Cha Mi-Young: "Detective Kim, I presume?" Soo-Jin's eyes widened slightly. Confused, cautious. Soo-Jin: "I was told Mi-young is missing. And you are...?" Close-up on her lips she smiles sweetly, but there's a strange glint in her eye. Mi-Young: "I'm Cha Mi-young. I think there's been... a misunderstanding." Soo-jin stands in the doorway. He doesn't step in. He studies her. Soo-Jin (thought): "That smile... doesn't reach her eyes." A crow caws loudly outside the window. The wind picks up . Soo-Jin (thought): "Something isn't right here. A few hours later, Kim Soo-jin narrowed his eyes as he stepped deeper into the dimly lit room. The air felt too still. Files were scattered across the floor, drawers half-opened like someone had left in a hurry or staged it to look that way."Something isn't right here," he muttered, crouching beside a broken photo frame. The glass was shattered, but the photo inside was intact: Cha Mi-young, smiling brightly with a man Soo-jin didn't recognise. But it was the post-it stuck behind the frame that made his stomach twist."He watches everything. Even you." Soo-jin stood quickly, hand instinctively going to his holster. A shadow flickered across the hallway behind him. "Who's there?" he called out, voice sharp.Silence. But then a voice, smooth, almost too kind. "Officer Kim… you really shouldn't have come alone."From the shadows stepped Carlos Gonzalez, dressed in his usual clean-cut black suit, a bouquet of lilies in one hand, if this was some kind of funeral. "I had to see it for myself," Soo-jin replied, refusing to show fear, though his heart raced. Carlos smiled gently. "Then let me show you… What you've been missing. He stepped closer, the bouquet of lilies now resting delicately on a table like an offering. His eyes never left Soo-jin's."It was never about her," Carlos murmured. "Not really." Soo-jin didn't respond. His muscles tensed as Carlos slowly removed his gloves, one finger at a time, like he had all the time in the world. "I became her because it was the only way you'd see me." He smiled not playful, not cruel. Just haunted. "You smiled at her in ways you never smiled at me. You touched her shoulder like it meant something. You trusted her. And I needed to feel that. Just once." Soo-jin took a slow breath. "You... you created an entire identity just to..." "Love you." Carlos cut in softly. "Yes." His voice cracked faintly on that one word, but his gaze stayed steady. "You can call it twisted. You can call it sick. But don't you dare call it fake. You brought this out of me." Soo-jin was stunned into silence. His training told him to stay alert, stay detached. But his heart twisted at the depth of the obsession… and the sliver of truth in Carlos's pain. "You don't even know what love is," Soo-jin whispered. Carlos blinked. Then, calmly: "Then teach me." The words echoed in the quiet room like a challenge, like a plea.
