“Whoever that was, sorry I grabbed at words not meant for me.” Taeui hugged himself as if chilled.Snap out of it, get a grip, you’re completely overthinking this, he muttered, shaking his head.He must’ve grown too used to misfortune. Now he was questioning a peaceful life. He had to stop.A pang of battered‐wife syndrome hit him. He shivered and forced the thought away. The unconscious was frightening—just as he’d been drifting off to a good sleep, his mind had thrown cold water on him.Taeui sighed bitterly and glanced around. He seemed to have slept well, yet hardly any time had passed. His uncle still hadn’t returned.“…”He scratched his head, then noticed the nightstand beside the bed. On its neatly arranged surface lay a few sheets of paper, carelessly tossed there. They looked like a roster of names.Without thinking, Taeui tugged one sheet toward him. He blinked at the list of names, ages, affiliations, and nationalities. Dozens of entries. Then he nodded in understanding.It must be the list of external personnel arriving next week. The dates in the right‐most column confirmed it—most were marked on a day next week, except one or two on other dates.“They did send requests to Asia—indeed, most nationalities are Asian… But is this something I’m even allowed to see?”He shrugged off the doubt. If it were truly confidential, his uncle wouldn’t have left it here knowing Taeui would come in. And after all, they’d meet these people next week. The details—age, nationality—weren’t exactly state secrets.“A total of forty‐five people. Back when we had joint exercises, we hosted half the branch’s personnel. Looks like that’s unchanged. Let’s see how many from my home country…”He ran his finger down the nationality column until he reached “Korea (Rep of).” Despite the label, not a single North Korean was listed.Five from Korea. At the top was one whose English name was marked in the remarks column as U.S.A.—that must be the person he’d be guarding.“ronald Horgan… Below him, mostly military types, I guess… sang‐rock Kim, chang‐oh Yun, ho‐jin Park, jeong‐pil Kim… huh?”His finger froze. His expression darkened. Hadn’t he just seen a familiar name—one that grated on him?“jeong‐pil Kim…?”He checked the spelling. His brow creased. He glared at the name for several seconds, then moved to check the affiliation—when suddenly his phone on the desk buzzed, shattering the silence.He frowned at the call. He glanced down at the papers in his hand, tossed them aside, and walked toward the desk.But as he got up, he realized: should he even answer someone else’s call? And the long ring indicated it was an external line.“Hm—”He reached the desk after a few steps, hesitated over whether to pick up, and by the time he moved, voicemail had already kicked in. The LCD lit up with a video feed.「Not there? ……, …―.」A low, cool voice spoke from the other end. At the same moment it shifted to voicemail, the feed must’ve projected his own image back there—because the voice trailed off mid‐murmur into an awkward silence.“…”「…….」They were watching him, too—silence hanging after the lack of hang‐up made that clear. Just as he saw their side of the image, they saw his.Not the whole figure—only a pale, beautifully shaped hand.A sharp sense of déjà vu hit him. As if he’d seen this somewhere…Stop escaping into fantasy. He had seen it—here, in this very room, in this very spot, on this very screen, years ago. It didn’t need to match the past exactly.Taeui reached out slowly and pressed the button to exit voicemail.“Uncle still isn’t back.”「I see. That figures.」“Should I leave a note?”「No, it’s not urgent.」“Okay. I’ll tell him you called when he returns.”「Appreciate it. By the way, Taeui?」Hearing his name, he realized their brief back‐and‐forth was over. He muttered, “Uh, why?” in a suddenly gloomy voice.「What are you doing there? You should be in Seoul by now, checked into the Club Residence at the Grand Intercontinental, shouldn’t you?」“…”His pause wasn’t just because he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.“Was that hotel reservation made? I didn’t know. Thanks for telling me, Ilrey.”Right—Ilrey Regrow. That was who it was.Had he really told this man his address so he could come find him? He could be mocked for that.He pressed his temple, heavy.“Some little mishap, you know. Or should I call it trouble… But the timing’s perfect. I was going to spend two weeks here then head to Korea as planned. If you’d been reachable, I’d have told you I was stuck in Hong Kong.”「…Two weeks?」“Yeah. Uncle asked me to do him a favor.”Taeui sighed lightly. Though startled by the unexpected call, it was for the best—he could explain his detour in Hong Kong.「Two weeks… a favor for instructor jeong‐changin, you mean…?」Ilrey murmured slowly.“Yes, nothing difficult. They asked me to serve as deputy instructor for someone coming next week to the joint exercise.”「…」As Taeui dropped into the chair, no reply came back—only silence.“Ilrey?”「Yeah, I’m listening.」On the screen, the pale hand tapped the table twice, as if in thought. Whether intrigued or displeased, he couldn’t tell.「Two weeks, you say…」Taeui answered softly, “Yes.” Another silence followed, briefer this time.「Good. That’s perfect.」A decisive voice returned.“Excuse me?”「We’ll meet sooner than expected, Taeui.」“Huh?”He stiffened. It didn’t sound like “good” so much as “so it goes this way…?”「Since you’ll be here next week when they arrive, I’ll see you then.」“Next week? You’ll be there?”Something felt off. Next week the external participants would arrive. Strange. His voice darkened.“But you’re still working now. Is it done already?”「No, I’ll go work there.」“Wait— but your work is…”Taeui fell silent. His foggy brain felt like it was hardening.All the answers to this situation. In hindsight, it made sense without contradiction. A thought surfaced.“…I have a hypothesis about why I’m here at this very moment….”「Ah. It seems similar to mine.」“Ilrey.”The impossibly beautiful hand continued tapping the table, urging him to speak.“Is your next target someone named Ronald…?”「If he even has the surname Horgan, that’d be perfect.」Damn uncle.Taeui swallowed the curse rising in his throat and pressed his temple harder.—Your only task is to protect your assigned instructor. Make sure nothing untoward happens to {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} him—nothing, absolutely nothing else.Now he understood his uncle’s words. And the meaning behind that fond smile.“I’m not doing it!”He shouted, eyes blazing. At that moment, the door swung open on cue.“What’s going on?”His uncle strolled in, calm and smiling. He took in his nephew’s glare, then flicked his gaze to the white hand on the screen. This uncanny uncle must’ve pieced together the answer himself.“Oh? Rick reached out? You two do have some history, don’t you? The man who never contacts you suddenly calls after ages—must be something special. How’s he doing, Rick?”Uncle shrugged off his uniform jacket and glanced at the screen.「Yes, of course. But instructor jeong‐changin…? I thought we had an agreement about Horgan?」“Well, we did agree to remove Horgan. But we couldn’t agree on how. They want public testimony to expose him, but we prefer a quiet resolution. However, if the job’s assigned to Regrow—you—he won’t stop at any means. If Horgan ends up a wreck and word leaks out, it won’t look good for us.”「I see… So you’ll use him as a shield?」Eavesdropping on the conversation, Taeui still glared at his uncle.“Uncle, this is a personnel mistake. Even if I don’t know the details, you really think I can protect this guy?”“Of course not.”Without hesitation, Uncle answered curtly and firmly.

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