CYEL

Song Minah, a quiet young woman in her early 20s, has suffered more than most. After a mysterious brain injury in her childhood left her selectively mute, she was passed from one foster family to another—until she ended up with a family that used her like a tool. Her step-sister, Sana Lee, driven by jealousy and greed, married Minah’s boyfriend and helped orchestrate her downfall. When the family business crashed, they sold Minah off in marriage to save themselves.

But what no one knew... was that Minah had already been claimed.

Han Jaewook, a reclusive and powerful CEO in his early 30s, suffers from a rare sun allergy and lives behind the veil of secrecy. As a boy, he once loved a girl named Minah—an orphan adopted by his mother. For three brief months, they were inseparable... until she vanished without a trace. Jaewook never forgot her. And when he finally found her again, humiliated by her boss and trapped by the family that betrayed her, he made his move.

He destroyed the family's business and gave them one condition: their daughter Minah would become his wife.

Now under Jaewook’s protection, Minah begins to uncover secrets buried for over a decade—secrets about her real identity, the truth behind her mutism, and the shadowy figures who were involved in her childhood trauma. But some truths don’t want to be found… and someone is willing to make sure they stay buried.

The Silent Bride

Underground Facility – 2:06 a.m.

The deeper they went, the worse it smelled.

The air was thick, humid—suffocating.

Minah's boots scraped across the floor, past discarded syringes, rusted gurneys, and piles of tiny, tattered clothes—

Evidence of children who were never meant to leave.

Every step echoed like a whisper from the past.

The lead squad raised their hands.

"Clear this section. Check for traps."

Two soldiers moved ahead, sweeping for hidden explosives.

Wires. Bomb triggers. Landmines of the past.

Even in death, they tried to hide it.

Minah suddenly stumbled, grabbing the wall.

Flashes of memory. Screams. The echo of metal against metal.

Jaemin stepped beside her and placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

Minah closed her eyes for a moment.

Then opened them—clearer than before.

A surgical light hung like a dead star.

A row of beds still lined the walls—

As if the ghosts were waiting to be used again.

And something deliberately untouched:

Jaemin approached it like a weapon.

"It's a plant," one of the soldiers said.

"Too clean. Someone left this for us."

"Because someone wanted me to see it."

And someone… wanted her to remember.

The folder trembled in Minah's hands.

The name "Subject 47" stared back at her like it had teeth.

The squad raised their weapons instantly.

Hand gripped on his pistol, he positioned himself behind the rusted doorframe.

A middle-aged woman. Pale. Cautious. Worn by time.

She wasn't dressed like a scientist.

She looked like someone who wasn't supposed to be here at all.

"Why are you here? Are you connected to the lab?!"

The folder slipped from Minah's hands.

The woman spoke, voice cracking like old porcelain:

Jaemin's hand faltered on his weapon.

Heart of the Lab