Warmth.
Hana stirred to the sensation of soft light pressing against her eyelids. She blinked slowly and found herself lying on an old velvet couch in a room that smelled of incense and aged paper.
It wasn't her apartment.
She sat up abruptly. The pendant—the flash—the strange man…
"You're awake," came a smooth voice.
Hana turned.
The silver-haired man—still unreal, still too graceful for reality—stood at a nearby table, pouring tea into a delicate porcelain cup. Steam coiled between them like tendrils of breath.
"You fainted," he said casually. "Side effect of touching something cursed."
"Cursed? What even was that thing?" Hana stood, gripping the edge of the couch. Her knees wobbled.
"An anchor," he said. "A relic tied to my past. And now, apparently, yours."
She froze. "What do you mean my past?"
Instead of answering, he walked toward her and held out the tea. She hesitated, but took it.
"I'm Yun Taemin," he said.
She felt the name echo somewhere deep in her chest. Like an old bell stirring in a forgotten temple.
"Hana," she replied quietly. "Seo Hana."
Taemin's eyes flickered, as if he recognized the name.
Before she could ask, a sharp pain pulsed through her chest. She gasped and clutched her shirt.
"Don't panic," Taemin said quickly. "Let me see."
Too stunned to resist, she lowered her collar.
On her collarbone glowed a faint symbol—shaped like a fox's tail curled into a spiral.
"That's impossible," he muttered.
"What is it?"
"A pact mark. You've bonded with the pendant… and with me."
Hana stepped back. "Excuse me?!"
Taemin exhaled, dragging a hand through his silver hair. "The pendant sealed a soul-bound contract centuries ago. It can only activate when someone of the Foxheart lineage touches it. Someone whose soul once loved mine."
Her heart thundered in her chest. "That's ridiculous."
"Is it?" he murmured. "Then explain why I can hear your heartbeat from across the room… and why you can see this."
With a flick of his hand, the illusion dropped.
Nine white tails unfurled behind him—glowing, ghostlike, beautiful.
Hana stumbled back, eyes wide.
"You're…"
"A gumiho," he said quietly. "And now, thanks to fate, you're part of my story. Again."
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