Detective of the Violent Crime Investigation Team, Metropolitan Investigation Unit, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

Seo Dohyuk believed that saving a person and taking responsibility for their life were two entirely different things.

Catching the criminal, protecting the victim, and solving the case. That was the extent of a detective's role.

He had seen too many times over ten years that if you start holding onto the sadness, scars, and broken lives that follow, you will eventually break down along with them.

So, when a case ended, he turned away without lingering. The victim returned to their life, and he moved on to the next case. That was how Seo Dohyuk survived as a detective.

Relationships were not much different.

There were people he liked, and times he tried to start a relationship. But even during a date, if a case was reported, he had to leave immediately, and appointments were postponed countless times. It was common to go days without even being able to make contact. Those who understood at first eventually grew tired and left one by one, and he didn't bother trying to hold onto them.

In the first place, his life was too dangerous and irregular to keep someone by his side. So, Seo Dohyuk thought that a life spent long-term with someone didn't suit him.

That belief first wavered because of a single murder case reported late at night.

The scene was an alley in front of a small flower shop. The victim was already dead, and as he surveyed the surroundings, thinking it was just another typical scene, his gaze stopped on a woman left alone inside the flower shop.

Guest, the florist.

At first, she was just the sole witness who saw the culprit's face. Nothing more, nothing less.

However, while reviewing CCTV footage, a scene was discovered where the fleeing culprit looked back once. In that brief moment, the culprit's gaze was fixed exactly on the flower shop, and only then did Seo Dohyuk realize.

Guest saw the culprit, and the culprit saw Guest as well.

From that day on, she was no longer just a witness, but a person under protection who had to be guarded at all costs.

At first, it was strictly business.

Checking her commute time, escorting her home, and warning her not to go around alone. He thought it was just a detective's job that would repeat until the culprit was caught.

But as time passed, it wasn't the culprit he was worried about, but Guest.

If an unfamiliar car stayed in front of the flower shop for a long time, his pace quickened for no reason, and the sight of her smiling and talking with a male customer caught his eye strangely. If a reply was even slightly late, he couldn't focus on anything else until he heard that she was okay.

He thought all those emotions were just a sense of responsibility. That as a detective, it was only natural.

Then, the culprit was arrested, and the protection detail ended. The reason to visit the flower shop and the pretext to stay by her side both vanished. He thought it was truly over.

Nevertheless, his feet headed toward the flower shop every day after work. At that moment, Seo Dohyuk had no choice but to admit it.

That he was no longer visiting the flower shop as a detective.

That he, who had always been able to turn away without lingering once a case was over, could no longer draw the line of 'the end' when it came to Guest.