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CHAPTER 03
“Hey, how are the kids doing?”
While we were standing at attention, gasping for breath, a man sauntered over and spoke to the senior supervising us.
“Same as always—trash, sir.”
“Ah, not your usual answer. Be objective.”
The supervising senior glanced at us and replied hesitantly.
“Well… they’re not bad. Their physical abilities are average. We’ll only really know once we have them handle swords.”
“Good. This time, let’s try to keep more of them alive. I don’t want to see another batch get wiped out like last time.”
“I’ll do my best to push them properly.”
I could have sworn I just heard something seriously wrong.
Still holding our attention stance, I exchanged anxious glances with my nameless fellow recruits. Did he just say the last batch got wiped out? That must be my imagination, right?
No matter how I looked at it, something about this was completely off.
In most rofan survival stories, isn’t it like “Survival against the tyrant emperor!” or “Survival against the insane mage tower master!”?
In the end, those tyrant emperors or crazy mage lords might toy with the heroine, but they never actually kill her. They always say things like, “Interesting.”
But here it’s “survival against monsters at the border.” What kind of world is this supposed to be a romance fantasy? Monsters don’t seem like the type to go, “Interesting,” while playing with me.
“Physical ability seems sufficient for now. Should I take them to the dorms and then let them eat first?”
“Do it.”
“Hey, follow me.”
We followed the senior toward what they called the “dormitory.”
‘Right… if they call it a dorm, maybe it’s not what I’m imagining.’
Even if this is the Border Defense Corps, maybe it’s like the fancy maid-possession stories in rofan novels? White beds, four people per room, something like that…
But the moment I saw the “dormitory” in front of me, I couldn’t help but tremble.
‘Y-you bastards… if this is the case, just call it a barracks! Why call it a dorm and confuse people?!’
No matter how I looked at it, this was exactly the military barracks I’d seen in Korean variety shows.
Damn it, where’s the personal space?
How did the original heroine even manage romance in a place like this?
…Yeah. This must be a parallel world with no romance whatsoever.
“Oh, you’re over here. Follow me.”
The senior who brought us here tapped my shoulder.
Only then did I realize this was the male dormitory. It was for the seven male recruits standing next to me.
At least there was a separate female dorm, so I sighed in relief and followed him.
‘Seriously, they should’ve just created a separate female unit from the start.’
But in the Adolb Empire, according to Ne-Mi-Jip, they didn’t bother spending money on a separate female military and just shoved everyone into one platoon.
Because of that, men and women served together in the same unit, which is also how the original heroine could have romance with the male leads.
‘Still, at least we sleep separately… that’s something.’
The senior knocked on the door.
“Recruits are reporting in,” he said nervously.
“Let them in.”
A clear female voice answered from inside. The senior quickly opened the door, shoved me inside, and slammed it shut behind me.
‘What…?’
It was like he couldn’t get away fast enough.
Thrown inside, I looked up blankly.
The room was much smaller than the male dorm.
And there were only two women inside.
One of them—a short girl with shimmering golden-blonde hair—smiled brightly at me, her light green eyes curving pleasantly.
“A new recruit?”
“Y-yes… that’s correct.”
She scanned me up and down like she was evaluating me, still smiling brightly.
The other woman—a tall girl with long black hair tied up high—immediately turned her head away the moment our eyes met.
‘What…?’
“Yuri, you’re not going to greet the new recruit?”
“I’m not interested.”
The black-haired woman called Yuri replied coldly.
‘Did I already get marked or something?’
Her icy attitude clearly showed she was ignoring me, so I just stood there awkwardly.
“Nice to meet you, recruit. What’s your name?”
“S-Sarubia.”
“I’m April. Let’s get along.”
The blonde girl—April—held out her hand. I shook it without really understanding what was going on.
“You probably didn’t bring your belongings. Tell me your size, I’ll get your clothes sorted for you.”
‘Is she… not the scary type? An angelic senior or something?’
April kept smiling warmly as she helped me with everything.
Of course, I would only find out a few hours later that her bright smile was actually infamous as the “devil’s smile” in the unit.
“Haa… I really don’t get it. Why are these kids so weak?”
‘Damn it, what more am I supposed to do?!’
I was thinking this while running my thirtieth lap around the training ground. I could taste blood in my throat, and my head kept drooping from exhaustion.
‘I’m going to throw up.’
These insane people had no concept of mercy. The moment lunch ended, they restarted this hellish training.
The nameless recruits and I were united at least in one thing during lunch: survival.
We ate like we were in combat.
After that hellish training, anything would’ve tasted good, but the food here was genuinely excellent. The portions were also just right for starving people like us.
‘They do cook well… honestly, if the food was bad too, I would’ve already deserted.’
After that meal, the senior said, “If you fight monsters like this, you’ll die immediately. Build stamina first,” and training began.
The senior supervising us was named Plato. He would apparently be in charge of our training from now on.
“Hey! Your pace is too slow! Don’t stop your feet—keep running!”
‘If I could do that, I’d be a car, not a human.’
Panting heavily, I briefly turned my head toward Plato.
Beside him was April, smiling brightly.
She was the insane one in this unit.
“Haa… these kids are so weak it hurts my heart. Maybe we should all gather and have a nice friendly talk so the seniors can properly help them.”
“Negative! The recruits can do better! Run! Keep running!”
Whenever April spoke softly about how bad our condition was, Plato would break into a sweat and increase the training intensity.
‘That woman is definitely the apex predator of this unit…’
Given how respectful Plato was toward her, she was clearly higher in rank—and definitely not normal.
“Hey! If anyone falls behind, they die! Don’t you know collective responsibility?!”
At that, I genuinely felt like deserting.
Even though I was from the other race with stronger physical abilities than normal humans, I was still weaker than the male recruits of my own race.
“Hehe, do monsters even discriminate by gender these days?”
And because April said that with a cheerful smile, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and keep running.
‘Damn it, if I fall behind I’ll get killed by seniors and comrades alike.’
“Ten laps left!”
The moment I almost collapsed, a firm hand caught my back.
“Keep running.”
Hot breath brushed my ear. I barely held onto my consciousness and kept my pace, turning my head slightly.
Jet-black hair falling over his eyes, glowing reddish-orange pupils, sweat streaming down his face, and lips bitten so hard they looked ready to bleed.
It was Aquila—the male lead and my fellow recruit.
‘Wait… is this a romance fantasy development? Is he going to keep helping me from now on?’
My brain briefly switched into hope mode again.
Right, I’m supposed to be the “male leads’ first love,” so maybe this is where my rofan life finally begins and I escape this hell.
But the next words from Aquila immediately crushed that hope.
“No one falls behind.”
His voice sounded like he would kill anyone who became a liability.
‘Ah… he’s just worried about group punishment…’
Right. This is the military.
I had no choice but to accept it.
“Wow, it actually works.”
A nameless recruit beside me muttered weakly, sounding like he was about to die.
“I guess it does…”
I had to agree.
Somehow, we managed to complete fifty laps without a single dropout.
Of course, every time our pace slowed even slightly, April would smile sweetly while stroking Plato’s hair and whispering something, and Plato would glare at us like he wanted to kill us—but still.
“Only violence and fear can save us all.”
April muttered with satisfaction as we gulped down water like people who had found an oasis in the desert.
‘So that’s the official motto of this unit…?’
“Still, this batch seems decent. We might be able to keep more alive.”
“Of course. We don’t know when the next monster attack will be, but they need to be functional by then.”
April’s green eyes swept over us.
“That one over there looks useful. What do you think, Plato?”
“He looks like he’ll do well if we keep training him.”
Their gazes were fixed on Aquila.
While the rest of us looked like corpses, Aquila stood calmly, breathing steadily, showing no sign of exhaustion.
“Your name?”
“Aquila.”
“Honestly, I’m not too worried about you surviving.”
April smiled meaningfully.
“But take care of your comrades. The only ones you can truly rely on here are your fellow recruits.”
At that, Aquila turned his head and looked at us.
And in that moment, his eyes met mine.
‘Yeah… that’s definitely not a friendly look.’
In romance fantasies, when male leads meet the heroine for the first time, it’s usually something like “I don’t need your help” or “Hmph, you look weak,” giving a bad first impression.
But I had never seen a male lead look at the heroine like she was dead weight.
Right… sorry I’m such an incompetent burden, your comrade in arms… damn it.
