The dawn light over Incheon’s outskirts cast long shadows across the UN safehouse, a fortified compound surrounded by razor wire and guarded by stoic security in UN vests. Kang Min-jae stood frozen, his arm throbbing from the gunshot graze, his g*n still clenched as he stared at Hye-jin—Choi Soo-jin’s mother—her auburn hair matted, her face bruised but alive, holding a blinking device identical to the one Lee Soo-kyung had wielded. Soo-jin’s gasp—“Mom?”—cut through the salty air, her tears reflecting the pain of loss and the hope of reunion. The ledger, naming Seoul councilwoman Shin Hae-ra as the Broker, was clutched in Soo-jin’s backpack, its secrets uploaded to UN servers but now at risk. Kim Seo-yeon, the journalist, held her tablet, its connection to Interpol fragile, while Park Ji-ho
