But perhaps it was because Eun Chae resembled his sister. Ki Joo found his heart softening unusually in front of this trainee.

Sighing deeply, Ki Joo extended his palm towards Eun Chae.

“Hold it.”

“Excuse me?”

Eun Chae looked back and forth, astonished, between Ki Joo’s face and the hand he offered.

Although she had asked to hold onto him, she had only expected to grab his sleeve or scabbard. She hadn’t imagined he would offer his hand.

Hesitant to take Ki Joo’s hand, Eun Chae felt awkward. Despite her male disguise, inside, she was a proper lady who had never really held a man’s hand before.

The thought of holding hands with a man made Eun Chae blush.

As Eun Chae just stared at the hand he extended without taking it, Ki Joo, feeling embarrassed, started to retract it.

“If you don’t want to, never mind.”

“No, it’s not that!”

Needing someone to rely on in the dark, regardless of being a woman or a man, Eun Chae hastily grabbed Ki Joo’s hand.

Her small hand was engulfed by Ki Joo’s larger palm.

Holding his hand, surprisingly, her scared heart began to settle down.

“…….”

“…….”

The two silently crossed the eerie thicket.

Contrary to his usually cold demeanor, Ki Joo’s palm felt warm.

Eun Chae’s gaze landed on their clasped hands, where the prominent veins on Ki Joo’s large hand were visible – unmistakably a man’s hand.

Aware of Ki Joo’s gender, Eun Chae’s heart began to pound uncontrollably.

‘Why is my heart beating so fast?’

Eun Chae couldn’t tell if it was the fear of ghosts or the hand she was holding that caused her heart to race.

Now, it was Ki Joo’s hand, rather than the ghostly forest, that occupied her mind.

Ki Joo, too, was conscious of the hand in his palm. It felt small and soft, just like his sister’s.

Could a twin of the opposite sex have such a similar hand size?

Puzzled, Eun Chae suddenly shouted as she spotted something strange.

“Commander, there’s something ahead!”

A black object, the size of a person, was lying on the ground ahead.

Ki Joo, on alert, drew his sword from his waist.

― Swoosh.

As Ki Joo approached, the dark object came into clearer view.

Recognizing the familiar shape, Eun Chae couldn’t hide her astonishment.

“…Big Brother Daebok?”

There, lying perfectly still, was Daebok, who had fainted, clutching a book of erotic paintings.

Ki Joo and Eun Chae moved Daebok to his private quarters.

Inside Daebok’s cramped quarters, the space felt even smaller with three people in it.

Sitting hunched in the tiny trainee quarters, where standing up would mean hitting their heads on the ceiling, Ki Joo and Eun Chae were close together.

“There’s no external injury. He’s just fainted.”

Ki Joo checked Daebok’s body, concluding.

“He’s just asleep now. His pulse and breathing are normal.”

Relieved by Ki Joo’s words, Eun Chae sighed.

“That’s good to hear. But why was he lying there?”

“We’ll have to wait for him to wake up to know for sure. It doesn’t seem necessary to call a physician.”

Eun Chae looked down at Daebok, who was deeply asleep, with a worried gaze.

“Why on earth was he lying there…”

Seeing Daebok’s collapsed form after he had been so excitedly looking at that scandalous book made her feel concerned.
Even while fainted, Daebok clutched the erotic paintings so dearly. Eun Chae struggled to extract the book from his tight grip.

After he woke, Daebok would definitely look for the book, so Eun Chae carefully placed the scandalous book beside his head.

Then, Ki Joo noticed the book of erotic paintings by Daebok’s head and reached out to grab it. It was a thoughtless action, simply because it caught his eye, not because he intended to pick it up knowing its contents.

As Ki Joo was about to open the book, Eun Chae quickly reached to snatch it from his hand.

“No, you can’t!”

Eun Chae couldn’t possibly be faster than Ki Joo. As Ki Joo swiftly moved the book to his other hand, Eun Chae failed to grab it and glared at the book in his hand.

She knew that book’s content should not be shown.

It wasn’t her book, nor was she particularly interested in preserving Daebok’s dignity.

However, her strong Confucian belief dictated that such scandalous books should not be read by more people.

Eun Chae tried to snatch the book from Ki Joo’s hand, but he skillfully dodged each attempt.

“You can’t read that book!”

“Why?”

“Well…”

Eun Chae tried to explain why he shouldn’t open the book but couldn’t bring herself to say that it contained lewd scenes.

Her face flushed red like a ripe apple at the thought of the book’s contents.

She hastily deflected, “Just don’t read it, or there’ll be big trouble! It’s all for your sake!”

Eun Chae desperately tried to protect Ki Joo’s eyes and mental health from the book, but her efforts were in vain.

Ki Joo narrowed his eyes, looking down at Eun Chae.

Initially, he picked up the book without much thought. But being told not to do something only fuels the desire to do it.

Curiosity piqued by Eun Chae’s desperate attempts to keep the book’s contents hidden, Ki Joo became more interested in what the book contained.

Inside the cramped tent of Daebok, a tense silence lingered between Eun Chae and Ki Joo over the erotic paintings.

Ki Joo, while watching Eun Chae, stretched his arm holding the book far away from her.

He slipped his thumb under the book’s bottom and flicked it open, revealing the risqué illustrations to Eun Chae.

Just as Ki Joo’s head turned towards the book, Eun Chae, in a last-ditch effort, lunged at him to snatch it away.

However, either because of the confined space or the force of her lunge, Eun Chae lost her balance and fell onto Ki Joo.

―Thud!

As they fell, Eun Chae’s view was filled with Ki Joo’s face on the ground beneath her.

Moreover, Eun Chae found herself unintentionally straddling Ki Joo.

Startled, Eun Chae quickly sat up, only to freeze as their positions closely resembled a scene from the book.