Gangneung was grey under the dawn, clouds hanging heavy above the hospital as if pressing down on the building's glass and steel bones. Inside, the air smelled of disinfectant and warm coffee, nurses moving like clockwork between patient rooms, their footsteps a steady rhythm.
Seo Yoon arrived early, coat crisp, hair tied back, a tablet in hand as she moved down the hall toward the cardiothoracic wing. Her eyes skimmed over the day's surgical schedule, but her mind was focused on one name.
Han Min Gyu.
He was scheduled for a pre-op evaluation that morning, the final step before his procedure. Seo Yoon paused by the observation window, watching him laugh with a nurse, his smile wide and false.
She took a breath, steadying herself, letting her face become unreadable.
---
In the police station across town, Hyun Woo stared at the board, strings of red thread connecting victims, dates, and locations. Each photo was another puzzle piece, another dead man with power and secrets.
A cup of cold coffee sat by his elbow, forgotten. His notebook was filled with scribbles, timelines, and fragments of conversations.
Three deaths. Three men who had escaped justice.
Now a fourth man, Han Min Gyu, was alive—but for how long?
Hyun Woo didn't know why, but he felt it. Something was coming, a fourth piece ready to fall into place.
---
Back at the hospital, Seo Yoon entered Han Min Gyu's room with measured steps. The air smelled faintly of antiseptic and the cheap cologne he wore.
"Doctor Seo," he greeted, his voice oily.
She nodded, checking the monitors, the IV line, making notes on her tablet. Her hands were steady, movements precise.
"You'll take care of me, won't you?" he asked, his smile widening.
"I will do my job," she replied calmly, meeting his gaze for a brief moment before turning back to the monitor.
He laughed, leaning back against the pillows. "Good girl."
Seo Yoon didn't react. She simply adjusted the flow on the IV and stepped back, her eyes lingering on the heart monitor for a beat too long.
---
Later, she stood in the staff lounge, pouring herself a cup of barley tea. Her reflection in the window looked calm, composed, but her eyes were distant, calculating.
Behind her, a nurse spoke softly, joking with another about a patient's stubbornness, the normal chatter of hospital life continuing around her. Seo Yoon listened without listening, her mind elsewhere.
Today was the day before.
The day before the line was crossed.
---
Hyun Woo sat in his car outside the hospital, watching as staff came and went, the normal bustle of a weekday morning.
He didn't know why he was there. Instinct, maybe. A need to be close to the storm he felt brewing.
His phone buzzed with a message from his superior: "Any progress?"
Hyun Woo didn't respond immediately, his eyes scanning the entrance as Seo Yoon stepped out for a moment, her eyes lifting to the sky before lowering back to her tablet.
She looked calm, unbothered.
But Hyun Woo's gut told him there was more beneath that stillness.
---
That night, Seo Yoon sat at her kitchen table, reviewing the day's notes, the schedule for tomorrow, the likely moments when Han Min Gyu would be alone, when the shift change would leave him unwatched.
She drank her tea slowly, letting the warmth fill her as the rain began to fall against the window, a soft patter that filled the silence.
There was no fear. Only a quiet certainty, the calm before the storm.
Outside, Gangneung's lights flickered under the rain, the city unaware of the choice that would be made tomorrow.
---