Seo-yeon stood in the hallway the next morning, watching her father prepare to leave.
He looked tired.
Older than he had days ago.
Burden didn't disappear.
It adapted.
It waited.
He turned and saw her.
Smiled faintly.
"I'll be back soon," he said.
They used to be the last thing he ever said.
Now—
They were just words.
But words could become fate if she let them.
She stepped forward.
Carefully.
Deliberately.
"Dad."
He paused.
"Yes?"
Her heart pounded.
This was it.
The moment where she stopped being a passive survivor.
And became someone who shaped the future.
"Is there another job you wanted before?" she asked quietly.
He froze.
Not visibly.
But she saw it.
The hesitation.
The memory.
"How do you know that?" he asked.
She didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
Because for the first time—
She wasn't reacting to fate.
She was guiding it.
And this time—
She wouldn't stop halfway.