## — Seoryeong —
"Are you alive and well, sis?"
The hoarse voice crackling through the phone made Seoryeong freeze mid-step, bewildered.
*Who was this?*
*Was it really Channa?*
She opened her mouth to respond but found herself at a loss for words—as if someone had snatched away her turn to speak. Perhaps it was because she had been trapped in this training camp for nearly two months. Everything felt unreal now, like events viewed through frosted glass.
The memory of Channa lying in that hospital bed—wrapped in thick bandages, face colorless, utterly *lifeless*—felt like something from years ago rather than weeks. And although relief flooded through Seoryeong knowing Channa had survived, every time she remembered those pale lips, those tightly closed eyes, Pilgyu's grief-stricken expression hovering over his sister's body—
Something rough churned in her chest. Something that refused to settle.
"Are you still stuck with those guys from Blast over there?"
"…"
Seoryeong blinked slowly. Her mind felt dull, sluggish, barely aware of where she was standing. The commotion in the barracks gradually penetrated her empty ears—footsteps, voices, the clatter of equipment. She stood frozen in the middle of the hallway while several men carrying shower baskets passed by, shooting her curious glances.
"Hello? Sis? Did you faint from exhaustion?"
"No." Seoryeong's voice came out flat. "I just woke up, but it seems half the day is already gone."
Channa chuckled softly on the other end of the line. The sound of her pacing—restless even from a hospital bed—carried through the speaker.
"I heard the story from my brother-in-law."
"Well, about that…" Seoryeong hesitated. "I was actually fired from the company, but Mr. Kang Taegon offered me a job first."
"That's not what I meant."
Channa's voice softened, growing serious.
"I heard you saved me, sis."
"…!"
"Thank you. I remember everything."
Seoryeong fell silent, unsure how to respond. She waited for Channa to continue.
"Back then… when you stood by my side with such a determined face." A pause. "I wasn't scared at all."
Such one-sided gratitude felt awkward. Uncomfortable. Like wearing clothes that didn't fit. Seoryeong's ears grew warm, and she scratched her forehead absently while slowly walking away from the crowded hallway.
"I didn't do anything special," she said quietly. "At that time, Instructor Lee Wooshin—no, I mean, it was *you,* Channa, who gave all the instructions. I could only stay calm because of that. You were really in danger back then."
As soon as the words left her mouth, Lee Wooshin's face flashed unbidden in her mind.
Those eyes—full of conviction, almost intimidating. That voice—firm and unyielding. Just recalling it was enough to make her heart beat faster.
*He said he would find my husband.*
*The person everyone had forgotten.*
Without knowing what Kim Hyeon was really like, without any reason to care, Wooshin had volunteered those words. Just remembering the offer made her want to reconsider—
But Seoryeong shook her head sharply.
*No.*
If she had accepted that offer, unnecessary distractions would have arisen. Complications she couldn't afford. Whatever she had to do next, she needed to do it alone.
"But still, sis…"
Channa's voice turned cautious, almost reverent.
"You're my savior. I could spend the rest of my life repaying this debt."
Seoryeong shifted uneasily where she stood.
"You not only saved my life, but also my family's. I'll be your sixth finger for the rest of my life—I'll fulfill that promise, sis."
She could imagine Channa bowing painfully to the ground, forehead pressed to the floor in gratitude.
"I mean—I'll be your *magpie!*"
Seoryeong jerked the phone away from her ear, wincing at Channa's sudden enthusiasm.
"…What do you mean?"
"Don't tell me you don't like magpies?" Channa's voice was bright, almost giddy. "They say they bring good luck! They even built the Ojakgyo Bridge!"
*The Ojakgyo Bridge.* The setting for Korea's most famous love story—where two lovers could only meet when magpies formed a bridge across the galaxy.
Seoryeong pushed open the door to her room and stepped inside. The space was quiet except for the low murmur of the television. Her teammates lay sprawled across their bunks, unconscious, dead to the world. She sighed and scratched her forehead again.
"Channa, you shouldn't say such things carelessly. Evil people who know you're that grateful will definitely try to take advantage of you."
"I've never talked like this to anyone else!"
"You just did."
"What?"
"Evil people will look at the size of your neck first."
Seoryeong chuckled—cold, knowing—and Lee Wooshin's stern face surfaced in her mind once more.
*If only I could use him.*
The thought had been lingering since she left the infirmary. She began to speak in a more familiar tone.
"So… you said you want to be my magpie? In return, how about I give you food and water?"
"Huh?"
Seoryeong could hear the confusion in Channa's voice. She smiled.
"When you get out of the hospital, just stay at my house for a while. I'll give you the code. There are no bars on the windows—you can come and go as you please. I'll bring you dessert too."
Silence on the other end.
"…Beep. Beep. Beep."
Channa pretended to hang up.
"Don't say foolish things, Channa."
But something in Seoryeong's chest *shifted.*
Seeing someone who wasn't trying to take advantage of her—someone approaching her openly, laying all their cards on the table without hesitation—suddenly filled a long-standing emptiness. The need to have something she could call *mine.*
*That's why I was so obsessed with Kim Hyeon.*
He had acted as if he was willing to give her everything. And she had believed him.
Hearing Channa's laughter through the phone, Seoryeong gripped the device tighter. Just then, a clear, sharp voice cut through the sound of snoring in the barracks. The greenish light from the TV screen illuminated the dimly lit room.
> *"Former Assemblyman Park Kwang-doo, who was tried on charges of receiving 5 billion won in bribes under the guise of his son's severance pay, has been acquitted. The court concluded that the son lived independently and did not pass the money to his father, making it difficult to categorize as a bribe…"*
*Pathetic.*
*Channa, why do you have to thank me?*
*I don't believe in gratitude.*
*If someone owes me, I'll collect—with interest.*
Seoryeong's crescent-shaped eyes remained fixed on the television screen, her expression unreadable.
"Channa," she said softly. "You said you robbed a bank when you were sixteen, right?"
---
## — Wooshin —
"Are you out of your mind?"
From the other end of the line, Lee Wooshin heard the rough rolling of chair wheels. Wonchang's voice in his earpiece sounded terribly shaky—*panicked,* even.
*What are you doing? Team leader, what exactly do you want me to do?!*
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Team leader!"
The team members who had just received their second recovery injection were busy catching up on lost sleep. They had slept for over thirty hours without eating, following the same brutal routine: class, then the infirmary. Over and over again.
After several days like that, the soldiers had finally put their combat boots back on and begun walking slowly around the barracks, warming up their bodies.
On the rooftop, Lee Wooshin stood watching them, the cold wind cutting against his face.
*Initially, they had nearly fainted after running two kilometers.*
*Now, their posture was steady.*
*Later, when this training was over, they would be able to run a full ten kilometers without stopping.*
Among them, Lee Wooshin's eyes immediately caught Han Seoryeong's figure.
She was running with her teammates, conversing, sometimes smiling. She even patted a comrade's shoulder amiably—casual, warm, *human.*
The look in Wooshin's eyes instantly hardened.
"Find a male corpse," he said quietly. "188 centimeters tall. Around 80 kilograms. It would be better if the lower body was unrecognizable—fell from a height, or something similar."
"…No, that's not—I mean, *why* are you looking for a corpse? And then suddenly asking for a Kim Hyeon mask? And an owl? I thought this operation was over!"
"I thought so too." Wooshin's voice was flat. "It should have been a complete withdrawal."
"Huh?"
"We were wrong, Wonchang."
Lee Wooshin smiled thinly, touching his cheek where the cold had numbed his skin.
His efforts to control her as before were completely futile. The woman who had once fully believed his words was no longer there.
An *owl* could be controlled.
But Han Seoryeong could not.
An owl looked fragile—and his wife in the past *had* been fragile. Trusting. Malleable.
But the current Han Seoryeong was different. She was a *resilient* human. Someone who could survive hell week training. Someone who pushed back.
The methods that had worked on the owl were useless when applied to her now.
And because of that, Lee Wooshin had transformed into something disgusting: a bitter superior who vented his post-divorce frustration on the female team member. His brow furrowed every time he recalled that day in the infirmary.
*"Did your wife cheat on you?"*
*"Did she also keep a list of men—like I did?"*
"Instead of making her disappear," Wooshin said slowly, "let's make it seem like Kim Hyeon died."
"…!"
"If Kim Hyeon was dead from the start, she would never have thought of looking for him."
Wonchang fell silent—stunned.
"She won't get involved in this. She won't have to go through the trouble of searching. And she won't be obsessed with…" His jaw tightened. "…male genitalia."
Lee Wooshin's voice sounded cold and cruel through the quiet earpiece.
"So just get me that bastard's corpse."
---
Sometimes, when dealing with Han Seoryeong, Wooshin felt an urge to tear off his own face.
A strange, terrible illusion haunted him constantly: the sensation that he was still wearing the *Kim Hyeon* mask. That the sweet, devoted figure who had once given herself to him so completely still clung to his skin like a damp patch—impossible to wash away.
*Kim Hyeon* was just an illusion.
But the illusion had weight. Texture. *Presence.*
What clung to his body now was no longer a beautiful memory.
Just meaningless filth.
*Therefore, he had to clean it up.*
*It had to be completely resolved.*
"Those two—Han Seoryeong and her husband—" Wooshin's voice dropped to something dangerous. "I will completely separate them until they are *destroyed.*"
"―!"
Although he didn't know for certain what CEO Kang Taegon's intentions were, if he couldn't eliminate her—if he couldn't *control* Han Seoryeong—then the method was simple:
**_Destroy her motivation._**
*Husband?*
*Screw that.*
Lee Wooshin moved his frozen jaw, staring at Han Seoryeong's retreating back with a hunter's gaze.
*You think you can find Kim Hyeon on your own?*
*How will you find him?*
*I won't let myself be caught by you.*
His thoughts were resolute. This hunt had to be finished.
After standing for a long time in the biting wind, he finally turned around, exhaling a frozen breath into the air.
"And re-collect the owl data. Send it to me."
"Regarding the owl—you already have all the data, Chief."
"Not that one."
As he moved, Wooshin's elbow inadvertently struck the alarm button mounted on the rooftop wall. A siren blared instantly, cutting across the training grounds. The soldiers who had been jogging lightly were startled, confused, scattering in all directions.
Lee Wooshin watched the bodies that had previously been close together now spreading apart—and smirked crookedly.
"Not the one from the deputy director. The one you yourself reviewed from the birth reports." His voice hardened. "Starting today."
"What? Wait a minute—Chief, that violates NIS regulations!"
Wonchang's panicked voice was clear through the earpiece. Na Wonchang had always been known for being strict about the principle of separation of work.
"Kim Hyeon wouldn't dig into his personal life," Wooshin said quietly. "But *I* need to know."
At this point, Lee Wooshin had abandoned all previous caution.
"I feel like hell every day, Wonchang…"
His gaze drifted back toward the scattered soldiers, searching automatically for one particular figure among them.
"…because I can't get inside Han Seoryeong's head."