Location: Mi Ran's Private Office – Late Evening
The room was pristine, polished to reflect her image—graceful, respectable, untouchable. Mi Ran sat at the head of the long conference table, her soft smile welcoming Ethan as he entered.
"Ethan, how lovely to see you again," she said, pouring him tea with delicate hands. "I didn't expect you so soon after our dinner."
"It's business," Ethan replied coolly, taking a seat across from her. "You said you had something urgent."
She leaned back slightly, then signaled to her assistant, who handed her a sleek black folder. She slid it across the table toward him.
"I debated showing you this. Truly, I did. But you deserve to know what kind of person you're married to."
Ethan opened the folder calmly.
Inside were photos—gruesome ones. Bodies. Bloodied tools. Screenshots of security footage showing a slender figure—Soo Ah—disappearing into alleys just before deaths were reported. Forensic reports. Pattern charts. Old police suspicions, dismissed over lack of evidence… but all pointing in one direction.
Han Soo Ah.
Ethan's brows furrowed, but his expression remained tight and unreadable.
"These are serious accusations," he said.
Mi Ran tilted her head. "They're not accusations. They're truths. Your wife is a serial killer, Ethan."
She stood and walked toward the window, folding her arms.
"That girl... She's dangerous. Careless. And clearly, she's only after your name. Divorce her—quietly, before it's too late."
Ethan stood, closing the folder.
His tone was colder than before, calculated.
"Thank you for telling me. I'll handle it."
Mi Ran smiled, satisfied. "You're smarter than your father ever was."
Ethan bowed politely.
"Goodnight, Chairwoman."
And then he left, briefcase in hand, his mind already miles ahead.
The Next Morning – Mi Ran's Estate
The door to Mi Ran's study slammed open.
"Chairwoman!" one of her assistants shouted. "The files—!"
"What files?"
"The Soo Ah file. It's… it's gone. Everything. The original copies, the digital backups. Even the private server—it's been wiped."
Her face darkened.
She rushed to her personal vault. The passcode worked. The door opened.
Empty.
Not a trace of the folder. Not a fragment of data.
"Who…" she muttered, lips tightening.
Location: Ethan's Hidden Base — Underground Bunker, Evening
The room was dim, humming faintly with the soft buzz of fluorescent lights overhead. Surveillance monitors lined one wall. Weapons, classified documents, and high-end tech cluttered the long steel table in the center.
Ethan stood alone.
His sleeves were rolled up, shirt slightly wrinkled from a sleepless night. On the table before him lay the contents of the stolen file: crime scene photographs, footage, forensics—every piece of evidence Mi Ran had painstakingly gathered against Soo Ah.
And he had them all now.
He inserted a USB drive into the secure laptop, backing up the contents again. Then he carefully began dissecting each file—line by line, image by image.
"So this was her insurance..." he muttered, dragging a thumbnail across a timestamped still image of Soo Ah exiting a dimly lit alley. Her face was partially shadowed, but unmistakable.
He leaned back in his chair.
This woman, Soo Ah—serial killer, obsessive, reckless—was also the one who risked everything to dig up the truth about his brother's death.
And the person who called herself family—Mi Ran—had hidden behind silk gloves while orchestrating everything.
"You've been playing everyone, haven't you?" he whispered, staring coldly at a digitized image of Mi Ran's face.
He opened another folder on the drive. One labeled:
"Redacted Communications – Internal Affairs"
It was a message. A voice clip. Mi Ran's voice, distorted but traceable. Talking about "tying up loose ends before the boy talks."
The boy.
His brother.
Ethan's jaw tightened. His fists curled around the edge of the desk, knuckles whitening.
All this time… he had been chasing shadows. While the real culprit sat across dinner tables, smiled at him, and offered him poisoned advice.
Then, quietly, to no one but the silence around him, he spoke:
"This ends with you."
He turned off the monitor. Left the room without looking back.
Tomorrow, everything would change.
_________________
Location: Ethan's Private Safehouse — Nightfall
Rain lashed against the windows, the distant sound of thunder rolling in the background. The night was quiet — too quiet.
Ethan had stepped out for a classified meeting, one only he could handle.
He had left Soo Ah behind, trusting that the secured compound and his handpicked guards were enough.
He was wrong.
Inside the Safehouse – Moments Earlier
The silence was broken by a sudden crash — glass shattered, doors burst open.
A dozen black-clad men stormed in, led by a poised figure in a white trench coat.
Choi Mi Ran.
She walked with slow, cold elegance, her eyes scanning the dim room like a predator stalking its prey.
"Han Soo Ah," she called out, voice low but sharp. "You were always good at hiding in plain sight. Just like your mother."
Soo Ah, seated by the fireplace in jeans and Ethan's jacket, stood up slowly, unarmed — or so it seemed.
Her expression didn't flinch.
"You came yourself," she said, tilting her head with that maddening smile. "I'm honored."
Mi Ran's smile didn't reach her eyes.
"You should be dead. You were supposed to die years ago. Just like your pathetic mother."
Something in Soo Ah's eyes flickered — rage, pain, but still, control.
"Then you should've aimed better."
The room exploded into chaos.
Soo Ah moved like wind through fire — grabbing a hidden blade from beneath the coffee table, sliding between her attackers with the precision of a trained assassin.
Bodies dropped. Blood spilled. Screams echoed.
She was fast — too fast for them — but they were many. One caught her shoulder with a blade. Another landed a harsh strike to her side. But she didn't stop.
Not until the room fell into silence.
And Mi Ran?
She was the last to fall — a dagger buried cleanly into her throat, eyes wide with disbelief as her final breath rattled out of her body.
Soo Ah collapsed beside her, breathing shallow, blood seeping from her wounds.
A Few Minutes Later — Ethan Arrives
The front gates were already broken when Ethan's car screeched to a stop.
His gut twisted.
He rushed inside.
The lights were flickering. Blood smeared the floors. His guards — his men — dead. But it wasn't them that made him freeze.
It was the sight in the center of the living room.
Choi Mi Ran, cold and lifeless on the floor.
And beside her—
"Soo Ah!" Ethan shouted, running to her limp form.
She was unconscious, her breathing weak but present. Blood soaked her clothes, though it wasn't clear how much was hers.
He dropped to his knees, shaking her gently.
"Hey. Look at me."
Nothing.
His voice cracked.
"Don't you dare die on me."
Her fingers twitched.
Relief rushed through him. He scooped her into his arms, holding her tight against his chest.
"You insane woman," he whispered, voice low, almost trembling. "You really would've fought hell itself if it came knocking."
He looked around at the carnage she'd survived. Alone.
And still… she fought like a soldier. Like someone with nothing left to lose. For me.
As he carried her to the medical room, he clenched his jaw, heart pounding.
This wasn't just about revenge anymore.
This was war.