❀◗ 　◇Chapter 1 -: ✧ :-゜・．

My name is Min-ji,I was born into The house that leaving no chance for love to grow.

Long ago, I just a five-year-old girl who had already witnes too much for her age. Back then, I love walking to the park. examine butterflies are my favorite thing to do, trying to catch one to add to my collection. It was entertaining, but doing it without friends sadly feels pathetic.

My family was a well-known, wealthy familia-or at least, that was how it is when my father Min-jun, still held the status of a respected businessman. He was Famous in the town. Everyone knew him as a wise, authoritative man who always carried power everywhere he goes,he was a man who always knew what he was doing. His business ran flawlessly, and everything seemed so perfect.

But that was before I discovered he had been playing house with another family Behind my back.

He had been cheating on my mother without her knowledge for three years.and It started when I was five, by the time I turned seven. everything shattered. Every single night, I woke up to the sound of my mother screaming from the depths of her throat. Her voice was thick with a painful rage, and the sharp sting of betrayal. From my bedroom, I listened to the Chaos of their arguments: the violent crash of furniture, the sharp shatter of glass hitting the floor, and the heavy, echoing crack of a harsh slap. I would curl up in my bed, hugging my knees tightly to my chest, desperately trying to make myself as small as possible.

It was agonizing to hear my mother suffer, trapped in a marriage she genuinely believed would bring her happiness. She had once said yes to a man who kissed her gently, promising her the world and the devotion she rightfully deserved.

​It was a beautiful lie.

​At one point, he had been a good man-a father who held his wife and children tightly in his arms as she read us bedtime stories.

But almost overnight, he transformed into a cold, distant ghost who ceased to exist for his own family.

My sister, my brother, and I became the Victims of his selfishness.

Day and night, we were forced to watch him bring THAT woman into our home, treating her as if she were the only thing that mattered. He eventually replaced our very presence with the new children he had fathered.

Driven mad by the betrayal, my mother became unstable. Year after year, she choked down the bitter memory of his lies. It broke my heart to watch her soul crumble, knowing our father didn't care enough to look back at the living hell he had created

​I thought that was the worst of it. I thought the nightmare would eventually end.

But my innocent mind could never have anticipated the night my mother finally lost control. Through the cracked doorway, I saw her holding a Butcher knife, confronting her husband as he desperately shielded the other woman behind his back. My vision blurred, and the next time I forced my eyes open, my father, that woman, and the infant she held in her arms were all sprawled across the floor, pooling in blood.

​My mother stood over them like a wild animal, her trembling hand still gripping the crimson-stained knife.

​She was completely gone, consumed by terror and shock. But when her eyes slowly drifted to meet mine, a smile spread across her face-a breathtakingly beautiful, tragic smile. It was the last expression I would ever see on her face before she turned the blade on herself, plunging it into her own throat.

. . .

​"Wake up."

​A deep, commanding voice boomed from above, followed immediately by a bucket of freezing water slamming into my face. The shock dragged me violently out of the darkness. My head spun as I found myself splayed out on the icy linoleum floor of the school hallway. My entire body throbbed with a heavy, agonizing soreness

Blinking through the wet chill, I noticed dark blood dripping onto the floor, mixing with the puddle forming around my damp uniform. I shivered violently and tried to push myself up, but a heavy leather shoe connected brutally with the side of my head. The world instantly went white, the blinding pain amplifying the ringing in my ears.

​"I said wake up, loser."

The voice spoke again, its edge growing sharper, far more dangerous. When I managed to lift my chin, the harsh overhead lights stung my eyes. Looming over me like a towering shadow was

Baek Sunha.

​"What do you think you're doing? Get up." he commanded, his tone dropping into a cruel sneer. When I struggled to find my footing, he drove his shoe directly into my stomach. A ragged cry of pain escaped my lips as I curled into a ball from the impact.

​All along the corridor, a crowd of students had formed. Fear was written plainly across their faces as they maintained a wide, panicked distance from the scene-like a pack of stray cats trying to avoid a lethal predator. And Sunha was The Predator.

​Sunha's hand suddenly clamped onto my arm with a crushing grip, completely indifferent to my agonizing winces. He hauled me roughly to my feet, nearly causing my weak knees to buckle, before shifting his grip to seize a handful of my hair. He pulled back so hard That I'm sure the roots would tear from my scalp.

​"Do you think you're clever, Min-seo? You're just a stupid bitch trying to get attention From Someone's Boyfriend." a girl's voice venomously chimed in. It didn't belong to Sunha. It came from the girl stepping out from beneath his shadow:

Ha-rin.

​She was right there. My living nightmare.

That absolute psychopath.

Ha-rin had spent months making my life a living hell, mocking me ruthlessly in front of the entire class. She was the one who had systematically cyberbullied my sister, posting relentless insults about our family online. And I'm sure she was the sole reason my sister had tragically ended her own life long ago.

​But my thoughts short-circuited. Wait... what did she just call me?

​Min-seo?

​I froze in absolute shock, my mind suddenly flooded with a paralyzing wave of confusion. Min-seo was the name of my deceased sister. Why on earth was Ha-rin addressing me by the name of the girl she had driven to suicide?

​Terrified, I forced my gaze past Sunha's broad shoulder, catching my reflection in the large glass windowpane behind him. The words died instantly in my throat. What I saw left me completely paralyzed.

​Staring back at me from the glass was a familiar face with long, raven-black hair and striking purple eyes completely different from my appearance i used to see through the mirror of my room.

​Min-seo. It was undeniably her face, but it was moving in perfect synchronization with my own movements. Is my mind playing tricks on me? Or am I somehow wearing my dead sister's face? It felt entirely impossible. She was dead. She had been gone for a long time.

​"I... I don't know what you're talking about..." I croaked out. The words tore through my throat, revealing a raw, scratching pain I hadn't realized was there.

​The only response I received was a devastating strike across my cheek. A sharp crack echoed as my jaw absorbed the impact. Sunha's face was twisted in pure fury, dark shadows casting over his features to make him look entirely unhuman. He towered over me, a predator cornering helpless prey, his hand still raised from the merciless slap.

​"Deaf, ungrateful bitch," he spat.

​In that brief, agonizing moment, the pieces of reality began to violently click into place.

​"You think you have the beauty to steal the spotlight from Ha-rin?." he Sneer.

​"I don't know-"

​Another heavy slap rattled my skull.

​"You Demon's Child. First you stole someone's Childhood, and now you're trying to steal what others have." he roared, tightening his grip on my hair.

​"I don't know! I really didn't do anything!"

​The blows kept coming-one after the other-until my cheeks burned a fierce crimson and my jaw throbbed so violently the bone felt ready to splinter. My vision blurred into a hazy smear of colors. My head spun fiercely; I hadn't eaten a single meal in two days. Ever since my father's company went bankrupt after his death. I had been surviving alone in the ruins of a dilapidated, abandoned building. I had absolutely no one left in the world to hold onto.

​"You Ugly Bitch. " Sunha growled.

​"That's enough, Sunha... maybe she just needs a little rest," Ha-rin purred.

My knees gave out completely at the sound of her voice. Ha-rin stepped forward, casually shoving Sunha aside. Her touch was purely sadistic as she reached down, bypassing my hair to clamp her fingers directly over my face. Her sharp nails dug deep into the skin of my cheek, tearing small scratches that sent warm trails of blood trickling down to her hand.

​"Cry, Min-seo... cry~" she whispered maliciously against my ear. Her breath was sickeningly hot, contrasting sharply against my freezing skin. I felt as though I were being suffocated inside a block of ice. Stop calling me Min-seo! my mind screamed in a burst of unexplainable rage. My heart felt as though it were being systematically carved into pieces and thrown into a consuming fire. I despised hearing Min-seo's name leave her lips-but I couldn't understand why the reaction was so visceral.

​"I... really don't know..." a ragged gasp escaped my torn lips. My throat was entirely parched.

​Before I could breathe, Ha-rin’s hands shifted to my throat, squeezing with a lethal pressure, as if she genuinely believed I deserved to die right then and there. She choked me as if she wanted to break my neck and add my silence to her collection of terrors.

​As the lack of oxygen began to turn my vision black, disjointed memories began to assault my mind like old, reopening scars, bringing with them a profound psychological agony.

. . .

​"Min-ji, you're so useless!"

​"Min-ji, don't touch my toys! Your hands are dirty, eww!"

​"It was Min-ji! She stole my toy!"

​My head throbbed to the rhythm of the phantom voices. Suddenly, I saw a memory through the eyes of my childhood self. I looked down at my hands-small, delicate, and soft-holding a single worn-out toy. I remembered that afternoon vividly. I had been sitting quietly on the floor, watching Min-seo fight with our brother over a toy they both desperately claimed as their own. I was entirely innocent. A good little girl who just wanted to be loved.

*​*RRRIP**

​An abrupt, heavy silence had blanketed the living room.

​"Mama! The toy-"

​"Mamaaa! Min-ji broke the toy!"

​I had been sitting right there on the rug, watching like an innocent rabbit. So why did they blame it all on me?! Why me? Why was it always me?!

*​*SLAP**

​The memory of the sting on my delicate five-year-old cheek felt incredibly real. I had survived a living hell without a single sin to my name, only to receive a harsh strike from the mother I loved more than anyone else while my siblings stood safely behind her skirts, completely devoid of guilt for framing their sister. Their expressions had been sorrowful, but never for me. They only mourned the toy they wouldn't get to sleep with at night.

​

❀◗ 　◇Chapter 2 -: ✧ :-゜・．

​My eyes snapped open, a harsh light piercing through my retinas.

​The memory had just been a nightmare-a fractured piece of a past I had spent a lifetime trying to erase.

​My entire body was wrapped in tight bandages, the deep bruises burning directly into my muscles. Beneath me were a soft sheets of a cot, feels like cloud. I was lying in the school infirmary. Someone must have dragged my battered body here, refusing to let me die in peace.

​I stared blankly at the ceiling, my mind are achaotic mess of thoughts I couldn't format into words. I am Min-seo now. My fingers twitched, slowly curling into a tight fist. I couldn't even process the words the school nurse was saying as she clinical applied ointment to my wounds. Her face was an expressionless mask, her voice a flat, professional monotone. there's no comfort in them.

​"You're going to need time to recover. Get some rest... or don't."

​Whatever she meant by that, it faded into background noise. She stood up and walked away, completely ignoring my existence as if I were a dead ghost she didn't have to take care of. Outside, the cheerful chirping of birds and the gentle rustle of leaves drifted through the open window. A stray beam of sunlight cut through the shifting curtains, forcing its way into the room.

​Every burn and bruise screamed in protest as I forced myself into a sitting position. Slipping off the edge of the bed, I stood on trembling limbs, my body reacting to a lingering trauma. My legs heavily dragged me toward the window. From this vantage point, I could see the massive, incredibly expensive school campus-a place my family could never have afforded, yet somehow, I was here. Unwanted, unaccepted, but physically present.

​Sunha.

​His cruel face dominated my thoughts. I remembered the sheer intensity in his dark eyes as he had loomed over me in the hallway-an intensity that felt incredibly Overwhelming, yet strangely intoxicating. When Ha-rin had been torturing me, he hadn't lifted a finger to stop her. Yet, the way he had stared down at me... it felt like a predatory fixation. It almost looked like attraction. Didn't it?

​I let out a tired sigh, running a bandaged hand down my face. The sheer misery of the situation weighed heavily on my chest. I looked back out at the courtyard, watching groups of students laughing and enjoying their time.

​Suddenly, the air in the infirmary turned freezing cold. A sharp shiver traveled straight down my spine. Someone was standing right behind me. I could feel an immense, dangerous presence bleeding into the room, heavy enough to bury me alive. The atmosphere became suffocating, leaving me feeling like a solitary living soul trapped in an open grave.

​"Planning to jump, Min-seo?."

​Sunha was always there, hovering like a shadow i can't ignore. He took slow, deliberate steps until he was standing directly behind me. I could feel the warmth of his breath against the side of my neck as he leaned down to my head level. His piercing gaze locked onto my profile. He reached out, slowly tracing the back of his fingers down the length of my hair as if handling a fragile piece of porcelain that belonged to him.

​"Don't bother trying to kill yourself. You're already entirely lifeless, Min-seo."

​The words sent a violent shock through my system, making my breath hitch. He knows.

Does he knows Min-seo is dead?, But how? It was an absolute mystery. Everyone in this school now recognized me as Min-seo, long before I could even comprehend why or how I was wearing her face. To their absolute disappointment, they believed Min-seo had survived her suicide attempt just to ruin their days. And they blamed me for it. It was always my fault.

​"There is no gate open for you to run through, Min-seo..." Sunha whispered, his voice casting a profound darkness over the room.

​My hands began to tremble uncontrollably. Sunha's hand slowly trailed down from my hair, sliding along my arm until he reached my shaking fingers. Without warning, his grip tightened into a brutal, crushing vice. He twisted my fingers backward until a sickening sound echoed through the quiet room.

*​*CRACK**

​A sharp gasp escaped my lips as tears immediately flooded my eyes. The pain was blinding. He had damaged my jaw with his slaps, and now he was crushing my fingers, piling entirely new physical trauma onto my body.

​"I'm sorry about the slap." he murmured, his voice shifting into a sudden, terrifying gentleness that hid a lethal poison. He was playing masterfully with my sanity. His free hand slid down to rest heavily on my hip, his fingers digging deep into the fabric of my uniform as he nuzzled his nose into the crook of my neck. His breath made my skin prickle with goosebumps. After everything he had done to me, he genuinely expected my grace.

​And yet, despite the burning pain in my cheek and the fresh bandages covering my skin, a terrifying realization washed over me.

​"Of course... I forgive you, Sunha..."

​The words shocked me the moment they left my mouth. I had forgiven him instantly, without a single second thought. My heart battered against my ribs, racing uncontrollably from his mere proximity.

Twelve years of living in a loveless, freezing hell had left me starving. I had never known affection, gentle touches, or sweet whisper. My fractured mind had twisted his horrific cruelty, disguising it as a form of distorted love. It was completely insane-he had humiliated me, beaten me, and stood by while his girlfriend tortured me. So why do I keep craving the very hand that breaks me?

​Have I completely lost my mind to his charm? Have I actually fallen in love with the monster who wants to see me suffer?

​A dark, menacing grin carved its way across Sunha's face, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes. Before I could process the sudden shift, he threw his head back and unleashed a manic, booming laughter that caused the nurse in the front office to visibly flinch.

​"Pathetic bitch. Always so perfectly obedient for her destroyer, hm?" he mocked, his voice completely devoid of genuine amusement. There was only a sick, twisted pleasure derived from my pathetic compliance. In his eyes, I was nothing more than a helpless little rabbit begging for scraps of attention-a desperate girl who had never known a real home.

​"Good girl." he whispered darkly against my ear.

​Suddenly, his grip shifted back to my hair. With terrifying force, he violently slammed me forward against the window sill. I wanted to scream, to fight back, to tear myself away from him-

​"Let's see if you can survive this time," he smirked.

​Before a single word could form in my throat, Sunha shoved my body directly out of the open window.

​There was no protection, no warning, I fell through the empty air, plummeting toward the hard ground below.

*​THUD*

​A weak, pathetic cry was knocked from my lungs as my body collided violently with the earth. A wave of agonizing pain rippled through my spine, completely paralyzing me. Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the dirt on the ground. I lay there completely prone, entirely weak. Nobody was going to run to my rescue.

​Except him.

​Sunha wouldn't let me die-not yet. His sick little game was far from finished.

​"It hurts... it hurts..." I whimpered, my voice sounding incredibly rough and husky from the sheer trauma. My throat was bone-dry. Everything had happened far too fast for my body to keep up, and I was entirely certain several of my bones were fractured. I felt entirely numb, yet consumed by agonizing pain all at once.

​"How pathetic. Look at her... she can't even stand up straight."

​"So incredibly weak. That's typical Min-seo for you, she can't do anything but cry."

​From a safe distance, dozens of students stood in a loose circle, watching me writhe in the dirt. Not a single person moved to help. They simply stood there, hiding mocking laughter behind their hands as my head began to bleed through the fresh bandages. Sunha's apology had been an absolute lie.

​The blinding sunlight burned my vision as I lay broken on the filthy ground, my freshly wrapped wounds reopening to stain the earth red.

No.

it's absolutely wrong, he loves me.

He wouldn't hurt me this badly if he didn't care.

​

​

❀◗ 　◇Chapter 3 -: ✧ :-゜・．

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　{ ​12:47 AM }

​Midnight had stretched out until the streets felt entirely empty and hollow. I walked with a slow, dragging stride down the middle of the cracked asphalt.

​The neighborhood was dead. The streetlamps were spaced too far apart, casting long, skeletal shadows that swallowed me whole the moment I stepped into the dark gaps between them. A bitter, damp wind sliced straight through my clothes. I pulled the oversized hoodie tighter around myself. I’d stolen it a few hours ago from a dingy convenience store on the edge of the neighborhood, acting on pure survival instinct just to stop the shivering. The cashier had been asleep behind the counter, making it easy to slip the dark fabric off the rack and walk out into the freeze. It hung heavily off my shoulders, but it was the only shield I had.

​Every step was pure, throbbing agony.

​My body was still raw, covered in deep contusions from the fall. My bones ached with a deep, sickening sharpness—the kind of pain that made me want to scream, or just claw at my own skin until the nerves went numb.

​Yet, my mind wouldn't shut down. It kept spinning over the same desperate questions.

​Why does nobody see me? Why does nobody notice the real Min-ji?

​I pulled the hood lower, staring hard at the scuffed toes of my shoes. I had looked directly into the expressionless eyes of the school nurse. I had looked into the eyes of the students who stood in that mocking circle in the courtyard, watching me bleed into the dirt after Sunha threw me from the second-story window.

​Even the mirror offered no help. Staring back at me from the glass had been those striking, deep purple eyes. The long, flawless black hair. The elegant jawline that belonged exclusively to my deceased sister, Min-seo.

​Beneath that face, I was screaming. My soul was clawing at the inside of those purple eyes, begging for someone—anyone—to look past Min-seo’s reflection and see the victim shivering in the dark.

​I am Min-ji. Why was I trapped in this skin? Why was I the one taking the blame for her reputation, her cruelty, and the absolute chaos she left behind? It made no sense.

​And yet, my thoughts kept violently snapping back to Sunha. My heart hammered against my ribs at the mere memory of his name, a strange, toxic warmth blooming in my chest despite the chill.

​Sunha is different.

​It was a delusional, desperate thought, but I clung to it like a drowning person grabbing a razor blade. He had beaten me. He had broken my bones. He had stood by while I was choked. But when he looked at me, his eyes weren't empty like the others.

​He cares, I whispered to myself, my lips trembling. He wouldn't hurt me this badly if I didn't matter to him. The slaps, the window... it’s just how he holds onto things. He knows I’m the one.

​I was so lost in the spiral that I lost track of the street. I didn't hear the scuff of shoes on the pavement behind me. I didn't notice the nearest streetlamp flicker out.

​The realization of danger came a fraction of a second too late.

*​CRACK*

​A blinding explosion of white pain erupted at the base of my skull. A wooden baseball bat connected brutally with the back of my head. I didn't even have time to scream. The world tilted violently into a smear of black. My knees buckled, sending my cheek scraping hard against the rough asphalt. The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth, and then the dark rushed in, heavy and total.

​Waking up was a physical shock.

​My eyes snapped open to an oppressive, blinding glare from above. A ragged breath tore through my throat, burning a raw, scratching path down my windpipe. I tried to lift my hands to shield my eyes, but my limbs wouldn't move.

​A heavy, binding weight pulled hard against my wrists and shoulders. As the spots cleared from my vision, the horror of the room took shape.

​I wasn't on the street anymore.

​I was suspended upright, pinned tightly to a massive wooden post that ran from the floor up into the darkness of a vaulted ceiling. My arms were stretched wide, my wrists bound securely to a crossbeam with coarse hemp rope that bit deep enough to turn my hands a bruised, sickly purple. My feet were tied together at the base.

​I hung there like a display piece.

​The room was massive, built on the terrifying, grand scale of an old cathedral. The air was thick, carrying a suffocating smell of copper and stale sweat. As I forced my head to turn, my eyes widened at the stone walls.

​They were covered in photographs. Hundreds of them.

​I felt a sickening lurch in my stomach as I recognized my own face. The camera had captured me in my worst, most degraded moments—bruised, crying, taken through hidden lenses in the school hallways and the infirmary. Directly opposite me, a massive television screen flickered to life with a sharp static hum, displaying a stark image of me trembling while a grotesque pig mask was forced over my head.

​"No..." I croaked, my voice a pathetic whisper.

"Please..."

​A synchronized movement from the shadows answered me.

​From the spaces between the stone pillars, figures stepped forward, forming a wide, silent circle around the post. There were dozens of them, all clad in heavy, midnight-black robes that dragged along the floor. But it was their faces that made my breath catch.

​They were all wearing distorted, nightmarish masks.

​Directly in front of me stood someone in a pale human mask, its mouth stretched open into a permanent, silent scream. To my left loomed a massive, matte-black crow mask, complete with jagged demon horns curling from the temples and trails of artificial blood painted down the feathers. Another wore a fleshy pig mask covered in slimy, iridescent fish scales that caught the harsh light. Next to it was an oversized baby mask with a detached jaw, revealing rows of rusted iron teeth.

​The floor beneath them was a dark, reflective pool of blood, mirroring the harsh spotlights above. I was completely trapped. A rabbit surrounded by predators.

​“Hahaha... Hahahahaha!”

​The manic, booming laughter shattered the silence, echoing off the stone pillars and vibrating straight through the wood against my back.

​My head snapped up. Enclosing the room at the second-story level was a grand, circular balcony. Leaning over the iron railing with a lazy, dominant posture was Baek Sunha.

​He had discarded his school uniform jacket. His white shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. In his right hand, he casually swirled a crystal glass filled with dark red wine. On his face was that familiar, crooked, sadistic grin.

​"Look at you," Sunha called down, his voice dripping with an agonizingly playful cruelty. "You look perfect up there, Min-seo. A pathetic little martyr."

​"Sunha..." I cried out, my voice cracking as I strained against the ropes. My fractured mind didn't see the monster who had ordered my kidnapping; it saw the only anchor I had left in the world. "Sunha, please! Help me! What is this?"

​Sunha didn't answer. Instead, his grin sharpened. He threw his head back and laughed again, a sound so loud and unhinged it filled the vast room. He stepped away from the railing, throwing his arms out to embrace the grotesque display below.

​"Why would I help you? You’re so much more beautiful when you’re broken," he shouted down, his dark eyes locking onto me with terrifying intensity. "Look around. You think death is an escape from me? I’ll break you and put you back together as many times as I want. Worshipping me is the only thing keeping you alive."

​The sheer weight of his absolute certainty was terrifying. But to my warped, starving psyche, it felt like validation. He wasn't ignoring me. He was claiming me.

​He loves me, my mind screamed through the horror. He thinks I'm his.

​Suddenly, Sunha’s expression shifted from manic grandeur to sharp, volatile fury. With a violent snap of his wrist, he hurled the crystal glass straight at my head.

​"Pay attention to me!" he roared.

​I flinched, closing my eyes and bracing for the impact.

*​SMASH*

​The glass missed my skull, shattering brutally against the wooden post just inches from my ear. Shards of glittering crystal rained down onto my shoulders and into the pool of blood below.

​Sunha didn't care that he missed. The violence seemed to fuel him. He began to pace and move along the balcony, his body swaying to some erratic, broken rhythm in his head, completely lost in his own sick amusement as he watched me tremble.

​Below, the figures in the black robes began to move.

​They raised their long sleeves, swaying in unison as a low, discordant chant rose from the circle. Their voices blended into a deep, guttural hum that sounded entirely devoid of human warmth.

​"In the garden of the blind, the rabbit learns to bleed..." they droned through the masks. "The master carves the skin, the creature begs to feed..."

​The melody grated against my mind, sending a violent shiver down my spine. It was a funeral dirge for my sanity. But high above, Sunha was completely enthralled. He moved along the railing, looking down at me through the gaps in his fingers, his eyes locked onto my shivering form.

​I hung from the post, my body broken, my mind entirely shattered, suspended above a lake of blood while a god danced on the balcony above. And as the horrifying music grew louder, filling my ears until I couldn't breathe, a terrifying, absolute certainty washed over me.

​I was completely, utterly in love with the monster who had built this hell just for me.