“…”

Perhaps she’d been holding her breath. As she passed by him, the breath she’d been withholding escaped, her shoulders dropping slightly. It seemed she really had been holding it in.

Just as she realized she had been scared, a bitter smile crept onto her lips.

“Hup!”

Her body was abruptly spun around. The man had grabbed her wrist and pinned her against the wall.

As he pressed her against the surface, he seized both of her wrists with one hand. He forced her arms above her head.

Caught off guard, Hailey’s eyes widened as her restrained wrists were pinned, and the man drew closer, their proximity suffocating. Her pupils dilated further in alarm.

“W-What…!”

The man, towering over her by nearly two heads, looked down with an overwhelming presence. She struggled against his hold, but her efforts were futile. Instead, his lips curled into a tilted smirk as though amused by her resistance.

“This isn’t a place for a proper young lady to be wandering. Next time, you’d better keep your eyes wide open while walking—unless you want something unpleasant to happen.”

Hailey glared at him, clenching her teeth. His eyes glimmered with derision, mocking her for her defiance despite being powerless to defend herself in this situation.

Her body trembled. Was it fear, humiliation, or anger? Perhaps all three combined.

And then, in the next moment—

Wham!

“!”

Hailey swung her leg, striking him hard. The man flinched and staggered a step back.

Freed from his grasp, Hailey rubbed her wrists and snapped icily at him.

“Thanks for the concern, though it seems more like meddling. Let me warn you—lay a hand on me one more time, and it won’t end like this. I’ll make sure you’ll never be able to call yourself a man again.”

With that, she turned her back on him. Her shin throbbed from how hard she’d kicked his weak spot, but she didn’t show it.

Behind her, a faint sound reached her ears. It was unclear whether it was laughter or a sigh.

Hailey walked confidently into the alley, her head held high. The feeling of his gaze lingering on her gradually faded.

Only then did Hailey’s shoulders slump. Letting out a breath she’d been holding, she massaged her stiff neck.

She’d put on a brave front, but deep down, she’d been terrified that the mad dog would break its chain and pounce.

“That was a close call.”

Sighing in relief, she glanced at the sky, where twilight was beginning to fall, and quickened her steps.

“At this rate, I’ll really be late.”

She wasn’t joking. Madam Mastis might actually go ahead and clean out her room.

But just then, as she rounded a bend along the winding path, Hailey spotted a blue dress discarded on the ground.

“Huh?”

She walked a few more steps toward it, her expression puzzled, before realizing it wasn’t just a dress. It was a woman wearing a dress.

The woman was sprawled on the ground, wearing a blue gown with an open back.

“She’s already passed out drunk?”

She must be a worker at a nearby tavern, or maybe a singer or dancer.

Hailey hurried over to the woman.

“Hey, you can’t sleep here. Do you have any idea what might happen to you if you pass out in the street? There’s a lunatic of a man around here, you know. Hey, wake up!”

A sense of déjà vu flickered through her mind. Muttering under her breath, “I really shouldn’t get involved,” she hesitated for a moment.

But she couldn’t bring herself to leave the woman lying there on the cold ground.

“This is why I can’t seem to live a peaceful life.”

Sighing in self-deprecation, Hailey reached out to touch the woman’s shoulder. She grunted as she tried to roll her over.

“!”

She froze, her breath catching in her throat. Her pale green eyes trembled violently, and Hailey sucked in a sharp breath.

The woman’s face was deathly pale, devoid of any trace of vitality. Blood from her neck had dried and clung to the floor.

Her porcelain-like skin, lush eyelashes, and full lips—she was beautiful. Even with her eyes closed, it was evident at a glance that she was a stunning woman.

But the icy coldness radiating from the hand gripping her shoulder was undeniable. She did not feel like someone alive.

Yes, it was a corpse.

A corpse.

“Ah…”

For a moment, Hailey’s vision went dark. She couldn’t breathe. Her hands trembled uncontrollably. The woman’s face began to blur, and then, before long, it shifted. It became Hailey’s—or rather, Hyein’s—face.

The person lying on the floor was Lee Hyein.

***

“Help me!”

Someone screamed. A desperate cry, so urgent it sent shivers down the spine. A terrified woman turned around. Behind her was a man, his eyes rolling back halfway.

He shouted harshly at the woman, “Come here now!” His voice was coarse, almost feral. In his hand gleamed a blade, sharp and cold.

“Over here!”

Hyein instinctively reached out her hand. The woman, as if clutching a lifeline descending from the heavens, grabbed Hyein’s hand with all her might.

But at that moment, the man, consumed by pure black rage, swung the blade in his hand. Hyein’s eyes widened.

“Watch out…!”

The words never fully formed into sound. The woman reflexively dodged, and the blade meant for her instead sank into Hyein’s abdomen.

“Ugh.”

For a split second, everything turned red before her eyes. Or perhaps black. Or maybe white. Her memory of that moment was hazy, but one thing stood out with startling clarity.

Pain.

The sharp agony tearing through her flesh felt like thousands of needles stabbing her at once, or like a searing hot iron rod piercing her body.

It was an excruciating pain unlike anything she had ever experienced before. The unbearable torment engulfed every fiber of her being.

The man, visibly panicked, yanked the blade out. That action only worsened the situation. Blood gushed out of her body in a violent spurt.

A stifled gasp escaped the man, a mix of a scream and a groan. Hyein desperately pressed her hands against her stomach, but it was futile in stopping the relentless flow of blood.

Her ten fingers were quickly stained with red. Suddenly, the word death flashed through her mind.

What was flowing out of her body wasn’t just blood. It was life. Her life was sluggishly draining out of her.

“…”

No scream came out. Only muffled groans managed to escape through her trembling lips. She could distinctly feel her fingertips and cheeks growing colder with each passing second.

Her entire body began to tremble. Her teeth chattered. The unbearable chill enveloped her as if she had been plunged into freezing water.

At last, her senses snapped back to reality. Hyein’s eyes flew wide open. Her pupils slowly shifted, taking in the sight of a woman covering her mouth in horror and a man frozen with a panicked expression.

“Ahhhh!”

The woman let out a high-pitched scream. It was as if that scream served as a signal—Hyein’s eyes fluttered shut, and her body collapsed limply to the ground.

Lying there, bleeding from her stomach. And the suffocating approach of death.

****

“Ugh… huh…”

A bottomless fear enveloped her. The excruciating pain returned vividly, burning her mind. The fiery, piercing agony that began in her abdomen seized her thoughts entirely.

Her entire body trembled as if she had been cast n*ked into the depths of winter. It felt as though someone were tearing into her stomach with a razor-sharp blade.

“Haah… haah…”

Hailey’s chest heaved violently, and labored breaths escaped through her clenched teeth. At last, the suffocating air seemed to loosen. Her upper body wavered, her vision blurred.

She was scared. Terrified beyond reason—of the horrifying pain, of the looming moment of death.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

From somewhere far away came a scream. It was only then that Hailey realized the sound had come from her own mouth.

Even so, the scream sounded distant, as if it were echoing from another realm. In the next moment, her consciousness began to darken. The world tilted to one side.

She thought she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, but she couldn’t be sure. A firm hand seemed to catch her body, but even that felt uncertain. For she had already lost consciousness by then.

As her eyes closed, a faint scent of cigarettes lingered in the air.

***