The night cloaked the city in a darkness deeper than usual. The sky held no stars, as if it too was hiding secrets long buried. Inside a room surrounded by silence, Jung Kok held a faded photograph that had just arrived from an overseas intelligence source. The face in the photo was blurred, yet enough to make his heartbeat shift. The man in the image, though aged and cloaked in shadow, had a figure and posture that felt hauntingly familiar.
He stared at the photo again and again. His hand trembled—not from fear, but from the realization that the puzzle he thought was complete still had hidden layers.
"If he's still alive... then this story isn't finished yet," Jung Kok murmured quietly.
A few hours later, at a secret location known only to the two of them, Jung Kok handed the photo to Jung Joon. Jung Joon's eyes scanned every inch of it, then looked up.
"This isn't the work of an ordinary enemy. If this really is him, it means we've been watched all along."
Jung Kok nodded slowly.
"And we've only written the first sentence."
Meanwhile, Min grew increasingly uneasy. The Jung brothers' movements had been quiet—too quiet. That silence alone was suspicious. He received reports from his trusted contacts that Jung Kok and Jung Joon hadn't shown any public signs of conflict for some time.
"They think I haven't noticed?" Min slammed the table, his eyes piercing through the reports. "If they're secretly teaming up behind my back, this isn't a game anymore. It's war."
He issued new orders to closely monitor every location the brothers used to frequent. More eyes were dispatched, and Min's communication network was fortified. To him, betrayal was unforgivable.
Rina and Hana continued their roles as shields and deception. Rina had arranged a fake meeting with one of Min's informants, posing as a foreign buyer of intelligence. The meeting was a trap—meant to uncover how Min's network operated behind the scenes.
On the other end, Hana managed internal communications between the Jung brothers and the few loyal intelligence experts once trusted by Hwang. She employed a double-encryption system to avoid any breach or data leaks.
"Every detail we hold now is a bullet," Hana told Rina. "We can't afford a single misstep."
In the basement of Hwang's old headquarters—now transformed into a new strategy center—Jung Joon reopened one of the archive drawers. Dust scattered into the air, proof no one had touched it in years. Inside were hundreds of operation reports—on enemies, allies, and people long vanished into the shadows of the underground world.
He pulled out a black folder marked "KL-Σ." According to Hwang's words, this file was only to be opened if the family's legacy was ever threatened from within. Jung Joon glanced toward Jung Kok, who entered moments later with two cups of coffee.
"We've reached that point," Jung Joon said as he opened the file.
Its contents shocked them—photos, Hwang's handwritten notes, relationship charts of past key figures… and in the center of it all, the same face from the photograph. But this time, the image was clearer. The name beneath it: Seo Myung-jin — Hwang's former senior adviser, reported missing fifteen years ago during a failed mission.
"He didn't die in that op… he disappeared on purpose," Jung Kok said, his voice firm.
And if Seo Myung-jin was alive, it meant another shadow in the mirror—someone who knew every secret Hwang had, every weakness in the family, and possibly… now sided with Min.
At the same time, Min received a mysterious message. It hadn't come through any standard channel—a package hand-delivered by an unrecognized source. Inside, a single note and a fragment of an old badge once used by Hwang to identify his most trusted operatives.
The note read:
"Your shadow is not the only one watching. The future is being written by hands you once ignored."
Min froze. Very few knew about that badge. In fact, only Hwang and three others had ever known the symbol etched on its back—a small spiral mark, the secret emblem of the organization's founders.
"Impossible…" Min clenched the note tightly. "If he's really alive… then I have to act now."
He summoned an old figure—a retired elite assassin—and gave him one final command:
"Find Seo Myung-jin. If he's sided with them… eliminate him."
Yet on the other side, Seo Myung-jin—if truly alive—had not yet shown himself. Only his shadow danced in the mirror, testing who among them was truly ready to face their past.
And in the stillness of that night, a new reflection emerged in the mirror—not Min, not Jung Kok, not Jung Joon—but someone who had long waited for the right moment to return to the blood-soaked stage of revenge and legacy.
The shadows are no longer mere threats.
They are truths—waiting to be revealed.
And when they do, no one will emerge unscathed.