The serum stung as it entered her vein.
Ra-hee barely flinched. She'd grown used to the pain, but not to the aftertaste—the bitterness that lingered in her mouth, like something had died inside her and no amount of medicine could bring it back.
She sat on the floor of the safehouse bedroom, knees drawn up to her chest. Her gaze wandered to the mirror across the room. She hadn't looked at herself in three days.
Not since the mission.
Not since she froze.
Three men dead.
And it had been her fault.
That wasn't you, she told herself. That was the toxin.
But another voice crept in, soft and mocking.
No, darling. That was you finally waking up.
She closed her eyes tightly. Her pulse pounded in her ears. The voice had been growing louder. It whispered to her when she slept, when she blinked too long, when she stared too deep into shadows.
Sometimes it sounded like her.
Sometimes it didn't.
And lately… it had started to sound like him.
"Miss me, princess?"
She jolted upright, spinning to the corner of the room where nothing stood.
Except… something was there.
A man, lounging in the chair. Legs crossed, face obscured by shadow. But she knew that silhouette.
"Ji-won…" she whispered.
He leaned forward, lips curled into a cruel smile. "Hello again, sweetheart."
Ra-hee's breath caught. Ji-won had been her first trauma—her former superior at the hospital. A man with charm in public and darkness behind closed doors. He had tried to control her, break her—until she escaped.
She'd heard he disappeared after being exposed.
But here he was.
Or at least, her mind said he was.
"I'm not real, if that's what you're wondering," he said with a smirk, as though reading her thoughts. "But you made me real, didn't you?"
Ra-hee backed away.
"You're not here."
"Of course I am. You brought me here. Or maybe they did."
He stood and took slow, taunting steps toward her.
"You think that gangster boyfriend of yours is any different than me? You think love makes monsters disappear?"
"Shut up," she said, her voice cracking.
Ji-won crouched beside her, his phantom finger brushing her cheek. "You never stopped craving the darkness. That's why you fell for someone like Jae-hyun."
"He's not like you," she snapped.
He laughed. "No? He kills people. He tortures them. And you… you let him. You protect him."
Ra-hee's hands shook.
She reached for the serum again, desperate for its silence—but Ji-won's voice followed her, deeper now, seeded in her blood.
"You're already becoming what you fear, Ha-eun," he hissed. "And soon, you'll realize he's the one holding the leash."
Jae-hyun sat in the war room with Min-ji and several of his lieutenants. The map on the table glowed with digital markers—each one representing a Crimson Dawn safehouse they had yet to hit.
"We have two days before they make their next move," Min-ji said. "They've started using couriers with toxin samples in public zones. If they release even one vial, hundreds could be affected."
"We intercept before that happens," Jae-hyun muttered.
But his mind wasn't on the mission.
It was on her.
On Ra-hee.
He could feel her slipping further away. She'd stopped sleeping in the same bed. Sometimes, he caught her whispering to herself. And once—just once—he found her sitting in the bathtub with her clothes on, water running ice cold, her eyes empty.
Like she was somewhere else.
And that haunted him more than any bullet ever could.
"Sir," Min-ji said softly, snapping him out of it. "She needs to be taken off the field."
"No."
"You're risking her life. And yours."
"She's not a liability."
Min-ji's eyes were sharp. "She's turning into a weapon they can use against you."
Jae-hyun didn't respond.
Because deep down…
He feared it was true.
Ra-hee left the safehouse that night.
Alone.
She wandered the city streets like a ghost, dressed in black, hood pulled low. The city lights buzzed and flickered above her, neon shadows stretching across cracked concrete.
She needed to get out of her own head.
But her head followed her.
Ji-won's voice slithered into her ears again.
"You know what he's doing right now, don't you? Planning without you. Keeping secrets. Like he always has."
Ra-hee clutched her chest. "Stop."
"He'll never really trust you. You're a ticking time bomb to him. You saw it in his eyes last night. He's wondering how to kill you if it comes to that."
"No," she whispered.
"He promised, didn't he? That he'd stop you if you ever lost control."
Tears welled up.
Ji-won's voice laughed. "What he meant was: he'd put a bullet in your heart before you could beg."
She turned sharply into an alley and pressed her back to a brick wall, gasping for breath.
That's when a real voice cut through the madness.
"Well, well. You're even more beautiful when you're broken."
She froze.
That voice wasn't in her head.
She turned slowly—and stared into the face of a ghost.
Ryu Min-jae.
Once a trusted childhood friend. Now a known Crimson Dawn assassin.
He smiled softly, as though they were reuniting at a cafe.
"You look tired, Ra-hee."
Her throat went dry. "Min-jae… what the hell are you doing here?"
"Helping," he said simply. "Or at least, I want to."
She stepped back. "You work for the people who poisoned me."
"I didn't know," he said calmly. "I left before they started using mind agents. I thought I could save you. But I was too late."
She stared at him, trembling. "You're lying."
"No. I was always watching. From afar. You were never supposed to end up in Jae-hyun's arms."
Ra-hee's pulse roared.
"What do you want?"
Min-jae's smile faded. "To offer you a choice. Come with me—and I'll help you reverse the toxin. I have access to labs they don't know about. Or stay with Jae-hyun… and eventually become his enemy."
She blinked.
"You can't reverse it."
"I can try. But only if you leave him."
Ra-hee's heart twisted violently. "And what? Join Crimson Dawn?"
"No. Join me."
He stepped closer.
"I've loved you since we were seventeen. I just… never got the chance to say it. Jae-hyun's world will kill you. Mine might save you."
Her knees weakened.
Ji-won's voice echoed from the back of her skull. He's telling the truth. Jae-hyun won't save you. But he might.
"I…" she breathed. "I need time."
Min-jae nodded.
"I'll come again. Two nights from now. Same alley. If you're ready… I'll be waiting."
He turned and vanished into the night.
Leaving her alone.
And breaking inside.
Back at the safehouse, Jae-hyun paced the hallway.
She wasn't answering her phone.
The serum dose was overdue by two hours.
He grabbed his jacket and gun, fury rising in his throat. But when he reached the front door, it opened.
Ra-hee stood there.
Windblown.
Eyes red.
His relief was immediate—but so was the tension.
"Where were you?" he demanded, voice low.
"I needed air."
"You didn't take your dose."
"I forgot."
"You never forget."
She pushed past him. "I'm tired of being watched like I'm made of glass."
He followed. "You disappear without telling anyone. You come back shaking. You expect me not to worry?"
"I don't need your protection," she snapped.
"I'm not protecting you, Ra-hee—I'm trying to keep you alive."
She spun to face him.
"Then say it. Say you think I'm dangerous. Say you think I'm going to kill someone."
Silence stretched.
Jae-hyun's fists clenched.
"I think you're scared. And I think you're breaking. But I don't believe you're lost. Not yet."
She stared at him for a long moment.
Then walked away.
Alone.
Again.
That night, she lay awake, staring at the ceiling.
The voices wouldn't stop.
Ji-won. Min-jae. Her own fears.
And underneath it all…
A craving.
To be free.
To no longer wonder if her next breath would betray the man she loved.
To make a choice.
Even if it was the wrong one.
And outside, in the shadows, someone waited.
Just as promised.
End of Chapter 14
To Be Continued...