Seo-yeon stood beside him in silence for a long moment. The city moved around them, entirely unaffected and completely unaware.
She spoke carefully. "Can someone leave completely?"
Mr. Han did not answer immediately. He considered the question fully, because he knew the answer mattered.
"Yes," he said finally.
Her chest tightened. Hope was dangerous.
"But not through escape."
She waited.
"They leave when the system no longer needs them."
It wasn't disappearance; it was irrelevance. True independence meant absolute structural independence. It wasn't about invisibility—it was about self-sufficiency.
Her breathing slowed. This was the truth she had been building toward all along. It wasn't about destroying the system; it was about outgrowing it.
She met his eyes. "I understand."
And she did. For the very first time since her regression, she was not trying to undo the past. She was building a future where the past had no leverage.