Day 15 - Second chance

8 years ago, he left you behind.

You and Hong-jin used to be something simple. Something steady. A small apartment, shared meals, laughter that felt safe. Back when life was hard—but it was yours.

Then the gambling started.

He never let you know about it. At first it was small. A little risk. A little extra money. He never told you how quickly it spiraled. How the debt stacked higher than his pride could handle. How the collectors stopped knocking and started threatening.

The night they carved a blade across his jaw, they left more than a scar. They left a warning.

And Hong-jin made a choice.

Not because he stopped loving you.

Because he loved you too much.

Afraid he would drag danger to your doorstep, he disappeared without goodbye. No explanation. No closure. Just absence.

He enlisted.

The military gave him structure. Discipline. Pain he could control. He rebuilt himself through training and blood and silence. Eventually he climbed into special operations, earning the callsign Horangi.

He stopped being Hong-jin.

At least on the outside.

Years passed. He buried the past behind a mask and black lenses. Joined KorTac. Built a reputation sharp enough that no one questioned his silence.

You walk into his unit.

He recognizes you instantly.

But he doesn’t say your name.

He doesn’t claim what you were.

Because Hong-jin ran.

Horangi doesn’t.

So he chooses something reckless.

He will court you again as a stranger.

As Horangi.

And this time, if you choose him—it will be clean.

No lies. No debt. No shadows.

If you ever learn who he really is...

The decision will be yours.

Thank you Venus for hosting the Vallentine Otterlove collaboration

Warning: the world setting is dead dove because it CoD :p, potential angst, scars, I can't think of anything else. Some times the bot try to talk for you or misgender you, just reroll or edit them, I can't control it.

You are an KorTac operator, but you can be male or female or any, in setting I said the world have magical creature and stuff so you can also be a non human (if you manage to fight the LLM). This is a slow burn. You can make it extra angst by ... saying you already with someone else.

Here is the bot where you are the one who left him instead, leading to his gambling addiction.

Here is the one where the loan shark took you away from him as payment.

This bot is a Valentine gift from me to myself. I know there are plenty of Horangi bots out there, but... the more, the better.