All night long, Valko had been dragging his luggage from one hotel to another. The moment his face hit the TV news, the police flooded the streets, blocking every national highway in case he tried to flee toward the outskirts. On top of that, Kamakiri's hounds were hunting him relentlessly.
His plan to hop on a flight to Taiwan? Completely ruined before it even began.
After an entire sleepless night, Valko felt like a ghost—drained, shaky, but unable to stop scanning every corner around him. Every time he caught sight of an SUV parked nearby, he jumped, only to realize they weren't Kamakiri's men.
The situation was getting bad—real bad. The longer he stayed out in the open, the sooner he'd get caught.
So he forced himself to find a small motel, preferably the kind that wouldn't demand IDs or passport information.
Dragging his heavy suitcase behind him, Valko stepped into a run-down motel tucked inside a dim, shabby alley. The owner—a fat woman sprawled across a hammock in front of a fan—was half-asleep when she saw a hooded man hauling a huge suitcase inside at four in the morning. Being woken up at that hour annoyed her instantly. For a second, she even thought he was a thief.
"You here to rent a room?" she grumbled as she struggled off the hammock.
Valko lowered his voice slightly so she wouldn't recognize it.
"I need a room for one day."
"We only rent by the hour here. Fifty thousand per hour. One full day? That'll be 1.2 million. You got that kinda money?"
She eyed him with open disdain, clearly assuming he was broke.
The look irritated Valko. Instinctively, he reached for his black card—then froze. Right. He was a fugitive.
He cleared his throat, pulled out his wallet, and slapped several bills onto the counter.
"This is two million. Keep the change."
Her eyebrows lifted at the stack of 500k bills, but she casually slid them into her drawer as if nothing happened.
"Fine then. Give me your citizen ID so we can hold onto it."
Valko frowned, snapping.
"What? Even a motel like this needs ID?"
"It's the law," she replied dryly. "Minors aren't allowed in places like this anymore, and I don't want trouble. This is basic stuff. What, you live under a rock?"
"I… uh… I'm not familiar with Vietnamese laws…" Valko stammered.
His hand shook a bit as he pulled out his passport. He prayed that, given the darkness, she wouldn't pay attention to who he really was.
Just as he hoped, the woman only glanced at the age section and nothing else.
"Alright, don't worry. We keep these very secure. Here's your keycard. Balcony room. Nice, yeah?"
Valko snatched the keycard irritably. A balcony in a cramped alley meant nothing. But at least she wasn't nosy. He could hide here for now.
He dragged his luggage into the old elevator and went to his room, hoping to get at least a little rest.
The room stank of cleaning chemicals. The décor was tacky, and two cheap condoms were tossed on the bed, making Valko grimace. But he had no choice.
Still, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sleep. His heart pounded violently.
He had every reason to be terrified. Before the news broke about him being a killer, he had used his credit card multiple times. Too many traces. They could track him—it was only a matter of time.
No. He had to think. He couldn't die like this.
Valko sat up abruptly and opened his laptop, searching desperately for an escape route. Maybe he could cross the forest into Laos and hide there for a while.
But every road leading out of the city was now blocked by police.
What if he crossed through the rice fields—What the hell are you thinking, Valko!? He clutched his hair and collapsed back on the bed.
Valko, Valko… Once rich, powerful, stepping on everyone beneath you…
And now look at you.
He muttered in his head.
"If I get out of this alive… the Kamakiris will pay."
But then, another thought crept in.
Mina. He whispered her name out loud—bitter, loving, hateful all at once.
He imagined Mina's disgusted stare. Even when she looked at him like trash, she was still beautiful. Valko couldn't let her go. As long as he was alive, Mina belonged to him.
But for now, that meant nothing. He couldn't face the Kamakiri family—not like this. He had to get back to Taiwan first, reclaim the Jou family power from his wretched sister… then revenge could wait.
A few hours later, Valko put on his hoodie, hands in his pockets, and left the motel as casually as possible.
First step: ditch his old SIM card. Buy a burner SIM before they tracked him using the old one. Tonight, he'd pay a truck driver to let him hide in the back and sneak past the national highway checkpoints—assuming the police didn't inspect the trucks too.
He walked into a SIM shop and called out,
"Hey, I need a SIM card."
The shopkeeper, who had been gossiping with some market ladies while watching morning news, rushed out.
"What kind? We got Xaiber, Linya, Xinhtu—already loaded with 7GB data. Surf all you want."
Valko tossed him a 200k bill.
"Any kind. I'm in a hurry."
"Alright, lemme get you our best-seller—"
While the man rummaged through a pile of unauthorized SIM cards, the gossiping ladies grew animated over a news segment. Valko glanced over instinctively—and froze.
It was a reenactment of him murdering his father, Jin Tian.
The women gasped, covering their mouths.
"Goodness… how can a son kill his own father?"
"Those rich families always got scandals like that. All over money, I bet."
"He's still hiding in Vietnam? I'm scared just hearing it."
The news anchor continued:
[Security cameras from the investigation team captured footage of the suspect taking a taxi near Hong Bich Loi Street at 3 A.M. Anyone with information, please contact the police immediately.]
Valko's eyes widened. Security cameras? What cameras!?
Then he remembered—Vietnam's traffic surveillance cameras. He had been too careless.
Hong Bich Loi Street… That was close.
This was bad. This was really bad.
The SIM seller finally looked up, cheerful.
"Sir, here's the SIM! Data unlimited—huh? Sir…?"
But Valko was gone—vanished.
At the mouth of the alley, a group of men in black suits and sunglasses watched calmly. They had been observing Valko from the start. One of them spoke into a Bluetooth earpiece.
"Yes, Mr. Satoru. Just as you predicted. He panicked and bolted."
On the other end, Satoru chuckled, twirling his knife with practiced elegance.
"Of course he did. The rest is up to you. Guide him where he needs to go…"
His eyes hardened—vicious, predatory.
"When the tide rises."
---
At Mr. Tuan's pho shop, everyone had gathered again after the failed attempt to find Nayeon. Mr. Jongsuk was restless, pacing back and forth across the restaurant for what felt like forever.
"This isn't right," he muttered as if something had just clicked. "If they're still keeping Nayeon, it means they still haven't gotten her medallion."
Shana crossed her arms, frowning. "Didn't they just need to take it off her? What's the problem?"
"That— that is exactly the problem!" Jongsuk burst out, pointing straight at Shana. "The mirror already chose its master. No one else can touch it or use it unless Nayeon wants to."
Shana still found the idea ridiculous.
"Didn't you say that mirror was a relic of the goddess Ama? So why would it choose a mortal as its master? How does that even make sense?"
"I don't know…" Jongsuk mumbled. "But from everything I've seen, it's very possible. Which means the only way they can use it is to force Nayeon into obeying them—indirectly—so she'll fight you, Shana."
Duyen didn't fully understand the details, but just hearing that made her stomach twist. She whispered, almost trembling.
"If that's true… then they might torture Nayeon to break her? To force her? If that's what's happening then… no way… right?"
Why was Mina involved in this? Why would she do something like this to Nayeon?
Duyen felt herself slipping, breath tightening with every thought—especially the thought that Mina was willingly working with the people who kidnapped Nayeon.
Seeing how devastated Duyen was, Shana felt her chest ache. She sat beside her, gently rubbing Duyen's shoulder, about to comfort her—when Jongsuk let out a long, breaking sigh.
"I'm sorry to say this… but that possibility is very high. Nayeon has always been strong-willed. Even if they force her, she'd never do evil for anyone… which means my Nayeon might have already—"
His voice cracked. Tears fell as he imagined the suffering his daughter could be enduring.
"…It's all my fault. Why did I ever let her wear that cursed necklace…?"
His sobbing shook both Duyen and Shana. But for Duyen, the guilt hit the deepest. Whether she wanted it or not, she was part of the chain of events that dragged Nayeon into this mess—along with Mina's unpredictable betrayal.
If she didn't fix everything herself now, then—Duyen suddenly buried her face in her hands. Her eyes burned, already swollen from too many nights crying.
Shana could practically hear her thoughts. She wrapped her arms around Duyen's shoulders immediately.
"No, Duyen! Don't think like that!" she insisted fiercely. "None of this is your fault, and you absolutely cannot rush out there. That's exactly what they want, and it'll make everything Nayeon has done pointless. Do you understand!?"
Duyen heard every word. She knew Shana and everyone else were trying to shield her—Even Nayeon's father wanted to protect her, despite his own daughter being in danger.
It was too much. She couldn't sit still and watch everyone she loved get hurt.
Right then, the TV switched to a breaking news report from the police about the ongoing manhunt for the high-priority criminal—Jou Valko.
Everyone instinctively looked up. The broadcast showed multiple security camera clips of Valko desperately fleeing from the police throughout the day.
Most people would say he deserved it. But only Shana sensed something wrong.
"This doesn't make sense. The Kamakiri family wouldn't just let him escape. Even if he ran, he'd be dead—either killed by them or arrested for life. So then…"
A thought struck her. Hard. She whispered under her breath, barely aware she'd said it aloud:
"Is that why… Mina suddenly announced her marriage with Valko? She wants everyone to see it…?"
Duyen's eyes widened. She couldn't understand what Shana meant—But then it hit her.
And that fear—Shana's fear—became hers too.
That night, when everyone else was distracted, Duyen slipped out of the apartment, grabbed her motorbike, and sped off into the night.
But of course, she couldn't fool Shana.
Shana stepped out of the garage just seconds after Duyen disappeared down the street. She stared at the fading red tail-light, her sapphire-blue eyes full of pain and something deeper—something she couldn't say out loud.
"My foolish Duyen… Your kindness is going to get you killed… I can't let you go alone."
She lifted her gaze to the moon—bright and heavy tonight—and in the next instant, her body shot upward, cutting through the night sky.
The tide was rising.
The moon was full.
---
Valko had run for his life just to get this far. The police had chased him. The Kamakiri clan had chased him. He had literally nowhere left to go.
Cornered, he'd slipped into this massive container yard near a cliff overlooking a savage, rocky coast. Waves smashed against the stones below with deafening noise—but aside from that, the place was eerily silent.
No sirens. No footsteps. No voices.
For the first time today, Valko finally let himself breathe. He stepped out from behind a shipping container—
—When suddenly, every single floodlight in the yard blasted on at once.
"Mother—! What the hell!?" he yelled, shielding his eyes.
When his vision adjusted, his stomach dropped. Every spotlight was pointed directly at him.
Far above, in the control tower window, Mina stood watching him—her silhouette elegant, her smile breathtakingly beautiful… but cold and cruel beneath the surface.
Valko looked like nothing more than a rat in her palm. Mina leaned into the microphone, her voice velvet-smooth and venomous.
"Good evening… my dear husband."