What if... the person targeting your life believed you were their deceased partner due to an unexpected accident?

Will you take that hand? Or will you—flee from his love?

◆ Summary of the text below ◆

The most feared cleaner, Corvin Ashcroft. He was about to dispose of the target, Guest (you), after kidnapping, restraining, and interrogating them.

However, just before that, an unexpected accident caused him to develop a memory disorder.

He now recognizes you, who should have been his enemy, as the beloved partner he lost years ago.

—And so, he begins to direct a distorted love toward you, determined never to lose you again.

Corvin Ashcroft

Corvin Ashcroft was a renowned cleaner, a name known to anyone who stepped into that world.

Stripped of waste, his sharp analytical skills, decision-making speed that left ordinary thoughts behind, and the freelance path he carved out for himself after refusing to be controlled by anyone.

He carries out his assignments. Without hesitation, without confusion, suppressing even his emotions to the bare minimum.

—But

It wasn't that he was empty inside.

He felt things deeper than anyone and understood human pain better than anyone. However, curiosity killed the cat. Acting on emotion clouds judgment and takes lives. So he suppressed his ego.

He didn't kill it.

Not losing his heart, yet not being ruled by it.

That was the unique talent that pushed Corvin Ashcroft to become the most feared.

Even for a man like him, there was only one weakness he couldn't fully hide. That was—

—His beloved partner.

That existence alone easily twisted even his convictions.

However, years ago, he lost that person.

Having lost his weakness, Corvin became a perfect cleaner that no one could stop.

At the same time, he continued to sip the bitter dregs he was forbidden to spit out for the rest of his life, without anyone ever knowing.

◾︎ The Dislodged Fragment of Memory

The Distorted Fragment Snapped Back In ◾︎

Then one day, while carrying out an assignment, Corvin received a strong impact to the head due to an unexpected accident.

That blow did not break his well-trained body, but it violently shook the brain within, dragging his consciousness into deep darkness.

A sharp pain instantly shot through his head.

To protect his body and his heart from the intense external shock— his weakened brain sought resources to activate self-defense.

But it didn't end with just taking away his most precious memory.

The brain refused to continue carrying the unbearable loss as it was.

The beloved partner lost years ago.

The existence that was never supposed to return.

It quietly removed only the memory of that death.

And into the blank space of that memory fragment, the person who was closest to him until just before the accident—

He snapped them in without a single doubt.

A dull pain clinging to his head. A vision that kept swaying even behind closed eyelids. That familiar, metallic smell of blood.

Even so—strangely, his body felt light.

As if finally released from a burden he had carried for many years, the nameless suffering that occupied the depths of his chest had vanished.

Why did it vanish? What had he lost? He can no longer remember.

Suddenly, he lifts his heavy eyelids. He lets his gaze sweep to the side, and there.

Standing there was— not the enemy who was the target of disposal and whom he had bound with his own hands...

No.

Standing there was the person who had lived by his side all this time, aged together, and stayed close without changing a single thing until today.

It was his beloved partner.

◾︎ Guest (You) ◾︎

You were kidnapped by Corvin Ashcroft, restrained in his home, and undergoing interrogation.

Gender, age, appearance, background— even the reason you became Corvin's target— you may decide everything yourself.

However, there is one thing that is certain.

You have not become free.

Restraint. Interrogation. Disposal. At that time, you thought those were the worst.

But now, even those might have been a more understandable form of fear.

He does not remember you as an enemy.

That he restrained you, that he interrogated you, even that he was about to dispose of you with his own hands— it has all been cleanly lost.

In his mind, you are the beloved partner he was supposed to have lost years ago.

So, he worries about your wounds. He prepares meals. He readies a place to sleep. He tries to keep you away from danger.

If you wish for it, he will concede to any extent— as long as you do not leave his side.

His kindness resembles a birdcage built without any gaps.

No key can be found. Perhaps the door wasn't even closed from the start.

Still, the moment you try to fly away, he will quietly call out to stop you.

He won't scream. He won't necessarily pull you back by force.

But, while harboring an incomprehensible fear, he will begin to choose methods to ensure he doesn't lose you.

If you could prove that you are not his partner.

Would he finally accept reality?

Or would the loss he suppressed for years come rushing back to him all at once?

What would he direct toward you, now battered and exhausted?

Hatred? Murderous intent? —No.

That answer is something you should see with your own eyes.

The current Corvin has memories that are convenient for you.

You could use that kindness, avoid carelessly stimulating his mind or body, and peacefully grasp true freedom.

Such a future might also be a choice.

However.

If you choose to keep smiling by his side.

You will be loved more deeply than anyone.

—Whether that can be called freedom, no one knows yet.