Episode 40 – Shattered Masks
Gray dawn painted HQ's walls in lifeless light. Rain still whispered on steel beams — a soft, cold sound that did nothing to quiet the storm inside.
ZeroFace sat cuffed to a metal chair, head low, breath ragged through split lips. Dried blood crusted across his chin, mask broken and tossed aside. His real face was ordinary — forgettable. That made it worse.
Kevin stood opposite, arms folded. Behind him, Minjae leaned against the wall, silent, eyes black and hollow.
Guen and Dohee flanked Kevin. Alex manned the monitor, watching every twitch, every microexpression.
And Miran… she stood near the door, pale as frost, arms crossed tight across her ribs.
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Kevin's voice was cold iron. "Who hired you?"
ZeroFace coughed, a wet, ugly sound. Then he lifted his gaze — and smiled, slow and cracked. "Why do you care so much about the quiet one?" His eyes flicked to Miran, pinning her in place. "She barely screams, you know."
Miran flinched so hard her back hit the wall.
Minjae pushed away from the concrete, shadow spilling off him like smoke.
"Careful," Kevin warned, hand half-raised. But Minjae didn't blink, didn't speak — just stared, a wolf scenting blood.
---
ZeroFace licked his split lip, tasting the iron. "What was she to you, hm? Pet project? Or just the weakest link?"
Minjae's jaw ticked. Muscles in his arm coiled, ready to snap.
Kevin spoke first, voice knife-sharp. "Who paid you?"
ZeroFace's grin twisted. "You think you scare me? I've met real monsters. You're just men in suits."
His gaze drifted back to Minjae, lingering. "Except him, maybe."
---
Silence crackled electric.
Dohee stepped forward, words trembling. "Why Miran? Why target her?"
ZeroFace tilted his head. "Because he loves her, doesn't he?" His gaze bored into Minjae. "And what better way to break a monster than to stain the one thing he still wants clean?"
Miran's breath caught. Her vision blurred; the words cut deeper than blades.
Minjae didn't deny it. Didn't blink.
---
Alex broke in from the monitor. "There's money transfers routed through shell companies. We'll find who pulled your leash."
ZeroFace's cracked laugh echoed in the concrete room. "Find them. And then what? You think this ends with me?"
---
Kevin's stare iced over. "What do you mean?"
ZeroFace leaned forward, voice dropping to something softer, crueler. "You're chasing shadows. You don't see the hand that writes the script. You're inside the story — and the ending's already written."
---
Minjae stepped closer, boots scraping concrete. "Write it for us," he rasped.
ZeroFace's smile widened. "And if I don't?"
Minjae's knuckles popped, slow and deliberate. "Then you'll find out what kind of monster I really am."
---
Kevin's hand shot out, blocking Minjae's path. "Enough!"
But Minjae's stare stayed locked, dead and hungry. "Say it. Who."
ZeroFace's smirk thinned. "Even you can't kill what you can't see."
---
Kevin nodded to Alex. "Take him back to holding."
ZeroFace stood, blood dripping from a cracked tooth. As he passed Miran, he whispered so only she heard:
"You should thank me. Monsters like him need reminders they can still bleed."
Miran recoiled, face ashen.
Minjae's fists tightened, nails biting flesh, drawing his own blood.
---
Outside the room, silence throbbed between them.
Kevin's voice was flat. "Miran, you should rest."
She shook her head, tears burning behind her eyes. "I need to know. Why me?"
Minjae spoke low, darker than shadow. "Because you matter."
Their eyes met. Hers wide, wounded; his raw, hungry, something close to confession burning unsaid.
---
Guen placed a hand on Miran's shoulder. "Come. You shouldn't hear the rest."
Miran hesitated, then let Guen guide her away. But even as she left, her gaze flickered back to Minjae — drawn by something she feared, but couldn't abandon.
---
Minutes later, in the planning room:
Alex traced red threads on the whiteboard, voice cracking. "The payment came from a shell in Hong Kong. No owner listed — just numbers."
Dohee wiped rainwater from her sleeve. "This wasn't random. Someone wants to break us."
Kevin nodded. "Or wants to break him." His gaze landed on Minjae.
Minjae stared back, eyes empty. "Let them try."
---
Later, in the medical room:
Miran sat on the cot, knees drawn to her chest. Rain pattered softly against the glass.
Minjae stepped in, shutting the door behind him. For a moment, neither spoke.
"You okay?" he asked, voice rough, quieter than the air.
She swallowed. "No."
He nodded. "Good. You shouldn't be."
---
Miran's breath shook. "Why did he say that? That… you…?"
Minjae stepped closer. His shadow swallowed hers.
"Because he saw it," he rasped. "What I'd do to anyone who hurt you."
Her heart tripped. "Why?"
Minjae's hand curled at his side, veins raised like dark rivers. "Because you're… mine."
---
Silence. Thunder rolled outside.
Miran's voice cracked. "Do you mean that?"
Minjae looked at her then — mask stripped, monster and man bleeding together.
"I shouldn't," he whispered. "But yes."
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Tears slipped down Miran's cheek. "And what does that make me?"
"Dangerous," Minjae breathed. "To me."
---
His hand lifted, almost touching her face — then dropped.
"Rest," he muttered, turning away before she could see the tremor in his shoulders.
---
That night, Miran lay awake, ZeroFace's whisper echoing through her bones.
Monsters like him need reminders they can still bleed.
She pressed a hand to her ribs, feeling her heartbeat.
And wondered if the real monster was outside that door — or inside it, waiting for her.
---
Elsewhere, Kevin stared at the CCTV feed, jaw locked.
"He'll kill again," he muttered.
Dohee's voice was soft, brittle. "Would you stop him?"
Kevin closed his eyes. "I don't know anymore."
---
Guen sat at the window, rain misting the glass. Alex hovered beside her, guilt dragging his shoulders down.
"It's my fault," he whispered. "I didn't trace the payment fast enough."
She shook her head. "None of us were fast enough."
"But he got to her first," Alex choked out. "And she still looks at him like—"
"Like she can't help it," Guen finished, voice cracking.
---
Dawn broke steel-gray over Seoul.
ZeroFace stirred in his cell, coughing blood, lips curling into a broken smile.
"They think they've won," he rasped to himself. "But the next piece is already moving."
---
Miran, wrapped in blankets, stared out the window.
She couldn't forget the feel of Minjae's breath, or the darkness in his eyes when he promised she was his.
She hated how it terrified her.
She hated more how a part of her needed it.
---
And Minjae, alone in the hall, leaned against cold concrete, breathing hard.
His palms still smelled like blood.
He remembered ZeroFace's words.
He remembered her tears.
And for the first time, he realized: monsters don't fear the dark.
They fear losing the only light left.
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