TYN 08

“Even your body has already given its answer, and you think keeping your mouth shut is enough?”

Before Yuju’s provocative whisper had even faded,

“Living with a guy like this would be a huge disaster. My body is practically a ticking time bomb, so I’m afraid to let it loose anywhere.” “Ha……”

A low laugh escaped Haesung’s lips. Panicking and stepping back, or scrambling to make up some excuse—at least one of those reactions would have been normal.

Instead, Haesung lowered his head and rested his forehead lightly against Yuju’s shoulder.

Heat throbbed wherever they touched, yet the voice reaching her ear was terrifyingly composed.

“So this is how you plan to slip away.”

Haesung’s forehead shook minutely against Yuju’s shoulder.

She wondered if it was just the sly mocking of a trickster, but the tremor transmitting through his shoulder felt closer to self-deprecation—like a man disgusted with himself. Even in that state, he didn’t let Yuju go. Her wrists remained bound, and his body completely overwhelmed hers.

That left only one option.

“Ha!”

A sharp breath slipped past Yuju’s teeth. Her knee drove upward with all her might toward a place no man should ever touch—the burning mass currently pressing roughly against her lower abdomen.

Wham!

It sheared viciously through the air, but there was no impact.

Yuju’s knee, diving for his vital spot, was effortlessly trapped and locked between Haesung’s thighs as he twisted to block it.

“……Ha.”

A brief, dry scoff escaped his lips. The forehead resting against her shoulder slowly lifted.

“That last move was a bit too dangerous.”

The self-loathing that had been shaking him until a moment ago vanished like a lie, replaced instantly by an intense, razor-sharp presence.

“What’d you do if you attacked my most prized possession? It’s not like the team leader’s going to take responsibility if this blows up.” “You said it yourself—kill or be killed. The effectiveness is undeniable, at least.”

Refusing to lose, Yuju grit her teeth and poured strength into her trapped legs. Determined to wedge herself between his thighs and land a proper strike this time, she twisted her pelvis and hauled her opposite knee upward.

Haesung, however, had already read that movement. Swallowing a dry laugh, he locked his thighs together even tighter.

“Did you seriously intend to blow it up? A spot that’s going to come in so very useful, time and time again.”

Yuju’s eyes wavered wildly. Right over her immobilized knees, Haesung’s undeniable, rigid hardness pressed against her in raw, unvarnished form.

The sensation she had felt against her pubic bone was now squarely planted against her inner thighs—in a posture where she had tried to attack him, only to end up parting her own legs and offering them up on a silver platter.

“Haah, will you… let go for a second!”

Panicked, Yuju twisted her body desperately to wrench her trapped legs free. But the more she moved, the deeper and tighter Haesung’s thighs locked around her.

Her toes scratched irritably against the mat, but his solid lower body was as unmovable as a boulder.

“You’d better stay still.”

Rolling the words over the tip of his tongue, Haesung applied pressure to the arm wrapped around Yuju’s waist and pulled her hard against him. The recoil forced their bodies into complete overlap.

“If Team Leader Chae is going to press herself against me like this, I can accommodate her.”

Yuju’s movements stopped dead, as if by magic.

Is he out of his mind?

In truth, Haesung was in the more vulnerable position. The sweat beading at his temples, the slow breathing of a man clearly holding something back, the single sharp hitch in his Adam’s apple—Yuju could read every single detail from this distance.

He was torturing himself right now.

Yet Haesung didn’t budge an inch. If anything, he pulled Yuju’s waist even tighter—not against his hips, not against her knees, but somewhere much deeper.

“……!”

Yuju’s breath caught in her throat.

Haesung lowered his head and growled low.

“You put a man in this state, and you thought asking if keeping quiet meant getting off scot-free was enough?” “That’s—!”

Before a flustered Yuju could answer, Haesung brushed his lips against her earlobe as if biting it.

“If you answer me now, do you have the confidence to handle it?”

Yuju’s body locked up like stone. Lowering his gaze, Haesung took in Yuju, who was frozen stiff and trembling faintly. Breaking into a satisfied smirk, he released the binds holding Yuju captive all at once and let her go.

“It means you might end up paying for that last attack with your own body.”

Haesung’s voice was regaining its usual leisurely cadence.

“Provocation is an effective weapon, but if you pick the wrong opponent, you end up hurting yourself more.”

Regulating her ragged breathing, Yuju stared intently at Haesung.

“Well. I’m not so sure the opponent came out of this completely unscathed, either.” “Is that so?”

A brief, dry scoff slipped past Haesung’s lips.

The heat he had forcibly suppressed flickered across his eyes before vanishing.

That was all.

Haesung straightened his ruffled collar and pulled down his rolled-up sleeves.

“Good work today, Team Leader Chae.”

With that, he walked toward the door. Just before his hand touched the handle, Haesung’s steps paused.

“Next time, I won’t be so gentle. Whether what Team Leader Chae managed to prop up was my temper, or something else…”

His head turned slightly over his shoulder. His gaze drifted idly somewhere into empty space.

“Find out for yourself next time.”

The door clicked shut.

Left alone on the mat, Yuju stood frozen for a long time, completely unaware of what kind of expression she had just been wearing.

Somewhere on her body burned with a stinging heat.

The exact moment she tried to figure out where, Yuju’s train of thought flatlined.

Right before the door closed, the spot where Haesung’s gaze had lingered was—

Her lower abdomen.

…That bastard.

Yuju muttered a short oath toward the empty air.

The tips of her ears burned hot.

Stepping out into the hallway, Haesung didn’t even make it far.

“Damn it.”

He shoved the door of the adjacent locker room open as if to break it and hurled his body inside. The front of his trousers was swollen so tautly it felt like it would burst, making even normal walking impossible.

Click.

The moment he locked the door, the chill of the steel cabinet bit into his spine. Tossing his head back as if that were his only lifeline, Haesung closed his eyes. But it wasn’t enough to cool the boiling heat raging in his lower abdomen.

—Living with a guy like this would be a huge disaster.

Closing his eyes, Yuju’s voice revived in his ears. The smooth curve of her waist as she had pressed against his hips earlier, the body heat when she leaned against his shoulder trapped inside his arms, the faint scent rising from the nape of her neck—

Not a single detail was missed.

“You’re the one who started playing with fire, Chae Yuju.”

With trembling hands, Haesung dragged a dry hand down his face. His large hand swept across his entire face a couple more times before stopping. It felt as though Yuju’s body heat still lingered at his fingertips.

It was an illusion. Knowing that full well, Haesung dragged that hand downward anyway.

Bracing one hand against the cabinet to support his weight, he pressed his forehead against the door. The cold steel met his skin, but the heat dragged straight from the training room showed no signs of cooling from a mere touch.

Sweat dripped from the ends of his damp hair, tracing down the back of his neck and sliding between his collarbones.

“……Ha.”

A choked breath slipped low through his clenched teeth. He had never intended to hold back from the beginning. His other hand clenched and unclenched beside his thigh before finally gripping the waistband of his trousers. Veins stood out on the back of his hand, and the muscles in his arm braced against the cabinet pulled taut.

“Ha, fuck…… seriously.”

Closing his eyes, Yuju was right there.

The sensation of his palm wrapped around her waist came to mind first—body heat transmitting right through the thick uniform fabric. Even knowing he had to let go, his fingers refused to unfurl of their own accord. Clenching his molars made the muscles in his jaw bulge, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed a breath.

The feel of her waist in his grasp, the breath trembling against his ear, that composed voice that had provoked him—

—If you answer me now, do you have the confidence to handle it?

The sensation of Yuju’s body locking up like stone at that moment replayed vividly in Haesung’s hand.

Her shoulders stiffening, the muscles near her waist flinching, the jawline desperately trying not to turn its head—it was all too clear before his eyes.

How had Yuju interpreted that silence, the one where answering felt like it would mean there was no turning back? A breath she had tried to swallow caught in her throat, breaking out like a cough.

The narrow locker room filled with the sound of his ragged breathing. The whir of the ventilation fan echoed overhead, and the irregular rustling beneath his palm bounced off the walls and returned.

“Ugh, ugh!”

His waist arched sharply once. Pressing forward as if pushing off the floor with his toes, his forehead pressed harder against the cabinet door.

His vision flashed white. His ears grew muffled, and only the sound of his pounding heart thudded against his temples. The steel cabinet beneath his forehead had grown lukewarm by now.

Breathing heavily, Haesung stared with unseeing eyes at his own reflection in the cabinet surface: ruffled bangs, parted lips, fingers trembling faintly from the aftershocks of release.

Gone was the man who had smiled so leisurely at the training ground just moments ago; this wreck stood in his place.

Staring blankly at the evidence left on his hand, Haesung let out a thin, dry scoff.

“Who’s calling who a ticking time bomb.”

Roughly wiping away the traces splattered on the cabinet, Haesung looked at his own face in the mirror one more time, then growled low:

“Driving a man to look like this.”