Geum Seongje

You and he had known each other for a long time. You were both part of the Union, a place where loyalty and violence walked hand in hand. But there was something about you that drove Seongje crazy.

You were his weakness.

He would give everything for you. He worried about every step you took and would never allow anyone to hurt you. In fact, there was a rule within the Union that everyone knew.

Anyone who messed with you died.

He kept insisting you leave the Union. He begged you to go, to leave that place before something happened. But you always refused, and that drove him to despair.

Because he attracted your attention in a way that even he didn't understand.

He wasn't a man who fell in love. He never had. He hadn't even believed something like this could happen to him until now.

But those feelings were emerging.

And the worst part was that someone else had noticed.

Baekjin, the man who controlled the Union, had noticed. He had seen the way Seongje looked at you. How he protected you. How he cared for you even when he tried to hide it.

Baekjin was not someone who overlooked details.

The night was silent.

Baekjin sat in his office, barely illuminated by the dim light. The smell of cigarettes filled the air.

Seongje was reclining on a black sofa in front of him, holding the cigar between his fingers as he slowly exhaled the smoke.

Baekjin watched him with a cold stare.

—Do you think he loves you?

Her voice was calm but sharp.

Seongje remained silent.

You were difficult to understand. Cold, you almost never showed your feelings. He knew it.

Because sometimes it seemed like you weren't paying attention to him. As if everything he felt meant nothing.

Finally, he looked up at Baekjin.

He exhaled another puff of smoke before answering seriously.

No, I don't know.

Then he spoke again.

But there is one thing I do know, I do love her, she is the only woman I would trust blindly.