Sion grabbed the fiancé by the collar with a sharp brutality, then slammed him against the bridge rail.
The impact made the metal shudder.
The fiancé let out a strangled cry as his back hit the frozen bar and, in one single move, Sion shoved him halfway over the void, his hips already tilted to the wrong side.
His feet searched for a foothold that no longer existed.
His hands clutched the railing with animal desperation.
The icy wind whipped his face while the Han roared below, ready to swallow him.
Nari spun around, horrified, her scream dying in her throat.
And in Sion's eyes…
there was nothing rational left.
Only that black flame, primitive, uncontrollable.
The fiancé screamed immediately, his voice splintered by panic:
— HEY, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! LET GO OF ME, WHAT THE FUCK!!!
But Sion wasn't hearing anything anymore.
The entire world seemed to vanish around him.
The passersby, the cars, the lights of Seoul…
All of it erased, swallowed by that black rage rising in him like a tide of poison.
His breathing was ragged.
His fingers shook around the man's collar.
A vein throbbed at his temple, ready to burst.
Sion leaned in so close their breaths mingled, hot and frantic.
His voice dropped, slow, rough, almost intimate—yet cold enough to freeze blood.
— You feel that?
One centimeter.
He pushed just slightly.
The man's body slipped another millimeter into the void.
— One fucking centimeter and I make you disappear.
The fiancé started shaking all over, incapable of doing anything but whimper in panic, his fingers whitening from how hard he clung to the rail to avoid falling.
Nari screamed, hands clamped over her mouth.
— SION, STOP!
But Sion didn't turn.
Not yet.
He stayed perfectly still, his gaze locked into the fiancé's panicked eyes.
And in those eyes, what he saw…
was disgust,
contempt,
a silent judgment—
as if this man thought he was better than him,
as if he believed he had already won,
as if he believed Nari already belonged to him.
A cold madness flashed through Sion.
— She doesn't belong to you,
he breathed, his voice hoarse, unrecognizable.
The fiancé struggled, his legs kicking into empty air.
— PUT ME DOWN, YOU PSYCHO!! HELP!!!
His voice was nothing but a thread of terror now.
Sion tightened his grip even more.
A low growl rose from his chest, almost animal.
— You think you're gonna marry her?
— You think you're gonna touch her, hold her, kiss her?
— WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
He shook him violently above the void.
Nari lunged forward, eyes full of tears.
— SION! PLEASE! PLEASE, NO!!!
This time, he turned his head slightly at the sound of her voice.
Just a little.
Just enough to see her.
Her hands were shaking.
Tears glistened in her eyes.
And for a tenth of a second, something inside him faltered.
Nari.
His Nari.
The only thing he had never been able to control.
The only one who slipped through his fingers.
The only one who destroyed him.
He loosened his grip. Just a little.
A breath.
Then he set the fiancé back on solid ground.
Relief flashed across Nari's face—
but it lasted only a second.
Because before any of them could breathe, Sion drew his fist back…
And landed the hardest punch of his life right into the fiancé's jaw.
CRACK.
A dry crack echoed.
Blood splattered.
The fiancé collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.
Nari screamed:
— NOOOOO!!!
But Sion wasn't listening anymore.
He lunged at him.
And then…
he hit him.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Blows of inhuman brutality.
Wild, uncontrolled punches, as if he were unloading years of pain, jealousy, craving, rage.
Each impact sounded like a hammer slamming into fragile bone.
The fiancé let out weak groans, barely conscious, his face already unrecognizable—swollen, bloody, mangled.
Sion was shouting:
— SHE… IS… MINE!
— YOU HEAR ME?!
— MINE!!!
People were screaming.
Bystanders stepped back, terrified.
No one dared intervene—not in front of that mass of raw anger, that wounded beast that had just exploded.
The fiancé tried to raise a hand in a pathetic attempt to protect himself.
Sion knocked it away with another furious hit.
Nari ran towards them, her legs shaking, her heart shattered.
She wrapped her arms around Sion from behind, pressing her body against his to stop him.
— SION, STOP! I'M BEGGING YOU!
He froze.
His fist hung in the air.
She was trembling.
She was crying.
Her breath hit his neck.
Sion… look at me… look at me…
He turned his head.
His gaze finally met hers.
Two pairs of eyes drowned in tears, rage, and pain.
Slowly, he lowered his fist.
His breathing turned ragged.
He planted his hands on the ground, his whole body shaking.
Then suddenly, he grabbed her.
Pulled her towards him.
And kissed her.
A violent kiss, desperate, torn.
A kiss that sounded like an ultimatum.
A goodbye.
Or an impossible confession.
Nari couldn't even push him away. She was shaking, in pure shock.
That craving.
That fire.
That pain.
Then the sirens came closer.
Flashing lights.
Shouts from the crowd.
Paramedics rushing in.
Nari tore herself away from him.
— Go!
— Go, Sion!
— Go before they arrest you!
He stared at her.
Tears—real tears—were running down his cheeks.
One sentence passed through his eyes, silent, burning:
"Don't marry him."
Then he vanished into the crowd, swallowed by the night.
Silence crashed down all at once.
A heavy silence, thick, almost unreal.
Just the roar of the Han under the bridge,
and the sirens drawing closer and closer.
Nari was left alone in the middle of the crowd,
short of breath, hands shaking,
her heart beating so hard she thought it might explode.
She fell to her knees beside her fiancé's body.
He was barely moving.
His chest rose weakly,
as if every breath cost him a war.
— Oh my God… Look at me!
— Baby! Open your eyes!
she cried, her voice shredded.
She put her hands on his face.
Her fingers trembled as they touched the blood, the warmth, the ruined skin.
Her fiancé's lip was split, his jaw crooked,
one eye swollen shut, his cheek caved in,
footprints and fist marks everywhere.
He tried to speak.
— … Na… ri…
Four letters.
A breath.
A plea for help or a reproach—she couldn't tell.
She sobbed, her throat tightening around a pain she didn't even know how to name anymore.
— I'm here… I'm here…
But even she could hear how false those words sounded.
She was there physically.
Not with her heart.
Not with her soul.
And that realization tore her apart even more than the scene itself.