CHAPTER 31: CHAPTER 30: ANOTHER WEIRD TEST

Unofficial training, how bad could it be?

Those were Zaen’s exact thoughts when he agreed to the proposal. He should have known something was up when Johann let out that creepy laugh.

However, before he could dwell on it, Jenna ’escorted’ Zaen to his living quarters. Although only official members were assigned such quarters, Johann made an exception for him.

Under usual circumstances, Zaen would be packed and shipped to the training facility in the north. But given the mystery surrounding his abilities, Johann decided to train him a bit within the forward base first and get all the information about his skills.

At least that was the official reason, but everyone in the team already knew the truth.

If Zaen were to enter the academy as he was, no matter how talented he was, he would get his ass handed to him. Hence, Johann came up with the plan of impromptu training.

That way, Zaen would be acclimated to how they did things there.

"Here we are," Jenna said, still holding Zaen’s arm. "Although the quarters are world class, they might not be as comfortable as your homes since there are no servants here."

"...do you think I’m some spoiled young master?" Zaen retorted, the corners of his mouth twitched.

"Aren’t you?" Jenna seemed genuinely perplexed. "Zoey said you had a lot of maids and servants in your house."

"...they are there for my little brother. Besides, I have been living in the military barracks for a while. Nothing could be worse than that."

Jenna laughed out loud and gave him a ’friendly’ slap on the back. The friendly gesture knocked the wind out of his lungs.

"You’re a funny one, ain’tcha?"

"Your accent changed suddenly," Zaen asked, wondering if it was the work of some anomaly.

"Don’t worry about it," Jenna replied. "If you like it, I can use my office accent to talk with you, but this is how I talk off duty."

"Don’t mind me. Be yourself."

"And that’s how it shall be! Come on, I’ll show you around."

It was a small cottage with all the amenities and even had a proper gym with all the necessary equipment, a sauna, and even a swimming pool. Jenna told him that usually three people lived in a quarter, but their quarter had an opening.

That’s how Zaen realized he’d be living with Zoey and Jenna instead of the male quarters. After the experience with Ann, he was naturally worried about the living arrangements, and his strained expression caused Jenna to laugh once again.

"Don’t worry, we can control ourselves around you," Jenna said and proudly thumped her chest. "Besides, what do we have to worry about from a blind guy?"

Zaen sighed inwardly as Jenna dragged him along. He barely knew these people, but they were awfully open-mouthed regarding his condition.

Then again, it wouldn’t be right to judge them based on ’normal’ standards. Nothing about them or the situation was normal.

"Besides, that perv of a captain would probably gobble ya right up if we sent ya to bunk with the guys," Jenna said like she was stating a well-known fact.

"..."

"And this here is—"

"EEK!"

Someone shrieked as Jenna opened another door.

"Oh, calm down!" Jenna scoffed. "You look good, but that don’t mean ya can go reversin’ his blindness or my preference, for that matter."

"It doesn’t matter! Get out!" Zoey yelled, covering herself.

Jenna scratched her head before chuckling.

"Although I said that, ain’t she a hottie?"

A line-art of a naked woman wasn’t enough to excite Zaen, but if he hadn’t been blind, then sure, Zoey would be considered hot by many. Not that he was going to admit it before Jenna.

"Either way, that was supposed to be the shower," Jenna continued. "Ya can have—"

"I appreciate you doing all this," Zaen suddenly interrupted her. "But you know I won’t remember where anything is... right?"

A lot of blind people lived and worked alone, but they did so by getting acquainted with the place over time. Although Zaen could see the floor somewhat, he would have a difficult time remembering where anything was.

Jenna turned towards him, but her chirpy self went quite all of a sudden. Zaen wondered if he had said something wrong, only for her to throw a punch at him. It all happened so quickly that he reacted on instinct and ducked to dodge.

"Yeah, ya blind, ain’tcha?" Jenna scoffed.

Zaen thought that was it, but then Jenna knocked on the door again.

"He ain’t blind-blind, but blind," she said.

"Is that so?" Zoey replied, opening the door. Unlike before, she had a towel wrapped around her. "So he wasn’t lying about that."

"What’s going on?" Zaen asked.

The women looked at one another, then shrugged before Zoey continued.

"Jenna saw you throw the punch at Ann," she said. "She had a feeling your blindness wasn’t a simple blindness, so we put together this test."

"...you flashed me, just to check if I was blind?"

Zaen was in disbelief. Never in his life would he have thought women would pull such a stunt just to confirm their hunch.

"Since you nor your little Johnny reacted after seein’ her naked," Jenna said, wiggling her little finger. "We can deduce either you’re into dudes, or you have a weird blindness."

"How many more of these weird tests do you plan on conducting?" Zaen sighed, clearing tired from the entire day of adventure.

"This should be the last," Zoey said, holding her chin, "for today. I have already cleaned the room on the ground floor, so you can stay there. As for toiletries, they are also in your room."

"Got it."

Zoey nodded and was about to leave, but then turned around.

"If you want something, just call us. Our rooms are on the first floor," she informed him. "And if I find you have any improper intentions, then..."

She clicked her tongue while doing her slicing motion around her neck.

Showing gestures to a blind person... We’ll get along great.