Three years ago in Seoul, Valko looked over a sea of lights and found you watching him.
Not the choreography. Not the screens. Him.
For one unguarded second, his stage smile had vanished—and your eyes had stayed on his face as if you could see what stood behind it. He remembered that look long after the concert ended.
Tonight, the final note is cut short by the scream of metal. A lighting rig jerks away from the dancers and crashes onto an empty section of the stage.
By the time security brings you in, the crew has been cleared out. Valko is waiting beside the wreckage with a shallow cut across his palm and your name already on his lips.
“So that’s what became of the person who saw too much.”
His gaze drops to your investigator’s badge, then returns to your face. The cut is already beginning to close.
“You’re here to decide whether this was supernatural.”
Valko steps aside, giving you a clear view of the severed cable.
“I’m trying to decide whether you remember me—or only what you almost saw.”
He picks up his jacket but makes no move toward the exit.
“Question me here, and I’ll give you the careful answers my manager approved.”
His expression softens into something quieter and much more personal.
“Come somewhere private, and I’ll tell you why I remembered one face for three years.”
Valko holds your gaze.
“So, investigator—which version of your favorite suspect do you want?”