Chapter 25: A Slow Death
Seo-Ah hadn't meant to wear that dress.
She'd picked it in a rush, her mind spinning with the leftover nerves from Jae-Hyun's insistence that she take a break—a real break. It was a flowing, soft lavender piece that hugged her waist just enough to remind her she still had softness left. She'd smiled in the mirror for the first time in a while. It had been a long month.
The restaurant Jae-Hyun chose was quiet, opulent, tucked in a high-rise that offered a glittering view of Seoul's skyline. Candlelight flickered between them. He smiled like he always did—gentle, constant, like he wanted her to know she didn't need to perform.
"You look gorgeous," he said, pouring her wine. "Try to relax tonight. You deserve it."
She smiled faintly. "Thanks, I am."
But halfway through the entrée, she knew something was wrong.
It started with a twinge behind her eyes. Then the nausea. Then the vertigo. Her fork slipped from her fingers. The lights blurred. Her breath caught.
"Seo-Ah?" Jae-Hyun stood instantly, catching her elbow as she swayed. "Are you okay? Seo-Ah, look at me!"
The room tilted. Her vision tunneled. She tried to speak but her tongue felt too heavy. The last thing she saw before the world went dark was the panic in Jae-Hyun's eyes—and a waiter slipping quietly into the shadows.
---
Min-Jun got the call at midnight.
His phone buzzed once. A private number.
He let it ring until the voice message clicked on. Then he heard it:
"She has 48 hours. Tick tock."
He shot out of bed like lightning. The second call came from Ji-Hyun, who was already sobbing.
"She's been poisoned, Min-Jun. They say she'll die if she doesn't get the antidote. It was at a dinner with Jae-Hyun. He's at the hospital now—he hasn't left her side."
Min-Jun didn't wait for the full explanation. He was already throwing on his jacket.
His driver met him in under ten minutes.
At the hospital, the doctors couldn't identify the compound. Seo-Ah lay unconscious, pale and barely breathing. Tubes connected her to machines that beeped slow and irregular.
Min-Jun's world narrowed to the rhythm of her heart monitor.
--
Seo-Ah
She opened her eyes to the sterile white light of the hospital ceiling. It flickered slightly, like the dying flame of a candle. Her chest rose weakly, lungs burning with every breath she took. It was as if fire flowed through her veins instead of blood—slow, searing, and cruel.
Her mind tried to grasp where she was. When she tried to move, a sharp pain pierced her side, and her hand trembled as she reached for the edge of the bed.
"Don't move," came a gentle voice beside her. Warm fingers wrapped around hers. Familiar. Steady.
Jae-Hyun.
Her blurry gaze shifted toward him. He looked exhausted. The usually vibrant charm in his eyes was replaced with red-rimmed guilt.
"Why… why do you look like that?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.
He swallowed thickly. "Because I was supposed to protect you, and I failed."
She blinked slowly. Memories flooded back—dinner, laughter, the moment she took a sip of the wine—and then the slow, horrific realization that something was wrong. The pain. The numbness. The cold sweat.
"I was poisoned…" she said hoarsely.
"Yes." Jae-Hyun's voice cracked. "And we only have hours left, Seo-Ah. Forty-eight hours from the moment you ingested it. We're running out of time."
She didn't ask who had done it. Deep down, she already knew this wasn't some random act. This was a message. A warning. A punishment. She was a thread in a much larger war.
Her thoughts drifted—unwillingly—to Min-Jun.
Had he come? Did he care?
Or was she just another piece in the chessboard of his blood-stained past?
---
Min-Jun
The clock ticked like a weapon.
He stood before the woman who could destroy everything.
Her name was Yeon-Hwa—daughter of the underworld king Min-Jun had executed with his own hands seven years ago. A necessary death. A vile man whose sins could fill volumes. But Yeon-Hwa had waited. Planned. And now, she had struck.
Min-Jun stared at her, cold rage simmering beneath his composed surface. She sat across from him in her high-rise penthouse, dressed like royalty, the Tokyo skyline glittering behind her.
"Is this your revenge?" he asked. His voice was a quiet storm. "Poisoning an innocent woman?"
Yeon-Hwa smiled, sipping her wine with deliberate elegance. "You call it revenge. I call it justice, Min-Jun. You stole my father. I will steal the one thing you can't kill to forget—your heart."
Min-Jun clenched his fists. "What do you want?"
Yeon-Hwa leaned back, crossing her legs. "Marry me."
Silence.
Then his breath hitched, as if the air had turned into glass shards in his lungs. "You can't be serious."
"Oh, I'm very serious." She stood and walked over to him, placing a hand over his heart. "You marry me, publicly, in thirty-six hours. I'll hand you the antidote myself. You refuse… and she dies. Slowly. Painfully."
"You're insane."
"No. I'm a woman who knows exactly where to strike." Her eyes gleamed. "Do it, Min-Jun. Or live with the weight of her death for the rest of your life."
---
Seo-Ah
Time passed differently when you were dying.
Seconds stretched, hours melted into one another. Her body was failing. She felt it in the numbness creeping into her fingers, the dull ache behind her eyes, the metallic taste in her mouth.
Jae-Hyun had tried everything. Called specialists. Begged contacts. Even threatened black-market dealers.
Nothing worked.
And then the door opened.
She looked up.
Min-Jun.
He was dressed in a suit. Dark. Immaculate. But there was something hollow in his eyes. Something final.
"Seo-Ah…" he said softly, stepping toward her.
Her heart fluttered—weakly, desperately.
"You came."
He nodded. She searched his expression. And that's when she noticed it. The stiffness in his jaw. The way he avoided her gaze.
"What did you do?" she asked, suddenly alarmed.
Min-Jun gently brushed her hair from her face, and his voice cracked as he whispered, "I made sure you'd live."
Her throat closed. "What did you give up?"
He didn't answer. He didn't have to.
Tears filled her eyes. "Min-Jun… please tell me you didn't—"
"I would give up the world to save you, Seo-Ah," he said. "Even if it means I'll lose you in the end."
Her sob was silent. Her hand reached for his, holding on as tightly as her fragile body could allow.
"I never wanted you to save me like this," she whispered. "Not by breaking yourself."
But it was done.
And tomorrow, he would become a prisoner in a golden cage beside Yeon-Hwa.
To save her.
---
He returned to the Lee estate for the first time in months. His father was waiting.
"You're serious about this?" his father asked, not even bothering to hide the approval behind his scowl.
"I'm marrying her," Min-Jun said. "It's what she wants."
His father nodded. "Finally, you understand how this world works."