The moment Lee Wooshin stepped out of the chairman’s office, he jabbed the elevator button irritably. The priest’s Russian still echoed in his ears.

Kiya. He’d introduced himself as Kiya.

“――.”

A snowstorm raged through the depths of winter. When the wind howled, frost-veiled windows rattled in ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) their frames. At those times, he would sit on his grandfather’s lap, staring into the firewood snapping and crackling in the hearth.

‘Boy, do you think you’re European or Asian?’

His grandfather would toss out cryptic questions like that. The image flashed through his mind vividly, like it had happened just yesterday. Clicking his tongue, Lee Wooshin pressed the elevator button again. And again.

‘You’re both European and Asian.’

His grandfather had muttered it from the rocking chair. Why the hell was that coming back to him now? Wooshin clenched his teeth.

‘If that’s the case, doesn’t that mean we can devour both Europe and Asia? Then maybe your grandmother would finally be pleased.’

His grandfather’s face had looked completely black in the backlight when he said that.

Ding— The elevator doors slid open. But glancing up at the CCTV mounted in the corner of the ceiling, Wooshin pulled his hand back from the button without hesitation. Then he shoved open the stairwell door with a loud bang and started heading down.

At night, the oligarchs—the ruling class of that time—would gather at Castle Winter. They passed the long hours with liquor, whores, and impassioned debates about Eurasia.

His grandmother, once the wife of the Prime Minister, barely left the house due to the disdain cast on her for being East Asian. Whenever that happened, the young boy would fall asleep listening to the sorrowful lyrics of old songs.

“――.”

Without stopping, he called Deputy Director Ju Seolheon. The longer the dial tone rang, the more his jaw jutted out with tension. He hadn’t even moved that much, but his breath was already ragged.

If Russian money was flowing into Asia, their ambitions were obvious.

Russia. Fucking Russia. His expression twisted into utter loathing.

“What kind of backdoor bullshit are you pulling now?”

He didn’t know what form Russia’s ambitions for Eurasia were taking, but it felt deeply connected to the long-unsolved mystery of Castle Winter. That intuition surged like a lance through his brain.

Castle Winter, the black-haired children, the creaking wooden rocking horse, Rigai, the bomb terror... All of it felt on the verge of connecting.

―And now you decide to call after wasting the whole damn day?

Finally, a biting voice crackled through the receiver.

―I must be the only superior in the world who’s been kidnapped and tortured by their own subordinate.

“I’m taking Seoryeong to Sakhalin.”

―...What?

She wasn’t repeating it because she misheard. Knowing that, Lee Wooshin pressed his fist to his forehead. He took a deep breath, barely holding back the urge to scream. His expression contorted viciously.

“We’re flying out in three hours. If you don’t give me a straight answer now, I can’t move forward with anything.”

―.......

“Where’s Rigai? Is Seoryeong actually safe going to Russia right now?”

―.......

Ju Seolheon was silent. Wooshin, rapidly running out of patience, raised his voice.

“Deputy Director!”

He had always known how to needle his superiors like a worm in their gut, but never once had he broken the chain of command. Now, he pulled at the already loosened collar of his shirt over and over again, his movements tense and meaningless.

―...Where in Sakhalin?

A strange, unreadable question.

“The monastery. Sakhalin Monastery.”

The moment he said it, a crash rang out through the phone. As he pulled the device away from his ear, he heard her shouting orders at someone—clear this up, get out of here. After a moment of stillness, she returned.

―Rigai is still in the secure ward. We’re keeping an eye on that, so it’s not a problem. But more importantly...

She trailed off, then suddenly fired off her words at rapid speed.

―Once you land in Sakhalin, I’ll have our agent deliver antipsychotic meds. I’ll also send an acute paralytic. If she becomes completely unmanageable, hit her eyes again. You’ll have to judge on-site and act accordingly.

Wooshin froze mid-step. A sharp ringing flared in his ears. He grabbed the wall for balance.

“You’re telling me to hurt her again when I’m asking if she’s safe...?”

―Don’t ignore what I’m saying...!

“What exactly do you mean by ‘take action’?”

―I mean it literally. If she starts moving around uselessly, you break something—make sure she can’t!

“Enough—!”

A surge of nausea hit him. He couldn’t take this anymore. Unthinking, Wooshin smashed his fist into the concrete wall. Bang, bang. His knuckles went raw, the skin finally tearing open.

An indescribable misery scorched the back of his neck. His Adam’s apple jutted forward and shifted with brutal resolve.

“I’ll never take orders like that again.”

He bit down so hard the inside of his mouth bled.

“Not again...! I won’t let Han Seoryeong get hurt anymore.”

―Lee Wooshin...!

Ju Seolheon shouted, clearly enraged, but he didn’t flinch.

“I don’t care what dirty moves you pull to become Director of the NIS, or what you’re hiding from me. But did you really think I’ve kept quiet all this time because I didn’t know anything?”

His eyes were bloodshot as he snarled into the receiver. The more he spoke, the more desperately he wanted to see Seoryeong again—waiting downstairs.

If he could just see her face, his berserk temper would calm in an instant. If he could just see her eyes, catch her scent. If he could just curl up in her arms like a boy with nothing to his name.

She wouldn’t accept it. But even her awkward, gruff care would be enough to make everything better.

“I used you because it was convenient, Deputy Director.”

―......!

“I didn’t care who it was. You just seemed like the fastest ticket to the top. That’s why I picked you. I could leak everything to the Director right now.”

―Are you insane?!

Her roar erupted. Years of covert cooperation shattered in an instant. Wooshin’s expression didn’t even twitch.

“If the head of the intelligence agency is caught taking Russian bribes, and I pin it all on Ju Seolheon, then it’s over. I’ve lived my life rolling around in that kind of political shit. You think I can’t handle one more job?”

―What the hell do you think you’re doing...!

“Should I knock politely on your office door instead? Are you prepared for what face, what identity I might show up with?”

―......!

“So just tell me one thing. Just one, that’s all I’m asking, Deputy Director.”

Lee Wooshin began descending the stairs again, nearly gasping for breath. He wiped down his face, now maskless. Rubbed the bare skin of his throat. There were no more disguises to strip off. Nothing left to hide behind.

“What exactly is the threat here, I’m asking you!” 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

―.......

“Before you treat Seoryeong like livestock to be controlled—fuck—just let me handle it all. Leave her alone...!”

He shouted, his face crumbling.

“Just tell me, and I’ll take care of everything, no matter what it takes, goddamn it. Just stop using Han Seoryeong as your first fucking move—! Enough, already. Start by convincing me. What the hell are you so afraid of?!”

His vision burned red from rage. His voice broke apart.

“You made me live as the Owl’s husband. Then dismissed me with a single sentence. So explain it now. I was the one who touched her eyes. I left my wife behind without looking back. I could kill her biological father if I had to!”

―.......

“So say it. Even if she’s a monster, I’m not leaving anymore. Don’t just order me to leash her—make me live like her damn dog instead!”

―I...

She inhaled sharply on the other end. For a brief moment, there was something in her voice—an indescribable conflict.

But Wooshin had no room left for patience. His skull had felt like it was splitting since the chairman’s office. His memories of Russia boiled up and now they were pouring out uncontrollably.

“Koryo-saram accepted Orthodox Christianity in exchange for land, where they lived and farmed. You never shared that with me, but Rigai’s probably Orthodox too, isn’t he? Am I right?”

―.......

“Answer me. Is Rigai from Sakhalin?”

―.......

“Then Seoryeong—where exactly was she born?”

Ju Seolheon said nothing. She wasn’t the kind of person to stay silent unless she had to. If she’d wanted to mislead him, she’d have made something up. That she was quiet now meant one thing: she was cornered.

“She said she doesn’t remember anything before she was ten. Was she... at the Sakhalin branch?”

―You...!

“I know you’ve been monitoring her under the guise of counseling for years.”

Her breathing trembled. Wooshin stopped again, covering his eyes. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and cold—words he never wanted to say aloud.

“Is the Russian Orthodox Church connected to Castle Winter?”

―I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can tell you.

Her defensiveness had cooled. She was back to normal. In that brief silence, he had no idea what she’d given up or chosen.

But the fact that she still didn’t speak—even when her position as NIS Director was on the line—felt more meaningful than anything else.

―Still, since things seem urgent... I’ll say one thing, Wooshin.

Finally, Ju Seolheon said it, quietly.

―The Sakhalin Monastery is where the Owl lived when she was little.

“......!”

―It might not amount to much, but it’s impossible to predict what’ll happen there. If anything goes wrong, the plan was to use medication, knock her out, and bring her home immediately. If that memory was ever going to come back under stress, it would’ve happened when she saw Kiya. But the Owl’s memory doesn’t work like that.

“......!”

His mind stopped for a moment. What did she just say? Who?

At the name Kiya, Lee Wooshin’s face turned to stone.

―Even when she crossed paths with Kiya, she didn’t change.

A thick, empty breath escaped his mouth. From her tone, it was obvious she’d known everything since the rare earth agreement summit. She’d just pretended not to.

That Kiya wasn’t just any Boogeyman—but someone connected to Han Seoryeong. Even the plan to place agents in Sakhalin blurred in his ears.

―But Wooshin... can you really keep the Owl from being taken?

“......!”

―Can you truly keep her from being taken by Kiya?

All at once, his blood went cold.