Emma woke slowly, her eyes fluttering open to the morning light seeping through the curtains of her new room. She rose from bed heavily, straightening the covers with trembling hands before heading to the bathroom.
The cold water against her skin stirred something inside her, but it wasn't enough to erase the memories clinging to her mind.
She never imagined she'd have to live in a world without her father.
"Emma, breakfast is ready."
Her grandfather Jin-sol's voice was warm, but it carried a hidden sorrow.
"I'm coming,"
she replied weakly, dressing quickly before heading downstairs.
At the breakfast table, she sat between her mother and grandfather, forcing herself to eat though the food tasted like nothing.
Everything felt meaningless.
"Emma, how about we take a short walk around the neighborhood?"
her grandfather suggested gently.
She gave him a soft look but shook her head, retreating back to her room soon after.
Jin-sol sighed, and her mother glanced at him with sadness.
"Even after more than a month, she still hasn't accepted it. She stopped going to university, refuses to leave the house… It's like she's trying to bury herself with him."
The old man lowered his eyes.
"I understand. Emma is kind and sensitive, but she's terrible at hiding her pain from us."
Then—a bloodcurdling scream shattered the morning's calm.
•Blood on the Door step…
Emma and her grandfather rushed outside to find their young neighbor, Park Sohin, kneeling on the ground, her body smeared with blood. She trembled violently, tears streaming down her pale face.
"What happened, Soo-hee?!"
Jin-sol shouted in alarm.
But Sohin could barely speak, her breaths ragged, her gaze unfocused.
"Yoon-hee… She's not breathing… She won't move! Please, save her!"
Emma didn't wait. She sprinted inside for the first-aid kit, then dropped beside Yoon-hee's limp body, checking for a pulse.
The girl's skin was cold but not yet gone.
A neighbor pulled up in his car.
"Old man Jin-sol, let's get her to the hospital!"
But before anyone could react -Alfred Soo, a tall young man in dark clothes, lunged forward. In one swift motion, he scooped Yoon-hee into his arms and sprinted away at inhuman speed, leaving everyone stunned.
"Cars are too slow in situations like this,"
Jin-sol muttered, as if explaining the inexplicable.
•A silent Goodbye…
At the hospital, doctors rushed Yoon-hee into surgery. Sohin trembled beside Emma, who tried in vain to comfort her.
Across from them, Alfred stood rigid, his face ashen, as if all blood had drained from his veins. He pulled out his phone and made a call—his voice hollow, emotionless.
The conversation was brief, and the person on the other end didn't speak a single word after hearing the news.
later, the doctor emerged, his exhausted eyes meeting Jin-sol's.
"I'm sorry… We couldn't save her."
A crushing silence followed.
Sohin didn't cry or scream—she just stared blankly at the floor.
Alfred took a step back, as if struck in the chest.
But Daehyun—the only one who didn't move or utter a sound—walked into the morgue.
He pulled back the white sheet, staring at Yoon-hee's peaceful face.
No tears. No sound. Nothing.
Time seemed to stop.
But inside, he was breaking .
Then, a voice behind him:
"They say the hardest emotions are the ones you can't express."
Only then did his tears fall. He buried his face in Jin-sol's chest—silent sobs that spoke of love, regret, and unbearable loss.
The old man held him tightly.
"You loved her, didn't you?"
Daehyun couldn't answer. He just clenched her cold hand, refusing to let go.
•Shadows OfVengeance…
Dozens gathered for Yoon-hee's funeral. The air was thick with tension, the place swarming with guards and snipers—as if war were about to erupt.
Daehyun stood expressionless, accepting condolences with dead eyes. His body was present, but his soul was elsewhere… somewhere Yoon-hee was still alive, laughing, dreaming, scolding him to stop fighting.
But now she was gone.
And now…
"Now, nothing will stop me from fighting."
As night fell, the crowd dispersed—but Johann noticed something odd:
Daehyun was missing.
He searched everywhere, called repeatedly—but no answer. Something was wrong.
Alfred stepped beside him and whispered:
"I saw him leave… but I didn't dare ask where."
Johann's eyes darkened. He knew—tonight was the beginning.
The beginning of something that wouldn't end without blood.
•A Promise in the dark…
Under the dim glow of streetlights, Dae-hyun stood before Yoon-hee's grave, an unlit cigarette between his fingers—as if they had a silent pact.
It wasn't the cold that made him tremble, but the storm raging inside him.
"I promise you, Yoon-hee… I won't let your death go unavenged."
But as he turned to leave—he felt eyes watching him.
A gaze that pierced the darkness. Familiar… yet dangerous.
He spun around—but no one was there.
Only a small card on the ground.
He picked it up, his hands shaking as he read:
"If you want the truth, come alone."
His blood ran cold.
The symbol on the other side—a silver serpent coiled around a black dagger—was one he recognized.
For a moment, he stood frozen, his heart pounding, torn between the grave and the card.
Then he pulled out his phone and sent a single message:
"I'll be gone for a while. Don't look for me."
•The Hidden Truth…
Elsewhere, Emma sat in her room, flipping through an old notebook she'd found in her grandfather's house—written in her father's handwriting.
But between the yellowed pages, she discovered a card that didn't belong to him.
A card written by another hand—one that knew the truth.
"You or your daughter."
And on the other side… the same eerie symbol: the serpent and the dagger.
Emma's breath hitched.
For the first time, she realized—her father's death wasn't an accident.
He'd died for a secret far bigger than she ever imagined.
The shock overwhelmed her. Her vision blurred—
Then darkness.
She collapsed onto the bed, like a bridge crumbling under its own weight
The Night of No Return
The night weighed heavily on everyone—but none more than Daehyun, who now understood:
His journey for the truth had begun.
And he might not return he same man
---
To be continued…
- Who left the mysterious cards?
- What does the serpent-and-dagger symbol mean?
- Will Emma uncover the truth about her father's death?
- And where has Dae-hyun gone…?