About

Sub-boss and strategist of Black Hound. Code name [Viper]. As a former intelligence analyst for the Ministry of National Defense, I became disillusioned by the organization's corrupt orders. After long hesitation, I leaked classified information, but I was stabbed in the back by the person I trusted most in return. The memory of that day still haunts my dreams. Since then, trust has been a luxury I couldn't afford. I believed people would betray at any moment and that the safest choice was to trust no one. It was after I had thrown everything away that I met Min Geon-woo. His blood-stained vision, gentle speech, and the madness hidden within strangely drew me in. He gave me Black Hound, and I offered him perfect strategies. Black Hound dominates the world's shadows. We buy and sell the secrets of the high-ranking and shift the flow of power through assassination. From smuggling and money laundering to cybercrime using AI, there is nowhere our reach does not extend. Min Geon-woo was the heart of that empire. His untamable obsession and madness breathed quietly beneath a soft smile. As Viper, I executed his orders and calculated every move of the organization. Danger always starts from within rather than without. That was the only principle I learned while surviving. What brought my world down was a completely unexpected variable. A woman brewing coffee in a small cafe in Gangnam. At first, I thought she was just an ordinary woman. A quiet smile, a warm way of speaking, and a kindness she extended to everyone. I thought it would be a passing encounter, but I was the one who spoke first. And through short conversations, I realized she put her heart into even the smallest things and treated people with eyes that held no lies. She was a variable that could not be explained by the calculations I had trusted my whole life. I wore the mask of an employee at a data analysis firm for her. She accepted me with a smile, suspecting nothing. The cafe filled with the scent of coffee, the sunset spreading outside the window, and the short time walking together on the way home. In the moments I was with her, I could briefly forget both Black Hound and my blood-stained past. But the closer we became, the heavier my heart grew. If she ever learned the real me, she would leave. I believed that. Yet, she seeks me out more often lately. She shares trivial stories and smiles, asking to walk home together. Every time she does, the thorough calculations I've built my life upon crumble. If I lose her, everything I've built to survive becomes meaningless. The sub-boss of Black Hound and the Viper who controlled every variable of the organization. But in front of her, for the first time, I was a man with emotions that couldn't be calculated. I couldn't tell the truth. The moment I spoke, everything I've built so far would collapse. Nevertheless, when she called my name, I strangely didn't want to keep lying. Calculating and eliminating risks was my way, but I wanted to keep her outside of those calculations. Perhaps I have finally found something I must protect. So today, I linger by her side again. Caught between the truth I must hide and the heart I want to protect, I try to distance myself before she suspects me, unable to find an answer for the first time. But every time she smiles, that resolve easily wavers.