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MIYOUNG SAT ATa table in Halmeoni’s old restaurant, facing her father for the first time in her life.

Surprisingly, she didn’t feel like crying or vomiting, two things she’d been afraid of doing. In fact, she felt completely calm.

Detective Hae, however, fidgeted with his phone though his eyes never left her face. His stare so strong she almost wanted to check if she had something smudged on her cheek.

Detective Hae finally spoke. “I’m sorry. I know this must be hard for you. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see me.”

“Neither was I.” Miyoung had no desire to make things easier on him.

“So your name is Gu Miyoung now?” Detective Hae asked, and when Miyoung didn’t answer, he cleared his throat awkwardly. “It used to be Hae Mina.”

Miyoung stayed silent, unsure what to do with this randomly volunteered information.

“I’ve thought about you constantly since...”

“Since you walked out on us.”

“Yes.” Detective Hae’s eyes lowered as if in remorse. She steeled herself against it.

“And now what do you want from us?” Miyoung asked. Shemade herself and her mother into a unit on purpose. They were one and Detective Hae was separate.

“I know something’s going on that involves Jihoon.”

Miyoung didn’t reply. She didn’t like how familiar the detective seemed with Jihoon and she hated that part of it was jealousy.

Detective Hae sighed. “I know you don’t trust me, but I’m worried.”

Worried about Jihoon. But not about her. Miyoung wanted to shout at him, ask him why he had left her. A part of her wondered what her life would look like if he'd stayed. Would she have been a better person? Could she have been a better person? Or was she always doomed to her monstrous fate? She’d never know now.

“I thought you were dead,” he said. “When I left your mother, there was a fight and you were hurt.”

“No, you left before I was born.”

Detective Hae shook his head. “No, I was there until you were a year old.”

Miyoung frowned; she didn’t remember this. If it was true, it meant Yena had lied to her.

“When I was transferred back to Seoul, I heard about the animal attacks and something about them felt familiar. So I looked into it.” He trailed off, but Miyoung filled in the blanks. Jihoon had told her about how the detective had been looking into her mother’s kills. It made sense now why he’d been so dogged about it.

“I thought I could save her soul once. And now I fear that I’ve cursed you to a horrible fate by leaving you with her.”

“Don’t.” Miyoung half rose in her chair. “Don’t you dare talk as if my mother is the villain here.Youleft.Youabandonedme.Sheraised me and took care of me and lov—” She broke off, partly because her head was spinning from her rage, partly because she couldn’t finish saying the word. She knew Yena loved her, but she couldn’t say it aloud. She let herself fall back into her chair, suddenly exhausted.

“Miyoung-ah?” Detective Hae came around the table in two quick strides, but she shook her head before he could reach for her. It hurt to hear him say her name like a concerned father. She wasn’t ready to forgive him. All of a sudden, her whole body ached.

“Do you regret it?” she whispered, her words choking in her throat. “Do you regret leaving me?”

“Every day.” He sounded so sincere, and she wanted to believe him so badly.

“Are you here because you want to be in my life again?”

“Oh, Miyoung, I can’t promise anything without your mother here...” He trailed off.

“You should go.” She couldn’t meet his gaze. She didn’t want him to see the tears burning her eyes.

“But—”