TWENTY THREE

"Hit it hard!"

Yujin put all her strength into the bag in front of her. Today was the third day she underwent martial arts training with Jinwoo. This morning everything went smoothly. Yujin began to position herself as a good wife for Jinwoo. She no longer refuted Jinwoo's words and tried to understand Jinwoo. Her decision to stay with Jinwoo was unanimous. She will try her best so that her domestic relationship with Jinwoo can last until they are separated by death.

"Enough. Take a rest five minutes after this we will start training to use weapons."

"Weapons? Gun?" Yujin asked unsure. She thought Jinwoo would not teach her how to use weapons, it turned out that the man really taught her the complete package, how to defend herself and how to use weapons.

"You also have to be able to use a gun as well as a knife. If you can use it, no one will dare to hurt you."

Yujin sneered inwardly while sipping her water. The only person who often hurt her was Jinwoo. Even until she was twenty-two, she had never actually met a bad person who had hurt her. So she should learn martial arts not to conquer bad people who want to hurt her but to conquer Jinwoo who often hurts her.

"General, tonight there will be a dinner party at Minister Hong's residence. You and I are invited to attend."

Last night her father contacted her and conveyed the invitation. Her father said that she and Jinwoo had to attend the dinner party because now they were part of important state officials.

"I will ask my secretary to clear my schedule tonight."

Yujin raised an eyebrow in surprise. Jinwoo immediately accepted her invitation without a fight. Usually the guy doesn't like going to glamorous events full of crowds because they make him bored. In the past, Hyuki often complained to him because he was often forced by Jinwoo to replace the man attending dinners held by state officials.

"Then we leave at six o'clock. The banquet starts at seven, and since our house is quite far from Minister Hong's residence, we have to leave early."

"Today I have to recruit junior soldiers at the base, so I'll be home at five."

"Alright, I will prepare your clothes general. Do you prefer to wear a bow tie or a regular tie?" Yujin asked enthusiastically. She was very happy to see Jinwoo's attitude, which since yesterday seemed calm and did not show his emotions. Maybe Lee Hyuki had advised Jinwoo not to be too harsh on Yujin because Lee Hyuki had previously promised to reprimand Jinwoo at the headquarters.

"Up to you. Take this."

Jinwoo threw a black gun without bullets at Yujin. Yujin swiftly caught it and began to try it while pointing the tip of the gun at Jinwoo.

"Try pulling the trigger."

"What?"

Yujin immediately raised her head and lowered her gun which was originally aimed at Jinwoo.

"Pull the trigger and point it at me." Jinwoo's orders were firm.

Yujin rolled her eyes in disbelief and immediately shook her head quickly. She was not ready to be abandoned by Jinwoo. After all, she was just playing with the gun. She had no intention of shooting Jinwoo.

"Do it! The gun is empty. I couldn't carelessly put a bullet in there and tell you to kill me." Jinwoo growled annoyed. He did not like it when he had to wait and repeat orders. He was used to giving orders once and his men would immediately move according to his instructions. In contrast to Yujin who likes to make him have to repeat his orders until he feels angry.

"Why didn't you say so."

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"Is that so?"

Yujin tried to pull the trigger once towards Jinwoo. And what Jinwoo said was true if the gun was empty. Knowing this, Yujin was even more eager to shoot at Jinwoo. Even though the gun was empty, but at least he could imagine how the hot lead shot out from the tip of the gun and hit Jinwoo. Maybe if she is angry or upset with the man she can do it to get rid of her anger that often boils up to the crown.

"Too stiff, amateurish, and arrogant! Now look at me."

Jinwoo put on his clear brown glasses and began to square off to shoot at the target board that was fifty meters from where he was standing. His two eagle eyes sharply noticed the red dot in the center of the board and he began preparing to pull the trigger.

Bang

"Ahh.."

Yujin shrieked in surprise and immediately closed her mouth reflexively when Jinwoo turned sharply towards her. She thought that the gun used by Jinwoo was also empty so she was not prepared when she heard a deafening sound.

"Wear ear protection. Your ears will ring if you're not used to this kind of explosion sound." Jinwoo said while pointing at his toolbox which contained ear protection, gloves, and glasses.

"Am I going to practice using a real gun?"

"You've been holding a real gun ever since."

Yujin slapped her own forehead in annoyance while rolling her eyes lazily.

"I mean a real gun, not a blank gun like the one you gave me, general."

Sometimes she thought that Jinwoo was too stupid or too stiff because the words with figurative meanings that she often spoke were always answered with literal answers.

"First you have to hold your gun like this."

Yujin gasped in surprise when Jinwoo suddenly stood behind her and stretched her arms forward to position herself before firing. Whereas a few moments ago the man was still a few meters away from her, but suddenly the man had positioned himself behind her body to teach her how to use a good and proper weapon.

"Your gaze must be locked on your target. Never look in other directions that are not important, both your eyes must be completely focused on one target. Then pull the trigger."

Bang!

Yujin almost dropped the gun on the floor if Jinwoo didn't hold her hand to keep the gun. Again she was daydreaming too much that she didn't realize that her gun had been exchanged by Jinwoo for a gun filled with bullets. With a racing heart, Yujin snorted in disgust at Jinwoo while moving her hands. Jinwoo was still faithfully holding her hand to hold the gun.

"Let go of me, you startled me general."

"I warned you to focus." Jinwoo said sharply which Yujin replied with an annoyed glare.

How long will her life feel like in military camp? She wants to live a normal life like a wife in general. But if she protested, Jinwoo would definitely bring out his terrifying psychopathic side to intimidate her.

"Look at the red dot up ahead. Focus, then pull your trigger." Jinwoo said right next to Yujin's ear with a slightly leaning forward body.

As much as possible Yujin focused herself on the instructions given by Jinwoo. But in fact it was very difficult to do in the middle of her heart that was beating like crazy. Yujin swallowed hard and tried to focus on the red dot that was fifty meters away from where she was standing. The sooner she finished her training, the sooner she would be separated from Jinwoo. She could not continue in such an intimate position with wild fantasies starting to fill her brain.

"Have you locked your target?"

"Yes yes." Yujin nodded nervously. The head looks like the head of a robot that is moving rigidly next to Jinwoo's head.

"Now pull the trigger."

Bang

Yujin pulled the trigger fearfully and her hands trembled, so the bullet missed the steel wall behind the aiming board.

"You have to focus and don't hesitate. If you doubt you won't be able to hit your target properly." Jinwoo said starting to release his grip from Yujin's hand.

Yujin let out a sigh of relief and immediately moved away from Jinwoo to calm her crazily beating heart. She then glanced at her watch, it was half to seven in the morning. She immediately returned her equipment to its original place and asked Jinwoo's permission to go to the kitchen. She had to cook this morning before Jinwoo left for headquarters at eight o'clock.

"General Lee what do you want me to cook this morning?"

"Whatever." Jinwoo replied nonchalantly while scrolling down his phone screen seriously.

Yujin, who was quite curious about Jinwoo's activities, tried to steal glances at Jinwoo's cellphone. At a glance, Yujin saw a photo of a woman with an open back who looked sexy on the man's cellphone. Immediately she felt anxious and wanted to ask Jinwoo who that woman was. But Jinwoo hastily turned off the screen of his cellphone and walked away leaving her without paying attention to her presence in the room who was holding back her annoyance and concern for the man.

"Who is she? Why did General Lee keep his picture on his cell phone?" Yujin muttered suspiciously.

Half of her heart is now starting to be enveloped by the fire of jealousy which is slowly starting to burn her heart out. She had to quickly find information about the woman and lest Lee Jinwoo play with fire behind her back.

-00-

Yujin glanced at Jinwoo who seemed calm chewing his food on the dining table. Since then her mind couldn't focus because she kept thinking about the sexy woman whose photo she saw on Jinwoo's cellphone.

"General Lee, I'm going to the room for a bit."

Yujin shifted her chair slowly and immediately ran towards the stairs in a hurry. She had to take Jinwoo's cellphone which the man left in the room. She wanted to know who the woman really was, why did Jinwoo save the woman's photo, while all this time Jinwoo had never saved the photo on his cellphone.

"Ah... where's the phone?" Yujin muttered frantically as she opened all the desk drawers in her room. She was sure Jinwoo didn't bring his cell phone because for the four days he was Lee Jinwoo's wife, the man preferred to eat quietly at the dining table. When eating Jinwoo would leave all his work and he never wanted to take calls while eating.

"Aha... that's it."

Yujin immediately grabbed Jinwoo's black cell phone which was lying in their wardrobe.

With concern, Yujin immediately opened the cellphone and he immediately sighed in relief when Jinwoo didn't lock his cellphone with a password. She could easily open all of Jinwoo's folders which was not as simple as she thought. Inside Jinwoo's cell phone there were many folders with strange codes that made Yujin dizzy. But she didn't just give up. She kept going through all the folders stored on Jinwoo's cellphone until he stopped at the last folder that said "past". With hopeful feelings, Yujin started to open the folder and she immediately found some photos of a woman that she had seen a moment ago. She also decided to look at the woman's photo carefully while reading the captions on each photo.

Her beautiful back is like a magnet. A beautiful manipulator.

Her gaze that was as sharp as an eagle's was her weapon to captivate every man's heart.

Kim Nara, my precious past

Yujin frowned as she read the sentence by sentence printed clearly on Jinwoo's cellphone screen. Don't know who wrote the writings, but he felt that they were like Jinwoo's writing. The style of the sentence that looks stiff and mysterious makes Yujin sure that the words are the result of Jinwoo's thoughts. Then in another folder Yujin found a note that only contained three simple words with quite ambiguous meanings for Yujin.

"Love, betrayal, destruction."

Yujin was instantly dizzy with a series of puzzles she found in Jinwoo's cell phone. It seemed that she had to study a lot to understand Jinwoo because the man was so unpredictable. Then who is that woman? Yujin kept thinking and thinking until she finally found a bright spot about that woman. Kim Nara is one of Jinwoo's three best friends who used to live in an orphanage.

Yujin snapped her fingers in satisfaction when she managed to find an answer regarding the woman's identity. But that one answer actually raises more questions in her mind. What is the relationship between Kim Nara and her husband? Why does her husband keep a photo of his childhood best friend? And why did the man never introduce her to Kim Nara if it turned out that they had a very close relationship?

Dak dak dak dak...

"Huh General Lee!" Yujin shouted excitedly when she started to hear the sound of Jinwoo's boots climbing the stairs.

She quickly put the cell phone in its original place and immediately ran to the bathroom as if she had just come out of the bathroom. Don't let Jinwoo know if she just flipped through the man's cell phone or she would become the man's food for madness again like before.

"What are you doing in the room?"

"General… I just peed. My stomach hurts." Yujin grimaced while waving her wet hands. Jinwoo glanced at Yujin and immediately took out his cellphone that was in the cupboard. The man looks to open his cellphone briefly before he puts it in his pants pocket and rushes out of their room.

After Jinwoo gone, Yujin immediately breathed a sigh of relief while leaning against the whitewashed wall behind her. It was fortunate that Jinwoo did not notice the panic imprinted on her face faintly. She quickly took out her cellphone and typed a few short messages for Hyuki. It was possible that the man knew about Kim Nara and was willing to tell her. If she had Sojung's cell phone number, maybe she would have called her too. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to ask because they were too busy telling their respective pasts.