The woman at the door didn't look like someone from this neighborhood.Her clothes were too neat.Her posture too straight.Her eyes… too experienced.
She looked like someone who had lived a much bigger life than these cracked walls and thin hallways.
His mother stood frozen with her hand still on the doorframe, knuckles white.Even the toddler, sitting on the floor with a small toy car, paused.He didn't blink.
The woman smiled faintly — not friendly, but sad.
"I'm sorry for coming without warning," she said.Her voice had that calm tone older people get after surviving things they never talk about."But I've been looking for you for a long time."
His mother swallowed. "W-Why…? Who are you?"
The woman hesitated.Then she bowed — a respectful bow, deeper than necessary.
"My name is Yun Hyesu," she said."I worked with your husband. Years ago."
His mother's breath escaped in a broken whisper.
"…My husband…"
The toddler watched his mother's shoulders tremble — not fear, not pain.Something quieter.Something like a ghost brushing past her.
"Please," Hyesu said softly, "may I come in?"
His mother hesitated only a second before stepping aside.
Hyesu sat on the floor cushion like she'd done it a thousand times… yet looked out of place among the peeling paint and dim light.
The toddler crawled closer, quietly studying her.She smiled gently at him.
"He really does look like him," she murmured."…So much."
His mother's eyes filled with tears immediately.
"No one… no one has ever said that," she whispered. "People didn't even know we were married…"
Hyesu nodded. "He kept you a secret. For a good reason."
Something flickered in his mother's expression — confusion, hurt, fear — all tangled together.
"What reason?" she asked.
Hyesu inhaled slowly, as if preparing herself for something heavy.
"Your husband… wasn't just some factory worker, Hana."Her voice dropped."He wasn't ordinary."
The toddler's fingers curled against the floor.He already suspected this.
His mother shook her head."No. No, he told me he had a normal job. A normal life. We lived quietly…"
"That was because he wanted to protect you," Hyesu said calmly.
The toddler felt something cold slide down his spine.
He wasn't mistaken.The past was dangerous.And it was already crawling toward them.
"Your husband," Hyesu continued, "worked with Kang Dojin."
Silence.
Not the soft kind —the kind that crashes into the room and leaves a ringing in your ears.
His mother stared at her, eyes wide.
"…Dojin? That Dojin?"
The toddler's heart gave a small, sharp thump.
So it was true.
"It's not just that," Hyesu added quietly."They were best friends. Practically brothers."
His mother covered her mouth.
"And… he never told me…"
"He couldn't," Hyesu said gently. "He left that world because he didn't want you caught in it."
The toddler watched her explanation closely.Nothing she said sounded rehearsed.No lies in her tone, no hesitation.
She believed every word.
"Your husband," Hyesu said softly, "was brilliant. A genius with numbers. He could read people like books. And he predicted risks the way others predict weather."
She smiled faintly.
"He was the kind of person companies fight over. The kind Dojin valued more than gold."
His mother let out a weak, broken laugh.
"I… I never knew…"
Hyesu's voice softened even more.
"He walked away from that world when he met you. He said he finally found something more important than money or success."
His mother broke.
Completely.
She pressed her forehead to her knees and cried in a way she had been holding back for years.Quiet, painful sounds.
The toddler crawled onto her lap and rested his head against her arm.
Hyesu's eyes softened at the sight.
"He loved you," she said. "He wanted a normal life with you. A safe one. That's why he hid everything."
His mother trembled.
"And… my son…?"
Hyesu's eyes slowly shifted to the toddler.
"He inherited more than just his father's face."
His mother stiffened.
"What… what do you mean?"
"You've seen it, haven't you?" Hyesu whispered."He watches differently. Understands differently. He sees things adults don't see. He reacts too fast. Too clearly."
His mother bit her lip hard.
"He's just… he's just bright…"
Hyesu shook her head.
"Your husband was like that as a child.And it terrified the adults around him too."
The toddler lowered his gaze.
So this wasn't new.Not a mutation.Not a miracle.
A bloodline.
A lineage of dangerous intelligence.
His mother finally asked the question that had been eating her alive:
"…Why is Dojin looking for me now?"
Hyesu hesitated — then answered honestly.
"Because he finally saw the child."
A chill trickled through the apartment.
His mother hugged the toddler protectively.
"What does he want with my son…?"
Hyesu looked directly at the toddler — straight into his young but ancient eyes.
"He wants answers," she said."And when men like Dojin want answers… they don't stop searching."
The toddler's heartbeat slowed.
Control.Information.Power.
Dojin wasn't chasing affection or grief.
He was chasing truth.
And truth was dangerous.
Hyesu stood slowly, as if carrying invisible weight.
"Hana," she said softly, "you need to be very careful. Dojin is not your enemy… but he isn't harmless either."
She paused in front of the toddler.
"And you, little one… whatever genius you're hiding, whatever your mind is doing… don't let him see too much. Not yet."
The toddler looked up at her.
She whispered:
"You're too young to have enemies.But you already do."
After Hyesu left, the apartment felt colder.
His mother held him close, trembling again.
"Your father… your father was someone great…" she whispered, voice cracking."And now… they're coming back into our lives…"
The toddler leaned against her chest.
He didn't cry.
He didn't fear.
He thought only one thing:
If the world that destroyed him onceis coming into this new life…
Then this time?
He would destroy the world first.