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  "That is exactly why I am going. Because I can disappear if things go wrong. You two can't."

  Min-su ground his teeth, the sound audible in the quiet room. He looked ready to punch Tae-yoon, just to keep him safe.

  "Then what about me? I just sit here and watch the GPS dot? Again?"

  "Are you going to carry everything on your back again? Are you going to suffocate yourself again like you did back then?"

  Tae-yoon’s lips pressed into a hard line. The accusation hit home.

  Then, he spoke very softly, his tone bordering on a desperate plea.

  "Da-yeon. I'm asking you."

  "You need to stick to her. You are the safety lock. If this meeting is a diversion, they will go for her. Only you can stop that."

  Min-su froze.

  For Tae-yoon, the name 'Da-yeon' wasn't just a word; it was a command code that overrode all logic. It was his ultimate vulnerability, and Min-su knew it.

  Min-su let out a breath that was half-sigh, half-curse, running a hand through his hair.

  "...Fuck. Fine. I got it. But if your signal goes dead for more than ten seconds, I'm burning this city down to find you."

  Tae-yoon gave a short, curt nod.

  He began to dress. He didn't put on a tactical vest or hide a weapon. He dressed like a salaryman. A beige trench coat over a cheap suit. Nondescript. Forgettable. A face that would dissolve in a crowd like salt in water.

  He left his smartphone on the desk.

  In his inner pocket, he placed only a burner phone that was turned off.

  As he closed the heavy iron door and ascended the stairs to the surface, Tae-yoon made a promise to himself.

  ‘I will confirm who this Ghost is. That is all.’

  ‘If they are someone capable of reason, I will make sure they can never move behind my back again. If they are an enemy... I will end it tonight.’

  It was a resolution, and at the same time, a warning to the night itself.

  Downtown Seoul. 11:20 PM.

  A crowded place.

  A place not to hide, but to blend.

  Tae-yoon was familiar with this method. It was the survival tactic of the urban prey.

  Back in the days when Yuri was still alive.

  And in the dark, drunken days that followed her death.

  Tae-yoon walked into the heart of the entertainment district.

  Neon lights from restaurants and bars spilled onto the streets like spilled paint—red, blue, toxic green. Laughter erupted from open doorways, smelling of alcohol and grilled meat. The screech of taxi brakes and the thumping bass of club music created the city's chaotic rhythm.

  Inside this cacophony, it was difficult to find someone. But it was equally difficult to be found.

  Tae-yoon stopped at a crosswalk, waiting for the light.

  He used the reflection in a shop window to check his six.

  He felt a gaze—a prickly sensation on the back of his neck, like a spider crawling up his spine—but there was no certainty. To turn his head and look around would be to admit he was spooked. That in itself would be a tell.

  So, Tae-yoon simply stood there. Like an ordinary, tired office worker waiting to go home after a long day of overtime.

  Only the razor-sharp tension was hidden deep within his chest, coiled like a spring.

  Then, it happened.

  "Kang... Jin-woo Oppa?"

  The voice cut through the noise of the city.

  It was short. It was low. But the name pierced Tae-yoon’s spine like an ice pick hammered by a giant.

  Kang. Jin. Woo.

  Tae-yoon’s body froze before his mind could process it. The world seemed to slow down. The neon lights blurred.

  That name was dead. It was a name that no longer existed in this world. He had buried it deep, beneath layers of code, lies, and the persona of 'Manager Kang'.

  But someone had just called it out. And they had done so with a terrifying, familiar casualness.

  Tae-yoon turned his head slowly, fighting the urge to run.

  There, amidst the flowing river of people, under the harsh glow of a streetlight.

  No hat. No mask. No hood.

  She wasn't hiding.

  In fact, her refusal to hide made her presence infinitely more terrifying.

  Hwang Seo-hui stood there.

  Her hair was cut short, sharp as a blade. Her face was pale, devoid of blood or warmth, like a porcelain doll left out in the rain.

  Her expression was blank, yet her eyes... those eyes were impossibly vivid. Burning with a cold fire.

  They were eyes Tae-yoon knew too well.

  The death of Yuri.

  The death of Seo-hui’s own brother.

  The scene of the tragedy, the smoke, the screams, and the brutal cleanup by Sungjin Group that followed.

  Seo-hui had always been there.

  They had endured together. They had crumbled together. And unable to pull each other out of the abyss, they had scattered into the darkness, carrying their own shards of guilt.

  Tae-yoon couldn't open his mouth.

  Breath caught in his throat, choking him. The ghost he feared most wasn't an assassin from Sungjin. It was this girl.

  Seo-hui took a step closer. The crowd parted around her as if sensing her cold aura.

  "It really is... you, Oppa."

  Tae-yoon finally found his voice. It sounded like scraping sandpaper.

  "...Seo-hui?"

  As soon as that name left his lips,

  Seo-hui’s mask cracked. Just a fraction of a millimeter.

  But that tiny fissure in her stoic expression was more shocking than if she had screamed.

  It was proof that this cold, ghost-like woman was still human. That she still felt pain.

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  "Oppa... You were alive."

  Tae-yoon let out a sound that wasn't quite a laugh. It was a dry heave of emotion.

  "I want to say the same thing."

  "Why... why are you here?"

  Seo-hui’s eyes narrowed, the momentary softness vanishing.

  "Why do you think?"

  "Because Sungjin is still breathing."

  Tae-yoon’s heart plummeted.

  "Don't tell me... are you moving alone?"

  Instead of answering, Seo-hui scanned Tae-yoon’s face, reading the lines of time and pain etched there. She looked at his cheap suit, his hunched shoulders.

  "You're the same, aren't you?"

  "Throwing away your name. Living in the shadows. Pretending to be dead."

  Tae-yoon took a step forward.

  Seo-hui didn't retreat.

  The distance between them closed, becoming as intimate and painful as it was in the 'old days'.

  Tae-yoon’s gaze turned sharp.

  "Then... were you the 'Ghost'?"

  "At the hideout? And the message to Da-yeon—"

  Seo-hui’s pupils trembled minutely.

  That tremor was enough.

  Tae-yoon was certain.

  It was her.

  Tae-yoon’s voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.

  "Are you crazy?"

  "Why did you touch my sister?"

  Seo-hui replied coldly, her voice devoid of apology.

  "I didn't touch her."

  "They were the ones who shook her first. I just watched."

  "And... I warned you."

  "If you aimed in the wrong direction, I told you I would stop you. Because you have a habit of hesitating."

  Tae-yoon’s jaw clenched.

  "Then the homework assignment."

  "The Sungjin Headquarters Central Control?"

  "Was that you, too?"

  Seo-hui averted her gaze for a split second, looking at the passing cars, then locked eyes with him again.

  "Yes."

  "I needed to check if you were still the 'Oppa' I knew."

  "Or if, after surviving... you had just become a monster consumed by revenge. Or worse, a coward hiding in a hole."

  Tae-yoon exhaled a long breath.

  Then, he smiled.

  But this time, it wasn't the cynical sneer of the Phantom. It was the smile of a deeply exhausted man seeing a reflection of his own pain.

  "Seo-hui-ah..."

  "Are you still using that method?"

  "Shouldering everything alone? Trying to die alone?"

  Seo-hui shot back, her words sharp as daggers.

  "Someone has to do it alone."

  "Who else will?"

  "Who takes responsibility for Yuri's death?"

  "Who takes responsibility for my brother's death?"

  "You... You disappeared."

  Tae-yoon’s face hardened.

  The words were blades.

  They struck the most painful, festering wound in his soul with surgical precision.

  "...I'm sorry."

  For the first time, Tae-yoon spoke directly, without deflection.

  "It took me too long to come back."

  "I wandered. I broke. I hid."

  "But now... I am done hiding."

  Seo-hui scoffed.

  "Done hiding?"

  "You're wearing a mask right now. 'Manager Kang', isn't it?"

  Tae-yoon nodded.

  "You're right."

  "But... I can take it off in front of you."

  "Because you already know exactly what kind of bastard I am."

  Seo-hui’s gaze wavered.

  Tae-yoon didn't miss the opening.

  "Seo-hui."

  "If you fight alone, you will die."

  "You were always like that."

  "You got hurt before anyone else could. You broke yourself before anyone else could break."

  Seo-hui bit her lip hard enough to draw a drop of blood.

  "So what?"

  "What do you want me to do?"

  "Cry together? Hold hands and sing songs?"

  Tae-yoon spoke firmly.

  "Stay by my side."

  Seo-hui’s eyes widened.

  Tae-yoon said it again, clearer this time.

  "Stay by my side."

  "Don't fight alone."

  "That... I cannot allow."

  Seo-hui laughed, a low, hollow sound.

  "...Are you ordering me now, Oppa?"

  Tae-yoon shook his head.

  "Not an order."

  "A request."

  "And... a warning."

  "If you move alone, I will stop you."

  "Before Sungjin does."

  Seo-hui’s eyes went cold.

  But behind the ice, a crack appeared.

  It wasn't fear. It was shaking. A deep, soulful trembling.

  She asked.

  "Why?"

  "Why now?"

  "Because you have someone to protect now?"

  "Because of your sister?"

  Tae-yoon exhaled deeply.

  "Yes. I have to protect Da-yeon."

  "But that's not all."

  He paused, letting the weight of the names hang in the air between them like ghosts.

  "Yuri."

  "Your brother."

  "The things we couldn't protect back then."

  "That debt... I'm going to pay it back now."

  Seo-hui’s eyes glistened. Just for a moment.

  Tae-yoon caught it.

  "If you take revenge alone, it's not the end."

  "Even after revenge, you will be left alone."

  "That is the cruelest ending of all."

  Seo-hui remained silent. She looked at the traffic light changing from red to green.

  Tae-yoon pulled the burner phone from his pocket and held it up.

  "You called me."

  "Now, I'm calling you."

  He put the device away and took a step closer, invading her personal space.

  "Seo-hui."

  "Let's do it together."

  "And... live."

  Seo-hui looked at Tae-yoon.

  Just like that day, long ago, when they wept in front of Yuri’s cold body, unable to save her.

  But this time, her eyes weren't running away.

  She spoke slowly.

  "...I have a condition."

  "Name it."

  Seo-hui spoke coldly, though her voice trembled.

  "If I stand by your side..."

  "Do not interfere with my methods."

  "Sometimes... I have to play dirty. I have to be the knife in the mud. I have to do the things you are too 'noble' to do."

  Tae-yoon shook his head immediately.

  "I will interfere."

  "If you play dirty, you fall into hell alone again."

  "I won't let that happen."

  Seo-hui’s eyes sharpened.

  "Then what about you?"

  "Are you going to pretend to be clean?"

  Tae-yoon chuckled briefly.

  "Me?"

  "I was never clean."

  "But... I don't cross the line."

  "Civilians. Especially people like Da-yeon."

  "I never drag them in."

  Seo-hui’s expression softened slightly.

  It was unclear if she agreed, but at least, it wasn't a rejection.

  She reached into her bag.

  Slide.

  She placed a small, black USB drive on the railing beside them.

  "It's in here."

  "What is?"

  "The Heart Transplant Line."

  Tae-yoon’s eyes narrowed.

  Seo-hui continued, her voice low.

  "Since that day... I only watched that line. Sungjin’s deepest financial artery. But there is a strange blank space. It's too clean. Someone wiped it deliberately."

  Tae-yoon’s hand hovered over the USB, but he didn't pick it up yet. He looked at Seo-hui.

  "You held onto this... and endured alone all this time?"

  Seo-hui lifted her chin slightly, defiant.

  "Now you look at it too. If you do... you can't escape either."

  Tae-yoon picked up the USB. It felt heavy, loaded with years of her obsession.

  "I never intended to escape from the beginning."

  Seo-hui’s gaze deepened. And she spoke very low, almost grinding her teeth.

  "If you get tangled with me, you might die too."

  Tae-yoon shot back instantly.

  "Then let's survive together."

  Seo-hui smiled bitterly.

  "Easy to say."

  Tae-yoon pulled a nearby chair from a street stall—ignoring the owner's glare—and sat closer to her, lowering his height to match hers.

  "Seo-hui."

  "..."

  "Stop fighting alone."

  "Is that an order?"

  "It's a plea."

  Tae-yoon’s gaze didn't waver.

  "A plea... but actually a warning. If you move alone, I will block you."

  Seo-hui’s eyebrow raised slightly. The idea of someone wanting to 'block' her to save her seemed alien to her now.

  Tae-yoon drove the final nail in.

  "If you are going to fight Sungjin Group, stay by my side."

  "..."

  "You have a debt to me."

  Seo-hui scoffed.

  "I have a debt to you?"

  Tae-yoon shook his head.

  "No. You have a debt to Yuri... and your brother."

  Tae-yoon swallowed.

  "That debt... pay it back by living."

  Seo-hui’s gaze lowered. She looked at the spot where the USB had been. And at Tae-yoon’s hand. She saw it.

  His hand was trembling.

  Tae-yoon wasn't pretending to be strong. He was genuinely holding on, barely.

  Seo-hui spoke low.

  "...You haven't changed."

  Tae-yoon replied.

  "Neither have you."

  After a brief silence, Seo-hui looked up.

  "Fine."

  Tae-yoon’s eyes relaxed, just a fraction.

  Seo-hui continued.

  "Together."

  "But."

  "If I save you, you have to survive with me."

  "If you wear a mask and start suffocating again... I will grab you by the neck and drag you out myself."

  Tae-yoon smirked.

  "That... is your specialty."

  Seo-hui smiled. A tiny, almost imperceptible smile.

  "It is."

  That smile belonged to the 'Seo-hui' of the past.

  Tae-yoon spoke his final piece.

  "The homework for Monday."

  "Sungjin Headquarters Central Control."

  "We prepare for it together."

  "Not you alone. Not me alone."

  "Three of us."

  "With Min-su and Ha-jun."

  Seo-hui’s eyes hardened again.

  "Those two as well?"

  Tae-yoon was firm.

  "Yes."

  "It's a team."

  "From now on."

  Seo-hui hesitated.

  Then she spoke low.

  "...Okay."

  "But tell me first."

  "If you really are the Phantom."

  "Your weakness."

  "I need to know it to stand by your side. I need to know where you will break so I can cover you."

  Tae-yoon didn't hesitate.

  The answer was already decided.

  "...Da-yeon."

  Seo-hui’s eyes narrowed.

  "I knew it."

  Tae-yoon added quietly, his voice barely audible over the city noise.

  "And you."

  "You are also a weakness now."

  "If I lose you too... I will truly become a monster."

  Seo-hui couldn't say anything.

  The wind blew harder, ruffling her short hair. The reflections on the river shifted heavily.

  Seo-hui spoke one last time.

  "Then."

  "I'll throw the proof back to you."

  "But this time... together."

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