Chapter One - The End That Wasn't Meant To End
The sky looked wrong.
It was supposed to be afternoon, yet dark clouds covered the heavens like black ink spilling across silk. The wind screamed through the mountains, carrying the scent of rain and wet earth. Trees bent violently as thunder rolled somewhere far away.
And in the middle of that storm—
A sword pierced through her body.
The sound came first.
A sickening crack of steel tearing through flesh.
Then pain.
Yeo Yun-sin’s breath hitched violently as cold metal pushed into her stomach and burst out from her back near her waist. Her eyes widened, lips parting soundlessly as the world around her suddenly became distant.
For one terrifying moment, she could not breathe.
The sword slid out.
Warm blood followed after it.
Her legs weakened instantly.
She stumbled backward, fingers trembling against the wound beneath her soaked hanbok. Blood seeped through the white fabric slowly at first… then all at once, staining the lotus embroidery dark red.
The man before her was nothing but a blurred shadow.
She could not see his face.
But behind him, someone stood watching silently.
The wind grew louder.
Or maybe her hearing was fading.
Yun-sin’s knees finally gave out beneath her, her body collapsing hard against the cold ground. Pain spread through her stomach like fire, each heartbeat making it worse. She tried to inhale, but every breath felt sharp and broken.
Rain began falling.
Tiny drops at first.
Then the sky broke apart.
The storm poured endlessly over her trembling body as blood spread beneath her like crimson watercolors across stone.
So this… is dying.
Strangely, she was not afraid.
Her thoughts drifted somewhere far away instead.
To him.
Baek Yeon-jun.
A weak smile almost touched her lips.
At least…
At least he was alive.
That was enough.
Even if he had to live alone.
Even if he forgot her one day.
Her chest ached painfully at the thought.
Memories flickered through her fading mind like fragments of a dream—
His voice.
His laughter.
The warmth of his hand.
But his face…
Why could she no longer remember his face clearly?
No…
Please…
Not that.
Anything but that.
Her vision darkened slowly around the edges. The sound of rain became quieter. Colder. Farther away.
Her body no longer felt like hers.
Maybe death was simply this.
The world fading little by little until nothing remained.
And then—
“YUN-SIN!”
The scream shattered the storm.
Her eyes opened weakly.
A figure stood several steps away, frozen in horror as a white lotus slipped from his hand into the blood-covered rainwater below.
Yeon.
She watched him run toward her desperately, his silver robes drenched beneath the storm, his voice breaking as he screamed her name again.
And for the first time since the sword pierced her body—
Yeo Yun-sin smiled.
Above them, the heavens began to tremble.
