[North Busan – Cornerstone Clinic, 4:43 PM]
The clinic looked like it belonged to another world.
Cheap tiles, cracked chairs, faded posters about flu shots. Two high school kids sat with bloodied knuckles, a mom with a crying toddler was haggling about prescriptions, and someone in the back was throwing up into a plastic bag.
Ryun followed Seo Jihan through the automatic glass doors without saying a word.
Jihan didn't break stride. He walked like someone who didn't wait in lines. The nurse at the front desk looked up, recognized him instantly, and buzzed them through a side hallway without even asking their names.
As they moved past the staff-only door, Ryun caught a flicker of himself in the security mirror above the exit.
Dead eyes. Shoulders square. No hesitation.
Seo Jihan didn't work for Hwan. He came from higher up — the kind of leash even Hwan couldn't pull. Word was, he answered to the leader directly. No one questioned that more than once.
They reached a coded metal door at the back of the hallway. Jihan scanned a thin black card across the sensor.
The lock clicked.
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[Clinic Basement – Secure Level]
It was colder downstairs.
Bare concrete walls, no windows, no sound except for a low humming from the ceiling vents. A hallway with two doors. One camera on the ceiling tracking every step.
Inside Room 4B, seated in a plain metal chair under a ceiling light, was Yuji.
She wasn't restrained. No cuffs, no straps. But the walls were reinforced, the corners clean, and her silence said everything. She'd been there for a while.
She looked up slowly when they entered. Eyes sharp. Not scared.
Lark stood in the corner of the room, one foot up against the wall, hands loose at his sides. Dressed down in black, no weapons showing, but nothing about him said relaxed.
Ryun didn't speak.
Lark glanced at him once, then turned his eyes back to Yuji.
Seo Jihan stepped in after them. Calm. Coat still buttoned. Gloves on.
He scanned the room once, then faced Yuji. No introduction.
Jihan: "The node you accessed four weeks before Yeojin Kim died — it wasn't random."
"That surveillance backup was tied to three major blackmail vaults. One belonged to a chaebol heir with political ambitions. Another held collateral on internal assets. The last one—"
He paused.
"Was off-record. And dangerous."
Yuji didn't blink.
Jihan (flat): "We need the drive. Or the dead drop location."
Yuji: "I don't have it."
Jihan: "Where is it?"
Yuji: "Safe."
Lark spoke now, voice level.
Lark: "She's not bluffing. She's been saying the same thing since the pickup."
Jihan (turning): "You're still talking like your position's stable."
Lark (shrug): "Baek gave orders to keep her breathing. Unless that's changed?"
Jihan didn't answer. He turned back to Yuji.
But Ryun stepped forward first.
Ryun: "You know what they'll do if you don't give it up."
Yuji looked at him fully now.
Yuji: "They already did."
A beat.
"They killed Yeojin."
Ryun's jaw clenched. She didn't stop.
Yuji: "You were there. Don't lie to yourself. Hwan gave the order. You followed it."
Ryun: "I didn't know—"
Yuji: "You knew enough."
Silence.
Lark leaned off the wall.
Lark (to Ryun): "Still taking orders from people who burned your friend alive?"
Ryun didn't reply.
Lark (low): "You froze. I pulled the trigger. But you let them send the order."
That broke it.
Ryun stepped forward. Lark pushed off the wall.
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[Clinic Basement – Fight, 5:02 PM]
The clash was sudden — Ryun's forearm snapped toward Lark's jaw, Lark dipped and drove a punch into Ryun's side, fast and clean. Ryun rotated, blocked the next swing, and moved in with a shoulder trap.
They traded hits with barely a sound. Controlled. Brutal. Efficient.
Lark went low, tried to catch Ryun's leg — Ryun slammed a knee up into his ribs. Lark stumbled back half a step, smirk gone now.
But before it escalated—
Jihan moved.
No warning. He stepped forward and slammed Lark into the wall with a shoulder drive and wrist lock so fast it looked rehearsed.
Jihan (calmly): "That's enough."
He turned to Ryun.
Jihan: "You want to lose rank in front of cameras?"
Ryun didn't answer. He was breathing hard, eyes locked on Lark.
Lark didn't flinch. Just rubbed his jaw and spat onto the tile.
Yuji stood up, still calm.
She looked directly at Ryun.
Yuji: "If you're still with them after this, don't come back."
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[Clinic Rooftop – 5:16 PM]
Busan was loud again.
Scooters buzzing. Someone yelling about fish cakes. A radio playing too loud from a car below.
Ryun stood at the edge of the roof, head down.
Lark came up behind him, bruised, silent.
Jihan appeared last. No rush. He lit a cigarette like they weren't standing on top of a buried warzone.
He exhaled smoke without looking at either of them.
Jihan: "You were cleaner when you didn't care."
No one answered.
But the lines were starting to show.