“Ugh...”

At the sound of a groan slipping out, Seoryeong lowered her head and stared intently at the deputy director’s face.

So this is what she looks like... Her eyeballs were starting to shift slightly, a sign she might be waking up. Ju Seolheon, who had been lying motionless like a corpse, furrowed her brows and slowly opened her eyelids. Seoryeong greeted the awakening deputy director with a bright smile.

“You’re awake?”

“......!”

Maybe it was the tear gas—her sclera was bloodshot and inflamed. Ju Seolheon tried moving her body, but her bound limbs didn’t budge an inch.

Seoryeong, as if waiting for this, pried open the director’s eyelids and poured in a steady stream of saline solution.

“Ugh...! What are you doing...!”

The woman shook her head from side to side, groaning low—kugh...!

“It’s just water. Your eyes looked irritated.”

“Ugh...!”

“If tear gas gets in the wrong way, it can cause temporary blindness, they say.”

“.......”

“I’m rinsing them out in case something goes wrong, so just stay still, please.”

Her unexpectedly gentle tone matched the white blouse she wore. But the grip that grabbed Ju Seolheon’s chin and jerked it up was the exact opposite.

Seoryeong pried open the eyelids again and poured more liquid without hesitation. Her own cold face reflected in the pupils staring back.

“Blink.”

Under the strange pressure, the deputy director blinked quietly, then looked around. The old monitor, defibrillator, blood pressure cuff—at the sight of them, she asked in stunned confusion,

“Where... where are we going?”

“The destination is for you to tell us. We’re heading wherever Kim Hyeon is.”

“......!”

“If you keep your mouth shut, this vehicle isn’t stopping.”

“.......”

“And neither am I.”

Seoryeong tore open the packaging of a disposable syringe needle and grabbed Ju Seolheon’s hand. A scream ripped out—Agh...!—as she drove the needle deep under the nail.

Apply enough leverage from there and the nail would come off. The deputy director, who knew this perfectly well, clenched her teeth and glared. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

“You...!”

“If you treated someone like a blind cripple, you should get the same treatment in return.”

Seoryeong muttered between her teeth, then jabbed the needle in again, and again.

“Ugh...!”

Lee Wooshin watched it all in the rearview mirror, calm and unhurried.

Did I train her this well? he wondered briefly. But remembering the intel Na Wonchang had given him, it wasn’t so strange that she had turned out this fearless.

He turned the steering wheel with composure and pressed the radio button. A pop song perfect for a drive started playing.

“Where is Kim Hyeon?”

Seoryeong opened a second syringe package.

“Was there something left you had to take from me? Is that why you sent in my husband, and even planted someone from my boot camp? But no matter how I think about it, I’m just an orphan who dropped out of high school and tried to live decently.”

“.......”

“Even if Kim Hyeon was a fake husband ordered to marry me, to me, he was a real partner. I believed in that for two and a half years, and as you can see, my life’s completely wrecked.”

“......!”

“I didn’t want to live like this either, and yet here I am stabbing you with syringe needles.”

“.......”

“So tell me. Why did you send that man to me? Why did you do it...?!”

Ju Seolheon’s blank expression didn’t change, but her lashes trembled minutely.

“Why would you send such a kind person—and then take him away again?!”

The veins bulged in her delicate neck.

It was the first time since her husband’s disappearance that she had directly demanded accountability from someone. And even though that alone brought a sliver of release—it wasn’t enough to feel relief. She squinted, her eyes reddened, and shouted again.

“Who do you think you are, trampling my family, even messing with my eyes...!”

“.......”

Still no reply from the deputy director. Her unmoving silence made Seoryeong grind her teeth harder.

“If you’re not going to talk, then let’s end it here. You should at least serve as my outlet.”

Aaagh...!

In the end, the nail came off. Now the deputy director was drooling for a whole different reason than tear gas.

Seoryeong pressed on the bleeding flesh and inserted the second needle into another spot. Even through the pain twisting her face, Ju Seolheon let out a low chuckle.

“Your family?”

Her voice was mocking.

“What makes you think that was your family? That was my creation.”

“......!”

Seoryeong froze mid-motion, staring at the woman sneering before her.

“You really want the truth?”

Ju Seolheon said it in a hoarse, provocative voice.

“You still don’t understand what you went through. Your entire marriage was documented and submitted in reports—what you ate three times a day, how you cooked it, what you talked about.”

“.......”

“How many times you had sex each month.”

For a moment, it felt like her solar plexus had been punched. She couldn’t breathe. Even the pop song from the radio cut off, and silence wrapped around the vehicle.

“Falling for Kim Hyeon wasn’t fate or coincidence—it was all by my plan, my orchestration.”

“......!”

“You two weren’t living a married life. You were just playing roles.”

SCREECH—the vehicle suddenly slammed to a stop, bodies lurching forward. Whether it was because a car had cut in or not, Lee Wooshin cursed under his breath, “Fucking hell...”

But Seoryeong didn’t even spare a glance toward the driver’s seat. Her entire body was wrapped in the oily glint of Ju Seolheon’s contemptuous eyes.

“I’ll admit, it’s impressive you made it this far alone. But the shard you’ve pulled out is just one of dozens. Truth is like a mirror shattered into tens of thousands of pieces, and you think Kim Hyeon is the whole truth.”

“.......”

“Then go on, chase that love of yours.”

The arrogant tilt of her chin said the rest: Take only that. Don’t ask for anything else.

It was a negotiation.

Seoryeong stared at her with trembling eyes. But that high-handed, charity-giving tone grated on her nerves.

She was with Kim Hyeon? People like this? Seoryeong swallowed the fury rising in her gut and opened her eyes wide.

“You sure toss away your agents easily, don’t you?”

“......!”

“Kim Hyeon isn’t some disposable tool... Why are you treating him like this?”

She didn’t know why, but she was angry. A few pulled nails were nothing. What burned her up was how they used and discarded Kim Hyeon.

And that the group he chose over her—was this.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t have talked even if you ripped my organs out.”

She bit her lip and grabbed the defibrillator. Through the rearview mirror, her eyes met Lee Wooshin’s.

She didn’t know how long he’d been watching, but his eyes clung to her obsessively, visibly shaken. His brows were tight with tension, and though his face looked pale for a moment, his gaze was searing.

Seoryeong barely turned away, forcing herself to focus on what was in front of her. She was too busy, and too pissed off.

“Well, since you gave up Kim Hyeon for so cheap...”

She backed off and removed the needle from under the director’s nail. Then, turning on the defibrillator, she pressed the charged paddles to the woman’s shoulder, muttering harshly.

“I’ll be sure to take him for a high price.”

Kggghhh...!

Ju Seolheon’s limbs convulsed violently as her eyes rolled back from the electric shock.

Seoryeong reset the voltage and pressed down hard on various parts of the director’s arm. Each time, the emergency bed let out a sharp metallic rattle.

“You hand over something I cherish so easily, and expect me not to be mad?”

“Ugh...!”

“I never planned to get him easy in the first place—”

“Ugh...!”

“I haven’t even given up, so why are you quitting first?”

“.......”

“You people are more disloyal than someone like me who’s only ever played pretend!”

That’s when Ju Seolheon gasped for breath and shot her a glare.

“Even if you find Kim Hyeon... what do you think will change?”

“......!”

Though her lips were trembling, her expression remained cool and composed.

There was a faint glint in her eyes like someone already several steps ahead. It was the confidence of someone with something left to bet on.

“You’ll never find out anything. Do you really think an agent of the NIS, sworn to uphold its code, would betray the state and spill everything to you?”

“......!”

“Kim Hyeon is an elite. He would never reveal mission details to a target like you. Same goes for his identity. His real name, age—you’ll never hear any of it.”

“.......”

“So go ahead. Take him if you want.”

Her temple throbbed with her pounding pulse. Why does this feel worse than not getting him at all?

“This kind of torture—let’s be honest, it’s all you’ve got. But I doubt you’ll ever crack Kim Hyeon.”

“.......”

“He’s the kind of person who’d keep his mouth shut even if you tore out his organs.”

Her unflinching voice pierced like a blade to the heart.

“Or do you—maybe—actually think Kim Hyeon loves you?”

“......!”

“Think you can rely on a little affection?”

The deputy director’s face twisted—like she was looking at something pathetic or pitiable.

“That face you make when you talk about love... it’s always so glossy and pitiful.”

“.......”

She felt like she was sealed on all sides. Seoryeong flopped down against the wall, tossing the defibrillator paddles aside.

Whichever direction she turned, it was nothing but black, sucking swamp that tested her and mocked her.

The horrifying sensation of having her face shoved into a pit full of viscous words. Distrust, fear, and self-loathing surged inside her.

She buried her forehead on her knees and gasped for air. Her insides boiled, but no rebuttal came to mind. She couldn’t say a single thing. And that made her feel truly pathetic.

“Han Seoryeong.”

At that moment, the van swerved into a sudden turn, flinging her sideways. Her head and elbow hit the floor, and the mental spiral she’d been sinking into snapped.

She shook her head, forcing herself upright. Then, a calm voice floated in from the driver’s seat.

“Kinda hard ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) to break a person, isn’t it?”

Through the rearview mirror, she met Lee Wooshin’s bent, burning gaze.

“Switch with me, Seoryeong.”