---
The night air was sharp, almost slicing through the silence that had settled after the chaos. Jongsuk lay on the hospital bed, pale but breathing. The doctors had acted swiftly, and the surgery was successful. He would live.
Jaeahn stood frozen at the foot of the bed, staring at the bandages wrapped around his body. Her chest ached with a weight she had long kept hidden. The moment their eyes met, all the emotions she had buried came flooding out.
Tears burst from her eyes like a broken dam. She stumbled forward, dropped to her knees beside his bed, and sobbed like a child. "I-I thought I lost you… I thought I would lose you too…"
Jongsuk, still weak, reached out and gently touched her head. "I told you I won't leave you, didn't I? I'm here… I'll always be here."
But Jaeahn couldn't stop. Her heart was screaming from the pain she never voiced, the burden she never shared. She hid her wounds under layers of strength—but tonight, they bled through.
For years, she had been haunted by the ghosts of her past—her parents' cold words echoing in her head, blaming her, breaking her.
"You should have died instead of him."
"Because of you, our family is ruined."
Their cruelty left invisible bruises, and when Jihu vanished, those wounds tore open again. But she never let anyone see it. Not Jongsuk, not Do Hwan, not even herself.
Until now.
Suddenly, her breath shortened. The walls around her spun, voices blurred, and shadows twisted into nightmarish forms. She could hear her parents yelling, see Jihu's cold body on the hospital bed. The guilt choked her.
"I didn't mean to… I didn't want him to die…"
Her hands trembled, her eyes wide with fear. Hallucinations danced in her vision like ghosts. And then, a voice pierced the darkness.
"Jaeahn!"
It was Jongsuk.
He rushed to her despite the stitches, ignoring his pain. He wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"I'm here. Look at me!" he said, his voice cracking. "You don't have to carry this alone anymore. I know it hurts—I know you've been in pain for so long. But I'm here now. Forever."
Jaeahn clutched his shirt tightly, sobbing into his chest as if her soul was finally letting go. For the first time, someone wasn't turning away from her pain—they were holding it with her.
---
Meanwhile…
A flashback plays in Hyejin's mind—the last conversation she had with Jihu.
"If anything happens to me," he said with that quiet smile of his, "don't back down. Not even once. Keep going."
She clutched the evidence file tightly in her hand.
Moments later, her phone buzzed. It was from the clinic.
"The doctor wants to speak to you. He said he knows everything about the bone marrow experiment."
The next day, Hyejin arrived at the dimly lit clinic, the same one that had always given her a strange feeling. The doctor, an older man with tired eyes, sat her down.
"They called it the 'Clown Serum Project'," he said slowly. "They used genetically altered bone marrow to manipulate behavior and appearance. The goal was to create programmable humans… obedient, emotionless—clowns in human skin."
Her stomach twisted.
He handed her a folder. Inside were photos of test subjects, experiment notes, and—most terrifying—names.
Jaeahn.
Jihu.
Do Hwan.
Jongsuk.
"The project was scrapped after too many failures," he continued, "but someone picked it up again. And I think Jihu discovered that."
The doctor looked her dead in the eyes. "That's why they tried to kill him."
---
The Graveyard – One Week Later
The air was heavy with silence, the kind that only exists in places where the dead sleep.
A figure stood before a lone grave, setting down a bouquet of white chrysanthemums.
He brushed the dust off the headstone that read:
Jihu Han
Beloved Son. Brave Brother.
He smiled faintly.
"I told you, didn't I?" he whispered to the gravestone. "If I die… I'll be free."
The wind whispered through the trees.
He looked down at the grave.
"I had to disappear. For Jaeahn. For all of them. But now… it's time to return."
Jihu—very much alive—turned around and walked away into the shadows.
---