Guuuuuu.
A low, heavy sound tore through the night — like an alarm, or maybe the echo of his own heartbeat. Kang Jihan couldn't tell whether it came from the ship's hull or from somewhere inside his skull. His fingers tightened around the white rail until his knuckles turned pale. Salt wind burned his face. He leaned forward, staring into the dark water where Ryu Seonyeong had vanished.
What… what just happened?
The image still flashed before his eyes — that faint smile, the small wave of a hand, the words tossed into the dark:
"Take care, dear."
He couldn't believe it. His mind refused to accept what he'd seen.
He smiled?
He chose the sea over me?
Was I wrong about everything?
Before he could steady his breathing, shouts erupted behind him. The others — Seo Raon, Yi Hoon, Lo, and Lo Dan — rushed up the deck. Seeing Jihan with one foot on the railing, they lunged toward him.
— Hyungnim! — Lo Dan grabbed his belt. — Are you insane?!
Jihan fought him off, eyes wide.
— Let go! Ryu Seonyeong fell overboard!
— Who? — Seo Raon's face drained of color. — There's no one here but us!
— Don't talk nonsense! — Jihan roared. — You just saw him!
— Hyung, please, calm down! — Yi Hoon tried to hold him. — You're scaring us!
But Jihan didn't hear. He thrashed like a trapped animal. The captain and crew ran over, trying to help restrain him. Only after five men pinned him down did he collapse onto the deck, panting.
Lo, pale as paper, shouted from behind:
— What's going on?! Hyungnim, you told us to sail to Merai — why are you—
— That wasn't me! — Jihan's voice cracked. — It was him! Seonyeong told me! Turn the ship around! There's a man in the water!
But the captain only exchanged a stunned glance with Raon. No one understood who he was calling for. Everyone nearby was already under the hypnosis — in their minds, Ryu Seonyeong had never existed.
And Jihan realized it. He saw it in their eyes.
He was alone. The only one who remembered.
— Let me go! — he shouted. — We have to find him!
Raon murmured quietly to Yi Hoon:
— Hold him.
Yi Hoon pressed down on his shoulders. But then Jihan suddenly stopped resisting. He just sat there, staring at the black sea without blinking.
— Hyung… are you alright? — Yi Hoon asked carefully.
— No, — Jihan said flatly. — And I won't be.
His voice was low, buried deep in his chest.
— If he thinks he can run, he's wrong. I'll find him. Even if I have to tear Lirean apart.
The others exchanged uncertain looks. Jihan rose, leaning on the rail, his face illuminated by the cold neon of the deck lights.
He was thinking.
Why a jump?
If Seonyeong wanted to disappear, he could have slipped away quietly. No spectacle. But he'd done it in front of everyone — as if to make them believe he was dead.
Jihan bit his lip until it bled.
He's not dead. He couldn't be. It was a performance.
His hands clenched.
— Lo Dan! — he barked.
— Yes, hyungnim?
— Your phone's synced to the laptop? Find any mention of Ryu Seonyeong. Cameras, chats, archives — everything.
— Uh… hyung, there's nothing.
— Search the past month. The night we brought him to the Sondo Hotel.
Lo Dan hesitated but obeyed. Minutes later he said quietly:
— Nothing. No name, no photo. Even my cloud notes are empty.
Jihan exhaled slowly.
— So he erased the traces, too. — His tone turned cold as steel. — How considerate.
— Hyung, — Raon said cautiously, — maybe you should rest.
— I need to think, — Jihan cut him off.
He closed his eyes, piecing the fragments together.
Seonyeong had said he'd never left Lirean — maybe that was true. He couldn't have gone far.
He needed shelter from the sun. Somewhere under the dome. Somewhere windowless. Somewhere dark.
He checked his watch: 19:23.
Ten hours till dawn.
If he's in the water, the sun will kill him. So he's already under cover — in the port, or a sub-level bay. He won't get away. Not this time.
He stood up.
— In the end… it'll be Lirean, — he murmured.
***
Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, beneath the dome's night haze, Ryu Seonyeong coughed up seawater, clinging to an orange life ring. His body shook from the cold, but his lips curled into a faint grin. After a few minutes, he reached a small rescue boat, grabbed the ladder, and strong hands pulled him aboard.
— Hey, you alive? — a man with a flashlight asked.
Seonyeong nodded, still coughing.
— Yeah. Just swallowed a bit too much water.
— Thought you were trying to off yourself, kid. Jumping into open sea at night — hell of a hobby.
— I know, — Seonyeong smirked. — Won't happen again.
The man shrugged.
— Where to?
Seonyeong wrung out his sleeves and pulled from under his shirt a packet wrapped tight in electrical tape — inside, the saved diamond communicator.
— Port Merai. My people are there.
— Got it.
The boat turned toward the coast. Seonyeong sat by the rail, watching as the liner's lights faded into the fog.
Hurry, Jihan… if you can.
He closed his eyes.
***
January. Lirean.
Snow blanketed the streets, turning them into fragile silver veins. Inside a café beneath the dome, the heater hummed too loudly. Han Dowon, head of Taeyon Shipping, rubbed his hands nervously, staring at the three men before him.
In the center — Kang Jihan.
To his right — Yi Hoon.
To his left — Lo Dan, absently scrolling through a tablet.
— I've told you a hundred times! — Dowon shouted. — I don't know that man! I don't remember!
Lo Dan tapped the photo on the screen.
— This man. David Baek. Isn't that him?
— Huh? Looks familiar… but I'm not sure…
Jihan ran a tired hand down his face. Pointless.
Ryu Seonyeong had erased even the fragments of himself from other people's minds.
He stood up without a word.
— Let's go, — he told Yi Hoon.
The car slid through Lirean's dim streets. Outside — snow and the pale glow of streetlamps.
Inside — silence.
Three months. Not a trace.
Not in Lirean, not under the dome, not in the ports.
He'd failed. Again.
— Maybe check Vermilion one more time? — Yi Hoon offered softly.
— I did. — Jihan's voice was hoarse. — It's empty.
He remembered Park Ki-cheol, the temporary club manager.
The man had said Seonyeong probably ran away, taking the winnings. His tone carried pity — pity for Jihan, like for a lover deceived.
If only he knew.
Beat him? Jihan thought bitterly. No. I'll lock him away. In the dark. No sun. No escape.
— …Do you know where Lee Rian is? — he asked suddenly.
— Rumor says he left on personal business. Nothing clear.
Jihan didn't answer. The smoke filled the car.
In the mirror, his eyes were dark, nearly lifeless.
When the car stopped at the base, Lo and Seo Raon were already waiting. Their expressions said everything — still nothing.
Raon joined him outside, where snow fell soundlessly.
— Hyung, if you find him… it won't change anything.
— Doesn't matter, — Jihan replied.
— I thought you were hunting him for a reason. For Im Lirean. But now it's clear — it's for yourself.
Silence. Only smoke and snow.
— In three months we face Koo Lirean, — Raon reminded. — Are you really willing to give up revenge for that vampire?
Jihan smirked.
— Give up revenge? Never. I'll kill Lirean. But first…
He turned his gaze toward the distant sea — where, beneath the dome, Merai shimmered faintly.
— I just need to be sure Seonyeong's alive.
And that he looks me in the eye one more time.