The ground was still settling beneath Jin's boots when he and Echo broke through the last stretch of rubble, both of them breathing hard, dust and grit clinging to sweat-soaked skin. Whatever relief either of them had been carrying from the fight they'd just barely won evaporated the moment they cleared the wreckage and actually saw what waited for them on the other side.
Song Taewon stood in the middle of the cracked street, calm in a way that felt deliberately unsettling given the circumstances, one hand resting on Haneul's shoulder, the other on Areum's. Both of them were slumped, clearly beaten, conscious but drained, held upright as much by Song's grip as by whatever strength they had left in their own legs.
Jin's stomach dropped. "Let them go."
