Prologue

Choi Dae may not be the youngest officer in their garrison, nor is she the only woman, but if there is one thing she can be fully proud of it would be that she knows she's the shit.

And she is really the shit.

People revere her as one of the best first lieutenants that ever graced their space and at the same time, they fear her for her unorthodox manner. Thus, she was given the nickname 'Maverick'. And she absolutely loves the sound of that.

Once their jeep arrives back inside the garrison stationed at the lower east area of the town they are stationed in, Lieutenant Choi climbs out of the front seat and adjusts the cap on her head and buttons her double-breasted army coat before proceeding to the captain's office to report the done activity.

"Ma'am!" The driver, one of the sergeants under her platoon, Sergeant Min, shouts and switches off the engine of the jeep to run after her. He manages to catch up with the fast walking pace of his lieutenant and despite being out of breath as he walks beside her, he continues, "Lieutenant Choi, it is not yet time to report to the Captain. We returned here because the welcoming of new recruits is being held at the mess hall at this exact moment, ma'am."

"What is the importance of welcoming those new recruits? Making the Captain wait would be against my duties, soldier," she utters nonchalantly, not even bothering to glance at the sergeant beside her.

"It is a simple act of showing solidarity, ma'am."

"There are other ways to show solidarity, soldier." They continue to walk on the gravelly path, passing by other soldiers either running or marching together in groups. Most of them stop to show their respect to the lieutenant by bringing their hands to their heads in a salute.

"Ma'am, it is part of your schedule to be part of the welcoming event."

She groans and dismisses him with a wave of her hand. "You can't do anything about it if I don't want to. If you want to go to the welcoming event and let the newbies suck up to you, then be my guest. Just don't include me in these shenanigans." She stops, prompting the sergeant beside her to stop as well. She then roughly pats his shoulder. "I know you want to go because I do boring work, don't I?"

"N-No, ma'am, your work is not boring at all, ma'am."

She breaks off into a smile and pats his shoulder once more. "Go to the welcoming event. Tell them that I let you represent me."

"But, ma'am-"

"Go now or else I'll report you for insubordination," she threatens him and immediately, he stands straight and gives her a salute. She returns with a salute and is the first to let it go so that he could as well. "Leave me now, soldier."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am." The sergeant then starts to run in the other direction headed to the mess hall.

Just when he's out of earshot, the lieutenant mutters under her breath, "New recruits, eh?" She then scoffs, "I just hope these newbies know what they've signed up for."

And with that, she continues on her way to the Captain's office.

----------

"Don't you think it was nice of them to welcome us in a warm manner?" One of his new colleagues, Nurse Sangwon, says as they walk beside each other to head to the garrison hospital.

Nurse Yorch is one out of the two male nurses newly recruited in this garrison to help in the war effort. The rest are all female, which is the most normal thing. He and Nurse Sangwon stick out like two sore thumbs.

"I'm excited to start working in the hospital," Nurse Sangwon continues. "I doubt that the war will ever come to our area, though. We're too far away from the danger."

"I think we can focus on other things first," another nurse chimes in, a short woman with matted black hair. She then smiles brightly at the two men. "Hi, I'm Nurse Aera."

The men greet her back and then she adds to their conversation, "I think it's more important that we know the officers of this place."

"Some of them were present in the welcoming event," Nurse Yorch says. "I don't think it's important to know their names."

Nurse Aera immediately objects to his statement, "Are you crazy? If there is one thing I know about the military is that respect is a huge deal here. We have to call the officers by their title and name."

"Damn, I need to start studying then," Nurse Sangwon murmurs, keeping his eyes forward to make sure that he doesn't bump into the other new nurse recruits who are all headed to the same place. "It's going to be embarrassing if ever I mix up their names or worse, not know the name of the officer before me."

"Come on, that shouldn't be a big deal," Nurse Yorch says, "Should we be focusing more on our job as nurses? Some of the soldiers who came injured from battles are being brought to our hospital because it's the nearest to them. There's no time to worry about what the officers will say because, in the end, we're the ones who will be helping them heal when they get hurt."

"Still, we should be wary of them because they are people who are leading our men on the battlefield. They even have cool nicknames. I overheard some of the old nurses talking while the welcoming event was ongoing. They were talking about this officer who has the nickname Maverick, which I really find cool. I guess that Maverick guy is someone even his fellow officers don't want to mess with."

Nurse Yorch breathes out a chuckle, fixing the buttons on top of his left shoulder. "Maverick? What kind of maverick is he, then?"

"A different one because it's she, not he." A voice that dripped nothing but authority speaks up loudly behind them and the three nurses freeze in their steps. Even some of the new nurses walking before them stop to see what's happening behind them.

The three young nurses turn gingerly to look behind them and lo and behold, a woman in officer's clothing stands before them with her arms crossed before her. An eyebrow of hers is raised as she throws a stern look at each of the three nurses. She breathes out a laugh to herself and drops her arms to take a few steps toward them. The way her boots made a sound on the ground amidst the quietness brought to the area is enough to make some of the nurses feel uncomfortable and intimidated. Behind her is a man who follows right behind.

She stops before the nurses who are still not able to move an inch. "Sergeant Min," she utters in a loud voice.

"Yes, ma'am?" The man behind her says.

"Are these part of our new recruits?" She throws a glance to Nurse Yorch and he keeps his eyes on her, not wavered like the two nurses beside them who are albeit shaking from where they're standing.

"Yes, ma'am. These are all the new nurses for our hospital. I believe that they are headed there, ma'am."

"Mhm," she hums, nodding in assent, yet still in a stoic manner. "So, I overheard my nickname. Is there anything you want to say to me?"

"N-No, m-ma'am," Nurse Aera stutters before bowing her head to look at the ground. She continues despite that, "W-We were o-only...only discussing h-how to address-"

"You," the woman interjects, cocking her head toward Nurse Sangwon's direction. "What's your name?"

Nurse Sangwon gives Nurse Yorch a side glance before swallowing down the lump forming in his throat. "S-Sangwon, ma'am," he manages to answer. Just like Nurse Aera, he bows his head, refusing to meet her gaze.

"Nurse Sangwon? Look at me and answer this question, why is a man like you a nurse instead of a soldier? Are you even aware of how much we're in need of soldiers and yet you're here as a nurse?"

Sangwon shakily lifts his head and he answers, "P-Pes planus, ma'am. I'm flat-footed, ma'am."

"Pes planus?" The woman officer furrows her eyebrows. "You're not supposed to be here, then."

"I begged them, ma'am. I'm the only one in my family who could earn for them to survive," he explained, gaining his voice as if confidence surged in him to talk to the officer before him. "This is also the only way I can contribute to the war effort."

"Hm," that's the only reply of the woman before she faces Nurse Yorch. "And what about you?"

Since he's forcing himself to not be as shaken as the others, he replies with a question, "Aren't you going to ask for my name first?"

"You should not talk back to an officer," Sergeant Min instantly warns the nurse in a stern voice.

The woman raises a hand at her sergeant, in a way that's telling him to calm down. "It's alright, sergeant," she murmurs. A smirk grows on her face, amused with the confidence the new nurse has. She loves a bit of a challenge and an opportunity for her to show him who's boss. "Pretty Boy here doesn't know anything. I mean, look at his skin." She then chuckles. "Did your mother ever let you go touch grass or were you always bathed in milk like every spoiled rich brat?"

"My name is not Pretty Boy."

Sergeant Min then reminds him angrily, "Nurse, you are to speak to the lieutenant with the utmost respect."

"Oh, you're Pretty Boy all right," the woman doesn't heed the sergeant's warning to the nurse since she's nothing but amused with how this interaction turned into. She eyes the nurse before her from head to toe. Nurse Yorch could feel how she was internally judging him. "Say, think you can heal me with those delicate hands of yours? Or are you too scared to even get a paper cut? Ladies," she looks up to address the female nurses before her, "make sure to watch over Pretty Boy here. He seems like someone who needs a lot of guidance. And I'm sure you ladies would know more than him." She then smirks at them before standing straight. "For everyone's sake, I am First Lieutenant Choi Dae. I hope you will all work hard for the war effort. You're all dismissed." Without uttering another word, she turns and walks in the other direction with Sergeant Min following after her.

Once it's sure that she's far from them, Nurse Aera gains back her voice and mutters, "L-Lieutenant Choi...one of the youngest female officers in our country. I-I didn't know she was in our garrison."

Nurse Sangwon could not stop looking at the officer's back as she climbed inside one of the parked army jeeps in front of the office building. "She's scary..."

Nurse Yorch was the only one who was not scared of her at all. In fact, he was pissed. He despised people like her. "No. She's just a huge douche."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trainee A hasn't even debuted yet but I got a die-hard bias on Yorch HAHAHA so I decided to write a fanfic :*

I hope you enjoyed this!

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