Yoo-hwa looked at the unfamiliar Woo-hyun without even blinking.

That was the real Woo-hyun. She realized once again that all the memories she had with him were a play. All the memories she held on to were like scenes in a drama. Something that exists, but doesn't exist in reality.

"Take them all."

At Woo-hyun's words, Jun-kyung bowed his head and ordered the people standing behind him. The men Woo-hyun brought dragged the men who had been subdued on the floor.

"Investigate. If there's really no connection."

Jun-kyung nodded lightly as he understood Woo-hyun's request to investigate their relationship with Executive Director Kim.

Only after everything was settled did Woo-hyun turn his head and stare at Yoo-hwa. She thought he had forgotten that she was there, but he looked straight at her as if he had been conscious for a long time.

Yoo-hwa, who had been standing in the same place the whole time, had a white and terrified face. However, her shaky eyes and the barely dried blood around her mouth were proof that she was alive.

Yoo-hwa, who was struggling to say something, quickly closed her mouth. Like someone who knew that no words could fill this silence.

During that time, Woo-hyun slowly examined Yoo-hwa. Fortunately, it seemed like nothing bad had happened to her. Nevertheless, his soaring anger did not subside, so Woo-hyun sighed quietly.

What that bastard did to Yoo-hwa was no different from what he did.

No longer having any reason to be there, Woo-hyun turned his back on Yoo-hwa.

Their relationship wasn't one worthy of meeting again and asking each other's regards anyway.

However, he needed to know if the men who came to Yoo-hwa were connected to Executive Director Kim or not… Woo-hyun thought so, even though he knew it was enough to just send Jun-kyung.

In fact, he came here frantically because of the news of the raid. After everything was done, he looked at the uninjured Yoo-hwa and remembered that it wasn't something that was worthy of him coming himself. They were standing like that, without saying anything, even after it was all done.

The cold wind grazed his eyes sharply. After closing his eyes for a moment, Woo-hyun turned his head around. His gaze casually reached one place. A pair of sneakers stood tilted in the only place that stayed sunny the longest in this yard.

Yoo-hwa had once pointed out this place and told him. In that place were a familiar pair of sneakers that were too big for Yoo-hwa to wear.

Caught in the sneakers, he did not continue walking. Woo-hyun stopped when he realized what that insignificant thing meant.

"Wait outside."

Looking at Woo-hyun, who had his eyes fixed on the sneakers, Jun-kyung seemed to feel an unusual atmosphere and walked out of the gate with the remaining people. There was a cold silence flowing between the two people that were left in the yard. The wind blew and subsided repeatedly.

The dust floating over the yard drifted away and blurred his vision. Woo-hyun's gaze on the sneakers turned to Yoo-hwa.

"Why are my sneakers here?"

"…"

"I told them to throw them away."

Woo-hyun's voice sank. He had clearly instructed them to take care of everything without leaving a single thing.

But why were these sneakers here? He didn't want to leave anything for her.

"When you were wet before, I put them there to dry."

"…"

"It's those shoes."

"Why did you wash them? There's no one to wear them.""…"

Yoo-hwa bit her lips tightly at Woo-hyun's question. Only then did his gaze turn to the yard, with objects scattered everywhere.

There were more hot packs than he thought, and there was the scarf that she had tied around him. There was the cup ramyeon they ate together, and the spoon and chopsticks he had prepared specifically, saying it was his own. In the center, full of traces of himself, stood Yoo-hwa, with a helpless face for the first time.

As Woo-hyun clenched his teeth, his jaw protruded. Even after hearing such awful things, Yoo-hwa held on to the memories she had with him.

Like someone who wanted to stay in that time.

"Like you said, this was thrown away. Then it belongs to whoever picked it up."

Yoo-hwa, who had been stiff for a while, opened her lips, swollen from the beating. She stared at Woo-hyun with a gaze that asked if that was all he had to say.

"So this is mine."

"…"

"I'm not asking you to do anything… so don't mind me, go back."

"…"

"And thank you for your help today."

Yoo-hwa's gaze lowered as she spoke each word carefully. Then, she turned around as if she had nothing more to say.

This was Yoo-hwa's foolish choice, and even though he knew that whether she had picked up his things or not was none of his business, Woo-hyun couldn't move.

Kim Yoo-hwa, who, in the cold wind picked up the items he had when he was with her; Kim Yoo-hwa, who held the items preciously in her bare hands; and Kim Yoo-hwa, who was more worried about the broken items than her painful wound; it drove him crazy.

Woo-hyun approached her, took all the items Yoo-hwa was holding, and threw them on the floor. Yoo-hwa reached out to pick them up again, but Woo-hyun snatched her arm. Even though he didn't use much force, the skinny Yoo-hwa came staggering in front of him.

"Don't pick them up."

Standing closer to her than expected, Woo-hyun spoke as if he were chewing on each word. Woo-hyun's eyes shone terribly.

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