To Korea (2)
Men in plain clothes surrounded Kim Ji-hoon on both sides.
They positioned themselves to block any escape routes, treating him like a dangerous criminal.
"Are you Kim Ji-hoon?"
The man in front, with sharp eyes, asked.
"Yeah, that's me."
"We need to verify some matters. Please come with us to the interview room."
His words were polite, but his tone was close to an order.
Ji-hoon furrowed his brow.
"Verify what? What's the issue that requires going to the interview room after immigration?"
"We'll explain there. Please cooperate."
The man gave a signal with his eyes, and the staff nearby reached for Ji-hoon's arms.
Ji-hoon roughly shook them off.
"I'll walk on my own. Don't touch me."
At that moment, Lily, who had been watching from the side, stepped in front of Ji-hoon.
Her pale face was filled with fear, but her eyes were resolute.
"Wait! I'll go with you too!"
Lily shouted in a trembling voice but clear Korean.
She instinctively tried to protect Ji-hoon.
Her small, fragile body blocking the burly men was heartbreaking.
The staffer glanced at Lily and replied.
"This is immigration procedure. Step aside."
Just a simple procedure, he said.
She clung tightly to Ji-hoon's arm.
"I'm Ji-hoon's wife. I'm going with him."
A declaration that she would go because she was his wife.
It was a natural right since they were legally married.
Lily was terrified of letting Ji-hoon go alone to some unknown place.
But the staffer's attitude was firm.
He raised his palm to stop Lily.
"No."
"What?"
"Family cannot accompany. Only the subject."
The staffer drew a cold line.
"Go out and wait."
Lily's eyes reddened.
"No! I can't let him go alone! I want to go too..."
As she gripped Ji-hoon's clothes and refused to let go, another staffer approached to pull her away.
Seeing this, Ji-hoon quickly stopped Lily.
If this continued, Lily might end up in trouble too.
"Lily. It's okay."
"Honey..."
"It's nothing serious. Probably just a procedural mix-up."
Ji-hoon tried to stay calm and soothe her.
Her red eyes shook violently.
Ji-hoon whispered softly in her ear.
"Go out and call Jimin."
"......!"
"Wait outside. I'll be out soon."
Ji-hoon gently but firmly released Lily's hand.
Then he nodded toward the staffers.
"Let's go."
The plainclothes officers surrounded Ji-hoon and led him through a separate passageway beside the immigration counter.
Even as he walked, Ji-hoon turned to look back.
Beyond the counter.
Lily was biting her lip, watching him.
Clang.
The iron door to the interview room closed.
Ji-hoon's figure vanished from sight.
"Ma'am. Please move."
At the officer's urging, Lily blankly turned her head.
She passed through immigration as if being pushed.
The automatic doors opened, revealing the baggage claim area.
An empty space.
Lily stood frozen there, not even thinking to find her suitcase.
The happy laughter of passing travelers reached her ears.
An airport filled with the joy of family reunions and travel excitement.
But in the midst of it all, Lily was utterly alone.
Her snow-white hair and red eyes.
Standing alone with her otherworldly appearance, people's gazes poured onto her once more.
But Lily felt nothing.
A foreign land without Ji-hoon.
The fear and loneliness crashed over her like a massive wave.
With trembling hands, she pulled her phone from her pocket.
Her fingers were deathly pale.
Ding—
The automatic doors opened.
The moment she exited the arrivals gate, a massive wave of noise engulfed Lily.
"Over here! Here!"
"Oppa!"
"Welcome to Korea!"
Incheon International Airport Terminal 2 arrivals was packed to the brim.
Hundreds, thousands of people crowded behind the fences.
Some held welcome placards, others craned their necks with bouquets.
Reunited families hugged joyfully, tour guides waved flags to gather groups.
Beneath the vast glass ceiling, announcements and chatter blended into a constant hum.
A vibrant, chaotic scene.
But to Lily, it all felt threatening.
She gripped her suitcase handle tightly.
A strange country she was visiting for the first time.
Without Ji-hoon as her shield, the crowd seemed like a monster ready to swallow her whole.
Lily shrank toward a corner pillar.
Her heart pounded like it would burst.
I need to call... call someone.
She raised her trembling phone.
Ji-hoon's words before being taken.
Call Jimin.
Lily instinctively pressed the shortcut for Jimin's name.
Jimin (Sister)
She hit the call button.
But.
Tu— tu—
Not even a ringtone.
No Service
The cold message on the screen.
Lily's eyes shook.
"Why... why isn't it working?"
She pressed call again.
But the result was the same.
Dead.
She didn't even know the concept of "roaming."
This was her first overseas trip.
She had no idea she needed to apply for international roaming with her carrier or swap SIM cards before leaving the US.
Ji-hoon had always handled everything for her.
"What do I do..."
Lily anxiously tapped the screen.
Wi-Fi? Data?
The antenna icon at the top was crossed out with an X.
Her latest smartphone was just a fancy watch.
Cold sweat trickled down her back.
The surrounding noise grew louder, sharper, piercing her ears.
And then.
"Hey? Look at that woman."
"Whoa, what? She's really white."
"Must be a foreigner. Check out her eye color."
Gazes that Ji-hoon had shielded her from now stabbed at her like sharp arrows.
Snow-white hair.
Pale skin.
Red eyes.
Even in the massive crowd, Lily stood out glaringly.
Passersby glanced, some pointed openly in curiosity, others raised phones to snap photos.
Lily instinctively bowed her head and huddled her body.
Terror overwhelmed her.
The feeling of being left utterly alone in the world.
It was like regressing to those dark, lonely days before meeting Ji-hoon, when she'd hidden away because of her albinism.
"Honey..."
She clutched the useless phone to her chest.
In the vast heart of Incheon Airport.
Surrounded by crowds, Lily stood like a lost child.
A single metal desk and two chairs.
The air in the windowless interview room was stale and heavy.
Ji-hoon sat with his legs crossed, anxiously checking his watch.
Already 20 minutes had passed.
Lily was out there alone.
Added to the urgency of getting to his grandmother's funeral hall as soon as possible, his insides burned black.
"What the hell is this?"
Ji-hoon snapped sharply.
The airport official across from him stared fixedly at the monitor.
"Detaining a US citizen for 20 minutes without a word—this could be a diplomatic issue, you know that?"
Despite Ji-hoon's threat, the staffer remained unfazed.
He clicked the mouse a few times, then looked at Ji-hoon with dry eyes.
"Kim Ji-hoon is currently classified as an entry restriction subject."
"Restriction subject? Me?"
"Yes."
The staffer pointed at the monitor screen and read off deliberately.
"Registered in the system as a wanted criminal."
"......Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped Ji-hoon's lips.
He doubted his ears.
Wanted? Criminal?
Himself?
"Hey, are you kidding me right now?"
"No joke. The system shows an arrest warrant issued."
"Arrest warrant?"
"Yes. Therefore, immigration must secure the subject."
The staffer recited the manual like a machine.
"Police investigators from the jurisdiction will arrive shortly. Wait here until then."
"......"
Ji-hoon was dumbfounded.
It was so absurd he couldn't even get angry.
Criminal.
Other than leaving Korea with all his assets, he had nothing legally questionable.
Asset division? That's civil.
It was nonsense that an arrest warrant would be issued at the airport over a civil suit.
Common sense said you don't go to jail in Korea for not paying money.
Yet the staffer before him was dead serious.
"What's the charge?"
"Ask the police when they arrive. We just execute as notified."
The staffer dodged and looked away.
Ji-hoon leaned back deeply in his chair, staring at the ceiling.
"Hah... unbelievable."
Detaining someone who needed to get to a funeral hall, treating him like a criminal at the airport?
A foreigner, no less?
"This country's really something."
Ji-hoon twisted his lips.
In a corner of his grief-stricken, impatient heart, a blue venom began to rise.
"Fine. Let's see what you've got."
He clenched his fist.
He worried about Lily trembling outside, but there was no way out right now.
So why had an arrest warrant been issued for Ji-hoon?
A mere civil matter of not paying alimony to his ex-wife couldn't lead to airport arrest.
Korea doesn't imprison people for unpaid debts.
But Judge Choi Hyun-jin had prepared a meticulously crafted criminal charge to bind Ji-hoon.
It was Article 327 of the Criminal Act: Evasion of Compulsory Execution.
"Anyone who conceals, destroys, or falsely transfers property with the intent to evade compulsory execution, thereby harming a creditor, shall be punished."
They targeted all the assets Ji-hoon took when leaving for America.
Not mere emigration funds, but deliberately hidden in the US to evade court rulings and flee—that was their logic.
This was Judge Choi Hyun-jin's method to legally tether Ji-hoon to Korean soil.
Ji-su, with legal aid from the Ministry of Gender Equality, filed a criminal complaint against Ji-hoon, and the prosecution immediately opened an investigation, requesting an arrest warrant from the court.
The grounds for issuance were ironclad: clear flight risk, uncertain residence, evidence tampering concerns.
The judge approved the warrant on these valid reasons.
It was immediately registered as a red alert in immigration and police databases.
[Notify and Arrest Immediately Upon Entry]
Along with an exit ban.
But in truth, it was all for show.
Ji-hoon's ex-wife Ji-su who filed, Minister of Gender Equality Kim Ji-young who orchestrated it, Judge Choi Hyun-jin who issued it.
None truly expected Ji-hoon to return to Korea.
A US citizen wouldn't voluntarily crawl back, they figured.
So this criminal complaint was less about real arrest and more a stage prop for their gains.
The ministry needed a strong case to pass favorable laws for women under the banner of preventing alimony dodges and overseas flights.
Ji-hoon was perfect.
Judge Choi wanted to quash her controversies, boost her feminist cred, and vent personally.
Ji-su? She played the tragic victim for public sympathy, using Ji-hoon as fodder to launch her boyfriend Kim Min-jun's stardom.
If they really wanted him, they'd have requested extradition via US-Korea treaty.
But they didn't.
Fighting the US DOJ was a headache with low odds.
Just show they were cracking down hard in Korea—that sufficed.
Yes.
It was classic Joseon WWE.
Rigged go-stop.
Exaggerated showmanship for public eyes.
Over time, they forgot about Ji-hoon.
They'd gotten what they wanted; no need to drag an old case.
But a problem arose.
Korea's police database doesn't distinguish WWE from reality.
Cops just follow the system: wanted entered, so manual arrest.
The schemers behind it didn't even know Ji-hoon was in Incheon Airport's interview room.
They weren't dumb enough to touch a US citizen and freedom medal recipient.
Just bark a bit and stop.
But.
With Ji-hoon returning to Korea, the game flipped 180 degrees.
WWE turned UFC in an instant.