“You...!”

Ju Seolheon’s face stiffened like stone. Lee Wooshin remained composed and arrogant as always, but his hands wouldn’t stay still. The urgency was plain in the way he rubbed the back of his neck.

“We need to bring her back before she causes something worse.”

“I think you’re the one who’s about to cause something worse.”

Her stare cut through him like glass. But even faced with those cold, probing eyes, he felt no hesitation.

He only thought: this was his last chance to lay everything bare.

His head was filled with Han Seoryeong.

But the more deeply his feelings for her grew, the more deeply rooted his self-loathing became. Ever since that kiss and embrace, it felt like he’d been trapped in a waking nightmare.

Since when did I become this much of a conscientious bastard? There’s no way I ever was.

The pain digging into him was worse than expected. Every time the pus-soaked gauze hit the trash, it felt like his cheap resolve went with it.

So Han Seoryeong had won. She’d forced him down a path he’d never once dared to take before.

“Wooshin, I’m telling you—don’t go down that road.”

At that moment, her sharp, venomous eyes seemed to pierce straight through him.

“Isn’t it greedy to ask for a normal life now?”

Wooshin gave no reaction. Ju Seolheon stubbed out her half-burned cigarette and stuck a second one between her lips. The pale smoke veiled her face like a shroud.

“Kim Hyun wasn’t the only illusion. That Owl, that newlywed house, that marriage—you know they were all fake too. So why did you let yourself get so possessed by it all? You really think you can get it all back? You want forgiveness too?”

Somewhere in the background, the stench of spoiled food assaulted their noses. Someone had probably pissed inside the ruined restaurant—an acrid, rancid stink hung in the air. Yet Ju Seolheon sat with her legs crossed, completely composed.

“So you think revealing your identity now buys you some kind of absolution?”

“I’ll serve my time.”

“...What?”

“No need to drag it out. I’ll take the sentence for leaking classified intel.”

“......”

“Even gangsters get to keep at least a finger when they walk out. I’ve done the math.”

“Our work doesn’t settle with a finger.”

“Then take more. I’ll pay up.”

As soon as that arrogant smile landed, Ju Seolheon rose from her seat. The sharp click of her heels echoed as she walked up and slammed her heel down on Wooshin’s injured foot.

The freshly stitched skin split open again. He clenched his jaw hard to suppress a groan. She ground the heel into him, over and over, like extinguishing a cigarette.

“Just bring back the Owl. Getting caught by her hands once or twice isn’t so bad. But when you do, act just like before, Lee Wooshin. The Owl’s husband only ever had one job—to disappear right in front of her eyes.”

A rush of heat flared up to the crown of his head. Wooshin clenched and unclenched his fists, grinding his teeth until his jaw nearly cracked.

“Don’t go solving every mystery about Kim Hyun just to soothe your own conscience.”

“Fuck, Deputy Director. You’re saying Seoryeong should stay miserable?”

“Better she be moderately unhappy than dead.”

Her face was cold. Ruthless.

“Hating someone means there’s still strength left to live. Missing someone means she’s still trying to endure. And searching for someone—that’s a rotten, leftover hope. But if you crush all of that... Do you really think she’ll stay by your side?”

His face twisted with rage. That hit directly at his deepest fear. His lips wouldn’t move—as if they’d been glued shut.

“The Owl will fall apart. If she loses even that last sliver of hope. If she lets go of this world entirely—and meets Ligai—then she’ll follow in her father’s footsteps...!”

Suddenly, she was grabbed by the collar.

“If she falls into Russian hands, her skull will be split open. Somewhere you’ll never reach. She’ll rot to death, in total darkness, never seeing the sun again.”

Bang—! Wooshin couldn’t take it anymore. He slammed Ju Seolheon against the wall.

This had crossed the line.

The wildfire of his fury burned up his spine and incinerated his mind. Wooshin gripped her throat with one hand and shoved her into the wall, graffiti-smeared and crumbling.

She no longer looked like a superior. Just something that deserved to die. The skin of her neck turned a deep red under his hand.

“You should’ve settled for losing a limb.”

His voice was eerily calm, but something monstrous rippled beneath the surface.

“Codename: Zoya.”

“――!”

Only then did Ju Seolheon look truly strangled. Her perfect hair was disheveled, and harsh, wheezing breaths escaped her lips. Wooshin watched her closely, refusing to miss even a flicker of her reaction.

“You bastard... You should’ve just followed orders...!”

Her face paled, then turned nearly black. Still, the two of them locked eyes, rage meeting fear, refusing to break.

Then, like something chasing her down, she suddenly slapped her hand over his mouth.

And in a voice flat with horror, she finally spoke.

“Ligai... He was the first and only person to successfully complete a brainwashing experiment...”

Her voice drifted through time. Hollow. Measured.

“At first, they used a kinetic solution injection to create permanent hypnotic effects in people. Since the hypnosis couldn’t be undone without a trigger, they called it ‘brainwashing,’ but technically it was just an extreme form of suggestion.”

“......”

“Then Ligai took it a step further. He believed that if you implanted an electronic chip in the brain, a person could be reused.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them.

“His original blueprint was supposedly perfect. But there wasn’t technology advanced enough to support it back then. So it got buried as classified intel. Still, the idea of ‘reusing people’—everyone wanted it.”

Wooshin twitched slightly but stayed silent.

“Russia believed that tech could build Eurasia. America got greedy too. Whoever got their hands on Ligai’s designs first would become the world’s top power. Everyone in power thought the same.”

That’s when Ju Seolheon’s gaze began to tremble.

“Then Ligai lost his mind. And no one could find his research again. But...”

Her eyes, bloodshot red, began to quiver. She didn’t shout. She whispered.

“That child has it...”

Her lips went stark pale.

That quiet statement shattered everything Wooshin thought he understood about the mission.

Ju Seolheon—who had always shown only fragments—was finally revealing a hidden truth.

“Ligai left... all his legacy... inside that child’s mind.”

“......!”

Wooshin’s eyes froze. Ju Seolheon yanked him close, pressing his lips shut with the back of her hand. It was the look of someone confessing something that should never be said.

“Why do you think I kept you in the dark? Almost no one knows Ligai had a daughter. And most of the agents who did... are already dead.”

Her once-cold eyes turned grim.

“You might become one of them too.”

“......!”

Wooshin couldn’t even tell if he was still standing.

“The Owl can never be exposed to the world. She has to be left alone to cry over some fake husband. That’s all we can do. Hide the truth from her, play hide-and-seek once in a while.”

“......”

“You think you get to ruin that safe little world she has?”

She cried out like she was in physical pain.

“There is no beautiful way to protect something!”

The words came down like a hammer. Wooshin’s grip finally ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) loosened.

“Some missions... you dedicate your entire life to. That’s what real responsibility is, Wooshin. What you need to throw away isn’t your guilt—it’s that greedy desire to be loved.”

A sick feeling rose in his throat like bile. He wanted to destroy everything. Rip it all down.

“If you really care about her, don’t lose to the weak version of yourself.”

Ju Seolheon was the one who left the restaurant first.

Wooshin had no choice but to stay behind in that ruined place, swallowing the firestorm in his gut.

He had no idea how long he’d stood there, like a rotting tree. It felt like someone had jammed hot iron spikes through his tongue and throat, sealing him shut.

With a scraped-up face, Wooshin finally checked his watch. There was no time to properly sort through all the thoughts and intel—but when he imagined Seoryeong out at sea, even his aching leg started to move on its own. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

He sat in the chair Ju Seolheon had pulled out earlier and took a crumpled photo from his coat pocket.

The day Operation Birdbox ended. The wedding photo they never managed to throw away.

He gently ran his fingers over Seoryeong’s face—dressed in white.

The only way I get to be her husband... is when I’m Kim Hyun...

“――”

Wooshin stood.

It was finally time to go see his wife.

The last light in his eyes had already gone dark.