After finishing the first segment without a hitch, while the crew set up artificial cherry blossom trees on the soundstage, Hari changed into a thin chiffon dress.

“Ugh…… it’s cold.”

It was still late winter, and the spring outfit was far too thin for the temperature. The chiffon against her bare skin felt rough and scratchy rather than soft.

“I’m going to the bathroom.”

She gave her manager, who was on a call, a quick heads-up and slipped out of the waiting room to find the bathroom.

She wandered through corridor after corridor and ended up in a deserted corner without finding it, so she turned back, and happened to run into a staff member in a fluorescent vest.

“Oh, excuse me. Do you happen to know where the bathroom is?”

He pointed to the staircase beside them.

“I saw one on the floor above.”

“Thank you.”

She gave a small bow and climbed the stairs. With each step, the hem of her chiffon skirt swayed gently. She pressed it down with her hand, but something felt off, and she found herself glancing back over her shoulder.

The staff member who had given her directions hadn’t left. He was still standing there, watching her.

‘What?’

The moment the thought crossed her mind, he pulled his cap down lower over his face and disappeared from view.

It left a slightly unsettled feeling, but the bathroom was right there, just as he’d said, so she managed to shake it off for now.

The isolated location gave the place an eerie feel, and she hurried to finish and get out.

But then.

Click.

A strange sound.

And not from outside the bathroom, but from right outside this stall.

“What?”

She told herself she was imagining things. Surely she’d misheard. She unlocked the door and pulled.

Rattle! Rattle rattle. Thud!

No matter how hard she pulled, no matter how hard she pushed, the door would not open.

Even then, she still thought it was just a broken door. The studio had strict security, and it was hard to immediately connect this to the person who had been threatening her. She wanted to believe it couldn’t be that.

‘If I can get out through the gap above the door……!’

She looked up with a flicker of hope, but the bathroom stall was sealed on all sides, walls reaching all the way to the ceiling. It was a perfect sealed room. Hari banged on the door as hard as she could and called out, hoping someone outside might hear.

“Is anyone there? Someone is trapped in here! Please help!”

She pounded and pounded, but she could tell the sound wasn’t carrying far.

And then.

A rustle.

The sound of breathing. A man’s, low and rough.

Not distant, either. She could feel that he was right on the other side of the door.

“Mmph—”

Hari clamped both hands over her mouth, trying to muffle even her own breathing. The more she held herself still, the more clearly the sounds beyond the door came through.

A click, the dull sound of a cassette tape button being pressed, and then a voice distorted beyond recognition came through.

“Yoo Hari. Leave the industry. This is your final warning. Otherwise I’ll kill you.”

She couldn’t even let out a breath. Her throat locked shut, and tears ran silently down her face.

She was certain he was about to open the door and come in. So Hari pulled the door that wouldn’t open toward her and held on tight.

She wept without a sound. She knew it was useless, but she kept repeating the thought to herself.

‘Stop crying and pull yourself together. Please, Hari. Pull yourself together.’

She held onto her reason with everything she had, desperately willing the presence on the other side of the door to disappear.

She endured, and at last she heard movement beyond the door.

She had barely been breathing, and now even that stopped entirely as the presence grew more distant. She even heard the outer door open and close.

‘Did he leave?’

Not a trace of him remained. He had actually gone outside.

She couldn’t believe it.

He had left without doing her any direct physical harm, only trapping her and then disappearing.

Was his only goal to frighten her by delivering his threat? Who would do something like this, and why?

She had lived as honestly as she could. She had never done anything to earn someone’s hatred.

The moment she thought how unfair it all was, the light went out.

“Ugh……”

With no windows in the sealed room, darkness swallowed everything instantly. She couldn’t see what was right beside her.

“Hnngh. What did I ever do wrong……”

Hari began to sob.

If his goal had been to terrify her, he had succeeded completely. She didn’t know whether he’d done it knowingly, but Hari had claustrophobia.

‘Naughty children have to be punished, don’t they?’

At the first orphanage Hari went to at the age of six, the director had beaten her often. Usually for trivial reasons, like leaving food on her plate or not helping to look after the newborns. The director would lock the children in the bathroom stalls one by one, out of sight of others, and beat them there.

A volunteer discovered what was happening and the director was sent to prison for child *buse, and peace finally came to the orphanage, but Hari and many of the other children were left with claustrophobia.

“Hhh……”

Face wet with tears and snot she couldn’t control, Hari endured the terror the darkness pressed down on her.

Would it have been a little easier if she’d at least been wearing something warm? She was shivering from the cold, and her body was shaking from the overwhelming fear, and she felt her heart might give out at any moment, her breathing coming in short, ragged gasps.

She wanted to stay calm but couldn’t, and it was driving her out of her mind.

“Please, someone find me. Sir…… Cha Jisang……”

Throughout what felt like an eternity, the only name she repeated without pause was ‘Cha Jisang.’

She thought of his words, that she was inflexible, and felt a pang of regret.

From now on I won’t be stubborn. I won’t push through schedules out of some misguided sense of consideration. I’ll take care of myself.

With desperate, unrelenting sincerity, Hari waited for the bodyguard who would come to save her.

Bang bang bang!

“Ms. Yoo Hari! Are you in here?”

And at last, his deep voice broke through.

“I’m here!”

Hari wrung every last bit of breath from her lungs and cried out. She had wanted to say she was here, please save her, but her voice wouldn’t cooperate. She was afraid it wouldn’t carry through the door, but then an enormous crash shook the metal door on its hinges.

“Ms. Yoo Hari!”

His voice drew closer, passing through the wall, and the lights came on. Hari opened her eyes and pushed herself upright.

He had tracked the sound of her breathing to find her, and now Jisang was pounding on the door.

“You’re in there, right.”

Only then did Hari’s voice come pouring out freely.

“Hhh…… I’m here. Please get me out.”

“It’s alright now. Take a breath and stay calm.”

“Hwaang……”

“Don’t cry.”

“Hhk.”

“Stop crying and listen to my voice.”

The voice was warm, which only made her cry harder. Telling someone not to cry always makes them cry more. Jisang kept saying it anyway, not knowing that.

“How much space is behind you?”

At that, Hari turned to look, and there was a reasonably generous space behind the toilet.

“There’s quite a bit of room.”

“I’m going to break the door now. There’s a padlock on the latch, and I think breaking it is faster than going to get a cutting tool. So get as far into the corner as you can. Don’t get hurt.”

“Okay.”

Hari pressed herself against the back wall as he’d told her.

If it went as he intended and only the latch broke, that would be the best outcome, but she raised her arms to shield her face just in case the door itself gave way.

Bang! Bang!

The sound of him kicking the door rang out.

The force of it was far more violent than she’d expected, and Hari worried he would hurt himself.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A few more kicks and the latch flew off with a crash, and the door swung open on its own with a creak.

“Hari. Are you—!”

Hari, who had been huddled trembling in the corner, launched herself straight into Jisang’s arms.

“What took you so long. Do you have any idea how scared I was!”

Tears soaked into his shirt, full of all the childish complaint she’d been holding back.

Jisang stood completely still, not daring to put his hands on her.

“I really thought I was going to die in there…… hk.”

The faint trembling in Hari’s body drained away all at once, and she slid down to the floor and cried openly.

Jisang unwound the handkerchief from his wrist and pressed it into her hand, then shrugged off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

“Let’s go.”

He scooped her up in a single motion, one arm under her knees and one at her back.

Hari was slender, but she was a fully grown adult. He lifted her without the slightest effort, as though she weighed nothing at all.

Hari instinctively looped her arms around his neck, but she had never been close to a man before, and her body stiffened, unable to lean in fully.