Suzy went to the salon that Saturday afternoon. She greeted the staff of the salon and sat on her chair, waiting for her hairdresser. A little later, Mdm. Sang Kang Meong came. She was a rather noisy middle-aged woman, but Suzy liked her because she gets the job done exceptionally.

"Oh, Ms Susy, where's your sister Ms Jiyeon?"

"Haven't you heard from the news more than two months ago? She left the country."

"Ya, I didn't know that!"

"Mdm Sang, Jiyeon just came in here yesterday afternoon. SHe had her hair cut short, like above the neckline?" another hairstylist chimed in. "And, she asked me to dye her hair black, or back to her original color."

"Hmmmm...what happened to that girl, I wonder?" Mdm Sang asked as she placed an apron on Suzy.

Of course, Suzy knew that Jiyeon was going to enter the militay, but she didn't even expect her friend to enter sooner. For Jiyeon to be really living the spartan life was so odd. Yet, she was Jiyeon, and she wanted that for herself.

***

Mr Park and a Lieutenant General, who happened to be his friend too in the old days, were strolling along the halls of the military headquarters. The chaebol wanted to know secretly if his daughter had indeed entered the military as she proposed to, and he contacted his friend regarding this matter.

"Oh? I didn't know your daughter decided to do the hard life," the lieutenant general said.

"She just disobeyed some of my orders, so she decided to escape. Jiyeon's giving me a lot of headaches. I don't know what to do with her anymore."

"Well, she just came to the right place! I bet she'll be disciplined, and you'll have no more worries in the future."

"No, it's not that. I just wanted her to take over my business. What now? I have no other sons or daughters to succeed me. I had hoped that when the right time comes, Jiyeon would get married to Mr. Roger Go Bong Tae's son Armand Go Da Mang. I wanted my business to flourish. By the way, I'm expecting some gentlemen to come visit here too, if you don't mind. I just called them earlier."

"Oh, the Jung brothers? Yes, I received call from your secretary earlier. Though protocol has it that they should pass through hierarchy when they want to engage in business, but since they are your guests, I wouldn't mind. I just don't want any untoward incident to happen. You know how the General is. He is a very strict and exacting man."

Shortly after the lieutenant general said this,  a captain came in tagging along with him the Jung brothers. They didn't understand why they were called, and they didn't have a clue either. But Mr Park smiled and just continued walking along with his friend, letting the guests trail after them.

The entourage had arrived at the training ground. AS it was raining, the cadets had to run and crawl in the mud. They watched as an officer barked his orders around. The cadets were having their morning drills. One cadet was called by the training officer.

"You are such a slowpoke!" And he slapped the cadets face. "Can't you do it any faster?"

"I can, sir!"

"I can't hear you! Louder!"

"I CAN, SIR!"

"Go back from the beginning and do not stop till your bones hurt! Understood??"

"SIR, YES SIR!" The cadet answered after giving a salute and ran back to the beginning of the obstacle course.

Jin Woon opened his mouth as he wanted to protest. That cadet turned out to be Jiyeon!

"Sir, that cadet that was scolded, that's Jiyeon!" he said to Mr Park.

"I know. I wanted to see how she fairs here. I don't want her to return home telling me that her body felt hurt from all those exercise. Let's go."

The group decided to head back to the quarter save for Jin Woon. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. Seeing Jiyeon slapped like that broke his heart. And he wasn't accustomed to seeing her with short hair. As much as he wanted to come out of the rain and rescue her from that grueling exercise, he decided not to. He observed Jiyeon as she crawled under a low fence with barbwires, knee-walked on a sandy path, climb on a high metal fence that's covered with oil (though the oil was slowly being washed by the rain),  cross across the other side of a small bridge by way of slick monkey-bars, etc. Jin Woon could see that Jiyeon was fighting for her dignity, and he saw that fighting spirit in her eyes. Jiyeon's teeth seethe as she did her best to beat the odds. She could hear her name being called by her teammates, telling her to hurry up.

A few minutes later, the training officer called his trainees. Jiyeon's team lost. And as a consequence, her team was to do 50 push-ups. But Jiyeon had to do 100 since she was the cause her team failed. Swallowing her pride, she went upfront and did her push-ups in front of the officer.

"51...52...53...54...55...ack!" Jiyeon's hands couldn't make it anymore. A slap from a wooden bar hit her arm. When Jin Woon saw this, he couldn't stop his tears from falling.

"Continue!"

"SIR, YES SIR!...56...57...58..."

That was the predicament Jin Woon saw. When he could no longer take seeing Jiyeon that way, he ran all the way from where he was to the training ground. He immediately kneeled in front of Jiyeon and hugged her.

"Geuman, jebal? Geumandusipio!!!"

"Get out of here! Who told you to stop her??" The training officer said as he pulled Jin Woon away from Jiyeon. But Jin Woon retaliated by boxing the officer. Jiyeon immediatelt went to them and parted Jin Woon from her boss.

"Oppa, what are you doing here?" She was already in tears as she felt the nerve-wracking pain of the training.

"Stop it, Jiyeon.." he said. But Jiyeon slapped him.

"I told you not to interfere! Now I have to do more push-ups because of you!"

"Jiyeon!" Jin Woon was shocked. But Jiyeon didn't heed. Instead, she went to her officer and made an apology in behalf of Jin Woon.

"SIR, I SHALL REPEAT THE PUSH-UPS FROM THE BEGINNING, SIR!"

The other cadets watched as Jiyeon repeated from the beginning. Suddenly, her teammates, because they felt pity for her and because they saw through her pride of not letting someone else dictate her, joined her in her struggle.

"What the..?" The officer muttered under his breathe.

Jin Woon could just watch as Jiyeon seethed her teeth as she counted. His lips trembled, and he let tears stream down his face. Going beside Jiyeon, he suddenly knelt to do push-ups too. Jiyeon, seeing her classmate do push-ups, was dumbfounded. Now, the training officer scratched his head. He cursed as he watched an outsider do a grueling task alongside his trainees. Suddenly, he made a turn, and saw the lieutenant general, Mr Park, and Jin Woon's brothers stand in the shade in awe.

"What is this??? Il Woo was very much surprised.

Yong Hwa was stupefied. He couldn't believe the maknae would go to far lengths just to accompany his classmate in her struggle. Even Mr Park was tonguetied.