Chapter 30 Chapter 30
Angelina's POV
I took down the group in front of me, but instead of leaving immediately, I deliberately revealed myself to them.
Although my wolf Yara seemed to be dormant after my rebirth, I could still clearly sense they were just ordinary humans. I smirked, already having made my judgment, and casually let the answer slip:
"Special ops?"
The leader looked surprised. "How'd you figure that out?"
I crossed my arms, meeting the gaze of these eager special operations personnel. Their eyes were sharp, but I didn't back down. My past life had made me all too familiar with their type. On the surface, though, I played it casual:
"Just... a lucky guess."
Of course it wasn't a guess.
In my past life, I'd faced off against special operations forces more than once. Those were real combat situations—nothing like this military training exercise or jungle paintball game. It was exactly that experience, that deep understanding of special ops personnel, that let me identify them instantly.
Honestly? In my past life, I'd taken down quite a few special operators. But obviously, I wasn't going to tell them that.
"I'm out."
I waved dismissively, not planning to waste more time with them. I'd said what needed saying.
"Wait up!"
But before I'd taken more than a few steps, the leader called out.
I stopped and turned around, watching him snap off a crisp salute before speaking formally:
"Staff Captain Harrison, 75th Rangers. I'd like to extend you an offer—once you graduate high school and meet our requirements, you'd have a guaranteed spot on our team. What do you say?"
I narrowed my eyes. Join the Rangers? That was unexpected.
Not only was I surprised, but Harrison's teammates were clearly shocked too:
"Captain, we've never recruited straight out of high school before."
Another one chimed in: "Everyone on the team went through years of screening. This seems pretty rushed, don't you think?"
I kept my arms crossed, not refusing immediately. Instead, I watched with interest, curious how he'd handle this.
Harrison had clearly gotten ahead of himself in his excitement. He cleared his throat and shot his teammates a look:
"Guys, relax. I'm talking about a conditional offer for after she turns eighteen and passes selection. Not recruiting her right now."
His team members, satisfied with that explanation, fell silent.
They all turned to look at me, waiting for my answer.
I'd already made up my mind. In my past life, I'd lived that knife-edge existence long enough. This time around, I didn't want to go back.
"I'll pass."
After letting them finish, I gave my answer calmly.
As expected, Harrison asked: "Why not?"
I understood his confusion. Being hand-picked, needing only to turn eighteen and pass the physical—no other screening required—direct entry into the 75th Rangers... that was every young guy's dream. And I'd just turned it down with three simple words.
"Not interested." That was my answer.
Simple and honest.
"Alright then." Harrison wasn't about to pressure me, just nodded with resignation.
But I could tell he hadn't completely given up.
Sure enough, Harrison pulled out a piece of paper and pen from his pocket, quickly scribbled down a phone number, and handed it to me:
"If you change your mind, give me a call."
I looked at the paper, thought for a moment, then took it. While I had no plans to join, there was no point burning bridges.
After pocketing it, I held up my paintball rifle and made sure to remind Harrison and his team:
"By the way—those paint marks on you guys? Wasn't me."
The subtext was clear—I didn't want Harrison spreading this around and creating unnecessary problems. After all, as an ordinary female student beating seasoned special operators in a combat exercise... if that got out, staying low-key would be impossible, and it would raise questions from my friends.
"Got it."
Harrison agreed readily.
Only then did I turn and leave.
Fifteen minutes later.
When the last few students emerged from the jungle, the crowd that had been waiting at the assembly point erupted.
Among those final students was, of course, me.
And we were different from everyone who'd left the forest earlier—because none of us had any paint marks.
That meant we hadn't been hit by anyone during the entire game. We hadn't been eliminated.
"Blue Team wins the jungle combat exercise!"
When the staff announced the winning team, students erupted with mixed reactions.
"Damn, we lost."
"Eh, it's all good. Just for fun anyway."
"Wait, that girl who asked out Kai made it through without getting hit? No way!"
I heard people talking about me but felt nothing.
"She probably just got lucky."
Lucky? I almost laughed internally. If you could call my past life experiences "luck."
"Yo, did you guys hear? Bella literally pissed herself during the paintball game! Like, actually peed! My girlfriend told me—her pants were completely soaked!"
"Shut up! Doesn't she always brag about being a sharpshooter? And she pissed herself?"
"Dude, I'm dead serious!"