Haru was from an orphanage. At the age of five, she was adopted by a mysterious man, and the place she was taken to was hell.

- Survive. If you survive, wealth and honor will follow you.

- What about mom?

- I’m your mother.

Under the guise of adoption, a combat training organization bought children from orphanages. From the age of five, without even knowing how to read Korean, she was trained.

Under the guise of adoption, a combat training organization bought children from orphanages. From the age of five, without even knowing how to read Korean, she was trained.

The reason was that there were many missions that only children could carry out.

- Forget your old names. The number on your left chest is your name now.

- What do you call this?

- Number 11. And speak respectfully, you brat.

Haru trained with twenty other kids of similar age. By the time they finished training at twelve years old, only six of them were still alive.

From the age of twelve, she received personal missions, and within a year, four of her peers had died.

- We have to escape from here. If we don’t, we’ll die.

- We’ll die even if we escape.

- Dying while running is better than dying here. You’ll die here. I’d rather die escaping.

- Don’t go. I don’t want to be alone…

- I don’t want to die. Come with me.

- I don’t want to die either. I won’t go.

- Coward.

Haru left Number 11 behind and ran away alone but was caught by the instructor.

- Number 17, you’re excellent. If you return as is, I’ll pretend this never happened.

Slash—

- Ugh!

Haru inflicted a fatal injury to the instructor’s eye while he was off guard and escaped. However, she too was severely injured and collapsed while running. She was found by the leader of another organization.

- A child with murderous eyes, take her.

That’s how she entered the underworld. From the age of thirteen, she lived as a fighting dog there for ten years until she met Haesu.

"At the orphanage, at the training center, and in the underground, I wasn’t human. This one year now is worth more than my whole 23 years of life."

As she calmly spoke about her life, Shin Haesu’s chest tightened. The ten years in the underworld weren’t the only hell she had lived through.

The eight years in the training facility before that were even worse. Even in the orphanage where she had been since birth, she was beaten, made to work, and barely fed.

God really isn’t fair. She’s still just a child, yet she’s lived such a twisted life since birth—Haesu’s heart ached at the thought.

Whether she knew Haesu’s thoughts or not, Haru looked around uneasily and continued speaking.

"If they find out I exist, they won’t let me live. Not only me, but everything around me will be erased. They have that kind of power. I’ve already put you and Ahn Seo-eun in danger..."

Softly—

Haesu gently embraced Haru’s fragile shoulders and patted her back once.

"You’ve suffered a lot."

"Hrk..."

A hot wave surged up from deep inside Haru’s chest, and she burst into tears.

In this urgent moment, in spite of her shameful past and her precious present that she wanted to protect, she forgot everything and leaned on Haesu, crying.

The first person who showed her the light. The first person who let her live like a human. The first person who made her feel happiness. Now that the sweet dream felt like it was ending, she couldn’t stop crying.

"I… I don’t want to leave. But I have to."

Haesu pulled back and looked her in the eyes with firmness.

"Why should you leave?"

As he looked around, there was a deadly gleam in Haesu’s gaze.

"They’re the ones who should leave—this world."

Haru had only seen Haesu in live combat once, but through countless morning training sessions, she had a pretty clear idea of his abilities.

Haru lowered her head slightly and shook it.

"You can’t. It’s dangerous. These are not people a single person can deal with."

"Who said I’m alone? Just trust me."

"…"

That was as far as Haesu could go with emotional consolation. Time wasn’t on their side. Once they realized the man wasn’t at the police station, they would start looking for him—and the first place would be around Haesu.

They needed to expose the man somehow before that happened.

"So the only people who can recognize your face are that guy and the instructor, right?"

"Yes. I’m three years younger than the other trainees, so I was in separate training and housing. Even when we crossed paths, it was in passing. They probably wouldn’t recognize me now."

"Alright. No matter how big they are, I’ll catch them. Until then, we’ll keep your identity hidden. The key is how we deal with that bastard..."

As Haesu pondered, Haru grabbed his wrist and looked at him seriously.

"I’ll try to persuade him."

"You’ll go yourself?"

"Yes. He wasn’t uncertain. He was sure. He was certain about who I am."

"Alright… let’s go."

Haesu headed to the warehouse where the man was imprisoned, with Haru by his side. The man’s pupils trembled violently when he saw Haesu and Haru together.

Once the gag was removed, he opened his eyes wide and stared at Haru.

"I knew it, I knew it. It was Number 17. You were right here all along..."

Haru looked down at him quietly, then turned her head to Haesu.

“Please leave us alone.”

“Alright.”

Haesu stepped out, leaving only Haru and the man alone. Haru knelt on one knee in front of him to match eye level.

“It's been a while. You're still alive.”

“Yeah, if they knew you were alive, the Instructor's eyes would flip.”

The Instructor was the one who had trained both Haru and Number 11. He was the one Haru had inflicted a fatal wound to the right eye during her escape.

“He knows I’m alive. He let me go.”

“…What?”

“No matter how injured he was, do you think he’d make a mistake against a thirteen-year-old?”

Haru was right. No matter how naturally talented Haru was, so was the Instructor. He wasn’t someone who would make a mistake against a mere thirteen-year-old.

“He let me go.”

Why did it take so long to realize such a simple truth?

“That makes no sense. You were a strong candidate for the next instructor…”

Why would they release such a promising talent in a place where escape was punished by execution? It made no sense at all.

Right, because it didn’t make sense, he simply accepted it as being caught. And believed the story that she would die soon from her wounds.

“I don’t know either. I went through another hell after that. I just thought it was the price of escape.”

Haru looked intently at the confused Number 11 and reached out her hand.

“Come out of there. I’ll help you.”

Number 11 stared quietly at her hand. His fingertips trembled. He let out a bitter sneer.

“Now? After you abandoned me? Do you know how I survived alone?”

Haru’s fine brows furrowed slightly.

“Still a coward, huh?”

“What!!”

He snapped at her words. Being called a coward had remained a trauma for him.

But Haru wasn’t one to let that slide. She shoved a knife into his mouth while it was still agape.

Only when something cold touched his tongue did Number 11 realize what it was.

The tip of the blade pressed against his tongue, and the edge lightly pushed against one corner of his mouth.

Zzz—

As the edge tore a little into the corner of his mouth, blood started to flow. Haru leaned in close and said coldly,

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“…”

Number 11 lowered his gaze, avoiding her eyes. Seeing the murderous glint in her eyes brought back memories of a forgotten past.

She was not a comrade bonded through shared training, but a terrifying, untouchable being feared by all.

Haru slowly pulled the knife out of his mouth. Then she wiped the blood trailing from the corner of his mouth with her thumb, staining his mouth completely red.

“Now you’re ready to talk. Where’s the Instructor?”

“The Instructor… I don’t know. I only heard rumors that he’s serving a VIP up close.”

“So he’s not in the field. That means as long as you keep your mouth shut, I’m safe.”

What Haesu said and what Haru was threatening were on a whole different level. Number 11 could already imagine how his corpse would be dealt with.

“If you kill me, the company will suspect that detective and start poking around. Either way, you’ll be exposed.”

“You’re really trying hard to live.”

“The best thing is for me to be released and keep quiet. Don’t you think so…”

When Haru lifted the knife again, Number 11 quickly continued,

“Wait, wait! Spare—”

Ssshk—

Number 11 squeezed his eyes shut, but opened them again at the strange feeling. His hands were free.

Shhk—

Haru also untied the rope around his ankles. Then she handed him the knife and said,

“I’m letting you go. Try to live well.”

“…What?”

Haru said that and turned her back to the enemy holding a knife, walking out.

Number 11 couldn’t bring himself to do anything as he watched her back.

Creeaak—

Haru left the door wide open, allowing Haesu to see inside the storage room. The man had been released, even handed a knife.

Haesu figured Haru must have a plan and followed her to the elevator.

Once they disappeared, an oppressive silence filled the underground parking lot.

Ssshhh—

Number 11 stayed completely silent for an hour before cautiously peeking his face out the door. No one was there. It could be a trap.

Step by careful step, he moved out, extremely cautious.

Only after walking more than a kilometer away from the Reed Building did he realize he was truly free.

Only then did the mind frozen by fear start turning again.

‘I was caught by Detective Shin, not taken to a station but locked in a remote storage… then released. The company thinks I was arrested and has abandoned me. If I go back and claim that Number 17 is alive?’

He clutched his head with both hands as he grasped the reality.

‘No one but the Instructor who knows Number 17 would believe me. To them, it’s not just any cop—I was caught and released within hours by Detective Shin, whom the company is currently monitoring. The company will torture me to find out what I confessed. Even if I’m innocent… I can’t prove it.’

Only now did he understand why Haru had let him go so easily. No matter how much effort the company had put into raising wasps, it was a place where rules were ruthless.

Like a real wasp, once the sting is used, it’s discarded. One small flaw and you're abandoned.

He could be killed just for being caught by someone, even briefly. Number 11 collapsed to the ground.

“I fought so hard to live… and it ends like this…”

But going back to Haru was not an option. Detective Shin would eventually be eliminated, and if he was with Haru at that time, he’d be eliminated too.

The best way to survive is…

Ratatatatat BAM!!

Number 11 ran to the nearby convenience store and kicked the door as if to break it down.

“Kyaaah!!”

He pointed the knife at the clerk and shouted,

“Give me the money!! The money!”

Sometime later, at Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit headquarters.

The team leader approached and patted Haesu on the shoulder.

“Hey, about that guy you asked me to look into—the convenience store robber who turned himself in.”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, he ended up in Hyo-seong Prison. But get this—what a coincidence, he ended up in a cell with someone who mimics voices.”

“Is that so?”

Haesu grinned. No need to ask for a cell transfer now.