"Leciara Maclean, you must die!"
Leci's vision dimmed, the world fading into a suffocating blur of black. A ringing grew in her ears — sharp, heavy, drowning. Her body had reached its limit. Every strength she had left slipped away, leaving her unable to fight back.
"Hiihiihii…"
Only one thought flickered in her fading consciousness. One name she might still be able to call.
Moon… Leci cried out in her heart.
"Meow~"
Thud.
A white cat marked with a crescent moon on its forehead materialized out of thin air — like a slash of light tearing through the darkness. With a fearless leap, it lunged at the Female Ghost, hurling the ghost across the bathroom until it crashed into the far wall.
Leci jerked her head out of the water, gasping. Her legs trembled uselessly beneath her, and she collapsed onto the cold tiles. She watched Moon step forward in slow, deliberate steps — quiet as a shadow, sharp as a predator closing in on its prey.
But before Moon could strike again, the ghost vanished in a burst of cold air. It ran.
Moon turned instead to Leci, brushing his soft, snowy fur against her trembling legs.
"Thank you, Moon… You arrived just in time," Leci whispered, her gratitude trembling on her breath. If not for him, her story might have ended in that suffocating silence.
Let Leci explain something about Moon. He is no ordinary cat. Not of any feline breed humans know. Not a ghost, not a demon — Moon is a type of jin, a being that appears only when called by name. He has served Leci's family since the time of her great-great-grandparents — a guardian passed down through generations.
"I'll reward you later. For now… go back." Leci gently patted his head. Moon vanished instantly, fading like mist returning to the air.
With effort, Leci forced herself to stand. "Huft… that must've been someone's familiar," she muttered, steadying her breath. Thankfully, no one else was in the restroom to witness the chaos.
When her gaze met her reflection in the mirror, she froze. Her hair was a mess. Her clothes wrinkled. And blood trickled from a cut on her forehead — glaring red against her pale skin.
Though she frequently encountered spirits, this… this was exhausting. Facing someone's tamed ghost was an entirely different ordeal. She would never understand why humans willingly destroyed themselves just to forge contracts with ghosts or demons. Those beings were nothing like jin — they were arrogant, prideful, and believed themselves superior to humans.
Forming a contract with them was the same as stepping willingly into fire. And those who did… would suffer for generations.
After fixing her appearance, Leci stepped out of the restroom — only to nearly fall backward in shock. Kieron stood right in front of the door.
He caught her swiftly with one hand, steadying her.
"What happened, Leciara?" he asked gently, guiding her until she stood firmly.
Leci shook her head. "Just a small disturbance," she replied lightly. She walked back to the fencing room to grab her backpack. "I didn't get a soulstone today. Should we search for one now?"
Kieron didn't follow her inside. He waited at the door, watching quietly. When Leci approached, he pointed out the window.
"Look at the sky."
The sky was already dark. Night had fully descended.
Leci sighed, attempting to compose herself. "I'm sorry, Sir. I—"
Her words stopped when Kieron gently patted the top of her head. There was sincere sympathy in his eyes.
"Go home. Don't push yourself."
Heat gathered behind Leci's eyes. She blinked — once, twice — before tears blurred her vision.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered, bowing her head.
Kieron slowly guided her head to rest on his shoulder. His hand brushed her back, trying to ease her trembling.
"You should have asked for my help. Are you really alright?"
"I'm fine," Leci answered briefly. At least right now, being near Kieron didn't feel uncomfortable. As long as he didn't do anything strange… being close to him was unexpectedly calming.
That evening, Leci went home by taxi. Before leaving, she looked at Kieron one last time.
"Since we didn't get a soulstone today… Mr. Kieron, don't cause trouble, okay? Remember our agreement," she reminded him before entering the car.
Kieron nodded, though something unreadable flickered in his eyes. He gently closed the taxi door and spoke to the driver,
"Please take her home safely."
As the taxi drove away, Leci gestured that she would be watching him before rolling up the window. Kieron only smiled — softly — as he watched her leave.
The agreement he made with Leci forbade him from bothering anyone at school.
Leci never said anything about people outside of school, did she?
Kieron shut one of his eyes, trying to quell the violent surge roaring inside his head. If he didn't extinguish it now, he might transform into something far more savage than any predator. He walked with long, steady strides into a narrow alley — and vanished into the darkness.
Meanwhile, the moment Leci reached her bedroom, she collapsed onto her bed. Exhaustion swallowed her whole, and she fell asleep almost immediately. But when morning came, a punishing wave of vertigo struck her hard.
Even so, Leci still forced herself to go to school. Unfortunately, she gave up by the second period. She asked for permission to rest in the infirmary.
While sleeping in the infirmary, Leci dreamed.
No—
Not a dream.
A memory.
She remembered it clearly: the day of her parents' funeral.
Rain had poured relentlessly since morning, heavy and cold. It drenched the world in a grief so deep it felt bottomless — especially for Leci and her older sister.
People in black attire arrived one after another, offering condolences and comfort to the grieving family. But Leci paid no attention to any of them.
She didn't cry. She simply stared emptily at the framed portraits of her mother and father, eyes hollow and unfocused. She stayed that way for a long time, until her sister came and pulled Leci into her arms.
"Now it's just the two of us left. I'll protect you, Little Sister."
Those were the words her sister whispered to Leci that day.
But it was only that night, alone in her dimly lit room, that Leci finally cried — crying until dawn, her sobs swallowed by the darkness. No one dared to disturb her.
Even now, on each anniversary of her parents' death, Leci shut herself inside her room for the entire day.
Four years had passed, yet nothing about her grief had changed. She always believed she was strong. But the truth was painfully simple: she was just like any other child — helpless in the face of losing someone she loved.
"Leciara? You're sweating. Did you have a nightmare?"
A masculine voice — one that had been intruding on her life more and more lately — pulled her back to consciousness. When she opened her eyes, Kieron was already there. He was wiping the sweat on her face and neck.
"Your head wound needs to be checked. You hit it pretty hard, didn't you?" Kieron pointed at the cut on Leci's forehead, sounding almost like he was scolding her.
Leci fell silent, then shifted her position. "I'm fine," she replied flatly.
Kieron exhaled sharply, crossing his arms. Only now did he realize just how stubborn Leci truly was.
"You refuse to give me your soul, yet you don't take care of yourself properly."
After he said that, Leci extended her right hand toward him. "Then take it. I don't have the energy to deal with you today, Sir."
Kieron's pupils constricted.
The air around him changed instantly.
Leci froze. When she looked at him, he was already moving — swift, fluid — climbing onto the infirmary bed and caging her between his arms on either side of her head.
"Don't provoke me, Leciara." His voice was low, edged with warning. He leaned closer, his lips near her neck. "If you say something like that again… I might not be able to control myself."
There was real frustration in his whisper — raw and dangerous.
Leci's heartbeat thundered violently. She never expected Kieron to respond so seriously. Nor did she expect the atmosphere around him to darken so drastically.
It felt heavier, darker than anything she had ever sensed before. This was the first time Leci encountered someone with an aura as shadowed and cold as his.
Next time, someone should remind Leci never to provoke Kieron again.
Their eyes locked. Seeing the fear on her face, Kieron's pupils gradually returned to normal. So did the oppressive aura surrounding him.
"Sorry. I… got carried away."
Leci flinched — not because of his apology — but because she saw a face behind him. A grinning face.
It was the same Female Ghost who had attacked her the day before.
For the second time, the ghost whispered something chilling—
"One of you will die."