The guild was quiet by nightfall. Beyond the high windows of Seo Haneul's office, the city glowed faintly, lanterns scattered like faint stars across the dark.
Seo Haneul closed the door behind him. Pie bounded in first, stubby legs clicking against the stone before racing straight to the desk. Without hesitation, the corgi pawed at the lowest drawer, nails scraping insistently.
Seo Haneul stilled.
Pie barked once, sharp and expectant.
Slowly, Seo Haneul pulled the drawer open. Inside, nestled against the wood, lay a pendant.
Shield-shaped, its metal dulled with age. Two rhinestones adorned its face — one golden, gleaming faintly even in the lamplight, the other clouded grey-white, its luster long since faded.
Seo Haneul lifted it, the weight settling familiar and cold in his palm. He didn't remember when he had acquired it. Didn't remember why he had kept it. For as long as he could recall, it had simply been there.
Pie pressed closer, whining softly, eyes locked on the pendant as though he recognized it.
It didn't belong to him. Seo Haneul knew that much. Yet every time he thought to discard it, a hollow ache clawed at his chest until he relented, tucking it away again.
Tonight, that ache was sharper than ever.
His thumb brushed over the stones. The gold shimmered, steady and warm. The grey one only dulled the light, fractured and lifeless.
"…Yoon Sihyun."
The sound clung to the air, heavy. Pie barked once, tail thumping as if in answer.
The door creaked, and Jung Minho leaned against the frame, arms crossed. His gaze flicked from Seo Haneul's hand to the pendant, then to Pie pressed at his boots.
"You're still thinking about him."
Seo Haneul didn't look up.
Jung Minho studied him for a moment longer, then spoke with a sigh. "Tell me what you want me to do."
Seo Haneul's gaze lifted, golden eyes catching the lamplight. His voice was calm, but iron lay beneath it.
"Find out everything you can about Yoon Sihyun. Start with our archive. Then the Hunters Association. Then the underground. Everywhere."
Jung Minho arched a brow. "…Everywhere?"
"Everywhere," Seo Haneul repeated.
The pendant gleamed in his hand, one stone alive, the other dull.
Jung Minho nodded once, expression firming. "Understood. I'll dig. If there's a trail, I'll find it."
Seo Haneul closed his fist around the pendant, its edges biting into his palm. Pie leaned against him, quiet now, but a ticklish feeling quivered faintly beneath his fur.