She left him. Finally, she left him.

With the last image of the birds swarming black over Lee Wooshin’s body, she turned her back.

Don’t look back. Never. Just leave like this.

It was liberating and yet it hollowed her out inside. She clenched her teeth and repeated it to herself.

One step, two, three... Exiting the storage shed, Seoryeong climbed into the jeep, her hands shaking as she fumbled for the key box.

“Where... is it?!”

She bit down hard on her trembling lips and slammed her palm against the steering wheel. She could’ve sworn she’d left the key in the ignition, but now it was gone. That bastard took it. Wooshin had taken it.

Without hesitation, she opened the door again. Her legs, trembling, moved strangely faster and more urgently than they had when she’d run out before.

The closer she got, the more she heard it—thud, thud—someone struggling. Returning to the shed, she chambered a round without a second thought.

Bang—!

The gunshot cracked through the air, and the birds screamed, flapping wildly as they took off. But never having been skilled with the long rifle since training, she only punched a hole in the wall.

Kreek—kak! The raptors screeched and settled back on the steel beams, glaring down like they were waiting for a second chance. When the ones pecking at Wooshin scattered, she finally saw what was left of him—

What the hell...?

“...!”

Seoryeong instinctively took a step back.

At some point, he had kicked his legs up into a handstand and was pounding the wall with his fists.

Thump, thump—each heavy blow sent clumps of dirt falling as he tried to wrench out the nail holding his chain in place.

He was holding his body upright purely with muscle strength, the tight swell of his back visible even through his shirt.

Thanks to bracing himself right up against the wall, he seemed mostly unharmed except for a few rips in his shirt.

That stubborn son of a bitch. Should’ve given him more of the drug.

As she stared in stunned silence, Ju Seolheon’s voice echoed in her ears—hadn’t she once said Kim Hyeon was the kind of man who’d keep going even if you ripped his organs out? Her heartbeat quickened with danger.

“Where did you put the key?!”

A clear laugh brushed her ears. With the blood rushing to his head, his nape was flushed red when he lifted his gaze to meet hers.

Wooshin’s eyes narrowed like a predator sighting prey, even as he kept pounding at the wall. The nail embedded in the old wall began to wobble.

“You’re really going to leave me.”

His voice carried nothing in it.

“Wooshin... you really can’t beat Kim Hyeon?”

Thick veins stood out on his forehead like roots. His face was a mess of obsession, anxiety, anger, loss, shock, and denial.

“I’m the real one, Seoryeong. Not Kim Hyeon. I’m your husband now. So what kind of bastard just lets his bride run away on their wedding night?”

His voice dropped even lower, sour with displeasure.

“You really think you can escape?”

He smashed the wall again, and the nail jutted out by the width of a fingernail.

“Sorry, but this won’t take long.”

Even with his eyes heavy-lidded from the drug, the sharpness in them hadn’t dulled, and she swallowed hard.

She couldn’t waste another second here. Being caught by Wooshin was the last thing she wanted. The rebellious fire inside flared hotter, especially at the thought that he still didn’t understand what he’d done wrong.

“Unless you kill me, you can’t leave.”

Every jolt of the wall sent her heart dropping. His chilling voice scraped the pit of her chest.

Biting her lip, Seoryeong scanned the floor. If he’d hidden the car key in his pants pocket, it might have fallen out while he was upside down.

Something glinted among the clumps of coagulated blood. She snatched it without hesitation and fled, shaking off his threats.

“Haa... haa...”

Back in the jeep, she jammed the key into ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the ignition. She turned it again and again, but the engine only growled and died.

“Come on...!”

The pounding from the shed still carried beyond the walls. Growing desperate, she smacked the dashboard, eyes flicking to the rearview mirror.

“Please...!”

Instinct screamed that if she didn’t get away now, he’d catch her by some means.

Drrrng—! The long-awaited roar of the engine burst to life, and at the same moment something wet and red burst out of the shed.

In the mirror, their eyes met—

“Han Seoryeong—!”

The beastlike bellow slammed into her eardrums. Wooshin was running straight for her, legs unsteady but somehow at full speed without flailing his limbs. The sight made her spine go cold.

“That crazy bastard...!”

She stomped the accelerator, the jeep lurching forward. Fear she couldn’t name drove her to push even faster, jerking the wheel to veer into the desert. A cloud of pale dust swallowed the rearview.

“Hhh... hhhuu...”

Her ragged breathing filled the jeep. When his figure vanished for a moment, her mouth went dry.

If there was one thing she knew better than anyone, it was that he’d never give up.

Bang—!

Sure enough, the crisp crack of a gunshot came, and the steering jerked wildly. A rear tire blew, and she felt the balance go.

“Fuck...!”

She fought the swerve, stomping the brake and gripping the wheel. Glancing in the mirror, she saw Wooshin calmly reloading the shotgun.

“You son of a bitch...!”

How the hell was she going to shake him? The drug didn’t work, the restraints didn’t work—

Unless you kill me, you can’t leave.

The words whispered in her ears.

Bastard... all the way to the end...

He was the one in the wrong, but he didn’t show a shred of remorse, didn’t bend an inch.

Swallowing the surge of bitter rage, she grabbed the shotgun she’d thrown aside.

Keeping the accelerator down, she leaned out the window and fired warning shots.

Bang, bang-bang—!

Don’t come. Don’t you dare follow me...!

“——!”

Even so, the remaining three tires blew in quick succession. Despite the hail of bullets in his range, Wooshin showed no hesitation as he methodically crippled her jeep.

The useless vehicle rolled to a complete stop. Seoryeong cursed and flung open the door.

The desert road stretched bare in all directions.

Stepping out, she immediately racked the shotgun and aimed it at him.

“......”

“......”

She glared at him with a look that was part disgust, part exhaustion. Was it really this hard to make someone disappear from sight?

She’d already signaled Kiya to come, but she couldn’t be certain when or how he’d appear. Still, with Russian troops stationed in Azerbaijan, Kiya could find her if he wanted.

“Don’t follow me, or you really will die.”

“Two to the body, one to the head.”

“...!”

“Remember what you learned?”

He kept walking toward her, eyes flat.

“I told you not to come...!”

“You’d leave my side without even that much resolve?”

He clicked his tongue in reproach.

He was talking about the Mozambique Drill they’d practiced back at training—the one where he’d fired into her body armor without warning. Thinking about it, he’d always had a way of getting under her skin like that.

“I taught you to use it when you absolutely have to stop someone. To kill, if that’s what it takes, to keep them right there. I showed you myself.”

He didn’t look angry, but the icy edge in his eyes made her flinch. A stare that stopped exactly at the freezing point.

Why did he still... even with everything exposed, why did he still have that thirsty, covetous gaze?

“...If you know my identity now, do you know who the wife was that I lived with all those years?”

“...!”

“You cared about her. My first woman.”

She bit her lip and steadied her grip on the gun. At least he wouldn’t close the distance to a sure shot.

But Wooshin walked right up, pressing the hard muzzle to his own chest. The weight sank into her frozen fingers.

“I was Kim Hyeon, and you were my wife.”

“......”

“No matter what anyone says, I was your husband—so why—!”

Suddenly he roared,

“—do I have to lose you again?!”

His face, twisted with rage, crumpled as if breaking apart.

“I can’t do that anymore. That’s why I quit being an operative. I quit because I didn’t want anyone to interfere with living with you, fucking you, napping with you. The only way I know to deal with obstacles is to eliminate them, and now there’s nothing in the way—!”

The cold night wind tossed his hair into disarray.

“Not anyone else... so why...”

In his soiled tuxedo, he looked like a man lost.

“...why is it you, Han Seoryeong, who’s standing in our way?”