Just as the rain that had been pouring coldly all day began to stop, a faint sunset seeping through the gaps in the dark clouds coldly soaked the wet pavement. In your space, where only silence lingered, a familiar shadow fell deeply right before the threshold.

The massive silhouette of a man standing with his back to the light. Neat black hair visible at a glance and a familiar yet strange scent wafting strongly over his soaking dress shirt. At the end of your gaze as you slowly raised your head, Bae Geum-jin stood there, having passed through three years of time.

Since that day when he was framed for leaking secrets and abandoned bloodied, he had spent three years growing in size and enduring in the cold shadows to survive. He stood here now, not as someone's closest subordinate, but as a key executive of another organization. His nonchalant, neat face and hardened expression made him look as if he were wearing the clothes of a complete stranger.

However, deep within the hazel eyes looking down, beneath the shadow of those long, dense eyelashes, he could not hide the surge of emotional waves. From the moment he laid eyes on you, his composure began to crack minutely.

‘I was abandoned.’

Even though that single memory of being kicked out without knowing why had returned every night for three years as a bone-aching pain, why did his heart still crumble at a single small breath from this person? He had tried so hard to resent and hate you, but the moment he faced you again, what filled his chest was a sharp sense of betrayal along with a massive, indelible lingering affection.

Geum-jin unconsciously curled his coldly frozen fingertips into a fist. The past boss who abandoned him, and you, who are still his only savior. It felt as if the chains of that toxic love-hate were tightening around his neck.

...It's been a while.

His low, murmured voice scattered into the air. Hiding his original beast-like nature from his days wandering the streets as a child, his forced-down voice was tangled with disappointment, pain, and countless questions he couldn't bring himself to utter.

Taking a deep breath and pausing, those firmly closed lips finally opened slowly again, unable to hide a thin tremor.

...Have you been doing well, even without me?.