“I’ll give it all back.”

Flames flickered red in her pupils. In a blink, the fire had spread—licking up the walls, blackening the ceiling paper.

The blaze devoured the kitchen furniture with wild abandon, but Seoryeong didn’t move a muscle. She just stood there with a blank face, slowly ladling water and splashing it into the burning pan.

“Ugh...”

She winced and staggered back.

Pouring water into burning oil caused the hot steam to erupt violently. The flames surged higher, and the kitchen quickly filled with choking smoke.

Seoryeong covered her mouth and nose, staring up at the fire spreading across the ceiling like she was entranced. Her vision blurred—it looked just like her old eyes, back then.

The soybean paste stew would boil, the blanket would always feel alive with breath, the scent of sun-dried fabric softener in the sheets... She had first learned that a home could smell so warm only after coming here.

Our home—the safest place in the world. The space I loved most. But the expression Seoryeong wore as she stared at that newlywed home was bitterly cold.

“It’s better not to leave anything behind.”

As the fire spread rapidly, the ceiling debris fell to the floor in chunks. The crackling flames leapt from one piece of furniture to the next, eventually swallowing the living room. Seoryeong stood in the middle of it all, silently smiling.

She would return it.

Exactly as Kim Hyun had done to her.

Boom—! A deafening blast sounded from behind her.

But before that...

“Han Seoryeong...!”

Lee Wooshin jolted awake to the shrill ring of a cell phone.

Soaked in cold sweat for some reason, the man immediately noticed the empty space beside him—and his face froze.

He tried to sit up quickly but winced with an annoyed groan. His underwear was soaked, like he’d had a wet dream all on his own.

“How old am I, even...”

Still, he hadn’t come inside her. Even during sex, he’d bitten down hard on his tongue to hold it back—his tongue still throbbed.

It had been his first time going in without a condom too. But when her soft insides swallowed the head of his cock, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to overpower her.

Still... it had been reassuring sex.

She’d come back after cutting things off with Kim Hyun. She seemed unstable, yes—but unlike last time, she wasn’t stripping to use someone as a substitute. Instead, she had scolded him, yelled at him, worried about his leg. It made his head spin with satisfaction.

“Haa...”

Even with blood still rushing downward, he searched the bathroom, the sitting room, and the closet.

“Where the hell did she go at this hour...”

But there wasn’t a single trace of her—not even a strand of hair. Meanwhile, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing.

It was clearly an unknown number, but the screen glowed in the dark, and something cold and heavy scratched across his chest. Something about the timing made his gut twist. He grabbed the phone.

—Instructor, it’s ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) me.

As expected, her voice hit him straight in the eardrum. He pressed his palm to his forehead.

“Han Seoryeong, where the hell are you right now? And what is this number—!”

His voice snapped without meaning to. He’d slept with her in his arms, holding her close so she couldn’t go anywhere.

But now she wasn’t in front of him. The panic rose like nausea.

She wasn’t even part of the NIS anymore, and yet—he had more reason than ever to protect her. Lee Wooshin ran a shaky hand through his messy bangs.

“I’m sorry for yelling. But where are you, huh? Seoryeong, where the hell are you?”

—I left my phone in Equatorial Guinea.

“Then whose is this? Put the bastard next to you on the phone.”

—Could you come here for a second? I’m home. Our house.

“......”

—I was told I needed a guardian.

From the other end of the line came loud sirens, echoing from every direction. He started pulling on clothes from the floor, fast. He didn’t even have time to yell at her for sneaking out in the middle of the night. His back went cold.

“I’m coming right now. Don’t move. Wait right there.”

This feeling—it was the same gut instinct he’d had at countless field sites. That hair-raising sense of dread that always brushed the back of his neck in a crisis.

His heart pounded in a way that felt wrong. If something had happened to her, it was going to be bad. His face stayed stone-cold.

***

He caught a cab in a hurry and arrived in the neighborhood, only to find chaos right at the entrance.

Powerful jets of water shot from hoses, blasting at a villa engulfed in flames like they were trying to tear it down.

Tongues of fire danced, smoke rising uncontrollably into the sky. The oppressive heat pressed against his skin, stinging his eyes. The flashing red lights cast a ghastly glow over his pale face.

“Ah...”

For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.

The familiar stench made his stomach turn. Winter Castle, burned to ash and collapsed, overlapped with this newlywed home going up in flames. It was like noise distortion—two scenes tangled together, scrambled in his vision.

He’d seen worse scenes in his career, sure. But the terror of knowing someone precious might still be inside—the helplessness—it gripped him like punishment.

Seoryeong... where is Seoryeong...

His dilated pupils trembled violently. Lee Wooshin shoved past the crowd gathered below, forcing his way forward with sheer physicality. In the shuffle of startled people, he caught a few familiar faces.

They had to be NIS agents. But why...?

The answer was obvious.

This villa belonged to the agency. It was a place they’d assigned to watch the Owl. The moment the fire started, of course they were notified.

Once the fire investigation was over, they’d cover it up internally—but the problem was that Han Seoryeong hadn’t been found.

Lee Wooshin instinctively grabbed at the base of his neck, breathing roughly. The only thing she had left him... was this mark.

That’s when a scream from the crowd pierced his eardrums.

“――!”

A window exploded with a loud bang, sharp shards of glass raining down. People screamed and ducked to protect their heads—but Lee Wooshin just clenched his teeth and kept walking, undeterred.

Each second felt like an eternity. He scoured alleyways with crazed eyes, looking for her, until police officers blocked his path with glowing batons.

“Sir, it’s dangerous beyond this point! You can’t go in!”

“I’ll be fine.”

“There could be secondary explosions—please follow protocol! Sir, you must not go in!”

“Get out of my way.”

“You’re not allowed—step back!”

“Fuck, my wife is in there!”

He shouted without holding back, jaw trembling. He didn’t even know when he’d started grinding his molars, but now his whole jaw ached. There was no time to argue. He grabbed one of the officers by the shoulder—

“――!”

Another window burst on an upper floor with a violent crash. Shouts from firefighters and the shrill blasts of whistles mingled in the chaos.

The outer wall was already charred black from the flames. He couldn’t breathe again.

Call her again—now—

After that, it felt like he wasn’t in his right mind.

Had he ever seen the world go this dark?

Her voice had been calm over the phone. And judging by the background noise, it sounded like she’d been outside, not inside the house.

“Didn’t someone die in there?”

“What? There was a fatality?”

“People live there. No way it was empty.”

He fumbled with his phone, but dropped it—hands stiff and clumsy. Like a child making a mistake. Unbelievable.

The heat seeped into his skin, and sweat ran down his spine. Lee Wooshin stared dumbly at the phone being kicked around by strangers’ feet, then slowly crouched down his large frame.

“Instructor.”

The voice he’d been waiting for tugged at the back of his head like a hook of soot.

He looked up—and there she was. Seoryeong stood wrapped in a blanket, her face smeared with black soot.

Wearing a hospital gown too big for her, slippers way too large with her toes poking out—it was a ridiculous sight.

“You...”

His mind went blank. He just inhaled the acrid smoke like it was salvation and yanked her into his arms. Only after locking her tight—tight enough to crush her bones—did the breath he’d been holding finally release in a ragged burst.

His whole body trembled. Maybe she felt that pathetic shaking too, because she let out a dry laugh.

“I didn’t get hurt.”

“If you think that one sentence is going to be enough, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“......”

“Fuck. I’m burning up inside. No matter what you say, this one’s not getting forgiven.”

“Is that so?”

Her dull, flat response somehow made Wooshin anxious. He was used to accidents, deaths—none of it fazed him anymore. But even a speck of ash landing on her set him off.

He scanned her face, her shoulders, her neck, hands, legs, arms—wide-eyed, looking for even the smallest blister. Like someone who’d just survived death, the tension dug deep into his brow.

“Instructor, will you marry me?”

He froze. Every movement stopped. Then slowly, he raised his head.

Soaked in soot like a fledgling bird, she smiled brighter than ever before.

What did you just say...?

Her bashful expression was so full of affection it could kill. His heart, already on the brink, felt like it was finally being obliterated for real.

The Owl he’d left behind had come flying back—now Han Seoryeong again. To think he’d ended up with both women felt nothing short of miraculous.

And yet—why did that smile, the one he wanted so badly to kiss, feel like it was aimed at his throat?

“I want to marry you, Instructor.”