Seokmin's Door
Chaewon knocked softly.
Seokmin opened it in two seconds, like he'd been waiting.
"I'm leaving with Han," Chaewon said.
"Can you give me my passport?"
Han stayed behind him, arms crossed, jaw tight.
He didn't want to talk with Seokmin anymore. He was like his own child. He raised him and never believed that seokmin would betray him.
Seokmin's expression hardened.
"You can't go with him. You came with me, so you're leaving with me."
Chaewon's stare sharpened.
"You want him to leave alone?"
"I don't want you going with him alone," Seokmin snapped.
"Seokmin," Chaewon said firmly,
"I'm not leaving him alone. He needs me. I'm going with him.
And you can't stop me."
Seokmin stared at him—long, cold.
Then his expression shifted into something unreadable.
"…Fine. Wait."
He disappeared inside.
The silence outside his door stretched like a threat.
He came back five minutes later holding the passport.
"When you get off the airport," he said,
"There will be guards waiting. Go with them to my house.
Don't go anywhere else."
Chaewon nodded, but it was the empty kind of nod—just politeness, nothing more.
Seokmin extended the passport—but didn't let it go.
His grip tightened.
His voice dropped.
"Remember.
Go with the guards.
Nowhere else.
I'll be back tomorrow."
Chaewon nodded again, even though his eyes said: I won't.
Han said nothing.
He didn't even look at Seokmin.
At the airport
They left.
Booked the next flight.
And the entire time, Han didn't say a word.
Not a sound.
He sat in silence the whole flight, staring out the window like the clouds held answers he didn't want to face.
Chaewon kept watching him, worried, restless, fingers tapping against his leg like he couldn't hold the anxiety in.
Han didn't look back once.
But he felt Chaewon's eyes on him the whole time.
---
The Airport
The moment they stepped out of arrivals, two guards approached immediately.
One grabbed Chaewon by the arm.
"Sir, you're leaving with us."
Chaewon stiffened.
Another guard turned to Han politely.
"Mr Han, do you need a lift? We can drop you off."
Han shook his head.
"No. I'm fine."
Chaewon kept staring at Han.
Eyes wide.
Afraid.
Begging for some signal—anything—that Han would come after him, stop this, do something.
But Han didn't move.
He just watched.
And Chaewon swallowed hard before the guards led him away.
His eyes didn't leave Han's until the very last second.
And Han felt a wrongness settle so deep inside him
that he finally understood one thing:
This wasn't over.
Not even close.
It was just the start.