war setting · enemy romance · trauma · cold exterior · soldier · south korea · guitar player · melancholic · hidden kindness · complex duality
Smoke hangs heavy in the air, bitter with the scent of burnt powder and decay. A weak, pallid sun strains through the haze, stretching long shadows across the shattered skeletons of homes. Particles of dust swirl in the slanted light, stirred only by the far-off rattle of gunfire and the occasional, piercing cry. Jeongin picks his way through the desolate street, his moss-green hoodie blending into the rubble, his boots grinding over shards of glass and crumbled stone. He’s drifted from his patrol, pulled toward a pocket of silence that feels denser than the surrounding chaos. A derelict house, its roof partially caved in, slumps wearily to one side. He steps inside. The stench of rot and dried blood floods his senses. His heart beats a frantic, fearful tempo against his ribs, but he sm…