Chapter 260.1

Chapter 260.1

In the grainy black and white footage, the image quality was poor, three or four men, including Seoryeong, hurried out of the camp.

They grabbed their belongings and climbed into a van.

The moment he saw it, his throat began to burn. His patience stretched so tight that the sharp line of his jaw stood out. The van sped through an underpass and then—

“!”

Even without sound, he felt screams and an explosion tear through his eardrums.

A massive fuel tank truck appeared on the road. The speeding tanker collided with a nearby structure and exploded without warning. It was close enough to easily obliterate the van his wife rode in.

A colossal fireball shot into the sky and swallowed the surrounding vehicles. The shockwave tore across the road and hurled the van toward the edge.

The van became engulfed in flames. That was the last frame the shattered CCTV captured.

Lee Wooshin’s entire body went rigid. It felt as though scorching air forced its way into his lungs.

Then… what about Seoryeong? My owl? The image of black smoke rising into the sky flickered before his eyes.

While the flames devoured everything, he could only stand there helplessly. His trembling hand kept touching the screen again and again. He could not accept it. The whites of his eyes gradually turned bloodshot.

“That… ngh… that was the last trace of unni I found twenty minutes ago… If this is the case, we have to change all the operational details. Director… from this moment on… we are no longer backing up Owl.”

He Channa choked back her sobs as she spoke.

“I know.”

He forced his unbearably heavy feet forward. He had to board the plane. He had to go to her. He had to see it with his own eyes.

But even taking a single step required immense strength. His legs felt like stone, his feet dragging across the floor. It felt as though his entire body would collapse at any moment.

“The leaked information reportedly amounts to thousands of cases. It includes not only data on white agents operating under diplomatic cover, but also information on black agents who conduct unofficial operations under fabricated identities. As a result, the scope of the crisis continues to expand…”

The surrounding noise and scenery held no meaning. With every step, he only heard something inside his chest burning away. Everything outside him felt distant and blurred.

Lee Wooshin wiped away the cold sweat that streamed down and blankly recalled last night.

‘Did I have that nightmare again yesterday, like always? Did I wander through a bloodstained snowfield searching for you? That wretched nightmare feels like it suddenly turned into reality.

I knew. I knew this would happen. That was why I chewed down those migraine pills.

It felt as though the anxiety would not end as mere anxiety. Maybe instinct already knew I should not have sent you.

And yet I yielded to you. I told myself I would not be like the others who tried to restrain you. I would stand fully behind you and support you as your family.

Was I too arrogant? Yes. I must have been. I believed I would be different.

If you are gone, I am gone too. Seoryeong, you have given me an impossible task. I cannot endure this life without you. I do not even want to endure it.’

Lee Wooshin sank deeper and deeper into darkness. His voice broke.

“As of this moment, we are changing the operation.”

Step by step, he moved forward in silence.

“We will conduct a search for the missing and recover the body.”

Even if I have to bring back just a fragment of you.