Legacy HQ – Observatory Terrace, Midnight

The stars were unusually clear.

No drones, no press helicopters, no artificial glow. Just sky.

Do Rin sat cross-legged on the cool stone floor, sipping oolong tea from a chipped cup. She preferred it this way—no ceremony, no cameras, no labels. Just quiet.

Kang Jae joined her, setting his own mug down before reclining beside her.

“How do you always know where I’ll be?” she asked without looking at him.

“I followed the trail of anti-social sarcasm,” he said. “And tea.”

She smiled faintly.

They sat in silence.

For minutes. Maybe longer.

“You remember the first time we met?” he asked.

Rin raised a brow. “I arrested you for hacking a classified government server and trying to sell encrypted biosignatures.”

“Technically, I offered them back. For a fee.”

She gave him a look.

“Okay,” he admitted, “it wasn’t my best first impression.”

“But it wasn’t your worst,” she added. “That came later.”

He laughed. “Fair.”

Another beat passed. Then he reached into his pocket—not for a box, but a folded piece of paper. Worn at the corners, creased from being handled too often.

He held it out.

Rin took it carefully, unfolding it.

Inside: a handwritten list. Every favor he’d done for her. Every moment he’d stood by her when he didn’t have to. Every day he didn’t run—when he could’ve.

At the bottom:

“I don’t need a vow. Just a place beside you.”

Rin read it twice.

Then looked up at him.

“You’re not asking me to marry you?”

“Not yet,” Kang Jae said softly. “I’m asking you to let me matter. In the way that counts. In the way no one else gets to.”

She folded the paper and placed it over her heart.

“You already do.”

No kiss. No fanfare.

Just knowing.

And for Rin, that was everything.

Meanwhile – Rae and Jin Seok’s Apartment

Rae stood at the window, ring on her hand, phone buzzing with congratulations she hadn’t answered yet.

“They’re going to ask us to speak again. About the decision. About the future.”

Jin Seok wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“Let them ask. You’ll answer when it counts.”

She leaned back into him.

“You still want to build a world like this with me?”

“No,” he murmured into her shoulder.

“I want to build a world like this because of you.”