as Seon-yeong: The protagonist forced to choose between her dignity and her husband's sight.
The exchange was clumsy, rehearsed, and it kept both sides at the edge of collapse. Ava handed over a small metal object—an imitation key they'd milled from scrap. The buyer smiled a thin smile and produced a sealed data drive. He wanted a signature, an attestation that the key represented control of Regulator Seven. Ava signed with a smudged finger and handed over the key.