of processed leather, a luxury beyond a regular soldier’s reach, signifying a high-ranking official.
With the strict prohibition of hazing rituals like Myeonshinrye by the court, being caught could result in severe punishment.
Cold sweat started streaming down Janggabdol’s body.
Slowly, Janggabdol raised his head to see the face of the person looking down on him.
“G-gasp…!”
Recognizing the person, Janggabdol gasped for air.
Struggling, he barely managed to speak.
“L-Lord Gwanghogyun…!”
Gun, now properly dressed, entered the barracks and stared down Janggabdol with a gaze more ferocious than a tiger.
Not only Janggabdol was shocked.
Hearing the name ‘Gwanghogyun,’ Yeon Woo slowly turned around and nearly fainted in surprise.
Her mouth agape, she looked up at Gun.
‘The madman of Baekaksan is Gwanghogyun?!’
As the words she had spoken about Gwanghogyun flashed through her mind, Yeon Woo collapsed to the ground.
Overwhelmed for entirely different reasons than Janggabdol, Yeon Woo sat there dazed.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
