My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros’ Obsession

“Sanchez, the new recruit, is a mercenary, isn’t he? I was talking about him with Ishina, and we speculated that he might have ties to a black magician.”

“Sanchez… Who’s his senior?” Winter asked.

“It’s Benny.”

At that, Winter slowly opened and closed his eyes, seemingly deep in thought. His expression hinted at concern.

“The most important thing in the Border Defense Army is the relationship between a recruit and their senior. I’m worried about whether Sanchez will form a stable relationship with Benny and adapt well to the unit.”

“Ah, I see.”

After all, you spend six long years face-to-face with your seniors and juniors, so Winter’s point made sense. Your relationship with them was crucial.

Aside from my peers, the people I spent the most time with were my seniors and juniors. I often found myself with Ishina and Karon, aside from Aquila.

It seemed Winter was reflecting on his own relationships with his seniors and juniors.

‘Gagne and Jara didn’t get along with the 78th batch.’

Because the juniors were so elite, Gagne and Jara had constantly been compared to them, eventually growing to resent the 78th.

“Benny may be an elite, but I doubt Sanchez will feel jealous of her. And Benny is strong enough that I don’t think Sanchez will look down on her,” I offered.

“Perhaps,” Winter replied, though his tone remained doubtful.

“Benny tries to maintain good relationships with everyone and never gets angry, no matter the situation. Sometimes, knowing how to express anger is necessary. I’m not sure if someone like Sanchez, who seems to only acknowledge strength, will respect someone as consistently kind as Benny.”

“Ah…”

My mouth fell open in surprise. Winter not only had Benny and Sanchez’s personalities figured out perfectly but also seemed to be keeping tabs on relationships within the unit.

‘He even monitors dynamics between juniors.’

At this point, there was only one thing to say:

‘As expected of Winter.’

He’s practically a living embodiment of that phrase.

“So, what will you do, Winter?” I asked, curious about how he planned to handle a problematic recruit like Sanchez.

Winter looked at me as if I’d asked something incomprehensible. “Me?”

“Yes. How will you handle Sanchez?”

“It’s not my place to interfere,” Winter replied firmly, cutting off my question.

“If someone intervenes in such relationships, it only makes the involved parties seem weaker.”

“Ah, I see.”

Another demonstration of Winter’s unwavering adherence to his principles. ‘As expected of Winter.’ I nodded along instinctively, but then I paused.

Wait a second… Could it be…?

“Winter, do you also know about my relationship with Jaiden?”

I had assumed Winter wouldn’t know anything about it, given the distance between our batches. I must have underestimated his tendency to analyze and oversee everything because Winter nodded casually at my question.

“Yes, I know. But it seems like you’ve resolved it well on your own.”

“Wow…”

Once again, I found myself stunned speechless. Winter wasn’t just managing recruits; he was raising them to be stronger, tougher.

Even though I’d long given up hope of this world turning into a romance fantasy, if, by some miracle, a romance novel trope like “Suddenly, he’s obsessed with me!” were to happen, Winter would not nurture me gently. This man would probably push me off a cliff and tell me to climb back up, making me stronger in the process.

***

Sanchez, the new recruit I was trying to find a way to get closer to, wasn’t just failing to build relationships with the squad—he was actively wreaking havoc.

Just like what was unfolding in front of me right now.

“Hey, rookie.”

Blair, one of the infamous 85th batch troublemakers, called out to Sanchez as we worked on clearing weeds around the company headquarters.

“Go grab some new gloves.”

Sanchez turned his piercing gray eyes toward Blair, silently staring at him with his rugged, intimidating face. Blair looked flustered at Sanchez’s lack of response.

“What the hell? Hey, I’m talking to you, damn it!”

“Are you ordering me to do something?” Sanchez asked calmly.

“Uh, yeah! What do you think I’m doing?”

“I don’t take orders from people weaker than me.”

“What the hell!” Blair shouted, his voice rising in frustration.

Topio, standing nearby, nudged Sanchez with his elbow. “Hey, rookie, don’t mess around. Are you looking to get yourself killed?”

“…Are you saying you can kill me?” Sanchez replied, tilting his head slightly.

The field suddenly fell silent.

Milphy and Jaiden, who had been dutifully weeding nearby, kept their heads down, pretending not to exist. Benny, standing next to me, stared wide-eyed, her expression caught between amazement and disbelief.

‘Sanchez really is something else,’ I thought.

Blair and Topio, seemingly realizing that Sanchez was far beyond their ability to handle, began backing away with muttered curses.

Huh. Let’s think this through. This absurd situation might actually serve as a setup to show the true strength of the original male leads.

‘Wait… a setup?’

My long-broken optimism switch suddenly clicked back on after two years.

‘This is a romance fantasy setup!!’

The male leads from the original story would assert their dominance over Sanchez, proving their strength and charisma. That’s how it worked, right? It was a ridiculous line of thought, but I clung to it like a lifeline.

With stars in my eyes, I turned to Ishina, who was standing nearby.

“Ishina, shouldn’t you step in or something?”

“What?” Ishina blinked, clearly unconcerned.

“I mean, Sanchez is blatantly ignoring orders and causing chaos. Isn’t this insubordination?”

Ishina gave me a tired look, clearly unimpressed. “This never would’ve happened back in the day,” I added, hoping to provoke some action.

“That’s because April…” Ishina began, but I quickly cut him off. “No PTSD stories, please. Just focus on how insubordinate recruits have become lately.”

Ishina sighed deeply, fixing me with a hollow stare.

“Yeah, recruits these days are a real pain…”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you’re the biggest pain of them all,” he muttered under his breath.

I decided it was best to keep my mouth shut after that.

‘I wasn’t that difficult, was I?’

Sure, it felt unfair, but he was still my senior, so I let it slide.

I glanced to my side, where Karon was trying to grab my attention in his usual desperate-for-approval way.

“Karon.”

“Yes?!” Karon practically jumped, his face lighting up like I’d just handed him a medal.

…What was he doing, though? Creating crop circles with the weeds?

“Focus on the weeding, will you? I’ll clap for you later.”

“Y-Yes….”

Was it just me, or was Karon becoming more of an attention seeker by the day?

‘Winter’s a lost cause,’ I thought bitterly. He wasn’t going to handle Sanchez—he’d probably just push him to get even stronger.

‘Maybe it’s Aquila, then?’

Aquila was the main male lead of the original story. If anyone was going to defeat Sanchez and assert their dominance, it would be him.

“Aquila,” I called out, walking over to him and lightly tapping his arm.

“What?” he asked, glancing up from his perfectly cleared section of weeds.

I couldn’t help but gasp. His weeding area was immaculate, far better than anyone else’s. How was that even possible? Truly, he was a model soldier. His male lead aura was palpable.

“Sometimes the supply officer or the platoon leader makes me do this, so I’ve gotten pretty good at it,” Aquila said casually.

“Ah… I see.”

It felt bittersweet. Aquila, the supposed main male lead, was now the company’s top laborer after Winter. His male lead aura had taken another hit—probably down to negative triple digits by now.

“Wait, that’s not why I came over,” I said, shaking off the thought. “What do you think of the rookie?”

“Who?” Aquila asked, his amber eyes flicking over to Sanchez. He turned back to me, completely indifferent. “I don’t really care. Why?”

“Well, he said he doesn’t take orders from anyone weaker than him. I was wondering if you’d be willing to fight him to put him in his place.”

“Why would I?” Aquila asked, his tone devoid of interest.

“Why not?” I pressed, surprised by his lack of reaction.

Aquila’s gaze told me everything. He genuinely didn’t care.

Aquila never involved himself in things he wasn’t interested in. Since Sanchez posed no threat to him, there was no reason for Aquila to take action. Right now, his top priority seemed to be finishing his weeding assignment.

“Did he disrespect you?” Aquila asked, tilting his head.

“No, we’ve had no interaction at all… but how can you be so sure he hasn’t disrespected me?” I shot back.

“Because I didn’t see it.”

“Maybe you missed it?”

“I don’t miss things. I’ve been watching you the whole time.”

His words made me smile despite myself. Knowing someone was paying attention to me felt… nice.

While I was smiling, Aquila asked, “Do you think I’d win if I fought him?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re strong.”

It was obvious. He was the first male lead, after all. A male lead losing to a side character? That just didn’t happen. It wasn’t even logically possible.

Aquila’s lips curved into a faint smile at my answer.

‘Oh, he likes being called strong,’ I thought.

Ishina, who had been watching us from nearby, muttered with an exasperated sigh, “See? No matter the topic, they always end up in their own little world.”

But let’s get back on track. Sanchez.

In the end, none of the privates succeeded in “defeating” him. The male leads, including Aquila, didn’t even care enough to get involved.

And so, I watched with keen interest as the sergeants squared off against Sanchez.

‘It’s so much more entertaining when I’m not directly involved.’

“Hey, are you defying orders now?” Sergeant El asked, his tone incredulous. He’d tried to send Sanchez on an errand, only to be met with the infamous “I don’t take orders from people weaker than me” response.

Sanchez followed orders well enough during official training but blatantly ignored tasks assigned by privates and junior soldiers. This was the first time the sergeants had seen him openly defy orders.

Sanchez, standing tall and unbothered, met Sergeant El's incredulous glare with his usual composed demeanor. The atmosphere in the training field was so thick with tension you could cut it with a knife.

“I only follow orders from those stronger than me,” Sanchez repeated calmly, as if his words were the most natural thing in the world.

El’s jaw tightened. “Are you out of your damn mind? This is insubordination!”

“I simply follow my principles,” Sanchez said without a hint of remorse.

By now, the other sergeants had gathered around, their expressions ranging from disbelief to exasperation. Blair and Topio, watching from a safe distance, muttered amongst themselves but made no move to intervene.

‘This is getting good,’ I thought, my curiosity fully piqued.

El, clearly at a loss for how to handle Sanchez, turned to his fellow sergeants. “What the hell do we do with this guy?”

Sergeant Dream, usually more easygoing, crossed his arms and sighed. “We’ve dealt with insubordinate recruits before, but this one’s different. You can’t just yell at him. He doesn’t flinch.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” El muttered.

Meanwhile, Sanchez stood there, entirely unaffected, his gray eyes scanning the gathered sergeants as if assessing their strength.

‘Is he… judging them? Like he’s deciding if they’re strong enough to order him around?’ I almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of it.

The situation was spiraling into chaos, and yet, I couldn’t help but find it entertaining. For once, I wasn’t directly involved, and that made everything infinitely more enjoyable.

Eventually, Winter, who had been silently observing from the sidelines, stepped forward. The other sergeants immediately parted to let him through.

‘Oh, here we go,’ I thought, my eyes lighting up.

Winter’s icy blue gaze locked onto Sanchez. “You follow orders from those stronger than you, correct?”

“Yes,” Sanchez replied simply.

“Then prove it,” Winter said, his tone colder than the wind on a winter’s night.

Sanchez raised an eyebrow, his interest finally piqued. “Prove it? How?”

“By facing me,” Winter said, his hand resting casually on the hilt of his sword.

The field fell silent again, every pair of eyes shifting between Winter and Sanchez.

‘Is this really happening?’ I thought, barely able to contain my excitement.@@novelbin@@

Sanchez studied Winter for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then, a slow, wolfish grin spread across his face. “Very well. If that’s what it takes.”

The other soldiers backed away quickly, clearing a space for what was sure to be an unforgettable showdown.

As the two of them squared off, I found myself leaning forward in anticipation. This wasn’t just about strength or discipline anymore—this was about pride, dominance, and proving who truly ruled the Border Defense Army.

‘This is it,’ I thought, my heart racing. ‘The kind of moment that defines a male lead’s aura. Don’t disappoint me, Winter!’