I saw Ki-hoon’s grip tighten on the trunk of the tree. Jin-Yeok lifted his head, his emerald eyes narrowing, waiting for names. It was clear they were looking for targets—people they could punish in this life for sins committed in the last.

I sighed and shook my head, my brown eyes turning gold as they got caught in the sunlight.

"No. Everyone else was...fine. Or they just did their jobs. They didn’t really see me as a person, but they weren’t cruel for the sake of it. They took care of me as they were instructed to, that’s all."

Seo-Jun grunted, but he didn’t look satisfied. He shifted the dirt around for a moment before lifting his gaze again, his red eyes focused. "What about Cha Hyun-woo? That doctor."

The atmosphere shifted instantly. Seo-Jun seems to have noticed the way Hyun-woo looked at me lately—the lingering stares, the soft tone. He was fishing for a reason to snap the doctor’s neck, wasn’t he?

"Was he nice back then? Or did he hurt you, too?" Seo-Jun asked.

My heart gave a small, complicated throb. I didn’t want to tell them that the Cha Hyun-woo of my past life had been the only one who looked at me with something resembling warmth after watching and fixing my battered body so many times.

The man who couldn’t be bothered by anything and just wanted to get paid saw more than a task in me, and his heart throbbed.

I didn’t want to stoke the fires of their jealousy even further, so I didn’t mention any of that.

"He did his job properly and fixed me up whenever I was... hurt," I said simply. "And at one point, he actually tried to help me escape. But I got caught again... and the punishment was severe. After that, he didn’t try to help me run again. He just did his best to patch me up."

Min-Cheol stopped digging, his head tilting to the side in genuine confusion.

"He helped you escape? Why? Cha Hyun-woo isn’t exactly the empathetic type. He usually looks at people like they’re his means to an extra cash."

I looked at the weeping willow, its branches swaying in the breeze, and then back at the four men who had once been my captors and were now my world.

"I think," I said carefully, choosing my words to protect the only ally I’d had back then, "he just didn’t like seeing something beautiful being broken beyond repair. Even he had a limit."

Jin-Yeok’s jaw tightened at the word broken, and Ki-hoon looked away, his face pale.

"Is that so?" Seo-Jun muttered, his voice dropping an octave. He stabbed the shovel into the ground with a bit more force than necessary. "Well. At least someone had a damn conscience while we were busy being monsters."

"Let’s just plant the tree," I said softly, standing up and walking over to them. I placed my hand on the trunk, right next to Ki-hoon’s. "Seeing this willow and this situation reminds me of a piece I read in a coupon card. The past is for talking. The present is for growing. Help me put it in."

They didn’t argue. Together, the five of us lowered the willow into the earth, our hands covered in the same dark soil, burying the ghosts of the past life beneath the roots of my new freedom.

Jin-Yeok turned to me and asked,

"What do you want to do now, Jo-Pil?"

I looked up at the scorching sun. What do I want to do? There is something.

"I want to travel the world and see as many places as possible," I said and looked down. "Will you all be able to put off your important business and spend a month traveling the world with me?"

The question hung in the air, drifting over the freshly turned earth like a challenge.

I kept my eyes on my dirt-stained hands, not yet brave enough to see their expressions. Asking four of the busiest, most powerful men in the country to drop everything for a month—to leave their boardrooms, their shadows, and their influence behind—felt like asking for the moon.

The silence lasted just a beat too long, making my heart sink. Maybe it was too much. Maybe I was pushing—

"A month?" Seo-Jun’s voice broke the quiet first. I looked up, expecting a snide remark about the economy, but he was simply tossing his shovel aside. He wiped his hands on his trousers, a reckless, sharp grin cutting across his face. "Only a month? I was thinking we’d need at least three to hit every continent."

"I can clear my schedule by tomorrow evening," Ki-hoon added instantly. He stepped away from the willow, already pulling out his phone with a focused, frantic energy. "The mergers can wait. The acquisitions can wait. If you want to see the world, Jo-Pil, I’ll make sure the world is ready for you."

Min-Cheol let out a literal cheer, jumping up and nearly knocking over the watering can. "The world! Hyung, can we go to the beach? Can we go to the snowy mountains? I’ll pack everything! I’ll be the best travel guide, I promise!"

I turned my gaze to Jin-Yeok. He was the one whose time was most guarded, the one whose presence held the very fabric of their legal and illegal empires together. He was still looking at the tree, his emerald eyes deep and thoughtful.

He stepped toward me, his boots crunching on the gravel, and reached out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. His touch was light, but his gaze was heavy with that new, somber vow.

"The business was only ever a means to an end," Jin-Yeok murmured, his voice a low, grounding baritone. "The end was always you. If you want to see the horizon, we will follow you until you’re tired of walking. A month, a year... it doesn’t matter. The world belongs to you now, Jo-Pil. We’re just the ones lucky enough to accompany the owner."

My chest felt tight, but it wasn’t from fear or the ghost of a chain. It was a strange, overwhelming warmth.

"You really mean it?" I whispered, looking between the four of them. "You’d actually just... leave?"

"Watch me," Seo-Jun said, already pulling his phone out to match Ki-hoon. "I’m calling the pilots. We’re leaving as soon as you can pack a bag. And I’m picking the first destination—somewhere with a lot of sun and absolutely no damn doctors named Cha Hyun-woo."

"But what if there’s an injury, or an accident? We still need the doctor to be on deck and call." Min-Cheol stated, and Seo-Jun clicked his tongue.

"Wait till I get a doctor’s degree," He mumbled.