Extraction
Outside the Lab – Shadowed Corridor
The air was thick.
Too quiet.
Jaewook, Kang Ho, and Hyun Soo crept through the narrow side entrance, footsteps muffled by dust and adrenaline.
Then—
A voice echoed through the rusted hall.
"You shouldn't be here."
Not Jaemin.
Not military.
Dojin.
Jaewook's jaw tightened.
Kang Ho instinctively stepped in front of him.
Even Hyun Soo didn't crack a joke.
They ducked behind an old control panel, hearts pounding.
Peeking through, they saw him—
Park Dojin, cold as ever, standing across from a lone woman.
---
Inside the Lab
Sohyun stood tall, but her hands trembled.
Not from fear—but from years of grief turned into courage.
She faced the man who once erased her daughter's memory, locked her in silence, and erased their family for power.
"You told me to disappear."
"I did."
"But I'm here now—for her."
She stepped closer.
"Please… let her go."
Her voice cracked—but she didn't back down.
"She didn't do anything wrong. She suffered… because of you."
Tears welled in her eyes.
"You erased her memory, made her believe she was alone, abandoned, unloved."
Her voice shook, desperate now.
"Just this once… please."
"Let her be free."
"Let yourself be free."
"Confess what you've done."
Dojin said nothing.
But his eyes flickered.
For the first time—
Something fractured behind them.
---
In the shadows, Jaewook heard every word.
His fists clenched until his knuckles turned white.
He wasn't just here to fight.
He was here to take back what Dojin stole.
And now he knew:
Sohyun wasn't just a survivor.
She was a mother who waited in silence
…just like Minah had.
And now?
None of them were silent anymore.
-----
The extraction was almost done.
Jaemin's team had the evidence.
Minah had her footing.
And yet—
Her world spun.
She had a mother.
She wasn't abandoned.
She was loved.
She wasn't broken.
And now—
Her father, the man who erased her voice,
Had a gun pressed against the man she loved.
---
BANG!
A warning shot ricocheted through the corridor.
Jaemin turned.
Two of his men fell back to hold the line.
"Keep moving!" he ordered.
"We exit through the side passage!"
But Minah couldn't move.
Because then—
She heard it.
"Park Dojin!"
"It's enough."
"You are surrounded. My military division is closing in as we speak."
It was Jaewook.
Calm. Commanding.
Every syllable laced with steel.
Hyun Soo whispered from the shadows:
"He's buying us time. Military ETA—ten minutes."
Kang Ho smirked.
"He's really his father's son."
But Minah?
Her chest tightened.
Her hand clenched.
Jaewook… he came anyway.
Jaemin hissed behind her.
"That fool. I told him not to come. Does he want to die?"
Then—
Over comms:
"Sir. Jaewook is being held at gunpoint. Orders?"
Time slowed.
Minah could see it in her mind—
Her father's eyes.
His gun.
Jaewook's silence.
A worst-case ending written in blood and déjà vu.
But not this time.
Minah's heart pounded.
Twelve years of silence.
Twelve years of fear.
Twelve years of thinking she was nothing.
She thought of Jaewook.
His warmth. His protection.
The red bracelet.
His smile.
His promise.
And she breathed in.
Then—
She stepped forward.
"Dad."
Her voice was shaky.
But loud enough.
Everyone froze.
And then—
She screamed.
"Let my husband go!!"
---
The corridor went still.
Even the shadows stopped moving.
Minah stood tall.
Not as Subject 47.
Not as Park Seoyoung.
Not even as Song Minah.
But as herself.
A survivor who chose to fight back.
With a voice that shook the man who once erased it.