Rain drizzled against the windowpane as Taerim sat in the school's quiet archive room, her fingers tracing the edge of an old student file. Most of her classmates were still in gym class, but she'd been excused due to "health reasons"—a convenient lie she told often enough that no one questioned it.
She preferred it this way. Quiet. Empty. Safe.
But today, even the silence felt intrusive.
She reached for the key she wore around her neck—a small, rusted piece of metal no one but her knew about. It didn't open any school lockers or dorm drawers.
It was a remnant of her past.
Of the facility.
The memory came uninvited—metallic walls, flickering lights, wires in her skin. And a voice, soft but trembling.
"Taerim… don't cry. I'll protect you. I promise."
She remembered the warmth of that voice.
But not the face.
Never the face.
The memory snapped away like a whip when a sudden knock echoed through the archive door.
She spun.
Kang Juwon stepped inside, his uniform damp from the rain. His dark hair clung to his forehead, and his usual unreadable gaze flickered with something—concern?
"You skipped gym," he said flatly.
"You followed me," she countered.
He shrugged and stepped closer. "You're not the only one who prefers quiet places."
Taerim hugged the file closer. "Is there something you want?"
Juwon's gaze dropped to the file in her arms. "That's restricted."
"You going to report me?"
"No." He leaned against a nearby shelf. "But I'd like to know why you're searching for the names of students who disappeared ten years ago."
She stiffened. Her fingers curled against the paper. "That's none of your business."
"What if I said I know one of them?"
Her breath caught. She looked up slowly.
He was staring at her again—not like a student. Not like a stranger.
But like someone who knew her.
"You're lying," she whispered.
"I'm not."
"You're—"
"One of them." His voice was calm. Unshaken. "I remember the fire. I remember the pain. And I remember you."
Taerim's legs nearly buckled.
The file slipped from her hands, scattering photos and records across the floor.
Juwon knelt beside her, gently lifting one of the images—a blurred security photo. A girl with blood on her cheek. Crying. Screaming for someone.
He held it up.
"She screamed my name. Do you remember it?"
Taerim stared.
That scream—echoing in her dreams for years—was hers.
And the name…
The name she had cried out—
"Juwon…"
Her voice cracked.
Then the world tilted.
Pain surged behind her eyes.
A tidal wave of memory hit her—hands pulling her into darkness, fire licking the ceiling, a boy shielding her from shrapnel, and—
Her brothers.
Her brothers screaming her name as they were dragged away.
She fell to her knees, gasping, clutching her head.
"Stop it," she whispered. "Please—stop it—"
Juwon caught her shoulders. "Breathe, Taerim. Look at me."
"I thought you died."
"I didn't."
"I thought everyone died—!"
"But we're here," he said. "We came back for you."
Tears slipped down her cheek.
"I don't remember their names. I can't remember my brothers—" Her voice shattered. "I forgot everything…!"
Juwon didn't speak.
Instead, he pulled her into a firm embrace.
And she didn't fight it.
Because his arms felt like home.
A home she thought she'd lost forever.
---
Later that night, inside her dorm room, Taerim stared at the photo Juwon had slipped into her notebook before leaving.
A burnt edge.
Five children.
One of them was her.
The others…
Could they really be—
Her eyes drifted to the dark sky.
Far beyond the school grounds, the Guild Tower blinked with red lights. An emergency signal.
Her communicator buzzed.
Guild code: Crescent Protocol — All active agents, prepare for deployment.
Taerim's fingers trembled as she picked it up.
She wasn't just a student.
She was also the Ghost Bloom.
A top-ranking agent of the Obsidian Guild—and tonight, she was being called to fight.
She tucked the photo into her uniform and stood.
Time to act.
Time to protect.
Even if her memories betrayed her.
Her body remembered what her heart had forgotten.
And now, she would face the battlefield—
Unaware that the ones she once called family would be fighting beside her… hidden behind new names, new powers, and old wounds.
---