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Moo Jin pays his respect to the young woman's father in silence, doesn't even plan on talking to her but she doesn't care who he is and challenges him without a second thought, questions him, and he feels every word hit its mark.

He's killed people for daring to do less but understands why she's lashing out like this. Her pain, her grief – he feels it too and when she asks him in a broken voice who'd killed her father, he can no longer stay silent. Everything he says is true and it should be easy to say it to her face but he can't bring himself to look her into the eyes. He's not sure why.

His words are coming back to haunt him in the form of Ji Woo herself. She's determined and fierce in her vow to kill her father's murderer, to kill him, and talks as if it were that easy. She has no idea. He should sent her on her way right away but at her words something dark and painful uncurls inside him, rising to the surface like a sea monster.

Anyone else would know that now is the time to run away, the look on his face leaves no doubt about the oncoming danger, but Ji Woo, despite trembling, stands her ground and if the circumstances had been different, Moo Jin would have admired her for it. He strikes without hesitation and his grip is hard enough to bruise as he takes her wrist. He can tell the moment Ji Woo realizes she's in over her head, her desperate attempt to free herself when he tells her to stab him, and he should end things here, she's frightened enough, but that mangled mess of dark emotions inside him drives him on.

Moo Jin pushes her to stab him, does it again and again and again, part of him wishing she actually would so his torment finally ends, but she continues to struggle and with one last surge of strength she manages to pull away, shaking like a leaf and holding the knife loosely in her hands and it's easy for him to take it away from her.

She's weak and yet continues to pretend to be strong and the anger coursing though Moo Jin spills over into a violent storm, guiding his hand as he slaps her in the face, hard enough to send her sprawling onto the ground. She has to learn that her wish for revenge is futile.

He sends her away without a backward glance, tells himself that he doesn't regret treating her like this because he has to think about himself first but a small part of him, hidden in the deepest part of his soul, reminds him that he's done it for Ji Woo too. Of all of them, Ji Woo is the only one innocent and doesn't deserve the card fate has dealt her.

He thinks he won't see her again but once again he's wrong. She keeps looking for clues, for witnesses, and for some reason Moo Jin finds himself tailing her. Maybe this is fate too, in some twisted kind of way, but it's definitely his choice to intervene. He likes to think he's a smart man, knows when to keep going and when to pull back, but even though he should've let the street thugs do what they want, he still saves Ji Woo.

Something must have stuck with her from his cruel lesson even though it's not what he's hoped for. She lashes out with the pocket knife clutched in her bound hands and he feels the sharp sting of its blade, a line of blood running down his arm and hand, but it's her gaze that hits him the hardest. The fire in her eyes tell him that she doesn't care what happens to her, even if it's death who's awaiting her.

Ji Woo hasn't lost her spark and still has the cheek to confront him, to challenge him again, and it frustrates him, leading him to compare her to a child and that is what finally breaks her. Guilt is driving her, she feels responsible for her father's death, and Moo Jin knows she won't stop until she's either found the killer or dies trying.

It calls out to him, this desperation of hers, her conviction to avenge her father no matter the consequences, and ignoring every instinct telling him not to, he decides to help her, knowing he's courting death by doing so. He'll give her a place to start her revenge but she has to finish it on her own. It won't be easy, it will hard, brutal sometimes, and if she's not strong enough, she'll fail.

Let her try, he thinks.

Ji Woo doesn't give up though, no matter how badly she's being treated, and Moo Jin uses the CCTV more often then not to watch her at the gym. She endures, fights back even when things get rough, and maybe it's that unwavering strength of hers or her stubbornness or her fearless heart that she carries on her sleeve – maybe it's all three of them combined that draw him in and have him go to her one evening.

She thinks winning is killing but it's not and with her lack of the right technique she wouldn't even win a simple fight. He should leave it at giving her a few tips and let her find her own way but then she asks him what to do and her trust in his guidance calls to him on a deeper level. And then he does the one thing he shouldn't do – he gets involved personally. Something he has never done before.

It's a bad idea to train her himself, teach her how to fight properly, how to kill, how to kill him, but he just can't bring himself to stop. Moo Jin enjoys their matches, enjoys the way she lights up with pride every time she manages to get a hit in or he praises her. It's addicting and night after night he trains her and afterwards he watches her on the screen in his penthouse as she fights an invisible enemy.

Fights him.

There's no going back now.

Sending Ji Woo into the fighting ring is his way of showing the others that she isn't being treated any different and yet, she is the one Moo Jin watches the most during the fight. He's not supposed to show favoritism but when it comes to Ji Woo, he will always pick her. It's more than pride he feels when she takes down Gang Jae, the feeling is too fierce and savage for that, and he lets it run through him, takes her arm and shows Dongcheon who she is.

Ji Woo is one of them but first and foremost she is his, he has claimed her, and Gang Jae learns it in the cruelest way possible. It's like the gods agree with his decision, the thunder and lightening outside echoing inside him, and Moo Jin feels a little unhinged as he makes Gang Jae pay for what's done but he has brought Ji Woo here, she belongs to him, no one touches her, ever.

It's not just punishment for Gang Jae, it's also a warning for Tae Joo because Moo Jin knows he doesn't agree with his decision but he has realized he's long past caring what others think.

It's only when Ji Woo meets him in the small restaurant he's visited with Dong Hoon that he feels like himself again. She looks terrible and yet hides her pain, won't say how much it hurts, and that is something else they have in common. They don't like to show they're in pain, are rather good at hiding behind a blank mask, and now they both have lost the one person who can tell that you're in pain and that life is too hard.

He can't let himself feel sorry for her, or for himself, he won't, too much depends on what he has planned. Ji Woo is strong, stronger than he's anticipated, and if she can survive an attack like Gang Jae's, then she can become what Moo Jin wants – his weapon. He can put an end to Cha Gi Ho by using her and she will have her revenge without ever knowing the truth. She's nothing more than a tool to him.

At least that's what he tells himself.

He appoints himself as her handler, not Tae Joo or anyone else, it's always just the two of them. When before he'd have stayed to watch a traitor receive his punishment, he now rather leaves after reading her message to contact her. It's not just phone calls, more often than not, they meet, and even though meeting face to face could compromise her identity, it's something Moo Jin wants to do even though he knows he shouldn't. He needs those meetings.

Ji Woo shares parts of herself with him over the years and he greedily takes whatever she offers, opening himself up to her in the process in a way he hasn't even done to her father or Tae Joo. She cares about him like Dong Hoon - can tell when he's feeling pain, when his life burdens him with sleepless night - but she also cares about him in a different way, and even though he hates tea, he keeps the one she's made for him anyway.

He should be elated that his careful manipulations and planning have paid off, Cha Gi Ho is now the one she's after, but Moo Jin knows that nothing is set in stone and his building of lies could fall apart in a second. Just like Dong Hoon's dream. It hurts when Ji Woo speaks of it, she had loved that idea too, Moo Jin can tell, and that tight, tense feeling in his chest makes it difficult to breathe for a moment.

There's nothing he can do to take away Ji Woo's pain, what's done is done, but maybe he can ease it a little bit in his own way. Her father had saved his life once and Moo Jin will do the same for her. He gives her his knife, the same knife he has never handed to anyone before, and tells her the organization will protect her, he will protect her, and it feels more like a vow than a promise.

He has gotten attached to her, something fatal in his world, and when Tae Joo reminds him of what is at stake, what they'll have to do, Moo Jin agrees in a low, dark voice. When he takes another sip of the tea, it tastes almost bittersweet but it's not enough to make him put an end to what he's started.

Ji Woo is the one who tells him about the new drug whereas Tae Joo hadn't even mentioned the rumors he'd heard. Moo Jin knows Tae Joo's opinion regarding Ji Woo, he never tries to hide his reaction every time Moo Jin mentions her or her accomplishments, but every new exchange, every new intel strengthens Moo Jin's belief in her loyalty. When he dismisses Tae Joo and decides to let Ji Woo find out more, it's the first time he picks her over Tae Joo, treats her as if she were his second-in-command.

And then the surprise raid on his factory ship happens and it's like a punch to the gut. Not because the police managed to sneak up on him, no, because Tae Joo's asks out loud what Moo Jin doesn't even want to consider. The idea of Ji Woo's possible betrayal rips through him like an electric storm and tearing him apart from the inside. He knows he's making Ji Woo worry by not answering her calls but some small vicious part of him wants to punish her, wants to make her wait and feel as unsettled as he does.

He needs time to calm down, to think and his mind replays the one moment he will never forget. When he finally calls her, something feels different. Sitting there in the dark, the phone in one hand and a cigarette in the other, with her on the other end of the line, there's no anger anymore, it's just them and their quiet conversation even though their enemy is just a few feet away.

Moo Jin asks what he's already suspected and when Ji Woo confirms it, the roaring feeling in his chest slowly dissipates, giving room to a warmth he hasn't felt in a long time. He hasn't been wrong about her – she wouldn't betray him. She's risked her cover to warn him, has been willingly to kill her fellow officer for him, she has saved him.

Only to condemn him.

Gang Jae's return is as unexpected as it is violent and Moo Jin is going to make him pay for what he's done to his men but it's only thanks to Ji Woo that Moo Jin knows what Cha Gi Ho has planned and doesn't walk into the trap set for him.

Ji Woo is his confidant, there's no use trying to deny it anymore. Moo Jin trusts her, more than he has ever trusted anyone else – including her father and Tae Joo. There's no second guessing whatever information she sends or tells him – even the one about seeing Tae Joo at the meeting point Cha Gi Ho had used to catch her and for the first time in years, Moo Jin finds himself starting to doubt Tae Joo.

When Ji Woo wants to know if they've killed an officer in the past, he lies. He lies and spins the story as he sees it, painful and false as it is, wraps it around her and pulls her in. She has to be reminded who the real enemy is and Moo Jin he will use every tool at his disposal to make sure of that. He needs her to trust him, believe him, even if it means betraying her trust in return.

She keeps looking for Gang Jae, works tirelessly, but in the end it's Gang Jae who finds them, finds Ji Woo and wants Moo Jin to watch her die, and there's a tense sort of panic winding its way up his spine, something he has never felt before.

Moo Jin stops thinking and just acts, ignores the pain in his side and the voice in his head telling him he might be too late. He can't be, won't be, he will save her, and even the possibility of being arrested by the police doesn't faze him. All Moo Jin thinks about is getting to Ji Woo and there's not even a moment of hesitation when he crashes his car into the car compactor.

His body is aching, he feels every cut and bruise, but the sight of Ji Woo standing there and looking at him with wide eyes makes him forget the pain. She's alive, that's all that counts, staring at him as if she can't believe he's here, risking his life for hers, and he has to force himself not to reach for her, fighting the need to make sure she is really okay.

They don't have time and yet he lingers, sees her swaying towards him before the noise inside the smashed car warns them that they're not alone and the sirens sounding in the distance remind him of the oncoming danger. They can't risk her cover but for one crazy moment he thinks about taking her with him but he can't and so Mo Jin reluctantly starts to move away, leaving Ji Woo behind.

He hasn't wanted to admit it to himself, hasn't wanted to acknowledge it but Gang Jae's attempt to kill Ji Woo has opened his eyes - she has become far more than just a weapon. If saving her means risking his life - he would do it again in a heartbeat.

Tae Joo doesn't agree with this sentiment and in the confrontation that follows, Moo Jin's emotions get the better of him because he doesn't even try to hide his feelings anymore. Anger flares though him, harsh and unforgiving, and he lets Tae Joo know exactly who he'd choose if it ever came down to it.

In a way, it's a tipping point.

With Ji Woo in the hospital, protected by the police and Moo Jin's own people keeping an eye on her as well, he concentrates all his efforts on hunting Gang Jae down but there's no sign of him and it frustrates Moo Jin. He knows Tae Joo is doing his best, it's not his fault, and in the end Moo Jin decides to let the cops do the dirty work for him.

But then Ji Woo disappears from the hospital and it takes Tae Joo an entire day to find her. When Moo Jin sees the picture of her with her teammates, something possessive stirs inside him. It's rare to see her smiling, usually it's only when she's with him she seems to be happy, and even though he doesn't like seeing someone else making her smile, he can't begrudge her for enjoying this brief moment of happiness, not when Gang Jae is out there and could reveal the connection between Ji Woo and Moo Jin to the police any time.

And yet, it's more than this moment of envy that has him come to the decision of pulling her out. It's the possibility of Gang Jae telling Ji Woo who her father's true killer is and in the darkest corner of his soul Moo Jin fears that the most, fears that everything that's between them will turn to dust if the truth comes out. Once again, he chooses her. He'll send her away, find her a house on the beach, his last gift to her, and even though she won't be with him anymore, she will still be his.

She doesn't agree with his decision, defies him for the first time, and it's like a foreboding.

When Ji Woo reveals Gang Jae's plan of escape, Moo Jin is certain it's a trap, laid by Gang Jae, the police, or both, he can't tell, but he's willingly to take that risk if it means he can finally kill Gang Jae. And he's going to do it personally.

It may have been years since he has actually fought himself and there hasn't been anyone worthy enough for Moo Jin to pick up his knife, but Gang Jae deserves to taste his own blood. For what he's done to Dongcheon but mostly for what he's dared to do to Ji Woo. Moo Jin is there because of her and every bruise, every cut, every stab wound will be worth it.

Pain is all Moo Jin can feel as he presses his hand to his side, knows he won't be able to stop Gang Jae's final attack and then a shot rings out and everything changes. He thinks he knows now how Ji Woo must have felt when she'd seen him coming to her rescue. Moo Jin can't look away from her, even as he drags himself up he keeps his eyes on Ji Woo, and underneath the pain there's another feeling that burns through him, leaving him more lightheaded than the blood loss.

And once again he'd rather stay with her than leave but she orders him to go, and he, who hasn't followed anyone's order for decades, does exactly that.

In his fever dreams, Moo Jin sees Gang Jae, laughing like a maniac, tearing everything apart, but he sees Ji Woo once too. She's inside the cage, trapped with no way out, and all Moo Jin can do is watch helplessly as Gang Jae tries to strangle her. It's another bad omen but Moo Jin ignores it. Gang Jae is dead and with him any possible risk of exposure.

He should avoid any contact with Ji Woo, especially with her, but he still calls her. It's Novemeber 30th and this is something they've done together every year. She arrives late in the evening, the darkness hiding them both from prying eyes, and asks him how he's feeling, worry coloring her voice, and it reminds him of that time a lifetime ago when they'd talked about finding someone who can tell you're in pain. This is what he'd always wanted, what he'd had with Dong Hoon and now has with Ji Woo but on level that feels more personal. Her worrying makes him smile and he jokes about the pain but the joke fells flat, she doesn't smile in return, and something feels wrong all of the sudden.

There's something in her voice, something anxious when she tells him what she's received, the look in her eyes a little lost, and before Moo Jin has even see the picture he knows what he'll find. The line between truth and lies blurs as he gives his answer and the longer he talks, the more it hurts. Not only because he is forced to remember his best friend's betrayal but also because he can tell Ji Woo is starting to doubt everything she's known.

Including him.

Inside the temple, with just the two of them paying respect to her father, it seems as if the real world is miles away and time has stopped for one, quiet moment.

Moo Jin gives her time, watches silently as Ji Woo tries to come to terms with the realization of her father's double life, the father she knew and the man she didn't, and he doesn't like the way she looks. She looks just like her father had back then – on the edge. He has to bring her back from the edge, back to his side, even if it means breaking her heart. Old emotions pull in the hollow of his chest when he tells her about her father's secret, a person who had made him smile and who had made living on the edge bearable, and for that alone Moo Jin had been willingly to ignore any suspicions he had.

There's something soft in his voice as he reveals that it'd been her and Ji Woo must have heard it too because for the first time since they've started talking she turns to look at him. It doesn't matter who her father had been before, what's important is that Ji Woo understands who he had been now - Yoon Dong Hoon, part of Dongcheon, whose death at the hands of the cops had brought Ji Woo here to have her revenge.

Truth and lie become blurred again and he's not only talking about her when he responds to her question, telling her that you need conviction to become a killer. He needs her to believe him, the story he has spun, the picture he's painted of Cha Gi Ho as the killer, but in her eyes he can see that she's wavering.

What Moo Jin hadn't told her is the envy he'd felt when he'd found out about her existence. Of course Dong Hoon and he had laughed together but it had never been this happy or lighthearted as the smile Ji Woo had elicited from her father. In their lives it's rare to find someone who can make you forget the dark world you're living in, even if it's just for a few hours, but Dong Hoon had found that someone and Moo Jin had been plain and simple envious.

And then that he'd seen her for the first time, a picture of her taken from afar, and though Moo Jin had been a little taken aback by her age, he hadn't held it against Dong Hoon – their lives were anything but up to normal standards of society. However, what had surprised him had been the unexpected spark of attraction he'd felt as he'd studied Ji Woo's face and the sudden shift of the envy he'd been feeling into a darker shade, something closer to jealousy.

When he'd learned about the true nature of their relationship, jealousy had turned into relief but at the same time Moo Jin had know that if Dong Hood had kept her away from his life in the organization until now, he would never bring her into it, and Moo Jin had buried his feelings in the deepest corner of his heart.

Until now.

The longer he thinks about their conversation, the expression on her face, the more he realizes that he's slowly loosing her, she doesn't know what to believe anymore, and there's nothing Moo Jin can do about it. All he can do is kill Cha Gi Ho before she comes to a decision and hope it's enough.

A cold chill moves through him and settles deep in his bones when Tae Joo delivers the news of the fail assassination attempt and Ji Woo's presence there.

He tells Tae Joo not to make a move, not to kill her, not if there is even the slightest chance of Ji Woo still being loyal to him. Moo Jin needs her to be still on his side, more than anything.

And there's only one way to find out if she is. He's going to give himself up to the police.

He walks into the police station as if he owns it, sits down and waits. He's taken the cops by surprise, that much is obvious, and even Cha Gi Ho's favorite young detective is stumbling through the interrogation. It's laughable and boring. He's not here for them.

When Ji Woo finally enters the room, it feels like it's just the two of them. Moo Jin barely pays attention to the other occupants, all his focus is on Ji Woo. Although there's no trace of Ji Woo. The woman in front of him is Detective Oh, harsh, cold and ruthless, who is interrogating Choi Moo Jin, the drug lord. The air between them feels charged, the tension winding around them like a snake.

He says he hasn't done it, the evidence says otherwise, and unless the evidence disappears, he won't get out of this. He's put himself at her mercy, she is the only one who can get him out of here now, it's her decision, and all Moo Jin can do now is wait and see what Ji Woo is going to do. If she still believes him and most importantly in him.

He doesn't have to wait long. The police station is in chaos as he steps out, the hunt for Ji Woo is well on the way, and as he sits in the car, Moo Jin feels no joy, only sorrow. He's reached his goal, got what he wanted but at what price?

And then his phone rings and everything falls apart.

She has deceived him, has given him hope, only to take it away and has returned his knife, the one he has given her, with an unmistakable message stained with blood. Her only goal now, the only she has left, is killing him. Even if Tae Joo hadn't disobeyed him and hadn't tried to kill Ji Woo, she still would have gone after him. She had already learned the truth from Cha Gi Ho by then.

If it were anyone else, Moo Jin would send his men to hunt them down and put a quick end to it. But this is Ji Woo, this is personal, in more ways than one. He's acting irrational by not doing anything, by waiting for her to come to him, but this is how it has to be.

Whatever future he'd envisioned, had hoped to have one day, maybe even with Ji Woo in his life, it's all lying in broken pieces now, burned to ashes like the picture of the beach house he'd chosen for her.

Nothing else matters except Ji Woo coming to him. The police intervenes, catches her but Moo Jin won't let them have her. She is his. She will come back to him. He will send his men and get her out, with violence and force if necessary.

They fail and Moo Jin feels himself slowly going over the edge. Everything he feels, anger, resentment, need, jealousy, it all twists into a snarling mess, dark and feral. She was supposed to choose him, she should have come to him and she's betrayed him instead. There's nothing sane left in him as he stumbles to the safe and gets his gun, he's even more furious as back then, when he'd discovered Dong Hoon's betrayal.

Ji Woo belongs to him and there's only one ending to their story. And it's not going to be a happy end. He sways on his feet, eyes red and mind a broken mirror of his former self. He'll find her, he'll find her and make sure she has no other choice but to come to him.

Moo Jin only looks at Ji Woo as he pulls the trigger, only sees her.

He doesn't make it easy for her, she has to fight her way to the top. She's brutal and ruthless, exactly like he's taught her, and Moo Jin doesn't feel sorry for the men he's losing. He sits, drink in one hand, the gun in the other, and waits, until finally, Ji Woo stumbles through the door, bloody and bruised, her weapon pointed at him.

He can tell she's tired and that is his last gift to her, letting her know that he can tell that she's in pain. Her easy dismissal of his worry and fierce vow to kill him slice through Moo Jin like a knife and he aims his own gun at her in retaliation even though he has no intention of shooting her. Shooting her would be too quick, too easy.

Ji Woo doesn't pull the trigger though, she hesitates, and that snarling mess rises in his chest again, dark and ugly. Has she forgotten what brought her here? Has she forgotten her fearlessness, her conviction, her vow of revenge? He'd encouraged it, fed it, he brought her here, and now she dares to hesitate?

Moo Jin gets his answer when she drops her gun to pick up the photo of him and her father, when she blames herself for being so naive back then, when she rips the photo in two and tucks her father's picture away, and when she tells him to take revenge is to become a monster and that he is a monster.

Yes, he is, he won't deny it. It's the truth after all. Just as it is true that she is a lot like him. He made her so, he shaped her – she's his creation. He'll give her one last chance to prove herself, to prove she can become a monster like him.

But she isn't going to turn into a monster for him, it's for that dull police officer who convinced her to give up on her revenge, that nobody who didn't even really now her, not like Moo Jin knows her. Pain squeezes his heart like an iron fist, his eyes burning with tears as her words pierce what's left of his dark soul like glass shards.

And I will take pleasure in watching you breathe your very last breath.

So be it.

He lets the monster loose.

He doesn't use a knife at first, counters her every attack with his hands alone and hits her hard and fast, letting her know who's the stronger one as he sends her to the ground again and again. She gets up again and again, proves herself to be resilient and tough, attacking with desperate strength, and yes, this is what Moo Jin wants, needs, and finally, he draws his own knife.

Ji Woo may have drawn first blood by slicing his forearm with her blade but he's the one who sinks his knife into her left side first, holding her close for a long moment in a mockery of an embrace as her warm blood drips all over his hand. His eyes burn with a dull heat as he watches her grimace with pain and then he rips his knife out and pushes her away. They're done holding back.

In every fight he's been, Moo Jin has fought with skill and even some sort of grace but right now, there's nothing left of that. This fight between Ji Woo and him is raw and out of control, bordering on savage, a distorted mirror image of her first training session with him all those years ago. They slash and slice at each other with the only aim to cause the other as much pain as possible.

And then Ji Woo manages to take him by surprise, slipping past his defenses, her knife piercing his left side, mirroring the wound she'd received by his hand, and the pain makes it hard to breathe. He grunts as he shoves her away and drives his knife deep into her right side but Ji Woo's expression barely changes, she strains against his hold and he has to grip her wrist to keep her knife away from him.

He rips his blade out but she attacks again without hesitation and they clash like two storms, wild and twisted. She's pushing against him, relentless, determined, and he's forced to put everything he has into pushing back, every muscle coiled close and tight, skin gleaming with sweat from the exertion.

They're in a stalemate, too similar in strength, determination, hate, but he has years of experience on her and with one last surge of strength, he disarms her and Ji Woo crashes to the ground, a bloody mess but not broken. It's not over, not yet, there's still fight left in her even without a weapon in hand, and every time he strikes her down, she struggles to her feet again, doesn't give up, crawls across the bloody floor when her legs refuse to work. She clutches at his pants and jacket to pull herself up and Moo Jin realizes what he's refused to say out loud all this time, it won't end until one of them dies, and he tells himself he feels nothing, just cool detachment as he raises his knife for the fatal blow before bringing it down.

Pain flares up in his side, sharp and hot, and Moo Jin feels his mask of indifference slipping, but it's the look of twisted hatred on Ji Woo's face that hurts the most. It shouldn't, there's nothing left between them but a desert filled with lies and blood, and yet they're still bound, bound by the bond they share, and he chuckles almost maniacally at the irony of her using his own training against him as his knees hit the floor.

His past self smiles up at him from the ground and he knows, he'll never be smiling like that again. He has only himself to blame and he mourns a future he no longer has. A few feet away Ji Woo tries to get up but Moo Jin doesn't really see her, his eyes unfocused and glassy. He's back in the gym, remembering his fighting advice to her, only for the memory to shift into their second meeting and what he'd told her to do, and he will give her this chance, the temple, upper lip, chin, chest he repeats in a broken voice, if she does it now, if she stabs him now, he will let her. He will let her kill him.

But she doesn't, she's hesitating again, too shaky, too human, and though he has never been the one to give second chances, not her father nor Gang Jae, he's willingly to give Ji Woo a second chance. She can't win against a gun, the odds aren't in her favor, it's over for her, and if she gives up, gives herself up to him, he's going to let her live. Moo Jin can live with being hated by her for the rest of his life as long as she's alive.

You cannot become a monster.

He is wrong.

She can.

Ji Woo charges at him with a jarring cry, no longer hesitating, and Moo Jin pulls the trigger instinctively, aiming to incapacitate her, but the gun doesn't fire. Pain floods through him in an agonizing torrent as she slams the knife into his chest, another wave as she pushes the blade in further, and all Moo Jin can do is stare at her, tears burning in his eyes, a helpless dizziness swimming at the corners of his vision.

Her expression is blank but Moo Jin thinks he can see anguish and pain flickering behind her eyes and her name slips past his bloody lips in a broken whisper. His legs give in and he begins to slide to the ground and Ji Woo is right there, still holding onto the knife, and still holding his gaze.

Her eyes are the last thing Moo Jin sees before everything goes dark.

They're also the first thing he sees when he wakes up.

He should have know that as long as Ji Woo is alive, even death wouldn't be able to keep him away from her.