"…!"
Finally, Seoryeong slammed the steering wheel hard while gritting her teeth.
The sound of the rear tires skidding on the road screamed loudly—**Screeech!**—until it felt like it pierced her eardrums.
As soon as she crossed the center line and returned to the south side, she deliberately ran over the spike strips laid out on the road surface.
**Bang! Bang!**
The sound of the tires bursting made her feel relieved to the point of almost crying.
It was then that a dim white light began to approach rapidly.
As the blinding headlights drew closer, her tense body suddenly felt light. Several soldiers jumped out of the jeep quickly and immediately pointed their weapons at her SUV.
They began to surround the car.
"Drag her out! Pull her out quickly!"
"Vehicle owner with license plate number 3714 from Gyeonggi Province, you are under emergency arrest!"
Seoryeong's sweat-soaked hands slowly slipped off the steering wheel.
Her car with its burst tires could no longer move, so Seoryeong unlocked the car in silence. Then a rough hand of an officer forcibly pulled her out.
Seoryeong allowed herself to be arrested without resistance.
She obediently bowed her head over the hood of the car, and even though her arms were twisted behind her back, she couldn't help but say:
"What took you so long…"
---
Two men in suits entered the interrogation room.
As soon as her vision returned to normal, Seoryeong automatically compared every man she met to Kim Hyeon—whether it was his posture, skin color, the look in his eyes, or the shape of his lips.
She kept observing and comparing, between hope and doubt mixed together.
The two men looked similar. They both wore glasses and had firm-looking lip expressions.
Seoryeong looked at them coldly even though she knew she would face a tough interrogation. She had been arrested by the military, handed over to the police, and was now being investigated for suspected violation of the National Security Act.
And as soon as the two men entered, she immediately knew:
_They were intelligence officers._
Instinct made her sit up straight.
"We are from the defense investigation division of the Intelligence Department."
The heaviness in her head slowly began to dissipate.
"As you may already know, you are charged with violating the National Security Act and damaging military property. You drove towards the Tongil Bridge, broke through the southern checkpoint, and headed north. You also crashed into military barriers. Is that correct?"
"Correct."
"Good. So you've already confessed."
His tone was very formal as he flipped through the pages of the thick investigation documents.
"Until the investigation is complete, the entire surrounding area is closed off. Currently, troops are patrolling, and the area is being inspected. This has become a big problem because this area is a popular tourist destination, and all group tours have had to be canceled because of you."
"Good, isn't it?"
"What?"
"One of the soldiers flinched and fell. If he has to be hospitalized, wouldn't that be better?"
"..."
The gaze of one of the officers sharpened.
Even though she was in a situation where she should have felt guilty or ashamed, Seoryeong stood calmly without any guilt. She had been used to facing things like this since she was young.
And now, it was no different.
Instead of feeling guilty, she actually felt disappointed that she didn't feel anything at all.
"You should be careful with your words. Everything you say will affect the legal process. The National Security Act punishes even the intention to commit a violation. So every statement you make is very important in the assessment process."
"..."
"What was your motivation for trying to cross over to North Korea?"
Seoryeong remained silent.
One of the intelligence officers pushed up his glasses and pressed the bridge of his nose.
"In that case, I'll change the question. Who is Kim Hyeon?"
A small smile appeared at the corner of Seoryeong's lips, as if she had been waiting for this question all along.
"They said that during the examination at the police station, you just repeated 'Kim Hyeon' over and over like a parrot."
"He's my husband."
"But according to the documents, your marital status is single, isn't it?"
"We've been living together de facto for two years."
"...!"
The two officers looked momentarily surprised and exchanged glances.
Seoryeong bit the inside of her lip to suppress the swirling emotions. The past that had once meant so much to her now felt like a cruel joke.
"The man you said disappeared recently is Kim Hyeon, isn't he?"
"That's right."
"So the reason you tried to cross over to North Korea was because of that man?"
This was the question she had been waiting for.
She no longer needed to remain silent. Seoryeong answered without hesitation, as if she had prepared her answer long ago.
Now her acting began.
"Chairman of the National Defense Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, Great Leader of the People..."
"...!"
The atmosphere in the room instantly froze.
Cold gazes pierced through her. Seoryeong bowed slightly, looking deeply and defiantly at the two officers. The sound of her fingernails scratching the wooden table in a certain rhythm echoed.
"It took a long time to memorize. Initially, I wanted to report that I had found a spy. But the problem is, I don't know my husband's real name or his real face. So I thought, maybe I've been living with a spy all this time without realizing it."
"...!"
"So, can you help me find him?"
She smiled seductively without averting her gaze, without blinking, almost without breathing.
She observed their movements like a predator.
Her face might look calm, but her eyes burned sharply. Seoryeong continued coldly, while the clock kept ticking.
"My motivation for trying to cross over to North Korea is Kim Hyeon. If he gets away, he might endanger the country. Therefore, the country **must** find him."
At that moment, the sound of a cell phone ringing was heard.
One of the officers hurriedly reached into his pocket and said, "Yes, Deputy Director," as he answered the phone.
Seoryeong didn't avert her gaze even slightly.
_Deputy Director…_
If it was that high of a rank, then he was the deputy head of the intelligence agency.
The officer answered, "Yes," repeatedly with a tense face, occasionally glancing at Seoryeong.
After hanging up, he took a long breath, pressed his temples, and then gestured to his colleague to head for the door.
The two stood up simultaneously.
Seoryeong didn't know what was happening.
"Alright. Our interrogation ends here."
"...!"
Seoryeong's face looked annoyed, turning sour with dissatisfaction.
_Why did everything suddenly end like this, when she had been in the upper hand just now?_
This unfair-feeling ending only made her suspicion grow stronger.
Instinctively, she turned towards the mirror that reflected the image from the other side of the room.
"Even though the attempt to cross over to North Korea is considered an act committed in a state of unsound mind, you still have to pay a fine of about ten million won for damaging military property. Your examination has been completed successfully. Now you can go home."
"...You know Kim Hyeon, don't you?"
"What?"
"Why hide it this far?"
"..."
"Did the counter-espionage division just look at my face and then leave?"
The officer sighed and replied in a tired tone, but Seoryeong's gaze remained fixed on the reflection behind the mirror.
"You better leave now… before I break that mirror."
"..."
"If you want to play hide-and-seek, then play with me. Come on, let's play together."
"Haa... Miss Seoryeong, stop joking."
Suddenly, Seoryeong, whose face had turned deathly pale, grabbed the folder on the table and threw it at the mirror.
The folder hit the glass and fell to the floor, and the documents inside scattered all over the room.
"You're the one joking with me…! Why didn't you ever investigate Kim Hyeon even once?!"
"..."
"Why hide it?!"
Seoryeong's cold voice echoed in the interrogation room.
Although she tried to restrain herself, her anger was difficult to control. Her breathing began to sound heavy, and the officer who was still in the room slowly backed away cautiously.
"You're still taking your medication as prescribed, right?"
"What?"
"If you take your medication regularly, your life won't be this complicated."
Those words made Seoryeong feel amused.
She laughed cynically and turned her face away.
"It seems you stopped taking your medication a long time ago. That's when you started fantasizing that your husband disappeared."
"...Medication? What medication?"
Seoryeong didn't understand what he meant.
She could only grit her teeth.
"I'm not sick. So why should I take medication?!"
"We just checked the records from your treating doctor."
"What?"
Her gaze followed the officer's, towards the scattered documents on the floor.
An unpleasant feeling spread down her spine like insects crawling upwards.
She knelt down and began to examine the documents one by one carefully.
And finally, she found…
> **Hanmareum Hospital, Punggyong.**
She found a document containing the doctor's notes from that hospital.
Her eyes turned cold as she quickly read the contents of the document.
Prescriptions for antipsychotics and a diagnosis letter for schizophrenia—although the dates were different, the content for each year was almost the same.
Last year, two years ago, even before that…
_No, this can't be real._
Hanmareum Hospital, Punggyong, was a place she had been going to since she was a child. There was a kind doctor there who always helped her through difficult times.
That doctor was even the only person she had personally given a wedding invitation to.
That hospital… was that place…
"――!"
Something was wrong.
_This couldn't be true._
Seoryeong's hand holding the document began to tremble.