The small family-style restaurant in Yeonnam-dong was packed with students and office workers seeking warmth from the cold night air. The scent of grilling meat and warm spices clung to the walls, mingling with bursts of laughter and clinking glasses.
Seo Hana arrived slightly late, cheeks flushed from the cold and the brisk walk from Sinchon. She spotted Chae-Rin at a corner table, already halfway through a bottle of soju.
"Finally!" Chae-Rin called, waving her over. "I was about to start without you."
"Sorry, bookstore run," Hana grinned, slipping into the seat beside her. "Did you order yet?"
"Of course not. I'm considerate, unlike some people."
Hana laughed as a waiter arrived with banchan dishes and a steaming pot of kimchi jjigae. The heat and noise of the place settled around them like a comforting blanket.
A few minutes later, Detective Choi Hyun-Soo arrived — tall, slightly unkempt in his rumpled jacket, with sharp eyes that missed nothing. His presence was like a stone tossed into still water.
"Girls," he greeted, pulling up a chair. "Hope I'm not too late."
"Nope. We saved you a seat. You owe me a bottle for being fashionably late though," Chae-Rin teased.
Hyun-Soo managed a tired smile. Hana always liked him. For a cop, he wasn't stiff. There was something kind in his eyes, though shadows clung to the edges of his face lately.
They ate, talked, and shared stories about campus life, gossiped about professors, and teased Chae-Rin for getting scolded at work again.
But as the evening settled deeper, the conversation slowly, inevitably drifted toward the city's darker side.
"How's Busan?" Chae-Rin asked Hyun-Soo quietly, her chopsticks paused halfway to her mouth.
Hana frowned. "Busan?"
Hyun-Soo sighed, leaning back. "Bad. Worse than it's been in years. Whole gangs wiped out. No witnesses. No survivors. No one claiming credit."
"Like some ghost hunting them," Chae-Rin murmured.
Hana shivered slightly at her friend's tone.
Hyun-Soo rubbed his face. "I worked there with Kang Jae-Min years ago. It was bad then… but this? This is something else. And now bits of it are starting to seep up here."
"Seoul?" Hana asked, uneasy.
"Some of the surviving gang men are on the move. Shifting north. We don't know who's chasing them, but they're scared enough to leave their turf behind."
The warm restaurant felt suddenly colder.
Chae-Rin made a face. "You'd think people would be glad. Fewer criminals."
"It's not justice when it's done this way," Hyun-Soo said softly. "It's just blood on blood. And the kind of people who settle scores like this… they don't stop when the list runs out."
Hana noticed how his gaze lingered on her for a second longer than usual.
A protective glance.
The kind you didn't notice unless you were paying attention.
And though no one said it aloud, the city felt… heavier these days.
Fewer late-night calls.
People locking their doors earlier.
News stories about unsolved disappearances vanishing off headlines within hours.
As the meal wound down, Chae-Rin insisted on more soju, and for a while, the shadows lifted. Laughter returned, and the three of them fell back into easy conversation, Hana grateful for the warmth of old friendships.
But even as she laughed, she couldn't quite shake the chill in her chest.
Outside, the city moved on, unaware of how close storms always lurked beneath its bright lights.
And somewhere in the shifting dark, another set of eyes watched her world.