Chapter 134.2

Chapter 134.2

Her voice, stripped of emotion, drifted through the heavy air, stretching across time itself.

“At first, they injected a special activating serum into people’s systems, giving them a permanent hypnotic effect. Since they couldn’t break free without a specific trigger, they called it brainwashing but technically, it was more like an extreme form of suggestion.”

“…”

“Then Rigay took it a step further. He believed that implanting an electronic chip in the brain would allow people to be recycled.”

She squeezed her eyes shut for a second before forcing them open again.

“The prototype he designed was flawless. But at the time, the technology to support it didn’t exist. So his research was buried, classified as top secret. Still, the mere idea of human recycling. It was too tempting to ignore.”

Wooshin twitched his eyebrows but remained silent, listening.

“Russia believed this technology would let them build a unified Eurasia. The U.S. wanted it too. Whoever mastered it first would become the world’s superpower. It was obvious. The ones pulling the strings—no matter where in the world—always think the same way.”

That was when Joo Seolheon’s gaze wavered.

“Then Rigay was destroyed. No one ever found his research.”

Suddenly, her bloodshot eyes trembled violently.

Her voice dropped to a whisper. A whisper that shattered every mission Wooshin had ever known.

“But it’s with her.”

Her lips, tightly pressed together, turned ghostly white. Her barely audible words unraveled everything Woo-shin thought he understood.

For the first time, Joo Seol-heon was revealing a hidden truth.

“Rigay left all of his legacy inside that girl’s mind.”

“…!”

Wooshin’s expression froze.

Joo Seolheon yanked his collar, pressing her mouth dangerously close to his ear.

Her grip felt desperate—like someone confessing something that should never be spoken aloud.

“Why do you think I kept this information from you? Almost no one knows that Rigay had a daughter. And the few agents who did are nearly all dead.”

Her once cold, calculating eyes now held something else.

A quiet, unavoidable sense of doom.

“Maybe you’ll end up being one of them too.”

“…!”

Lee Wooshin couldn’t even feel if he was standing on his own two feet.

“The Owl can never be exposed to the world. She needs to be left alone, crying over her so-called husband, just like she’s been doing all this time. All we have to do is blindfold her and play a little game of hide-and-seek once in a while.”

“…”

“What gives you the right to ruin that safe world?”

Joo Seolheon’s voice tore through the air, trembling with anguish.

“There’s no such thing as protecting something beautifully!”

The brutal words cut through him. The grip he had on her slowly loosened.

“Some missions require a lifetime. That’s what responsibility is, Wooshin. What you need to throw away isn’t your guilt. It’s that ridiculous, selfish desire to be loved.”

A sickening feeling crawled up his throat. The urge to destroy everything in his path raged inside him like a beast unchained.

“If you really care about her, don’t lose to the weak version of yourself.”

Joo Seolheon left first.

Now, Lee Wooshin stood alone in the wreckage, forced to swallow the fire burning inside him.

He had no idea how long he stood there, motionless like a decayed, withered tree. It felt like someone had driven iron spikes into his tongue, his throat, sealing his voice, trapping him in silence.

With a rough, unshaven face, he checked his watch. There wasn’t nearly enough time to sort through his thoughts or the flood of information. But the moment he pictured Seoryeong, drifting somewhere far out at sea, his aching foot moved on its own.

He sank into the chair Joo Seolheon had been sitting in and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a worn photograph.

The day Operation Bird Box ended.

The wedding photo he had never been able to throw away. Crumpled and creased, yet still intact.

His fingers traced Seoryeong’s face, over and over again—the face of the woman in the white dress.

I can only be her husband as Kim Hyun.

“――”

Lee Wooshin rose to his feet.

For the first time in a long while, he was on his way to see his wife.

The last flicker of light in his eyes had vanished completely.