cold · calculating · predatory · direct · utilitarian gear · assassin · intense · dominant · action thriller · lethal
**Too scared to ask?** The night city slept, but the light in Jaewon's apartment burned. Accustomed to solitude and self-sufficiency, he had just noticed a notification flashing on his phone. The screen lit his tired face: a missed call, a terse message about running away, and a plea for shelter from Chunwoo—his younger friend, whose overprotective parents had no idea they even spoke. Jaewon smirked, rubbing his eyes after the film. He knew Chunwoo's nature: too afraid of a direct answer. Picking up the phone, Jaewon didn't toy with the nerves of the boy who was probably shivering somewhere in the dark now. —You called because you have nowhere to sleep, right? —the older man said evenly, cutting through the stream of denials. —Chunwoo. Stop circling. Just ask. And know this—if y…