“...Hey, Ganna-unnie, are you still alive?”

The raspy voice crackling through the phone made Seoryeong feel oddly bewildered.

Who the hell was asking that?

Seoryeong stood there, momentarily at a loss for words, feeling as if she had lost the initiative in the conversation.

Had it been because she had spent almost two months trapped in the training camp? Everything felt surreal. It felt like years since she had seen Hur Channa lying there, wrapped in thick bandages around her neck, looking like the living dead.

Although she was relieved to hear she was alive, the memory of her bloodless lips, tightly shut eyes, and Jeong Pilkyu’s anguished expression still lingered, stirring a bitter aftertaste in her chest.

“...I heard you’re rolling around with those Blast Corp operatives?”

“......”

Seoryeong blinked slowly. Her senses felt so dull she couldn’t even register where she was standing.

Gradually, the clamorous noise from within the barracks seeped back into her ears, breaking through the fog. Standing frozen in the middle of the hallway, recruits carrying bath baskets cast curious glances her way as they passed by.

“Hello? Ganna-unnie, are you too exhausted to talk?”

“I still got up after just half a day.”

Seoryeong responded bluntly as she took a step forward. Hur Channa let out a small giggle on the other end.

“I heard all about it from your brother-in-law.”

“Well, the truth is... I was actually fired from the company. But CEO Kang Taegon was the one who made me the offer first.”

“That’s not it. I heard you saved me, unnie.”

“......!”

“Thank you. I remember everything.”

“......”

“I remember how you stayed by my side back then... with that look on your face. That’s why I wasn’t scared at all.”

This kind of one-sided gratitude felt as awkward as wearing ill-fitting clothes. It made her feel uncomfortably restless, as if her ears were burning.

Seoryeong scratched at her feverish forehead and moved away from her spot.

“I didn’t really do anything. It was Instructor Lee Wooshin—no, your team leader, Channa-ssi. He was the one who gave me each and every instruction. That’s the only reason I managed to stay focused. Channa-ssi, you were in real danger.”

Saying that, her mind naturally drifted to Lee Wooshin.

Those eyes, filled with certainty to the point of being unsettling, and that firm, unyielding voice. Even just recalling it made her heart tremble slightly.

Everyone else had given up on finding her husband. But that man, that man alone, had said he would find him. He didn’t even know what kind of person Kim Hyeon was but said he would do it willingly.

Just replaying that conversation made her want to waver again, but Seoryeong quickly shook her head. If she had impulsively accepted his offer, it was obvious that all she would get in return was unnecessary interference and hindrance in what she had to do next.

“But still, unnie...”

A cautious voice leaked through the receiver.

How could someone so easily offer their neck to another, unless it was the other way around?

“Ganna-unnie, you’re my savior. You’re the kind of person I could never repay, even if I spent my whole life by your side.”

Yeah, just like that...

“You didn’t just save my life; you saved my family too. From now on, I’ll be your sixth finger, living the rest of my life brilliantly in your service.”

First, lower yourself... what?

“I’m saying I’ll be your magpie!”

The overly enthusiastic, metallic voice made Seoryeong pull the phone away from her ear.

“What are you talking about...?”

“What, do you hate magpies? They’re harbingers of good luck and even build Ojak Bridge!”

Staggering slightly, Seoryeong made her way back into the barracks. The TV blared on without purpose, and the other recruits were sprawled out, dead to the world.

Seoryeong sighed, rubbing her forehead.

“Channa-ssi, you really shouldn’t say things like that to just anyone. There are bad people out there who, once they know how capable you are, will only think of how to use you.”

“I don’t say things like that to just anyone!”

“You just did.”

“...Huh?”

“Bad people think about your neck size first.”

Yeah... I want to put a collar on someone, not have one put on me. Seoryeong let out a bitter laugh as the image of Lee Wooshin’s oppressive face flashed through her mind.

Still, if only she could use him... It was a thought that had been circling her mind ever since she left the infirmary. Feigning a gentle tone, she continued,

“In exchange, I’ll give you food and water.”

“...Huh?”

“How about staying at my place for a while after you’re discharged? I’ll give you the house password too. The windows don’t have bars on them. And I’ll make sure you get dessert.”

“......”

Receiving no response, Seoryeong’s brows furrowed upward.

“See? Why did you call me first then?”

“......Beep, beep, beep.”

“Stop playing dead.”

Seoryeong was still weak when it came to things that were “hers.” Not those who tried to use her, but those who came to her pitifully, showing all their cards. It made her feel as if that old void inside her was being filled.

That was why she had hung herself on Kim Hyeon, acting as if she would give away her liver and lungs. Listening to Channa’s laughter, Seoryeong merely tightened her grip on the phone.

At that moment, amidst the rumbling snores echoing through the barracks, a sharp, composed voice pierced through the noise. The greenish glow from the TV illuminated the dim room.

『Former Assemblyman Park Gwangdu, who had been on trial for receiving fifty billion won in bribes under the guise of severance pay for his son, was found not guilty by the court in its first ruling. The court concluded that his son maintained an independent livelihood from Park and did not transfer any money to or use it for his father, making it difficult to consider it a bribe...』

Hur Channa, the poor and naive girl. Why are you grateful to me? I’m not the type to show false ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ modesty.

If someone owed her, she would collect the debt with interest. Her crescent-shaped eyes remained fixed on the TV screen.

“Channa-ssi, you said you once robbed a bank when you were sixteen, right?”

***

“...Are you out of your mind right now?”

The sound of a chair rolling violently echoed through the phone. Na Wonchang’s voice, trembling with fear, came through the earpiece.

“What... what are you asking me to do? Team Leader, what exactly are you ordering me to do?!”

“Did you not understand me?”

“Team Leader...!”

The second round of recovery for the recruits had started, and the first thing they did was sleep off the exhaustion they had accumulated. They slept for over thirty consecutive hours without eating and then dragged themselves to their seats for another round of grueling classes, wandering in and out of the infirmary all the while.

After spending several days in this cycle, the recruits were now back on their feet, slowly jogging around the training yard in their military boots, trying to loosen their stiffened bodies.

Lee Wooshin stood on the rooftop, facing the biting wind as he looked down at the training yard below.

The same idiots who once gasped for air after a mere two-kilometer run were now showing a decent form as they jogged.

By the time they completed their training, their stamina would have improved to the point where a ten-kilometer run at full speed wouldn’t be a problem.

Lee Wooshin’s eyes zeroed in on Han Seoryeong. She was running alongside one of the other recruits, laughing and occasionally shoving each other’s shoulders in jest. His eyes darkened as he watched them.

“188 centimeters, 80 kilograms, male corpse. Get me one. Doesn’t matter how — a fall, an accident, whatever. Preferably mangled enough that the lower half is unrecognizable.”

“...No, no. What I don’t understand is why you’re suddenly asking for a Kim Hyeon mask in the middle of discussing a corpse! What the hell are you planning to do to Owl?! Wasn’t the operation over?!”

“I thought so too. I thought we’d pulled out perfectly.”

“And?”

“We were wrong, Wonchang.”

Lee Wooshin stroked his cheek and let out a subtle smile. The attempt to handle her the way he used to had utterly backfired. The woman who used to believe his every word without question was gone.

Owl could be controlled, but Han Seoryeong could not.

Owl had seemed fragile enough to break, but Han Seoryeong was a stubborn creature who survived through hell.

Owl had been his wife, but Han Seoryeong was not his woman. The same tactics that had once worked on Owl were now nothing more than a losing move when dealing with Han Seoryeong.

Now, all he was left with was the image of a pathetic superior who took out his post-divorce frustrations on a female recruit. Every time he thought about that day, the frown lines on his forehead deepened.

“She shouldn’t just disappear. She should have been dead from the start.”

“...!”

“If Kim Hyeon had been dead from the very beginning, she wouldn’t be clinging to this idea of finding her husband.”

“......”

“If that were the case, she wouldn’t have stepped foot into this world, wouldn’t have gone through this hell, wouldn’t have thrown herself at every dick in sight.”

A chilling voice seeped through his clenched teeth, and the other end of the earpiece fell silent.

“So just throw a corpse in front of her.”

Whenever he faced Han Seoryeong, there were times when he wanted to claw at his own cheek. It was as if he couldn’t shake the feeling that the mask of “Kim Hyeon” was still stuck to his skin, a bizarre, haunting delusion that made his head spin.

Kim Hyeon was nothing but a shadow, a phantom. And yet, sometimes, he still felt the ghost of that man — who once whispered sweet nothings to her — lingering as a sticky, ugly residue on his skin.

But that residue was no longer the memory of a happy time. It was nothing but a disgusting, pointless crust.

Which was why he had to properly, completely erase it. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

“I’m going to rip those two apart.”

“...!”

Not knowing what Kang Taegon’s true intentions were, and unable to either eliminate or fully control her, the solution was simple. He just had to strip Han Seoryeong of her motivation.

“What husband? Fuck that.”

Lee Wooshin twitched his frozen cheek and fixed his predatory gaze on her retreating figure.

She thinks she can find Kim Hyeon on her own? How? There’s no way you’ll find him. I won’t let you catch me.

After standing there for a long while, the man finally exhaled a cold breath and turned away.

“And send me the Owl files again.”

“If you’re talking about the Owl files... You already have them, Team Leader.”

“Not those.”

As he moved away, he suddenly swung his elbow into the alarm panel on the rooftop. The device shattered with a loud crack, and a deafening siren began to blare across the training yard.

The recruits, who had been jogging in a tight formation, scattered in confusion. Lee Wooshin watched with a crooked smile as their bodies finally spread out, creating more space between them.

“Not the ones the deputy director gave me. I want you to start from scratch. Birth records and everything. You go through them yourself.”

“...What? Team Leader, wait — wait a second. That’s a violation of the NIS regulations...!”

Wonchang’s panicked voice stammered out. He was the type who stuck to the rules like gospel.

“Kim Hyeon might die without ever knowing, but I need to know.”

At that moment, Lee Wooshin finally dropped his long-standing act of merely observing.

“I can’t crack open Han Seoryeong’s mind, and it’s driving me fucking insane, Wonchang.”