"Hello, this is from the door lock company."
Seoryeong, bewildered by the unexpected call, hurried home immediately.
The company claimed to provide emergency services—an officer would be dispatched the moment any damage to the door lock was detected. Until receiving that call, Seoryeong hadn't even known her door had such a feature.
_My husband must have installed it._
"What the **hell** is this?!"
As soon as she arrived at the door, she was greeted by an unexpected sight: someone was confronting staff from the security company.
She paused for a moment, then closed her slightly open mouth and stepped forward.
The uniformed man saw her and greeted her with visible relief.
"You're the homeowner, right?"
"Yes, that's right. Why?"
"Ah! Finally, someone I can talk to." He exhaled heavily. "We responded to a security alarm, and this person was caught tampering with your door lock. He kept saying he knew you, but..."
The officer finally sighed in relief, but Seoryeong's confused gaze immediately shifted to the **person** in question.
The figure standing on the small porch had a large build and broad shoulders—filling the entire space. His striking presence automatically made her frown.
"You messed with the doorbell yesterday, and now you're removing the door lock, Instructor," she said coldly.
"Did you change your number?"
His question was direct and sharp.
It could simply be asking if Seoryeong had changed her number on time—or it could sound like a demanding interrogation about the reason behind the change.
It depended entirely on how one interpreted his tone.
"Yes. This morning."
Seoryeong then turned to the employee.
"There was an intruder who sneaked in, and I thought people like them might already know everything about our door locks."
She deliberately avoided mentioning the NIS while the security company employee was still there.
At that moment, the employee was still looking at Lee Wooshin suspiciously.
"However I look at it... this man isn't the husband I met before."
"What?"
Seoryeong's face stiffened at the comment.
"You **remember** my husband?"
"Of course."
The employee frowned for a moment, then said, "He was very tall. And he specifically asked me to take good care of the door lock in case his wife—who was ill—had trouble opening it."
"When was that?"
"Excuse me?"
Seoryeong immediately grabbed the man's wrist, causing him to step back slightly in surprise.
But this was the **first time** she had met someone who had actually seen Kim Hyeon—and her chest instantly felt heavy.
Without blinking, she pressed.
"When did you see him?"
"Ah! That was... towards the end of last year. Around autumn."
"...!"
_Right before Kim Hyeon disappeared._
Seoryeong gripped the man's wrist tighter, her eyes flashing sharply.
"What did he look like?"
"Excuse me?"
"You said you saw my husband, right? **What did he look like?**"
"Ah!"
"Do you remember any distinguishing features?"
At that moment, Lee Wooshin—who had been silent all along—clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He glared at Seoryeong with a sharp look, as if wanting to pierce her bruised cheek. Then he combed his hair back, as if all of this disgusted him.
"Well... he looked strong and friendly, I guess?"
"Like a rock?"
"What? Hmm, not that rough."
"But he was a handsome man, with a traditional face, right?"
Seoryeong **needed** this confirmation—about her husband's face. The face she could only imagine since Kim Hyeon disappeared.
Because everyone around them had also vanished at the same time as his departure, this was the **first** witness.
Even a little confirmation would make Kim Hyeon's existence feel real again.
"Ah, yes! That's right!"
The man nodded enthusiastically.
"But... your husband is no longer here, right?"
His tone suddenly softened. His gaze at Seoryeong felt a bit strange.
"So... you live alone now?"
"Alone? That's impossible."
A cold voice cut into the conversation.
"Can't you see she has a temperamental boyfriend?"
Lee Wooshin, who had previously disappeared after carelessly throwing down the bag, now reappeared—standing neatly in a clean black suit.
However formal his appearance was, it didn't erase the fact that he had just forcibly broken the door lock.
The lock now dangled in one of his hands. Wires of different lengths hung down like severed blood vessels, and the keypad cover was completely shattered.
"Do you think it's appropriate to ask such questions?"
Lee Wooshin growled at the employee.
"...!"
"If she really lived alone..."
He grabbed the employee's collar, his cold eyes sweeping the man's face from top to bottom.
"I already stopped by your house earlier today."
"...!"
"You said her husband asked you to take good care of everything, right? Then you should have done your job **properly**—instead of acting so foolishly."
"Foolishly? I didn't—!"
The officer struggled to maintain his balance on his tiptoes, his voice strained.
"You're not the only one who can access customer data."
Upon hearing that warning, the employee's face turned deathly pale—and he hurriedly fled.
---
However, the real problem only emerged afterward.
Seoryeong took a long breath, then massaged the bridge of her nose.
"Instructor! You **always** interfere in my affairs, don't you? If he had stayed, we might have gotten a facial sketch."
"That sketch is for a fugitive."
"**Exactly!**"
"..."
Lee Wooshin frowned, clearly dissatisfied. He then leaned down, looking intently at her.
His voice was low and firm—like someone scolding a child.
"You don't need to deal with suspicious people like that. Even if you look for him, you won't be able to meet him again. So stop wasting your energy."
His tone sounded as if it were an absolute truth.
Overwhelmed by a strange feeling, Seoryeong could only stare at him in silence.
Suddenly, the old doubts and complaints she had previously suppressed resurfaced.
"I didn't get a chance to ask back then because I was distracted, but... I saw your car leaving the alley. How did you know to come back here?"
"Something felt off."
His eyebrows lazily rose.
"And breaking someone else's door lock is a reasonable response in your opinion?"
"I didn't know the code either."
"..."
"But I figured—if I really crossed the line, Agent Han Seoryeong would come out quickly." He tilted his head. "And I think the plan worked out pretty well."
Seoryeong was speechless.
Honestly, considering how panicked she was when she heard her door lock being broken, the man's words weren't entirely wrong.
"I didn't expect Agent Han Seoryeong to question common sense," he added with a small smile, pushing the remains of the broken door lock with his thumb.
"Once the lock is broken, it's useless. I was planning to replace it with a new one today anyway."
"Without telling the homeowner?"
"You slept with an instructor in the middle of the snow, but now you don't trust him?"
"..."
_This isn't about trust, is it?_
As Seoryeong sat in silence, unable to believe everything that had happened, Lee Wooshin knelt down and took out a new door lock from the duffel bag he had brought.
She had thought the bag belonged to Wooshin—but it never occurred to her that it contained a set of **tools**, not personal belongings.
Her eyes blinked slowly as she saw the contents: a set of screwdrivers with various head types—Phillips, flat, hex, star, and triangular.
With a flat, expressionless face, he removed the old screws and drilled new holes in the door.
His hands were deft. He now seemed talented in home repair as well.
Just a few days ago, he had been like this too—cleaning up the messy house due to the oil spill roughly but quickly, then silently handing Seoryeong ointment for her face before leaving.
There were so many things she should have asked him. But there was no reason to chase after a man who always left with a face as cold as stone.
The days just passed by.
Seoryeong glanced at Wooshin, who was now focused on installing the new lock.
His suit pants were pulled taut without a single wrinkle—probably because he was kneeling.
Her gaze briefly fell on the thigh muscles that bulged beneath the fabric, and she quickly looked away, feeling her chest heat up as if she had been burned.
---
"There's one thing I hope you can respect—even if we have to live together later," she said.
He raised an eyebrow and glanced at her.
"Outside the master bedroom... there's a study and a closet that my husband used to use. I've locked that door. So please—don't be curious or break into it like today."
Wooshin's hands—which had been moving steadily—paused for a moment.
The electric drill in his hand hummed in the silence.
He looked at Seoryeong with an unreadable expression, then swallowed slowly and looked down again, continuing his work as before.
With slightly furrowed brows, he murmured softly—flatly.
"I feel like Bluebeard's wife."
"What?"
"It's a fairy tale. There was a nobleman who told his wife that she was free to explore the entire house—except for one room." He paused. "Of course, the wife couldn't resist. And when she opened that door, she found the corpses of his missing former wives."
"That's a **children's** story?"
"Back then, children's stories were much more terrifying."
His tone sounded casual, but his expression was fleetingly ice-cold.
"More or less, that's how it is," Seoryeong replied lightly, resting her chin on her hand.
"That room holds memories—the smell, the atmosphere."
"..."
"So don't mess with it."
---
Without a word, Wooshin took Seoryeong's hand and placed it on the door handle.
The touch was hot and damp.
In a low voice, he explained that the handle was now equipped with a **vein recognition system**. Like a scanner, the system would read the veins in her palm like a barcode.
Seoryeong's eyes widened slightly.
"Where did you even get technology like this?"
"It's used more often than you think."
His firm jaw and confident gaze made it difficult for Seoryeong to ask further questions.
"No one will be able to break in again. So—don't let your face get bruised again."
The pressure on her palm felt strong.
Wooshin pressed Seoryeong's hand several times, seemingly to register her vein pattern into the system.
Her sensitive skin picked up every detail about him—the rough friction of his winter coat, the unfamiliar scent of his cologne, a faint, strange smell of shampoo, and his calm but steady breathing.
Everything felt too close. Too real.
Her head suddenly felt dizzy.
Seoryeong abruptly opened the door.
Because Wooshin was still holding her hand, he was pulled into the doorway with her.
She immediately pulled her hand away, frowning in annoyance.
After entering, she felt a little relieved—as if she could finally breathe more easily.
"You can stay in this room from now on," she said quickly, pointing to a small room.
"Channa stayed here for a while too, but it's just a guest room."
Wooshin's face subtly stiffened at the name.
"Channa stayed here?"
"Yes. Just for a bit."
"In this house?"
"Yes."
"..."
He frowned and said nothing.
Seoryeong continued speaking in a flat tone.
"And to be clear—this isn't living together. It's just a professional arrangement. Until my husband, Kim Hyeon, is found."
_Kim Hyeon._
Lee Wooshin repeated the name softly, as if tasting it on his tongue.
_Kim Hyeon. Kim Hyeon._
Seoryeong's chest felt tight hearing him say that name in a voice that was now becoming familiar.
He glanced around the house with an unreadable expression, then smiled faintly.
Was it anxiety? Or perhaps hope?
Seoryeong didn't know. But the tension between those two feelings seemed to echo within her.
"This house was a gift from my husband for our wedding anniversary. So your presence here doesn't make me comfortable. But since we've agreed, I won't make it awkward."
She met his eyes.
"Stay as long as you need to. But remember—once this is over, you have to leave."
"I understand."
Wooshin nodded slowly, as if he had been waiting for that moment.
---
Without hesitation, he walked to the balcony and pulled open all the blackout curtains.
Light swept through the room—starting from their feet and slowly rising upwards.
Before she knew it, the midday sunlight filled the space.
Seoryeong squinted and raised her hand, shielding her face from the light.
The previously gloomy house suddenly became bright.
Perhaps spring was still far away. But for the first time, she felt winter beginning to end.
All this time, she hadn't even realized time had passed.
But **this** time, she truly felt it.
A small happiness. A sense of peace that she hadn't even felt after her sight returned.
It was then that Lee Wooshin turned and looked at her.
"This time, let's finish everything—to the end. Together with Kim Hyeon."
"..."
The sunlight touching her face felt warm and soothing.
Even amidst the uncertain season, she was grateful to witness it with her own eyes.
In her chest, something trembled—an unfamiliar, restless feeling.