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  "...It’s Yuri’s heart. It’s the Choi Seo-hyun Line."

  The air in the room seemed to vanish for a second, then rushed back in with suffocating pressure.

  The sound of the fans roared in Tae-yoon’s ears. The cooling wind felt like ice against his skin.

  Tae-yoon’s lips parted.

  But no sound came out.

  His mouth was dry. His throat was blocked.

  In his mind, scenes he had turned off long ago flickered back to life.

  Yuri’s laughter.

  Yuri’s final breath.

  And the list of everything he had failed to protect following that day.

  Min-su grabbed Tae-yoon’s shoulder and shook him roughly.

  "Hey... are you okay? Look at me! Hey!"

  Tae-yoon didn't shake.

  Or rather, the shaking didn't reach the 'outside'.

  Two voices rang simultaneously in Tae-yoon’s head.

  ‘I must protect Choi Seo-hyun.’

  ‘Looking at Choi Seo-hyun reminds me of Yuri.’

  The desire to protect was sharp as a knife.

  The memory of the dead was cruel as drowning water.

  Ha-jun asked cautiously.

  "Hyung... could we be wrong? Maybe it’s not her?"

  Seo-hui shook her head.

  "No. We can't be wrong. Who else would scrub the data this 'cleanly'? The cleanliness itself is the proof."

  Oh Se-na muttered quietly.

  "Clean means... someone touched it..."

  Those words stabbed Tae-yoon in the chest.

  Min-su ground his teeth.

  "Then what is she? Is Choi Seo-hyun just a target? Or is she an accomplice?"

  Tae-yoon’s eyes moved very slowly.

  Once. Twice.

  Something was rising from the depths.

  "We don't know if she's an accomplice yet."

  Tae-yoon’s voice finally emerged.

  It was terrifyingly cold.

  "But one thing is certain."

  Tae-yoon stood up.

  The sound of his feet hitting the floor was heavier than usual.

  "Choi Seo-hyun... is a Protection Target."

  Ha-jun’s eyes widened, and Min-su swallowed a curse.

  Seo-hui narrowed her eyes minutely, as if she had expected this answer.

  Tae-yoon added.

  "I will handle the approach."

  The eyes of the seven members locked onto him.

  It wasn't an order. It was a Declaration.

  A declaration that Tae-yoon was pushing himself into the center of the crossfire.

  Seo-hui spoke low.

  "You will crumble."

  Tae-yoon smiled.

  "I can crumble. But... she cannot."

  At that moment, Tae-yoon realized.

  What he was doing now wasn't 'Revenge'.

  Revenge is driven by anger, but Protection is driven by Guilt.

  And guilt... is the fuel that makes a person survive the longest, and most cruelly.

  The Ignition.

  Seo-hyun began to move.

  And the world reacted.

  Tae-yoon 'coincidentally' encountered her near the Foundation one more time.

  As those 'coincidences' piled up day by day, the chill running down Tae-yoon’s spine grew colder.

  Choi Seo-hyun was smart.

  She didn't just 'feel' that the Foundation was dirty.

  She was looking at the data, the people, the movement lines, and the gaps in the system.

  And when a person like that starts digging, the darkness inevitably bites back.

  That day was the breaking point.

  As Seo-hyun exited the side door of the Foundation building and headed toward her car, the air shifted.

  There were people around, but it was strangely quiet.

  Laughter could be heard, but it lacked warmth.

  The moment Seo-hyun reached for her car door handle.

  Thud.

  A very light contact.

  The sound of something dropping from the rear wheel well.

  Seo-hyun instinctively looked down.

  At that exact moment—someone brushed past her, grabbed her arm, and yanked her backward with violent force.

  "—Wait."

  Seo-hyun gasped as she was pulled away.

  In the spot where she had been standing, right where her feet had been a second ago.

  Fzzzt— POP.

  It sounded like a small firecracker.

  It wasn't a massive explosion.

  But from the undercarriage, thin smoke rose with the acrid smell of burning chemicals. Electrical ignition.

  An approach designed to look like an accident.

  Too quiet to be a murder, too precise to be a warning.

  Seo-hyun stood frozen, staring at the man who had pulled her back.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  It was Tae-yoon.

  He was holding her wrist with a casual expression, as if nothing had happened.

  But his grip was so hard it bruised.

  "You..."

  Seo-hyun breathed heavily, her eyes wide.

  "Who are you really...?"

  The moment the question fell, Tae-yoon felt it.

  He had been too fast again.

  He had been too precise again.

  Seo-hyun’s eyes trembled.

  Fear. Anger. And for a brief second—Relief.

  Tae-yoon put on his habitual mask.

  The smile of the good-natured Manager Kang.

  The smile the world found easiest to trust.

  "Me?"

  Tae-yoon shrugged.

  "I'm just... good at finding my way around."

  Seo-hyun grit her teeth.

  "Are you going to say that... again?"

  Instead of answering, Tae-yoon scanned the ground once, then turned his head.

  Security guards were rushing over. Gazes were gathering.

  If he said one more word here, he would drag Seo-hyun deeper into his hell.

  So Tae-yoon chose to leave.

  "Be careful," Tae-yoon said.

  "The air near the Foundation... isn't good for your health."

  Seo-hyun took a step forward.

  "Wait! You!"

  Tae-yoon didn't look back.

  He knew that if he looked back, he would waver.

  Seo-hyun stood there for a long time, watching his retreating back.

  She whispered, barely audible over the wind.

  "...If coincidences happen this many times..."

  Her voice scattered.

  "...Then the word 'Fate' becomes possible."

  Seo-hyun didn't know if Tae-yoon heard her.

  But in that moment, Tae-yoon felt it.

  He was getting closer.

  To Seo-hyun.

  To Yuri.

  And to the 'Collapse' he wanted so desperately to avoid.

  The Fall of the Puppets.

  People said it was "Over."

  First, it was the Chairman.

  Then, it was the First Son.

  The First Son’s aides were arrested one after another.

  Articles poured out, internal whistleblowers emerged, and rumors solidified into facts.

  "The First Son was 'S'."

  "He aimed for the Chairman's empty seat."

  "The Foundation was his private piggy bank."

  It was a perfect picture.

  So perfect that it made Tae-yoon sick.

  In the hideout, Ha-jun muttered while watching the news.

  "Hyung... if this is true, didn't we win? Anyway, a big guy went down."

  Min-su played with an unlit cigarette, scoffing.

  "Hey, do you know what real stupidity is?

  When a giant like that falls, there is always a 'Hand' that pushed him."

  Seo-hui glared at the screen, then exhaled sharply.

  "It crumbles... too easily."

  Silence fell over the room.

  Tae-yoon watched the timing on the screen.

  The moment the First Son fell, the 'Approval Line' in the system became harder, more crystallized.

  "Look."

  Tae-yoon pointed at the screen.

  "As the First Son falls... the 2F Approval Line just got stronger."

  Oh Se-na spoke in a trembling voice.

  "Then... was the First Son... discarded?"

  Tae-yoon nodded.

  "Discarded. By someone."

  Seo-hui’s eyes shook.

  It wasn't anger. It was close to emptiness.

  "If it ends this easily..."

  Seo-hui whispered.

  "...Then what was my family sacrificed for?"

  That single sentence froze the room.

  Tae-yoon looked at Seo-hui.

  She pretended to be cold, but beneath the ice, magma was shifting.

  Tae-yoon spoke quietly.

  "It's not over."

  Seo-hui looked up at him.

  Tae-yoon’s eyes were solid rock.

  "We will make it end. Us."

  Act Two: The Living Master.

  While the team caught their breath, the 'Real One' entered the stage.

  This attack was different.

  It resembled the traces of the weekend raid, but it was more refined. Quieter. More cruel.

  It wasn't a pattern designed to 'fight', but a pattern designed to 'show'.

  Ha-jun bit his lip watching the screen.

  "Hyung... this isn't the First Son."

  Min-su asked immediately.

  "Why?"

  Ha-jun inhaled.

  "What the First Son did... was showing off.

  But this... has no breath. No emotion.

  It feels like an owner pulling a string just once to test the tension."

  Seo-hui laughed shortly.

  "Correct."

  Tae-yoon tapped the table with his fingertip.

  "Then what was the First Son?"

  When Ha-jun couldn't answer, Min-su spoke instead.

  "A puppet."

  Tae-yoon added in a low voice.

  "Or... a Mask."

  At that moment, the monitor screen flickered briefly, and white text appeared on a black background.

  It was clearly a message.

  Not an attack, but a declaration.

  [ Welcome. Act 1 is over. I am opening Act 2. ]

  Han So-hee gasped.

  Oh Se-na’s hand clutching the pencil froze.

  Lee Hyun-ah clenched her jaw.

  Seo-hui closed her eyes and opened them.

  "He's here."

  Tae-yoon smiled.

  It wasn't because he was happy.

  It was the cold joy of realizing, 'Finally, the real one has come out.'

  "Right," Tae-yoon said very low.

  "Then Act 2... we will end it."

  The Second Son's Gaze.

  The next day, Tae-yoon was dragged to an external meeting at Sungjin.

  After the fall of the First Son, Sungjin became more vicious and cautious.

  People were anxious, like residents of a castle without a lord.

  And in times like this, the real lord moves quietly.

  The conference room was strangely chaotic.

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