The world watched Rion Kai's fall not as a corporate failure, but as a Greek tragedy meticulously detailed in the media. The data Minji and Jungkook released was so precise, so irrefutable, that the dominoes collapsed with stunning speed. Regulatory bodies launched coordinated investigations, major clients immediately severed ties with Genesis Capital, and within 48 hours, Rion Kai was taken into custody.
Jungkook and Minji watched the news coverage from their secure island retreat. The gentle sound of waves outside their window stood in stark contrast to the frantic energy on the screen. A broadcast showed Rion Kai, stripped of his immaculate designer suit, being escorted by financial crimes investigators. The arrogant, charming First Hero of the novel was reduced to a desperate, broken man.
"Look at him," Jungkook murmured, a sense of profound justice in his voice, but tinged with weariness. "He looks small now. Not the titan we fought. Just a man who believed his own fiction."
"The system worked," Jungkook continued. "The evidence was too clean, the narrative too compelling. No amount of spin could save him from the truth. That hard drive? It wasn't just data, Minji; it was the entire indictment, neatly packaged. You did that."
"It wasn't magic, Jungkook. It was accountability," Minji replied, taking a slow sip of her tea. "He forgot the basic rule of writing: every villain, no matter how powerful, must face a logical consequence. His writer failed him, but reality didn't."
Minji didn't feel triumph; she felt a quiet, deep sense of completion. She had railed against the writer for his foolish choices, and she had corrected them not with magic, but with strategy. The Second Hero was safe, the villain was incarcerated, and the catastrophic plot was nullified.
"Are you satisfied? Truly?" Jungkook asked, turning to face her fully.
"I am complete. I felt trapped in a story that was wrong, and now I've closed the cover on it," she affirmed. "But satisfaction implies a simple happy ending. This isn't an ending; it's a launch point. We still have to clean up the debris. Dusk Industries needs rebuilding."
"We will rebuild it. But we won't go back to the way things were," Jungkook stated firmly. "The old world, the old corporate warfare—that's over. We start fresh. You and I. I need you by my side for that new beginning, not just as a strategist, but as a partner in everything."
The news anchors, however, were focused on a new figure. They hailed Jeong Jungkook as the corporate iconoclast who exposed the scandal, but they repeatedly mentioned the "brilliant strategist" who provided the key to unlocking the Genesis vault. The name Yoon Minji flashed across the screen—no longer an intern, but a respected architect of the largest financial exposure in a decade.
"The media is having a field day with the 'Minji Protocol'," Jungkook grinned, pointing to a headline on his tablet. "The way you used the media's own structure to leverage Kai's denial... it's legendary, Minji. Every MBA program will study this for decades."
"You're famous, Minji," Jungkook said, turning off the screen. "Not as a baker's daughter or an intern, but as Yoon Minji, the brilliant mind. You finally claimed your own title, outside of any fictional hierarchy."
She smiled, touching the screen where her name had appeared. "It's a good chapter title, I suppose. 'The Strategist Who Ended the War.' I earned that title with real risk and real effort. It feels heavier than the title 'hero' ever did."
"And what happens to the novel now? The terrible book we escaped?" Jungkook asked, his voice low.
"The novel is dead. It's an artifact," Minji stated. "Its legacy is only to remind us how easy it is to become trapped by fate. We are rewriting the rules, Jungkook. We took the Second Hero and the Strategist and forged something entirely new. Our story is not about fate; it's about choice."
"So, what is the next choice? What do you want to be now that you can be anything?" he pressed, his eyes holding hers, full of possibility.
"I want to build. Not just a company, but an impenetrable defense against exactly the kind of fraud Kai perpetuated," Minji declared, a fire igniting in her expression. "I want to use my strategic mind to anticipate weaknesses, not just in fiction, but in financial systems. I want to make sure no one else has their life written for them by corporate greed."
"Then we build it, together. Starting right here," Jungkook said, offering his hand. "No more running, no more secrecy. We are the new architects. Now, let's go get some fresh air. The world is waiting for the next chapter."
Minji took his hand, her smile widening. "The Epilogue is overrated, Jungkook. Let's skip straight to the sequel."