Ji-hoon's mind raced as he tried to make sense of the unsettling series of events that had unfolded over the past few days. Every part of him was on edge, like a violin string wound too tight, ready to snap at the slightest disturbance. The idea of being watched, of having someone like Im So-hee observing him from the shadows, had begun to seep under his skin in ways he couldn't ignore. She wasn't just a fan anymore. She was a force—a presence that couldn't be reasoned with, and one he knew he had to confront.
The atmosphere in the apartment felt suffocating, heavy with the threat of something inevitable. The walls felt too close, the air too thin. The night outside seemed endless, each passing minute carrying a weight far greater than the one before. Ji-hoon sat at his piano, his hands frozen above the keys as the quiet stretched on. It was an odd kind of silence, one that gripped at him, threatened to drown him in its tension.
He thought back to the last time he had heard from Joon-won. His friend had been urgent on the phone, insisting that Ji-hoon stay put until he arrived, but Ji-hoon wasn't sure how long he could wait. Every second felt like it was dragging him closer to the breaking point. Im So-hee's presence had become too much to ignore, and the way she lingered in his thoughts, always there, was unsettling to the point of madness.
His mind wandered back to the last message she had left him: "I'm waiting for you, Ji-hoon. Always waiting for you."
There was something hauntingly possessive in those words, a declaration that sent chills down his spine. He couldn't fathom what she wanted, what she was truly after. But one thing was certain—she had crossed a line. Her obsession had gone from something he could dismiss to something tangible, something real.
His thoughts were interrupted by a noise—a slight scrape against the window. His head whipped toward the sound, a jolt of fear making his heart skip a beat. Was it her? Was she outside again? Ji-hoon's breath caught in his throat, and he forced himself to stay still, straining to listen. The noise repeated itself, this time more distinct, more deliberate.
He stood, moving quickly toward the window, his cane tapping urgently against the floor. The air around him seemed to tighten with every step. As he approached, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. There it was again—a scrape, this time followed by the softest breath.
He reached the window and pressed his palm against the glass, feeling the cold seeping into his skin. He stood still for a moment, eyes scanning the darkness, trying to make sense of the movement outside. There was nothing, just the soft rustling of leaves in the wind.
But then, something caught his attention—a shadow. At first, he thought it was his imagination, a trick of the light or the dark, but as he focused, the shape seemed to grow more defined. A figure. Standing across the street, just outside the streetlamp's reach.
Ji-hoon's heart pounded in his chest. There, behind the curtain of shadows, was a presence. It was unmistakable. He could feel it in his gut—the same sensation he'd had when he first realized Im So-hee's obsession with him. She was watching him again. And this time, he wasn't sure how long he could ignore it.
He stood there for a long moment, his breath shallow and quick. He could almost feel the eyes on him, even though he couldn't see them. The weight of the gaze pressed against him, making every muscle in his body tighten with the need to escape. But there was nowhere to run. No place where he could hide from the truth. The truth that, no matter how far he tried to retreat, Im So-hee would always be there, lurking in the shadows, waiting.
Without thinking, Ji-hoon backed away from the window, moving in a quick, jerky motion that felt almost instinctive. He turned his back to it and staggered toward the piano, his cane tapping quickly against the floor. His breathing was frantic now, a sharp contrast to the quiet outside. The tension, the fear, the anger—everything inside him was rising to the surface, and it felt like a storm he couldn't control.
He reached the piano and sat down, hands shaking as he placed them on the keys. The familiar weight of the instrument beneath his fingers grounded him, but the dissonance in his mind made it difficult to focus. The music that usually brought him peace now felt like a barrier he couldn't break through. His fingers hovered over the keys, but his mind was elsewhere. He needed to clear his head. He needed to get out, to confront whatever was lurking in the dark.
Then, the scrape came again—louder this time, almost as if the figure outside was getting closer, approaching the window with an unsettling determination. Ji-hoon's heart thudded painfully in his chest. He couldn't ignore it any longer. The fear had become too much to bear. It was time to face whatever—or whoever—was out there.
He stood up abruptly, his cane slipping from his grip as he made his way to the door. The air felt thick with anticipation, every step forward carrying him closer to something he couldn't predict. His pulse raced, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he reached for the door handle.
Before he could turn it, there was a knock. Soft at first, a light tapping that seemed almost casual. Then, it came again, louder this time. A deliberate, insistent knock that sent a jolt of fear through him.
He knew it was her.
Im So-hee. She was here.
His fingers trembled as he reached for the door, the touch of the handle cold against his skin. He hesitated, unsure of what to do next. Every instinct screamed at him to run, to hide, but he couldn't. He wouldn't.
He opened the door.
There she was. Standing in the doorway, her eyes wide and unblinking, a smile curling at the corners of her lips. She looked just as she always did in the photos—the soft, innocent expression of a fan, but there was something darker behind it. Something that sent a chill racing down Ji-hoon's spine.
"Ji-hoon," she said, her voice sweet but laced with an undertone of something far more sinister. "I've been waiting for you."
The words sent a shock through him. He could feel the weight of her gaze on him, the suffocating pressure of her presence filling the room.
"Why are you doing this?" Ji-hoon asked, his voice shaking despite himself. "Why are you following me?"
Her smile widened. "You don't understand, do you? We were always meant to be together, Ji-hoon. I've been waiting for so long… for you to realize that."
Ji-hoon's breath caught in his throat as a wave of realization crashed over him. She wasn't just obsessed with him—she believed she needed him. And now, she had come to claim what she thought was hers. The thought made him feel sick, like something was crawling inside him, gnawing at his very soul.
He knew, in that moment, that the game was no longer just about being pursued by a fan. It was about survival. And the curtain that had separated him from the truth had finally lifted.
Ji-hoon stood frozen at the threshold, unable to comprehend what was unfolding in front of him. The words Im So-hee spoke reverberated in his mind, each syllable a weight that pressed on his chest, making it harder to breathe. "We were always meant to be together," she had said, her voice sugary sweet, yet laced with something darker that made his blood run cold.
His mind raced, trying to piece together what had led him to this point. How had it come to this? How had a simple, harmless fan transformed into this twisted, obsessive presence in his life? The answer felt like it had always been there, just out of reach, like the final note in a symphony he couldn't quite catch. He had felt the unease in her eyes, the way her gaze lingered just a moment too long, but he had never acknowledged it for what it truly was. Now, faced with the full reality of her obsession, the pieces fell into place with a sickening clarity.
Her smile twisted as she took a step closer, crossing the threshold into his apartment. Ji-hoon instinctively took a step back, his body tensing with a primal fear. This was no longer the curious, innocent fan he had assumed her to be. This was something far more dangerous, something far darker than he had ever imagined.
"I've been waiting for you, Ji-hoon," she repeated, her voice lower now, almost coaxing, as if she were speaking to a frightened animal. "I've been patient. I've watched. I've waited for you to understand, to realize that we belong together. But you... you're so stubborn. You don't see it, do you?"
Her words sliced through the silence like a knife, and Ji-hoon felt the weight of her gaze on him like an unbearable pressure. His breath quickened, and for the first time in a long while, he felt his vision clouding—not with darkness, but with the suffocating presence of her. Every inch of him screamed to get away, but the door behind him was shut, the exit beyond his reach. He had nowhere to go.
He opened his mouth, but the words failed him. What could he say to her? To someone so far gone in her obsession that she no longer saw the boundary between admiration and possession? The feeling of being trapped, of being suffocated by her twisted affection, clawed at him from the inside.
Her eyes glinted with something cold as she took another step forward, and this time, Ji-hoon didn't move. He couldn't. It was as if his body had betrayed him, locking him in place, unable to do anything but stand there and absorb the full weight of the situation.
"You don't have to be afraid," she said softly, her voice deceptively gentle. "I know you're scared, but I'll take care of you. I'll protect you. We'll be together. You'll see. You'll understand."
The air in the room thickened, pressing against him like a physical force. The sickening tension filled the space between them, growing tighter with every word she spoke. Ji-hoon's mind screamed for him to act, to fight, to escape, but something kept him rooted to the spot. Was it fear? Was it the weight of her obsession finally sinking in, making him realize just how dangerous this situation had become?
Her smile grew wider, and in that moment, Ji-hoon saw something flicker in her eyes—something that sent a jolt of terror through him. It was madness. Pure, unrelenting madness. The kind of madness that didn't just consume a person, but distorted them, twisted them into something unrecognizable. He could see it now, the way she wasn't just obsessed with him, but with the idea of controlling him, of owning him. She had never seen him as a person, but as a prize to be won, a possession to claim.
"Why are you doing this?" Ji-hoon finally managed to whisper, his voice barely audible. He swallowed hard, trying to steady himself, to find some semblance of control over his racing heartbeat. "Why me?"
Im So-hee tilted her head, her smile never wavering. "Because you're perfect," she said simply, her voice filled with a quiet certainty. "You're perfect, Ji-hoon. You're the one I've always wanted, the one I've always known was meant to be mine. And now I'm here. Now, you'll see that we belong together."
A cold shiver ran down Ji-hoon's spine as her words sank in. The realization hit him with a brutal clarity: She wasn't just obsessed with him. She had twisted herself into the belief that he owed her, that he was somehow meant to be hers. The idea that she had been waiting, watching, stalking him for so long filled him with disgust. How had he not seen it before? How had he been so blind to the warning signs? The subtle shifts in her behavior, the way she lingered a little too long after each encounter, the way she always seemed to know just a little too much about him, about his life. He had ignored it all, too focused on his own world to notice the dangerous game she was playing.
Her hands reached out then, her fingers brushing against his arm in a way that made his skin crawl. It was gentle, almost affectionate, but Ji-hoon could feel the underlying possessiveness in the touch. He pulled back instinctively, his body finally responding to the terror that had been building inside him. He took another step back, the room closing in around him, feeling smaller and smaller with each passing second.
"Stay away from me," he managed to say, his voice shaky, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn't recognize the person standing before him anymore. The girl he had once thought of as a harmless fan was now something far more terrifying—a predator closing in on its prey.
Im So-hee's expression faltered for a moment, her eyes narrowing as if she hadn't expected resistance. But then, just as quickly, her smile returned, wider than before, filled with a strange, almost mocking amusement.
"You'll come around, Ji-hoon," she said softly, as if assuring him that his reluctance was merely temporary. "You'll see. We'll be together. It's just a matter of time."
A sickening fear flooded Ji-hoon's chest, but deep down, a flicker of anger began to ignite within him. He wasn't going to let her do this. He wasn't going to let her win. His mother had sacrificed everything for him, and he couldn't let that sacrifice be in vain. He would fight for his freedom, for his sanity. He would find a way out of this, even if it meant confronting her head-on.
The intensity in the air was suffocating now, a palpable force that seemed to swirl around them. Ji-hoon's body shook with the adrenaline pumping through him, every fiber of his being focused on the one thing that mattered: survival. He couldn't let her control him. Not now, not ever.
With a final, resolute breath, Ji-hoon stood his ground, facing her head-on. "I'm not yours," he said, his voice growing stronger, firmer with each word. "I'll never be yours."
For a moment, the world seemed to freeze. Time hung in the balance as he stared into her eyes, waiting for her next move. And then, her smile faltered for the first time.
"You'll regret this, Ji-hoon," she whispered, her voice dark and low, before she turned and disappeared into the night.
The silence that followed was deafening, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, Ji-hoon let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.