Joon Taerim locked the infirmary door behind her and leaned against it, breathing hard.
Her vision blurred. Her chest felt tight. That name—Kang Juwon. Her head ached like someone had driven a spike through her skull. Flashes. Screams. A boy shielding her from needles. Hands gripping hers. Fire.
Stop.
She pressed her palms to her eyes. "Stop…"
The school nurse was away. Good. She needed time to think. To breathe.
Outside, the school buzzed with excitement. New students from VALORIS weren't just rare—they were legends. No one would notice if their "perfect president" disappeared for a moment.
But someone did.
---
"Where is she?" Kang Juwon's voice was low, almost a growl.
"She left," Harin said, watching the auditorium doors. "Didn't even wait to finish the announcement."
Hajoon crossed his arms, thoughtful. "She looked pale. Like she saw a ghost."
Yulseung smirked. "Or maybe we're the ghosts."
Juwon didn't answer. His eyes remained locked on the empty space she'd occupied.
He didn't believe in coincidences.
Not when that girl had the same voice, same eyes, same soul.
Joon Taerim.
The name wasn't familiar. But her presence was. And that tremble in her hands—that was her.
"She didn't recognize us," Gyeongho murmured quietly.
"Not yet," Juwon replied. "But she will."
---
By the time Taerim returned to the student council room, her usual mask had returned. Calm. Cold. Composed.
But inside, everything felt wrong.
She sat at her desk and stared at her reflection in the glass.
"Why now?" she whispered.
The guild. The transfer. The boy with blue eyes.
Too much.
She needed clarity. And when her mind spiraled like this, there was only one place she found control.
The battlefield.
---
That night, under the cover of darkness, the city called for its hidden defenders.
From the rooftops of District 7, a shadow leapt silently from building to building. Her long coat fluttered behind her, black as the night. A mask covered her face—porcelain-white, marked only by a delicate blue symbol shaped like a flower.
"Ghost Bloom, Code X-001, mission accepted," her voice crackled through the comms.
She dropped into the alley below. A mutated creature—once human—snarled, its limbs twisted unnaturally. She moved without hesitation. One strike to the neck. Another to the spine. Clean, surgical, silent.
She didn't speak. She didn't feel. She executed.
Just like always.
But she wasn't alone tonight.
As she turned to leave, another figure landed beside her with a rush of wind. Tall, lean, with a long black coat and a half-mask of iron. A blade shimmered in his hand—red, humming faintly.
Phantom Blade.
VALORIS's top-ranked S-class hero.
Code: SM-001.
Kang Juwon.
Taerim froze.
Why was he here?
She stepped back, her hand instinctively moving to her dagger. "This mission was solo."
"I know," he said coolly. "I requested a tag-along."
His voice—calm, precise, just like she remembered in flashes—sent a shock down her spine. She turned away.
"I work alone."
"Then you shouldn't tremble like that."
Her hands clenched. "I'm not—"
"You flinched," he said. "Back in the auditorium. You remembered something."
She didn't respond. Her silence was answer enough.
"Your code… is X-001." He stepped closer, slow. "First experiment. The one that disappeared in the fire."
Her breath caught.
His eyes softened just slightly behind the mask. "You're her."
"No." Her voice cracked. "You're wrong."
He stopped just inches from her. "Taerim."
The name—her real name, not the name given by the adoptive monsters—made her knees go weak.
She turned and fled into the shadows, leaving only silence behind.
Juwon didn't chase her.
But the war in his heart raged.
---
The next morning, Taerim sat in class, her body present but mind drifting. The classroom buzzed with gossip about the new transfers.
She didn't look at them.
But she felt their eyes on her.
Especially his.
"President Joon," the teacher called. "Would you please help our new students navigate the school this week?"
Her blood ran cold.
"Yes, of course," she replied smoothly.
A mask. Always a mask.
As the five approached, she met their gazes one by one.
And for the first time, she noticed something terrifying.
They were watching her not like strangers.
But like long-lost family.
And that was the most dangerous thing of all.
---