Han Seoryeong pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment, torn over whether to hang up. The instant she swallowed her pride and brought up money, the young man on the other end, whose identity she couldn’t even place, suddenly burst into tears.

Was I too abrupt? Her cold face clouded with unease. He kept wailing, boo-hoo, boo-hoo, and she couldn’t even make out what he was saying. She began to regret speaking up at all.

Scratching her forehead, she nevertheless asked him first to wire money to the shop. But the moment she did, he started shouting, “How much, how much do you need?!” so loudly that she had to hold the phone away again.

“Well, about... a hundred and forty rubles.”

That came out to roughly two thousand won in Korean currency. But then, the idiot babbled about how it would be hard to send her twenty million won immediately due to withdrawal limits, and how he could only send one hundred and fifty per day. Clenching her teeth, she cut him off. “No. Two thousand won. Two. Thousand.”

Channa, where in the world are you working, and with whom? A different kind of frustration welled in her chest.

—Then from now on, I’ll guide you to a safe house...!

He blew his nose loudly, then shouted.

—Please delete the call history from this phone, and wait at the location I designate. You need to hide yourself first. There you’ll find, um, madam, your passport, money, and clothes. It was originally a safe house assigned to Team Leader Lee Wooshin, but at his request, your belongings were prepared there in advance...

“Wait. What did you just say?”

The unexpected name froze Seoryeong white. She frowned and asked again.

“...Who? Wooshin?”

—...Excuse me?

From that point on, the whole conversation spiraled. The voice that had sounded shy and hesitant until now suddenly rang with a cold edge.

“Didn’t you just say Lee Wooshin?”

—Uh... y-yes. That’s right... I’m sorry. I don’t know where the team leader is either....

The furrow between her brows deepened into a trench.

“If you lie or try to dodge, I’ll track you down myself.”

—...Excuse me?

“Answer me. Who the hell are you to know my husband’s name and to be holding Channa’s phone?”

—Excuse me?

“Put Channa on right now. If you don’t, I’ll report this to the police.”

Her voice was sharp and cold as a blade, and the man on the other end audibly panicked.

—N-no, no! I mean, forgive my late introduction...! I am Na Wonchang, backup agent who has assisted Team Leader Lee Wooshin for about four and a half years, madam! It’s an honor to greet you formally at last! I’ve longed to see—no, to meet you!

Backup... agent? Her eyebrows shot up.

—I can’t tell you how long I’ve been watching over you, madam.

“......”

—So please, don’t call the police, don’t be alarmed...! Team Leader had also said it was about time to introduce me. If it hadn’t been for Operative Yu Dawit, I would have been able to meet you with more polished words!

Then, saying “Just a moment!” the young man banged at his keyboard and produced an audio file.

‘—Enough. Drink some water, steady your voice, and come back. You’ll introduce yourself to Seoryeong soon, so behave. ...—My wife’s anxious, so don’t babble nonsense. If you want to live, mind your manners. Chest...—’

The file cut off in a hurry. Seoryeong’s heart stopped at the sudden sound of that voice. She wanted to replay it, but it felt as though a burning lump had lodged in her throat.

The °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° nervous young man’s stiff voice leaked through.

—So then... may I stay by your side from now on?

“...Answer just one more thing.” 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

“Yes, ma’am!” he replied at once, loud and clear.

Seoryeong rubbed at the dark circles beneath her eyes as she watched mourners gathering with memorial placards. She touched her temple, the same spot once pressed by a gun barrel, now with her own finger.

“What’s the chance... that Lee Wooshin really is dead?”

***

With Na Wonchang’s directions and the safe house password, Seoryeong passed through a dark alley into the interior. The code was their first wedding anniversary. The moment the door opened, her legs gave out and she collapsed on the spot.

Forcing off her heavy boots, she saw her frozen toenails cracked and bleeding. She soaked a towel in warm water and wrapped her stiff, broken feet, rubbing them again and again.

Every time she closed her eyes, Wooshin’s last image rose before her. And whenever that afterimage crushed the breath from her chest, she shook her head violently to drive it away.

When she asked if it was possible he was dead, the answer had been only long silence. But that was fine. The world had never lied to her just once or twice.

At first, people had demanded to know where her “paper husband” was, mocking that her schizophrenia had flared again. Now, everyone but her only mourned Lee Wooshin. From the beginning, she and the world had never matched.

“If he’s missing, that’s enough... Just missing is enough....”

Yes, that would do. If that was all, she could manage everything else. He had to be missing. He couldn’t possibly be dead. Seoryeong buried her forehead against her knees and murmured.

He’s missing. That’s all....

Wooshin was a hardened veteran operative, and the gorge below had been water. Then somehow he could survive. His swimming skills needed no mention. He had plunged into freezing seas at night without hesitation.

Dripping with cold sweat, she opened the storage closet as Na Wonchang had instructed.

Inside lay her passport, bundles of cash, a blank airline ticket ready for use, a pistol, an old-model phone, clothing and shoes in her size, plain undergarments, a first-aid kit, tampons, emergency rations, painkillers and fever reducers, cash cards, a portable recorder, hats—all neatly arranged.

“......”

There was no question who they had been prepared for. Her body temperature climbed until her vision wavered, her head felt like it was boiling.

She picked up the blank airline ticket without date or destination. According to Na Wonchang, he had paid an enormous sum to a friend whose family ran an airline for generations. Seoryeong brushed her damp hair off her neck and gave a bitter laugh.

All this... just for this.

He had supposedly stocked safe houses everywhere with such supplies, chasing after her to prepare for even “unforeseeable circumstances.”

The thought made her head sink heavier. Collapsing against the mattress, she ached for those gentle, cool hands she could no longer touch.

She endured the blazing fever alone, grinding her teeth. Otherwise the pain that gnawed her bones would force out groans. It felt as though a hammer was beating her body mercilessly.

“――”

Only now, through the haze, did Wooshin’s last expression imprint itself in her mind like a burst of shutter frames.

Even in free fall, with no trace of sorrow or regret, he had kept his nerves taut solely on killing the enemy to the end. He had even thrown her the gun, entrusting her with what came after.

That steadfast gaze, tightened with a faint, painful crease.

Seoryeong burrowed under the blanket, her jaw clattering, eyes wide open. Perhaps what he had given her wasn’t merely a gun, but a birthday.

Then she had to live.

She had to... live.

But feeling her consciousness about to snap off, she turned on the portable recorder, and a familiar breath filled the room.

‘Hoo—.’

Just that made her chest plummet.

‘20XX, July 27. Owl’s Nest Report.’

The deep voice burrowed into her ears and shook her pupils.

‘Owl showing symptoms of insomnia. Tosses through the night, falls asleep only at dawn, then wakes after an hour or two to match Kim Hyun’s work schedule. After returning home from work, descends to studio to begin sleep analysis. Process omitted, report on direction of improvement and results.’

What... is this? The detached, textbook-reading voice was undeniably Wooshin’s. Even through her blurred vision, Seoryeong frowned.

‘Request to swap café menu for decaf, purchase of theanine, apigenin, magnesium threonate for brain rest, warning of Owl’s auditory hypersensitivity, request to reduce motorcycle noise at dawn, ban on reckless drivers approaching, request for mood relief on rainy days, request for event-win text message, exchange for Grade-1 windless air conditioner, request for holiday during monsoon, support for five-star hotel lodging, request for seasonal fruit...—’

She lay there all night, listening to the incomprehensible report, writhing in fever. Her body so hot that her tongue and eyeballs felt as though they were melting, yet she endured it alone.

Only at dawn did her body finally sink sideways. Seoryeong realized then that this recording was the honeymoon report Wooshin himself had written.

The words I love you swelled to the edge of her throat. Had you always been crafting such happiness behind me with your own hands? Could this be our proof?

In disbelief and despair that he might be dead, her lips brimmed with an honest confession.

I love you. I always wanted to say it from the start. I wanted to cry that I loved you more than love itself....

‘20XX, October 27. Owl’s Nest Report.’

The low voice drifted on, unceasing, through the desolate hours. That night, Seoryeong dreamed of returning to their newlywed home.