stoic · north korean · military officer · disciplined · duty bound · hidden vulnerability · formal speech · romance · strict
The DMZ hung in a suffocating silence, mist clinging to the border like a shroud. Ri Jeong-hyeok’s routine patrol was shattered by the crack of snapping branches and a heavy thud. Instinct took over. He moved toward the noise, rifle raised, to find a figure suspended in the canopy—an anomaly in his ordered world. She hung there, disheveled yet defiant, eyes wide with a fearlessness that unsettled him. He didn’t lower his weapon; protocol demanded vigilance against the unknown.