Chapter 1
THE BOY I WAS WANRED ABOUT
There were three rules I had learned about Kang Seo-jun before I ever met him.
Never borrow money from him.
Never challenge him in public.
And, above all, never let him discover what you were looking for.
Unfortunately, by the time I arrived at Blackwood University, I had already broken the third rule.
The rain had been falling since sunset, turning the university's ancient stone pathways into black mirrors. Gothic towers rose behind the iron gates, their pointed rooftops disappearing into the October fog. The campus looked beautiful in the sort of way abandoned places looked beautiful—like something terrible had happened there a long time ago, and the walls had never quite recovered.
I stood beneath the entrance arch, clutching a damp envelope inside my coat.
My brother's handwriting was on the front.
Three words.
If you must.
He had given it to me two months before he left home, along with a warning I had never forgotten.
"Whatever you do, Min-jae, stay away from Kang Seo-jun."
Naturally, I had spent the following two months trying to find him.
And now, on my first night back at Blackwood, the university seemed determined to introduce us.
"You're blocking the entrance."
The voice came from behind me.
Low. Calm. Annoyingly beautiful.
I turned.
A tall young man stood a few steps away, dressed in a black coat over a dark turtleneck. His hair was black, slightly disheveled by the rain, and his expression suggested that the entire world had personally disappointed him.
His face was the kind people would remember.
His eyes were the kind people would rather forget.
He looked at me, then at the envelope partially visible beneath my coat.
Something changed in his expression.
It lasted less than a second.
Then he held out a black umbrella.
"Move."
I stared at the umbrella.
Then at him.
"Do you always introduce yourself by giving orders?"
"Only when people are standing in the way."
"How tragic for everyone who has to know you."
His gaze returned to my face.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he smiled.
It wasn't a friendly smile.
It was the sort of smile that made you wonder whether someone had just decided to ruin your life.
"Han Min-jae," he said.
My stomach tightened.
I hadn't introduced myself.
"How do you know my name?"
He slipped the umbrella back beneath his arm.
"Your photograph was on the admission list."
"Liar."
His eyebrows lifted slightly.
"You're going to have a difficult time here if you accuse everyone of lying."
"And you're going to have a difficult time if you expect me to believe you."
He studied me for another moment before looking down at the envelope in my hand.
"Your brother should have taught you when to stop asking questions."
The rain seemed to grow louder.
I forgot about the cold. I forgot about the students hurrying past us. For one strange second, all I could hear was my own heartbeat.
"You knew my brother?"
Seo-jun said nothing.
"What happened to Han Min-gyu?"
His jaw tightened.
It was the first honest expression I'd seen on his face.
Then it disappeared.
"Go to your dormitory, Min-jae."
"Answer me."
"Not here."
"Then where?"
He stepped closer, lowering his voice.
"Somewhere you won't ask that question again."
I should have walked away.
I should have remembered my brother's warning and stayed as far from Kang Seo-jun as possible.
Instead, I leaned forward and said, "If you know what happened to my brother, I'll find out. With or without your help."
For the first time, Seo-jun looked genuinely angry.
"Then I hope you're prepared to discover that the people you trust are capable of much worse things than the people you hate."
He turned and walked into the rain.
I watched him disappear toward the main building, my hands trembling around the envelope.
I hated him already.
I hated his expensive coat, his cold voice, and the way he spoke as if he knew something about my life that I didn't.
Most of all, I hated the possibility that he might be telling the truth.
My phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
Unknown: You met him.
I stared at the message.
Me: Who is this?
The reply arrived almost immediately.
Unknown: Someone who wants you to survive your first semester.
Another message appeared.
Unknown: Don't trust Kang Seo-jun.
I almost laughed.
As if I needed another reason.
Then a photograph loaded beneath the messages.
It showed an old university corridor, its walls stained with age. At the end stood a door marked 307.
Someone had written a date beneath the image.
October 17.
Three years ago.
My brother had disappeared from university records on October 18.
I enlarged the photograph.
There were two figures standing outside Room 307.
One was my brother.
The other was a young man in a black coat.
Even through the grainy image, I recognized him.
Kang Seo-jun.
But that wasn't what made my blood run cold.
It was the timestamp in the corner.
11:47 p.m.
Because beneath the photograph, the anonymous sender had written one final sentence.
Ask him what he did at 11:47.
I looked toward the main building.
A light had appeared in one of the upper windows.
Someone was standing behind the glass.
Tall. Dressed in black.
Watching me.
My phone vibrated one last time.
Unknown: And Min-jae?
I swallowed.
Me: What?
The reply came slowly, one word at a time.
Unknown: He knows you're here.
The light in the window went out.
I stood alone beneath the university archway, rain soaking through my coat, the photograph glowing in my hand.
For three years, I had wanted to know what happened to my brother.
Now I had a name.
A date.
And a boy who looked at me as though he had been waiting for this moment for a very long time.
Kang Seo-jun.
The boy I had been warned about.
The boy I had sworn never to trust.
And, as I would discover much later, the only person who had ever tried to tell me the truth.
End of Chapter One.
