一层一层剥掉你的衣服

If I’m thinking what you’re thinking, it’s nothing dirty. I was just counting.

“Whoa…oh…ooooh…Heejin, you can do it…whoa…”

“Hmph!”

Heejin couldn’t even do one push-up properly. In the end, she ended up bringing her knees down. Yeah, I figured so. There’s no way she would be able to do push-ups properly with arms like that. Then again, there was still time left, so she got into position again and tried another push-up.

“On…whoa…wha. Wha. Whaaaa…”

I haven’t even gotten to one yet.

“Whoa!”

Thud.

Heejin ended up bringing her knees down again. She couldn’t even do a single one.

“Is it hard?”

“Sigh…it’s so hard…”

“You can do it. I believe in you!”

I did my best to encourage. And no, it was not because I wanted her chest to touch my fist. I really wanted her to do well. Really, honest.

“Heeee….”

“Come on! Again!” I shouted.

Heejin got back into position. She bent her arms slowly.

“Oh…whoa…whoaaa…ohhh…whoooaaa….one!”

Squish.

Her chest pressed against my fist. She did one! Now, she just has to get up.

“Hmph….!”

With all her might, Heejin straightened her arms. And with that, she finished one push up.

“Wow!”

I clapped for her...even though she only managed to do one before the push-up test ended.

“Wow.”

I looked down at my fist. The fist that had touched Heejin’s chest. It was breathtaking. Well, anyways, it was now time to switch. Jae-yoon was next to me. She looked at me and then all of a sudden, smirked. She looked very confident. So, I smiled back and even gave her a little nod.

“Okay, get ready,” the instructor said.

At that, we got into position and lifted our knees.

“And…start!”

We started our push-ups. At first, I went slowly.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…”

Heejin counted my push-ups diligently and I could not help but sneak a glance at Jae-yoon. She was going incredibly fast. I silently counted her push-ups and she’d already done fifteen. That was eight more than me. She looked over at me again with another smirk and went even faster.

‘Well, damn.’

I also began to speed up.

“One. Two. Three. Fourfivesixseveneightninetenonetwothreefourfivesixseveneightninetenonetwothreefour…”

Heejin was going crazy, trying to keep up. That’s basically how fast I was going. Even the instructor was amazed, not believing that a person could go this fast. Of course, she wasn’t the only one. Everyone else was also watching with their mouths agape. Jae-yoon was the only one not watching as she was still focused on her own push-ups. Soon, it was one minute and the push-up portion was over.

“Wow.”

My body was hot. It felt good to sweat, but everyone was staring at me. Well, this is quite awkward.

“Alright, uh…let’s see. How many did Soomin do?” the instructor asked, looking at Soomin’s partner.

“Twelve!”

Soomin did twelve. After that, it was Jae-yoon. How many did she do? I’ve been counting her myself and it seems like she did around 60. But considering that she’s a girl, 60 is a lot. It’s hard for even guys to do that much.

“61,” Jae-yoon’s partner, Hyunjoo answered. Jae-yoon smiled proudly. She looked at me all smug, like she was telling me to take that or something.

Now, it was my turn. The instructor looked at Heejin.

“182…”

***

...

Silence. Complete and utter silence. Had Heejin lied, it wouldn’t have been half as tense as now. But of course, Heejin wasn’t lying. Everyone had seen my skills firsthand. They were all staring at me with a mixture of shock and respect...except one. One had a look of disbelief on her face, and that was Jae-Yoon. She was looking at Heejin, clearly not believing her. She clearly believed she had counted wrong. She believed that she was trying to pull one over the instructor. So, Heejin repeated the number one more time.

“She did a hundred…and eighty…two…”

“Oh, okay…182…”

The instructor recorded the number with an impressed smile on her face. Jae-yoon’s jaw dropped.

“Is this true?”

“It’s true.”

“What the…”

Jae-yoon looked at me in complete and utter disbelief. I merely shrugged with a smile. Take that.

And with that, I took first place in the push-up portion. Now sit-ups. I got first place with that as well. Same goes with pull-ups, especially pull-ups. I had done it with one hand and everyone stared at me, shocked. Finally, it was the 1600 m run. Since it was going to be a long run, we had a short break beforehand. The camera turned off.

“Sian, you were amazing!” Heejin said, taking a seat next to me.

“With what?”

“Your push-ups! How were you able to do three in one second?” Heejin asked, the shocked look never leaving her face.

“That’s nothing,” I said modestly. Of course, I knew it wasn’t. How can one person do three push-ups in one second? I’m sure only I can do that.

“Are you good at running?” Heejin asked, clearly worried for me.

“Eh, I’m okay. What about you? Are you good at it?”

“No…I’m really bad. I might just pass out. I did that once while running in high school.”

“Jesus.”

Have you ever met anyone who needed protection this badly? I seriously just wanted to hug her. How can someone be this delicate?

“If you get tired while running, just walk.”

“Can I?”

“Of course. What else can you do when you’re tired?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just pass out? The public will be more sympathetic if I do that.”

“….”

Ah. She was thinking like an idol.

“Even if I pass out, I’m going to keep trudging on!”

“You do that.”

I gulped down my water as I was so thirsty today. As I was sipping my water, I glanced over at Jae-yoon. She was sitting with Soomin, but her face didn’t look too happy. Then again, she did lose to me. I wonder if she means to make up for it during the run. Despite her unhappy face, she also seemed somewhat hopeful.

“Break is over. Attention!”

“Yes, ma’am…”

We all answered rather quietly as we stood up, no energy whatsoever. Heejin swayed a bit as she got to her feet, so I held her hand.

“Thanks, Sian.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Hey, Sian.”

“Yeah?”

“You don’t have to be so tense around me. You’re a year older than me, you know.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course!”

It seemed like Heejin was already getting comfortable around me. Fine. Since she’s so pretty, I’ll let it go.

“Okay.”

“Hehe.”

Heejin giggled shyly. Was she a lesbian too? The thing is, since girls are naturally affectionate with one another, it’s hard not to let my imagination run away with me. Guys freak out even when they touch each other’s hands. Even the act of grabbing the tips of one’s fingers will get a punch to your face.

Anyways, we all gathered in the field again. This time, the other instructors were with us. There was the one with the tanned face and big muscles, even the ones who had inspected our bags earlier. In total, there were three. They were standing with our instructor, and we stood in front of them.

Surprisingly, the bull-dog instructor looked scarier than before. Now, she looked like a full-on lion.

“I just noticed that none of you guys erased your makeup.”

We all kept silent at the instructor’s dark face. The instructor looked at the others.

“Didn’t you guys tell them to get rid of their makeup?”

“We’re sorry, ma’am,” the instructors said, bowing their heads. One of them was rather cool-headed and a bit harsh on himself, but the other two are really nice – I know because I saw them during the bag inspection. Maybe that’s why they were being pushovers. Yeah, nice guys usually are. That’s the mean way to put it. The nice way to put it is to say that they’re obedient.

“Everyone, listen up! As soon as you’re done with your physical assessment, you will erase all of your makeup! Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“And you! With your dyed hair!”

That one was aimed at Jae-yoon, who could barely look at the instructor in the eyes.

“Hey, Jae-yoon.”

“Jae-yoon!”

“You will get rid of your dyed hair. Understand?”

“What?” Jae-yoon said.

“Did I stutter?” the instructor said.

“No, ma’am!” Jae-yoon suddenly shouted.

“No ma’am, what?”

“Uh...I mean, sorry, ma’am!”

“Sorry for what?”

“Uh…”

“You will get rid of your dyed hair! Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Jae-yoon shouted. Even she couldn’t do anything in front of the instructor. She could talk big in front of someone weaker than her, but cowers in front of anyone who is stronger than she is. But wait? I’m stronger than her. So, why is she treating me disrespectfully?

“We’ll now start the 1600m run. Even if you want to give up, you need to keep going. The other instructors will be running next to you, so don’t worry about passing out. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I can’t hear you! Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Ugh, her voice was so annoying. I almost wanted to burst her eardrum, but I held myself back. Hmm, now that I think about it, I wonder if this is another skill I have?

We all stood at the start line. I was next to Heejin. I didn’t need to win first place. I planned to run in pace with Heejin. I could care less about coming in after Jae-yoon. I’ll just ignore her.

“Alright, let’s go!”

We started to run. Jae-yoon went ahead while the rest of us stayed together. 1600m is about three times around the track. We were around halfway through when we began to divide into three groups: slow, middle, and fast. The fast group was made of Jae-yoon and Soomin. Well, they are friends after all. Though Jae-yoon was about 15 meters ahead of her, it was a pretty significant difference. The ones in the middle were me and Heejin. She was actually better at running than I had expected. I mean, we’re only halfway through the first track, but still. The slowest ones were our eldest, Joo-ran and Hyun-joo. They seemed tired, but the thoughts of their sons seemed to be fueling them to keep running. It’s more because we had just started. Once we get further in, they won’t care.

We finished one round and everyone’s pace began to slow down. Suddenly, the instructor, who was running with us, began to shout.

“Faster!”

‘We’re going as fast as we can, you bastard.’

Of course, I only said this to myself. We’re already going fast. How much faster did he want us to go? But surprisingly, Heejin actually did speed up...for about two seconds. Then, she went back to her usual slow pace. I couldn’t exactly tell if she was walking or running. Suddenly, the instructor shouted again.

“Hey! Pizza! Chicken! Come on! Faster!”

Pizza and chicken. Heejin had brought the pizza and I had brought the chicken. And last time I checked, those were not our names.

“What? Are you angry that you didn’t get to eat the pizza? Are you sad that you didn’t eat the chicken? Come on! Run! Faster!”

Was he mad that the other instructors got the food and he didn’t? I grabbed Heejin by the hand as she started to look shocked. I ran faster and pulled her with me.

“Ha…ha…I can’t do this…haa..haaa…”

Heejin’s hand slipped out of mine as she stood rooted to the spot. She began to heave and choke as she tried to catch her breath. Wow, she was incredibly weak. We haven’t even run halfway. And that’s...when it happened. Jae-yoon and her group of fast runners were behind us and they sped up at the sight of us. Jae-yoon. She was more fit than I had expected. She soon passed me with a smirk. Of course, that got my blood boiling.

“Heejin. Just take your time. I’ll be back.”

“Okay…ha…ha…”

Our instructor came back, calling us pizza and chicken, ordering us to run faster. With that, I prepared myself.