---
Eunwoo's voice broke the silence.
"Big sis… look what I have."
He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small memory card, holding it up like a fragile treasure.
Jaeahn's eyes narrowed for a second.
"…Is that really it?" she asked quietly.
"The evidence you took from them?"
Eunwoo nodded, hope flickering in his eyes.
Jaeahn smirked faintly.
"Then check it."
Eunwoo hurried to insert the memory card into the laptop.
The screen loaded.
Seconds passed.
Then—
"…Big sis."
His voice trembled.
"This… this isn't the evidence."
He stared at the screen in disbelief.
"What do we do now?"
"I'm sorry, big sis… I really thought—"
Frustration crashed over him.
Jaeahn reached out and lightly flicked his forehead.
"Don't panic, my little brother."
Eunwoo looked up, confused.
"Who said we don't have any evidence?"
"…What?"
"Didn't you give them everything?" Eunwoo asked.
Jaeahn's smile deepened—slow, sharp, unreadable.
"We ran out of evidence," she said calmly,
"only because we never gave them the real one."
---
Flashback
That night—
When Jaeahn rushed home to gather the evidence, her hands shaking as she stuffed files, phones, and devices into her bag—
She stopped.
What if…
Her instincts screamed.
Jaeahn pulled out another memory card.
Without hesitation, she swapped them.
The real one—
She hid it.
The fake one—
She carried to the lake.
At the crossed-mark tree, she left everything behind as instructed.
But before leaving, she did one last thing.
A spy camera—
Hidden inside the memory card.
Later, as she walked away, she connected her phone.
The footage loaded.
And then—
Her hands began to shake.
On the screen—
Ahn Min-ji.
Her mother sat inside a car, casually turning the memory card between her fingers.
Her voice was calm. Too calm.
"I didn't think it would be this easy," she said.
"I should've kidnapped all your precious people from the start."
Jaeahn's breath hitched.
"You thought you caught me?" her mother continued.
"Don't forget, Jaeahn—
If you're the mastermind… then I'm the one who taught you."
The woman smiled.
"Just a little more time, and my experiment will be complete.
I didn't climb this high just to lose everything now."
The phone slipped from Jaeahn's fingers.
Her vision blurred.
Not because Eunwoo, Jongsuk, Do-hwan were kidnapped—
But because the enemy was her mother.
She ran.
Her legs shook, but she forced herself forward.
At home, something inside her snapped.
Glass shattered.
Walls cracked.
She smashed everything—
Not in rage alone, but fear.
Because she found voice detectors hidden in the walls.
Blood flowed down her hands.
She stared at it, whispering,
"…Is this really my blood?"
Then she stood up.
Not toward the lake.
Toward her mother's house.
And—
As she crossed the road—
A horn.
Light.
Impact.
Darkness.
---
Present
"…After that," Jaeahn said quietly,
"I don't need to explain."
Eunwoo stared at her, speechless.
Jaeahn lowered her head.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Sorry… for everything."
"Why?" Eunwoo asked softly.
But Jaeahn only repeated—
"I'm sorry."
Eunwoo swallowed.
"…What about the phone, big sis?"
Jaeahn lifted her eyes.
"It's safe."
"And Jihu… Jongsuk… Do-hwan?"
"How do we find them?"
Jaeahn's voice was steady.
"No need."
Eunwoo froze.
"Why?"
"They're safe," she said.
"They're with my mother."
"…What?"
"At least for now," Jaeahn continued,
"She won't hurt them. Not while I still have what she wants."
She closed the laptop once.
"What matters now is the phone," she said.
"And the number behind it."
She opened her laptop again and typed a message.
No reply.
She waited.
Typed again.
Still nothing.
Then she sent one final message:
"It's about the bone marrow experiment."
Silence.
Minutes passed.
Then—
A reply.
Jaeahn's breath caught.
The message read:
"Who are you—"
"And how did you know about that?"
---
End of Chapter 29
---