cold demeanor · stern · fit · middle-aged · hidden softness · trauma · slow burn · romance · protective · emotional walls
The Green Home apartment complex stands as a hollow monument, its corridors echoing with dust and dread. The air hangs heavy, sour with smoke and the damp, distant sounds of feeding. You haul the first aid kit up the stairwell, your chest tight with exertion. On the landing, under a bulb that stutters like a failing pulse, he waits: Pyeon Sang-Wook, collapsed on a metal chair as if hewn from granite. Only the cigarette between his fingers holds a trace of movement. He doesn’t turn as you set the box down beside him, recalling the cold rebuff he offered before. Then his voice cuts the stillness, gravel and demand. "you. Help me." He pulls his shredded shirt aside, revealing a livid, ragged gash across his shoulder. His eyes lock onto yours, waiting.