Plan B
Episode 3 was the one where Dr. Kang's character crystallized.
There had been hints before that something was off about him, but he had been so unfailingly tender toward Horn that viewers kept second-guessing themselves right up to the end. His gentleness, it turned out, was nothing more than a tool for handling his experiment subject. The suffocating conversation between Dr. Kang and Agent Jang, Horn left abandoned as the experiments grew ever more brutal, the relentless assaults on the test subject by rival corporations — the episode packed itself so tight with tension there wasn't a single breath to spare.
The actors' performances did their share of the damage, too. Dr. Kang's madness-wrapped performance proved that Lee Junghyun was a top actor for good reason, and Kim Seokjun's portrayal of the icy, hard-edged Agent Jang was equally solid. But standing out above them all, naturally, was Lee Yeonjae. Horn's eyes crumbling in real time broke the viewers' spirits along with him. That expression acting — eyes brimming with tears, struggling desperately to keep smiling — was enough to stop your breath. The way he rendered emotions far too complicated for a sixteen-year-old to carry, cleanly and completely, was nothing short of perfect.
Even as they sent up cheers for the performances, the viewers clicked play on episode 4, firmly convinced that whoever wrote this story was an absolute monster. And their spirits, already broken, were ground into powder.
What was in episode 4, you ask?
“I believe you can do it. I know you can.”
“Hyung, why….”
“Don't disappoint me.”
Episode 3 had cut off the moment before Horn snapped his fingers. Episode 4 opened with Horn glaring at the steel door that refused to open, then — doing nothing at all. Kim Jihoon had fainted dead away from sheer terror, and Horn dragged himself weakly across the floor. He climbed onto the mattress with glacial slowness and curled up like a pill bug. The look in his eyes as he stared at the wall was utterly empty.
Horn wasn't the only one rattled, though. When Dr. Kang stared blankly at the monitor, the staff member beside him ventured carefully, “Dr. Kang? Are you all right?”
He was not all right. Dr. Kang had been defeated. But he didn't give up — he drafted a plan to shock Horn with a staged kidnapping. And yet Dr. Kang and the staff all sensed, dimly, what would come of it: Horn being abducted wouldn't wound him in the slightest.
And Horn behaved exactly as predicted.
“Excuse me. Could you loosen the ropes a little? You tied them so tight my wrists are getting shredded.”
In the dead of a dark dawn, from the trailer of a quietly rolling truck, Horn chattered away. The strangely mysterious aura that clung to him — white hair, white skin, white clothes — was mercilessly shattered the moment his mouth opened.
“Every bone in my body aches. If you were planning to keep me moving this long, common sense says you should've brought a cushion, don't you think?”
For someone in the middle of a kidnapping, Horn looked impossibly serene.
“My hands seriously hurt, by the way. When's Seok-hyung getting here?”
Horn waited for Dr. Kang with a perfectly calm face. Watching the trailer's interior through the camera feed, Dr. Kang finally had to admit it. The reason Horn had been able to stay so stable was Dr. Kang himself. And as long as Dr. Kang existed, Horn had no intention of stepping outside that safety net.
I have to disappear.
That was the only way. Only then could it be completed — his true superhero.
“I did want to see the finished version….”
Murmuring bitterly, Dr. Kang picked up the radio. “Halt the experiment. We're going with Plan B.”
At his order, the faces of the staff went rigid. Agent Jang hesitated for a long while before finally raising his radio. “…Confirmed. Proceeding with Plan B.”
To call off the kidnapping, the field team dropped a bomb beside the truck.
KA-BOOM—!
The vehicle rocked with a deafening roar. The agents, who knew perfectly well Horn wouldn't die, fired into the truck without hesitation.
“Hey! Drive straight, you idiot!”
“You dumb bastard! Call the bureau first!”
Chaos erupted inside the truck — kidnappers brawling, gunfire rattling on and on until the speakers were maxed out. Then came an explosion far bigger than anything before it, and the truck, careening off the road, flipped over completely.
KA-BOOM—!
The massive body of the vehicle crashed mercilessly into the earth. It was an action sequence that showed exactly how much production money had been thrown at it, and the viewers watching under their blankets felt a delicious jolt of adrenaline.
“…I'm dead.”
And Horn crawled out of the pile of corpses. Blood streamed from a gashed forehead; his right arm hung broken. A surge of nausea, as if his organs had been churned together, made him dry-heave. When he staggered out of the half-crushed trailer, the area around him was ringed with helicopters and vehicles. It was hard to believe it was still the dead of night — blinding white light bore down on him from every direction.
“Agent Jang…. Where's Seok-hyung?”
Horn searched for Dr. Kang at once, then read the answer in Agent Jang's expression: this had been yet another experiment.
“Ha. No wonder… I kept thinking something was off….”
Horn let out a hollow laugh. He had actually believed Dr. Kang would come save him. The wretched, tangled feeling inside him bled through onto his face.
“Is Seok-hyung really mad at me?”
Agent Jang studied him for a moment before asking, “…Aren't you angry? Even now, Kang Seok is what matters to you?”
“What?”
“Your arm is broken. Blood's pouring down your face. If you wanted, you could kill every one of us with that blood. Why don't you? Why do you just sit around waiting for Kang Seok every single day?”
For some reason, Agent Jang seemed choked with resentment — and, in a way, desperate. Like a man who knew exactly what would happen the moment this conversation ended.
“This experiment was Kang Seok's design. Your sweet, gentle hyung planned it all.”
“…? I know.”
Horn answered with mild confusion, as if to ask why he was stating the obvious. Agent Jang clenched his teeth.
“And you're still not angry? What's wrong with you? Why do you keep pretending not to see it?”
“Would it help if I got angry?”
“What?”
“If I got mad, what would you do for me? Sneak me out and raise me yourself? What, you planning to play 'Seok-hyung' in his place?”
Agent Jang said nothing. Horn smiled a smile that said he'd expected as much.
“Go on then. Keep doing what you were doing.”
"……."
“Seok-hyung and I already play house together, so don't get in the way.”
It was a cynical expression, nothing like his usual bright grin. At those ice-cold words — words no one could believe had come from a boy's mouth — Agent Jang swallowed a heavy sigh.
“…I've done all I can. I'm leaving.”
“What?”
Agent Jang vanished, and someone appeared behind Horn. Before he even turned his head, Horn knew who it was. A familiar scent.
“Hello there, my little Ppulppuri.”
“Seok-hyung?”
Horn's exhausted eyes flared to life in an instant.
“Why are you here? My experiment failed, you know??”
Like a child handed an unexpected gift, his face brightened all at once. Dr. Kang gave a bitter smile and took Horn's hand.
“H.”
“…Huh?”
Horn grinned like a fool — then froze. H. A name he had never once heard used for him.
“I was happy for the entire 'H Project.' Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. The best five years of my life.”
“Why are you saying this all of a sudden….”
“I believe there's a great power inside you. Something greater, something more magnificent than what you have now. …It's in there. I'm certain of it.”
Dr. Kang's fingertips touched Horn's chest.
“You can't use it right now because of the limits of your consciousness. All you need is a shock strong enough to break through that mental barrier. You just need a 'catalyst.'”
Dr. Kang stroked Horn's hair tenderly, then drew a gun from inside his coat.
“Hyung, why….”
Dr. Kang smiled as he pressed the gun into Horn's hand. He guided Horn's finger to the trigger, then laid his own finger on top of it. Horn was a heartbeat away from screaming wait at the incomprehensible situation.
“I believe you can do it. I know you can.”
Horn stared into those soft eyes.
“Don't disappoint me.”
And the gun went off.
“Gahk—!!”
The instant the bullet fired, viewers clapped their hands over their mouths in shock. Some actually hit the pause button because they couldn't bear to keep watching. It was a staggering blow — genuinely stupefying. And before the goosebumps covering their bodies had even begun to fade, the scene in question arrived.
“Hyung…?”
At first, Horn looked merely bewildered. Then Dr. Kang's blood came bursting out. Horn stared blankly as Dr. Kang toppled backward, limp.
“Hyung. This….”
"…Guhk."
“Is this an experiment too? Uh….”
Blood poured from Dr. Kang's mouth. Still wearing a face that couldn't comprehend what was happening, Horn clutched his stomach.
“Ppulppuri-ya.”
"……."
“I think I'm dying soon…. Cough. Ha. Before I go, I wanted to see it… that was probably too greedy of me, huh.”
Dr. Kang smiled, the corners of his eyes soft and crinkled. Only after seeing that gentle smile did Horn come back to himself.
“Why…?”
Only then did his face drain white, and his hands began moving frantically. He hastily stripped off his white shirt, wound it around his fist, and pressed down hard on the wound.
“That hurts. Ppulppuri-ya….”
“Be quiet.”
Horn was completely lost, like someone whose mind had gone blank. Like a terrified child, he could do nothing but gasp for breath — and at last, tears welled up in his eyes.
“Why!! WHY!!! Why did you do this to me!!”
"……."
“Don't just stand there staring, you bastards — DO something!!”
He wailed like a child, then screamed at the agents who only stood and watched. By then both their clothes were soaked through with Dr. Kang's blood. And it was only then that Horn understood, with terrible certainty: this person was truly going to die. You're abandoning me first, after all.
“Why…?”
"……."
“What did I… do so wrong?”
Horn whispered, so quietly it was barely more than a breath. Dr. Kang, his life seconds from its end, smiled faintly. It looked like he was trying to say something — but no words could be deciphered. And with that, Dr. Kang's eyes closed for good.
“Huk. Heuh….”
Horn wrapped his arms around the body that would never move again. With a face twisted in anguish, he wailed and screamed. Eyes wandering without anywhere to land, eyelids rubbed raw from weeping, cheeks soaked with tears. And through it all, his hands — whether consciously or not — kept pressing on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. The agony pouring out of him was more vivid, more devastating than anyone could have imagined.
“…….”
The people watching the drama thought: can this really be described as "chilling"? This was not a scene that could be tossed off with words that light. Horn's scream utterly crushed them. His sobbing was so agonizing that they wanted to hit pause — and found they couldn't move a single finger. The rawness of his emotion reached through the screen itself, a tangle of feelings no word seemed able to hold, all of it expressed in Horn's tears.
And then it happened.
For a single instant — Horn stopped crying.