Chapter 1: The Midnight Shift
The neon sign of Gyeongseong Academy buzzed against the dark Seoul sky. It was 11:00 PM, but for the 12th graders, the day was far from over. Inside Room 302, Hana stared at her practice exam booklet until the Korean characters blurred into meaningless lines. The pressure of the upcoming Suneung felt like an physical weight on her chest.
“Alright, class, that is enough for tonight,” a smooth, unfamiliar voice echoed from the podium.
Hana looked up. Replacing their usual elderly, exhausted homeroom teacher was a man who looked entirely out of place in a high school. He looked barely twenty, with sharp features, pale skin, and dark eyes that seemed to take in every detail of the room instantly. His ID badge read Mr. Ian Park.
“Pack your bags quietly and head straight home,” Ian said, his gaze lingering for a fraction of a second on Hana. “The streets of Seoul are less safe than they appear after midnight.”
As the other students grumbled and shuffled out, Hana stayed behind to organize her heavy textbooks. She noticed Mr. Park didn’t pack a bag. He simply stood by the window, staring out into the neon-lit alleys with an intensity that made the hairs on her arms stand up. When he turned his head, his eyes caught the moonlight, flashing a strange, metallic silver before returning to dark obsidian.
